Fountain of Life

For the choir director. A Psalm of David the servant of the LORD. Transgression speaks to the ungodly within his heart; There is no fear of God before his eyes. 2 For it flatters him in his own eyes Concerning the discovery of his iniquity and the hatred of it. 3 The words of his mouth are wickedness and deceit; He has ceased to be wise and to do good. 4 He plans wickedness upon his bed; He sets himself on a path that is not good; He does not despise evil. 5 Your lovingkindness, O LORD, extends to the heavens, Your faithfulness reaches to the skies. 6 Your righteousness is like the mountains of God; Your judgments are like a great deep. O LORD, You preserve man and beast. 7 How precious is Your lovingkindness, O God! And the children of men take refuge in the shadow of Your wings. 8 They drink their fill of the abundance of Your house; And You give them to drink of the river of Your delights. 9 For with You is the fountain of life; In Your light we see light. 10 O continue Your lovingkindness to those who know You, And Your righteousness to the upright in heart. 11 Let not the foot of pride come upon me, And let not the hand of the wicked drive me away. 12 There the doers of iniquity have fallen; They have been thrust down and cannot rise. Psalm 36:1-12 (NASB)

When I grew up on the south side of Chicago, I was definitely on the wrong track. (I just wanted to make that clear form the start.) There were certain “rites of passage” in our circles. Well, they weren't really “rites,” but we always tried to impress our “brothers” or “friends.” What I experienced wasn't real organized and I didn't really want to do outrageous things, but you just had to do something that impressed the others, so you could be part of the “group.” We see the same things as we minister to gangs or motorcycle clubs. There are certain things a person must do to “earn” membership in that club or gang. There are certain “badges” of honor. Let me be clear. They won't get a badge for walking a little old lady across the street. The “badges” are usually a testimony of an illegal or imoral act. As I look at this psalm, and as I look back at my “heathen” days and as I look at the people we minister to, I can't help but agree with Ecclesiastes 1:9. After declaring that everything in the world is vanity, Solomon tells us in Ecclesiastes 1:9, “That which has been is that which will be, And that which has been done is that which will be done. So there is nothing new under the sun.”

Here, we see that transgression speaks to the ungodly in his heart. There is no fear of God in his heart. Sin has blinded him and all he can think of is new ways to sin. And when someone finds out their sin, they seem to throw their shoulders back, hold their heads up and say, “Yep, that's me!”, as if he did something good. What's wrong with us??? It's the nature of our hearts. While the world system tries to tell us that we're all good and we just got to find that “good” in our hearts, the Bible tells us clearly that nothing good dwells in our hearts. In fact, Jeremiah 17:9 tells us that the heart is deceptive above all things. Rather than to “follow our hearts” and yield to its leading, we are told in the Word of God to guard our hearts and fill our hearts with the treasure of God's Word and follow God's leading.

Yes, we are hopeless... but God!!! The first four verses talk about the wicked, those who refuse to trust in God. There are also those who have convinced themselves that if they walk into a house of God, lightning will strike and the building will fall down. I don't think so!!! Even satan isn't powerful enough in evil to make God's house fall down. Who do you think you are? The truth is that God's lovingkindness, His unfathomable mercy, His Love is more than enough to show us the foolishness of our own ways and the goodness of His. Taking shelter in Him is to find the abundance of a Loving Father, whose great desire is just to love and bless His children. But it is our choice. We can choose to follow God and take shelter in Him and we find a fountain of life. Or we can choose to follow our own wicked ways and when we fall... oh well! A fountain of death... It's our choice... choose God

Monday, November 23, 2020