“Hear me, O Lord, for Your lovingkindness is good; turn to me according to the multitude of Your tender mercies. And do not hide Your face from Your servant, for I am in trouble; hear me speedily. Draw near to my soul, and redeem it; deliver me because of my enemies” (vs16-18).
Our enemies bring us to God, even as they brought the Lord Jesus to reliance upon Him. He said, “deliver me because of my enemies”. Trouble isn't meant to destroy; it comes to reveal God's glory in salvation, and to show the beauty of faith. Adam fell into sin, and misery was immediate. Now, God, for Christ's sake, redeems us from our troubles, as we draw near to Him. Don't handle it on your own. Admit your dependence and the sufficiency of His grace: pray. Depend upon Him, even as Jesus Christ leaned wholeheartedly on Him when He paid for sin, seeking no refuge by compromise or complaining, but trusting that God His Father would be faithful, and the storm would give way to the rising of the sun, and joy would come in the morning (Ps 30:5).
We think, “Trouble means it's hopeless”, but it is not the case! It is hopeless in ourselves, and we cannot grit our teeth and bear it. It is also hopeless to complain in unbelief or quit in haste. But, just as surgery leads a man to meet his wife, the nurse, even so, our trouble leads us to see God's faithfulness, God's justice, and God's pleasure in the end. Our sufferings reveal the beauty of the Lord Jesus Christ who earned our salvation, as we follow His example and become like Him. Paul wrote, “We are hard pressed on every side, yet not crushed; we are perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed–– always carrying about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life of Jesus [the life of faith] also may be manifested in our body” (2 Cor 4:7-10).
Look at the fruit that heartbreak and trouble has worked in you, when you've turned to God! He gave more love, obedience, and humility. He dealt graciously with you, supplied His strength when all human strength was gone, and now, you not only praise His name, but you comfort others with the comfort that you've received. We read, “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, whom comforts us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort those who are in any trouble, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God. For as the sufferings of Christ abound in us [the trial of faith], so our comfort also abounds through Christ” (2 Cor 1:3-5).
Don't let trouble terrorize you, as if God is blind, heartless, and unwilling to help. Know that He has made Himself our trust, and He will show Himself faithful, keep you from falling, and deliver you sweetly and gloriously. Many, because of pain, hate God and spit in His face. You and I draw near, get help, and leave fulfilled!
Secondly, we want our enemies destroyed, not because of hatred in us, but because all who reject Christ deserve God's wrath, assuredly (vs19-28). He said, “They also gave me gall for my food, and for my thirst they gave me vinegar to drink. Let their table become a snare before them, and their well–being a trap. Let their eyes be darkened, so that they do not see; and make their loins shake continually. Pour out Your indignation upon them, and let Your wrathful anger take hold of them”. David prayed these words in the spirit of Christ, justifying God and desiring His punishment on sin (Rom 11:9-10). We want every sinner saved who will be saved by Christ, but we don't want His enemies to triumph in their sin; it is not fair, not holy, and not loving to reward the wicked who refuse the way of peace.
You and I are not cruel to preach hell in love. We aren't hoping men perish and indifferent, laughing at their destruction in coldness of heart, but we are wise to believe that God's judgment on the wicked, as He has promised, is right! The JUSTICE of wrath made us trust Christ, and we believe that all unbelievers have spurned the light and deserve doom. Israel of old rejected the Savior, and the curse was applied to them. Scripture says, “What then? Israel has not obtained what it seeks; but the elect have obtained it, and the rest were blinded” (Rom 11:7). They lost their privileges as a nation, and only the elect among them shall be saved. Don't let it happen to you; don't be a person who spurns God's love, gets blinded, and suffers hell rightfully and eternally for your sins. Part of Christ's reward is the neck of His enemies... it is seeing His foes burned in hell. This is the just holiness of God that punishes sin in His Son, and then punishes sinners who refuse His Son and what He did.
Finally, it is sure, absolutely, that we shall win (vs29-36). He says, “The humble shall see this and be glad; and you who seek God, your hearts shall live. For the LORD hears the poor, and does not despise His prisoners. Let heaven and earth praise Him, the seas and everything that moves in them. For God will save Zion and build the cities of Judah, that they may dwell there and possess it. Also, the descendants of His servants shall inherit it, and those who love His name shall dwell in it”. The elect shall be saved, and Christ's work is going to be the joy of the humble. We who have no strength see Him conquering, and we see salvation, earned by the Shepherd, guaranteeing the sheep. He said, “I lay down my life for the sheep. And other sheep I have which are not of this fold; them also I must bring, and they will hear My voice; and there will be one flock and one shepherd” (John 10:15-16). It is entirely in His hands, and He will eternally win, because He faithfully endured the curse, without personal sin. While God hurt Him, He loved God to His face, even when crying out, “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?” This justice honoring Son shall see everyone He died for – the elect “out of every tribe and tongue and people and nation” - surrendered willingly to Christ, saved from sin's bondage, and safely singing His praise in heaven (Rev 5:9).
This assurance of God perfectly fulfilling His plan is the confidence that we have as we preach. Many hate us for the gospel, persecuting us as they did Him, but the gospel is succeeding, every day, every time, in the heart of all the predestined! We can be sure, that while man is against God until the end, God has power, because of Christ's faithfulness unto death, to give sight to the blind, love to the hateful, and faith to the obstinately disbelieving. Walk assured and confident. The next people you speak to may be elect. Or, you and I may speak and preach and few be saved, but not one person shall perish for whom Christ savingly died. It will succeed, the gospel is always winning, and you who are confident in this can go about your ministry in peace.
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