Psalm 34:14
“Depart from evil, and do good;
seek peace, and pursue it.”
~ Psalms 34:14
Throughout the whole of the 34th Psalm are set out numerous reasons to heed the words of verse 14. Perhaps, in summation we could look to verses 15 and 16. Benefits are reaped by the doers of good: “The eyes of the LORD are upon the righteous, and his ears are open unto their cry.” Similarly, “The face of the LORD is against them that do evil, to cut off the remembrance of them from the earth.” Let us now briefly consider the four simple statements of our text.
First, we are instructed to “Depart from evil.” We are not to do evil; rather we must depart from it. We must flee from its presence and appearance. We must have nothing to do with it. Solomon warned his son to depart from sinners, “My son, walk not thou in the way with them; refrain thy foot from their path: For their feet run to evil, and make haste to shed blood” (Proverbs 1:15-16). It was not only that he was not to take part in their evil deeds, but also that he was to refrain from going in the path with them, for to evil was where their path was leading. He likewise instructed him to avoid the strange woman. “Remove thy way far from her, and come not nigh the door of her house” (Proverbs 5:8).
Secondly, we must “do good.” Lot, living in the city of Sodom, had an arduous task just to “depart from evil.” If he were successful in that much, he must have felt accomplished. Likewise, much energy is consumed today by the righteous to avoid evil. However, departing from evil is only one-fourth of our duty in this passage. We must also “do good.” We must be proactive in the doing of good. We must study the good, seek it out, and do it. We must set ourselves in the very way of good and continue to walk therein. “Thus saith the LORD, Stand ye in the ways, and see, and ask for the old paths, where is the good way, and walk therein, and ye shall find rest for your souls” (Jeremiah 6:16).
Thirdly, our responsibility is to “seek peace.” We rejoice when we are at peace. We rest when we are at peace and are refreshed. Although, we are not merely to enjoy peace when it comes, but we are to “seek” it out. Precious few today expend their energies in seeking peace. Jesus taught, “Blessed are the peacemakers: for they shall be called the children of God” (Matthew 5:9). We are happy to have peace when it comes by the concessions of others, but we do not want to give an inch for the same. This attitude denies both the spirit and the letter of our text and ignores our plain responsibility, “If it be possible, as much as lieth in you, live peaceably with all men” (Romans 12:18). How many have truly gone to that extremity before conceding it is not possible?
Fourthly, we have another word concerning peace; we are to “pursue it.” Most of us would be glad if we happened to come into peace. Our text is much stronger, instructing us to “pursue” peace. The hunter pursues his prey, and the hungry hunter does so even more. We must hunger after peace and pursue it relentlessly as Paul who said, “And herein do I exercise myself, to have always a conscience void of offence toward God, and toward men” (Acts 24:16). Finally, this peace cannot be achieved by ungodly compromise, for at the beginning we are told to “Depart from evil.”
To the modern mind, our text must seem radical indeed. Frankly, if we have any hope of following these precepts, we must be able to make decisive value judgments. We must be able to know what evil is and be able to distinguish it from the good. This is a mark of maturity and wisdom, “But strong meat belongeth to them that are of full age, even those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil” (Hebrews 5:14).
Society today rejects this wisdom, wanting rather the moral ambiguity of “objectivity.” Such objectivity is illusive, and in fact, is neither possible nor desirable. God’s people cannot mill about in the fog of obscurantism. There is no such lack of clarity in God’s Word. He says, “Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for light, and light for darkness; that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter!” (Isaiah 5:20). Solomon wrote, “He that justifieth the wicked, and he that condemneth the just, even they both are abomination to the LORD” (Proverbs 17:15). To confuse good and evil is a serious evil in itself. We must be able to discern good and evil, and “Abhor that which is evil; cleave to that which is good” (Romans 12:9).
Ruth 1:16-17
“And Ruth said, Intreat me not to leave thee,
or to return from following after thee:
for whither thou goest, I will go; and where thou lodgest, I will lodge:
thy people shall be my people, and thy God my God:
Where thou diest, will I die, and there will I be buried:
the LORD do so to me, and more also, if ought but death part thee and me.”
~ Ruth 1:16-17
Typically, when we want to understand a term, we go to the dictionary to look it up. If we are particularly studious, we may go to an encyclopedia, or some other source, to investigate the etymology of the word. We may also study its usage, trying to determine the various inflections and nuances associated with its meaning.
