A Dangerous Presumption

A lot of us tend to live in this lingering cloud of presumption. We have been taught from very early ages that Jesus loves us "just the way we are." But, isn't there a problem with this, whenever we're constantly bowing to the World and worshiping other gods? Does God love it whenever we put our jobs, money, sports, material possessions or (gasp) even kids and family in front of Him? I beg to say that, although these are all great blessings and show God as being our ultimate Provider, He does not like the fact that the majority of us tend to put these things in front of our worship of and walk with Him. Jesus doesn't love us just the way we are when we're committing idolatry. In fact, He's beating down the walls of the World that we are content to be penned in by. Like a bunch of cattle penned in a trodden, dry, corral (ripe with our own droppings), Christ breaks down the posts and leads us to the lush pastures of the Kingdom.

This really struck me as I was reading through Psalm 19, this morning. The very last verse says this, "Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in your sight, O Lord, my rock and my redeemer." King David does not live under the presumption that his words and meditations are already in accordance with the things of God. No, far from it. David knows what truly lies in a man's heart... sin and death. Our natural inclination is not one of love towards the Almighty, because we are hell-bent on doing things our way. A lot of us fall into presuming that, because we're Believers, that every single time we open our mouths or think about God, that we're just super-spiritual people and that we are always a pleasing aroma. The fact is that a lot of us are still content with the putridness of the World.

King David prays that his words and meditation WILL BE acceptable in the sight of the Lord. Not that they are already. Not that he already knows that his prayers will be pleasing. Essentially, he is praying that the Lord might put the words into his mouth and guide his heart to the correct meditations; he doesn't presume that he's already arrived at that point.

In a world where far too many of us live under the dangerous presumption that we're just such great people and that we're always blessing the Name of the Lord in all that we do, it is wise for us to step back and continually be in prayer that what we do in the future tense will be pleasing to the Lord. "Pride goeth before the fall." This is true in the spiritual life especially. Let us repent of pridefully thinking that we have already arrived at a spiritual stopping point and pray, beg God to continue to mold us, refine us, and hammer us into vessels that continually praise Him in all areas of life!