David prays in Psalm 28:1 … “O LORD my rock; be not silent to me.”

David lived the kind of life where (normally) he just HAD TO HAVE the Lord close by his side. He absolutely needed to hear God’s Voice! (Today we would say he lived “in communion” with the Lord.)

“Lord, be not silent to me!”

King Saul, in the last few months of his (rebellious) life, also wanted to hear God speak. “And when Saul enquired of the LORD, the LORD answered him not, neither by dreams, nor by Urim, nor by prophets.” 1 Samuel 28:6, not a word! Even with Saul begging!

King Herod as well, wanted so badly to hear a word from Jesus. “And when Herod saw Jesus, he was exceeding glad: for he was desirous to see Him of a long season, because he had heard many things of Him; and he hoped to have seen some miracle done by Him. Then he questioned with Jesus in many words; but Jesus answered him nothing.” Quoting Luke 23:8-9, quite amazing!

But not David … “O Lord, be not silent to me.”

Yet I fear many today (even professing Christians, I mean) live day after day (or longer) … not even concerned about hearing from the Lord!

Let me get personal … do YOU hear from Him regularly?

How, you might ask?

God speaks today through His Word, for sure!

Through the Guidance of His Holy Spirit too!

He can even use the circumstances of life He orchestrates and sends your way!

But honestly, that sweet line of communication can be broken!

Via unconfessed sin in one’s heart.

Via bitterness or revenge too!

Via some deed that quenches or grieves the Holy Spirit.

Oh, I urge you to live the kind of life that is “open” to hearing God’s Voice!

1 John chapter 1 begins with this glorious possibility. Stating clearly that we Believers can have “fellowship” with God the Father and with God the Son (hearing is certainly involved in this blessed situation) and then sweet relationship one with another as well!

1 John 1:3 … “That which we have seen and heard declare we unto you, that ye also may have fellowship with us: and truly our fellowship is with the Father, and with his Son Jesus Christ.”

Under these conditions, I promise you, GOD WILL NOT BE SILENT!

May we be more like young Samuel. “Therefore Eli said unto Samuel, Go, lie down: and it shall be, if He call thee, that thou shalt say, Speak, LORD; for thy servant heareth.” 1 Samuel 3:9

“Speak, Lord; for thy servant heareth!”

Wow!

— Dr. Mike Bagwell

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Seventeen times the Old Testament mentions words like “backsliding, backslide, and backslider!”

Using different Hebrew words, the English meaning is consistent, people who “turn away” from the Lord.

These people knew the Truth, then rejected and disdained the very Truth they once espoused!

Jeremiah, more than any other Old Testament Prophet, used this word picture, backsliding … “stubborn repudiation of the Truth that was once held so dear, that once was pledged to be obeyed!”

Typical is Jeremiah 8:5 … “Why then is this people of Jerusalem slidden back by a perpetual backsliding? they hold fast deceit, they refuse to return.”

BUT A LITTLE WHILE AGO, AS I READ GOD’S WORD, PSALM 26 TO BE EXACT, I FOUND THESE WORDS … “I have trusted also in the LORD; therefore I shall NOT slide.” Psalm 26:1, a Psalm of David!

A cure for (back)sliding, drifting away from the Lord?

TRUST, in megadoses, in ever growing quantities … produces a life that will not “slide” away from the Lord!

That noun for “trust,” spelled “batach” in Hebrew, means “trust” in this sense; to believe and rely upon and accept as truth everything God says, even to the point of “no worry.” Trusting … without a trace of a doubt as to the outcome of a matter! Once “batach” is translated “to be careless,” care free, not a bit apprehensive. God will keep His Word!

That kind of TRUST … according to our Text … precludes any kind of “sliding” away from the Lord!

I love preventative Verses like this!

Again … “I have trusted also in the LORD; THEREFORE I shall not slide.”

Reminds me of Psalm 15, it last verse … “He that doeth these things shall never be moved.”

In sum, the closer we live to Jesus … the less the chance, the likelihood … that we will turn away!

Wow!

Yes, Jesus can keep us from sliding, and more!

Actually to this point … “Now unto him that is able to keep you from falling, and to present you faultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy” …

Lord, we claim this for ourselves.

“Increase our faith,” we ask in Jesus’ Name. And that short prayer, when answered, leads to a skid-proof life, “never sliding!”

Amen.

— Dr. Mike Bagwell

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Paul certainly was not ashamed … “For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth.” Romans 1:16

It is not God’s Will for any Believer to be ashamed … “Whosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed.” Romans 9:33 and 10:11, twice!

In fact, Paul was not even ashamed when he suffered, for Jesus’ sake I mean. “For the which cause I also suffer these things: nevertheless I am not ashamed: for I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed unto him against that day.” 2 Timothy 1:12

But I think the kind of un-ashamedness I’m describing today particularly concerns anything I preach from the powerful Word of God. Sort of like this … “Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.” 2 Timothy 2:15

David, in Psalm 25:2 prays specifically … “O my God, I trust in thee: let me not be ashamed.”

Oh no doubt, we Bible Preachers will be mocked more and more in these days approaching the Lord’s Return. Of that I have no fear, nor will I be ashamed.

