Who hath believed our report? and to whom is the arm of the LORD revealed?
For he shall grow up before him as a tender plant, and as a root out of a dry ground: he hath no form nor comeliness; and when we shall see him, there is no beauty that we should desire him.
He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were our faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not.
Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted.
But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed.
All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the LORD hath laid on him the iniquity of us all.
Unfortunately the power of the crowd seems overwhelming at times. Communities and nations are carried along in joint ventures of togetherness which may or may not be beneficial. Great strides have been made in the medical world bringing health to more and more people, but great movements of war and hatred from one group of people to another has brought murder and destruction of millions. When everyone turns away from God corruption and evil follows.
The psalm starts off with the words 'the fool says in his heart there is no God.‘ It is easy to stand against God. We have not seen Him, nor do we hear His voice as we hear the voice of our fellow mankind. It is only by faith that we see God and experience him. But in so many places, faith is waved away with the hand and a hurtful remark. It may seem nice to some to ignore God, turn our backs on faith and have nothing to do with Christian responsibility. But this pathway does not build us up; it simply results in a nation that can become morally bankrupt. But there can be no standard for living if everyone has chosen their own way, there is no right way, no wrong way, nothing can cause grief nor rejoicing.
The Christian faith encourages us to look to Jesus whilst working alongside those of like faith. The church is a body for good, working together in unity and mercy. If in anything we have turned away from God, make today a day of turning back. Back to goodness back to faith, back to joy, back to God.
Save me, O God, by thy name, and judge me by thy strength.
Hear my prayer, O God; give ear to the words of my mouth.
For strangers are risen up against me, and oppressors seek after my soul: they have not set God before them. Selah.
Behold, God is mine helper: the Lord is with them that uphold my soul.
He shall reward evil unto mine enemies: cut them off in thy truth.
I will freely sacrifice unto thee: I will praise thy name, O LORD; for it is good.
For he hath delivered me out of all trouble: and mine eye hath seen his desire upon mine enemies.
This psalm reflects the early days of David When King Saul was alive but wanted David dead. There are often difficult times that we all go through but the thought of someone waiting to kill us is more than frightening. Once again David in his anguish turns to God and acknowledges that in his belief in the Almighty, there is help. Everyone needs help but sometimes we are too proud to either acknowledge that we need it or too stubborn to receive it. It may be that we are more than willing to go and help someone in difficulty and we are glad to do so. But when we are the ones needing help something inside of us just says, no, we are just fine as we are. It is a pity that we cannot let others minister to us.
When others help us, we allow them to be the hands of God to us, when they speak a word of kindness, it is a heavenly sound. We should not prevent such good things happening. Each time we say no, we are saying the gift is not good enough. Such an act is futility; we must receive each gift of kindness with the good intent in which it is offered. Giving and receiving is an act of fellowship one to the other; it is also the means by which God himself may minister to us. Our hands need to be the hands of God to help others; and our voice, the voice of God to bring comfort to others. Then when hands and voices help us, we find that God is our help. Let us give generously of our own self to others and be blessed by our giving. Then when we receive, may we do it with thanksgiving and genuine gratitude. Learn to give hearty thanks to all for whatever they give to us be it in a time of need or not. For surely God is our help.
