Psalm 124
1 If it had not been the LORD who was on our side, now may Israel say;
2 If it had not been the LORD who was on our side, when men rose up against us:
3 Then they had swallowed us up quick, when their wrath was kindled against us:
4 Then the waters had overwhelmed us, the stream had gone over our soul:
5 Then the proud waters had gone over our soul.
6 Blessed be the LORD, who hath not given us as a prey to their teeth.
7 Our soul is escaped as a bird out of the snare of the fowlers: the snare is broken, and we are escaped.
8 Our help is in the name of the LORD, who made heaven and earth.
This passage of Scripture was a comfort to my heart a few mornings ago, so I wanted to write more about it. Although we must understand that this passage is written from the context of Israel and therefore directly applies to the different times in Israel's history when God supernaturally intervened to save them apart from their own strength (Exodus 15.1, Isaiah 37, etc.), there is an obvious application to us... the Church.
Honestly, "if it had not been for the LORD who was on our side" how in the world would we ever make it through anything? ...especially through the things that are difficult? As this world becomes darker and darker it has become more evidently clear to me that I cannot make myself, in this flesh and without the help of God, better in God's eyes. Anything that teaches that we can make ourselves better people apart from the help of God it a total lie. Paul says in Romans 7.18, "For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwelleth no good thing: for to will is present with me; but how to perform that which is good I find not." As sinful humans, we have the true and honest desire to be better, to do the right thing, to follow everything that is considered holy ...but our flesh does not have the power to follow through unto these "righteous" desires as a consistent pattern of life. If our flesh could follow through on our desires as a consistent pattern of life then we would be able to attain our own salvation without the help of God, without the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ, and without being born again into the body of Christ ...and thus, God would be a liar.
...BUT praise be to God that He has helped us and given us a way to not live in our flesh! When a person realizes that there is nothing that we can do in our own works to make make our standing before God anything better, understand that without the sacrifice of God in the flesh on the cross for the sins of the whole world there would be no chance for any way to be made available to repent from our sinful ways and turn wholly unto God, and then willfully submits their life to the Lord Jesus Christ as their Saviour and Lord of all... they have then crucified their sinful flesh, crucified themselves from the world, crucified the world from themselves, and have become a new creature that now has the power to live each day in a holy, righteous, and God-pleasing way as a consistent pattern of life.
1 If it had not been the LORD who was on our side, now may Israel say;
2 If it had not been the LORD who was on our side, when men rose up against us:
3 Then they had swallowed us up quick, when their wrath was kindled against us:
4 Then the waters had overwhelmed us, the stream had gone over our soul:
5 Then the proud waters had gone over our soul.
6 Blessed be the LORD, who hath not given us as a prey to their teeth.
7 Our soul is escaped as a bird out of the snare of the fowlers: the snare is broken, and we are escaped.
8 Our help is in the name of the LORD, who made heaven and earth.
This passage of Scripture was a comfort to my heart a few mornings ago, so I wanted to write more about it. Although we must understand that this passage is written from the context of Israel and therefore directly applies to the different times in Israel's history when God supernaturally intervened to save them apart from their own strength (Exodus 15.1, Isaiah 37, etc.), there is an obvious application to us... the Church.
Honestly, "if it had not been for the LORD who was on our side" how in the world would we ever make it through anything? ...especially through the things that are difficult? As this world becomes darker and darker it has become more evidently clear to me that I cannot make myself, in this flesh and without the help of God, better in God's eyes. Anything that teaches that we can make ourselves better people apart from the help of God it a total lie. Paul says in Romans 7.18, "For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwelleth no good thing: for to will is present with me; but how to perform that which is good I find not." As sinful humans, we have the true and honest desire to be better, to do the right thing, to follow everything that is considered holy ...but our flesh does not have the power to follow through unto these "righteous" desires as a consistent pattern of life. If our flesh could follow through on our desires as a consistent pattern of life then we would be able to attain our own salvation without the help of God, without the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ, and without being born again into the body of Christ ...and thus, God would be a liar.
...BUT praise be to God that He has helped us and given us a way to not live in our flesh! When a person realizes that there is nothing that we can do in our own works to make make our standing before God anything better, understand that without the sacrifice of God in the flesh on the cross for the sins of the whole world there would be no chance for any way to be made available to repent from our sinful ways and turn wholly unto God, and then willfully submits their life to the Lord Jesus Christ as their Saviour and Lord of all... they have then crucified their sinful flesh, crucified themselves from the world, crucified the world from themselves, and have become a new creature that now has the power to live each day in a holy, righteous, and God-pleasing way as a consistent pattern of life.
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