The Meaning Of Life

https://biblehub.com/nkjv/psalms/80.htm

Forgive me if I’ve said this before…I’m an old man and getting more and more forgetful by the day. And forgive me if I’ve said that before…I’m an old man and getting more and more forgetful by the day. But, I’ll say it again. Anyone who claims to be a “Christ-ian” is one who follows Christ. Christ was a Jew, Christ was with God when they willed Abraham to be replanted in the land of the Canaanites, and anyone who has read the Bible knows that that was the promised land. God gave it to the children of Abraham, Hebrews and eventually Jews, so how any Christian today can be on the side of Palestine, I cannot comprehend. God said “I will bless those who bless you (Israel) and I will curse those who curse you.”

That said, this psalm is clearly a prayer to God for help for Israel from their enemies. Israel has been at battle for centuries, even having to fight to be it’s own country, politically that is. And there is a part of it that is prophesied; the riff between Ishmael and Isaac, and between Esau and Jacob, God said they would fight each other forever. And anyone who has read the Bible knows that Israel, just like you and I, have been on a roller coaster ride of turning away from God, sinning, then repenting and turning back to God, only to turn away and begin sinning again. We are all humans…we fall sometimes and have to get back up.

So I’m sure when Asaph wrote this psalm, Israel was being oppressed, or attacked by it’s neighbors, and it sounds as if he was pleading for God’s forgiveness and to help them out. And of course, he can say that prayer, but if the people themselves do not make an effort to return to God, I doubt his prayer will be answered. Just like today, I hear people say, “Pray for our nation”. That is all fine and good to pray about, but unless our entire nation returns to God, stops murdering and raping, stops worshiping idols, stops aborting children, I don’t think we will find favor with God. Just today in our local news, I read where a 73 year old man was arrested for child pornography. I know Satan uses sex to draw many away from God, but it is just sad when someone that old is doing things like that.

Psalm 81 specifically addresses idolatry, and from what we’ve read so far, the children of Jacob did not follow God’s command and rid the land of pagans, and as God feared, the Israelites began intermingling with them, and taking on their traditions, and started worshiping idols such as Baal and Molech.

There are some verses in Psalms 82 that I do not quite understand. Verse 2, “How long will you judge unjustly,
And show partiality to the wicked? Selah” I can not tell if Asaph thinks God is angry with God because He is “unjust”, or whether Asaph simply doesn’t understand God’s mercy?

I remember a friend who taught me a valuable lesson one day. I had had some interaction with a gentleman, a very crooked gentleman that had stolen from me. He was a contractor on our house, and stole not only some of our property when we were away, but also took money for some work he didn’t perform. And his brother even confessed that he had a warrant out for his arrest in Louisiana because he had scammed a lot of people after Hurricane Katrina, taking money for work he hadn’t performed.

And when this man died, his brother was so proud that his brother had “accept Jesus” on his deathbed and was now saved. And I’ll be honest, it left a sour taste in my mouth,

“How can he be saved after years of corruption and wickedness just because he “accepted” Jesus as he drew his last breath?”, I complained to my friend.

Very quietly she look at me and said, “What about the thief on the cross?”

So, I had to eat crow. I had to accept the fact that God was forgiving and merciful, even though I didn’t want this man to achieve forgiveness.

And maybe that is how Asaph felt. Maybe he felt that God shouldn’t “show partiality to the wicked”. But this isn’t our show, it’s God’s. And if we want God to show mercy for our sins, we have to be thankful that He shows partiality to the wicked as well. Because any sin makes you “wicked” in God’s eye.

And as I end this blog, my mother and father loved watching the Billy Graham Crusades on TV (I was young and not much of a fan, I confess). But now that I’m an old man, I enjoy bits and pieces now. And here is something my mother really loved.

Here is a very young Billy Graham and a young George Beverly Shea, singing “How Great Thou Art” from 1957 (two years before I was born by the way).