Sunday Morning Podcast May 22, 2016. Bro. Dave Goble.
TEXT: PSALMS 120:1-7
1 A Song of degrees. In my distress I cried unto the LORD, and he heard me.
2 Deliver my soul, O LORD, from lying lips, and from a deceitful tongue.
3 What shall be given unto thee? or what shall be done unto thee, thou false tongue?
4 Sharp arrows of the mighty, with coals of juniper.
5 Woe is me, that I sojourn in Mesech, that I dwell in the tents of Kedar!
6 My soul hath long dwelt with him that hateth peace.
7 I am for peace: but when I speak, they are for war.
Life is a journey based on where we choose to go, spiritually, as well as literally. This psalm, a song of “degrees,” deals more with the spiritual. It is a song that tracks where the psalmist is at that moment. It is a cry from within, a place in a “valley,” or undesirable place for help, …a cry for direction out of it. It shows how our choices in life can cause us to ascend up into, or descend from, God’s will. For our help only comes from the Lord, (Psalms 121:1,2). Imagine being in a land of exile, but now you can become free, because your Savior said you are free to go “home.” This psalm indicates a “starting place,” where you can see a destination of heaven. We can find our destination on God’s “map,” but we might not be sure where we are, while in that spiritual desert. We would then look for “landmarks,” a river, a mountain, to help direct us. Yet it still might not be easy to know on the map, where we are.
We need a compass besides a map, to locate us on our journey. Spiritually our compass is the Holy Spirit. Only He can guide us to know how to use God’s map, …God’s Word. Any that read this map, do not immediately understand where they are. We all start at the “junction” of a sinner. A sinner can of their own selves never be free from sin. Sin causes one to be “lost.” For a time God’s map, or Word to a sinner, may seem a bit extreme or fanatical in it’s direction or location. The trail of a sinner, is a hard road. It is a way that doesn’t make evident a way of escape, for it is not a path of a saint. The sinner’s trail only leads back, into more sin, the path of the lost. But an honest hearted and searching sinner, realizes that there is an escape from the sinner’s trail. They either can continue to descend deeper into a confused place, or by the map of God’s Word, and the compass of the Holy Spirit, ascend into a holy life that pleases God.
Until you are willing to admit you are hopelessly lost, you won’t be found. It is only when we acknowledge our lost in sin condition, that Christ will save us. But we need to stop and ask for help. God won’t then hold your sin against you, when your repent and forsake your own ways. Do you desire, and are you willing to go wherever God leads you?
Where are you on God’s map? Descending more lost into sin, or ascending up into a holy life that He leads in?