Psalm 49 - No Need to Fear

Death eludes no one. We may not enjoy thinking about death, but unless we grasp its reality, we will fail at life.

Psalm 49 does well to help us fight off fear of the triumph of bad fortune. The rich and poor alike will someday no longer physically exist on the earth. The smart and stupid alike will face the grave. The beautiful and not so beautiful will see the same fate. The foolish fail to recognize the futility of earthly gains in wealth, power, pleasure, and prestige, but the wise surrender to God’s supreme authority.

We do not have to fear even the tyrants who are bent on destruction   They too will soon pass. We also do not have to fear the loss of beauty, position, and reputation, when our trust is in God Almighty. He is our protection and provision. Our heavenly Father looks out for us far better than we can even look out for ourselves. The Psalmist puts it this way,

“So why should I fear in bad times,
    hemmed in by enemy malice,
Shoved around by bullies,
    demeaned by the arrogant rich?

Really! There’s no such thing as self-rescue,
    pulling yourself up by your bootstraps.
The cost of rescue is beyond our means,
    and even then it doesn’t guarantee

Life forever, or insurance
    against the Black Hole.”  (Psalm 49:3-9: The Message)

 

There is One who came to rescue. Jesus is our Refuge. Jesus conquered sin and death, and now lives to bring us into eternal safety.  “But me? God snatches me from the clutch of death, he reaches down and grabs me” (Psalm 49:15; The Message). The Bible shows us that Jesus conquered death once and for all. When we trust in Jesus for our salvation from this earthly mess, death no longer has its hold on us. We can live in the security of Father’s house, eternally, starting right now.  To find out more about how Jesus did this, read 1 Corinthians 15:50-57. 

            A phrase repeated throughout the Bible is “fear not.”  Jesus himself often spoke this command to his closest disciples. When God is near, we have nothing to fear. When Jesus is Refuge, our security is huge. When Holy Spirit is leading, on green grass we are feeding. Faith drives out fear. Let faith arise. Faith arrives, and fear disappears, the more we focus on the heavenly in place of the earthly things.  

When it looks like the grave may be the end of it all, we do well to heed Christ’s words recorded by Luke, “straighten up, and lift your heads, because your redemption is drawing near” (Luke 21:28). Because God is near, there is no need to fear. If we are surrendered to him, we are secure in Refuge.

by Ed Hersh, Blue Rock BnB Healing Ministry

Psalm 115 Heavenly Shield

The general theme of this Psalm is that God is supreme, and people who honor and trust him, will prosper.               

                The Psalmist reminds us in the first verse that God’s “steadfast love” and “faithfulness” (NASB) are reasons to give all glory to God. The best efforts of mankind fail in comparison to God’s ways. “Our God is in the heavens; he does all that he pleases,” is how God’s holiness is described in verse 3. God is love, and his love is a thread woven through everything he creates including each individual person on the earth. This certainly gives him the right to do as he pleases, but he also gives man (including male and female) limited “rights” to choose his own way.

                Psalm 115 verses 4-8 then describe how man misuses his creativity to form “idols” in an attempt to diminish God’s power and authority.

“Their idols are silver and gold,
    the work of human hands.
 They have mouths, but do not speak;
    eyes, but do not see.
 They have ears, but do not hear;
    noses, but do not smell.
 They have hands, but do not feel;
    feet, but do not walk;
    and they do not make a sound in their throat.
 Those who make them become like them;
    so do all who trust in them.”  (NASB)

An idol is a fake “image” of God, often thought of as a physical object (made of “silver and gold” as it states here). But idols can be non-physical (intangible) things like the words we allow our mouths to speak, images we allow our eyes to see, sounds we allow our ears to hear, scents we allow our noses to smell, sensations from what we allow our hands to touch, and places we allow our feet to take us. In short, whatever we put out trust in to provide our emotional security and comfort, without intentionally making it secondary to God’s will and pleasure, becomes an idol of our heart. For example, do we speak lies or flattery to get our way? Do we use our senses (seeing, hearing, feeling) to engage media, entertainment, or technology for purposes that do not honor God? Do we use our hands to act, or use our feet to go, in directions away from the light of Truth, and instead into dark areas of falsehood?  The Psalmist makes it clear that idols are dead. They lead to dead ends. Focusing on dead (dark) idols, makes a person dead (dark) on the inside.

                The next 3 verses (9-11) repeat, “He is their help and shield.”  All those who “fear the Lord, trust in the Lord.”  When we show respect for God and honor him (which is what it means to “fear” him), we will trust him with our whole heart. We will allow the parts of our heart not yet surrendered to his ways (those ways still trapped in idol worship) to be transformed by the Light of Jesus. Jesus is our help and our shield.

