Hear my voice, O God, in my complaint;
preserve my life from dread of the enemy.
Hide me from the secret plots of the wicked, from the throng of evildoers,
who whet their tongues like swords, who aim bitter words like arrows,
shooting from ambush at the blameless, shooting at him suddenly and without fear.
They hold fast to their evil purpose;
they talk of laying snares secretly, thinking, "who can see them?"
They search out injustice, saying, "We have accomplished a diligent search."
For the inward mind and heart of a man are deep!
But God shoots his arrow at them;
they are wounded suddenly.
The are brought to ruin, with their own tongues turned against them;
all who see them will wag their heads.
Then all mankind fears;
they tell what God has brought about and ponder what he has done.
Let the righteous one rejoice in the LORD and take refuge in him!
Let all the upright in heart exult! Verse 1-10
While I don't have any physical enemies like David, I see the "secret plots of the wicked" as those, who through one medium or another, would seek to distract me from my worship of a holy God.
Matthew 19:3-9
In this passage, the Pharisees come and question Jesus about divorce. His answers are not exactly what they were wanting to hear.
Peterson makes note that Matthew includes this account right after the parable of the unforgiving servant. Note that Jesus claims that Moses' original divorce decree was provided because of man's hardheartedness.
The author asks, "What is hardheartedness really about?"
Good question. As I consider the context here, it seems that hardheartedness is really unwillingness to forgive. And that is pretty much what divorce is about, isn't it? Peterson makes note that there are many ways that we "divorce" ourselves from other people...leaving a church, leaving a project, leaving a friendship, etc.
Question 2..."How does hardheartedness toward others violate God's will for all of us?"
God desire for us all to be kind and compassionate towards each other. When we practice hardheartedness towards each other, we quench the spirit, I believe. When we consider that this is actually a form of unforgiveness, it makes it even worse. We must love each other. I know how hard this is. And this actually continues in the same vein as the days back a few weeks ago when God was really speaking to me about this subject.
This particular passage is about marital divorce. But if we carry the teaching beyond the idea of husband/wife to the idea of any believers, we get a new idea of how our relationships should look. We ought to always forgive one another, no matter what. Period. Jesus makes no other provision.
Question 3. "Where in your life is hardheartedness a problem?" Basically, as noted in previous weeks, I have had an ongoing struggle with being tolerant of some people in the faith. This is where God has truly been working in my life. And guess what? When I skip devotions and Bible readings, those attitudes tend to resurface! So here I am again, having to have this teaching thrown at me once again. This is kind of astounding, in the grand scheme of things. Not that I would revert to an old attitude. But that God would know that I was going to skip 6 days of Bible readings and place this one in this exact place in a book that was published at least a year ago.
Is God way cool, or what?
Indeed.
Finally, question 4. "What is God urging you to do to cultivate a softened heart?"
First of all, keep up with my devotions.
Pray more. Pray for others more.
Keep listening to him about the people that I struggle with. Love all Christians and always forgive.
Show the most love for my wife and family.
I'm asked by this book to ask you to bring to mind people who might say to me, "Give me a chance!" Give me a heart of mercy towards these people. Give me love towards all Christians. We are all idiots sometimes. Me, as well. Especially me, sometimes. As you have forgiven me, let me also forgive all others.
Grace and peace, friends.