Psalm 33:18-22 "Behold, the eye of the LORD is upon them that fear him, upon them that hope in his mercy; (19) To deliver their soul from death, and to keep them alive in famine. (20) Our soul waiteth for the LORD: he is our help and our shield. (21) For our heart shall rejoice in him, because we have trusted in his holy name. (22) Let thy mercy, O LORD, be upon us, according as we hope in thee."
It seems that David had some of the same concerns concerning Israel as we have
about our nation today. As Solomon wrote in the book of Ecclesiastes,
"There is nothing new under the sun." Back in the 16th verse,
David spoke concerning the vanity and danger of placing more confidence in men
than in God. No nation is delivered by the strength of a man. He
even went so far to say the weapons of war were vanity when it comes to placing
dependence. His wording was this, "An horse is a vain thing for safety:
neither shall he deliver any by his great strength." (Verse 17)
David was not implying these things were not useful in times of defense;
rather, he was saying that our trust must go deeper than anything made by man.
He went on to say in our text that the Lord watches to see where we are placing
our confidence and hope. Our nation is so divided right now that it is a
scary situation concerning our future. This devotion is not in support for or
against any political party. To me, it seems both sides are in the wrong and
have come to the place where they think some individual is going to deliver us
out of all that is wrong.
"Behold, the eye of the LORD is upon them that fear him, upon them
that hope in his mercy; to deliver their soul from death, and to keep them
alive in famine." Yes, Jesus knows where we are placing our
confidence. Many people in our nation think we are one nation under the
democrats, or one nation under the republicans. We seem to have lost the
truth upon which our founding fathers established the greatness of our nation.
We were founded upon the principle of "One nation under GOD."
If we will go back to that being our way of life rather than mere words
that are said, then we can live under the umbrella of verse 12, "Blessed
is the nation whose God is the LORD; and the people whom he hath chosen for his
own inheritance."
But on the contrary, if we do not return to the Lord, then we will continue to
live in the famine of our nation which we are enduring at this time. Some might
say, "We aren't under a famine. I have plenty to eat." Famines
do not always involve food. The Bible speaks of a famine concerning the hearing
of God's Word. Surely, we are in that famine now. It seems to me that for
a large majority of "God's people", life has changed. Why has
it changed? Have we turned away from the mercy of the Lord and placed our
confidence in man?
"It is better to trust in the LORD than to put confidence in man."
(Psalm 118:8) It is said that this verse is the middle verse of the
Bible. I'm not sure if it is or not, but there could be no better hinge upon
which the rest of the Word of God turns. May we take heed to the Word of
God.