However, God does not speak to us this way. He did not give us a dictionary or encyclopedia for us to understand what He requires of us. God spoke to us and gave us His Word—His Son, a Person. “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God . . . And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth” (John 1:1, 14). “God, who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets, Hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son, whom he hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also he made the worlds” (Hebrews 1:1-2). God spoke to us in and through a person, meaning His Word is personal and narrative.
Christ was the greatest narrative theologian ever. He taught with authority through parables and illustration and “Never man spake like this man” (John 7:46). His words were simple, yet profound. He did not speak to His disciples like a Calculus professor lecturing his students on the proofs and corollaries of The Mean Value Theorem. He rather spoke in simple terms, illustrating what “The kingdom of heaven is like” (Matthew 13:31).
A good example of the way God speaks to us is in Hebrews 11. The chapter does begin with a description of faith abstractly, but the substance of the chapter is spent on illustrating what faith is and does. The life of faith is there seen worked out in the real lives of God’s people. It is a moving and compelling picture that climaxes with martyrs of whom the world was not worthy and then proceeds to tell us, in light of all this, to run the race.
What does this have to do with our text? Before us is a passionate, moving illustration of biblical repentance. This occurs in the real world in the real life of Ruth the Moabitess. It is a striking and compelling example of repentance, explaining to us what no dictionary could convey by simply defining the term.
Ruth’s repentance was on this wise. A certain woman named Naomi dwelt in Bethlehem Judah with her husband Elimelech and their two sons. They enjoyed modest riches and reputation in their homeland. A famine arose that affected their lifestyle and they removed to Moab, only for a time of course until things became better in their own land.
Moab wasn’t nearly as bad as they imagined and they got along well until disaster struck. Elimelech died leaving Naomi and their two sons in the land of the pagans. This was a grief to Naomi, but the pagans were friendly and likable and she enjoyed her standard of living there enough to continue.
Her sons were growing into men and as such were wont to be married. They found a couple of lovely pagan girls, Orpah and Ruth, and soon were settled down. It would not do for these girls to remain amongst their pagan families, so they left them for the Israelites and dwelt on the fringe of Moab for some ten years in domestic bliss.
Moreover, both of Naomi’s sons died leaving a Jewish widow with two widowed proselyte daughters-in-law stuck halfway between here and there. Naomi’s grief can hardly be imagined by someone like me, but it must have been very great. These things had taken a toll on her and she purposed to return to Bethlehem, where she had heard God was feeding His people.
Orpah and Ruth went with her on her way for a while. Naomi encouraged them to return but they were resolved to go with her all the way to her home. Naomi insisted they “turn again” (Ruth 1:11) to go back to the life they knew before. She professed to have nothing for them; she would later testify of coming back to Bethlehem “empty.”
The women all wept in an anxious moment. Though Orpah loved Naomi, she kissed her and went on her way back to the pagans. She had “gone back unto her people, and unto her gods” (Ruth 1:15). Orpah had run well for a season, but she was of those who draw back. It happened unto her “according to the true proverb, The dog is turned to his own vomit again; and the sow that was washed to her wallowing in the mire” (2 Peter 2:22).
The tension grew as Orpah disappeared from sight and the tears began to dry on Naomi and Ruth’s cheeks. There were powerful persuasives for Ruth to return—Naomi had counseled her to that end and Orpah had trodden the very path before her. The doubts and questions swirled in Naomi’s mind as she spoke her last peace, “return thou after thy sister in law” (Ruth 1:15). Her words seemed to hang in the air until the silence at last overtook them. Then, the quiet was broken by a voice that grew from quivering to firm as Ruth spoke the most beautiful words that could fall from Gentile lips. “And Ruth said, Intreat me not to leave thee, or to return from following after thee: for whither thou goest, I will go; and where thou lodgest, I will lodge: thy people shall be my people, and thy God my God: Where thou diest, will I die, and there will I be buried: the LORD do so to me, and more also, if ought but death part thee and me.”
It was not that Ruth loved Naomi and Orpah did not that Ruth would not leave her. It was rather because Ruth loved Naomi and loved Naomi’s God that she would not leave her. Ruth had repented; she had turned. Ruth left her native people and her native gods. She had made an end of all else except the God of Israel. She clave unto her mother-in-law because God was with her and, with her life, Ruth vowed to worship and serve the true and living God that created the heavens and the earth.
