A HEAVENLY RELEASE
Psalm 25: 15-22
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A PRESBYTERIAN PSALTER - by Pastor Max A Forsythe |
Did you ever have one of those weeks? You know the kind, where nothing quite works the way you wanted? Well, my week went fairly well, even with one day home from school with the flu. I didn't have any vehicle troubles myself, but the boy's tractor and truck both went down, so indirectly I was affected. Two years ago, there was an accident five miles away from school. Someone dug up a sewer pipe by mistake and in the process somehow or another drained most of the city water system. The only people not upset were the hundreds of students who got two days off from school the third week of September. Another time, someone crashed into a utility pole a whole county away. It carried the special line that came straight to our school. Again, we were given a day off from school. A third example involved a dug up phone cable just down the street from our school. It was a critical junction, and for five hours no long distance calls could enter or leave the whole county.
Now, the point that I would like to get to with all of this is that since we live in a fallen world, it is not only our problems that afflict us. We are all regularly caught up in a web of fallen situations. Every week as I watch the soap opera lives of many of my students I can sometimes see the fallen web of entanglement developing. The young man whose jealous girlfriend freaks out, is noticed talking to a different young lady. Out of the corner of your eye, you see one of her friends seeing him. You can almost predict that there will be an argument later in the day! Or you see another young lady crying outside of the pregnancy counselors. Will she be on time for class. Or you get to the copy machine and find that there is no line at all. It must be broken, right!
All of these problems and worse can affect our daily struggles. Thank goodness we are spared the worse scenarios of living in Bosnia or Somalia where life's interesting events can even be fatal. There, people are trapped, at least here in this country we can usually move if our neighborhoods deteriorate. King David lived in such dangerous straights where even his relatives plotted to kill him and take the throne. David doesn't have to face such a tangled web alone. He has God to help him even as we do. Notice in our fifteen verse that David regularly turns his attention to his God. "My eyes are ever on the Lord, for only he will release my feet from the snare."
Our psalm returns to prayer again as we turn to the last seven verses. David in his present troubles may have had his feet entangled in sin and once again as we must regularly do, had turned again to our saving Lord. Even though his feet were caught he is still able to turn his eyes to heaven and plead for deliverance.
Every once in a while we may feel that God has turned His back upon us. Every time we should be reminded that we need to turn our attention again to Him. The foundation for our distress is in ourselves and like David a cry for mercy must be our regular plea. Yes, we struggle, we know troubles, afflictions and distress. We are also reminded by David here that we still sin. There is also worldly opposition to our walk in the faith.
In verse twenty David makes his final plea. "Guard my life and rescue me;" He returns to his original plea that he be not shamed. Yet, David has a sure and certain refuge in the Lord our God. And it is God's own integrity and uprightness that protects him and us in Christ's Name. However, our hope must be grounded in Him completely. David's final comprehensive petition is for the redemption of all the faithful, for all those whom God shall call into His fellowship throughout eternity. This should be your life prayer whenever you are assailed by troubles. Amen.
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Resources Used: |
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Kidner, Derek. |
Tyndale Old Testament Commentaries: Psalms. | |
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MacLaren, Alexander. |
The Psalms. | |
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Spurgeon, C. H. |
Treasury of David. | |
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Foundation for Reformation. New Geneva Study Bible . (1995) Thomas Nelson, Inc. New King James Version. (1982) | ||
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Psm 025c |
17 September 95 | |