The old Romans built what they had by being strong, inside as well as out, and they lost it when they began giving in, going the easy way. They lost everything when they ceased to be men, and a man is one who does what he has to do when it has to be done, and does it with pride.”
–Louis L’Amour (Bendigo Shafter)
“Lord, don’t hold back your tender mercies from me. Let your unfailing love and faithfulness always protect me.”
–Psalm 40:11 (NLT)
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How many sins have you committed in your lifetime? Let me ask it differently. How many sins got Adam thrown out of Eden? Whether it’s one sin or many we are in a world of hurt, in fact, there is no hope–Paradise is lost. There was/is no hope for man, for me, for you unless we come to Christ. I look at Psalm 79 and see it as one of woe, of sin and failure, and no hope.
1 — O GOD, the nations have come into Your inheritance; Your holy temple they have defiled; they have laid Jerusalem in heaps.
2 — The dead bodies of Your servants they have given as food for the birds of the heavens, the flesh of Your saints to the beasts of the earth.
3 — Their blood they have shed like water all around Jerusalem, and there was no one to bury them.
4 — We have become a reproach to our neighbors, a scorn and derision to those who are around us.
5 — How long, LORD? Will You be angry forever? Will Your jealousy burn like fire?
6 — Pour out Your wrath on the nations that do not know YOU, and on the kingdoms that do not call on Your name.
7 — For they have devoured Jacob, and laid waste his dwelling place.
8 — Oh, do not remember former iniquities against us! Let Your tender mercies come speedily to meet us, for we have been brought very low. (NKJV)
Perhaps you have heard the sayin, “He would steal the pennies off a dead man’s eyes.” They used to put objects, such as pennies, on the eyes of the dead to keep them closed. A person just didn’t want the dead to be staring at them when they went to pay their last respects. To steal something like this is the lowest of the low. When conquering a village or city, people would not only kill the soldiers, but they would steal anything of value off their body. Asaph says this is Israel after Jerusalem was conquered. The bodies just laid around, food only for the scavengers.
What good is our life? We are sinful people. We may have suffered a great deal, and feel like we are but food for the vulture. What’s the use in trying? Over and over you may have fought the battle, but you always seem to be losing and on the edge of death. I’m reminded of a boy who was always in trouble, and therefore, his father was always taking him out to the woodshed. One day the father instead of whipping the boy, gave him a bucket of nails. “Every time you sin, or do something wrong, I want to you take a nail and hammer it into the fencepost,” instructed the father. By the end of the week, the post was full of nails. The father would glance at it from time to time, then on Sunday he took the boy out to the woodshed. There was fear in the boy’s eyes, then the father showed him the fencepost. The nails were all gone. Oh yes, there were still scars from where the nails once were. The father then told the boy, “that is grace.”
One sin or many sins. They must be brought to the Father in repentance so that the “nail” can be removed. Look at the words of Paul,” “Therefore, as through one man’s offense judgment came to all me, resulting in condemnation, even so through one Man’s righteous act the free gift came to all men, resulting in justification of life. For as by one man’s disobedience many were made sinners, so also by one Man’s obedience many will be made righteous.” (Romans 5:18-19, NKJV)
Can you hear the anguish in the voice of the writer of this Psalm? “Do not remember former iniquities…!” The the pleading cry, “Let Your tender mercies come speedily to meet us…” Pull the nails from the my life and make me whole.
“If a sinner such as I
May to thy great glory live,
All my actions sanctify;
All my words and thoughts receive;
Claim me for thy service, claim
All I love, and all I am.”
–Charles Wesley