That Was Then; This Is Now

April 19, 2017

That Was Then; This Is Now

Only fools say in their hearts,

    “There is no God.”

Psalm 53:1

NOTE: With the exception of verse 5, Psalms 14 and 53 are almost identical. You may want to re-read my meditation on Psalm 14:  February 21, 2017,

It Is Well With My Soul (http://seekingthelifeinchrist.blogspot.com/)

The opening line to Psalms 14 & 53 is widely known: “Only fools say in their hearts, “There is no God.”

That was then; this is now: “Only fools say in their hearts, “There is a God.”

We do live in a world where the followers of Jesus, the people seeking new life in Christ, are increasingly marginalized. Even so, as fully devoted followers of Jesus we are interested in the “Applause of Heaven” (Max Lucado); not the applause of the world’s culture.

I find great comfort in both Psalm 14 and 53 being included in the Bible, since they are almost identical. (In Psalm 53, a new verse 5 replaces verses 5-6 in Psalm 14.) Psalm 53 was edited to respond to a different condition at a different time. (Psalm 14 refers to God as Yahweh (LORD) and Psalm 53 refers to God as Elohim (God), thus showing a different time period in the life of Israel.) The use of military language suggests an enemy of Israel was defeated in their attack against the people of God. My comfort comes from this evidence that the Holy Spirit moved within Israel and refashioned previous psalms to meet a new context. The Holy Spirit works in our lives in similar ways. The Holy Spirit interprets scripture to meet our needs in the context of our everyday life.

“Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever” (Hebrews 13:8) means that God is steadfastly and continually moving in our lives, “giving you the desire and the power to do what pleases him” (Philippians 2:13).

Sē’lah

<><  <><  <><  <><

(Selah is a word that appears in the Book of Psalms that I often use as the Complimentary Closing in my correspondence. Its meaning, as I use the word, is to pause and think about these things.)

These meditations are written by Alex M. Knight as he seeks the life in Christ as his way of life.  The meditations are published on the BLOG, http://seekingthelifeinchrist.blogspot.com/ and they are also distributed on the Constant Contact email server. You may subscribe to this email service by sending an email to: amkrom812@gmail.com.

Publications by Alex M. Knight:

·        Seeking the Life in Christ, Meditations on the New Testament and Psalms has been published and is now available at Amazon.com in paperback and Kindle.

·        The second edition of  First Think – Then Pray is available on Amazon Kindle.

·        Meditations on The Story of My Life as told by Jesus Christ has been released as an e-book on Amazon Kindle.

Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.