Dealing with Gross Inconsistencies in Life

By Pastor Dan Kennedy
© August 26, 2012
www.pastorkennedy.com


Last week we reviewed a few verses in Psalm 33:13-19.

We discovered that:
1.	 God sees us!
2.	 We cannot put our confidence and faith in an “army of people”.
3.	 We cannot put our confidence and faith in our own strength, abilities, or assets.
4.	 We cannot put our confidence and faith in our secret back up plan to survive!
5.	 We should only put our hope, confidence and faith in God.

After we have made a decision for God, we may have a growing conflict in our heart.
This gross conflict has battled in the human heart from the beginning of time.

Gross Conflicts in the World
Everyone, in every culture, and in every heart has the innate understanding when something should be done or should not be done.  From the beginning of time there have always been gross distresses in conflicts that accompany good vs. evil.  

Right 	vs. 	Wrong
Justice 	vs. 	Injustice
Truth 	vs. 	Lies
Faithfulness     vs. 	Unfaithfulness
Love 	vs. 	Hatred
Peace 	vs. 	Adversity
Patience and longsuffering 	   vs. 	Rash judgment and accusation
Gentleness and graciousness   vs. 	Anger and bullying 
Forgiveness 	vs. 	Unforgiveness, vindictiveness 
and bitterness 
Honorable living     vs. 	Carnal living

Etc., etc….

Galatians 5 has another definite parallel:

Galatians 5:19–26 

“Now the works of the flesh are evident: 

sexual immorality, 
impurity, 
sensuality, 
idolatry, 
sorcery, 
enmity, 
strife, 
jealousy, 
fits of anger, 
rivalries, 
dissensions, 
divisions, 
envy, 
drunkenness, 
orgies, 
and things like these. 

I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.”

“But the fruit of the Spirit is:
 
love, 
joy, 
peace, 
patience, 
kindness, 
goodness, 
faithfulness, 
gentleness, 
self-control; 

against such things there is no law. 

And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. If we live by the Spirit, let us also keep in step with the Spirit. Let us not become conceited, provoking one another, envying one another.”


This conflict between “good and evil” is so ingrained in the human psyche that it seems the gripping story line in almost every book, movie, or form of entertainment has a captivating plot of this innate brazen tension and cosmic battle between “right and wrong”.

But in our world today, as in every society in the past…

The Godless Rise and are Seemingly Blessed
Godlessness is on the rise in our nation.  I read an article recently that atheism was hardly a blip on the screen a few years ago, but according to some sources atheism has now risen to about five percent of our population.  Those denying God may be but five percent, but they are a loud five percent.  Those who are anti-God are taking opportunities to publishing crass and obnoxious statements about Christians and about God.  Those who deny God have taken charge of mainline thinking in our media, and these are often portrayed as ones who have successful lifestyles.

Why are those who hate God, or care nothing about God, usually portrayed as prosperous, strong, with seldom a need for anything?

Our Three Basic Choices About God
It seems there are generally three basic choices a person can make about his or her belief system regarding God.

1.	 I’m not sure there is a God, so I’m going to enjoy life with or without Him, and do my “own thing”.
2.	 There is no God: “Eat, drink and be merry for tomorrow we die”.
3.	 There is a God who Created me and He offers me the gift of Salvation through His Son.  I will accept His Salvation and seek Him with all my heart.

It seems like 1 and 2 are pretty close in their basic thought pattern…except the person says in 1, that “they believe in god”.   Somehow these think that through this “lip-service” of acknowledgement, that should be good enough to appease whoever is out there.

Those Seeking God
For those who have made a choice to seek after God, they find considerable Scriptural support.

Hebrews 11:6 
6 And without faith it is impossible to please Him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that He exists and that He rewards those who seek him.

James 4:8 
8 Draw near to God, and He will draw near to you….

Jeremiah 29:13
13 You will seek Me and find Me, when you seek Me with all your heart. 

After we have made our decision for God and then start noticing how others live around us and prosper without God, do we begin second guessing ourselves?

Maybe you have made that decision to follow God.  To seek Him with all your heart…  to commit your life to Jesus Christ, trust Him for your future, and to hope in Him for your Salvation.  But then you look around and see the seeming life of ease that others are living carnally for themselves.

	We see how our godless neighbors prosper.
	We see how we sometimes have serious problems and others do not.
	
