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PSALMS OF ASCENT!

PSALM 125:3

Remain
THE SCEPTRE OF THE WICKED WILL NOT REMAIN OVER THE LAND ALLOTTED TO THE RIGHTEOUS, FOR THEN THE RIGHTEOUS MIGHT USE THEIR HANDS TO DO EVIL. (PSALMS 125:3 NIV)
WICKED
Who or what are the wicked? We are not talking here about the West End musical, but a more technical term. In Hebrew thought the wicked were not simply people who were bad. In fact the word referred more to those who have decisively set their hearts and minds against God. They are those who have rejected God as well as His values and commands. By contrast, the Psalmist is not claiming that he and his fellow-pilgrims are perfect. He certainly thinks of himself as among the righteous, but this is not to say he is without sin. Rather, it is describing his own decision to serve and honour God. end to this evil invasion. Or it is possible that he could just be struggling with an emotional sense of being overwhelmed by evil inuences and godless people. We can all relate to this. At times it seems that evil is having a eld-day, and no end is in sight. We get tired of the ght and tempted to give up. Evil desires to corrupt what is good and who is good. That is its nature. A sobering thought for those loyal to God is that even the righteous can be corrupted, Because of the increase of wickedness, the love of most will grow cold, (Matthew 24:12 NIV) we experience need be too much for our faith to bear. With this condence we are able to nd encouragement in the words that follow the quote we used earlier from Matthew 24, but he who stands rm to the end will be saved. And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come. (Matthew 24:1314 NIV)

SELL-BY
It is as if all evil has a sellby date - we may not see the date, only God does, but it is there. An expiry date exists, But the day of the Lord will come like a thief. The heavens will disappear with a roar; the elements will be destroyed by re, and the earth and everything in it will be laid bare. (2 Peter 3:10 NIV) We c a n t a k e g r e a t condence from knowing that nothing that is unjust is per manent. Only God is permanent - and He is just. Remain to the end, and you will see justice done.

CONFIDENCE
Yet despite the prevalence and power of the wicked the Psalmist has an enviable condence. These people and their inuence will not remain. How does he have this condence? The key word here is remain. The wickeds inuence is not permanent. No danger or oppression that

OPPRESSION
This Psalm may have been written at a time of foreign domination over the land. Israel had many such periods in her history. Perhaps the Psalmist is wrestling with the feeling that he cannot see an

Malcolm Cox, email: malcolm.cox@iccmissions.org | ICC Missions on facebook | www.nwlcc.org

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