Psalm 39:10

Verse of the Week – Psalm 39:10

“Remove Your plague from me; Because of the opposition of your hand, I am perishing.” – Psalm 39:10.

David starts out with what appears to be a paradoxical statement in his prayer to God in the first verse. “I will keep watch over my ways so that I do not sin with my tongue; I will keep watch over my mouth as with a muzzle while the wicked are in my presence.” This can be paraphrased, “I said, ‘I will keep silent.’” This seems inconsistent, until we look deeper into the idea of David declaring his intention to keep silent. The Hebrew word for ‘said’ is, אָמַר, pronounced  amar, a verb meaning ‘speaking’, but it also refers to one’s internal thoughts; technically speaking to oneself in your mind. And this is important because David is in a difficult situation. Theologian Adam Clarke puts it this way, speaking for David. “I must be cautious because of my enemies; I must be patient because of my afflictions; I must be watchful over my tongue, lest I offend my God, or give my adversaries any cause to speak evil of me.”

He continues in his prayer. “I was mute and silent, I refused to say even something good, and my pain was stirred up. My heart was hot within me, while I was musing the fire burned; Then I spoke with my tongue:” Psalm 39:2-3. He would not say anything to his enemies that would anger them. His mind became more and more excited, his feelings more and more intense. And even though he attempts to suppress his emotions, they are only more and more enkindled. We see then in verse four he calls out to God.

After this, David prays to God, speaking wisdom from his heart. “LORD, let me know my end, And what is the extent of my days; Let me know how transient I am. Behold, you have made my days like hand widths, And my lifetime as nothing in Your sight; Certainly, all mankind standing is a mere breath. Selah Certainly every person walks around as a fleeting shadow; They certainly make an uproar for nothing; He amasses riches and does not know who will gather them. And now, Lord, for what do I wait? My hope is in You.” Psalm 39:4-7. David’s broke his silence in the best way possible, by his humble prayer to God. He would not speak of his fears and doubts before his enemies, but he would pour them out before His God. Here David asked God for wisdom, specifically, the wisdom to know the shortness and the frailty of his life, that he may know how frail he actually was. He understands since life is so short, the only real meaning of a man or woman’s existence must be in his relationship to God.

Next in the next verse he continues. “Save me from all my wrongdoings; Do not make me an object of reproach for the foolish. “He accepts the fact that his sins are the reason for his troubles and sorrows. If his transgressions were forgiven, he felt assured that his trouble would be removed. His first petition, therefore, was that his sins would be forgiven, believing that it would be consistent and proper for God to remove his troubles and deliver him from the evils he was going through. He recognized his sins were the source of all his troubles. If his transgressions were forgiven, he felt assured that his suffering would end.

Then we come to our -Verse of the Week. “Remove Your plague from me; because of the opposition of your hand, I am perishing.” Psalm 39:10. There is one word in this verse that will help see what David is saying to God, and that word is ‘plague’. This word is not referring to a disease, but an act of discipline, strokes as in a spanking. In the Hebrew language, this seems to be a figure taken from combating gladiators. One is wounded so that he cannot continue fighting. David is unable to maintain the fight, so he gives in and prays for God to spare his life. I am conquered; I can hold the contest no longer. In the next verse, David says, “With rebukes You punish a person for wrongdoing; You consume like a moth what is precious to him; Certainly, all mankind is mere breath! Selah” Psalm 39:11. Because of his sin David was punished.

David has now come to understand the nature of man and his own powerlessness too well not to know that he is incapable of achieving that goal without God’s help. Thus, he prays that God may relieve him from the force of his hand which punished him and presses heavily upon him. We read from chapter 90 the following. “For we have been consumed by Your anger, And we have been terrified by Your wrath.” Psalm 90:7. It is only when the knowledge of the transient nature of man is considered under the aspect of God’s punishment of human guilt that it leads to the realization of that contrast between God and man which imparts to the fact of death the character of an inescapable fate, of God’s judgment on sin.

