Psalm 140:1

Deliver me, O LORD, from evil men; Preserve me from violent men, (Psalms 140:1)

Three Points:

1. O LORD

LORD is the word Yahweh. He is the self-exist and eternal. He was not created but is. He is all powerful and so can deliver. He delivered Noah from the flood, Daniel from the lions, and us from our sins (if we have asked Him to forgive our sins and trust Jesus, the Son of God).

2. Deliver me from the evil man

Deliver has the idea of separation from something, in this case evil people. Here these evil people plan physical harm and verbal abuse. We may have to endure such things, but we must remember that He will give us grace, peace, and a good testimony to them.

3. Preserve me from the violent man

Preserve has the idea of to keep safe and guard, while violent has the idea of cruel, evil violence as in physical, financial, and verbal abuse. He prays for protection if and when it happens to be kept safe.

Barnes writes: Margin, as in Hebrew, man of violences.” That is, one who has committed violence so often, who has so frequently done wrong, that this may be considered a characteristic of the man.

This would be a sad characteristic of a person. May God deliver us from being that kind of person.

Psalm 42:11

Why are you cast down, O my soul, and why are you in turmoil within me? Hope in God; for I shall again praise him, my salvation and my God. (Psalms 42:11)

Three points:

1. The stress of the soul

Difficulties, troubles, inner turmoils, temptations, misunderstandings, spiritual battles come daily. The enemy of our soul is out to destroy us. For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places. (Ephesians 6:12)

2. These wars wear us out.

As in any contest there seems to be no end. A physical war has to stop some time for rest. A soldier cannot fight for 48, 72 or more hours without any rest. The enemy of our souls never stops, and we get tired.

3. The Lord will deliver

We don't know when or how. Like Joseph in the Old Testament. He woke up one morning still the servant of the chief jailer but went to bed second in the kingdom of Egypt. He did not know when, but it happened. So God will deliver us.

Genesis 33:3

Genesis 33:3 He himself went on before them, bowing himself to the ground seven times, until he came near to his brother.

Three points:

1. Easu wanted to kill Jacob.

Jacob had cunningly taken Easu’s birthright when Easu was very hungry and thought he was going to die.

2. Jacob fled into a neighboring country.

He went to his relative’s, married, had children, had huge flocks; he was blessed in every way.

3. God told him to go back home.

As far as he knew, Easu still wanted to kill him. When Jacob heard that Easu was coming to met him with 400 men, he was afraid and prayed for God to protect him. He could have returned from where he came, but he did not; he continued towards his home. The important part here is that he kept going. It was by faith, for God had said that he would be safe. He believed God.

What about us? When times are hard and difficult, do we quit following what the Lord Jesus taught us, or do we continue? We like Jacob must continue. It is by faith.

2 Kings 17:1-18

This is longer than usual but is needed.

Hoshea son of Elah became king of Israel in the twelfth year of Ahaz's rule in Judah, and he ruled nine years from Samaria. Hoshea disobeyed the LORD and sinned, but not as much as the earlier Israelite kings had done. During Hoshea's rule, King Shalmaneser of Assyria invaded Israel; he took control of the country and made Hoshea pay taxes. But later, Hoshea refused to pay the taxes and asked King So of Egypt to help him rebel. When Shalmaneser found out, he arrested Hoshea and put him in prison. Shalmaneser invaded Israel and attacked the city of Samaria for three years, before capturing it in the ninth year of Hoshea's rule. The Assyrian king took the Israelites away to Assyria as prisoners. He forced some of them to live in the town of Halah, others to live near the Habor River in the territory of Gozan, and still others to live in towns where the Median people lived. All of this happened because the people of Israel had sinned against the LORD their God, who had rescued them from Egypt, where they had been slaves. They worshiped foreign gods, followed the customs of the nations that the LORD had forced out of Israel, and were just as sinful as the Israelite kings. Even worse, the Israelites tried to hide their sins from the LORD their God. They built their own local shrines everywhere in Israel--from small towns to large, walled cities. They also built stone images of foreign gods and set up sacred poles for the worship of Asherah on every hill and under every shady tree. They offered sacrifices at the shrines, just as the foreign nations had done before the LORD forced them out of Israel. They did sinful things that made the LORD very angry. Even though the LORD had commanded the Israelites not to worship idols, they did it anyway. So the LORD made sure that every prophet warned Israel and Judah with these words: "I, the LORD, command you to stop doing sinful things and start obeying my laws and teachings! I gave them to your ancestors, and I told my servants the prophets to repeat them to you." But the Israelites would not listen; they were as stubborn as their ancestors who had refused to worship the LORD their God. They ignored the LORD's warnings and commands, and they rejected the solemn agreement he had made with their ancestors. They worshiped worthless idols and became worthless themselves. The LORD had told the Israelites not to do the things that the foreign nations around them were doing, but Israel became just like them. The people of Israel disobeyed all the commands of the LORD their God. They made two gold statues of calves and set up a sacred pole for Asherah; they also worshiped the stars and the god Baal. They used magic and witchcraft and even sacrificed their own children. The Israelites were determined to do whatever the LORD hated. The LORD became so furious with the people of Israel that he allowed them to be carried away as prisoners. Only the people living in Judah were left, (2 Kings 17:1-18).

Three points:

1. There is punishment for rebellion.

God has rules. Consider the Ten Commandments. We have all sinned. We have all broken the Commandments, but consider the church of today. The New Testament has rules also for us. How many does the church mention today? How faithful are the people of today?

2. God’s people are to be different.

One of the issues in the northern tribes of Israel is “The LORD had told the Israelites not to do the things that the foreign nations around them were doing, but Israel became just like them.” When we become just like the world around us or nearly so, we are total failures as Christians. In most churches divorce is as high or higher than “nonchistians”. So too the way we treat our spouses and children. We need to start living a Biblical lifestyle.

3. Don’t make God angry.

It is said here: “The Israelites were determined to do whatever the LORD hated.” It is almost as if they studied what God wanted and then deliberately did the opposite. Consider these rules:
“See that no one renders evil for evil to anyone, but always pursue what is good both for yourselves and for all. Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, in everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you. Do not quench the Spirit. Do not despise prophecies. Test all things; hold fast what is good. Abstain from every form of evil.” 1 Thessalonians 5:15-22)

Are they too hard to follow?