February 12, 2017: Day 43 – Psalm 43

The psalmist asks God to send out His light and His truth so that they might lead him.  I think most of us feel a lot more comfortable just asking for the light of God to lead us, and maybe a little less comfortable asking for the truth of God to lead us.  But if we take that stance then we are mistaken.  We have forgotten the Scripture that states that the light of God will reveal all those things which are hidden and bring them into plain view (Luke 8:17, Luke 12:2, I Corinthians 4:5, Ephesians 5:13).  We most definitely need to understand that our lives really are not our lives.  There is nothing which is hidden which will remain hidden.  What would you do if you knew you could get away with it forever with no one knowing?  Be careful.  Answer honestly.  Think of the people you would hurt if you did those things.  But then recognize that we should obey God’s law not because we might get caught, motivation of fear, but rather because we simply do not want to do them because we have no desire for them and we understand whom we will hurt if we do them, motivation of love.

We need to allow the truth of God to lead us.  It is a truth that will set us free and a truth that will allow us to recognize that our hope is in God.  The psalmist asks first that God would vindicate him.  That means that God would be on his side and against his enemies.  I’m sorry, but God does not take sides.  God does not want our country to win against any other country.   God does not want us as Christians to have the upper hand against any other religion.  God does not want us as individuals to be over any other people.  God simply wants our obedience and then whatever may come we will be able to handle.  That is the way that God is.  I love God for that.  I’m not sure I would want to serve a God who loves me more than anyone else.  The same goes for our parents, right?  We don’t want our parents to love us more than others.  We just want them to love us.