William Funkhouser MDiv, ThD, Founder and President of True Devotion Ministries.

Psalm 1:1

Verse of the Day Devotion: Psalm 1:1

“How blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked, Nor stand in the path of sinners, nor sit in the seat of scoffers!” – Psalm 1:1  

Psalm chapter 1 to me is a wonderful read.  This looks at the differences of those who follow God, and those who do not.  This verse says how blessed the man is who does not follow the ways of this world but follows the ways of God.  And what are the ways of the world?  First, by walking in the counsel of the wicked rather than the righteous.  He gives ear to the advice of the wicked. He is not at peace with His relationship with God and listens to that which is contrary to His word.

I have seen too many people who niche out their lives, some to their Christian walk, and some to the ways of the world.  I know because I did it myself.  There was my church life, then there was my regular life.  If there was a decision to make, many times I would take the wrong advice down the wrong path.  I would listen to worldly people, and this often did not turn out well.  However, when I became a true Christian, one that lived it as well as professing it, I stopped listening to the world, and I found I was much more at peace.  I did not have to worry about being caught or having to answer to my wrong decisions.  I was truly at peace.

We are not to go and linger in places where ungodly things happen and focus our attention on what is going on.  If we come across a place like this, or people who live in ungodly ways, we should be willing to present the truth of the gospel to them and help them turn their lives to God.  But we should not go somewhere and participate in their worldly ways.  This destroys the light we want to shine in the darkness, and our witness to the unsaved.

And we are not to participate in mocking or derision of others.  Especially where we do it regarding people who are leaders in the church.  We can differ in what we believe, and we can counter those beliefs.  However, we should never deride or mock the people involved.  We are to love them, and how can we say we love them if we speak evil of them?  And why would they listen to us when endeavoring to help them understand the truth when they see our mocking?

We must not listen to the wicked, participate in the activities of sinners or join in mocking of those we disagree with.  Aside from these activities being wrong or sin, we can instead live a blessed life which is pleasing to God, where we can be at peace because we are living a life of love and not animosity.  “Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body; and be thankful.” Colossians 3:15. We can do this only by following the words of the psalmist in our focus verse.  “How blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked, nor stand in the path of sinners, nor sit in the seat of scoffers!”  Psalm 1:1

William Funkhouser MDiv, ThD, Founder and President of True Devotion Ministries, Inc.

Isaiah 55:7

Verse of the Day Devotion Isaiah 55:7  

“Let the wicked forsake his way, And the unrighteous man his thoughts; And let him return to the LORD, And He will have compassion on him; And to our God, For He will abundantly pardon.” – Isaiah 55:7

When we look at the verse just prior to our focus verse, we see Isaiah’s call to His people to become more diligent in their relationship with God.  “Seek the LORD while He may be found; Call upon Him while He is near.” Isaiah 55:6.  Isaiah tells us to seek God while God allows Himself to be found.  Back then at the time of the writing of the Book of Isaiah, as well as now, God can be found because He is near.  We can call out to Him and He will hear us and we can cry out to Him for mercy while repenting of our sins, and He will answer and forgive us.  For when the Messiah comes for His people, this time will be gone.

Now in our focus verse, the writer says that one of the things that a wicked person must do when drawing near to God is to forsake their evil ways, their evil thoughts, and their evil plans. The verb “forsake” is traditionally translated as a continuation of God’s invitation expressed in a mildly commanding wish or desire, in this case, let the wicked forsake his way. The act of forsaking past ways and thoughts involves the rejection of these behaviors and a decisive break from past beliefs, assumptions, priorities, and plans. Of course it is not always easy to separate instantly from past friends, past ways of doing things, or a past philosophy of life. The second verb encourages the audience to “turn” to God after they have turned away from their past wicked life. This requires a transformation of the mind and heart by the Spirit of God. The plans of God may require his people to give up their dreams, change jobs, and move to live in another place, but the person who truly turns to God wants to serve him and eagerly desires to follow his direction. This request to return to the Lord is a spiritual change of the will and a person’s thinking. This is a turning to follow God. 

