I was going to use the following photo in the latest video ‘Kidnapped’ (which is below the photo) but after much thought did not. Why? Because YouTube censors anything which does not fit what I believe to be their leftist view! As you will note the hands of the man has blood on them because he and the others were being held hostage by Hamas! It is that blood I believed the so-called censors at YouTube would censor. Let it be known that Israel is at war with those in Islam that believe Israel should not be allowed to have the land upon which they live. However, God the Creator told Jacob (later named Israel) in Genesis 28:13 And, behold, the LORD stood above it, and said, I am the LORD God of Abraham thy father, and the God of Isaac: the land whereon thou liest, to thee will I give it, and to thy seed. Israel will someday live in that land without fear!
Romans 10:9 That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.
How does a Bible believing Christian reconcile Romans 13 with what our Governments in the West are doing today? Perhaps David’s Psalm 101 will help. This is Matthew Henry’s introduction to Psalm 101.
‘INTRODUCTION TO PSALM CHAPTER 101
David was certainly the penman of this psalm, and it has in it the genuine spirit of the man after God’s own heart; it is a solemn vow which he made to God when he took upon him the charge of a family and of the kingdom. Whether it was penned when he entered upon the government, immediately after the death of Saul (as some think), or when he began to reign over all Israel, and brought up the ark to the city of David (as others think), is not material; it is an excellent plan or model for the good government of a court, or the keeping up of virtue and piety, and, by that means, good order, in it: but it is applicable to private families; it is the householder’s psalm. It instructs all that are in any sphere of power, whether larger or narrower, to use their power so as to make it a terror to evil-doers, but a praise to those that do well.’
The following was written by Inglis Fleming (1859-1955) (One of his grandsons was Pete Fleming, one of the five missionaries killed by the Auca Indians in 1956.)
‘”Let the saints be joyful in glory: let them sing aloud upon their beds.” Psa. 149:5. “Any bird can sing in the daytime; God gives songs in the night,” it has been remarked.
Above all the power of trial and weariness and pain, the Holy Spirit of God can lift the suffering Christian, so that “in the night” of testing and “upon their beds” of affliction, they may sing aloud with joy.
Happy is the believer who, confident in his God, can thus rise above his present circumstances and rejoice in the Lord. Such an one, in the spirit of Habakkuk of old, may exultingly say,
“Although the fig tree shall not blossom, neither shall fruit be in the vines; the labor of the olive shall fail, and the fields shall yield no meat; the flock shall be cut off from the fold, and there shall be no herd in the stalls: yet I will rejoice in the LORD, I will joy in the God of my salvation. The LORD God is my strength, and He will make my feet like hinds’ feet, and He will make me to walk upon mine high places.” Hab. 3:17-19.
To the Jew, the fig tree, the vine, the olive, the fields, the flocks and the herds spoke of prosperity. Without these and their produce, famine would stare them in the face. Habakkuk’s confidence is of a marked character therefore. Is not such faith to be followed? May we not say that it honors God and is delighted in by Him?
“How great is Thy goodness,” exclaims David, “which Thou hast laid up for them that fear Thee; which Thou hast wrought for them that trust in Thee before the sons of men!” Psa. 31:19.
Paul could write from the Roman imprisonment which he was enduring, “Rejoice in the Lord alway: and again I say, Rejoice.” Phil. 4:4.
“Songs in the night” are these. And perhaps the night seasons are allowed to come upon us in order that such songs may rise from our hearts.
Amid the changing circumstances of life we may not be able to rejoice in them, but the Lord in His all-sufficiency is above all circumstances. In Him let us rejoice, as we journey on to our everlasting portion.
“And there in mine inheritance, My kingly palace home: The leaf may fall and wither, Not less the spring will come. Like winds and rains of winter, These earthly sighs and tears, Till the golden summer dawneth Of the endless year of years.”‘https://www.wholesomewords.org/etexts/fleming/songs1.html
‘Let me share something I recently saw in Psalm 56. it is both surprising and encouraging.
Verse 3 has David saying, admitting … “What time I am afraid, I will trust in thee.”
Here this giant of a man spiritually admits to fear!
But when he is afraid … he will still lean on the Lord.
Actually, the specific verb “to trust” used in this Verse (spelled “batach” in Hebrew) means “to be so confident in a person that you have absolutely no worry about him keeping his word!” So worry free in that regard that you are “careless,” without a fret or doubt or hesitation! The word is literally translated “careless” one time in the King James Bible.
David when afraid … that’s verse 3.
Now, look at Verse 11, near the Psalm’s conclusion. “In God have I put my trust: I will not be afraid what man can do unto me.”
Wow!
His fear is gone!
I will NOT be afraid!
Is this not some form of spiritual growth?
From “fear” to “no fear!”
Excellent, dear David the Psalmist!
Now watch …
In Verse 3 … the fear comes before the trust … “What time I am afraid, I will trust in thee.”
But by Verse 11 … the trust comes before the word fear is used! “In God have I put my trust (“batach” again): I will NOT be afraid what man can do unto me.”
Looks like sincere trust can dissolve fear!
Fear-crushing faith, that’s what David has developed!
Yes, that’s growth!
I remembered that perfect love can cast out fear, 1 John 4:18.
“O send out thy light and thy truth: let them lead me; let them bring me unto thy holy hill, and to thy tabernacles.” (Psalm 43:3)
‘This old troubled world desperately needs light to find the way out of its darkness and truth to rightly plan its future. But they must be God’s light and God’s truth, not the seductive lights and humanistic philosophies of man’s fabrications.
God has, indeed, already sent out His light and His truth, but “men loved darkness rather than light” (John 3:19) and, although they profess to be “ever learning,” they yet are “never able to come to the knowledge of the truth” and, in fact, “turn away their ears from the truth” (2 Timothy 3:7; 4:4).
That was true in the psalmist’s day, and perhaps even more so in our day, although we surely have far more light and access to truth today than the psalmist ever had. We now have, for example, God’s complete written Word (Genesis through Revelation). Another psalmist had promised: “Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path” (Psalm 119:105), and also had promised: “For the commandment is a lamp; and the law is light” (Proverbs 6:23).
God’s truth surely is what we need—in fact, all we need—for our faith as we look to our future. This also is revealed in the light of His Word, both His inspired written Word and His incarnate living Word. The Lord Jesus not only claimed “I am…the truth” (John 14:6), He also prayed for us, saying: “Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth” (John 17:17). And for all who believe His revealed truth: “God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ” (2 Corinthians 4:6). ‘ https://www.icr.org/article/12553/?utm_source=phplist9235&utm_medium=email&utm_content=HTML&utm_campaign=January+23+-+Thy+Light+and+Thy+Truth