David continues in his morning prayer expressing confidence in God in two ways: (1) The wicked cannot abide with God, and (2) he can approach God and is able to worship God in reverence, thus, “I will bow down towards your holy temple in the fear of you.” How is David able to have this assurance considering his own sinful past (e.g. covetousness, adultery, murder, etc… 2 Sam 11:2-5, 14-27)? Here are few thoughts we’ll explore in this devotional:
The Wicked. The Bible teaches that God’s judgment and wrath hangs over the unbeliever. In this text, David offers some reasons why such as they:
(a) Delight in wickedness (presumptuous)
(b) Are boastful
(c) Traffic in lies
(d) Murderous (bloodthirsty)
(e) Practice deceit
Psalm 73 describes them in this way, “Therefore their pride is their necklace; violence covers them as a garment. (7) Their eyes swell out through fatness; their hearts overflow with follies. (8) They scoff and speak malice; loftily they threaten oppression. (9) They set their mouths against the heavens, and their tongue struts through the earth” (Ps 73:6-9). Additionally, Solomon agrees when he offers the following observation, “For they cannot sleep unless they have done wrong; they are robbed of sleep unless they have made someone stumble. For they eat the bread of wickedness and drink the wine of violence” (Prv 4:16-17). In the final analysis without a redemptive intervention of God, they have no future and hope.
Justified Sinners. Like David, we all had various forms and degrees of sin in our past and still wrestle with daily sin. Prior to salvation, we shared the same standing before God as the wicked that is described by David in this focus text of this devotional. In his letter to the churches in Ephesus, Paul highlights this truth in this way, “And you were dead in the trespasses and sins (2) in which you once walked, following the course world of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the ones of disobedience – (3) among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind” (Eph 2:1-3). What distinguishes us from the wicked? Christ is the difference! His death and resurrection changed our identity and hope before the Father for we are no longer children of wrath. He has conveyed us from the domain of darkness into the kingdom of God. We received the blessing upon blessing being granted forgiveness of our sins, “Blessed is the one whose transgressions is forgiven, whose sin is covered. (2) Blessed is the man against whom the Lord counts no iniquity, and in whose spirit there is no deceit” (Ps 32:1-2). “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness” (1 Jn 1:8).
We come to the Father, acknowledging our sins, and receive mercy and forgiveness that gives us access to the fellowship and salvation of the Lord. Therefore in this focus text, when David differentiates himself from the wicked, he does not boast in his own righteous works as if that gave him merit or salvific fellowship with Father, instead he accents the mercy of God towards him, thus, “But I, through the abundance of your steadfast love, will enter your house.” In light of the riches of his grace we have received, here are some things we encourage you to pray over, meditate on, and act upon this week:
- God recompenses the wicked. Our primary focus in life as Christian is not “screaming at the darkness” found in the world and in people. We can trust in the character of God to carry out justice and repay the wicked in HIS appointed season. Why? David reminds us that God does not delight in wickedness, he will not abide (dwell) with evil, he will not endure their prideful heart before him (forever), and he hates evil more than we can ever imagine. He has not allowed wrongdoing to go unanswered from heaven. Jesus is his response (cf. Ps 2) for at the core of God’s heart is to grant mercy and grace to sinners. Upon his Second return, no mercy will be available for those who rejected his Son. On that day, the wicked will perish before him.
- Pray for the lost. Remember, you and I have no buckets of mud we can sling at the wicked. Even those we observed to have committed great and egregious sins, without Christ our standing before God was the same as theirs. If we are unable to embrace this truth, we fail to understand the depth of our sin nature in all its depravity before Holy God. Grace and mercy we have received should compel our hearts to empty ourselves of thoughts and desires that people be condemned. Instead, we pray that all people be saved and come to the knowledge of the truth. We pray that the veil that the devil has cast upon all non-believers be removed so that the light of the Gospel, which is the glory of Christ, might shine upon them freeing them from a life of sin and granting them a future hope instead of eternal destruction. We desire a heart like our Father that holds out until the last possible moment before sending his Son to return so that his Great Banquet will be full of believers in heaven (Lk 14:12-24).
Out of abundance of God’s steadfast love, let us approach God with assurance and a heart of reverence. We place our trust in an unchanging God who will have the final say in all matters of life and eternity.
Blessings,
Dr. Jason S. Price, Th.D
www.springoflivingwaters.com