Don’t leave me to the mercies of my enemies,
for I have done what is just and right.
Please guarantee a blessing for me.
Don’t let those who are arrogant oppress me!
My eyes strain to see Your deliverance,
to see the truth of your promise fulfilled.
I am your servant;
deal with me in unfailing love,
and teach me your principles.
Give discernment to me, your servant;
then I will understand Your decrees,
LORD, it is time to act,
for these evil people have broken Your Law.
Truly, each of your commandments is right.
That is why I hate every false way.
As Ezra and Nehemiah struggle to rebuild the temple walls and to restore the sanctuary, the returning exiles are constantly harassed and attacked by the people living in Judea. The sad thing is that these people who were assailing them were those who were left behind and by blood the same as those building the temple. Their faith had been diluted and twisted by the Assyrians, Babylonians and Persians. They no longer relied on the God of their fathers. Those people who should have welcomed the rebuilding of the Temple had rejected it and despised His People. Today we see the same twisted logic entering the churches. As the sins of the flesh are welcomed into the congregations we see a weakening of the Word of God. Fornication is O.K., Adultery is acceptable, Divorce is encouraged, homosexuality is ordained as right. “Don’t let those who are arrogant oppress me!”
Not to long ago, I was under attack by those who do not claim the Divine Nature of Jesus and who would use the Word of God as a weapon to destroy rather than to build up, encourage and edify Christ. In 2 Samuel 8:15 we read that David administered justice to all, that none were dealt unfairly. We know that David had a heart after God. As was Job, he was clothed in righteousness, yet he also failed sometimes. The psalmist knows of the heart of David and the righteousness of Job. He asks that he also do what is right and just with the Children of Israel. He asks that God pledge to him goodness and to protect him from his enemies. Do we seek what is right and just among the Children of Redemption? Are we judgemental and seek after unwise council? Or do we come to God with petition and contrition to do what is just before the Lord.
The psalmist cries out, “My eyes long for Your salvation and the fulfillment of Your righteous Promise.”(Psalm 119:123). But we live in the age that the Promise is made real. Jesus has come to redeem and to make right the ways of man. As we are the New Temple, restored by Grace, we are proof of the Promise given to David, Moses and to Isaiah. God has shown us His everlasting Kindness (Psalm 51:1), He has remembered His Covenant (Psalm 106:45), He has saved us with His unfailing Love (Psalm 109:26). By Christ, His Son, He has given to us everlasting Joy.
God’s Grace of the Spirit of Hope, the Divine Breath that breathed eternal life into our weariness, has fulfilled His Promise. Now we can truly be good and faithful servants to His Perfect will. Now we can have understanding that escaped the grasp of the ancients. Filled with the Holy Spirit, we can see the wisdom of God that eluded the sons of Adam.
“Now is the time for the LORD to act.”(Psalm 119:126). Not in the ways of Man but in His strength. And God acts not with a vengeance, even though it is in His Power, but with love. He turns away the sins of man and offers his love, forgiveness and His compassion. He did this on the Cross for you and for me who were once counted as enemies. And as was in the day of Nehemiah and Ezra, we still sin. We still take the Word of God and use it to justify our faults and our shortcomings. Can we not see that? Therefore work in us O LORD, Your righteous fire to burn away the dross, the things that separate ourselves from your love. We have continually broken Your Law of Mercy and Grace to continue living as enemies of righteousness while still claiming to be your faithful. We lie to you O God with our lives, untrue to your Grace.
And although we say that we love His commandment better than fine gold, we, in truth, love ourselves more than we love His Word. Repeatedly the Psalmist says in the Psalm, I love Your Precepts, Your Commandments, Your Law! But we still rebuke them, disregard them and ignore His Way. We say that we consider all the ways of the LORD to be fair, just and right but still we do not follow in them. We say that we hate every false and evil way but still we persist in living in the ways of the flesh without regard to His Holiness and His Judgement. We say the “magic words”, I am saved and live as do the unsaved.
Not only is this the time for God to act. It is the time for us to react to the will of Salvation, to live holy and blameless lives before God and man. It is time to live in the righteousness of Christ Jesus. Now is the Day of the Lord to be walking straight and steady on the narrow Path of the Lord. Do not waver, do not lean right or left, but keep your eyes upon the Way of the Lord. Be as directed by Paul to the fellowship in Corinth; “…do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the Kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers,nor men who practice homosexuality, nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers will inherit the Kingdom of God.” (1 Corinthians 6:9-10 ESV). To live in such is it deny God’s Word and the Redemption of Jesus. You will be counted as the “evil people who have broken the Law of God.