Title: The Apostle Paul's Determination
Contents
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1. Have mercy on me, O God, for all day long men strike me and oppress me to devour me.
2. My enemies seek to devour me all day long, and there are many who strike me proudly.
3. In the days of my fear, I will trust in You.
4. I will trust in God, and I will sing praises to His words; I have trusted in God, and I will not fear. What can a fleshly man do to me?
5. All day long they pervert my words, and all their thoughts about me are wicked.
6. As they spy on my life, so they gather and hide and search my tracks.
7. Shall they escape in iniquity? O God, in your wrath, humble the peoples.
8. You have counted my wanderings; put my tears in Your bottle; are they not written in Your book?
9. On the day I call, my enemies will go away, and I know that God helps me.
10. In God I will praise his words; in the LORD I will praise his words.
11. I trust in God, and I will not fear. What can man do to me?
12. Because I have made a vow to you, O God, I will offer you a thank offering.
13. You have delivered my life from death. Have you not made me stumble, that I may walk in the light of life before God?
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12. I want you to know, brethren, that what happened to me actually made progress in the gospel.
13. For this reason my bonds were revealed in Christ, in the guard, and to all others.
14. Many of my brethren trust in the Lord because of my bondage, and they have become more bold to speak the word of God without fear
15. Some preach Christ with envy and strife, and some with a good will.
16. They know that I have been appointed to vindicate the gospel, and they do it out of love
17. They preach Christ through strife, thinking that it would make my bondage more painful.
18. What then? Outwardly or truly, by any means, it is Christ that is preached, in which I will rejoice and rejoice.
Content
Subject: The Apostle Paul's Determination
Text: Psalm 56:1-13, Philippians 1:12-18
“You do not know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes” (James 4:14). The phrase ‘life like a fog’ makes me hold my breath for a moment. Comparing life to the morning dew and sometimes to the clouds is an expression that sympathizes with the meaninglessness of life, a fleeting life, and a life without hope. How should I live my life? There have been three attitudes. The first is hedonism. The second is asceticism. The third is to live a meaningful life according to the will of God the Creator. The third view of life is a life that comes from faith in the Creator and his providence. 'Life is short, but that fleeting life is connected with eternity. It comes from the belief that limited bodies and material things are valuable opportunities God has given them.” It is a Christian life view of creation, redemption, and sanctification.
A Christian's view of life requires realization of the truth and determination accordingly. Let's take an example of enlightenment through nature. ‘The grass dries up and the flowers fall.’ We come to identify with the natural order and our destiny. This is a natural perception. There is no such thing as enlightenment. However, this understanding is possible. “The grass dries up for its roots and nests, and the flowers fall for its fruit.” This providence of the Creator is at work in the so-called order of nature. If you look at your daily life with that realization, the meaning of life changes. The Creator is also understood as the Meaning Maker. This realization opens up new horizons in life. It turns emptiness into meaning and impermanence toward eternity. It is an invisible existence, the realization achieved through encountering God. It is the image of being born again (John 3:3,5).
This realization requires a decision to follow. The texts of the Old and New Testaments today speak of this. The Old Testament text (Psalm 56:1-13) is the story of the ordeal that David experienced while escaping from the pursuit of King Saul before ascending to the throne. This is the ordeal experienced while exiling to the Philistines, who had hostile relations with Israel (1 Samuel 27-29). On the brink of death, he decides to depend only on God. 'In the day of my fear, I will trust in You...I have put my trust in God, and I will not fear; what can a fleshly man do to me? I know that it is a help...I trust in God, and I will not fear; what can man do to me?...For you have delivered my life from death. May the Lord make me walk in the light of life' (Psalm 56:3,4,9,11,13).