Month: April 2014

Psalm 103:8
“The LORD is merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and plenteous in mercy.”

Two of the greatest attributes of God are mercy and grace. If God were not merciful and gracious towards us, we would be in a heap of trouble. It is only God’s mercy that keeps us from burning in Hell, and it is His grace that offered us salvation. Yet, the mercy and grace of God does not stop at salvation. When studying Psalm 103, you see that mercy and grace are constantly at work in our lives. Let me show you how they work and how you can use them in your personal life with others.

First, mercy and grace cause God to be “slow to anger.” Imagine how angry God would be with us if His mercy and grace didn’t cause him to be “slow to anger.” You need to be sure that you let mercy and grace help you not to be quickly angered with others. If married couples are going to keep their marriage strong with a happy atmosphere, then they need to let mercy and grace cause them to be slow to anger. Don’t be quick to jump on your spouse when they do wrong. Parents, don’t be so quick to be angry with your children. Pastors, be slow to anger with Christians who are not growing as fast as you would like. Leaders, let mercy and grace curb your anger when your followers do wrong. Every individual, no matter what category of life they fall in, needs to practice mercy and grace when others do them wrong.

Second, mercy and grace causes the punishment to end. Verse 9 says, “He will not always chide: neither will he keep his anger for ever.” Aren’t you glad that God ends the penalty when we do wrong? Likewise, you need to be sure to end the penalty with others when they do wrong. It is not good to continually hold something over the head of someone when they have done wrong. The penalty has to end at some point. To continually punish someone because they did something five or ten years ago is simply not allowing mercy and grace to work. Let the punishment end! Stop holding a grudge against someone because of what they did in the past. Move on and let mercy and grace work in your life.

Third, mercy and grace doesn’t deal with people according to their sins. Verse 10 shows us that God deals with us according to His grace and mercy and not according to our sins. Friend, apply mercy and grace to the individual who has done wrong. In other words, don’t always mistrust someone just because they did wrong. Let your mental attitude towards people be one that you deal with them as if they had never done wrong.

Fourth, mercy and grace allow people to have a bad day. Verse 14 says, “For he knoweth our frame; he remembereth that we are dust.” This is so important to the health of any relationship. You must give people a chance to have a bad day. Don’t be quick to judge and punish someone because they did one thing wrong. Let mercy and grace govern your emotions and help you not to be cross with others all the time. Realize they are human, and humans will have a bad day.

I am not condoning sin, neither am I saying that we should sweep sin under the carpet. I am saying that we need to be merciful and gracious to others so they have a chance to grow. It is the mercy and grace of God that gives us the opportunity to grow. You will never see others grow into a better person without letting mercy and grace work. As you go throughout your day, let mercy and grace govern how you deal with those who make a mistake.

Psalm 35:11
“False witnesses did rise up; they laid to my charge things that I knew not.”

Everyone at some point in their life will be lied or gossiped about. It is never pleasant to be at the bad end of lies or gossip. Maybe you are going through a divorce and the lies being said about you are far from the truth. Maybe you are the recipient of church gossip that has assumed things about you that simply are not true. Maybe at the workplace someone said something about you that has put your job on the line. It really doesn’t matter what the lies may be, they simply are not true and are destroying your name. Your first response is to retaliate and say things about the false witnesses that will expose them.

We don’t know the story behind the psalm above, but one thing we do know is that David was dealing with people who were saying false things about him. When you read about David’s life, you see that most of his life he truly tried to help people. Yes, he went through a small spell when he attacked others, but that was a very small portion of his life; however, his life was filled with instances when people falsely said things about him that just were not true. David shows us by example how to deal with false witnesses.

First, be friendly towards the false witnesses. Verse 14 says, “I behaved myself as though he had been my friend or brother…” Though these false witnesses were not David’s friends, he treated them as if they were. This will be one of the hardest things to do. When I think of treating someone as a friend, there are several things I do for friends. I pray for friends. I am friendly with friends. I protect friends. These are just some of the things you would do for a friend. When you are dealing with false witnesses, pray for them, be friendly when you see them and don’t ever allow false things to be said about them. When they are maligned, you need to tell the truth.

Second, tell God about your situation. In verse 17, David told God everything. Instead of whining to others about his situation, he told it to the One Who could handle it. Though you will be tempted to tell everyone about the attacks, the best way to handle them is to tell God what others are saying about you. God will take care of them if you will tell Him about it.

Third, act as if nothing happened. In verse 18, you see David in the temple thanking and praising God. He went on with his weekly schedule as if nothing happened. This is truly one of the most important things you can do. Don’t change your weekly routines, but keep doing what you have always done. Don’t come to church later, but keep going to church at the same time. Keep going to the same places you have always frequented, and don’t avoid them just because you know they might be there. Staying in your routine will show that the lies are not going to change who you are and what you do.

