Text: “Our soul waiteth for the Lord; His is our help
and our shield…we have trusted in His Holy Name…Let Thy mercy, O Lord, be upon
us, according as we hope in Thee.”
Psalm 33:20-22.
Good morning, waiting,
trusting, hoping Christian! Your
Spiritually regenerate soul and mine are waiting for the coming of our Lord and
Saviour, Jesus Christ. We are depending
completely in Him and His Divine help, for, of ourselves, we confess openly that
we are utterly fallible and weak sinners.
Confessing ourselves to be thus weak, we are made strong in Christ
Jesus, and shielded by His Sovereign arm as we continue to trust in Him. He is our only true hope - and He will NEVER
let us down. Hallelujah! Satan, the world of apostasy, and our
ever-traitorous flesh can never separate us from God’s mercy and love. In Christ Jesus, we have the Eternal Victory.
“Nay, in all these things we
are more than conquerors through Him that loved us. For (the conclusion) I am persuaded, that
neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers (Spiritual
and temporal authorities), nor things present, nor things to come, nor height,
nor depth, nor any other creature (including our fallible selves!), shall be
able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus.” (Romans 8:37-39)
In Christ Jesus, all who have
been elected by God the Father, given to God the Son, called in time to repentance
and faith by God the Holy Spirit - are Eternally secure in Christ and our souls
are joined together as one in His Body, the true Spiritual Church.
Verse 20. “Our soul.
Not our souls, but our soul, as if they all had only one. And what is the language of God by the
prophet? “I will give them one heart and
one way.” And thus the two disciples
going to Emmaus exclaimed, upon their discovery and surprise, “Did not our heart
burn within us?” And thus in the
beginning of the Gospel it was said, “The multitude of them that believed were
of one heart, and of one soul.” We have
seen several drops of water on the table, by being brought to touch, running
into one. If Christians were better
acquainted with each other, they would easily unite.” (William Jay 1769-1853)
Now, with this insight in
mind, dear friend, read again our textual verses for this Bible Lesson: “Our
soul (singular soul) waiteth (waits and steadfastly continues to wait) for the
Lord: He is our help and our shield. For
our heart (singular heart) shall rejoice in Him, because we (singular we) have
trusted in His Holy Name. Let Thy mercy,
O Lord, be upon us, according as we hope in Thee (I.e. if we don’t hope in
Thee, then we cannot reasonably expect Thy mercy, O Lord.).” (Psalm 33:20-22)
Bible Reading Rule: If the
Word makes perfect sense - don’t make it nonsense!
So, the singular soul of the
Body of Christ - the true regenerate Church of Jesus Christ - is ’waiting continually’
for the Lord. This does not mean that we
are sitting around on our hands idly waiting, nor does it mean that we are
merely ’playing church’. No! We are to be continually WAITING for the
Lord, as one would wait on tables at a restaurant - serving, cleaning, tidying,
making sense of the given menu. This is
no time for lazy Christianity, the entire world is hurtling at break-neck speed
towards total anarchy and Armageddon!
The Lord returns real soon. Are
YOU and I ready?
In the last chapter of John’s
Gospel we find the risen Lord Jesus instructing the repentant and restored
Peter: “…‘Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou Me more that these?’ He saith unto Him, ’Yea, Lord; Thou knowest
that I love Thee.’ He saith unto him,
’Feed My sheep’.” Then “The second
time…’Feed My lambs.’” And the third
time, “…Feed My sheep.” (John 21:15-17)
If therefore, our souls are
waiting continually for our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ, and if He is indeed
our help and our Shield; and if we are rejoicing in Him, and trusting fully in
Him; and expecting His mercy when He returns to this world as the Lion of the
Tribe of Judah - why are we not out feeding His sheep? Sobering thought.
“Feed the flock of God which
is among you, taking the oversight thereof, not by constraint, but willingly;
not for filthy lucre (financial payment, wage), but of a ready mind.” (1 Peter 5:2)
Verse 20. “Our soul waiteth for the Lord: He is our
help and shield. There is a an
excellent story of a young man that was at sea in a mighty, raging tempest; and
when all the passengers were at their wits’ end for fear, he only was merry;
and when he was asked the reason of his mirth, he answered, “That the pilot of
the ship was his father, and he knew his father would have a care of him.” The great and wise God, Who is our Father,
hath from all Eternity decreed what shall be the issue of all wars, what the
event of all troubles; He is our Pilot, He sits at the stern; and though the
ship of the church or State be in a sinking condition, yet be of good comfort,
our Pilot will have a care of us.
“There is nothing done in the
lower house of Parliament on earth but what is first decreed in the higher
house in Heaven. All the lesser wheels
are ordered by the upper. ‘Are not five sparrows’, saith Christ, ‘sold for a
farthing?’ One sparrow is not worth half
a farthing. And there’s no man shall
have half a farthing’s worth of harm more than God hath decreed from all
Eternity.” (Edmund Calamy 1600-1666)
Thought: Grace unlimited is ours when our Creator Lord
ordains us for Salvation. Trust the
Sovereign Lord Jesus, and in Him wait with certain hope.
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