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The Double-Minded
Psalms 119:113 ESV
The Double-minded are those who are trying to go left and to go right at the same time. They are trying to be righteous while at the same time they are living in deliberate, habitual, and premeditated sin against God. They want God to do for them what he says he will do for his own, but while they are not willing to submit to him as Lord of their lives and to be his own.
But the Scriptures teach we can’t go both ways at the same time. There is no middle ground. Either we are walking (in conduct) according to the Spirit, or we are walking (in conduct, in practice) according to the flesh. We either are sowing to please the flesh, or we are sowing to please the Spirit. Either sin is our practice or righteousness is our practice.
This is not saying we can’t ever sin against God (See 1 Jn 2:1-2), but that sin is not to be what we practice. We are not to sin against our Lord deliberately and habitually, as a matter of lifestyle. For, if we keep repeating the same sins over again, over a long period of time, with no apparent change in direction, that is considered making sin our practice.
And repentance is not this “sin, confess, sin, confess” thing, either. True repentance turns away from the sin and it turns in the opposite direction to follow Jesus Christ in obedience to his ways. True repentance will result in genuine heart and lifestyle change in the life of the believer in Jesus. He or she won’t be the same as he or she was before they believed in Jesus.
My Hiding Place
Psalms 119:114-115 ESV
There are evildoers in this world (and within the gatherings of the church) who are opposing the truth of the gospel of our salvation, and thus they are also opposing those of us who are teaching or sharing the gospel message with others. Some of them appear to be those who are just looking to stir things up and to pick a fight, because they want to silence us.
Others who know the truth of the gospel but who are wanting to continue living in their sins will also oppose us if we are teaching the truth of the gospel, and for most of the same reasons they hated and opposed Jesus, because they didn’t like his message. They didn’t like being confronted with their sins and told that they must repent.
But the Lord is our strength and our support. He is our stronghold and our help in times of trouble and distress. He gives us all that we need to endure unjust suffering, and he gives us the words we need to say, too, to all who oppose his gospel. We don’t have to fear any opposition or unkind words or attacks against our character. Our God will help us!
Hold Me Up!
Psalms 119:116-117 ESV
Sometimes we may get a lot of opposition in a short period of time, and it can be overwhelming. It may weigh in on us. Satan will be fiercely attacking us in order to try to silence us and to shut us down so that we will stop sharing the gospel and so that we will stop exposing all the wickedness that evil people do, too.
The devil may send all sorts of people our way to try to bait us, to try to trick us, and to try to trip us up with our words so that he may have cause to accuse us. And if this comes hard and fast and furious, it may be more than we think that we can bear. And so, we may cry it all out to the Lord, and he will lift us up so that we don’t get discouraged.
Their Cunning is in Vain
Psalms 119:118-120 ESV
God allows evil to exist in the world, for if he didn’t, he would have to remove all humans from the face of the earth, for we all have the propensity to do evil and to sin against God. So, we will always have people on this earth who willfully and deliberately do others harm.
God will judge evil doers according to the evil that they do, but it may not be in our lifetime that we see this. Sometimes he just hands them over to their own fleshly desires and they just pay the natural consequences for their rebellion against him and against his commands.
Sometimes they seem to go on in their evil ways for a very long time and it appears that nothing is stopping them, but that everything continues to go on just like it always has, and there are no obvious signs of remorse or any apparent desire to change course.
But God will judge them one day for their unwillingness to submit to him as Lord and to do what he says, for he calls that unbelief. So, even though, for now, they seem to be going from evil to evil, with nothing stopping them, one day it won’t go so well for them when God condemns them.
So, we need to be those who surrender our lives to Jesus Christ to do what his will commands. We need to be those who forsake our sins and who live for Christ and to his righteousness. For then we will have the hope of eternal life with God, and we will have no fear of judgment.
[Lu 9:23-26; Jn 6:35-58; Jn 15:1-11; Rom 6:1-23; Rom 8:1-17; Eph 4:17-24; 1 Jn 1:5-9; 1 Jn 2:3-6; 1 Pet 2:24; 1 Co 6:9-10, 19-20; 2 Co 5:10, 15; Gal 5:16-21; Eph 5:3-6; Gal 6:7-8; Rom 2:6-8; Tit 2:11-14; 1 Jn 3:4-10]
Have Thine Own Way, Lord
Words by Adelaide A. Pollard, 1907
Music by George C. Stebbins, 1907
Have Thine own way, Lord! Have Thine own way!
Thou art the potter, I am the clay.
Mold me and make me after Thy will,
While I am waiting, yielded and still.
Have Thine own way, Lord! Have Thine own way!
Search me and try me, Master, today!
Whiter than snow, Lord, wash me just now,
As in Thy presence humbly I bow.
Have Thine own way, Lord! Have Thine own way!
Wounded and weary, help me I pray!
Power, all power, surely is Thine!
Touch me and heal me, Savior divine!
Have Thine own way, Lord! Have Thine own way!
Hold o'er my being absolute sway.
Fill with Thy Spirit till all shall see
Christ only, always, living in me!
Psalms 119:113 ESV
“I hate the double-minded,
but I love your law.”
but I love your law.”
The Double-minded are those who are trying to go left and to go right at the same time. They are trying to be righteous while at the same time they are living in deliberate, habitual, and premeditated sin against God. They want God to do for them what he says he will do for his own, but while they are not willing to submit to him as Lord of their lives and to be his own.
