Journal for Christ: NO COMPROMISE

As you can see this has taken me a month to finish and publish. Its development was not chronological either. I began on the 6th of December by composing the Witness portion. The Word section took up the bulk of the time. However, that is misleading as well. As I explained in this journal entry, much of the delay was due to vacation with my family and fatigue. Fatigue was the biggest factor. I would consult commentaries and then lay down to rest before I went to work. Sometimes I would write 1 or 2 sentences and then have to stop for weariness sake or writer's block. You might surmise that the study would be very short, but that would be false. Not that I myself was verbose or prolific. No, I just quoted a lot

December 6, 2018

WORD:

Ps 28:1-5

28 To you I call, O LORD my Rock;

do not turn a deaf ear to me.

For if you remain silent,

I will be like those who have gone down to the pit.

2 Hear my cry for mercy

as I call to you for help,

as I lift up my hands

toward your Most Holy Place.

3 Do not drag me away with the wicked,

with those who do evil,

who speak cordially with their neighbors

but harbor malice in their hearts.

4 Repay them for their deeds

and for their evil work;

repay them for what their hands have done

and bring back upon them what they deserve.

5 Since they show no regard for the works of the LORD

and what his hands have done,

he will tear them down

and never build them up again.

NIV

Ps 28:1-5

28 1 I pray to you, O LORD, my rock.

Do not turn a deaf ear to me.

For if you are silent,

I might as well give up and die.

2 Listen to my prayer for mercy

as I cry out to you for help,

as I lift my hands toward your holy sanctuary.

3 Do not drag me away with the wicked—

with those who do evil—

those who speak friendly words to their neighbors

while planning evil in their hearts.

4 Give them the punishment they so richly deserve!

Measure it out in proportion to their wickedness.

Pay them back for all their evil deeds!

Give them a taste of what they have done to others.

5 They care nothing for what the LORD has done

or for what his hands have made.

So he will tear them down,

and they will never be rebuilt!

Ps 28:1-5

28 Unto thee will I cry, O LORD my rock; be not silent to me: lest, if thou be silent to me, I become like them that go down into the pit.

2 Hear the voice of my supplications, when I cry unto thee, when I lift up my hands toward thy holy oracle.

3 Draw me not away with the wicked, and with the workers of iniquity, which speak peace to their neighbours, but mischief is in their hearts.

4 Give them according to their deeds, and according to the wickedness of their endeavours: give them after the work of their hands; render to them their desert.

5 Because they regard not the works of the LORD, nor the operation of his hands, he shall destroy them, and not build them up.

KJV

Ps 28:1-5

28 To you, O LORD, I call;

my rock, be not deaf to me,

lest, if you be silent to me,

I become like those who go down to the pit.

2 Hear the voice of my pleas for mercy,

when I cry to you for help,

when I lift up my hands

toward your most holy sanctuary.

3 Do not drag me off with the wicked,

with the workers of evil,

who speak peace with their neighbors

while evil is in their hearts.

4 Give to them according to their work

and according to the evil of their deeds;

give to them according to the work of their hands; render them their due reward.

5 Because they do not regard the works of the LORD or the work of his hands,

he will tear them down and build them up no more.

ESV

I. Minor Key: vv. 1-5

A. Pleas (vv. 1- 3)

1. Hear Me! - v. 1

2. Have Mercy! – v. 2a

3. Help! – v. 2b

B. Imprecation (vv. 4-5)

II. Major Key: vv. 6-9

A. Praise (vv. 6-8)

B. Supplication (v. 9)

We move into rough waters in verses 4 & 5. Before I delve into the issue of imprecatory prayers, let me finish with verse 3 and tackle this problem in the next journal entry.

The antagonists David is concerned about in verses 3-5 are described as the “wicked” in verse 3. The word wicked is not heard much today. When used it has lost its descriptive power as marking someone or something as being extremely evil. The moral power of the word has been replaced by its informal use as a word. The superlative nature of the word is kept, but the negative nature of the word has been exchanged for a positive one. So we might hear someone say that someone drives a wicked fast car or bakes some wicked good cookies.

We should not be surprised by this. We should expect such things in a fallen world where love can describe our feelings towards chocolate and the word bad like wicked can refer to something good or awesome (i.e., They drove a really bad looking Mustang).

However, when the word is used in the Scriptures the full, adverse, and unethical nature of the word is meant.

