April 23 – 29 Daily Meditations in the Psalms
April 23
Psalms 36:1-3
1.
The transgression of the wicked saith within my heart, that there is no
fear of God before his eyes.
2.
For he flattereth himself in his own eyes, until his iniquity be found
to be hateful.
3.
The words of his mouth are iniquity and deceit: he hath left off to be
wise, and to do good.
There is nothing about an
unregenerate man that is credible. “The words of his mouth are iniquity and
deceit” (verse 3). As he sees himself in his own eyes, so he will communicate
with his lips. He will attempt to convey a flattered image of himself. How can
you believe him? Hear what the friendly neighbor says about you in the privacy
of his own home, when your dog digs up his flower garden. The cheerful words of
the corner grocer are for his good customers, the ones who feed his family and
help him fulfill his life’s dreams. See the amicable smile erase from the face
of the commentator as the TV camera swings around and he is off the air. Come
backstage and watch the preacher/entertainer change his demeanor as he
discusses business with his staff.
“He hath left off to be wise, and do
good.” Outside of heart-felt, God-breathed Christianity, there has been no real
wisdom or goodness in this world since Adam. How can we think anything good can
be derived from it? The “all truth is
God’s truth” adage is subject to how one defines the word “truth”. It is
better to start with the true God and learn truth from His word, the Bible,
than to start with that which society may call truth and try to find something
of God in it. The world’s society left wisdom and goodness far behind when it
forsook obedience to Him.
April 24
Psalms 36:4a
4.
He deviseth mischief upon his bed; he setteth himself in a way that is
not good; he abhorreth not evil.
God judges thoughts and
intents, as well as deeds. The most wonderful deeds can come from the most
horrible motives. Most pleasant words can hide the most terrible thoughts.
Saul, the king, was one whose words and thoughts did not coincide. Saul said David could have his daughter as
wife, but Saul thought to make David
fall (see 1 Samuel 18:22, 25). The sharp sword of the word of God penetrates
the deep, unseen regions and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the
heart. He who handles the word of God is expected to go beneath the apparent
and superficial and reveal the secrets of the heart, if he expects the
unconverted to confess, “God is in you,
of a truth.”
April 25
Psalms 36:1-5, 9
1.
The transgression of the wicked saith within my heart, that there is no
fear of God before his eyes.
2.
For he flattereth himself in his own eyes, until his iniquity be found
to be hateful.
3.
The words of his mouth are iniquity and deceit: he hath left off to be
wise, and to do good.
4.
He deviseth mischief upon his bed; he setteth himself in a way that is
not good; he abhorreth not evil.
5.
Thy mercy, O LORD, is in the heavens; and thy faithfulness reacheth unto
the clouds.
9.
For with thee is the fountain of life: in thy light shall we see light.
Here is another lesson to learn about
those, whom the Psalmist calls wicked – “He abhorreth not evil.” Tolerance is
the name of the game – tolerance for himself and for everyone else, while the
earth becomes too corrupt for habitation and God’s cup of wrath fills to the
brim. His conscience is in hibernation, buried deep below layers of delusion
and disobedience to God. Christian, don’t join him here with a positive
attitude and big-hearted good will. People are to know true Christians for
their intolerance to evil, as well as their love for good. Jesus Himself “loved righteousness and hated iniquity”.
One day, earth’s leaders will cry for the rocks to fall on them and hide them
from the wrath of the Lamb. The loving Lamb abhors evil. Wake up the sinner’s
sleeping conscience. Bring in God’s commandments and let sin be known by its
name again. Carry the bright searchlight of honesty and be able to say, as
Jesus, “If I had not come and spoken unto
them, they had not had sin: but now they have no cloak for their sin.”
“In Thy light shall we see light”. The
Samaritan woman recognized the Christ, when He exposed her sin. It was the
result of contacting the fountain of life. The beginning of life, in any person
or situation, is the end of deceit. It may be unpleasant, even painful, but
blessed is the man who has the veil lifted, with which the king of darkness had
him blinded in comfortable delusion, and has his eyes exposed to the Sun of
Righteousness. Let Christ come to the sinner, spoil his self-flattery, reveal
the hateful state that incites divine wrath, rebuke his foolish language,
uncover his tolerance for evil and let him experience, for once, the fear of
God. To do that is merciful and faithful. The Samaritan woman, with a true
heart, rejoiced in finally being discovered for whom she really was.
April 26
Psalms 36:5, 9
5.
Thy mercy, O LORD, is in the heavens; and thy faithfulness reacheth unto
the clouds.
9.
For with thee is the fountain of life: in thy light shall we see light.
