Although no person is excluded from troubles, saints have historically understood that God extends mercy as He divvies out life’s trials.
The world is driven by self-preservation and self-promotion. Individually, the natural man is guided by self-serving motives. This should not be true of saints.
Many who understand the wickedness involved in murder fail to realize that the scripture also warns “Whosoever hateth his brother is a murderer.”
At times, God called people to enter into war with the goal of killing their enemies. The Bible clearly distinguishes between this type of killing and murder.
The Old Testament Law declares and expresses the mind of God. It demonstrates God’s hatred for sin and His desire for just judgment.
The saint of God is to have one chief love—the word of God. One of the primary reasons the scriptures were written was that believers “might have hope” (Romans 15:4). The world wonders why anyone would desire to read about the lives of those who lived thousands of years ago. This so-called archaic book has no appeal to them. Yet, the testimonies found in scripture concerning God’s provisions continue to provide hope for anyone today willing to look into that book. Multiple times in Psalm 119 the psalmist declared his hope in the word of God (Psalm 119:49, 74, 81, 114, 147). The truth is, man’s hope for the coming of Christ, his hope in a heavenly home, and his hope in eternal life is all founded solely upon the words recorded in the pages of the Bible.
When David chose to take Bathsheba to himself, he sinned against the Lord. Sometime thereafter, the Lord began to work in David’s heart convincing him of his wrongdoing. David described this painful process as something like having his bones broken (Psalm 51:8). The convicting work of God confirmed David’s “bloodguiltiness” (Psalm 51:14). It assured him that he had sinned against God and needed to repent. This conviction brought great fear to David’s heart (Psalm 51:11). At the same time, this conviction led David to acknowledge his transgressions (Psalm 51:3), seek God’s mercy (Psalm 51:1), and ask God to renew a right spirit within him (Psalm 51:10).
Increasingly, the world is driven by the desire for more perceived outward beauty. Some people have gone so far as to change everything concerning their appearance in hopes of turning out more beautiful than previously perceived. Beauty, however, is an area where God and man think quite differently. God sees beauty as a matter of the heart, while man thinks beauty involves the putting on of more makeup (2 Kings 9:30), or changing hair color or hair style, or having some cosmetic alteration done to the teeth or body. In the end, the Lord says that man’s idea of beauty is actually quite vain. While men praise outward beauty, the Lord says that “a woman that feareth the LORD, she shall be praised.”
As violence escalates, the dependence of the saints upon the Lord for safety becomes increasingly apparent. David serves as a wonderful demonstration of this truth. Seemingly, he constantly found himself threatened by violent men. Shortly after the Lord’s deliverance from the hands of Saul, David wrote a song in which he praised the Lord for saving him from violence (2 Samuel 22:3). Not only was safety from violence the subject of David’s songs, but it was also the theme of his prayers (Psalm 140:1-4). David understood the inevitable presence of violence but also understood that his safety was of the Lord.
The traditions of men produce lives lived in vain. According to scripture, the word conversation means much more than merely words being spoken from one person to another. The context shows that the word refers to the way in which a person lives his life (2 Corinthians 1:12; 1 Peter 3:1). As such, those who build their lives upon the traditions of men may work very hard and be even deemed faithful. Yet, this life is all for naught because their lives are built upon vanity. Sadly, some of the most faithful followers of religion are those who are promoting the traditions of men from which they will gain no eternal benefits. The only conversation that proves fruitful in eternity is the one built upon the commandments of God.
