“Deliver My Soul” (Ps 120)

“In my distress I cried to the Lord, and He heard me.

Deliver my soul, O Lord, from lying lips

And from a deceitful tongue.” (vs1-2)

We have great distresses and tribulations, but the Lord hears us.  The remedy for trouble over the gospel isn’t to hide or diminish it;it is to call upon the Lord, so that He can show Himself gracious and faithful.  We are not backing up because of the troubles.  We trust the Lord, call out to Him, and He gives us the strength to overcome, rewarding us in due time.

Don’t think it is easy being God’s child. You have wars without and wars within.  Internal sin is a lifelong struggle, and you are hated by the people that you seek to do good, both.  The Lord quoted from Micah 7, which says, “Do not trust in a friend; do not put your confidence in a companion; guard the doors of your mouth from her who lies in your bosom.  For son dishonors father, daughter rises against her mother, daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law; a man’s enemies are the men of his own household.  Therefore I will look to the Lord [not to compromise]; I will wait for the God of my salvation; my God will hear me” (Micah 7:5-7; Matt 10:34-39).

We are not seeking peace on earth by compromise or hiding the gospel, but every chance that you get, honor God, let the chips fall where they may, and trust Him to save you.  Trust Him when your knees shake in fear, and put your faith in Christ when they despise you over the gospel, letting your conduct be as clean as possible.  

They are not of the Father, but of their father the devil, the father of lies (Ps 120:3-7).  He says, “Woe is me, that I dwell in Meshech, that I dwell among the tends of Kedar [hostile enemy land]!  My soul has dwelt too long with one who hates peace.  I am for peace; but when I speak, they are for war”. They are of darkness, fools, blind to Christ, and they love sin, so when you come preaching and living righteously, they’re offended, “for everyone practicing evil hates the light and does not come to the light,lest his deeds should be exposed” (John 3:20). The light disturbs them like cockroaches, scurrying around in the middle of the night; it offends them, reveals their sinfulness, and they will do whatever they can to stop it and put it out.

Jesus came doing good and healing all that were oppressed, giving salvation and eternal life freely, laying down His own life for sinners, and yet men, because they’d lose their position and self-glory, thought to murder Him (John 11:48).  They even rejected Him after He was risen and came preaching grace in the apostle’s doctrine.  It is the same now with me and you.  You love people, want to see them saved, and seek NOTHING from them, except their own good.  We don’t say, “Give to support the gospel”, so that we can loaf, but so that they can bring fruit to the glory of God and have the best life by giving (2 Cor 8:10). We don’t tell people to repent because we’re hateful, but because God has eternal life and damnation, depending on what the sinner does with Christ.  Yet, you’re hated at the job, perhaps your own husband or wife despises your faithfulness, and you must patiently train your inherently evil children.  All of these things are against us.  Churches have members that hate the gospel, trouble the pastor, and cannot walk in love, despising the members of Christ’s body, but what are we to do?  Shall we return evil for evil (1 Pet 3:9)? Shall we keep quiet and “just get along” by refusing to preach what people don’t want to hear? Paul said, “For do I now persuade men, or God? Or do I seek to please men?  For if I still pleased men, I would not be a bondservant of Christ” (Gal 1:10).  No, we’ll put our faith in Christ.  Even if we must suffer, He’ll deliver us like He did His Son.  

I don’t promise an easy walk with Christ, and there is NO AVOIDING this affliction!  You can’t live holy enough to avoid it.  You can’t be tender enough, loving enough, or preach the gospel in a particular way as to avoid trouble.  In fact, the closer you get to truth, the more you may be hated, friends may turn to foes, and your good may be evil spoken of. But, it doesn’t matter.  Christ said, “Blessed are you when they revile and persecute you, and say all kinds of evil against you falsely for My sake” (Matt 5:11).  Greater is He that is in you than he that is in the world, and you and I conquer because He is in us, fighting off lies, depression, and cowardly fear (1 John 4:4).  Bless the Lord that He gives us internal strength.  He meets our needs Himself with God glorifying grace.  Don’t think that He’ll forsake you.

He says, “When my father and my mother forsake me, then the Lord will take care of me”, and I’ve had some of my sweetest fellowship when the world said “no”, and God took me into His bosom and said, “Yes” (Ps 27:10).  You have all that you need, if you have God on your side.  Use Him in your troubles, admit your sadness and fear, and receive the grace that He’s promised.  He says, “No temptation has overtaken you except such as is common to man; but God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will also make the way of escape, that you may be able to bear it”. The God who brings the trial will enable you to bear it, and He’ll bring you to heaven to be tried no more.