May 6, 2024

Passage Read: Psalm 140-143
Meditation Verse: 140:8

Thought

This is a good prayer, that the Lord keep the arrogant from succeeding, and so further inflate his ego. But it is the Lord's will that the wicked man, whom He has rejected, fill up the measure of their judgment. If the wicked did not grow in confidence and arrogance, he might become humbled enough so as to repent! God is willing for the rejected man to grow in his arrogance and rebellion, to think that he is so great and to have others praise him, so that God is proved right when He overthrows that man. It is the wicked man that God has chosen to be saved that the Lord would thwart in his endeavors, so that he would be humbled and seek the Lord and repent. But for the wicked who are rejected, the only limit to their wicked schemes is the limit God puts in place for the sake of His elect.

Application

I can and should pray this prayer, in hope that the wicked I pray for might come to repentance and be saved. But I should not be surprised if the Lord allows his wicked schemes to prosper, for the Lord may have rejected him. In that case, He allows that man to succeed in his wicked ways, so that when God brings judgment, everyone will see that God was right to utterly overthrow that man. Not everyone I long for will be saved, but since I don't know the Lord's will for every man, I should pray for the repentance of every man I encounter.