Psalms To See Me Through Psalm 14: The Folly and Wickedness of Men.

For the choir director. A Psalm of David.

The fool has said in his heart, “There is no God.” They are corrupt, they have committed abominable deeds; there is no one who does good. The Lord has looked down from heaven upon the sons of men to see if there are any who understand, Who seek after God. They have all turned aside, together they have become corrupt; There is no one who does good, not even one. vv. 1-3  

The folly and wickedness of men. I witnessed it yesterday on my computer screen. I witnessed twenty-one of my brothers in Christ martyred on a beach near Tripoli, on the Mediterranean Sea. Yes, I watched five-plus minutes of a deranged monster declaring the guilt of these men from the hostile Christian Church in Egypt. I watched the angry men, possessed with the murderous spirit of the Anti-Christ, slaughter Christ’s soldiers; His beloved sons. I watched as they sawed through their necks declaring they were dying for worshiping the pagan God. I watched twenty-one men with their hands bound, forced to their knees, lips moving in silent prayer— preparing their hearts to meet Christ, savagely lose their lives. I saw the sea run red with the blood of these saints. Who are the hostile ones?

And I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded because of their testimony about Jesus and because of the word of God. They had not worshiped the beast or its image and had not received its mark on their foreheads or their hands. They came to life and reigned with Christ a thousand years. Rev. 20:4 NASB

And in her was found the blood of prophets and of saints and of all who have been slain on the earth. Rev. 18:24 NASB

And they overcame him because of the blood of the Lamb and because of the word of their testimony, and they did not love their life even when faced with death. Revelation 12:11

Do all the workers of wickedness not know, who eat up my people as they eat bread, and do not call upon the Lord? There they are in great dread, For God is with the righteous generation. You would put to shame the counsel of the afflicted, But the Lord is his refuge. vv. 4-6. 

Do not believe for one moment that God did not see the beheading of His precious saints; their blood that stains the sand also cries out to Him from the sea; and He will give those with the mark of the Anti-Christ what they have coming to them. These precious men were met with robes of white and crowns by Christ Himself. Remember that Christ has already won the victory. We are in the end-times. The devil knows his time is short and he is ramping up his evil and mustering his minions—as seen vividly in these ISIS soldiers. Christ has defeated the devil and he will spend eternity paying for his crimes against humanity. 

For they poured out the blood of saints and prophets, and You have given them blood to drink. They deserve it. Rev. 16:6 NASB

Philippe Jaques de Loutherbour The Angel binding Satan.

And having despoiled principalities and powers, He made a show of them openly, triumphing over them in it. Col. 2:15 NASB

Raphael St. Michael vanquishing Satan

Then I saw an angel coming down from heaven. He had in his hand a key to the hole without a bottom. He also had a strong chain. He took hold of the dragon, that old snake, who is the Devil, or Satan, and chained him for 1,000 years. The angel threw the devil into the hole without a bottom. He shut it and locked him in it. Rev. 20:1-3 NASB

Then the devil who fooled them will be thrown into the lake of fire burning with sulphur. The wild animal and the false preacher are already there. They will all be punished day and night forever. v 10 NASB

Oh, that the salvation of Israel would come out of Zion! When the Lord restores His captive people, Jacob will rejoice, Israel will be glad. Ps. 14:7

We await the second coming of Christ to crush Satan under our feet. I am heartbroken for these twenty-one Christian brothers slaughtered on the beach. But I am rejoicing that they met the Lord whom they faithfully served.

I am thankful for the blood of Christ. Thankful that He died and redeemed me. I pray for the families of those who died at the hand of ISIS militants. I pray too for those ISIS militants. I know that may be hard to do after witnessing the blood those men shed on the beach in Tripoli. Christ shed His blood for them too. Christ does not wish for anyone to perish (2 Pet. 3:9). I pray that the deceiving spirit of the Anti-Christ loses the hold it has on the hearts of these men that are so full of hatred for Christ, and any that would follow Him. I pray the veil is removed from their hearts and that God would raise up His Saul’s (Paul) out of the midst of that evil army. I pray for the Lord to reveal Himself in Damascus Road experiences. It would serve the enemy right for messing with God’s people. I call them out of the kingdom of darkness and into the Kingdom of God’s dear Son (Col. 1:13). They will bow to Christ now, or they will bow to Christ later. But they will bow.

For this reason also, God highly exalted Him, and bestowed on Him the name which is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee will bow, of those who are in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and that every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. Philippians 2:9-11

Church, this is our wake-up call. Put aside political correctness and see this enemy for what it is.  Do not be ignorant of the devil's schemes (2 Cor. 2:11). This was not only an attack on citizens of Egypt; it was an attack against those who follow the Lamb. These militants seek a caliphate; Ishmael fighting to usurp Isaac. Israel's PM declares an Aliyah; the regathering of God's people from the nations. These events have apocalyptic implications. The turmoil in the Middle-East along with the rise in anti-Semitism and attacks on Jews around the world are the birth pangs of the return of Christ. What will He find you doing when He returns? 