ISBE defines the word wickedness this way:
WICKEDNESS(wik'-ed-nes): The state of being wicked; a mental disregard for justice, righteousness, truth, honor, virtue; evil in thought and life; depravity; sinfulness; criminality.(from International Standard Bible Encyclopaedia, Electronic Database Copyright © 1996, 2003, 2006 by Biblesoft, Inc. All rights reserved.) The Hebrew word used in verse 3 for “the wicked” is rasha` means;
OT:7563 uv*r* rasha` (raw-shaw'); from OT:7561; morally wrong; concretely, an (actively) bad person(Biblesoft's New Exhaustive Strong's Numbers and Concordance with Expanded Greek-Hebrew Dictionary. Copyright © 1994, 2003, 2006, 2010 Biblesoft, Inc. and International Bible Translators, Inc.) 7563. רָשָׁע rasha (957b); from an unused word; wicked, criminal: —evil
Thomas, R. L. (1998). New American Standard Hebrew-Aramaic and Greek dictionaries : updated edition. Anaheim: Foundation Publications, Inc.

Notice what is said further about them:

· “who do¹ evil²” (NIV, NLT); “workers of iniquity” (KJV); “workers of evil” (ESV) - v 3

· “harbor malice³ in their hearts” (NIV); “planning evil in their hearts” (NLT); “mischief is in their hearts” (KJV); “evil is in their hearts” (ESV) - v 3

· “their evil⁴ works” (NIV); “their wickedness” (NLT); “wickedness of their endeavours” (KJV); “evil of their deeds” (ESV) - v 4

This is not the cry of the self-righteous. David does not have the heart of the Pharisee —

‘God, I thank you that I am not like other men’ (Luke 18:11). This is a man after God’s own heart. A man who wants nothing to do with the wicked and vile. He mentions specifically those who speak hypocritically with their neighbors. David encountered such people in his life.

· His father-in-law Saul – 1 Samuel 18:17-27

· His son Absalom – 2 Samuel 15:7-12

The Holman Bible Handbook makes this observation:

The psalmist prayed for mercy for himself even as he prayed that God would punish evildoers. This came not from selfishness but a profound sense of right and wrong. For those who hate Him to go unpunished would be a perversion of God's justice.
Holman Bible Handbook. Copyright © 1992 by Holman Bible Publishers. All rights reserved.

The J. F. & B. Commentary uses a colorful way of describing their hypocrisy:

And with the ... speak peace ... but mischief is in their hearts - intestine foes and hypocritical dissemblers, like Absalom and his party; not open enemies (2 Sam 15:7-8). There is a play of like sounds in the Hebrew "neighbour" and "mischief" [‎ree±eeyhem ‎‎raa±aah‎], implying how utterly they perverted the most sacred ties, making their very neighbours objects of mischief (cf. Ps 15:3). (emphasis added)(from Jamieson, Fausset, and Brown Commentary, Electronic Database. Copyright © 1997-2014 by Biblesoft, Inc. All rights reserved.)

If there is any takeaway from this passage of Scripture, it’s the need for us to make God’s work and ways our cause and concern and not that of our peers and society in general. It calls for a life of separation from those who would seek to drag us down into their lair of hypocrisy and self-reliance. Notice the contrast between verse 4 and 5. Between the work of their hands as opposed to the work of the Lord’s hands.

4 Give to them according to their work and according to the evil of their deeds; give to them according to the work of their hands; render them their due reward.

5 Because they do not regard the works of the LORD or the work of his hands, he will tear them down and build them up no more.

ESV

By this, I don’t mean a total withdrawal from society and cutting ourselves off entirely from our family, friends, and coworkers. How would we have any sort of influence and witness with them then? However, Scripture is clear that we are not to have a close association with evil and worldly people in a way that causes us to compromise.

Note these passages of Scripture on this subject:

2 Cor 6:14-7:1

¹⁴Do not be yoked together with unbelievers. For what do righteousness and wickedness have in common? Or what fellowship can light have with darkness? ¹⁵What harmony is there between Christ and Belial? What does a believer have in common with an unbeliever? ¹⁶What agreement is there between the temple of God and idols? For we are the temple of the living God. As God has said: "I will live with them and walk among them, and I will be their God, and they will be my people."

¹⁷"Therefore come out from them

and be separate,

says the Lord.

Touch no unclean thing,

and I will receive you."

¹⁸"I will be a Father to you,

and you will be my sons and daughters,

says the Lord Almighty."

⁷Since we have these promises, dear friends, let us purify ourselves from everything that contaminates body and spirit, perfecting holiness out of reverence for God.

NIV

1 Peter 4:1-6

⁴Therefore, since Christ suffered in his body, arm yourselves also with the same attitude, because he who has suffered in his body is done with sin. ²As a result, he does not live the rest of his earthly life for evil human desires, but rather for the will of God. ³For you have spent enough time in the past doing what pagans choose to do — living in debauchery, lust, drunkenness, orgies, carousing and detestable idolatry. ⁴They think it strange that you do not plunge with them into the same flood of dissipation, and they heap abuse on you.⁵ But they will have to give account to him who is ready to judge the living and the dead.

