May 5, 2012 … Following the Faithful

Passage of the Day: Reference of Today’s Chronological Bible Study: Psalm 89 … To study these chapters, go to this link -
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Passage of the Day: Reference of Today’s Chronological Bible Study: Psalm 96 … To study these chapters, go to this link - 
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Passage of the Day: Reference of Today’s Chronological Bible Study: Psalm 100 … To study these chapters, go to this link - 
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Passage of the Day: Reference of Today’s Chronological Bible Study: Psalm 101 … To study these chapters, go to this link - 
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Passage of the Day: Reference of Today’s Chronological Bible Study: Psalm 105 … To study these chapters, go to this link - 
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Passage of the Day: Reference of Today’s Chronological Bible Study: Psalm 132 … To study these chapters, go to this link -
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Highlight Passage #1: Psalm 101: 1-3, 6 … 1 I will sing of your love and justice; to you, Lord, I will sing praise. 2 I will be careful to lead a blameless life — when will you come to me? I will conduct the affairs of my house with a blameless heart. 3 I will not look with approval on anything that is vile. I hate what faithless people do; I will have no part in it. … 6 My eyes will be on the faithful in the land, that they may dwell with me; the one whose walk is blameless will minister to me. 

My Journal for Today: Reading a whole bunch of the Psalms again this morning in my chronological trek through the Bible. And meditating thru them (linked for you to read separately above), I came on one that emboldened itself in my heart; and that is Psalm 101, a Davidic Psalm that must’ve been written earlier in his reign as King of Israel and Judah. I say this; because the song is one of making a vow to avoid letting his eyes wander to see sinful things (see Verse 3 copied above) and to follow only blameless leaders in his life who could minister to him with their faithfulness.

Well, knowing about David’s later life as King and how he failed miserably in the debacle involving Bathsheba and her husband, Uzziah,… the latter whom David had looked to as a warrior confident and friend in battle, … we know that David was not able to live up to this vow of purity and righteous living. But that doesn’t mean that David was not, at the point he wrote Psalm 101, making a Godly pledge to follow Godly men into the spiritual battles he knew of as his life at that time.

This psalm meant a lot to me, personally, because I’ve been led by God into a ministry [see www.battleplanministries.org] which calls men out to look away from evil things in our culture/world, just as David pledged he would do in Psalm 101. These days try the souls of Christian men (well, all men), Satan having created a “XXX” world where men of God are surrounded continually by ungodly imagery. As we know, the Internet wreaks of p0rnography; and so many Christian men, as David did later in his Kingship, fall prey to their own lust-ridden hearts when they put themselves in a place to see the tempting images which bombard our world and draw us to the dark side of life.

 In Psalm 101, we have David’s God-seeking commitment to guard his eyes, just as Job pronounced in Job 31: 1, … to protect his eyes from viewing other women lustfully. And we know what resulted in David’s life when he let down his guard (i.e. vigilance) and didn’t follow his friend Uzziah into battle as he should have. And we read about David’s repentance from all the sin that followed that breach of character in Psalm 51. And I know, first-hand, what happens when men allow themselves to become Lone-Ranger Christians, thinking that they can go it alone in the battles of everyday life where they are surrounded by a world which is dedicated to bring them down with lust-driven imagery.

If you’re a Christian reading this, make more than a pledge or a vow to do what David sings about in Psalm 101; … take it upon yourself to do what he teaches in verse 6 of this Psalm; and that is to find and follow someone in your life who already “walks-the-walk” of faith and purity. Follow someone like the Apostle Paul, who charged his fellow Christians to follow him … because he knew he was following Christ (see 1st Cor. 11: 1). As David’s later life attests, we’re not strong enough to follow God ALONE. We need to go into battle daily following Christ first, of course; but joining in battle with co-warriors who can help us to keep our eyes on the prize and claim the victory which is already ours … IN CHRIST! (see Phil. 3: 13-14)

My Prayer Today: … Lord, today I go into battle, looking and following You, …but with many other fellow warriors, helping me to keep my eyes on Your path and on the light which shines on my life from Your word. Amen