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“GIVE LIGHT TO MY EYES”
I trust in your unfailing love; my heart rejoices in your salvation. I will sing the Lord’s praise, for he has been good to me.
The amazing thing (well there are many) about God is that God HAS prepared the Way for His Plan and for His people well before anyone roamed the earth or moaned in pain on the earth. He was preparing the Way for His people, even through a wicked minefield of mayhem. He saw the other side because He MADE the other side. If David could see it and put it to pen, David also must have seen the refuge, felt it, especially since he has so many writings in the Psalms. God is credited with being both ALMIGHTY (slaying the wicked) and being a God of refuge (protection for those seeking His Face). Psalms 10 through 14 are a walk through of both: ‘Why are the wicked so wicked?’ AND ‘You Lord are the Rescuer, Resource, Restorer.’ Yes, everything pales compared to God’s Glory.
For the Lord is righteous, he loves justice; the upright will see his face.
We may know trouble here and there, but unless you are in much much more corrupt company, we ALREADY have and know a protective barrier of God’s protection. (That’s why we remind folks to count their blessings!) If you are even having a chance to read this text (and I had time to write it), then we will have already been afforded by God time, precious time, time to rest, time to work, time to reap benefits from working income or rescue financing, and we will likely have moments of remembering when we have been rescued. Just us whom get to Friday and can say TGIF, Thank God it’s Friday, it is like the week fades away in the face of a weekend. Think especially then how the life wickedness and strife fades away in the Face of Almighty God.
The upright will SEE His Face…
Give LIGHT to my eyes…
So why do we read so much historical prayer in the Psalms about the enemies of God? And the rescue of the innocent? Why do we hear of those enemies whose minds are corrupt “in all his thoughts there is no room for God”? We are told because He has a way to destroy them. IN HIS TIME, not ours. AND, because we are to be aware there are pockets of real wickedness in the world and plain pastures of wicked ways that derail people. And because in the future, others who are oppressed need to hear that GOD WILL PREVAIL!
We are often sheltered from hearing as well as having to face the situations and the people suffering thru them. God hears them. God hears you if you are going through something terrible. God has already made a Way. Trust Him.
This is the month (January) where we recognize that human trafficking is real, is evil, is hidden from our ivory tower lifestyles. (Just do an information search on the big sports events and the increase in trafficking.) God DOES see this. God will bring all the enemies of God to His punishment and justice in due time. Our awareness of situation may make us able to help. If anything, we can pray against the wickedness and praise the protection of God’s shielding to those who escape.
You, Lord, hear the desire of the afflicted; you encourage them, and you listen to their cry, defending the fatherless and the oppressed, so that mere earthly mortals will never again strike terror.…. On the wicked he will rain fiery coals and burning sulfur; a scorching wind will be their lot.
If we have seen BOTH evil and good, then we can share our witnesses of God taking care of our situation and salvation again the ultimate evil of sin and death. Then we should share that David saw the Lord prevail, we see the Lord prevail, and our future brothers and sisters will ALSO see the Lord prevail. If David waited for salvation, we see salvation, others live in the shadows of death, we must share hope against enemies. God already won, keep hope. Let us hope to see. GIVE LIGHT TO MY EYES
TGIF?
Thank God it’s FRIDAY.
Thank God it’s FINE.
Thank God it’s FINISHED.
Oh, that salvation for Israel would come out of Zion! When the Lord restores his people, let Jacob rejoice and Israel be glad!
Amen Amen
“GIVE LIGHT TO MY EYES“
Psalm 10 NIV
Why, Lord, do you stand far off? Why do you hide yourself in times of trouble? In his arrogance the wicked man hunts down the weak, who are caught in the schemes he devises. He boasts about the cravings of his heart; he blesses the greedy and reviles the Lord. In his pride the wicked man does not seek him; in all his thoughts there is no room for God. His ways are always prosperous; your laws are rejected by him; he sneers at all his enemies. He says to himself, “Nothing will ever shake me.” He swears, “No one will ever do me harm.” His mouth is full of lies and threats; trouble and evil are under his tongue. He lies in wait near the villages; from ambush he murders the innocent. His eyes watch in secret for his victims; like a lion in cover he lies in wait. He lies in wait to catch the helpless; he catches the helpless and drags them off in his net. His victims are crushed, they collapse; they fall under his strength. He says to himself, “God will never notice; he covers his face and never sees.”
Arise, Lord! Lift up your hand, O God. Do not forget the helpless. Why does the wicked man revile God? Why does he say to himself, “He won’t call me to account”? But you, God, see the trouble of the afflicted; you consider their grief and take it in hand. The victims commit themselves to you; you are the helper of the fatherless. Break the arm of the wicked man; call the evildoer to account for his wickedness that would not otherwise be found out.
The Lord is King for ever and ever; the nations will perish from his land. You, Lord, hear the desire of the afflicted; you encourage them, and you listen to their cry, defending the fatherless and the oppressed, so that mere earthly mortals will never again strike terror.
Psalm 11 NIV
For the director of music. Of David.
In the Lord I take refuge. How then can you say to me: “Flee like a bird to your mountain. For look, the wicked bend their bows; they set their arrows against the strings to shoot from the shadows at the upright in heart. When the foundations are being destroyed, what can the righteous do?”
The Lord is in his holy temple; the Lord is on his heavenly throne.
He observes everyone on earth; his eyes examine them. The Lord examines the righteous, but the wicked, those who love violence, he hates with a passion. On the wicked he will rain fiery coals and burning sulfur; a scorching wind will be their lot. For the Lord is righteous, he loves justice; the upright will see his face.
Psalm 12 NIV
For the director of music. According to sheminith. A psalm of David.
Help, Lord, for no one is faithful anymore; those who are loyal have vanished from the human race. Everyone lies to their neighbor; they flatter with their lips but harbor deception in their hearts. May the Lord silence all flattering lips and every boastful tongue—those who say, “By our tongues we will prevail; our own lips will defend us—who is lord over us?”
“Because the poor are plundered and the needy groan, I will now arise,” says the Lord. “I will protect them from those who malign them.” And the words of the Lord are flawless, like silver purified in a crucible, like gold refined seven times.
You, Lord, will keep the needy safe and will protect us forever from the wicked, who freely strut about when what is vile is honored by the human race.
Psalm 13 NIV
For the director of music. A psalm of David.
How long, Lord? Will you forget me forever? How long will you hide your face from me? How long must I wrestle with my thoughts and day after day have sorrow in my heart How long will my enemy triumph over me?
Look on me and answer, Lord my God. GIVE LIGHT TO MY EYES, or I will sleep in death, and my enemy will say, “I have overcome him,” and my foes will rejoice when I fall.
But I trust in your unfailing love; my heart rejoices in your salvation. I will sing the Lord’s praise, for he has been good to me.
Psalm 14 NIV
For the director of music. Of David.
The fool says in his heart, “There is no God.” They are corrupt, their deeds are vile; there is no one who does good.
The Lord looks down from heaven on all mankind to see if there are any who understand, any who seek God. All have turned away, all have become corrupt; there is no one who does good, not even one. Do all these evildoers know nothing? They devour my people as though eating bread; they never call on the Lord. But there they are, overwhelmed with dread, for God is present in the company of the righteous. You evildoers frustrate the plans of the poor, but the Lord is their refuge.
Oh, that salvation for Israel would come out of Zion! When the Lord restores his people, let Jacob rejoice and Israel be glad!
Debbie Upper 