The light-hearted pretender
would have us pass quickly over exposure of sin and get on to more pleasant
subjects. He may have hardened his conscience enough to allow him to sit under
an attack against iniquity for a time, as long as the theme presently changes
to the positive aspects of faith. Otherwise, he will take his leave, before his
resistance turns to depression and despair, his weightless heart not able to
bear brutal reality. However, when divine life brings light into the human
soul, it first reveals his sin, before it goes on to other truth. Let me
quickly add that when the fountain of life, Jesus Christ, is at work in the
heart, He will never bypass hidden
sin. Thereby, we can perceive what comes from a heavenly source and what does
not.
The revelation of sin leads to quickening
action: “And you hath He QUICKENED who
were dead in trespasses and sins” (Ephesians 2:5). It is quickening mercy,
as stated in verse 5: “Thy mercy, O Lord, is in the heavens.” Blind Bartimaeus
cried, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy
on me.” Jesus could see his obvious need, but He gives the opportunity for
the beggar to express it. He puts aside the temporal quests for morsels of food
and money and Bartimaeus aims for the all-encompassing necessity, “Lord, that I might receive my sight.”
Life brought light. He saw and he followed Jesus.
April 27
Psalms 36:5, 9
5.
Thy mercy, O LORD, is in the heavens; and thy faithfulness reacheth unto
the clouds.
9.
For with thee is the fountain of life: in thy light shall we see light.
I
wonder how many spiritual beggars there are, whom Christians have tried to make
disciples of Christ, but who have not seen themselves in their sinful rags. No
transfer of source has been made in their lives. We are frustrated that they
still hold out their hands to the beggarly elements of the world. They are
still dependent on the same principles and people as always for their source of
living. Rather than being brought to utter hopelessness and helplessness, they
have been led through a type of spiritual rehabilitation program and pumped up
with self-confidence and self-motivation. They have one need – the mercy of spiritual light.
“Thy faithfulness reacheth
unto the clouds.” The best friend of David, the king, must have been Nathan,
the prophet. David had sinned terribly, but somehow managed to go on with life,
justify himself and live under a delusion. There was no future for David or
Israel in this condition, although there was nothing to indicate imminent
disaster. Then a faithful friend, under the inspiration of Him whose
faithfulness reaches to the clouds, pointed an accusing, revealing index finger
at the king’s nose and, in no uncertain terms, declared, “Thou art the man.” The
Proverbs tell us, “Faithful are the
wounds of a friend”, and David was wounded. The comforts of his delusion
were removed and his spirit was broken. Psalms 51 describes in detail the
agonies, which came as a result of the revelation light of a faithful God,
shining upon David’s sin. It was the only way he could see his way back to the
fountain of life.
April 28
Psalms 36:6
6.
Thy righteousness is like the great mountains; thy judgments are a great
deep: O LORD, thou preservest man and beast.
Who was it that wrote of the eternal,
unchanging hills? People live and die, towns are born and end in ruins, fields
are cleared, hollows are filled, but mountains go on unchangingly.
The highest, snow-covered peaks are not
difficult to see. Though low-lying clouds, smog or fog may blot them from our
view, they stand true and fixed behind it all. The present blindness of moral
decay, low standards and compromise has not changed God’s ways at all. “In the beginning it was not so,” Jesus
said and He who is the beginning is also the end. His high, white peak of
righteousness will stand until judgment day. All other attributes are subject
to God’s righteousness. There is no peace until it kisses righteousness; no
mercy until it meets with unchanging truth. Love is powerless to manifest
itself, until it can do so in righteousness. God remained just in order to be
the justifier.
April 29
Psalms 36:6
6.
Thy righteousness is like the great mountains; thy judgments are a great
deep: O LORD, thou preservest man and beast.
Jesus loved righteousness. We should
hunger and thirst after it, esteem and maintain it at all costs. The Holy Wind
from heaven came to blow away all that blocks our vision from seeing the great
eternal mountains of righteousness. He sweeps away the fogs of human reasoning,
social opinions and situational ethics to convince the world of heaven’s
values.
“Thy judgments are a great deep”, the
Psalmist states. They are preservative in nature. In order to carry them out,
God says, “I create good and I create
evil.” When all is said and done, we will find that those awful “acts of
God”, which have shaken the earth and men’s souls, have actually kept the
planet and its inhabitants from self-destruction. Here again, man needs his
eyes opened to the depths of evil inherent in his sin, that he might rightly
understand and receive the wisdom of God’s judgment.
Sin is a horror, which is beyond our
capability to comprehend. Its consequences, nothing less than the judgments of
God, help to open our eyes to its putridness. We could begin with the
deformities and corruption upon unborn babies due to the lusts and sinful
habits of their parents. We could discuss syphilis and AIDS, major health
problems in the world today. Do not forget lung cancer caused by the lust for
tobacco and heart disease, some of which is brought on by the inordinate desire
for food.
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