Here we have the marvelous meaning of repentance in the real world. Repentance means a change, and, O what a change! Paul praised God for the Thessalonians and how they “turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God; And to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead, even Jesus, which delivered us from the wrath to come” (1 Thessalonians 1:9-10). Ruth turned from her life of rebellion to God’s kingdom, took hold of the skirt of a Jew, and went with her because God was with her (cf. Zecheriah 8:23). She had turned and burned all her bridges behind her like Asaph, who confessed, “Whom have I in heaven but thee? And there is none upon earth that I desire beside thee” (Psalm 73:25). She was one with Peter, who answered, “Lord, to whom shall we go? Thou hast the words of eternal life” (John 6:68).
Ruth repented. She turned to the true and living God to the exclusion of all else. May God grant many Ruth’s in our generation! I pray the Holy Spirit will grant that we understand what it means to repent.
Psalm 89:47
“Remember how short my time is:
wherefore hast thou made all men in vain?”
~ Psalm 89:47
The brevity of man’s life is given no small attention in the Scripture. James reminds us that our life “is even a vapour, that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away” (James 4:14). Job characterized his own days as “swifter than a weaver’s shuttle” (Job 7:6). The number of the days of man’s life is compared to a hand breadth (Psalm 39:5) and “like grass which groweth up. In the morning it flourisheth, and groweth up; in the evening it is cut down, and whithereth” (Psalm 90:5-6). Day follows hard after day and our time flees as if pursued.
A quick glance at our text might cause us to put it in with other verses that treat of this subject. However, there is an important distinction between this verse and most others that address the shortness of man’s life. The distinction is one of perspective. Most of the verses are written man-ward in the sense that they speak to man to provoke him to realize his situation. Consider Psalm 90:12—“So teach us to number our days, that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom.” Such verses exhort men to be wise and redeem their time because they have little of it and man is prone to waste his time on insignificant things.
Our text, though, speaks God-ward. It is a man speaking to God, “Remember how short my time is.” It should be considered a prayer, pressing upon the Almighty to remember how few the petitioner’s days really are. The Psalmist is crying out for deliverance asking, “How long, LORD?” (Psalm 89:46). This prayer is neither irreverent nor unbelieving. He does not doubt the deliverance of God, but he cries for it to come speedily.
The Psalmist feels a sense of urgency when he sees the people of God in disgrace in the world. He is grieved to see God’s enemies with a high hand defying the Living God. He cannot carry on with personal business when the Kingdom of God seems receding with its crown in the dust (Psalm 89:44). Though he knows his present condition is not the end of the story, he implores God that He will not let his days run out before the power of the true King triumphs.
The Psalmist qualifies his petition by asking, “Wherefore hast thou made all men in vain?” Several thoughts are suggested by this phrase. The vanity of how men spend their lives is magnified when set against the brevity of that life. So few days we have and they are mostly consumed in procuring the material things of the world.
It seems the Psalmist thought that his own days would be vain if God delayed in showing mercy. If the Lord were not working, his days would be consumed. He had the spirit of the old prophets who longed to see the power of God in their day. They had hope in the future, yet desired to see God working in their own day. They wanted to see terror struck in God’s enemies and for Him to be the rejoicing of His people.
We need this spirit in our day. A comparative minority of people continue to advance the agenda of evil and tread Christians under foot. Who will redeem their time in these evil days? Who will forsake all for the Kingdom’s sake? Who will beseech God that He act in power to confound His enemies and vindicate His own name in our day? May the people of God today have the conviction of urgency that makes them cry, “Remember how short my time is.” “Blessed be the LORD for evermore. Amen, and Amen” (Psalm 89:52).
Luke 18:7
“And shall not God avenge his own elect,
which cry day and night unto him,
though he bear long with them?”
~ Luke 18:7
Our verse contrasts God with “the unjust judge” in the previous verses. This man was unrighteous—he “feared not God” (Luke 18:2). He was also without compassion and mercy—he “neither regarded man” (Luke 18:2). He refused to hear the case of the plaintive widow “for a while” (Luke 18:4), though she was oppressed by an “adversary” (Luke 18:3). The widow was one who had no power to avenge herself. She was easily oppressed and taken advantage of, if none would intervene on her behalf. For all of this, the unjust judge was neither compelled to relieve her by duty nor by love.
