MEDITATIONS FROM THE PSALMS

 

July 6, 2005

Reading: Psalm 28

 

“Lest I become like those who go down to the pit” Psalm 28:1

 

How many times, my soul, has your blessed Redeemer proven Himself to you? On how many occasions have you told yourself “Yes, God loves me? The answer is, “Far more times than I can count or even remember.” The reason is because you belong to Him—He purchased you with His blood, made you His child by adoption, guaranteed His love and protection, and promised you eternal life in a place prepared by His hands.

The only other category of persons are those who “go down to the pit.” The scriptures make this very clear—there is a clearly defined difference between the godly and ungodly. There is no sliding scale between the righteous and the wicked, between those who are “in Christ” and those who are “without Christ.” You either belong to God or you don’t. What a precious scripture is the one that tells you, “If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.” There are no ‘degrees’ in salvation—you are either born again or not.

Because these things are true, does it not make you wonder why you so frequently think like, act like and look like those who have not been made new creatures in Christ? My soul, you are both blessed and convicted this morning: blessed because you are reminded you have been, by His grace, made a new creation in Christ Jesus and convicted because you too often cannot be distinguished from those who are yet “without Christ.”

While there are no degrees of salvation, there are in your sanctification, for you are constantly being changed into the glorious likeness of Christ. “As the Spirit of the Lord works within you, you are becoming more and more like Him and reflect His glory even more.” What glorious truth—you have been saved and are being changed into Christ’s glorious likeness.

How faithful is the Holy Spirit who has placed in the heart of every true believer the desire to be less like the world and more like Christ. People are drawn to Jesus, not because His children simulate the world, but because they are different from it. You will not be as much like the world in order to bring the world to Christ, rather, you will be as much like Christ in order to show the world that He makes the difference—not systems, programs, organizations or rhetoric, but a Person.

 

O to grace how great a debtor daily I’m constrained to be!

Let that grace, Lord, like a fetter, bind my wandering soul to Thee.

Teach me, Lord, some rapturous measure, meet for me Thy grace to prove,

While I sing the countless treasure of my God’s unchanging love.

 

Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it; prone to leave the God I love;

Take my heart, oh, take and seal it with Thy Spirit from above.

Rescued thus from sin and danger, purchased by the Savior’s blood,

May I walk on earth a stranger, as a son and heir of God.

Robert Robinson

 

“The Lord is my strength and my shield; My heart trusted in Him, and I am helped” Psalm 28:7