Psalms 59 - God's Way, the Right Way

August 29, 2016 Monday Message:

“Do not kill them, Sovereign Lord, or the people will forget.” Psalms 59:11

There’s a right way and a wrong way to do things. Saul had sent an entire army to kill David, so David’s response might rightly have been to want them all dead, so that he’d be spared.

But David wants God remembered as kind, merciful and loving. So he prays for God to help him, but to NOT kill his oppressors. Options might be for them to turn, to reverse their behavior; or at least back off a little. It’s as if David was thinking, “Protect me, stop them, but you don’t have to kill them.”

Interestingly, Saul was a Jew, David was a Jew, and the men pursuing David were Jews. You’d think they would have all been on the same page. But their religion had become a series of rules, traditions and ceremonies. They had lost the essence of God’s call, which is to love the Lord and to love your neighbor. That’s why we sometimes say, “Lose the religion,” meaning, get back to the basics.

Jesus would arrive a thousand years later to re-teach these principles. And two thousand years after that, we’re still talking about what Jesus taught, and still struggling to put His plan into action.

“Lord, in the morning I will sing of your love.” from Psalms 59:16

Norton Lawellin

Jesus in the City Fellowship (JICF) meets at the Akina Church, 3249 30^th Ave. S., Minneapolis, MN 55406, 10:30am. This Sunday, Sept. 4, 2016, Pastor Michael Pilla returns to the pulpit.