We ask:  “Is it worthwhile trusting God?”

“Did I make a bad decision in putting my faith in Christ and believing in God?”

“Look how everyone else lives without God!”

We look around us and see the rise of those who, without conscience, disregard God, or even despise belief in God, but who are obviously successful in this life.  “Where did I go wrong?”, we may say to ourselves.  “Is there really a God who created me, who loves me and who gives me hope for the future?”

Or we might get irritated with our lack of benefit, when everyone else is prospering through their self-centered ways.  This is what David is addressing in Psalm 37.  

Thousands of years have gone by and those seeking God are still in gross conflict with the inconsistencies they are finding in the struggle of life!

David begins the Psalm with those very thoughts.  He calls it “fretting”…fretting and being envious about seeing those who are brilliantly successful, but carnally unrighteous, while those who are seeking God may be struggling – sometimes battling in one area or another, and still trying to honor God with their lives.

Psalm 37 
David is reminding us in this Psalm that God Will Not Forsake His Children

Do not be irritated and Do not be envious, when godless folks Prosper
	1  Fret not yourself because of evildoers; 
be not envious of wrongdoers! 
	2  For they will soon fade like the grass 
and wither like the green herb. 

God is Still on the Throne, so Trust, Delight, Commit, and Be Still
	3  Trust in the Lord, and do good; 
dwell in the land and befriend faithfulness. 

[Befriend faithfulness here could also be translated: and “feed on faithfulness”, or and “find safe pasture”.   In any case there is a positive and blessed outcome!]

	4  Delight yourself in the Lord, 
and he will give you the desires of your heart. 
	5  Commit your way to the Lord; 
trust in him, and he will act. 

Who you are will be Revealed by God

	6  He will bring forth your righteousness as the light, 
and your justice as the noonday. 

Be still and Wait Patiently for God
	7  Be still before the Lord and wait patiently for him; 
fret not yourself over the one who prospers in his way, 
over the man who carries out evil devices! 

Don’t get Mad about your Tough situation, Comparing yourself to Others.  Don’t let Anxiety or Bitterness Ruin your Day…or Week…or Life!
	8  Refrain from anger, and forsake wrath! 
Fret not yourself; it tends only to evil. 
	9  For the evildoers shall be cut off, 
but those who wait for the Lord shall inherit the land. 

Now, turn over to Psalm 73.  Asaph, the author of this Psalm, reveals the same struggle as David in Psalm 37.

Psalm 73 
73 A Psalm of Asaph. 
	1  Truly God is good to Israel, 
to those who are pure in heart. 
	2  But as for me, my feet had almost stumbled, 
my steps had nearly slipped. 
	3  For I was envious of the arrogant 
when I saw the prosperity of the wicked. 
	4  For they have no pangs until death; 
their bodies are fat and sleek. 
	5  They are not in trouble as others are; 
they are not stricken like the rest of mankind. 
	6  Therefore pride is their necklace; 
violence covers them as a garment. 
	7  Their eyes swell out through fatness; 
their hearts overflow with follies. 
	8  They scoff and speak with malice; 
loftily they threaten oppression. 
	9  They set their mouths against the heavens, 
and their tongue struts through the earth. 
	10  Therefore his people turn back to them, 
and find no fault in them. 
	11  And they say, “How can God know? 
Is there knowledge in the Most High?” 
	12  Behold, these are the wicked; 
always at ease, they increase in riches. 
	13  All in vain have I kept my heart clean 
and washed my hands in innocence. 
	14  For all the day long I have been stricken 
and rebuked every morning. 
	15  If I had said, “I will speak thus,” 
I would have betrayed the generation of your children. 
	16  But when I thought how to understand this, 
it seemed to me a wearisome task, 
	17  until I went into the sanctuary of God; 
then I discerned their end. 
	18  Truly you set them in slippery places; 
you make them fall to ruin. 
	19  How they are destroyed in a moment, 
swept away utterly by terrors! 
	20  Like a dream when one awakes, 
O Lord, when you rouse yourself, you despise them as phantoms. 
	21  When my soul was embittered, 
when I was pricked in heart, 
	22  I was brutish and ignorant; I was like a beast toward you. 
	23  Nevertheless, I am continually with you; 
you hold my right hand. 
	24  You guide me with your counsel, 
and afterward you will receive me to glory. 
	25  Whom have I in heaven but you? 
And there is nothing on earth that I desire besides you. 
	26  My flesh and my heart may fail, 
but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever. 
	27  For behold, those who are far from you shall perish; 
you put an end to everyone who is unfaithful to you. 
	28  But for me it is good to be near God; 
I have made the Lord God my refuge, 
that I may tell of all your works.

