19/08/2020

Psalm 26
Woe to you, hypocrites

The book of Psalms addresses all the feelings one could experience, challenges we might face and also offers guidance for serving the Lord. Let’s spend some time and discuss these over the next few days or weeks, depending on how the Lord leads us.”

“Examine me O Lord, and try me; Test my mind and my heart.” (vers 2)

Ever heard the saying, “Action speaks louder than words“? Surely you must have heard someone say this multiple times, yet not many seem to apply this notion. Have you grown tired of people’s lip service? You are not alone.

The Lord warns against those “who speak peace with their neighbours, while evil is in their hearts.” (Ps 28 v 3). He will not let their wicked dealings go by unnoticed, although it may seem like that, at least for the moment.

Unfortunately we are in the last days, approaching the end times, and it is evident that people have become “lovers of themselves [more than ever before], lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, without love, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not lovers of the good, treacherous, rash, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God— having a form of godliness but denying its power.” (2 Timothy 3 v 2 – 5) [NIV]

I would like to stand still at vers 5 for a moment. What does it mean to have a “form of godliness“? Did not the pharisees and the scribes seem to serve God with their lips, yet their hearts were far [removed] from Him? They seemed to adhere to the law, prayed in public and sounded so holy, yet they “were like whitewashed tombs which indeed appear beautiful outwardly, but inside are full of dead men’s bones and all uncleanness. Even so they also outwardly appear righteous to men, but inside they are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness.” [paraphrase] (Matt 23 v 27 – 28) [NKJV]

It is time to reconsider how we look at God and how we serve Him and our fellow beings. If we are guilty of saying one thing, while doing the very opposite, we should seek the Lord’s forgiveness. Don’t be called out like the scribes and pharisees, thinking we can get away with hypocrisy.

The Lord will repay each one for their deeds and therefore it matters how we live in this life, for it will determine if we will spend an eternity with God or without Him. Ask the Lord to examine your heart and every thought and reveal to you the things that are not from Him.

Seek His forgiveness and He will cleanse you from all impurities so that you can stand blameless before Him on the day of reckoning. Show the world that you are who you say you are, because God’s law is engraved on your heart.

Scripture quotations taken from the NASB, Life Application Study Bible, unless stated otherwise. Copyright by “The Lockman Foundation“