                The next four veses (12-15) reiterate how the Lord blesses those who respect and honor him. He is not biased, nor does he show partiality. He protects and provides for us as his children. The final three verses (16-18) encourage the reader to exuberantly praise him for his wonderful favor towards mankind. He reminds us that dead people cannot utter praise. This includes those physically dead and dead from idols in their heart. But those who are living can praise him, and are under obligation to worship him with all their heart.

                Today, may we commit to uncovering and casting down, any idol that still holds a grip on our heart.  I pray we have the fortitude to reach for our heavenly shield instead. In all we do and say, may we give God the glory due his name!

by Ed Hersh, Blue Rock BnB Healing Ministry

Eternity Outlook

Sometimes we find ourselves so wrapped up in life’s struggles, that we lose sight of the bigger picture of eternity. Paul the Apostle had this in mind when he wrote to the Corinthian congregation, “For our momentary light affliction is producing for us an absolutely incomparable eternal weight of glory” (2 Corinthians 4:17; CSB). Paul then provides a coping strategy for suffering in the next verse, “So we do not focus on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal” (2 Corinthians 4:18).

So, how do we implement this strategy of focusing on the “unseen?”  The answer lies in the previous verses.  The verse immediately before the two quoted above says, “Therefore we do not give up. Even though our outer person is being destroyed, our inner person is being renewed day by day” (2 Corinthians 4:16). Renewing (changing) who we are on the inside (our heart) is the way we prepare for eternity with God. God knows this is impossible for any human to do, so he sent his own Son Jesus to provide the way for inner heart change to be accomplished. Although Jesus has done the “heavy lifting” work of the Cross, God waits for us to cooperate with Christ’s finished work and choose surrender. We must surrender our thoughts, feelings, desires, ambitions, motivations, and actions to his. Not just some, but ALL of them.

;               Now, since verse 16 begins with the word “therefore,” we must stop and ask ourselves what it is “there for.” How. When, Where, and What would cause us to want to give up, and not reap the benefits of inner change?  Paul lists some ways our outer world can try to break us. “We are afflicted in every way but not crushed; we are perplexed but not in despair; we are persecuted but not abandoned; we are struck down but not destroyed.  We always carry the death of Jesus in our body, so that the life of Jesus may also be displayed in our body.  For we who live are always being given over to death for Jesus’s sake, so that Jesus’s life may also be displayed in our mortal flesh” (2 Corinthians 4:8-11). We may face difficulties of varying types and intensities. Our physical bodies have limitations as to their abilities to function, but our natural man is not the end of the story.

Paul continues with a reminder of the supernatural power of God indwelling believers in Jesus Christ.  “So then, death is at work in us, but life in you.  And since we have the same spirit of faith in keeping with what is written, I believed, therefore I spoke, we also believe, and therefore speak.  For we know that the one who raised the Lord Jesus will also raise us with Jesus and present us with you.  Indeed, everything is for your benefit so that, as grace extends through more and more people, it may cause thanksgiving to increase to the glory of God” (2 Corinthians 4:12-15).

                Our commitment to Jesus is expressed by ongoing willingness to submit to God’s authority and live our lives for what matters to him. As we allow our hearts to be changed from the inside out, we are raised to greater and greater heights of victory over the setbacks of living in our natural bodies. The supernatural (“unseen”) wins over the natural (“seen”). Jesus reigns more and more in our thoughts and actions. Holy Spirit empowers us more and more. And, we experience closer and closer intimacy with father God. Surrendering our ways to God’s ways, on a continual basis, is the path to renewal.

                As individual believers undergo inner transformation, each is made a more useful tool in the Master’s hand. The combined success of the Body of Christ is fueled by the dedication and passion of each of its members (1 Corinthians 12). For unity of the Body to be achieved, and the mission to be accomplished, we must take seriously, our individual obligation to inner transformation.  

                It’s all about Jesus. Christ likeness is what we are being transformed into (2 Corinthians 3:18). May we say with Paul, “Because of him I have suffered the loss of all things and consider them as dung, so that I may gain Christ and be found in Him” (Philippians 3:8; CSB). Heavenly-mindedness is also a theme in Paul’s letter to the church in Colossians, “So if you have been raised with Christ, seek the things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God.  Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things.  For you died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God” (Colossians 3:1-3).

                In the midst of those “earthly things” causing struggles, let’s allow them to point us to Christ who is our only eternal hope. Until that day when life on earth is done, the pieces of our heart already transformed into heaven’s likeness, will enjoy a little heaven while on earth.  For more details on how inner transformation works, see some of my other articles.

by Ed Hersh, Blue Rock BnB Healing Ministry