Victory by Overcoming

“O lord God of my salvation, I have cried day and night before thee: Let my prayer come before thee: incline thine ear unto my cry; For my soul is full of troubles: and my life draweth nigh unto the grave. I am counted with them that go down into the pit: I am as a man that hath no strength: Free among the dead, like the slain that lie in the grave, whom thou rememberest no more: and they are cut off from thy hand. Thou hast laid me in the lowest pit, in darkness, in the deeps. Thy wrath lieth hard upon me, and thou hast afflicted me with all thy waves. Selah. Thou hast put away mine acquaintance far from me; thou hast made me an abomination unto them: I am shut up, and I cannot come forth. Mine eye mourneth by reason of affliction: Lord, I have called daily upon thee, I have stretched out my hands unto thee. Wilt thou shew wonders to the dead? shall the dead arise and praise thee? Selah. Shall thy lovingkindness be declared in the grave? or thy faithfulness in destruction? Shall thy wonders be known in the dark? and thy righteousness in the land of forgetfulness? But unto thee have I cried, O Lord; and in the morning shall my prayer prevent thee. Lord, why castest thou off my soul? why hidest thou thy face from me? I am afflicted and ready to die from my youth up: while I suffer thy terrors I am distracted. Thy fierce wrath goeth over me; thy terrors have cut me off. They came round about me daily like water; they compassed me about together. Lover and friend hast thou put far from me, and mine acquaintance into darkness” (Psm. 88). Here today I have copied the 88th Psalm, written by Heman the Ezrahite, a Levite who was one of the leaders of music in the worship and service of the Lord during the time of David and Solomon (I Chr. 6:33; I Chr. 15:19; I Chr. 16:42) . Heman was a also a prophet, and is reckoned as one of the wisest men in the world in his day, close to being on scale with Solomon (I Kin. 4:30,31; I Chr. 25:1,5).

So in citing these things, I am saying that the man was seriously real with God, and that there would be few, if any among God’s people today who would be remotely close to being his equal. And I say that for the sake of the Psalm that he wrote, because most people today would say that his words in this Psalm are indicative of depression and a defeatist attitude. The truth is however that these sobering words of contrite desperation make up a powerful testimony of true godly wisdom, which only the most honest and humble of hearts can identify with. If we have been cast down, it’s okay to acknowledge that we are cast down. If we can’t admit that we are troubled when we are troubled, then we probably won’t be raised up from our troubled state, as I am certain that Heman was. God’s people today generally have not been taught that the only true victory in Christ is to have power over sin, and not be subject to it; while the only defeat is to be overcome by sin (Rom. 6:1-6; I Cor. 15:55-57). Most Christian folks today throw words like ‘victory’ around as though it is just an automatic thing which requires nothing to obtain or keep. It’s certain that the apostle Paul, who suffered much for the Gospel’s sake, knew better than that: “And our hope of you is stedfast, knowing, that as ye are partakers of the sufferings, so shall ye be also of the consolation. For we would not, brethren, have you ignorant of our trouble which came to us in Asia, that we were pressed out of measure, above strength, insomuch that we despaired even of life: But we had the sentence of death in ourselves, that we should not trust in ourselves, but in God which raiseth the dead” (II Cor. 1:7-9). I seem to remember someone else notable who once uttered these words: “My God, My God, why hast thou forsaken me?” (Mk. 15:34) So it is evident truth that having and maintaining victory in Christ comes at no small cost, and by no comfortable means. Amen.