Passage Read: Psalm 55-58
Meditation Verse: 55:19
Thought
The psalmist's prayers in these several chapters are against the wicked, the truly wicked who will not repent, who have no fear of God! They may be strangers, they may be false friends who have been very close. They bring grief and distress into his life; they twist his words and slander him. They will not be saved, and that is a hard lesson to learn. Not all will repent at the preaching of the Gospel, not all are chosen. Some truly deserve to be removed from this life early rather than later.
Application
In compassion, we hope that anyone can be saved, and the truth is, we don't know who is chosen and who is rejected, so we treat all men as if they might one day believe. But there are those who will indeed refuse the Lord all their days. It doesn't matter if God removes them sooner or later, earlier in life or late in life. All will be judged when they end this life. I want all men to repent, but I don't have to wait around all my life or all their life, waiting and hoping and trying again and again to teach them the Gospel. Even if they come week after week to church, if they show no inclination to repent and change, I don't need to worry over them. They may be the very people who go about behind my back, twisting my words and slandering me. I may be distressed by their treatment of me and by their stubborn unrepentance, but I can trust in the Lord that He knows who is righteous and who is not. As long as I endeavor to walk in His ways, He will bring me to His holy habitation, despite what the wicked say against me. I don't need to spend my days and nights worrying about the unrepentant; I need to live and preach the Truth, calling all to repentance and trusting the Lord to deal with the truly wicked as they deserve.