"Let the righteous strike me, it shall be a kindness,
and let him rebuke me, it shall be as excellent oil,
let my head not refuse it."
Psalm 141:5
Only a truly humble person could bring to God a prayer like this. He is so intent on doing right before the Lord that he actually prays that a righteous person be sent to him to point out where he is wrong, or where he may be unaware of hidden sin.
We are a fallen people, a people whose first reaction to any accusation is hostility and anger, "how dare he say such a thing to me!" ...and then we bring to mind anything negative that we can say about that person in retaliation. Isn't it true?
But the truly humble person is so concerned with being right with God and wanting to be told wherever he or she is missing it, that he is willing to receive a rebuke from a righteous person…
"Faithful are the wounds of a friend..."
Proverbs 27:6
And while this humble man prays to be shown any error in his way and is welcoming of a rebuke, yet for himself he prays for protection from his own words, that he might not hurt anyone else.
"Set a guard, O Lord, over my mouth,
keep watch over the door of my lips."
Psalm 141:3
So the humble man/woman knows only too well that the weakest part of himself is his tongue and realizing that, he asks for protection from his own mouth.
"And the tongue is a fire, a world of iniquity.
The tongue is so set among our members
that it defiles the whole body,
and sets on fire the course of nature;
and it is set on fire by hell."
James 3:6
Truly, truly, the tongue IS a world of iniquity. Indeed, how many evils are brought about in this world by misuse of the tongue? How many times have we crushed a person with our words? How many times have we afflicted our children with hateful words? How many lives have had doubt cast upon them because of our gossip? And many times we don't even realize that we're offending God in what we speak. How we deceive ourselves!
It behooves us then as people truly wanting to be pleasing to God, that we ask to be shown any point on which we're missing it. This can only come through prayer, from humbling one's heart before God and asking to be shown any area of error or evil, especially when they are secret and covered over inside, for the Lord knows our failings, and every secret thing is plain to him. Let us therefore humble ourselves before him and pray to be protected from our own selves.
"Who can understand his errors?
Cleanse me from secret faults,
keep back your servant also from presumptuous sins;
let them not have dominion over me.
Then I shall be blameless,
and I shall be innocent of great transgression."
Psalm 19:12-13
"For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ,
for it is the power of God to salvation
for everyone who believes,
for the Jew first and also for the Greek."
Romans 1:16
Some keep quiet about their faith because speaking about Jesus is not "politically correct." They fear what people will think of them if they say anything about him or about their faith in him.
Jesus Christ died for you publicly. He was stripped of his clothes and hung on a cross beaten and bloodied, publicly. For you. How can you be afraid to speak of him?
"Therefore whoever confesses me before men,
him I will also confess before my Father who is in heaven.
But whoever denies me before men,
him I will also deny before my Father who is in heaven."
Matthew 10:32-33
Yes, there is a cost. Most of the people you know will not want to hear it. And some, even among your relatives and friends, will reject you because of it. The Gospel is not a Gospel of cheap grace, it is costly. The heart truly dedicated to Christ will be willing to endure whatever he must for him. After being beaten and thrown into prison, Paul and Silas were heard singing praises to God at midnight. Oh the depth of understanding that enabled them to do that!
“But at midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God,
and the prisoners were listening to them.
Suddenly there was a great earthquake, so that the foundations
of the prison were shaken; and immediately all the doors
were opened and everyone’s chains were loosed."
Acts 16:25-26
What did they know that many of us don't “get?” Paul had been given a glimpse of heaven, and after that no one could shut him up. Even in a dark, dank prison, he was singing praises to God. His glimpse of heaven propelled him to heartfelt praise no matter what his circumstances.
Think back on the times when God intervened in your life in an obvious way, and don't forget the wonderful things he has done in your life. Appreciate them. Do not let the opinions of others cause you to deny him before men by being silent about him. You will be spending eternity with him, not with the ones who have rejected you on earth. Set your eyes on HIM.
Jesus Christ has forewarned us that the world will reject us. That's something we must simply accept, and decide to follow him no matter what.
"Do not think that I came to bring peace on earth.
I did not come to bring peace but a sword.
For I have come to set a man against his father,
a daughter against her mother,
and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law;
and a man's enemies will be those of his own household.
He who loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me.
And he who loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me."
Matthew 10:34-37
The call is to total surrender, no matter the cost. This is not a light thing - we're talking about the King of the universe, the Lord who created all that is, who calls men and women into a relationship with himself, knowing that hell will do everything in its power to prevent them. For those who are willing - no matter what - there is this promise:
“Eye has not seen, nor ear heard,
nor have entered into the heart of man
the things which God has prepared for those who love Him.”
1st Corinthians 2:9
Yes, there is a cost - but it's not even worthy to be compared to the glory to come.
"For I consider that the sufferings of this present time
ARE NOT WORTHY TO BE COMPARED
with the glory which shall be revealed in us."
Romans 8:18
Is it worth it? Oh yes, a thousand times yes! We are investing this short life for the glories of eternity.
"Now when the people saw that
Moses delayed coming down from the mountain,
the people gathered together to Aaron and said to him
'Come make us gods that shall go before us,
for this Moses, the man who
brought us up out of the land of Egypt,
we do not know what has become of him.'”
