Answer me when I call, O God of my righteousness! You have given me relief when I was in distress. Be gracious to me and hear my prayer!(Psalm 4:1 ESV)Oh, how the Lord has answered both mine & Anthony's prayers for a godly spouse. Despite our apprehensions of what is not known to us yet ;) & other typical butterflies that come with knitting your soul to another human being, we cannot wait to be married. Not just because we love each other so much & enjoy each other's company & all, but because God has directed our path in such minute details that we know, beyond the shadow of a doubt, that He has willed this marriage. We also don't feel like He has done this just because He likes us, but because He has something major planned for us and we can't wait to see what that is.
God didn't just answer our prayers but our parents' & friends prayers and I know of at least one Sunday School class that was praying for a mate for me.
O men, how long shall my honor be turned into shame? How long will you love vain words and seek after lies? Selah(Psalm 4:2 ESV)That last question is still relevant today. (By the way, you will rarely hear me use the word "relevant." I have come to almost hate that word. Heretical teachers, like I'm about to describe, use that word constantly today saying things like, "We need to make the Bible relevant to today's culture." WRONG!!! The Bible has always been relevant. Sorry...I digresss...I'll write a post about that on my other blog another day...)
I don't know if you have noticed in the last few years but there is a growing fascination & love for what I call fortune cookie philosophy. Those sentence or two statements that seem to hold some kind of ground breaking revelation/truth but when you really look at them & critically think about them, they don't really make sense. Either it is just stating some kind of bland fact with flowery language, it's practically an oxymoron or double-speak. More like a string of pretty words that sound nice but don't really make cohesive sense. Am I right on this or the only one that has noticed this?
Verse 2 also mentions how the people were/are seeking lies. This is so true today. Just look at the "popular" preachers: Joel Osteen, Rob Bell, Steven Furtick, T.D. Jakes, Rick Joyner, Brian McLaren, Doug Pagitt, Cindy Jacobs, C. Peter Wagner, Creflo Dollar, Todd Bentley, Lou Engle, & the like. 2 Timothy 4 warns about such false teachers & those that follow them.
I charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead, and by his appearing and his kingdom: preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, and exhort, with complete patience and teaching. For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions, and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths. As for you, always be sober-minded, endure suffering, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry.(2 Timothy 4:1-5 ESV)
It's not easy to speak out against the "poplar kids" but when they are leading people to a false security, you can't stand idly by. I don't want to have my friends & family look at me on Judgment Day & say, "Why didn't you tell us? Why didn't you say something? Why didn't you warn us?" I couldn't bear that kind of guilt.
But know that the LORD has set apart the godly for himself; the LORD hears when I call to him.(Psalm 4:3 ESV)What encouragement! Just to know that God has set me aside (1) saving me from damnation & (2) to live for eternity in Paradise.
You have put more joy in my heart than they have when their grain and wine abound.(Psalm 4:7 ESV)What an anthem! Everything may be crashing down around me but I can hold fast to the joy that Christ has placed in me. I may not be happy but I have joy & that is worth more than the happiest of days. Whether God decides to bless us with riches or poverty, we will have Him & that is all we need.
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