Psalms 31:9

Psalms 31:9

Psalms 31:9-10 says, “Have mercy upon me, O LORD, For I am in trouble: mine eye is consumed with grief, yea, my soul and my belly. For my life is spent with grief, and my years with sighing: my strength faileth because of mine iniquity, and my bones are consumed.” Sin has consequences. Those consequences are suffering and death. This is the reason all men die. Before Adam and Eve sinned in the Garden of Eden man did not grow old or die. Romans 6:23, “For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.”

All Adam and Eve did was eat a piece of fruit that God commanded them not to eat. In other words sin is more than just the difference between what is morally right and wrong such as “thou shalt not murder,” or “thou shalt not commit adultery.” But sin is disobeying the will of God. How horrible are the consequences of sin. The wages of sin is eternal damnation in the lake of fire. “My strength faileth because of mine iniquity, and my bones are consumed.” Because of the pride of man and the greatness of our sins we can hardly comprehend the consequences of our own sinfulness.

Thankfully, we can always pray just as it says here in Psalms 31:9, “Have mercy upon me, O LORD.” There is mercy to be found, eternal mercy in the righteousness of Christ which is of faith. For those who do repent of their sins and turn to Jesus there is redemption. Redemption means eternal life because of being bought out of the slave market of sin. The wages of sin which is death Jesus paid both physically and spiritually when he suffered and died on the cross of Calvary. This is why Romans 6:23 is such a great verse, “For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.”

Psalms 31:9 explains for us not only God’s mercy but also the reason that so many people do not turn to Jesus for salvation, “For I am in trouble: mine eye is consumed with grief, yea my soul and my belly.” So many that are sinners do not repent of their sin when they are convicted by the Holy Spirit and the Word of God. Some have seared their conscience and feel no guilt at all for the sins that they commit. How wonderful it is by the mercy of God to be able to repent of sin. How much trouble men would be in if Jesus had not come to seek and to save that which was lost. How amazing is the mercy of God to have sent His only begotten Son to die for the sins of the world so that whoever repents and trusts in Jesus might have forgiveness of their sins and eternal life.

To disobey the will of God is to sin. Concerning the will of God, the Bible says about Jesus of Nazareth in Acts 17:29-31, “Forasmuch then as we are the offspring of God, we ought not to think that the Godhead is like unto gold, or silver, or stone, graven by art and man’s device. And the times of this ignorance God winked at; but now commandeth all men everywhere to repent: Because he hath appointed a day, in the which he will judge the world in righteousness by that man whom he hath ordained; whereof he hath given assurance unto all men, in that he hath raised him from the dead.” The most important commandment is to repent of your sins and to trust in Jesus Christ as your Savior. Every knee shall bow and every tongue shall confess that Jesus Christ is Lord. It is better to bow now and be saved than to bow at the judgment when the opportunity for forgiveness of sins has passed you by.

Psalms 31:11-13, “I was a reproach among all mine enemies, but especially among my neighbours, and a fear to mine acquaintance: they that did see me without fled from me. I am forgotten as a dead man out of mind: I am like a broken vessel. For I have heard the slander of many: fear was on every side: while they took counsel together against me, they devised to take away my life.” These verses in Psalms give for us some detail about the suffering that Christ faced while on this earth. Isaiah 53:3 says, “He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were our faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not.”

How greatly did God the Son suffer on this earth. Born of the virgin Mary he was treated shamefully like a child born out of wedlock. What a reproach among men it must have been for Jesus to suffer from such lies at the hands of the Pharisees both as a child and during his public ministry. When it came time for Him to die on the cross for the sins of the world even his own disciples forsook him. The shame that lies and slander can cause, the same kind of shame that Jesus faced will also be faced by those who choose to follow Jesus.

Hebrews 13:12-14 says, “Wherefore Jesus also, that he might sanctify the people with his own blood, suffered without the gate. Let us go forth therefore unto him without the camp, bearing his reproach. For here have we no continuing city, but we seek one to come.” It is better to be rejected of men than to be rejected of God. The reproach of the world comes to all those who turn to Jesus for forgiveness of their sins. But what is the reproach of the world compared to having the righteousness of Christ which is of faith? Sometimes the reproach of men and the slander of men discourages and leads others away from following Christ. If you only remember the power of the resurrection that is in Christ Jesus and the favor of God by grace through faith in Christ, how little will the slander of men seem compared to eternal life and the eternal righteousness of Jesus.