Fourth, do right! In verse 24, David asked God to judge him. He could do this because he was doing right though others were not. Don’t lower yourself to the character level of the false witnesses, but keep doing right. Your action to do right in spite of the lies be thrown at you will eventually be the thing that vindicates you.

Friend, you can’t deal with false witnesses. The only one who you can change is yourself. If you will take care of what you are supposed to do and do it right, then God will take care of the lies being said about you and will publicly vindicate you. Wait on God, keep doing right and you will see the lies will eventually be exposed.

Psalm 26:11
“But as for me, I will walk in mine integrity: redeem me, and be merciful unto me.”

One of the most needed traits today is integrity. When you look at political leaders who say one thing on the campaign trail but do another thing once they are elected, you can see the need for integrity. When you see Christians who act and say one thing at church but are completely different when you see them out in the world, you can see the need for integrity. When you see our spiritual leaders say one thing from the pulpit but see their private life revealed in a negative manner, you can see the need for integrity.

Integrity is being honest and having strong moral principles in spite of what is going on around you. David said in the verse above, “I will walk in mine integrity…” When others around David did wrong, he did right. When others around him tried to get him to change, he did right and did not change. So, what does it mean to walk in integrity?

First, walking in integrity means doing right when you are all alone. David said in verse 2, “Examine me, O LORD, and prove me; try my reins and my heart.” David understood that his private life was right. He knew what he thought when he was alone. He knew what he did when he was alone. That is why he told the LORD to examine him and prove him.

Would you want the LORD to examine what you do when your alone? That is the measure of your integrity. Nobody may know your thought life, but you know it and so does God. It doesn’t matter what facade you put on in front of others, it is what you do in private and what your thought life is like that is the true measure of your integrity.

Second, walking in integrity means doing right when you are attacked. Job 27:5 says, “God forbid that I should justify you: till I die I will not remove mine integrity from me.” Job was under the attack of his friends, yet he would not change who he was. The measure of a person’s integrity is how you respond to attack. When others do you wrong, integrity will continue to do right towards them. Integrity does not retaliate, rather it continues to treat the attackers as though they have not attacked. This is not easy, but this is the true measure of integrity.

Third, walking in integrity means to stand alone when others around you do not stand. Daniel 3:18 says, “But if not, be it known unto thee, O king, that we will not serve thy gods, nor worship the golden image which thou hast set up.” This is the story of the three Hebrew children who were given another chance to bow down, but they would not bow even though everyone around them did and though they faced the fire of the furnace. The measure of one’s integrity is truly defined when they must stand alone, and that stand will cost them everything. Too many people today have their finger to the wind trying to discern what the crowd is doing when they need to stand with the Scriptures. It doesn’t matter what others do, the only thing that matters is doing right.

The benefit of walking in integrity is found in Psalm 41:12 that says, “And as for me, thou upholds me in mine integrity, and wettest me before thy face for ever.” The benefit of walking in integrity is that it will carry you through all of these situations. It is what the LORD uses to help you through tough times.

Friend, let me encourage you to do right at all times. Don’t let circumstances dictate your integrity, but do right when your attacked and alone. You may be the only one who stands, but you must realize that as you stand there is a God Who will stand with you. Your integrity is what brings you through your hard times. Be like Job who said, “I will not remove mine integrity from me.”

Proverbs 5:8
“Remove thy way far from her, and come not nigh the door of her house:”

If I told you that behind a certain door was death, I would imagine you would do everything in your power to avoid that door. If death were behind a certain door, you would avoid it, set up danger signs around that door and warn every person not to get near that door. It would not matter how pretty the door would be for you would understand that death will occur if you open that door.

The father in the Book of Proverbs warns his son of such a door. He said in the verse above, “…come not nigh the door of her house:” This father was warning his son about the door of the strange woman. He warned his son that the door of the strange woman was dangerous. He said in verse 5, “Her feet go down to death; her steps take hold on hell.” This father was warning his son that though the strange woman would try to lure him that he was to avoid going through the door to her house, because behind her door were the steps to death.

Friend, this warning is still true today. The door of the strange woman still leads to death. It is sad that we know this to be true, but many open that door only to find the death this father warned about. Though the warning of this door has been trumpeted for hundreds of years, many never learn the lesson and the danger of entering this door.

If the door of the strange woman is so deadly, then who is this strange woman? The word “strange” means foreigner. When God used this word, he is warning us that any person who is not your spouse is strange. Of course, this was a father talking to his son, and that is why he used the phrase “strange woman,” but for the lady any man who is not her husband is a strange man. This “strange” person is not a person of the streets, but it is anyone to whom you are not married.