NIV

James 1:27

Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.

NIV

I will conclude with a rather long quote from Constable’s Notes. Forgive me for doing so. I am aware of the length that this study has taken already. It has also taken me a long time to complete it due to vacation and physical weariness. It has also taken me a long time to finish because I have just plain struggled with the text before us.

Here is the quote:

2 Corinthians 6:14-7:1

6:14-16a Some of the Corinthians were not openhearted toward Paul, because they were doing things they knew he disapproved of. This evidently included maintaining inappropriate relationships with unbelievers. Various interpretations of the identity of the "unbelievers" identify them as: untrustworthy persons in contrast to Paul, Gentile Christians who did not observe the Mosaic Law, the immoral within the church, and the false apostles.

Paul was not saying that Christians should break off all association with unbelievers (cf. 1 Cor 5:9-10; 10:27). He had previously encouraged the saved partner in a mixed marriage to maintain the marriage relationship as long as possible (1 Cor 7:12-16). He had also urged his fellow Christians, as ambassadors of Christ, to evangelize the lost (5:20). Rather, here Paul was commanding that Christians form no binding interpersonal relationships with non-Christians, that resulted in their spiritual defilement. This is an extension to human beings, of the principle underlying the prohibition against breeding or yoking an ox and a donkey together, in Lev 19:19 and Deut 22:10. Such alliances can prevent the Christian from living a consistently obedient Christian life. The fulfillment of God's will must be primary for a believer. Obviously, some relationships with pagans do not pose a threat to our faithfulness to God. Where they do, the Christian must maintain his or her relationship with Christ, even it if means forfeiting relationships with unbelievers. There is a conceptual parallel here with what Jesus (Matt 22:21; Mark 12:17; Luke 20:25), Paul (Rom 13:1-7; Titus 3:1-2), and Peter (1 Peter 2:13-17) taught about the believer's relationships with God and the state. We should obey both authorities unless they conflict, in which case we must obey God.

"Urban Roman colonies understood quite well the custom that one could not be friends with a friend's or patron's enemies."

Paul set forth the folly of such behavior by pointing out five contrasts. Each contrast, in the form of a question, expects a negative answer. All of them point out the incompatibility and incongruity of Christian discipleship and heathenism. Paul supported the last of these with quotations from the Old Testament (vv. 16 b-18).

Christians should follow God's will, which results in righteous behavior, but pagans have no regard for God's laws. Christians are children of the "light," but unbelievers are children of "darkness" (cf. Col 1:13). "Belial" (v. 15) is the personification of Evil (cf. Deut 13:13; 2 Sam 22:5-6), and he is the antithesis of Christ. "Belial" was a recognized name for "Satan" in Paul's day. It may have come from combining the Hebrew word for "worthlessness" with the name of the pagan god "Baal." "Believers" have little in common with "unbelievers" when it comes to things that are peculiar to unbelievers. Obviously, we share many things, such as food, clothing, houses, sun, air, and rain. Christians, who are "temple[s] of the living God," are quite different from the heathen, who worship "idols" in temples made with hands.(from Thomas Constable's Notes on the Bible. Copyright © March 4, 2014 by Thomas L. Constable. All rights reserved. Used by permission.)

__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

¹lu^P* ‎pa`al (paw-al'); a primitive root; to do or make (systematically and habitually), especially to practice
(Biblesoft's New Exhaustive Strong's Numbers and Concordance with Expanded Greek-Hebrew Dictionary. Copyright © 1994, 2003, 2006, 2010 Biblesoft, Inc. and International Bible Translators, Inc.)

²/w\a* °¹wen: A masculine noun meaning nothingness, trouble, sorrow, evil, or mischief.

... the word Aven (note: authorities differ on whether it should be awen or aven) suggests not so much breach of law, or injury done to another, as a course of conduct which will in the end prove unprofitable to the doer. It presents the evil devices of man in their false, hollow, and unreal aspect; and by the use of this word the inspired writers put a stamp of nothingness or unreality upon every departure from the law of God, whether it consist of wrongdoing, evil devising, false speaking, or idolatrous worship.

In by far the greater numbers of instances, the versions prefer to translate °¹wen as "evil," "iniquity," or "wicked." But an interesting term occurs about twenty times in Job, Ps, and Prov; it is workers of iniquity (°¹wen) and may designate men skilled in magic or idolatrous ritual.

