I would have lost heart, unless I had believed that I would see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living. Wait on the Lord; be of good courage, and He shall strengthen your heart. Wait, I say, on the Lord! (Psalm 27:13-14)
As was related in the previous devotion, it is important that God’s people live in such a way that our enemies — who are often God’s enemies — do not have a legitimate reason to hurl accusations at us, and more importantly, at God. This brings to mind something that the Messiah said to His disciples even as His enemies were coming to bring accusation against Him — “I will no longer talk much with you, for the ruler of this world is coming, and he has nothing in Me” (John 14:30). I interpret this to mean that there was nothing truthful the Accuser of the Brethren could use against Him, and from that point forward, He wasn’t going to say anything more that could be twisted and contorted to use against Him. In short, He wasn’t going to help Satan in his attempts to discredit Him.
Furthermore I would argue that, by knowing there was nothing Satan could use against Him — nothing legitimate and truthful anyway — the Messiah was able to perform the will of the Father with confidence. He was able to stand before His accusers and executioners knowing that truth and righteousness were on His side, because His conscience did not condemn Him. In other words, He had never done anything that was displeasing to the Father. Now let’s juxtapose that with the rest of us, including David — we have all come up short in that regard. Knowing that we have failed in times past will, at times, work on us. Can God still use me? Will God still use me? Have my mistakes disqualified me from fulfilling the purpose to which I was called? Perhaps this was weighing on David’s mind thus prompting the statement, “I was losing heart.” But if that is the case, he ultimately came to this conclusion: “I believe I will see the goodness of God in the land of the living.”
That brings us to his next thought which is, in reality, an encouragement to us all — “Wait on the Lord; be of good courage, and He shall strengthen your heart. Wait, I say, on the Lord!” The Hebrew word translated as “wait” is more commonly translated as “hope.” And so David was encouraging all of us — those who have come up short in times past — to hope in the LORD. Like David, we should determine not to lose heart but to be confident in the goodness of God. Having been born again and forgiven of our failures, the Adversary has no legitimate grounds to mount an offensive of accusation and condemnation against us. And so, be of good courage and trust in the LORD’s mercy and everlasting goodness. In Messiah we too can say of the Adversary: “He has nothing in me.”
Blessings and Shalom,
Bill
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