And the results of this forsaking of an old evil way of thinking and accepting a new godly perspective is that God will have compassion and will freely pardon those who respond. Although it is clear that God will have mercy on those who repent, it would be wrong to draw the conclusion that repentance is required before God can show mercy on anyone. That would almost suggest that certain works of faith automatically produce or earn for the believer a gracious divine response. Yet, many passages speak of God’s love and compassion for sinful people, so it is clear that various aspects of God’s mercy happen both before and after repentance, though no human acts can earn God’s grace. As an example, “I permitted Myself to be sought by those who did not ask for Me; I permitted Myself to be found by those who did not seek Me. I said, ‘Here am I, here am I,’ To a nation which did not call on My name.  I have spread out My hands all day long to a rebellious people, Who walk in the way, which is not good, following their own thoughts,” Isaiah 65:1-2.  

God is calling us to come to Him, seek Him while He may be found, and call upon Him while He is near.  We have time now, therefore we should go to Him in humility and ask forgiveness and turn from those ways that are against the calling of Christ in our lives.  We must go to Him and if there is anything we do or think that is not pleasing to God, we must forsake those ways and fall in line with what God desires of us.  And what is the outcome of truly doing this, returning to the Lord and His ways? He shall have abundant mercy on us and will pardon us.  God is ready with compassion and abundant pardon in His hands that a way has been found and that those who will turn around from their rebellion, confess their sin, and accept the sin offering of the Servant may have something infinitely better than restoration in Judah, which is restoration to God. “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish, but have eternal life.” John 3:16.

William Funkhouser MDiv, ThD, Founder and President of True Devotion Ministries.

2 Chronicles 7:14

Verse of the Day Devotion: 2 Chronicles 7:14 

“If my people who are called by my name humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and heal their land.” – 2 Chronicles 7:14       

This verse takes place upon the completion of the Temple by Solomon, after which God appears to him.  “Thus Solomon finished the house of the LORD and the king’s house. All that Solomon had planned to do in the house of the LORD and in his own house he successfully accomplished.  Then the LORD appeared to Solomon in the night and said to him: “I have heard your prayer and have chosen this place for myself as a house of sacrifice.” 2 Chronicles 7:11-12. 

At this point, God tells Solomon how they were to address difficult times due to wrongdoing.  We see this idea in verse 13 where God speaks of when national judgement comes.  “When I shut up the heavens so that there is no rain, or command the locust to devour the land, or send pestilence among my people,”  2 Chronicles 7:13.  He would no doubt do these things only in order to bring His people back to the ways of righteousness.  Let us look at what this focus verse says and apply it to us when we go through hard times because we turn from God.

The first thing He says is who this verse applies to.  To those who are His.  Those who are called by His name.  In our time those are Christians.  They are the new Jerusalem, Gods people.  It is not speaking here to those who are not Christians.  Yes, they do need to come to Him, giving up their old lives and committing themselves to Christ.  However, this verse speaks to those who have already given themselves to Him. 

And now are we to approach Him when we stumble?  We are to go to Him in humility, humbling ourselves before Him.  We are to bow before Him, acknowledging we have sinned against Him, putting aside any pride or arrogance we may have, recognizing that it was us who decided to sin, no matter what came our way that led us in that direction.  The only two reasons we can honestly give is we either have not studied His Word to see it is wrong, or we choose to do wrong.  Therefore, we are to come to Him in humility understanding we are totally at fault.  Next, in our humility, we are to pray and seek His face.  We must go to Him and acknowledge what we have done and ask Him to forgive us.  And it must come from the depths of our being, not simply saying the words believing this will make things OK.  And we must commit to turn away from our wicked ways, truthfully working toward removing these evil ways from our lives. 

