“Why standest thou afar off, O LORD? “ Psalm 10:1

If the Psalmists were anything, they were honest!

Here David (at some point in his life) is in danger, or at least in a grave situation. And he immediately talks to God, even questions God!

Furthermore, and still in Verse 1 of Psalm 10 … “O LORD, Why hidest thou thyself in times of trouble?”

Wow!

Yet the Psalmist in the longest Chapter in the whole Psalter proclaims: “Thou art near, O LORD.” Psalm 119:151

What’s happening here?

Job faced (for a while) the same dilemma as David: “Oh that I knew where I might find Him! that I might come even to his seat!” Job 23:3, at once followed by even more exasperation: “Behold, I go forward, but He is not there; and backward, but I cannot perceive Him: on the left hand, where He doth work, but I cannot behold Him: He hideth himself on the right hand, that I cannot see Him.”

But Paul writes differently …

Here the great Apostle, in one of the toughest moment of his life, could confidently say: “At my first answer (trial) no man stood with me, but all men forsook me: I pray God that it may not be laid to their charge. Notwithstanding the Lord stood with me.” 2 Timothy 4:16-17

Undoubtedly!

Yet even the darling Son of God, while on earth two thousand years ago, once (on the Cross) lamented: “My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?” Matthew 27:46

Yet, ironically, because of what Jesus endured that Day on the old rugged Cross, shedding His Blood to wash away our sin … such promises as these are now given us:

“I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee.” Hebrews 13:5

And … “Lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world. Amen.” Matthew 28:20

Mercy promised … “never” … “alway” … “to the end of the world!”

The solution to the apparent contradiction?

Between Job and Paul?

Even when we do not sense His Presence … He is always there!

The old Hymn has it right …

“Standing somewhere in the shadows you’ll find Jesus
He’s the only one who cares and understands.
Standing somewhere in the shadows you will find Him
and you’ll know Him by the nail prints in his hand.”

Hallelujah!

— Dr. Mike Bagwell

When you can’t see Him, or even feel His Presence, TRUST HIM!

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After a quick discussion about the wicked (“Lord, Thou hast destroyed the wicked, thou hast put out their name for ever and ever”) … Psalm 9 continues with this sobering Statement. “God, He hath prepared His throne for judgment.” (Psalm 9:7)

So … for the reprobate, the apostate, the lost man who rejects Christ … there awaits “The Throne of Judgment!” 

Revelation 20:11 … John writes: “And I saw a great white throne, and him that sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away.” The result of this “White Throne” Judgment … “And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire.”

Yes, the Throne of Judgment!

But now let’s think about the saved, genuinely Blood-washed children of God!

Throne of Judgment?

No, no, no!

Thanks to Jesus!

We are invited to another Throne …

“Let us therefore come boldly unto THE THRONE OF GRACE, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need.” Hebrews 4:16

Did you see that?

THE THRONE OF GRACE!

Big difference!

The Throne of Judgment … or … the Throne of Grace?

Just as well say, ask … HELL OR HEAVEN?

Listen to Jesus again … “Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life.”

Are you saved?

— Dr. Mike Bagwell

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Psalm 8 virtually opens with these words: “O LORD our Lord, how excellent is thy name in all the earth!”

“Excellent” here (Hebrew … addiyr) also means “great, majestic, glorious!”

And the Statement is incontestable to us Christians … we all concurring that HIS NAME is excellent!

But my verse says This Name will be exalted “in all the earth!”

Even the Kremlin?

Even in Washington, DC?

Even in San Francisco or London or Paris?

Even in Tehran?

Yes, a dozen times, YES!

“In all the earth!”

Beginning with the Mlllennium!

And continuing into Eternity future!

Isaiah 11:9 … “For the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the LORD, as the waters cover the sea.”

Habakkuk 2:14 … “For the earth shall be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the LORD, as the waters cover the sea.”

Everyone will hear!

Most will believe!

Mankind will shout together, every knee having bowed to the Lord Jesus … “O LORD our Lord, how excellent is thy name in all the earth! who hast set thy glory above the heavens.”

Amen!

— Dr. Mike Bagwell

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David, apparently in some type of danger, speaks of Almighty God in Psalm 7, almost as if the Lord was his Friend! Or maybe even more than a Friend. You decide …

One short Line from that Passage distinctly spoke to my heart early this morning, “My defence is of God.”

Verse 10 of Psalm 7, word for word in the King James Bible … “My defence is of God.”

The noun “defence” is spelled “magen” in Hebrew. It is defined as a “shield,” in a military sense.

But with this nuance. Two types of shields are mentioned in antiquity. One is smaller and used in hand to hand combat. The other (“magen”) is larger and covers the body much more sufficiently. (Its root verb means “to cover” or “to surround!”)

So … the Lord is my BIG SHIELD, David reasons!

My Protector!

(Think of David’s battle with Goliath!)

Wow!

Now … in the New Testament the Lord Jesus is also our Protector, not in a martial sense but in a legal sense.

Let me show you …

“My little children, these things write I unto you, that ye sin not. And if any man sin, we have an ADVOCATE with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous.” 1 John 2:1

The Greek noun for advocate is “parakletos,” meaning a lawyer! A defense attorney!

A legal SHIELD!

David in the Old Testament, you and me in the New Testament … SAFE IN JESUS CHRIST OUR LORD AND SAVIOUR!

Hallelujah!

— Dr. Mike Bagwell

(Just a quick Bible thought from a motel room in Chesapeake, Virginia. Where in about five hours I will be preaching in the first Service of a four day Revival Meeting. Pray for us please …)

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I am late today writing the Lesson. I’ve driven home from preaching a sweet North Carolina Revival. Debbie has things about ready, and we leave again in a few hours.

The Title of today’s Devotional Though is derived from Psalm 6:2 … “Have mercy upon me, O LORD; for I am weak.”

Strong self-sufficient, proud people never ask for mercy! They, of course, don’t need it!

But “weak” folks sure do!

In Hebrew the word “weak” used here is spelled “umlal.” It basically means “feeble,” or “languishing” or even “drooping!” It is used only here in the entire Old Testament!

The verb “have mercy” translates “chanan,” meaning at its very root “to bend down!” I love that word picture!

For God to have mercy on me, asking that of Him in prayer, is really pleading with Him “to come down and help!”

In the Bible this “Mercy Prayer” is the most frequent petition lifted Heavenward to Almighty God … seeking His Mercy!

His “kindness and love and pity!”

One man prayed this (begging for Mercy) and was saved by the Grace of God! “And the publican, standing afar off, would not lift up so much as his eyes unto heaven, but smote upon his breast, saying, God be merciful to me a sinner. I (Jesus is talking) tell you, this man went down to his house justified .”

So IF you need His Mercy … remind yourself how “weak” you are! Then humbly APPROACH the Throne of Grace!

I suspect you will get the Mercy you need!

— Dr. Mike Bagwell

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