However, eventually, the woman was avenged. Interestingly, the judge’s heart did not soften to her pitiful estate; neither did his neck bend to transcendent justice. He was made neither righteous, nor caring, but the widow won her case only by “her continual coming” (Luke 18:5). She found neither love nor mercy with this wicked judge, but she did find justice, although it was served both tardy and cold.
The contrast, and the lesson learned by it, could not be more blatant. God is “the righteous judge” (2 Timothy 4:8) and “Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right?” (Genesis 18:25). God cannot forsake justice. Though He is “slow to anger,” He “will not at all acquit the wicked” (Nahum 1:3). The unjust judge did not consider the widow in her estate, but God is “A father of the fatherless, and a judge of the widows” (Psalm 68:5).
Ah, but the contrast continues. In His judgment, God is neither petty nor austere. With Him is found mercy and love in abundance: “But thou, O Lord, art a God full of compassion, and gracious, longsuffering, and plenteous in mercy and truth” (Psalm 86:15). All of His judgments of His people are bathed in mercy: “For the LORD your God is God of gods, and Lord of lords, a great God, a mighty, and a terrible, which regardeth not persons, nor taketh reward: He doth execute the judgment of the fatherless and widow, and loveth the stranger, in giving him food and raiment” (Deuteronomy 10:17-18). It is not only that He can show mercy, but “he delighteth in mercy” (Micah 7:18). Mercy is His delight and rejoicing.
Furthermore, the judge had no personal connection with the widow. She was simply another demand on his time. He found her an inconvenience—“this widow troubleth me, I will avenge her, lest by her continual coming she weary me” (Luke 18:5). What was it to him whether she found justice or not? So, the contrast is furthered by considering the relation of the Righteous Judge to “his own elect, which cry day and night unto him.” These are His people that cry unto Him. Though a woman could discard “the son of her womb,” refuse to “have compassion,” and “forget” him, God says to His people, “yet will I not forget thee” (Isaiah 49:15). He declares, “Behold, I have graven thee upon the palms of my hands; thy walls are continuously before me” (Isaiah 49:16).
In light of this testimony, our text is a conclusion that cannot be otherwise. The context of our verse is a parable, and a peculiar one at that. It is peculiar because it is prefaced by the primary purpose for the parable. The first verse tells us, “And he spake a parable unto them to this end, that men ought always to pray, and not to faint.” The whole must be interpreted in light of this purpose, especially our text. If this widow found justice at the hands of an unjust judge solely by her perseverance, how could it be possible that the people of God shall not be delivered when they cry day and night unto their Father? And, shall their deliverance not be much greater through the hands of their benevolent Father in heaven? Christ also answered the question, “I tell you that he will avenge them speedily” (Luke 18:8).
We must not think that our faith shall not be tried in this matter. Christ frames the promise saying, “though he bear long with them.” As the people of God labor for His cause in the world, as they go forth to war for the sake of His kingdom, they meet with opposition and oppression. This word is spoken to us not to despair of His deliverance, for it seems to us He delays it. It not only seems that way to His people, but also to their enemies. For this cause, they revile and mock, as they did David: “My tears have been my meat day and night, while they continually say unto me, Where is thy God?” (Psalm 42:3). Do we think the man after God’s own heart should have to wait patiently on the Lord’s salvation and we shall not suffer the same? Though we wait on the vindication of Christ in us, we must not despair. “He will avenge them speedily.”
We must give heed that His people “cry day and night unto him.” I see no promise without this cry. Our resolve must be as the Psalmist who declared, “As for me, I will call upon God; and the LORD shall save me. Evening, and morning, and at noon, will I pray, and cry aloud: and he shall hear my voice” (Psalm 55:16-17). This fervent prayer was not birthed from personal desire for success, nor was it for deliverance from inner personal struggle. His heart was “sore pained” with the “terrors of death” upon him (Psalm 55:4). He cried, “Fearfulness and trembling are come upon me, and horror hath overwhelmed me” (Psa. 55:5). Why? “Because of the voice of the enemy, because of the oppression of the wicked: for they cast iniquity upon me, and in wrath they hate me” (Psalm 55:3).
Oh that we would take up the cause of Christ in the world today! Oh that we would be so jealous and zealous for His honor that we would “cry day and night” in prayer, “Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven” (Matthew 6:10). Oh that we would cry unto God day and night that the nations would be subdued under His feet and that they would give Him the glory due unto His name (Psalm 96:7-8)! Amen!
