Psalms 119:78 - Let The Proud Be Ashamed

Nothing says Christmas like a water buffalo. For a poor family in Asia, getting a water buffalo is like getting a farm tractor to pull a plow, or getting a milk truck full of delicious milk, or getting a stand at the market to sell cheese.

A water buffalo opens the door for work, food, and income. More importantly, it opens the door to talk about Jesus. And nothing says Christmas better than that.

campaign. With this sixth verse, so in English, that verse reads, Let the proud be ashamed, for they dealt perversely with me without a cause. But I will meditate in thy precepts.

So again, as we talked about in the template of the Isaiah 11 anointings of each of these verses, so sixth verse would be the fear of the Lord. And clearly you can see that, you know, it's a beautiful thing to know that God's going to do this. And it's a beautiful thing as we were doing these let it be verses in the yud that, you know, the last five of the verses in the yud all start with the word let.

And so it's kind of let it be, let it be. But it's kind of cool, because that word let, especially in certain of these verses, including the one we're talking about today is a yud and a hey. And the idea of that yud and hey is the beginning of Yahweh, it was beginning of that, and sort of like I am, or in this case, let. And so it's realizing that God is in control. And clearly, if we got to fear the Lord, we realize that when it comes to what's going to happen, as far as, you know, any vengeance is we don't have to worry about that, because here, the psalmist is letting the proud be handled by God. And you can't help but love the way he did it like let the proud be ashamed, for they dealt perversely with me without a cause.

Right, but I will meditate my precepts. So it's kind of neat to think about those precepts that one of those is love your neighbor as yourself. And, and so isn't it neat that rather than the psalmist taking revenge himself, he's asking God to help them see the point of, of where they need to repent. Right, that shame is a good thing when it comes to and leading us to repentance, like the young man that was the prodigal son, right? He felt shame when the in the pigsty and when he realized that his father's servants were not having to live the life that he was living. And so, shame worked in helping him turn back to God and clearly, you know, helped him get a steak dinner instead of eating that pig pod stuff. So, you know, as we look at this verse, it's really, really a beautiful thing. And so I was thinking about in my own life, where where have I seen this happen?

And this exact kind of thing. So, you know, part of my career was I used to be the general manager of what was at the time, Bob Neal Chrysler Plymouth, Chief Eagle, in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. And part of what happened at the end of that is I felt personally very betrayed that, that people made much of my faith and teased and, and whatever, basically convinced my boss that I was more worried about God than I was about their business. And essentially, it ended up costing me my career in that particular dealership. And one of those people that was involved in that was one that I had tried to witness too many, many times, invited him to the Bible study and all that kind of stuff. I won't tell you what his name was. But nonetheless, I felt like he was the proud, right? And then he had dealt perversely with me without a cause because I was clearly the one who'd hired him and the one who'd helped him to, to keep his position and did everything I could love the guy and still love the guy. Man, as I left and went and started my own dealership, you know, I couldn't help but think, wow, it was a shame. A lot of these people and I heard a lot of what people were saying about me and all that stuff and hurt.

It did. But I realized, like David that, you know, I'll meditate on love, love my neighbor as myself, right? Turn the other cheek and all that kind of stuff. So what I found fascinating is that really about six years later, this was years and years later, one day in the same week, two of the people that were deeply involved in all this, I got two separate calls from two separate friends that said that they'd heard from each of these people, one of those being very specifically the one who was very close to me, tell Robbie that I've given my heart to Christ and I am now following Jesus. I mean, I find that more than fascinating that both of these people that were involved in what we're talking about, but one of them was very, very close to me. In by two different people, they both not related to each other, didn't even probably stay in the same city anymore.

They certainly didn't know each other anymore because they were in completely different departments of the dealership. But both of them, I had invited the Bible study many times and both of them, you know, I felt close to, but both of them gave word to somebody to call me and tell me that they had given their heart to Christ. And I thought, you know, isn't that cool that God, you know, you don't know how many people that you invited or that you witnessed to or something in your life at some point in time, you know, we just plant seeds and God brings in the harvest.

But how cool was it that God put it on both those people's hearts in the same week to have somebody call me and tell me that this had transpired. I've never forgotten it, because it just continues to give me hope that, you know, as we go through life, there's going to be people that, you know, I love what it says in the 16th Psalm, when it says, the sorrows of those who chase after other gods will be multiplied. Well, God uses, right, people that turn their back on them, their sorrows are going to be multiplied, and that will help them turn back that idea of let them be ashamed so they can see what they've done. And then, obviously, that shame leads to, wow, I need Jesus, right? If it weren't for my shame, I wouldn't think I would need Jesus, right?

But it was all that shame that leads us there. And so, what a great, great prayer, when you think about it, for the proud, right? Let them be ashamed that, again, you know, that that would turn them back to the Lord and back down what, you know, the psalmist said in this verse, that they would too meditate on the precepts, right? Or, or through your meditation of the precepts and your prayer for them, you know, God continues to open up and turn on the light. And so, as we look at this, the hands of God, right, our role, as people deal perversely with us, pray for them, right? And there's nothing wrong with praying that they be ashamed because that's a beautiful thing, if God's using it to lead towards their repentance, or in either case, however God's doing it.

We know all things work together for good, for those who love God and are called according to His purpose. I thank you so much for listening today. And again, tomorrow we get to do Delight in the Fear of the Lord. And you might guess it's another one of these, let it be. So be right back tomorrow.