Heralds Digest

  “ Mark the blameless man, and observe the upright; For the future of that man is peace. And the Lord shall help them and deliver them; He shall deliver them from the wicked, And save them, Because they trust in Him. ” Psalms 37 : 37 , 40 NKJV It is always logical for the human heart to accept the wise way as the path to peace, but No! The scriptures say that the path to peace is the wait way, i.e., waiting upon the Lord and His righteousness. To ‘Mark the blameless man, and observe the upright’ , the heart of the redeemed must be occupied by the WAIT way of the Lord: (1) His Word, to ensure consistent delights in God’s commandments; (2) His Assurance, to ensure contentment in the midst of confrontation; (3) His Integrity, to maintain the boldness to stand before God always in holiness and righteousness; and (4) His Truth, to remain blameless and upright always before the throne of grace. Unfortunately, the WISE way will never appreciate the WAIT way, because of its entanglemen...

  “ The steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord, And He delights in his way. Though he fall, he shall not be utterly cast down; For the Lord upholds him with His hand. ” Psalms 37 : 23 - 24 NKJV The experience of Balaam the son of Beor at Pethor on divine guidance shows that the difference between sincere steps and strategic steps in life is the Saviour’s sun and shield. Strategic steps are readily guided by human intelligence, administrative manoeuvring, political sagacity, and financial muscles; and there would have been nothing wrong with these steps, if insincerity, insensitivity, and iniquities are not embedded as the strategic partners. For Balaam, he actually started well with the mindset of checking God’s consent with the proposed alliance with king Balak of Moab; and God responded with a sincere and straightforward ‘No’!. But when Balak threw in the gifts of riches and privileges from Balak in consideration, Balaam quickly switched from God’s sincere steps to his ow...

  “ Receive my instruction, and not silver, And knowledge rather than choice gold; For wisdom is better than rubies, And all the things one may desire cannot be compared with her .” Proverbs 8 : 10 - 11 NKJV Life is made of human deals, including marriage, career, business, friendship, and relationships. Unfortunately, while almost all of the metrics (e.g., net worth, social media likes, political profiles, administrative power and privileges, etc) for desirable deals in life are fake, we are readily wired to make life’s decisions, commitments, and contributions on the basis of these empirical metrics. Little wonder why marriage covenants are usually treated like contracts that can readily hit the rocks when the metrics become unfavourable or wear the tag ‘irreconcilable differences ’. People get together in assemblies, work, public, and social relationships for the wrong reasons and in pursuits or actualization of desirable deals. Whereas, God calls us all into our every relatio...

  “ But the meek shall inherit the earth, And shall delight themselves in the abundance of peace .” Psalms 37 : 11 NKJV The mystery of meekness cannot be unveiled until its mess with Moses is revealed. Despite his assessment as the meekest of men on earth, he failed to inherit the land of Canaan. Soberly, had Moses not interceded passionately for his sheep - the Israelites - against God’s intention to destroy them in the wilderness, wouldn’t a softened passion have sustained his passage to inherit the land of Canaan? Rather, the meek Moses preferred the defense of the glory of God to the pursuit of personal glory. Obviously, in spite of his error of unbelief at the water of Meribah, the latter end of Moses still sustains the scriptural revelation “ But the meek shall inherit the earth, And shall delight themselves in the abundance of peace “.  The perfect peace with God and inheritance of the best of earth’s glories belong to the meek. Apart from Moses’ eternal bliss with Go...

  “ Trust in the Lord, and do good; Dwell in the land, and feed on His faithfulness. Delight yourself also in the Lord, And He shall give you the desires of your heart. Commit your way to the Lord, Trust also in Him, And He shall bring it to pass .” Psalms 37 : 3 - 5 NKJV It is instructive to note that Psalms 37 is devoted to the subject of fear. When the scriptures later admonish “Do not fret—it only causes harm”, we can tell how fear is like the venom of the fiery serpents that bite the children of Israel in the wilderness. And like the Lord recommended the ever-sufficient ‘look and live’ solution to the venom in the Old Testament, the psalmist’s admonition to trust and delight in the Lord is ever potent today. Looking aside, behind, and around can only make every believer’s online and offline experiences energy-sapping, discouraging and depressing. But only those who delight in waiting upon the Lord as a sustainable strategy of navigating the challenges of each day can be sur...

  “ For with You is the fountain of life; In Your light we see light. Oh, continue Your lovingkindness to those who know You, And Your righteousness to the upright in heart .” Psalms 36 : 9 - 10 NKJV When Joshua and Caleb defended their faith in the lighthouse with “ If the Lord delights in us, then He will bring us into this land and give it to us, ‘a land which flows with milk and honey’  (Numbers 14 : 8 )”, it was evident that they could see differently from their other 10 colleagues. Without faith in the lively lighthouse, human reasoning on all the issues of life will be strictly governed by empirical evidences, political sagacity, administrative prowess and financial muscles. Unfortunately, fear and intimidation are often greatly exaggerated by this human focus on his artificial lighthouse. For example, the other spies said “ The land through which we have gone as spies is a land that devours its inhabitants, and all the people whom we saw in it are men of great statu...

  “ And the devil said to Him, “If You are the Son of God, command this stone to become bread.” But Jesus answered him, saying, “It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word of God.’ ”” Luke 4 : 3 - 4 NKJV The temptation of Jesus Christ on the need for vicious validation shows that the devil’s principle of temptation is always the same: an invitation to validate…” what God has already said or declared ”. Empirical validation is a natural phenomenon for human theory, prognosis, and assertions, without which all actions are referred to as voyages into self-destruction or self-defeat. But the words of God are settled or already validated in heaven. Every attempt or temptation to validate the clear revelation from the Lord is, in the words of Jesus, “ It has been said, ‘You shall not tempt the Lord your God’ ” (Luke 4 : 12 ), a temptation. And while Chapter 3 just recorded overwhelming declaration in the presence of the Trinity and the public “ You are My be...