by: Dr. Lonnie Mattingly
Psalms 54, “Save me, O God, by thy name, and judge me by thy strength. Hear my prayer, O God; give ear to the words of my mouth. For strangers are risen up against me, and oppressors seek after my soul: they have not set God before them. Selah. Behold, God is mine helper: the Lord is with them that uphold my soul. He shall reward evil unto mine enemies: cut them off in thy truth. I will freely sacrifice unto thee: I will praise thy name, O Lord; for it is good. For he hath delivered me out of all trouble: and mine eye hath seen his desire upon mine enemies.”
Sometimes when you get a lot of facts, details and ideas all at one time, they will slip right by you. Like James said, you will look in the mirror of the Word of God and you will see yourself for what you are. You will see some changes that ought to me made, corrections and help from the Word of God. Then, after you have read these things, unless you make a concentrated effort to remember and respond, you will forget what manner of man you saw as you were reading. It will all just evaporate from your memory and you will not remember at all what God revealed to you about yourself that needed improvement. Someone said, “The biggest room in the world is room for improvement.”
As you read God’s Word or sit under the teaching and preaching of It, it might be a good idea to jot down the things that come to your mind and the areas where you need to make some changes in your life. I want what you read today to make a difference in your life tomorrow. I want you to be a victorious Christian. My key word is mentioned twice in Psalm 54:6. The word is “I”. It is a one-letter word. I want you to think with me about that little personal pronoun “I”. You see one of the problems in our society is we have been taught to be self-centered. The average person in America today lives for self. We examine everything in light of what affect does it have on me, how do I see this thing, how does it look to me. We have our share of “I” problems.
Satan had “I” problems, Isaiah 14:12-14 “How art thou fallen from Heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! How are thou cut down to the ground, which didst weaken the nations! For thou had said in thine heart, I will ascent into Heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God: I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north: I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the most High.”
Why did Satan got kicked out of Heaven? Why is it that the Devil was chased from his place of prominence in which God had intended for him to serve (perhaps as one of the archangels)? Five times in this passage the Devil said, “I”. His whole attitude and existence centered around what he said he was going to do. He was all enamored with, caught up in, and infatuated by that first person pronoun “I”. He was looking out for number one.
A lot of people have “I” problems. I found an old anniversary picture of my wife and I. In that picture I do not have glasses. I was in the transition period. During that time I only wore glasses to read, and the rest of the time they stayed in my pocket. People do not want to admit when they start having eye problems. During that period of time, I would carry my glasses in my shirt pocket. I was over helping clean the gym on our church property. We were getting ready for some event. We had carpets to be laid on the floor. I put it down and said, “Man, these carpets need to be smoothed out.” I saw a lump in the middle of the carpet, and so I went over and stomped on it trying to get it to go down. Then I said, “Where are my glasses?” They were under the carpet. It was a great day.
Another example of this happened when my parents took my brother John, his wife Sophie, Nancy and myself out for their fifty-fifth wedding anniversary supper. My brother was in his eye sight transition where I was about six years prior, so he was not wearing them regularly. We got to the restaurant and he had left his glasses at home. You should have seen him trying to read the menu! He borrowed mine to try to use them as a magnifying glass. His problem was that he had eye problems.
We all have “I” problems of some kinds. The “I” problem I am talking about is a little play on words, but the truth of the matter is, it has everything to do with how you look at things. It has everything to do with your perspective.
We all have “I” problems. We all have that tendency to see things from our own perspective and not from God’s. That was the Devil’s problem. He was looking at things the wrong way and it got him in a heap of trouble. He got kicked out of Heaven. He has been an adversary of God, God’s work and program ever since. He is your enemy and my enemy. It all started with that one letter word, “I”. “I” is the center of sin and pride. It would do us all well to look in the mirror of God’s Word and see ourselves as God sees us.
Lonnie Mattingly
Pastor Emeritus
Shawnee Baptist Church
Louisville, KY
http://lonniemattingly.com