Exodus 32:1
This passage brings to mind a similar passage from the New Testament:
"...knowing this first, that scoffers will come in the last days,
walking according to their own lusts,
and saying, 'Where is the promise of his coming...? '"
2nd Peter 3:3-4
After Moses brought the children of Israel out of Egypt where they had been enslaved, God called him up to Mount Sinai. Moses stayed quite awhile on the mountain because God was giving him in-depth instructions concerning the covenant he was making with Israel.
But ...the children of Israel waited a long time, a very long time, and then they got fed up with waiting. They waited some more, but no sign of Moses. Finally, they concluded that they had no idea what became of Moses and decided to forget about him and go about their lives their own way. They asked Aaron to make gods of gold for them which they would follow.
Many believers have lived a very long time waiting for the Lord to come back. For many, it's been years. Especially when the Feast of Trumpets (Rosh Hashanah) arrives, the people have stretched their necks hoping to see some sign of his coming, but the date goes by and they're disappointed again. For many, myself included, this picture has been repeated over and over and over again, as we've waiting for the Lord to come back.
How does scoffing begin, what causes it?
The long wait.
The long wait brings many to become scoffers. When the hope has been aroused to fever pitch and then nothing happens, many get tired of this and quit. Each time this disappointment happens, more and more fall away from the "blessed hope."
It's easy to do. When I read the Bible, I try to put myself in the shoes of the persons in the story I'm reading. I try to get into what they must have been feeling. Today I stood with the people who were waiting for Moses who brought them out into the wilderness and then disappeared up a mountain.
Now let's set the story right: The Israelites were people who had witnessed first hand the mighty deeds done to the people of Egypt under Moses when he turned the water into blood, brought an overwhelming storm of frogs and lice and flies, locusts and darkness to cover the land and the death of every firstborn of Egypt. These are the people who saw him part the Red Sea as the Egyptians followed hard after them as they escaped, and they saw the Sea part so they could walk across on DRY land, only to see the waters go back upon the Egyptians, drowning them all. In short, these are people who saw miracles, one after another after another.
But the passage of time became a problem. They'd been sitting now in the desert for quite awhile waiting for Moses to return, but time went by and no Moses. Finally, they gave up on him and turned to follow their own lusts. An image of gold became the god they would follow. Not only that, but they even offered sacrifices and peace offerings to this image of gold. In other words, they continued doing religious things. They occupied themselves with following their lusts and justified themselves by doing religious practices.
vs 32:5-6
"And Aaron made a proclamation and said,
‘Tomorrow is a feast to the Lord.’
Then they rose early on the next day,
offered burnt offerings, and brought peace offerings;
and the people sat down to eat and drink, and rose up to play."
What a picture of today. Back when I came to the Lord the subject of his return was being taught everywhere. There was a hype, an excited expectancy, a joyful watching. And it WAS joyful. What could be more joyful than the Bible's prophecy that the dead would be raised out of their graves and that we would be snatched up with them in the clouds to meet our Lord Jesus Christ in the air and be taken to heaven to be with him? (1st Thessalonians 4:16-17). Every Bible study, every Sunday sermon, was set in this joyful anticipation.
But the Lord was gone too long. He had ascended up the mountain, he had ascended to heaven promising to return for us, and we waited, and waited and waited ...in vain. YEARS. Until today, hardly a church, hardly a Bible study, hardly anyone even mentions it anymore ...because too much time has gone by and the fever pitch has died down in great disappointment.
There have been signs in the heavens so incredibly and accurately portraying the Rapture that the hope of believers was again awakened and the fever pitch renewed ...until the expected time came and went. And now many of those who believed have let go of that hope and have actually become scoffers. The disappointment in the face of something that seemed so sure ...was too much for many. He's been up in the mountain too long. Many believers have let go of the blessed hope and become the very scoffers the Bible warns about. The point is that all faith will be tested. And many fail.
When Moses finally did come - what did he find? He found that the "believers" had turned away from him. They had turned their attention to their lusts and had built this gold image to put their trust in. Moses was so angry that he threw the tablets of the ten commandments and broke them in his wrath.
vs 19-20:
"So it was, as soon as he came near the camp,
that he saw the calf and the dancing.
So Moses’ anger became hot, and he cast the tablets
out of his hands and broke them at the foot of the mountain.
Then he took the calf which they had made,
burned it in the fire, and ground it to powder;
and he scattered it on the water
and made the children of Israel drink it."
Waiting can be the demise of many a person when that which is expected seems delayed. The willingness to wait is one of the most difficult things in one's walk with the Lord. Abraham waited many years before Isaac, the son of promise was born. During that time of waiting he got so discouraged that he actually thought to help God by bringing a son into the world through his wife's handmaid - and we are suffering the consequences of that to this day.
God's ways are as far above ours as the heavens are above the earth (Isaiah 55:9) and to God, our willingness to let go of our human desire and wait as long as it takes - is one of the most valuable virtues in the Christian walk. It's hard. It can be VERY hard. But that's what separates the seasoned believer who has been tried and proved, from the carnal believer who only wants what he can get from God.
Brothers and sisters, Jesus is coming for us. We had hoped he would have been here by now, but in his wisdom he has seemed to delay his coming. Let us not lose hope and turn away from him to living for our lusts and going our own ways. Let not the wait turn us into scoffers.
“For yet a little while,
and he who is coming will come and will not tarry.
Now the just shall live by faith;
but if anyone draws back,
my soul has no pleasure in him.”
Hebrews 10:37-38