Week 4 Day 5 - Psalms 139 - He REALLY Knows Us!

TIES OF GRACE DAILY DEVOTIONS

Week 4 – He REALLY Knows Us!

Day 5: Psalms 139:19-24

¹⁹ If only you, God, would slay the wicked!
Away from me, you who are bloodthirsty!
²⁰ They speak of you with evil intent;
your adversaries misuse your name.
²¹ Do I not hate those who hate you, Lord,
and abhor those who are in rebellion against you?
²² I have nothing but hatred for them;
I count them my enemies.
²³ Search me, God, and know my heart;
test me and know my anxious thoughts.
²⁴ See if there is any offensive way in me,
and lead me in the way everlasting.

We are treading on some sticky ground tonight, if we don’t tread in a heart for Christ and His view of what is meant in these verses.  I believe verses like these tonight, when viewed from a flesh way of thinking and not a God way of thinking, are the very thing that breeds legalism in Christianity.  We must remember God… who He is.  God is LOVE.  We must keep that at the forefront of our mind and heart when we read of scripture that could be interpreted to allow hatred and judgment.  It isn’t optional or we become the very ones that become guilty of sin!  When I read these verses, I can feel David’s feelings when he cried out to God.  I can feel them in the Spirit, but let me be clear, I can feel them in my flesh. Do we not all have situations in our life where we would just like to say, “Excuse me Jesus, could you just step out of the room for 5 minutes?”  Many people wouldn’t admit that maybe, but I am telling you, I am here to be real, and I admit it.  There are times, especially when my children are being hurt, that this flesh thing rises up and I feel my blood boil before I even hardly have time to know what hit.  And if I weren’t in the relationship where I am seeking Christ as best I know how, I can assure you my flesh would be so quick that I would react before I know what hit as well.  But I truly want to try to live in the way God wants and I know the only way I can is to depend on Him to control that flesh in me.  So I pray… and pray… and pray.  I confess and confess and confess.  And He is faithful in those blood-boiling  moments, to send a prick in my spirit that lets me know, “Robin, you are walking a very dangerous rope!  Step back!  Let me lead.”  It isn’t easy and I don’t always obey as I wish I would, but when I do, these scriptures ring ever so more true and clear to me, of what David is actually saying.  David is grieving anyone that is opposing God because David loves God so much it hurts his soul!  That is where our anger should come from.  The hate is not of the person, but of the offense and disrespect of what they are causing to God.  It really shouldn’t be about us at all.  And when we realize that, we are humbled into remembering we grieve God too and suddenly, we are looking inward instead of around, just as David did in these verses.  He is so angry at the way those offenders are enemies of God, but it leads him back to begging God to reveal his own faults so that he is not guilty of the very same thing.  And David knows, by backing off and letting God take care of the judgment and dealing with his own heart, he is set free to continue to live in that beautiful plan God created when He knit him together in his mother’s womb.  Don’t we all have offenders?  Do we all see people that are purposefully going against the very things we cherish most, especially our Heavenly Father?  But don’t we all then look in the mirror and see things in ourselves well?  My prayer is this, “Oh God, I can’t stand outward hate of you.  It really hurts me in a way I can’t explain because of how much You have shown me Your deep love!  I have experienced it so personally through so many highs and lows that I know, that I know that I know how real it is!  So when I see that hate towards you and when that same hate of you causes harm to someone I care about, or even to myself, I feel the flesh in me so strong and I want to get even.  But Oh God, I want to stay tender to You.  I want to find the balance in standing firm in what You have given me conviction for, but I want to realize I am to do that in love because I am absolutely just as undeserving of Your grace.  Search me!  And then please, help me where I can’t help myself.  I need you in order to be like you.  Forgive me and then help me find the way to forgive others…. Even when they don’t want it, don’t care about it, and don’t appreciate it.  Free me and then Father, use me! In Jesus name!”  What has the enemy done to hurt you or to attack God so much in front of you that you are entrapped?  What is stopping you from crying out to God about it all?