You must be very careful about how you conduct yourself with the opposite gender. Most people do not commit adultery or fornication with someone they do not know, but it is with someone they know that they commit these wicked sins. It is the person with whom you work or go to church of whom you must be careful. It is the person whom you call your friend of whom you must be careful. It is the person with whom you are closely associated of whom you must be careful. Always be polite and courteous to the opposite gender, but be careful to keep your distance.

The warnings God gives are grave. He says, “her end is bitter as wormwood, sharp as a twoedged sword.” The bitterness this act will bring on your life is great. The pain it brings to you will be hard to heal. The honor you once had will be forever tarnished. The labors over which you toiled will all be in vain.

Friend, don’t be the next casualty! Be careful with your interactions with the opposite gender. Certainly, you can interact, but don’t cross the line and live a life of regret. God gives us the final warning of the door of death in the final two verses of this chapter when He says, “His own iniquities shall take the wicked himself, and he shall be holden with the cords of his sins. He shall die without instruction; and in the greatness of his folly he shall go astray.” Don’t be so foolish to think that you can handle the door of death. Avoid it with all of your being!

2 Samuel 18:18
“Now Absalom in his lifetime had taken and reared up for himself a pillar, which is in the king’s dale: for he said, I have no son to keep my name in remembrance: and he called the pillar after his own name: and it is called unto this day, Absalom’s place.”

The name “Absalom” never brings positive thoughts to one’s mind. Absalom was the son of King David. Here was a young man who had much potential, but many wrong attitudes and actions ruined that potential.

During the time when Absalom had thrust his father from the kingdom, he reared up a pillar so that all would remember him. It’s sad that he thought a pillar would cause people to remember him in a pleasant light. Most likely Absalom knew in his heart that he had done wrong, and he wanted to be sure to turn that thinking around. So, he reared up a pillar and called it “Absalom’s place.”

That pillar certainly did become a memorial for Absalom, but not in a positive manner. Dr. Eremete Pierrotti, a French scientist, architect, and engineer, as an unsaved man journeyed through Palestine with the intention of disproving the Word of God. While visiting the heap of stones over Absalom’s grave, an Arab woman came by with her little child, which she held by the hand. In passing, she threw a stone upon the heap marking the tomb of Absalom, and bade the child do the same. Dr. Pierrotti asked, “What do you do that for?” The Arab woman replied, “Because it was the grave of a wicked son who disobeyed his father.” Dr. Pierrotti asked, “And who was he?” “The son of David,” she replied. What Absalom tried to change he could not change, and that pillar which he erected still reminds people today of what he did.

Absalom’s place reminds me of many things. First, Absalom’s place reminds me of lost potential. Is there something in your life that is causing you to lose your potential? Absalom’s pride was the thing that stole his potential, and it will steal yours. You must not allow a pillar of pride in your heart steal your potential as it did Absalom’s.

Second, Absalom’s place reminds me of vanity. Absalom was known for his long flowing hair. He was the pretty boy. Yes, I’m afraid we must be careful about allowing vanity to destroy us. Don’t be so vain that you always have to have everything in place. If you are one who is always looking in a mirror, then you have allowed Absalom’s place of vanity to control your life. You are who you are, and trying to portray yourself to be something you are not is only hurting you. Be careful that you don’t allow vanity to destroy you.

Third, Absalom’s place reminds me of rebellion. This is no doubt what Absalom is remembered for the most. There was so much rebellion in his heart that he actually tried to have his own father killed so he could have the throne. Is there a part of rebellion in you? You should never pride yourself with having a little rebellion, “For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft.” (1 Samuel 15:23)

Do you find Absalom’s place in your life? Friend, Absalom’s place will destroy you. Just like the Arab woman knew what Absalom was about and taught her son to throw a stone upon his grave, you also should avoid having that pillar in your life. Don’t allow the sins of pride, vanity and rebellion destroy you. If you have just a little of these things in your heart, remove them so that you will not be remembered as Absalom’s place.

Psalm 51:2
“Wash me throughly from mine iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin.”

It is easy to pass over the time frame from David’s sin with Bathsheba to the time when the Prophet Nathan approached him. Close to a year had passed from the time that David committed adultery to the time his sin was revealed, and in that one year sin had taken a toll on David. This is why David said, “Wash me throughly from mine iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin.” David knew the affect of sin on his life, and he wanted them completely removed.

What is more troubling to me is that after one year David saw sin’s affect, yet many Christians have gone years in their sin. Imagine what sin has done to their lives. Just like cancer eats away at an individuals health, sin also eats away at the Christianity of many Christians. Psalm 51 shows us the affect that sin has on a Christian’s life.

