Exalted by God

DEVOTION

PSALMS

EXALTED BY GOD

Ps 37:25-34

25 I was young and now I am old, yet I have never seen the righteous forsaken or their children begging bread. 26 They are always generous and lend freely; their children will be blessed.

27 Turn from evil and do good; then you will dwell in the land forever. 28 For the LORD loves the just and will not forsake his faithful ones.

They will be protected forever, but the offspring of the wicked will be cut off; 29 the righteous will inherit the land and dwell in it forever.

30 The mouth of the righteous man utters wisdom, and his tongue speaks what is just. 31 The law of his God is in his heart; his feet do not slip.

32 The wicked lie in wait for the righteous, seeking their very lives; 33 but the LORD will not leave them in their power or let them be condemned when brought to trial.

34 Wait for the LORD and keep his way. He will exalt you to inherit the land; when the wicked are cut off, you will see it.

NIV

For as long as we have been believers, have we ever seen another believer forsaken by God? There is no reason for a believer to beg for bread, in fact we have so many generous believers who have established many different ways in which a person may obtain free bread, free food. Although it is true that in the time of David there were beggars in the streets, it seems unheard of in our time and culture. We do have homeless people in some places, but they can still have food for free. God does not forsake his people, he will always find a way to provide them with bread. The children of Israel surely are a great example of having God provide bread from heaven in a miraculous way. This idea also admonishes us to be generous with our wealth, to make sure someone does not go hungry. Because we have turned from evil we will inherit the land. That does not say we have no sin, or that we are perfect. But the idea of turning from evil carries the meaning of repenting of our former way of life, before Jesus, and turning our heart toward God and his ways. The desire of our heart is to please God, although certain times we fail and try to please ourselves. The act of pleasing God should bring us pleasure. We are assured that if we are just, those who render a verdict. That is we declare this verdict, this judgement, choose this day whom you will serve, but as for me and my household we will serve the Lord. Because of that verdict, because we are just, God promises he will never forsake us. We can always be assured God is with us, and because he is with us, who can stand against us? He protects us. He does not protect the wicked or their offspring, they will be cut off, forsaken. They don’t have to be, they can repent becoming  just, but by remaining  wicked they will be cut off and we will not, we will inherit the land. David already lived in the time of Israel inheriting the land, they lived in it. This “land” has to refer to the new creation, the new land that is coming, the eternal land. Because we have the Spirit of the Lord dwelling within us we speak wisdom. This wisdom is the truth of God for the wisdom of man is foolishness to God. Worldly wisdom is nothing, it is useless, it will perish, we do not need it, we need only the wisdom that comes from God. Knowledge and wisdom differ greatly. We learn worldly knowledge, but wisdom is how we live, how we apply knowledge. What we use it for, either for evil or for good. So we speak the truth, what is just, what is right, we speak about God, about Jesus, about salvation. His law is written on our heart, we do not need the law of man. There are many church denominations that have created a law unto themselves, setting forth rules and regulations which need to be adhered to in order to belong to their group. We have the law of the Lord written on our heart and his is the one we need to adhere to and in doing this our feet will not slip. We will be standing on solid ground, standing on the law of God, not man made ones. When we wait on the Lord and keep his ways, we will indeed inherit the land. It is interesting the Hebrew word translated wait, means to bind together (perhaps by twisting) such as twine or rope is twisted. When we bind ourselves with God, when we twist ourselves into or with him, he will exalt us, he will lift us up into the land. He will exalt us, we will rise as is the meaning of the Hebrew. That could mean in the rapture, in the rising up from the grave, in the rising up in the air to meet our Lord. We are and will be ultimately exalted by God.