Psalms 9:14-18, “But I trusted in thee, O LORD: I said, Thou art my God My times are in thy hand: deliver me from the hand of mine enemies, and from them that persecute me. Make thy face to shine upon thy servant: save me for thy mercies sake. Let me not be ashamed, and let them be silent in the grave. Let the lying lips be put to silence; which speak grievous things proudly and contemptuously against the righteous.”

The solution to persecution and slander and reproach is to trust in the promises of God. God is all powerful and He controls all things including how much time you have on this earth. Jesus can deliver you from any situation and circumstance if it is his will. If you are in a situation of persecution, the will of God is for you to endure and to cling to the promises of Christ remembering the righteousness that is in Jesus because all men are sinners. But God has mercy to give unto those who repent. In the end it is those who lie, and slander and have words filled with pride who hate those who have faith in Christ, who sadly must face the eternal judgments of hell. It is important to endure your persecutions so that you can be a testimony for the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Psalms 9:19-20 says, “Oh how great is thy goodness, which thou hast laid up for them that fear thee; which thou hast wrought for them that trust in thee before the sons of men! Thou shalt hide them in the secret of thy presence from the pride of man: thou shalt keep them secretly in a pavilion from the strife of tongues.”

How important it is to have a testimony in this world. Your faith in Christ and your faith in His promises is your testimony. Just being saved and repentant of sin in Jesus is a testimony to the lost people of this world who are unrepentant and without the righteousness of Christ. Men by nature, because they are sinners have so much pride. To fear the Lord and to have faith in Jesus will put your soul in a fortress of safety against the pride of man. Faith and pride are not the same thing. It is a lie of the devil which misleads men into thinking that pride is faith. Proverbs 6:16-19 says, “These six things doth the LORD hate: yea seven are an abomination unto him: A proud look, a lying tongue, and hands that shed innocent blood, An heart that deviseth wicked imaginations, feet that be swift in running to mischief, a false witness that speaketh lies, and he that soweth discord among brethren.” Pride is an abomination to God. But faith in the promises of God will bring you into the goodness of God through the blood of Jesus Christ.

Consider the phrase in verse 20, “The strife of tongues.” The word “strife” can be translated cause or controversy. I Samuel 24:15 says, “The LORD therefore be judge, and judge between me and thee, and see, and plead my cause, and deliver me out of thine hand.” I Timothy 3:16 says, “And without controversy great is the mystery of godliness: God was manifest in the flesh, justified in the Spirit, seen of angels, preached unto the Gentiles, believed on in the world, received up into glory.”

The greatest battle of this world is that of light against darkness, good against evil, Jesus Christ against the forces of evil. This battle has already been won for those who have repented of their sins and turned to Jesus by faith. Genesis 1:3 says, “And God said, Let there be light: and there was light. And God saw the light, that it was good: and God divided the light from the darkness.”

If you want truth, there is only one place you can turn to find it, the Bible. The Words of the LORD are pure words as silver tried in a furnace of earth purified seven times. Because Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life, and because the Bible is the truth, there will always be, “a strife of tongues” against the Word of God and against Jesus of Nazareth and his children.

Slander, reproach, fear, and even death: these things Jesus faced and so will the Christian because the servant is not greater than His master. However you will find no controversy, no “strife of tongues,” in God’s Word. Romans 10:17 says, “Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God.” There is also no, “strife of tongues” found in Jesus. The world may accuse you and slander you but Jesus because of his righteousness and His perfect work on the cross of Calvary will always welcome you with open arms into a personal relationship with him. Ephesians 1:5 says, “Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will.”

The devil fell because of pride. Men who reject Jesus do so because of pride. When the slander of the world and the lying vanities of men are cast at you, trust in Christ and His promises. Psalms 9:19-20 says, “Oh how great is thy goodness, which thou hast laid up for them that fear thee; which thou hast wrought for them that trust in thee before the sons of men! Thou shalt hide them in the secret of thy presence from the pride of man: thou shalt keep them secretly in a pavilion from the strife of tongues.”

Concerning what heaven will be like, the Bible says in Revelation 21:26-27, “And they shall bring the glory and honour of the natiosn into it. And there shall in no wise enter into it any thing that defileth, neither whatsoever worketh abomination, or maketh a lie: but they which are written in the Lamb’s book of life.” The truth endures forever. The day will come when the slander of men and the lies of the devil are wiped away because we all must appear before the judgment seat of Christ to be judged and in that day there will be no, “strife of tongues.” Without controversy, great is the mystery of Godliness. Ye shall know the truth and the truth shall set you free. Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life. Jesus can keep you and hide you in the secret of His prescence from the strife of tongues.

$Description: C:\BibleGemsDoc\Image37.gif$

___________________________________________________