The Righteous are not Forsaken
February 7, 2014
The Righteous are not Forsaken
Psalms 37:5
I have been young, and now am old; yet have I not seen the righteous forsaken, nor his seed begging bread.
Psalms 37:4 says, “Though he fall, he shall not be utterly cast down: for the LORD upholdeth him with his hand.” As a people in general and as Christians I doubt that there are very many of us who don’t face times of real trial and struggle in our lives and many of us more than we would care to talk about. For many of us, life is often a continual struggle, especially as we attempt to walk out our faith with faithfulness and obedience. When we do really try and walk closely with the Lord we may find all of hell seems to be unleashed against us or we make some mistakes and then we are overwhelmed with guilt and condemnation because we blew it. There may be those times we fall, stumble and falter in our walk with the Lord, but remember there is someone stronger than you walking with you. Praise God we don’t have to rely upon our own strength and righteousness to get us to heaven. Jesus is our High Priest and Intercessor who is always standing in the gap for us and pleading our cause.
2 Timothy 2:11-13 tells us, “The saying is sure and worthy of confidence: If we have died with Him, we shall also live with Him. 12If we endure, we shall also reign with Him. If we deny and disown and reject Him, He will also deny and disown and reject us. 13If we are faithless [do not believe and are untrue to Him], He remains true (faithful to His Word and His righteous character), for He cannot deny Himself.” The desire of the Father’s heart is that we grow up in the fullness and likeness of Christ. He has given us the Holy Sprit to help us in that process. It has been said that the Holy Spirit is a perfect gentleman and doesn’t violate or force our will if we make choices other than Him. In fact, we often don’t realize how we can offend and hurt the Holy Spirit by our attitudes and actions. Many of us need to reconcile that relationship with Him. The thing about God is that if most of us received what we deserved we would have been cast off a long time ago, but God’s heart is always to draw you back to His righteousness and to Christ. The enemy would like you to think that you have burned your bridges and there is no way back, but the grace and love of God is so high and so wide and so deep that it can span the greatest chasms of sin. He just wants us to repent and give our lives, without reservation, back to Him. Even when we fall and fail, the Lord is there for us to pick us up again if we will let Him.
Life holds many tests and trials for us, some we pass and others we don’t. We are all in the process of maturing and growing, all too often we poop in our pants and make messes along the way. We must remember that our past failures can be our future stepping-stones to victory and overcoming. God will let us fall down. He will let us make our mistakes and we often have to suffer the consequences, whatever those may be, but He hasn’t turned His back on us. If we will cry out to Him, if we will repent and begin seeking Him with our whole heart we can find that place of forgiveness, fellowship and communion with the Holy Spirit again.
If some of us, or others that you know, are struggling today; God hasn’t abandoned you. He has finished the reconciliation upon the cross and now He lovingly waits for us to respond back to Him. Many people perceive God in unfair and unrealistic ways because of how they have been treated or how they have been impressed and perceived God by the example of those claiming Christianity. They are turned off to God because of us. We, like Paul, must remember that our whole mission in life is to suffer whatever is necessary so that others may come into the kingdom. In 2 Timothy 2:10 Paul says, “Therefore I [am ready to] persevere and stand my ground with patience and endure everything for the sake of the elect [God’s chosen], so that they too may obtain [the] salvation which is in Christ Jesus, with [the reward of] eternal glory.” May God’s love likewise be extended through us so that we are willing to love even the unlovely for whom Christ died. Let us continue to encourage and exhort one another to faithfulness. God loves us and will not forsake us, even in our weaknesses and times of greatest trials. He may not miraculously save us out of our circumstances in the way we might like to see, but He is there with us, walking it out and giving us grace.
Don’t give up, don’t give in, but always fix your eyes upon Him. He will carry you through and He will provide the way and the means.
tricklesoftruth 