“The Lord gives the word;
the women who announce the news are a great host:
‘The kings of the armies—they flee, they flee!’
The women at home divide the spoil—
though you men lie among the sheepfolds—
the wings of a dove covered with silver,
its pinions with shimmering gold.
When the Almighty scatters kings there,
let snow fall on Zalmon.”
“Blessed be the Lord,
who daily bears us up;
God is our salvation. Selah
Our God is a God of salvation,
and to God, the Lord, belong deliverances from death.
But God will strike the heads of his enemies,
the hairy crown of him who walks in his guilty ways.”
(Psalms 68:11-14,19-21 ESV)
This is a difficult passage of Scripture to interpret, and the commentators of old all seem to acknowledge that, but they all also seem to have varied impressions on what the true meaning of this passage of Scripture is communicating. So, this is not one of those doctrinal passages of Scripture that can only be interpreted one way, and the Bible says that "All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work." (2 Timothy 3:16-17 ESV)
So, with that said, I am going to share with you the lesson that the Lord is teaching me from this passage of Scripture. And the first thing that I noted was that it said the Lord gave the word and the women who announce the news are a great host. And then it said that the women divide the spoil at home while the men lie among the sheepfolds, indicating that the men were lying down on the job, that they were being lazy, but the women were doing the work, and thus they were reaping the rewards of their labors.
Now, it is clear to me that these women were literal women, like me, and that these women were listening to the word of the Lord, and that the women then announced to the people the news that came from the Lord. So these were the Lord’s servants and messengers who were giving out his messages to the people. So they were like all of us today who are proclaiming the excellencies of him who called us out of darkness into his wonderful light (1 Peter 2:9), which is what all Christians are to be doing.
These women were proclaiming the messages of God, just like Jesus sent the woman at the well to tell her townspeople what he had said to her, and just like Jesus sent the women at the tomb to go tell his disciples (men) that he had risen from the dead, and just like the women in Bible times who prophesied, i.e. who proclaimed God’s messages to the people even in mixed company out in the open (in public) on the day of Pentecost, and at other times, just like the prophet Joel said would take place in the last days.
[Matthew 26:6-13; Matthew 28:1-10; Mark 5:25-34; Mark 16:1-8; Luke 2:36-38; Luke 7:36-50; Luke 10:38-42; Luke 24:1-12; John 2:1-11; John 4:1-42; John 8:1-11; John 20:1-18; Acts 2:17-18; Acts 21:9; 1 Corinthians 11:5]
And this brings to recall the passage in Luke 7:36-50 about the woman who wet Jesus’ feet with her tears and wiped them with the hair of her head and kissed his feet and anointed them with ointment. She did this in the home of a Pharisee who disapproved of her actions. But Jesus chided the man for his treatment of the woman, and he chided him, too, because the woman did what he should have done, but he did not do. And I believe this parallels this message in Psalms 68, for it seems we have a similar situation.
For here we have women listening to the word of the Lord who then proceed to announce (proclaim, preach) the word to the people, and so they also reap the fruit of their labors. But this is while the men are being slothful and lazy and they are not listening to the Lord, and they are not proclaiming his words to the people, and so they are not reaping the fruit of proclaiming the words of the Lord to the people. And some of them are chiding the women who are obeying the Lord while they are not doing what they should do.
Now, my next statement here is going to be from my observations, which have a rather large scope from 50 years of Christian ministry in multiple locations and with various church congregations, and now on the internet in multiple locations for the past 20 years, plus via reading books and articles and blog posts and people’s social media posts, and responses to my posts, etc. where I have gotten a pretty good taste of the present situation in the church here in America and of what is primarily being taught and by whom.
From my observations, not many men who claim to be Christians are living holy lives above reproach in absolute moral purity and in integrity, honesty, faithfulness, and in obedience to the Lord and to the purity of the Scriptures. Statistics have it that well over 50% of Christian men regularly engage in pornography, and if not pornography, so many of them are watching TV shows and movies and videos which are sensual or vulgar or inappropriate. And not many of them are passionate about sharing the gospel of Christ.
From my observations, it is primarily women who are on the internet sharing the truth of the Scriptures and who are passionate about the Lord Jesus and his word and about sharing the Word with other people. There are men who are sharing about Jesus on the internet, but even among them not many appear to be teaching the whole counsel of God, but they are teaching a diluted gospel message and an adulterated picture of who Jesus Christ is and of what he did for us on that cross in delivering us from our sins.
For so many of them are working on building their earthly kingdoms and on attracting the world to their gatherings, or they are caught up in the trappings of this sinful world and so they are not living the kind of lives that the Scriptures require of those who are supposed to be the shepherds of God’s flock. And so many people, thus, are receiving these watered down and altered characterizations both of Christ and of who he was and is, and of his gospel message, which is to deliver us from addiction to sinful practices.
And so the Lord is calling and is using and honoring some women to be his messengers in these last days to give out his unadulterated words to the people of this world so that many will have the opportunity to believe in Jesus Christ and to die with Christ to sin, not just once, but daily, and to now walk in holiness and in righteousness, and in obedience to the Lord, which all are required of God for salvation and for eternal life with God. And we are being faithful to the call of God upon our lives, even if we are chided for it.
For the message of God, of his gospel, needs to get out to the people of the world, but it needs to be his unadulterated gospel which teaches that by faith in Jesus Christ we are to deny self, die daily to sin, and follow our Lord in obedience to his commands. For if we hold on to our old lives of living in sin and for self, we will lose them for eternity. But if for Jesus’ sake we deny self, die daily to sin, and follow him in obedience, then we will live. Then we will have the hope of salvation and eternal life with God.
[Matt 7:21-23; Lu 9:23-26; John 1:12-13; John 6:44; John 10:27-30; Acts 26:18; Rom 2:6-8; Rom 6:1-23; Rom 8:1-14; Rom 12:1-2; 1 Co 6:9-10,19-20; 1 Co 10:1-22; 2 Co 5:10,15,21; Gal 5:16-24; Gal 6:7-8; Eph 2:8-10; Eph 4:17-32; Eph 5:3-6; Col 1:21-23; Col 3:1-17; Titus 2:11-14; 1 Jn 1:5-10; 1 Jn 2:3-6,24-25; 1 Jn 3:4-10; 1 Peter 1:15; 1 Pet 2:24; Heb 3:1-19; Heb 4:1-13; Heb 10:23-31; Heb 12:1-2; Rev 21:8,27; Rev 22:14-15]
As the Deer
By Martin J. Nystrom
Based off Psalm 42:1
As the deer panteth for the water
So my soul longeth after You
You alone are my heart's desire
And I long to worship You
You alone are my strength, my shield
To You alone may my spirit yield
You alone are my heart's desire
And I long to worship You
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