Vindication

Vindicate me, O LORD, my God,

according to your righteousness,

and let them not rejoice over me!

Psalm 35:24

What was David asking for in this cry for God to vindicate him? He wanted God to clearly involve Himself to point out the stark difference between David’s righteous commitment to obey God and the evil motives of David’s enemies. David trusted the Law AND the covenant that the Lord had made with him as king.

To be vindicated by God meant that all the opposite characteristics shown in the actions of David’s sinful accusers would be shown by David’s life. God would defend him. It meant that the light of God’s justice would shine on his enemies’ evil motives, exposing the intentions of their hearts. David’s true worship of God, offered in faith and obedience would be revealed for all to see.

This cry for vindication was an appeal to God’s righteous, faithful love. God always keeps His promises. And a faithful, consistent, holy God will vindicate His people. They may suffer for a season as the wicked seem to thrive and press in around them. But the Lord will vindicate them. He will show His faithful care. He will not allow faithfulness to Him to be snuffed out by the wicked.

The gospel shows us the ultimate vindication. Wicked men marched Jesus up Golgotha. Wicked men condemned and crucified the perfect, faithful, obedient Son of God, heir of David’s covenant, and Messiah. But by resurrection from the dead God defeated all those evil actions and vindicated His Righteous One! And now Jesus clothes those who trust in Him with His own perfect righteousness and will vindicate His faithful followers. May His righteousness be our strength, hope, and vindication always! 

…by the word of Your lips…

With regard to the works of man, by the word of your lips

I have avoided the ways of the violent.

Psalm 17:4

God’s people have always had the challenge of living above the ways of sinful humanity. God calls us to righteous living. David sings in this Psalm about navigating the tension of the “ways of man” and avoiding the “ways of the violent”. How did he achieve success while living with the reality of those pressures? How did David find the power and ability to please God and keep His commands amidst such a chaotic culture?

The answer to these questions is found in the wisdom, strength, and power of the Word of God. David committed to knowing, loving, and obeying scripture. “By the word of your lips I have avoided…” was the reason for David’s remarkable confidence and success. He was confident not in his own power. He saw the truth of God lead him from the works of violent men. David was a man of the Word, stable amidst the chaos of surrounding culture. Scripture held his heart true to God. Scripture ordered his thoughts and directed his heart to do what God asked of him. God’s Word kept the King faithful, and it does the same for us today!

Lord Jesus,

You are the Living Word. And as I obey the gospel, as I turn from sin and cling to Your grace, as I let Your Spirit fill my thoughts and incline my heart to the wisdom of Your Word, I believe that You will help me navigate a destructive, sin-filled, hateful, violent, and chaotic culture. We live in a world where the works of man defy Your truth and devalue Your creation daily! And violent men by force now destroy with so much pain, greed, and defiance. O how we long for Jesus, the Prince of Peace, Who will end all this chaos and restore us by the Word of Your mouth. Do so soon! Come quickly, Lord Jesus!

Amen

Begging Borrower

Give to the one who begs from you, and do not refuse the one who would borrow from you.

Matthew 5:42

I am poor 

I am vulnerable

I have nothing to offer

Your grace to proffer

Yet You are rich

You are capable

You reach out to my poverty

give Yourself extravagantly

Lord, I lack everything

Yet You pour out to to me

treasures of Your redeeming love

found in a Savior come from above

Now my soul is filled

in Your raining mercy

I am called to be complete

as I sit rich now at Your feet

Others still are beggars

others are still in great need

fill me with love to care

meet their need in me, bring You there

When I needed

Lord, You gave to me

so with gospel truth from my heart

help me to be generous from the start

In my giving

may I see clearly

not the begging, but You meeting their need

so that Your grace, their poverty may exceed.

a lust problem

You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall not commit adultery.’ But I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lustful intent has already committed adultery with her in his heart.

Matthew 5:27-28

It is sadly true of this culture at this time that Jesus’ clear warning about how sexual sin devastates at the heart level is entirely ignored. It is so bad that the kinds of behaviors that would once have been publicly decried even by unbelievers are now explained away quite awkwardly and unbiblically among Christians. A political figure on a talk show brags about playboy conquests and NEVER publicly repents of that sort of talk? We waive it off as an imperfection from younger days and tell people he is still our best champion for religious rights. A pastor or televangelist’s latest tryst raises eyebrows? We step around it and talk about the need to forgive and restore.

I’m all for Jesus forgiving the worst things we do. He does redeem from sexual sin. But I am not in favor of a casual treatment of Jesus’ own words on sin right here in His magnum opus Sermon on the Mount! Sexual sin starts in the heart, scars the heart, callouses the soul. And in a world that is now so openly pro-porn, pro-sexual exploration, pro-sensuality of ANY KIND, and anti-Jesus on these matters, we need to heed the warning of Jesus all the more! Looking to lusting is already a major sexual sin. Inciting a passion not meant for anything other than private expression in monogamous, heterosexual marriage for life will lead to awful consequences. Sexual sanctity and sanity is guarded at the heart.

Lord,

You know my heart and I pray that I will heed Your words in the online, all-the-time, entertainment-driven, cultural sludge that seeks to incite lust… help me stand true to you… to my marriage… to my heart!

Amen