Sin and those who participate therein anger Lord. In the days of Noah, sin grieved the Lord so badly that it repented God that he had made man on the earth.
The word blame and its various forms appears twenty-four times in scripture. In a general sense, blame is the guilty responsibility concerning a matter. In Genesis chapter 43, Judah understood the necessity of taking Benjamin if they were to buy food, but he also understood the concerns of his father. Jacob already lost Joseph; he was not prepared to lose another son, especially Benjamin. With these things in mind, Judah promised his father that Benjamin would come back to Jacob alive and well. If Judah was unable to fulfil this promise, he was prepared to bear the blame forever. Later, while in Egypt, when it appeared as though Benjamin would be taken, Judah declared his responsibility for the lad (Genesis 44:10, 32).
The Bible says that vanity is meaningless and empty, yet men love vanity. It fills their imaginations (Psalm 2:1), their thoughts (Psalm 94:11), and their speech (Psalm 144:8, 11). Vanity consumes man so much that he will weary himself for it (Habakkuk 2:13). In comparison to the vanities of this life, most people spend a brief moment in the eternal word of God. Far too many Christians fear to speak God’s righteousness but demonstrate boldness as they speak on behalf of their favorite vanities. As men tend to forget to spend time with the Lord, they spend entire days pondering the vanity to be enjoyed later in the day. Is it any wonder why people need so many “pick-me-up” drinks and drugs as they weary themselves in pursuit of vanity.
The Bible provides several sources of man’s joy, but each source can in some way be directly traced back to the Lord. In today's passage, Psalm 43:4 describes God as the psalmist's “exceeding joy.” According to Psalm 16:11, there is “fulness of joy” in God’s presence. While the Bible indicates that man’s soul can be joyful in the Lord (Psalm 35:9; Isaiah 61:10), it also associates joy directly to God’s strength (Psalm 21:1). Moreover, God’s word provides a source of joy for the saint (Jeremiah 15:16). In the New Testament, the book of Romans identifies God as the saint’s source of joy, but specifically, this joy comes “through our Lord Jesus Christ” (Romans 5:11). Perhaps men lack the joy of the Lord because they disregard the Lord of their joy.
