{"id":3686,"date":"2020-08-05T13:13:53","date_gmt":"2020-08-05T20:13:53","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/hobart-community-church.org\/?p=3686"},"modified":"2020-08-05T13:13:59","modified_gmt":"2020-08-05T20:13:59","slug":"hobart-herd-devotional-psalms-83","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/hobart-community-church.org\/?p=3686","title":{"rendered":"Hobart Herd Devotional – Psalms 83"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Hobart Herd Devotionals \u2013 Psalms 83<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

   There are days when I want to just cry out\nfor God to annihilate or enemies and remove all of our troubles.  I think that if God would just remove our\nenemies, then I could concentrate on loving and worshipping Him.  In verses 1-8 Asaph asks God to not be silent\nor inactive in taking care of Israel\u2019s enemies, after all they were loud\nobnoxious, exalting themselves and making plans against God\u2019s people.  Surely God could just zap them immediately\nwith a lightning bolt, or cause a disease, or cause them to be in disarray and\nfear and wipe themselves off the map. \nThe enemies wanted to wipe Israel off the face of the earth, so why\nwouldn\u2019t God do the same to them in defending His \u201cTreasured Ones\u201d. (vs.\n3)  Asaph decides to help God out and\nlists them by name in verses 6-8.  Maybe\nyou have a hit list for God just like Asaph. \nYou are tired of being persecuted, oppressed, killed and wiped out.  God understands our pain and can choose to\ndeal with them immediately and justly, but many times He doesn\u2019t to this, at\nleast not in our timing or our way.  He\nhas promised to judge the earth justly and righteously with every man giving an\naccount for their actions.  <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

   In verses 9-12 there is mention of several\noccasions when God dealt with the Midianites with Gideon and the Philistines\nwith David.  We can often point to times\nwhen God has fought on our behalf and we have seen the just punishment of those\nthat turn against God\u2019s people.  However,\nwe can also recognize many times when God has allowed things to happen that\nseem to have no rhyme or reason.  The\nLord explains why in 2 Peter 3:7-9, 7     But\nthe present heavens and earth by His word are being reserved for fire, kept for\nthe day of judgment and destruction of ungodly men. 8        But do not let this one {fact} escape your notice, beloved,\nthat with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one\nday. 9     The Lord is not slow about His\npromise, as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing for any\nto perish but for all to come to repentance.(NAS)  We must never forget that God is a merciful\nand compassionate God who forgives those who don\u2019t deserve it if they will turn\nto Him.  Isaiah 55:5-9, 5  “Behold, you will call a nation you do\nnot know, and a nation which knows you not will run to you, because of the LORD\nyour God, even the Holy One of Israel; for He has glorified you.” 6        Seek\nthe LORD while He may be found; call upon Him while He is near. 7 Let the wicked forsake his way, and the\nunrighteous man his thoughts; and let him return to the LORD, and He will have\ncompassion on him; and to our God, for He will abundantly pardon. 8   “For My thoughts are not your thoughts,\nneither are your ways My ways,” declares the LORD. 9  “For {as} the heavens are higher than\nthe earth, so are My ways higher than your ways, and My thoughts than your\nthoughts.(NAS)  Praise the Lord that He\nwill be glorified by a lost soul turning to Him in repentance even more then\nHis all consuming judgment on sin.  Thank\nthe Lord today that He would rather allow you the time to choose His salvation\nrather then just wipe us out because of our terrible sinful behavior.  <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

   Father, I sometimes ask for Your judgment\nand righteous justice to fall on those around me out of frustration and anger.  Forgive me for not remembering that I\nreceived Your mercy, grace and love when I didn\u2019t deserve it.  I can trust in Your timing and justice\nknowing that one day You will bring Your judgment and wrath upon those who\nrefuse You, and You will show mercy to those who will receive it.  In all things You will be glorified in Your\ntime.  In Jesus Name, Amen!  Pastor Rob <\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Hobart Herd Devotionals \u2013 Psalms 83    There are days when I want to just cry out for God to annihilate or enemies and remove all of our troubles.  I think that if God would just remove our enemies, then …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[142],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/hobart-community-church.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3686"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/hobart-community-church.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/hobart-community-church.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/hobart-community-church.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/hobart-community-church.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3686"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/hobart-community-church.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3686\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3687,"href":"http:\/\/hobart-community-church.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3686\/revisions\/3687"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/hobart-community-church.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3686"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/hobart-community-church.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3686"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/hobart-community-church.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3686"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}