In connection with this we may note the significance of the phrase ‎pœ±¦lê °¹wen ‎"workers of iniquity." In addition to the eighteen instances in the Psalter the phrase appears in: Isa 31:2; Hos 6:8; Job 31:3; Job 34:8,22; Prov 10:29; Prov 21:15. In spite of the suggestion made famous by Mowinckel in ‎Psalmenstudien ‎that the word ‎°¹wen ‎is a magical power and the ‎pœ±¦lê °¹wen ‎were sorcerers who by their potent spells brought about the affliction of the righteous, we may be safe in assuming that the 'workers of iniquity' are foreign enemies who harass and gloat over their defeats of Israel and her king.

3 OT:7451 ur ra`(rah); from OT:7489; bad or (as noun) evil (natural or moral)(Biblesoft's New Exhaustive Strong's Numbers and Concordance with Expanded Greek-Hebrew Dictionary. Copyright © 1994, 2003, 2006, 2010 Biblesoft, Inc. and International Bible Translators, Inc.)

⁴OT:7455 roa` —

badness, evil

a) badness, a bad quality

b) willfulness

c) evil, badness (ethical)

d) sadness

Witness (I actually wrote this first back on December 6th!)

What’s better than a pearl? How about a string of pearls? That’s what God gave me today. I was reading an old journal entry. In the worship portion, I had included a song that spoke of the eternal worship we would enjoy in the presence of our Lord and King Jesus. Suddenly the old fear and revulsion began to literally rack my body as chill bumps started to work their way down my legs. That lie that says heaven is boring. An eternal nothing, in essence. No fun, just singing all the time. I fought the feelings. I cried out to God to rescue me from this melancholic feeling I was battling. This malicious fiery dart the enemy was casting at me. I turned to God and cast this burden on Him. I continued to plead for awareness of His presence. I was desperate. A song was playing about Christ’s coming to earth, but the words were indistinct and unintelligible to me. Then I continued on to the WORD portion, and God came with me. The context of what I was speaking to was different, but the application is the same. This is what I wrote:

Sometimes the enemy is not without but within. Sometimes we are our own worst enemy. Yet my Shepherd loved me and sought after me and rescued me. In spite of my failings, my heavenly Host has prepared a table for me anyway. One of the enemies that lurk in the shadows is named Accuser. Accuser seeks to spoil the feast with the guilt of my past failures. He taunts me from time to time, reminding me of them, saying: “you are a failure, you don’t deserve to be at that table.” It is then that I smell the perfumed oil that drips from my head and I am filled with joy and peace. It is then that I feel the wine from my overflowing cup wash away the past.

The pain of my guilty past

Sought to bind me ever fast

But the One whose love is infinitely vast

Sent guilt running with a mighty blast

My sins by His blood away were cast

And granted me a peace that will ever last

Here was a precious pearl from God. I rejoiced (I even whooped a little). Then I realized that the words “O come let us adore Him” were playing in the background. Another pearl. I got up and felt like dancing. Instead, I took my dishes to the sink, rejoicing all the way. When I came back and sat down to share this experience another pearl was strung on this blessed necklace God was making for me tonight. The Hallelujah chorus began to play. And as I finished my thoughts, the words wafted in air from the blue tooth speaker,

Fall on your knees

Oh hear the angel voices

O night divine...

https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcTpDt2-WtrppTNAn_9EhXbmZl6qzIs87G8ZtGKaUNwV_peZ7GiG

Worship: Lord of Eternity by Fernando Ortega

Blessed is the man
Who walks in Your favor
Who loves all Your words
And hides them like treasure
In the darkest place
Of his desperate heart,
They are a light
A strong, sure light.

Sometimes I call out Your name
But I cannot find You.
I look for Your face,
But You are not there.
By my sorrows, Lord,
Lift me to You,
Lift me up to Your side.

[Chorus 1:]
Lord of Eternity,
Father of mercy,
Look on my fainting soul.
Keeper of all the stars,
Friend of the poorest heart
Touch me and make me whole.

If You are my defender,
Who is against me?
No one can trouble or harm me
If You are my strength.
All I ask, all I desire
Is to live in Your house all my days.

[Chorus 2:]

Lord of Eternity,
Father of mercy,
Come to my troubled soul.
Keeper of all the stars,
Friend of the poorest heart
Touch me and make me whole.

Songwriters: FERNANDO ORTEGA, JOHN ANDREW SCHREINER, JUAN F. ORTEGA

Lyrics: Copied and corrected from:

https://www.bing.com/search?q=lyrics+to+lord+of+eternity+fernando&form=EDGEAR&qs=PF&cvid=532e3a3ab7ce454abc1aedf8ef818eb8&cc=US&setlang=en-US

Video: https://youtu.be/rVr2MT1u_eQ