By Arul Gaspar
Our Lord Jesus Christ talks about the detrimental effect of money and its influence in life. When the worldy acquire wealth, they consider themselves powerful, high, and important in the society. The sense of self-importance grips them so that they cannot think about anything but themselves all the time. They view everything from their point of view. Wherethey don’t get due attention, there you don’t find them. They are, in fact bound by such pseudo nature to live out their experiences.
Who has been engraved on the palms of His hands? And whose walls are continually before the Lord God? Why would God strengthen His subjects with such words? What made the Lord God utter such words of encouragement? What was His people’s condition for such an amazing life lesson? What can we learn from this verse? What could be our response to this encouragement? Is there any gospel of truth in this verse?
Salvation belongs to God alone and nothing can save a sinner from his present evil. How can a dead person respond to somebody’s call? No one can revive the dead person except God and His call. As for the saved person, the ultimate refuge is the Lord Jesus. He is the final authority of our souls, and we do not have any problem with the physical world but Satan. Paul states, “For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places“ (Ephesians 6:12 ESV). David affirms his safety in God telling, “Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; … and I shall dwell in the house of the LORD forever” (Psalm 23:4, 6 ESV). We cannot do anything in the world to ward off the evil system, but our God should strengthen us so that we resist the evil by His grace and journey with the Lord Jesus to be with Him forever.
We need to take note of our God’s two vital attributes: “steadfast love and faithfulness.” God’s love for the world was best demonstrated by giving His only Son, Jesus Christ to the world. He came to the world to save sinners. Whoever believes his name and have faith in his finished work on the cross of Calvary will be saved and his or her name will be written in the lamb’s book of life.
Our God’slove for us, the saved ones is unchanging because Jesus Christ leads us into righteousness. He, infact urges us to seek the kingdom of God first, instead the basic amenities: food, shelter and clothing. Whether we understand his everlasting love or not, He is not affected by anything in the world, but the Lord Jesus Christ stands by His promises. Thus God’s love is unchanging in the changing world wherein our feelings and emotion fluctuate. God’s unending love is determined by His Word alone. The Lord God restates the condition of the king Saul telling, “but my steadfast love will not depart from him, as I took it from Saul, whom I put away from before you” (2 Samuel 7:15 ESV). It is a matter of faithfulness, humility, and obedience to God’s Word alone.
Our Lord is once again faithful to His promises. The holy God of Israel says, “All these things my hand has made, and so all these things came to be, declares the LORD. But this is the one to whom I will look: he who is humble and contrite in spirit and trembles at my word“ (Isaiah 66:2 ESV). Here we see how our God is so faithful to look at a person who trembles at His Word alone. The person who revers, obeys, and trembles at His Word is privileged. All the creatures look at God for His favour, but our God looks at a person who literally applies His Word in his everydayness.
Questions:
The term “scorn” refers to utter despise, disrespect, dishonour, makinging sport of somebody or something, laughing and mocking at someone, derision, disgrace, and contempt. King David warns us about such people telling “Happy is the man who does not go in the company of sinners, or take his place in the way of evil-doers, or in the seat of those who do not give honour to the Lord“ (Psalm 1:1 BBE). When a person is ignorant of God and His righteousness, there is an opportunity for him or her to respond to the gospel of Christ. If the same person dishonours the gospel of truth, it will be very difficult to get saved and escape the eternal condemnation. Many in the Bible in the past dishonoured the Lord God and lost God’s presence and their gift of salvation.
Paul in his letter to Thessalonians states:
[9] The coming of the lawless one is by the activity of Satan with all power and false signs and wonders, [10] and with all wicked deception for those who are perishing, because they refused to love the truth and so be saved. [11] Therefore God sends them a strong delusion, so that they may believe what is false, [12] in order that all may be condemned who did not believe the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness. … (2 Thessalonians 2: 9-11 ESV) Here a certain mass of people has the heart to refuse to embrace the gospel of Christ and walk in the light of truth. The crowd mentioned here is not willing to obey the Lord Jesus and believe His Word and this rebellious act results in God’s eternal condemnation. And such so called believers are in love with unrighteousness and they believe in false teaching or doctrine to the very extent. It is nothing but a scornful attitude toward God and His righteousness, faithfulness, and truth.
King Solomon is of the view that we should be joyful and do good in our earthly life. The Psalmist says, “Happy is the man who does not go in the company of sinners, or take his place in the way of evil-doers, or in the seat of those who do not give honour to the Lord. But whose delight is in the law of the Lord, and whose mind is on his law day and night“ (Psalm 1:1-2 BBE). David, the father of Solomon in his songs of worship writes about the condition of a happy person. It is possible to be happy in the world, when we are not part of any sin or evil, but we bring glory to the Lord Jesus Christ through our obedience to His Word. How come it is possible to be happy with our sinfulness and evil attitudes? Cain couldn’t be happy, because his corebeing was corrupted by anger and jealousy. His evil thinking drove him to get indulged in wrong doing (Gen. 4:5-7 BBE). Cain failed to give honor to God and he could not delight in God’s counsel and his mind was on a murdurous act. It all resulted in wandering and abandoning God’s righteousness, faithfulness, and presence.
The Psalmist confesses that the Lord God leades and teaches those who are humble in His sight. First, the Lord Jesus walks along with the person who believes in His Word and obeys His commands. Whoever accepts Jesus Christ as his or her personal Saviour and embraces the gospel of Christ, he or she has the great privilege to be His own. This sense of belonging in Christ makes the person walk in the light of the truth over a period of time. It is a journey to the biblical and spiritual in accordance with the Scriptures.
The Scriptural walk gives the follower of Christ a sense of humility and faithfulness. It offers the joy of Salvation. As the Lord Jesus says, “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life” (John 3:16 ESV). Thus God provides us with a sense of humility and teaches us further what is right and godly. He alone leades us into all righteousness. And we are just to submit ourselves to Christ and glorify His name alone.
When our Lord God dwells among us, we have the assurance of salvation, we have His unconditional love and joy, and our life overflows with songs of worship, thankfulness, and deliverance.