Asaph recognizes the huge benefit of trusting God:

 God is with those who trust in Him, all the time, right now. (v. 23)
 God cares (He holds my hand) for those who trust in Him, right now. (v. 23b)
 God guides those who trust in Him, with His counsel (by His Spirit). (v. 24)
 When we die, God will receive us into His Glory! (v. 24b)
 Who or what else in the whole world can fulfill such a place as God has, when we hope in Him? (v. 25)
 Nothing on earth can compare with a profound Relationship with God! (v. 25b)
 This old body is going to die, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever! (v. 26)

Asaph recognizes the Great Hazard for those who do not trust God:

 Those who are far from God will perish. (v. 27)
Truly you set them in slippery places; 
you make them fall to ruin. 
How they are destroyed in a moment, 
swept away utterly by terrors! (v. 18-19)

 God will put an end to everyone who is unfaithful to Him. (v. 27b)

Asaph realizes that trusting God is best for him:

 For me, it is good to be near God! (v. 28)
 I have made the LORD God my Refuge! (v. 28b)
 I will tell of all His works. (v. 28c)

There has been a struggle with Gross Inconsistencies in Life for millennia…
People from the beginning of time have had to make a choice to seek after God.  They have also found that, at first glance, the world’s glory and defiance against God causes them frustration… 

But, God is very faithful.

Hebrews 11:6 
6 And without faith it is impossible to please Him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that He exists and that He rewards those who seek him.

James 4:8 
8 Draw near to God, and He will draw near to you….

Jeremiah 29:13
13 You will seek Me and find Me, when you seek Me with all your heart. 

Return now to other verses from
 
Psalm 37
	10  In just a little while, the wicked will be no more; 
though you look carefully at his place, he will not be there. 
	11  But the meek shall inherit the land 
and delight themselves in abundant peace. 
	12  The wicked plots against the righteous 
and gnashes his teeth at him, 
	13  but the Lord laughs at the wicked, 
for he sees that his day is coming. 
	20  But the wicked will perish; 
the enemies of the Lord are like the glory of the pastures; 
they vanish—like smoke they vanish away. 
	23  The steps of a man are established by the Lord, 
when he delights in his way; 
	24  though he fall, he shall not be cast headlong, 
for the Lord upholds his hand. 
	34  Wait for the Lord and keep his way, 
and he will exalt you to inherit the land; 
you will look on when the wicked are cut off. 
	35  I have seen a wicked, ruthless man, 
spreading himself like a green laurel tree. 
	36  But he passed away, and behold, he was no more; 
though I sought him, he could not be found. 
	37  Mark the blameless and behold the upright, 
for there is a future for the man of peace. 
	38  But transgressors shall be altogether destroyed; 
the future of the wicked shall be cut off. 
	39  The salvation of the righteous is from the Lord; 
he is their stronghold in the time of trouble. 
	40  The Lord helps them and delivers them; 
he delivers them from the wicked and saves them, 
because they take refuge in him.

In whom do we take refuge when we are dealing with the Gross Inconsistencies in Life?

Our Hope should be in God.  The Creator of all things.  The One who sent His Son to Redeem us.  The One who Loves us.  

God tells us that we should not get exercised and frustrated, or angry about those who evidence success and feign dominance because they believe in themselves and not in God.

Those who seek God and trust in Him can rest in the hope that:

   God is with us, all the time, right now. 
 God cares for us, right now. 
 God guides us by His Spirit. 
 When we die, God will receive us into His Glory! 
 Who or what else in the whole world can fulfill such a place as God has, when we hope in Him? 
 Nothing on earth can compare with a profound Relationship with God!
 This old body is going to die, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever! 

 Those who are far from God will perish…they are in slippery places and will fall to ruin.
 God will put an end to everyone who is unfaithful to Him. 

 For me, it is good to be near God! 
 I have made the LORD God my Refuge! 
 I will tell of all His works. 



Each of us has a choice.
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