And when we do all this, with complete honesty from the depths of our heart, He will see this and hear our heart crying out to Him and will forgive us and heal whatever difficulties came forth from what we did.  It is important that we do not only go through the motions but truly are repentant and broken because of our sin.  When we do this, then God will truly forgive us and make us whole again.  So I encourage us all to go to Him when we realize we have sinned and humbly confess them to God in reality and humility.  God desires us to come before Him this way, and He will make good on this promise when we do.

William Funkhouser MDiv, ThD, Founder and President of True Devotion Ministries. 

Psalm 37:7

Verse of the Day Devotion: Psalm 37:7 

“Rest in the LORD and wait patiently for Him; Do not fret because of him who prospers in his way, Because of the man who carries out wicked schemes.” – Psalm 37:7 

This verse comes from a psalm of David.  In verse 1 we see the following.  “Do not fret because of evildoers, Be not envious toward wrongdoers.” Psalm 37:1.  The Hebrew word translated ‘FRET’ can be defined as a burning anger, displeasure, grief or jealousy.  Therefore the idea of verse one is do not be angry or jealous because of evil doers.  The writer of Proverbs has the same basic words in chapter 24.  “Do not fret because of evildoers Or be envious of the wicked.” Proverbs 24:19.  This general idea is important because if we fret over an evildoer’s success, what good will it do us?  In a word, nothing. It will only cause us to stress out and focus on them rather than God.  And we may ask the question why him and not me?  God has His plans and they are good.  Therefore, do we trust Him in this or not?  That should be the question we ask.

So how does God say we should respond to this situation?  Our focus verse gives us this answer.  “Rest in the LORD and wait patiently for Him; Do not fret because of him who prospers in his way, Because of the man who carries out wicked schemes.” Psalm 37:7.  We are to sit back and be patient.   The Hebrew word translated ‘REST’ means to be mute , silent, and still.  The idea behind the phrase “Rest in the Lord” is to be silent to Jehovah.  Another way to put it is, be silent and leave the whole matter with God without being anxious as to the result.

A great example of this is Daniel.  If you remember, King Darius was tricked into signing a statute “that anyone who makes a petition to any god or man besides you, O king, for thirty days, shall be cast into the lions’ den.” Daniel 6:7b.  Now notice verse 10.  “Now when Daniel knew that the document was signed, he entered his house (now in his roof chamber he had windows open toward Jerusalem); and he continued kneeling on his knees three times a day, praying and giving thanks before his God, as he had been doing previously.” Daniel 6:10. Daniel was going to pray to God no matter what.  The commissioners, those who convinced Darius to sign the edict, found him praying and forced Darius to be thrown in the lion’s den.  The next day. Darius goes near the Den and finds Daniel alive and well.  Daniel then explains how. “My God sent His angel and shut the lions’ mouths and they have not harmed me, inasmuch as I was found innocent before Him; and also toward you, O king, I have committed no crime.” Daniel 6:22. 

Daniel knew they had evil motives against him, but he proceeded as he normally would, in peace.  And in situations as these we should as well.  Anytime we see evil people succeeding where we are not but wish we were, we need to trust God and faithfully await the day when this ends.  For though they appear to succeed now, it will not always be so.  “For evildoers will be cut off, But those who wait for the LORD, they will inherit the land. Yet a little while and the wicked man will be no more; And you will look carefully for his place and he will not be there. But the humble will inherit the land And will delight themselves in abundant prosperity.” Psalm 37:9-11.  We need to trust God knowing that those who remail evildoers will one day be no more, and we who trust God shall inherit the land and have abundant prosperity.  We shall have eternal joy and peace,  they will not.  Trust God that all will be better.  Remember, it is better to have temporary pain and eternal prosperity, then to have temporary prosperity and eternal pain.

William Funkhouser MDiv, ThD, Founder and President of True Devotion Ministries.