DEVOTION
PSALMS
BY OUR MOUTH
Ps 40:9-17
9 I proclaim righteousness in the great assembly; I do not seal my
lips, as you know, O LORD. 10 I do not hide your righteousness in my heart; I
speak of your faithfulness and salvation. I do not conceal your love and your
truth from the great assembly.
11 Do not withhold your mercy from me, O LORD; may your love and your
truth always protect me. 12 For troubles without number surround me; my sins
have overtaken me, and I cannot see. They are more than the hairs of my head, and
my heart fails within me.
13 Be pleased, O LORD, to save me; O LORD, come quickly to help me. 14
May all who seek to take my life be put to shame and confusion; may all who
desire my ruin be turned back in disgrace. 15 May those who say to me,
"Aha! Aha!" be appalled at their own shame. 16 But may all who seek
you rejoice and be glad in you; may those who love your salvation always
say," The LORD be exalted!"
17 Yet I am poor and needy; may the Lord think of me. You are my help
and my deliverer; O my God, do not delay.
NIV
Although David is in distress over the sin in his life, he does not
keep silent about his relationship with the Lord. Sometimes it would seem better not to reveal
the fact we are Christians when we are so overladen with sin. When we live much
in the same manner as the rest of the world and speak out about our faith it
would seem we would come under more ridicule than if we never said anything
about God. But that is not the truth here. We see David will not keep silent,
nor should we. We cannot hide the fact we are believers in Jesus Christ.
Sometimes just using the term “God” seems more agreeable with the world. They
are not that offended because “God” is so universally used. Some consider “God”
as “god” either seeing god as a woman or none gender. But when we use the name
of Jesus Christ they cannot change him to mean what their concept. They can
claim he was only a prophet, a man who lived and died. This is where we have to
speak up, to declare the name of our Lord and speak the truth, speak up loud
and clear. We have to declare who God is and who Jesus is and the Spirit. We
have to speak of his righteousness, his salvation, his faithfulness. We cannot
conceal his truth from the great assembly of people around us. Sure we still
sin, certainly we are not perfect people, even though the world might judge us
for proclaiming the truth of God and not being perfect. There used to be bumper
stickers that said Christians are not perfect, just forgiven. But that implies we,
as well as God, accepts our way as normal. We don’t, we regret we fail him, we
are overwhelmed by grief each time we loss a battle over temptation of some
sort. Our life is a struggle at times just trying to be a “Good Christian”. But
that is the problem, we cannot be a “Good Christian”, only Jesus can. It seems
the more we try, the more we fail. It is not about us being, but about us
having a relationship with the one who can. The people of this world will
always be ready with the “Aha! Aha!” But that has nothing to do with our relationship
with our Lord, nor with our continuing to speak out about our Savior. Because we
seek the Lord we will rejoice and be glad. We will live with joy in our heart,
a smile on our face because if we are happy and we know it, surely our face
will show it. We can walk through life with our head held high. But at the same
time, that reason we can do that is we know we are poor and needy, yet we also
know God thinks about us, watches over us, provides for us, directs our path.
He is our help and deliverer. We live because of him. We are ever thankful for
all he does in our lives, for our lives, and through our lives. Without the
Lord we would be lost forever. But he is there with us and we will proclaim his
goodness to all who are near us. They will know we are Christians by our love,
but also by our mouth.
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