First, sin leaves a person guilt ridden. Verse 3 says, “For I acknowledge my transgressions: and my sin is ever before me.” I truly believe one of the reasons many Christians do not have a good spirit is because they are carrying the guilt of sin. When Nathan approached David about the story of a man taking the lamb of a poor man, David’s guilt got the best of him when he declared the penalty. A Christian cannot commit sin and guilt not take their heart. I seriously doubt the salvation of a person who commits sin and feels no guilt. Sin grieves the Holy Spirit, and because the Holy Spirit indwells the believer, His grieving will bring guilt upon the Christian.

Second, sin causes a person to make bad decisions. David said in verse 10, “Create in me a clean heart…” The heart is the source of all decisions. Proverbs 4:23 reminds us of this when it says, “Keep thy heart with all diligence; for out of it are the issues of life.” Sin always affects your decision-maker. This is why a person who sins often makes more bad decisions. Sin affected their heart, the source of their decisions.

Third, sin affects the spirit of a person. In verse 10, David acknowledged that his spirit had been affected. You will always find that a person’s spirit is not what it used to be when they are in sin. People who once used to be patient will become short with others. People who once used to be loving will become hateful. It doesn’t matter how hard you try to avoid it, sin always affects your spirit.

Fourth, sin robs your joy. David asked God to restore his joy. Christian, God wants you to live a joyful life, but sin will rob you of that joy. Sin will make the things of the Christian life seem like a prison sentence. It is always amazing watching people who get right with God begin to enjoy the things of God again. Sin’s affect on your joy is tremendous, and you will never enjoy serving God as long as sin is in your life.

Finally, sin takes your security of freedom in Christ away. David begged God, “uphold me with they free spirit.” What happened? Sin caused David to feel that God no longer loved him. Friend, that security you have in knowing that God loves you will be removed if you let sin reign in your life. This is why many people who are living in sin doubt their salvation. Sin took their security away.

We can never be reminded enough of the importance of quickly dealing with our sin. It is a little too late to avoid these affects of sin when you let sin roam free in your life. Deal with your sin immediately and you will find these affects will flee away. To the person who has allowed sin to reign in their life for a long time, God can still cleanse you and the affects of sin, but you must go to Him and confess them before He starts removing them from your life.

2 Samuel 3:30
“So Joab and Abishai his brother slew Abner, because he had slain their brother Asahel at Gibeon in the battle.”

One of the amazing things about David’s reign is the men who helped him. Joab was one of those men who I’m sure that David would have considered a right-hand man. Joab was involved in David’s life from the beginning. The Scriptures do not make it clear whether David and Joab were friends in their childhood, but it would not surprise me if they were.

Joab was certainly a strength to David’s reign. Joab was the man who led in the ascension to the throne of Israel. When the house of David and Saul were battling each other, it was Joab who led David’s troops. It was Joab who was the general of David’s troops through most of his life. Many of God’s enemies were conquered because of Joab’s strength to lead.

Yet, though Joab was a strong leader, he also had many weaknesses that at times were a hindrance to David. Very early in David’s reign you will see the bitterness of Joab when his brother was slain by Abner. In an action of deceit, Joab slew Abner which weakened David’s ascension to the throne. It was Joab who craftily brought Absalom back after he slew his half-brother.

Though Joab had many strengths, he also had many weaknesses. What I love about David is that he was able to overlook and overcome Joab’s weaknesses by using his strengths for God’s advantage. Instead of throwing away a man whom most would not have put up with, David found a way to let Joab’s strengths be used.

Leaders should learn from David’s example of using the strengths of individuals to further the cause of Christ. If a leader is not careful, they will not use anyone because they see the weakness of every follower. Great leaders are ones who learn how to take the strengths from an individual and use them for God’s glory. It may take some creativity to find a way to use them, but leaders are supposed to be creative. As a leader you would be wise to find a way to use a person’s strength in spite of their weaknesses because that is the only way they are going to grow.

Moreover, Christians need to learn to overlook the weaknesses of others and learn from their strengths. We live in a gossip society that loves to destroy leaders and people. It is not hard to find weaknesses in any person, for all people are sinners. Instead of spending your time focusing on the weaknesses of others, you would be wise to learn from their strengths. Don’t let the weaknesses of individuals rob you from the lessons of their strengths. When you discover the weakness of someone, move on and continue to see their strengths.

Furthermore, every individual needs to be careful not to let their weakness keep them from using their strengths. We all know our own weaknesses. If we are not careful, we will allow our personal weakness to keep us from using the strengths we do have. Friend, you are not the only one who has a weakness. Yes, you should try to correct your weakness, but while you’re working on correcting it don’t let your strength go to waste. Take the strengths you do have and use them for the LORD.

Every strength has a weakness. You can either let the weakness rob you of the help and lessons that strength can give, or you can overlook the weakness and use the strength for God’s glory. Don’t let strength’s weakness rob you from using it. As David found a way to use Joab in spite of his weakness, you need to find a way to learn from strength and let the strength help you become a better Christian.