The twenty-one saints that were beheaded; their names can also be found written in the Lamb's Book of Life:

Milad Makeen Zaky; Abanub Ayad Atiya; Maged Solaiman Shehata; Yusuf Shukry Yunan; Kirollos Shockry Fawzy; Bishoy Astafanus Kamel; Somaily Astafanus Kamel; Malak Ibrahim Sinweet; Tawadros Yusuf Tawadros; Girgis Milad Sinweet; Mina Fayez Aziz; Hany Abdelmesish Salib; Bishoy Adel Khalaf; Samuel Alham Wilson; Worker from AWR village; Ezat Bishri Naseef; Loqa Nagaty; Gaber Munir Adly; Esam Badir Samir; Malak Farag Abram; Sameh Salah Faruq. 

Psalm 10: The Cry of the Righteous for Justice

Why do You stand afar off, O Lord? Why do You hide Yourself in times of trouble?
In pride the wicked hotly pursue the afflicted; Let them be caught in the plots which they have devised. For the wicked boasts of his heart’s desire, and the greedy man curses and spurns the Lord.  (vv. 1-3)

This is without a doubt one of the most frequently asked questions of God through the ages. How many times has heaven’s throne been bombarded with the whys of the troubles that plague the earth? No doubt the weeping Daughters of Jerusalem asked why as they wailed and mourned the injustice being perpetrated on Jesus. History hails many witnesses to the martyred saints, and many of the Apostles died brutal deaths as well (according to some traditions):

Matthew: suffered martyrdom in Ethiopia, killed by a sword wound. 

Mark: died in Alexandria, Egypt, after being dragged by horses through the streets until he was dead.

Luke: was hanged in Greece as a result of his tremendous preaching to the lost. 

John:  Faced martyrdom when he was boiled in huge basin of boiling oil during a wave of persecution In Rome. However, he was miraculously delivered from death.

Peter: He was crucified upside down on an x-shaped cross. According to church tradition it was because he felt unworthy to die in the same way that Jesus Christ had died.

James: The leader of the church in Jerusalem, was thrown over a hundred feet down from the southeast pinnacle of the Temple when he refused to deny his faith in Christ. When they discovered that he survived the fall, his enemies beat James to death with a fuller's club. 

Paul: Was tortured and then beheaded by the evil Emperor Nero at Rome in A.D. 67. Paul endured a lengthy imprisonment, which allowed him to write his many epistles to the churches he had formed throughout the Roman Empire.

Many other saints were thrown to the lions for sport. 

One need only watch the news to be familiar with the injustices seen across the globe; it would seem a just question. 

The wicked, in the haughtiness of his countenance, does not seek Him. All his thoughts are, “There is no God.” Verse 4

God has endowed man with free will, each man can decide whether to perform acts of evil or righteousness. Though it may seem that those that choose wickedness flourish, it is fleeting. A day is coming, a Terrible Day of the Lord and wicked will cower before the Almighty God. Their notion that there is no God will be obliterated in the blink of an eye. 

His ways prosper at all times; Your judgments are on high, out of his sight; As for all his adversaries, he snorts at them.  He says to himself, “I will not be moved; throughout all generations I will not be in adversity” (vv. 5-6).

God cannot be defeated. He is El Echbad, the one God; He is El Emet, the God of Truth; He is El Shaddai, the All Sufficient One; He is El Elyon The Most High God, and El Olam, the Everlasting God. He is El Gibbor, the Mighty God, the Warrior God and He cannot be defeated or moved.

 

God is not like the wicked, and the deeds of those who seek to destroy God’s people are evident in the earth:

His mouth is full of curses and deceit and oppression; under his tongue is mischief and wickedness. He sits in the lurking places of the villages; in the hiding places he kills the innocent; His eyes stealthily watch for the unfortunate. He lurks in a hiding place as a lion in his lair; He lurks to catch the afflicted; He catches the afflicted when he draws him into his net. He crouches, he bows down, And the unfortunate fall by his mighty ones. He says to himself, “God has forgotten; He has hidden His face; He will never see it.” vv. 7-11

Does this not describe the evil that is operating in the earth today? An evil army is wreaking havoc and destruction in the Middle East and this describes that army quite stunningly. Hence those who seek good and serve God are crying out to Him;

Arise, O Lord; O God, lift up Your hand. Do not forget the afflicted.  Why has the wicked spurned God? He has said to himself, “You will not require it.”  You have seen it, for You have beheld mischief and vexation to take it into Your hand. The unfortunate commits himself to You; You have been the helper of the orphan. Break the arm of the wicked and the evildoer, Seek out his wickedness until You find none. vv. 12-15

One of my favorite traits of the Psalms is that though the psalter cries out to God for all the injustice around him, with a slight accusatory tone, the poets always come back around to praise God for all the good things He does, and that praise leads to worship. When God is worshipped nothing can defeat us. He reigns in all the earth. He reigns in our lives, in our troubles, in our failures. He reigns over all the evil-doers, where sin abounds, grace much more abounds (Rom. 5:20). We will have troubles, but He has already won—He wears the Victor’s crown.

The Lord is King forever and ever; Nations have perished from His land. O Lord, You have heard the desire of the humble; You will strengthen their heart, You will incline Your ear to vindicate the orphan and the oppressed, So that man who is of the earth will no longer cause terror. vv. 16-18

When we worship Him, our troubles no longer have the victory; it helps us remember the goodness of God and He strengthens us through our worship, and our time alone in His presence. God promises in the end, the wicked have a terrible fate awaiting them, and God will end the power of evil in the earth. 

In His Grace,

 

JJ Jesu Jura: Jesus Help

SDG Soli Deo Gloria: To God be the glory!