I just fear being “wrong” on some point of interpreting the Bible. I KNOW the Bible is perfect, but me as a teacher … very imperfect!

So I need daily the Presence and Power and Wisdom of God the Holy Spirit as I preach and teach the Book!

And in that sense, I like Paul “KNOW THAT I SHALL NOT BE ASHAMED!” But it’s a job at times keeping Brother Bagwell right, in as close a Fellowship as I should be. Oh, to abide in my Saviour constantly!

So many winds of doctrine blowing around nowadays … Ephesians 4:14 … some blowing even good men off the “old paths” … Jeremiah 6:16 … that one can’t be too careful.

“Lord, give me sufficient holy boldness and humble un-ashamedness … I pray.”

Back to Psalm 25, the solution for un-ashamedness I suspect … “Shew me thy ways, O LORD; teach me thy paths.” (Verse 4)

I shall not be ashamed as God imparts to me His Secrets! I will preach them in fact! Secrets found embedded in the Word of God, Holy Scripture! “The secret of the LORD is with them that fear him.” Still Psalm 25:14

David ends the Psalm as he began … “O keep my soul, and deliver me: let me not be ashamed; for I put my trust in thee.” Psalm 25:20

Boldness in my Faith and and Wisdom from trusting the Lord … and any potential shame will be gone!

Praise the Lord!

— Dr. Mike Bagwell

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There is no doubt in my mind as to the identity of this great King. In fact the Bible clearly defines Him as the Lord God Almighty.

For example, Psalm 24:10 enquires, twice in fact: “Who is this King of glory?”

And the same Psalm (twice) answers that fundamental question of life! “Who is this King of glory? The LORD strong and mighty, the LORD mighty in battle.” (Verse 8) Then again: “Who is this King of glory? The LORD of hosts, he is the King of glory.” (Verse 10)

Specifically, the King of Glory is … Jesus, the Son of God!

The Lord Jesus!

On this Point the Bible is adamant.

Now enters man, humanity, into the conversation. Contemporary man, the world in which we live. He/she has a different answer to our question, “Who is the King of Glory?”

And humankind now says: “MAN, MAN HIMSELF IS KING!”

Man can now decide even if he is a man! Perhaps he is a woman!

He can, against every Bible mandate, live his own life as HE (a human being) pleases!

Man today is his own creator, his own saviour (science can do everything these days), and his own god.

Yes, a battle is brewing!

And I am trusting the Bible to be right.

Jesus Christ the Son of God … the King of Glory!

I have by faith made Him my Lord!

I have trusted His Blood shed on an old rugged Cross to wash my sin away.

And this real “King of Glory,” of Whom I write this Thursday morning … is coming again!

When … “At the name of Jesus every knee shall bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth; and every tongue shall confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.” Isaiah 45:23 and Romans 14:11 and even Philippians 2:10-11.

I’m glad I know Who Jesus is!

— Dr. Mike Bagwell

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One magnificent Clause in the 23rd Psalm informs us WHY (or at least one reason why) the Lord so diligently leads us day by day.

“He leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name’s sake.” Psalm 23:3

The Hebrew noun used here for “Name” is spelled “shem.” It means “name” in this sense; “reputation, renown, fame.”

In the Old Testament one could not separate “name” and “character.” A person’s name also depicted that person’s life.

So is it with the Lord God!

He guards the Dignity of His Name, expressly so!

To this extent, and rightly so: “Thou shalt not take the name of the LORD thy God in vain; for the LORD will not hold him guiltless that taketh his name in vain.” Exodus 20:7

A Command so important that it is repeated in Deuteronomy 5:11 … “Thou shalt not take the name of the LORD thy God in vain: for the LORD will not hold him guiltless that taketh his name in vain.”

Leviticus 19:12 amplifies this fact: “Neither shalt thou profane (desecrate) the name of thy God: I am the LORD.”

Some of the awesome character traits God possesses, that His Name represents … “The LORD, The LORD God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abundant in goodness and truth.” Exodus 34:6, what a Name!

God surely likes it when we study His Name! (His Names actually, for they are many.)

He even commends us for thanking on His Name! “Then they that feared the LORD spake often one to another: and the LORD hearkened, and heard it, and a book of remembrance was written before him for them that feared the LORD, AND THAT THOUGHT UPON HIS NAME. And they shall be mine, saith the LORD of hosts, in that day when I make up my jewels; and I will spare them, as a man spareth his own son that serveth him.” Malachi 3:16-17

Wow!

Books have been written on God and His Names and Titles!

On His Character and Attributes!

The Christian’s proper attitude toward God’s Essence: “Bless the LORD, O my soul: and all that is within me, BLESS HIS HOLY NAME.” David sure got it right here in Psalm 103:1.

A sinner can even be saved (born again) by Trusting JESUS and His Shed BLOOD, or (as Romans 10:13 words it) “calling on the NAME of the Lord!”

“For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.” King James Version

Hour after hour could be invested in pondering the ineffable Name of the Lord!

God protects His Name … and acts on our behalf “for His Name’s Sake” … so let us reverence Him as well.

Let us never disparage His glorious Name!

— Dr. Mike Bagwell

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