The Meaning Of Life

https://biblehub.com/nkjv/psalms/118.htm

Well. I was planning on covering two or three psalms again today, but wow, there is so much packed into this one, it will be the only one I talk about.

First, we hear the phrase “His mercy endures forever” in this and other psalms, and it is so true. It doesn’t matter how lost you are or how far you have strayed from the Lord, He is always ready to take you back in and shed mercy on your sins. And while many keep insisting that God is “just” and He has a responsibility to punish the wicked, this psalm says it all, “His mercy endures forever“.

Next, Verse 6 “The Lord is on my side; I will not fear. What can man do to me?” Christians have been persecuted for centuries, in fact, Jesus’ first disciples were all killed for preaching the gospel of Christ. Then through the years, Christians had to go into hiding to avoid being killed, and many Protestant reformers were killed for their teachings against “The Church”. And today, Christians are still being killed by Muslim extremists, in fact, I believe that our president recently sent armed forced to one of the countries in Africa where there were mass killings of Christians. Here in our own country, Christians are not yet being killed, but they are harassed and ridiculed for their beliefs by the non-believers, and scriptures says that the time will come when Christian worldwide will be persecuted, some by other Christians who have different beliefs. Many are in fear for that day, but this psalm should be read frequently to quash your fears. God is life. If you follow God and Jesus, just as the disciples did, you will have eternal life in Heaven. Nothing man can do to you will spoil that. Yes, you may go to the grave of sleep prematurely, but in the end, you will be redeemed. God’s promise is so much more fruitful than the promise of man. We will soon read about the prophet Daniel, and his friends Meshach, Shadrach, and Abednego, were persecuted for following God. In fact, Daniel was thrown into a den of lions for openly praying to God after a law was past forbidding the practice, and his three friends chose to go to a fiery furnace rather than bow down to an idol. And in both cases, God was with them. He tamed the lions and kept Daniel safe, and Jesus Himself was in the fiery furnace with the other three, bringing them out safely and unharmed. We should be the same. We should be so faithful to our God and so dedicated to Christ that we are willing to die for them, and again, it truly isn’t death, it’s simply the sleep of death until the Second Coming of Christ. Amen!

Next on the list, Verse 8 “It is better to trust in the Lord Than to put confidence in man.” And that is where I am at in life right now. I have great concerns about the word of God. It was withheld from Christians for many decades, “The Church” having the only Bibles and promising to tell us “what we needed to know”. The Bible has been translated into several different languages before it was translated into the King James Version which is the basis for all English translations today. Yet I recently read where the 47 member panel commissioned by King James used “several different resources” to compile scripture. What resources did they use? How trustoworthy were they? Was their translation accurate? I’ve just started comparing the “New King James Version” with the Hebrew Bible, the Bible used by the Jews today (of course it is just the Old Testament because the Orthodox Jews do not believe that Christ was the Messiah, but that is beside the point. I haven’t even finished Genesis yet, and I’ve found several differences that, while at face value, may not seem like much, but then again, they could result in vast differences.

For example, the NKJV in Genesis 6:2 reads, “that the sons of God saw the daughters of men, that they were beautiful; and they took wives for themselves of all whom they chose.” I’ve heard many fellow Christians interpret this as “angels” were the “sons of God” and that they came down from Heaven and had intercourse with the human daughters of men. While God enabled many barren women in the Bible to become fertile and bear children, there is only one “immaculate conception” that I am aware of, and for an angel to impregnate a human, that is exactly what would have to take place. The Hebrew Bible languages reads, “the sons of nobles” took wives of the daughters of man, something that is highly more likely and more plausible. I’ve just begun to compare the two books, but this verse alone makes me wonder what other differences there are that can skew Biblical history so bad. And I don’t know how anyone can be completely objective. We have pastors now that openly sin, and tell their congregations that that is “okay” because we are under Grace, that Jesus died on the cross for our sins, past, present, and future. In fact, many Christian denominations preach that the Old Testament is obsolete, that Jesus did away with all of that when He came to earth as a man. And the question I always pose to them is “Why do they continue to publish Bibles with the Old Testament included then?” So finally to my point, it is better to put trust in the Lord than it is man. And again, that is why this time reading the Bible, I’m not relying on any outside reference wrotten by man. Before each Bible Study, I pray that God sends His Spirit to teach me the truth, and I do not believe that God will lead me astray. Whether you go to church and listen to prepared sermons, whether you watch Christian television, whether you refer to theologians that have been educated in college, always pray that God shows you the truth. I’ve always been told to check what the pastor says against scripture, but unfortunately, I’m not an expert at scripture and do not have time to “fact check” what the pastor is telling me. Therefore I put my trust in the Lord and not in man.

Verse 9 is next on the agenda; “It is better to trust in the Lord
Than to put confidence in princes.” I have a hard time staying out of politics. In fact, I have to force myself to turn my computer off or I end up getting passionate about something and getting into an “internet discussion” that eventually leads to an “internet debate”. That said, God is King! No matter who our president is, who our elected leaders are, God is our King and we should live by His Commands. That is not to say you can violated man’s law because that will end you in prison, but don’t fret politics. God is in charge, His Will will be done regardless of who the people elect. Remember, the children of Israel demanded a King, and God gave them Saul. When that didn’t work out and Saul began to lead them astray, God replaced him. And if the time comes where religion is legislated, follow God, even to the death.

And finally, and I will be able to give my fingers a rest, Verse 22 and 23 “The stone which the builders rejected Has become the chief cornerstone. This was the Lord’s doing; It is marvelous in our eyes.” We will find out that this is a prophetic verse. Jesus is the cornerstone of Christianity, and He was rejected by the children of Israel; not only was He rejected, they killed Him.

I’ve heard pastors, in the past, say that the Pharisees who killed Jesus will suffer the longest, but I’m not sure. The thief on the cross was forgiven, and scripture says that when Jesus died, and the sky grew dark, and the earth rumbled, and the curtain in the temple tore in two, that at least one Roman soldier, who had been taunting Jesus, finally confessed that He was the Son of God. Scripture doesn’t say, but we don’t know how many Pharisees after that fell to their knees and begged for forgiveness. And even Jesus Himself prayed, “Forgive them Father, for they know not what they do.”

God is merciful, His mercy endures forever.

And with that, I end this extraordinarily long dissertation. Prayers to all and have a blessed day.