Psalms 15

A Psalm of David

15:1  
Jehovah, who may sojourn in your tent?
Who may dwell on your holy mountain?
15:2  
He who walks in integrity and does righteousness and speaks truth from his heart.
15:3  
He does not slander with his tongue;
He does not do evil to his friend, nor does he take up a reproach against his neighbor.
15:4  
In his eyes a reprobate is despised, but he honors those who fear Jehovah.
Should he swear to his harm, he does not change.
15:5  
He does not lend his money on interest, nor accept a bribe against the innocent.
He who does these things will not be shaken forever

Psalms 14

14:1  
The fool has said in his heart, 
There is no God.
They are corrupt; they commit abominable deeds;
There is none who does good.
14:2  
Jehovah looked down from heaven
Upon the sons of men
To see if there was anyone who had insight,
Who seeks after God.
14:3  
They have all turned aside;
They are together perverse.
There is none who does good;
There is not even one
14:4  
Have they no knowledge, all the workers of iniquity,
Who eat up my people as they would eat up bread
And do not call upon Jehovah?

Psalms 8:4 What is Mortal Man?

<quote>Psalms 8:4  
What is *mortal man, that You *remember him, / And the son of man, that You visit *him?</quote>

*mortal
Man is the central object of God in His creation for the accomplishing of His economy to fulfill His heart’s desire. What is written in vv. 4-6 concerning man was first alluded to in Gen. 1:26-28 and then quoted in Heb. 2:6-8. These three portions of the word reveal man in three stages: first, the God-created man in God’s creation in Gen. 1:26; second, the Satan-captured man in man’s fall in Psa. 8:4; and third, Christ as a man in His incarnation for the accomplishing of God’s redemption in Heb. 2:6. Such a man God remembers in His economy and visits in His incarnation.

*remember
God in the heavens first remembered man; then, He came to visit man by becoming a man through His incarnation (v. 5a; John 1:14; Phil. 2:7). In this way He brought the heavens down to the earth and joined the earth and the heavens, making these two one.

*Him
Referring to the man Jesus in His incarnation with His human living for His all-inclusive death

Psalms 7:8~9

Psalms 7:8   Jehovah will execute judgment on the peoples; / Judge me, O Jehovah, according to my righteousness / And according to my integrity that is with me.

Psalms 7:9   Oh, let the evil of the wicked come to an end, / But establish the righteous man. / For the righteous God / Tries the hearts and the inward parts.

Psalms 3:7 - written words

Psalms 3:7   Arise, O Jehovah; / Save me, O my God! / Oh that You would *strike all my enemies on the cheek; / And break the teeth of the wicked.

David’s prayer for vengeance against his enemies is contrary to the New Testament, which teaches us to love our enemies and to bless those who persecute us and pray for them.

Matthew But I say to you, Love your enemies, and pray for those who persecute you

Luke 6:35 But love your enemies, and do good and blend, expecting nothing in return, and your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High; for He is kind to the unthankful and evil.

In the Psalms the words concerning the psalmists’ hating their enemies, their asking God to avenge them, and their cursing others are not the words of God but are words that issued from the psalmists’ natural sentiment while they were praising God. They are recorded by the Spirit of God in the Holy Scripture to serve God’s purpose of exposing the psalmists’ spiritual condition, i.e., that although the psalmists loved God and sought Him, they were natural, not spiritual, in their sentiment

The old testament had some violent verses, indeed. Especially those pertaining to God, we must recognize which words were spoken by Him and which words came from the natural human conditions. We must try not to take such words in the scriptures to heart and see only what is written. We must consider the instances and conditions in what is written, spoken in. Let us not disregard the context of the words in the Bible, for if taken out of context could cause much more harm to our lives than good.

Romans 12:14 Bless those who persecute you; Bless and do not curse.

Romans 12:20 But “if your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him a drink; for in doing this you will heap coals of fire upon his head."

Psalms 2:12

PSALMS 2:12 Kiss* the Son, lest He be angry and you perish from the way; For His anger may suddenly be kindled. Blessed* are all those who take refuge in Him.

Kiss:
To take refuge in the Son is to believe into the Son, Christ (John 3:16, 36), taking Him as our refuge, protection, and hiding place. To kiss the Son is to love the Son and thereby to enjoy Him (John 14:21, 23). To believe in the Lord is to receive Him (John 1:12); to love the Lord is to enjoy the Lord whom we have received. These are the two requirements for us to participate in the Lord.

Blessed:
Or, Happy. The human concept that man is blessed by keeping the law of Jehovah (1:1-2) is in contrast here to the divine concept that man is blessed by taking refuge in the Son

Hebrews 11:1 - Faith

(CREDIT NOTE: edited from an e-mail I received through a friend)

Hebrews 11:1 - Now faith is the substantiation of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.

Our Christian life is a life of faith.
 

With every genuinely saved Christian, they have been given this wonderful capacity called faith. With every child born of God, they have been allotted equally precious faith. So we don't need to ask God for faith. Faith is already in us!   

 

Faith is not just hoping that God will do something for you. 

Rather, faith is seeing what God has already done for you and what God has already given to you. This is where the genuine growth in life is. The exercise of faith is related to our human spirit. Our spirit is a spirit of faith.   

This faith is also infused into us by God's Word. 

 

Faith is solid and substantial because it is founded on the Word of God. Whenever we feel that we are lacking in faith, we just need to stand on the Word! 

 

We know that God is true, we know that we are saved, we're cleansed by the blood and forgiven by God because the Word tells us so. 

Romans 8:24 For we were saved in hope. But a hope that is seen is not hope, for who hopes for what he sees?

All things hoped for are things not seen. As people of hope, we should aim our life not at the things that are seen but at the things that are not seen; for the things that are seen are temporary, but the things that are not seen are eternal. (2 Corinthians 4:18)

Romans 4:18 He beyond hope believed in hope in order that he might become the father of many nations according to that which was spoken, "So shall your seed be."

We don't say, "I hope God will forgive me." That's not faith. Faith is saying, "Thank You, Lord, that You have cleansed me, You have forgiven me, and You are living in me."

Hence we walk in faith.