The steps of a man are established by the LORD, when he delights in his way; though he fall, he shall not be cast headlong, for the LORD upholds his hand. I have been young, and now am old, yet I have not seen the righteous forsaken or his children begging for bread. He is ever lending generously, and his children become a blessing.
~Psalms 37:23-26 ESV
This is a verse that is often quoted by those of us who are “going through” as the old-timers used to call it. Today, I want to share some insight into the difference between what the Psalmist was talking about and what man tries to perpetrate.
God’s people are “the righteous”. Jesus came to make them that way. In the Old Testament, when this Psalm was written, righteousness was defined in a different way. We are not here to discuss that difference.
The difference I wanted to point out is the difference between being forsaken by man and being forsaken by God. Here’s a definition from the Webster’s 1828 Dictionary:
FORSA’KEN, pp. Deserted; left; abandoned.
Men will abandon you. But sometimes they do so to try to make the burdens of the righteous heavy not knowing that they do so at their own peril. How many times have you heard someone say of a believer, “Where is your God now?” How many times have you seen someone act in a way that makes the burden of the righteous man or woman heaver than it needs to be?
For example, someone can make it possible that services that ae intended to make life easier are cut off or discontinued. These services are not vital to life, but they do make the burdens of living easier to bear.
How does God view this “weight shifting” that is being done to make the burden of His people harder to bear? He is not pleased. The first thing we need to understand about our passage is that
He is paying attention.
He “sees” the righteous which means He sees what is happening in your life.
He will not “forsake” or abandon, His people.
He didn’t do so in the Old Testament and, now, after the blood of Christ has been shed for the righteous, He is definitely NOT going to forsake them today! Man may abandon you, but God “will never leave you OR forsake you”!
You know who you are. You have chosen to surrender your life without conditions to the will of God for you. You guard your hearts. You test every spirit. Your greatest pleasures come from being in His word and in praying without ceasing.
You know that you can walk in that “blessed assurance” knowing that for EVERY injustice you have suffered, God will make you whole again. You know that those who have intentionally made your burden harder to bear will have to give an accounting before the True and Faithful Judge of all! And they will not have any excuse that they can bring before God for their ill will toward you. They are acting on the instructions of their father, the father of lies. God knows that it is Him that they hate and that they are using you to express their hatred for Him.
Let them continue in their folly as you continue to pray for them.
Keep holding on, Righteous Ones! God is watching and He is taking note of your faithfulness. He is preparing a royal greeting for His heirs and a terrible end for those who continue to hate you for no obvious reason! They may use your past as an excuse, but you know, and most importantly, God knows that you have been “transformed by the renewing of your mind”!
You may have been forsaken by man, but hang on because God WILL have the final word!
He promised!
~pk