As the saying goes, "Forewarned is forearmed." If we knew that the enemy is planning to attack us, we can get ready to defend ourselves and will not be caught by surprise. And the more we know about the enemy and his plans the better we can prepare.
For us today forewarned means that we are made aware of the fact that Satan intends to attack us through the antichrist. In fact it means that we are aware that already there are many antichrists (I John 2:18), even though he has not come yet in his last and most dreadful form. We do have a description of him in Psalm 119:150 where we read: "They draw nigh that follow after mischief: they are far from Thy law."
The word mischief means crafty, deceitful. And much there is today that calls itself Christian but is antichristian and is against Christ and His church, They come with teachings that corrupt the truth about Christ and why He came. They are far from God's law.
We need to know the way to be protected against them. As the psalmist did, so must we cry out, "Hear my voice according to Thy loving kindness: O Lord, quicken me according to Thy judgment." For our only hope and only protection is God in His only begotten Son. We need to be quickened, that is, be kept spiritually alive and active. And God must perform this work upon us. He is our defense and our strength.
It is important that we remember that all our spiritual life comes from God in His loving kindness, that is, in Christ and through His cross and Spirit. He implants a new life, but He must also keep it there and make it active. We must then pray for a needful quickening so that we continue to fight the good fight of faith.
Our flesh wants to stop to escape ridicule, hardships, and persecution. We like to lay down our spiritual life for the advantage of our natural life. But be wise and follow the psalmist's example.
Pray and sing these words:
O hear me in Thy grace
In mercy quicken me;
The wicked plan to do me harm,
But they are far from Thee.
Read: Psalm 144
Psalter versification: 339:3
(Words and Music of the Psalter)
Meditations on the Heidelberg Catechism
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Song for Meditation: Psalter number 411
Why not sing along??
Through the Bible in One Year
Read today:
Lamentations 4 ; Lamentations 5:1-22
Hebrews 2:1-18
Psalm 103:1-22
Proverbs 26:23
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Quote for Reflection:
R. C. H. Lenski: "Anything that is wrong in God’s sight grieves a heart that is full of love, not merely because the wrong hurts the one to whom it is done, but especially because God is displeased with the wrong and must punish the wrongdoer. Instead of rejoicing over the wrong, love grieves over the wrong ... Unrighteousness prevails where the heart has pleasure in it, loves it, and thus rejoices in it. There the love that Paul describes is absent. But where the heart ‘rejoices with the truth,’ embraces it gladly, finds pleasure in possessing it, there unrighteousness is driven out ... This love finds pleasure in every progress which the truth makes in the hearts of men, namely in every bit of their conduct which shows that they love and obey this truth."
