July 29, 2023 -- Psalm 34:11-14 -- The Psalm Series: being taught the fear of the LORD
/People loved by the Father, in the Spirit's power: Sh'ma ~ hear and obey Jesus!
Come, O children, listen to me;
I will teach you the fear of the LORD.
What man is there who desires life
and loves many days, that he may see good?
Keep your tongue from evil
and your lips from speaking deceit.
Turn away from evil and do good;
seek peace and pursue it.
Psalm 34:11-14 ESV
The question which drives these verses is this: do you desire life? What is the longing of your heart. This week I spoke with a man whose longing and meditation is on the form and bodies of men. He is, by his own admission, homosexual. He also states he is Christian. The question is: if you are a Christian, why do you spend your time meditating on what the bible describes as sin? An alcoholic in recovery was speaking with me and his words might has well have been a pitch for a beer commercial. Why mentally pursue evil while in a Christian drug and alcohol recovery program?
When you are alone, what is it you think about? Do you plot revenge against your enemies? Do you hate yourself? Do you think you are a failure? Do you plan your next Break and Enter so you'll have enough money for this or that? Or are you entertaining arguments why you are right and this other person needs to know it, feel it, or experience it?
David is taking the role of a teacher of wisdom in this Psalm. He is telling his audience, his children in the faith, to fear the LORD. Let the majesty, brilliance, power, holiness of the LORD so impress your heart and fill your thoughts that evil is driven out. Let the Word of the LORD teach you what is evil and what is good. According to Jeremiah, the heart is deceptive above all things (Jeremiah 17:9) so you can’t trust your own judgment about things. Only trust the LORD and fear the consequences of disobedience towards Him.
Examine your life. Where are you entertaining evil thoughts? What do you think about when no one else is around? Does your heart go to the Word of God? Do you think about the work of Jesus Christ? Do you remember passages of Scripture that you mind need to puzzle out until you have explored the depths of what they really mean? Are you attending church? Are you doing the good you know you need to do?
This is not working in order to gain salvation. David is writing to his children, that is, his spiritual children. Believers who already now belong to God through the blood of Jesus and have been given the power of the Spirit for life have pledged to drop all their sins and all their shame and all their wrong-doing and follow Jesus. Are you in fact following Jesus in your words? In your alone times? In what you watch? By your actions?
Our Father in heaven hallowed be Your Name. Spirit of the Living God, help me to honour the LORD in my thoughts and my actions. Spirit of all comfort bring to mind the ways in which I have previously seen and experienced the goodness of God and as I think of such things may my heart sing to bless the Father based on the accomplished work of Jesus. Spirit of God strengthen me deep within so that I will turn away from evil and do good, seeking peace and energetically pursue it so that by my thought-life and my activities I will show I am truly a child of my Father in heaven. Triune God, as Your people live in joyful obedience to the ways of wisdom, may we grow in true community and love and this be a powerful witness to the world around us of Your goodness to Your people, the Church. Amen.
https://youtu.be/DciMh_ciwkk Shane and Shane “Psalm 34”
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