But the Scriptures teach we can’t go both ways at the same time. There is no middle ground. Either we are walking (in conduct) according to the Spirit, or we are walking (in conduct, in practice) according to the flesh. We either are sowing to please the flesh, or we are sowing to please the Spirit. Either sin is our practice or righteousness is our practice.
This is not saying we can’t ever sin against God (See 1 Jn 2:1-2), but that sin is not to be what we practice. We are not to sin against our Lord deliberately and habitually, as a matter of lifestyle. For, if we keep repeating the same sins over again, over a long period of time, with no apparent change in direction, that is considered making sin our practice.
And repentance is not this “sin, confess, sin, confess” thing, either. True repentance turns away from the sin and it turns in the opposite direction to follow Jesus Christ in obedience to his ways. True repentance will result in genuine heart and lifestyle change in the life of the believer in Jesus. He or she won’t be the same as he or she was before they believed in Jesus.
My Hiding Place
Psalms 119:114-115 ESV
"You are my hiding place and my shield;
I hope in your word.
Depart from me, you evildoers,
that I may keep the commandments of my God.”
I hope in your word.
Depart from me, you evildoers,
that I may keep the commandments of my God.”
There are evildoers in this world (and within the gatherings of the church) who are opposing the truth of the gospel of our salvation, and thus they are also opposing those of us who are teaching or sharing the gospel message with others. Some of them appear to be those who are just looking to stir things up and to pick a fight, because they want to silence us.
Others who know the truth of the gospel but who are wanting to continue living in their sins will also oppose us if we are teaching the truth of the gospel, and for most of the same reasons they hated and opposed Jesus, because they didn’t like his message. They didn’t like being confronted with their sins and told that they must repent.
But the Lord is our strength and our support. He is our stronghold and our help in times of trouble and distress. He gives us all that we need to endure unjust suffering, and he gives us the words we need to say, too, to all who oppose his gospel. We don’t have to fear any opposition or unkind words or attacks against our character. Our God will help us!
Hold Me Up!
Psalms 119:116-117 ESV
“Uphold me according to your promise, that I may live,
and let me not be put to shame in my hope!
Hold me up, that I may be safe
and have regard for your statutes continually!”
and let me not be put to shame in my hope!
Hold me up, that I may be safe
and have regard for your statutes continually!”
Sometimes we may get a lot of opposition in a short period of time, and it can be overwhelming. It may weigh in on us. Satan will be fiercely attacking us in order to try to silence us and to shut us down so that we will stop sharing the gospel and so that we will stop exposing all the wickedness that evil people do, too.
The devil may send all sorts of people our way to try to bait us, to try to trick us, and to try to trip us up with our words so that he may have cause to accuse us. And if this comes hard and fast and furious, it may be more than we think that we can bear. And so, we may cry it all out to the Lord, and he will lift us up so that we don’t get discouraged.
Their Cunning is in Vain
Psalms 119:118-120 ESV
“You spurn all who go astray from your statutes,
for their cunning is in vain.
All the wicked of the earth you discard like dross,
therefore I love your testimonies.
My flesh trembles for fear of you,
and I am afraid of your judgments.”
for their cunning is in vain.
All the wicked of the earth you discard like dross,
therefore I love your testimonies.
My flesh trembles for fear of you,
and I am afraid of your judgments.”
God allows evil to exist in the world, for if he didn’t, he would have to remove all humans from the face of the earth, for we all have the propensity to do evil and to sin against God. So, we will always have people on this earth who willfully and deliberately do others harm.
God will judge evil doers according to the evil that they do, but it may not be in our lifetime that we see this. Sometimes he just hands them over to their own fleshly desires and they just pay the natural consequences for their rebellion against him and against his commands.
Sometimes they seem to go on in their evil ways for a very long time and it appears that nothing is stopping them, but that everything continues to go on just like it always has, and there are no obvious signs of remorse or any apparent desire to change course.
But God will judge them one day for their unwillingness to submit to him as Lord and to do what he says, for he calls that unbelief. So, even though, for now, they seem to be going from evil to evil, with nothing stopping them, one day it won’t go so well for them when God condemns them.
So, we need to be those who surrender our lives to Jesus Christ to do what his will commands. We need to be those who forsake our sins and who live for Christ and to his righteousness. For then we will have the hope of eternal life with God, and we will have no fear of judgment.
[Lu 9:23-26; Jn 6:35-58; Jn 15:1-11; Rom 6:1-23; Rom 8:1-17; Eph 4:17-24; 1 Jn 1:5-9; 1 Jn 2:3-6; 1 Pet 2:24; 1 Co 6:9-10, 19-20; 2 Co 5:10, 15; Gal 5:16-21; Eph 5:3-6; Gal 6:7-8; Rom 2:6-8; Tit 2:11-14; 1 Jn 3:4-10]
Have Thine Own Way, Lord
Words by Adelaide A. Pollard, 1907
Music by George C. Stebbins, 1907
Have Thine own way, Lord! Have Thine own way!
Thou art the potter, I am the clay.
Mold me and make me after Thy will,
While I am waiting, yielded and still.
Have Thine own way, Lord! Have Thine own way!
Search me and try me, Master, today!
Whiter than snow, Lord, wash me just now,
As in Thy presence humbly I bow.
Have Thine own way, Lord! Have Thine own way!
Wounded and weary, help me I pray!
Power, all power, surely is Thine!
Touch me and heal me, Savior divine!
Have Thine own way, Lord! Have Thine own way!
Hold o'er my being absolute sway.
Fill with Thy Spirit till all shall see
Christ only, always, living in me!
