THE LORD SPOKE (October 13)
Daily Reflections from Scripture:
Jeremiah 4-5
It’s a matter of the heart! Jeremiah has more to say about the heart than any other biblical writer. He is the one who tells us that “the heart is desperately wicked” (Jer. 17:9). The NIV renders this “beyond cure”. Our heart is sick. It deceives us into believing all sorts of wrong things. Our seat of emotions so fogs our thinking that we don’t even perceive our error. It deludes us. We believe lies and don’t even know it.
To make matters worse, we actively pursue evil. We follow our heart’s desires. We sin because we want to sin. We look for ways to sin and then we justify it or we cover it up. Sometimes we flaunt it. Our heart takes the lead and we follow quite willingly.
Jeremiah describes the results in these words:
Jer. 4:18 - “your own conduct and actions have brought this [God’s judgment] upon you”
Jer. 5:25 - “your sins have deprived you of good”
So what’s the answer? Jeremiah suggests two actions with regard to the heart:
CUTTING - “circumcise your heart” (Jer. 4:4)
If we are to circumcise our hearts, there are some things that need to be cut away and discarded. We must learn to say “no” to...
- passions that pull us away from intimacy with our God
- desires that destroy our longing for Him and His word
- ambitions, appetites, and attractions that stifle the Spirit and quench Him
The dirt of sin needs to be washed away. In doing so, we must...
- confess our sins (I Jn. 1:9)
- confront Satan (I Pet. 5:8-9)
- commit ourselves to the Lord (Ps. 37:5)
- cling to the Savior!
Psalms 53-54
Have you ever been betrayed? Did someone you should have been able to trust ever let you down? Then you know how David must have felt when he wrote this psalm.
The Ziphites were his own people. They were Judeans living just south of Hebron. David had for some time been operating in the area, protecting the local inhabitants from the Philistines. He had done so by God’s command at Keilah (I Sam. 23:1-5). He did more of the same around Carmel, Maon, and Ziph (I Sam. 23,24,25). During that time a band of desperados gathered around him - “all those who were in distress or in debt or discontent” - growing from four hundred men to six hundred (I Sam. 27:2). This personal militia was the core of what became the national army when the Judeans made David their king (II Sam. 2).
But the Ziphites didn’t see it that way. They went to Saul at Gibeah and revealed David’s hiding place among them (I Sam. 26:1). With three thousand men, Saul went in pursuit but David’s scouts warned him. Not only did David escape, he did so with Saul’s spear and water jug in his hand. Sparing Saul’s life again, David recognized, “The Lord rewards every man for his righteousness and faithfulness. The Lord delivered you into my hands today but I would not lay a hand on the Lord’s anointed” (I Sam. 26:23-24). Quite the opposite of the Ziphites!
That is the context of Psalm 54. When David was “in their hands”, they raised a hand against him though he was the Lord’s anointed and they knew it. The psalm is a model of perfect symmetry.
vs. 1 - A Cry for Vindication
vs. 2-3 - The Ugly Situation Described
vs. 4 - A Statement of Confidence
vs. 5-6 - The Ugly Situation Reversed
vs. 7 - Praise for Deliverance
It was “while David was at Horesh in the Desert of Ziph” that Jonathan came to help him (I Sam. 23:15-18). Such help! The text says he “helped him find strength in God”. Do you suppose that’s how David could write, “Surely God is my help; the Lord is the one who sustains me” (Ps. 54:4)?
How are you doing today? Do you need to look to the Lord to find strength?
Labels: daily Bible reading, devotional, heart, Jeremiah 4-5, October 13, Psalm 53-54
posted by Pastor Randy Cook @ 5:00 AM
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