What
more can be learned from these first handful of verses of the second Psalm?
It
is clear upon reading the first four verses of Psalm 2 that the kings and
rulers of the earth raged and plotted and conspired because they no longer
wanted to be accountable to God, and desired to declare their independence from
Him. Whether consciously or unconsciously many an individual is guilty of the
selfsame plotting and scheming against God as the rulers of the earth are.
Just
look around, and you’ll see this spirit taking hold not only of nations, but of
churches, and individuals, wherein they no longer want to be associated with
the Christ, they no longer want to declare their loyalty to Him, they just want
to be free to do as they desire.
In
the end, this is what declaring one’s independence from God really means. It
means that the decision was consciously made to remove oneself from beneath
God’s covering and protection, just so they could do as they please, live as
they please, and act as they please without that nagging feeling of God’s eye
upon them.
Seeing
as this pertains to those who desire independence from God, I wanted to look at
this verse from a different angle to see how it might pertain to those of us
who will choose faithfulness, and obedience, and devotion to God no matter how
many choose to attempt to do away with Him.
It
is inevitable and logical that life for those of us desiring to live for truth
will grow harder and harder, because the more men hate God and turn their
hearts against Him, the more they will persecute His true servants and do what
they can to do away with them as well.
The
world cannot hate God and love us. If God’s nature is in us, if the Spirit of
God is indwelling in our hearts and as servants of the most High we strive to
be more like Jesus, the world will inevitably associate us with the God they
hate and hate us just as passionately as it hates Him.
This
is why I find it troublesome when the world falls in love with one or another
of our preachers and embraces him and elevates him and praises him as an oasis
of reason amidst a sea of irrationality.
Men
today will try anything except for submitting to God and obeying Him. Even the
most outlandish plans are tried by those desperate enough to resort to
desperate measures, but when someone has the insight to say that perhaps the
remedy for what ails us lies in turning back toward the God we abandoned, the
reaction is swift and violent.
What
the world today fails to understand is that true freedom is achieved through
submission and not through rebellion.
Other
than seeing that God hears, is engaged, and is neither indifferent nor too busy
to care, what more can we perceive and understand of His nature and His
glorious attributes?
Even
though God laughs, it is not because someone told a funny joke, or because He
saw something amusing, his laugh is not one of mirth, but one of derision and
irony as He beholds the rulers of the earth attempting to counsel together
against Him.
God
is not perturbed by the noises of the squeaky wheels, or by their exaggerated
fist shaking at His expense. Seeing how animated some people get protesting the
notion of God, or trying to convince others of God’s nonexistence, you’d think
they thought they were hurting God’s feelings by how angry they are.
God
laughs when kings and rulers plot against him, never mind some infinitesimally
less relevant twenty something who thinks they are edgy because they hold up
some sign or another. They scream and wave and shake their fists, and God
laughs holding them in derision.
In
his rebellion man desires to make God in his own image, and in a vivid show of
madness begins to demand that the one true God act and react in accordance with
the image they created. Many do the same with the Word of God, not seeing what
it says, but seeing what they want it to say, and when you hear some men try to
explain a simple, straightforward Biblical passage that they've reinterpreted
through the prism of their own understanding, you can’t help but stand there
and scratch your head wondering just how they were able to get to where they
got based on the verses they’d just quoted.
Have
you ever, perchance heard an individual say ‘I don’t feel that’s really a sin,’
even though the Bible clearly says it is? If you have, then you've just
witnessed someone declaring their independence from God.
We
submit to God in all things not just some things. We obey His Word not only
when it suits our interests or when it is in harmony with how we’d like God to
act in a certain instance, but even when it’s detrimental to our flesh or we
might suffer loss because of it.
With love in Christ,
Michael Boldea Jr.
4 comments:
Am in total agreement with what you have written.
I understand that Psa. 2 refers to the " heathen" but the apostate church is doing the same thing in spite of more intimate knowledge of our LORD and Savior.
In Hosea God goes into great detail about how He has loved Israel. He describes a love that includes carefulness for when they were babes/ children, (v 1:1) but they rebelled and served other gods. After all His care for them, feeding them, clothing them, giving them water, sustaining, guiding and protecting them, they cast off what they perceived to be intolerable restraint for the "freedom"
( actually bondage ) of other gods to pursue their own way, their own counsel and their sin.
God's love always includes chastening
( Heb. 12:6 ) but they would not submit to it. In Hos. 11: 3-4 we see that The Lord is referring to Israel as a child ,if you will, that He holds by the arms so they can learn to "walk" in His precepts, his laws, his statutes, but again they fail to recognize that their progress and blessing is because of His law giving them protection, and, yes,restraining them from evil/sin.They refused to recognize Him ( as the "church" does today in many circles)for anything except what they could get from Him in the way of provision of food or relief from labor. (V 4 b) Psalm 78 again goes into great detail about their problem of submitting to God with their (our,for we are no different.) whole heart.
Matthew 11:28-30 tells us that to be yoked with The Lord is not grievous, but that is not how the world, and apostates choose to view it and so they want to cast off all that His love involves and settles for rebellion that ultimately leads to their eternal destruction, willfully choosing death over life. This may be a poor analogy, but it is like a wife that is loyal,faithful, and caring to a womanizing husband for years, who takes her love for granted to the point that he gives no thought to how he abuses her love until one day he is deserted by his lovers and is ill and desperate for care. However, his long suffering wife has had all she can take and just shakes her head and walks away. He has really not acknowledged his wrong treatment of her and proves it by criticizing her and complaining that " if her love had been real " she would not have left him in his hour of need, never realizing that he is the one who trampled on and destroyed that relationship. She will have him in derision Sad, really sad, isn't it?
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I agree. My family and I struggle with the lack of true fellowship. It is hard to be close to any group of people that depend on their own opinions and intellect. We keep praying that they will open their hearts to God's Word.
Marshall Warren
Brother Michael, your posts always strike me in a powerful way, but this particular message makes me say a hearty "Amen!" If enough people would humble themselves before the LORD and repent of their sins instead of excusing them, perhaps He would be moved to grant mercy even at this late hour. As it is, though, the United States seems to be hurtling headlong toward the same judgment as Sodom and Gomorrah. Please keep writing and speaking the truth! I thank God that we still have at least one courageous shepherd.
In Christ,
Melanie
How can you understand a depraved mind? I think it is inspired by a corrupt heart. A heart that yeilds to temptations of the spirit and grows to crave and love them instead of the things of God will lead someone to lose their mind.
Wishing God would leave you alone is like wishing your parents would stop protecting you. You would really have to hate them to want that. I think is is more like they just have very little faith and concience to begin with maybe.
It is hard to stick with God even when you do believe. That is why I think it would help if other believers could support each other in this effort. It seems believers, as it were, would rather compete for the "most holy" title. If they see a brother fall, they secrety cheer inside and say oh you should have tried harder.
I just think there are a lot of fakes in the church. People who fawn over the words of another strike me this way. Everyone has their own prsim through which they see the light. I don't think there is one miracle word from any preacher that is worthy of being called perfect.
When they get the preacher desring their prasie instead of desiring to connect with people who really are touched by a word, they throw the preacher off track. They he seeks not to spread the truth but to appease the hearts of the flatterers.
People who are full of pride tend to fall for this. That is why humility is a protection for your soul. If you know that you are nothing more than just another blind sheep stumbling along the path with the rest of the herd, you won't feel puffed up by vain flatteries. You will ask yourself what that person is really getting at instead.
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