"Return to your rest, O my soul, For the LORD has dealt bountifully with you. For You have delivered my soul from death, My eyes from tears, And my feet from falling. I will walk before the LORD In the land of the living.
I believed, therefore I spoke, 'I am greatly afflicted.'
I said in my haste, 'All men are liars.'
What shall I render to the LORD For all His benefits toward me? I will take up the cup of salvation, And call upon the name of the LORD. I will pay my vows to the LORD Now in the presence of all His people. Precious in the sight of the LORD Is the death of His saints. O LORD, truly I am Your servant; I am Your servant, the son of Your maidservant; You have loosed my bonds. I will offer to You the sacrifice of thanksgiving, And will call upon the name of the LORD. I will pay my vows to the LORD Now in the presence of all His people," - Psalms 116:7-18 NKJV
The Hebrew word there for 'in my haste' is Chaphaz (Strong's H2648) and it means to flee in panic or be working up into a frenzy.
'All men are liars.' is a true statement... but a hasty one. If we live there and that is our confession it will only produce a thirst in us. If we live life continually defining problems that have no solution we will be worked into a frenzy that is exhausting.
People are out for themselves and wrong about many things.
God sees what thirst produces. It produces a need to serve... a need to rise above the lies. But God does not want a servant who is vexed by men. He does not want servants at all. He wants friends. If we love Him we will think with Him and thinking in humility gives us many things including the heart of a servant.
God says 'Take something from my hand and drink what I have already given you that will satisfy you and then be among my people. Take in my grace together with them and see what the cup does to people who started out as liars.'
If we keep drinking what men have to offer us we will only grow more thirsty. The facts alone are going to kill us. Having our eyes on men and God will keep us double minded and on a yo-yo of blessing and frustration.
If we want to 'serve God' the only way we can is by receiving salvation from His hand in a single minded God conscious way. It pleases God when we take what He is giving us. Our haste turns to rest. Our vexation turns to thanksgiving.
"And Jesus said unto them, I am the bread of life: he that cometh to me shall never hunger; and he that believeth on me shall never thirst." - John 6:35 KJV
"But whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life." - John 4:14 KJV
Today we may come face to face with mankind's great contradictions. If not today then sometime soon... they are all around us. We have a great provision... let's not just settle for a definition of the problem... let's take what God freely gives and live in the satisfaction of the solution.
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Observing humanity is like standing on the shore and gazing at the ocean. Observe but don't go and drink that salty water. It will only produce thirst.
ReplyDeleteI am not saying we ignore things. The great needs and contradictions or the world drive us to our knees in prayer and cause us to grieve because of the great afflictions that contradictions cause in society.
We just can't drink from that water. We have an enclosed garden with a protected spring. That is where we go to get nourishment.