“Conditional Promises” – FBC Morning Light (6/13/2024)

Well, a good Thursday morning to you. Today we're reading 1 Kings 13 and 14, 2

Chronicles 12, 1 to 16, and Psalm 91, which is what

I want to focus on. We're getting into the record of the different kings of Israel, and we're reading the accounts of the books of kings and of chronicles, and it's going to be really distressing, because there are so few good kings, especially in Israel, and part of Israel, there are none.

They're leading all of the people into rebellion against God, into paganism and idolatry, and even some of the kings of Judah are guilty of the very same thing.

So the spirituality of those who are supposed to be the people of God is spiraling downward, and so is the depravity of Israel and also of Judah.

But what provides a stark contrast to that and to those kings and their lack of trust in the

Lord, and the downward depravity and eventual destruction of Israel and then of Judah, in stark contrast is that which is promised in Psalm 91, when

Psalm 91 says, He who dwells in the secret place of the Most High shall abide under the shadow of the

Almighty, and says in verse 3, He will deliver you from the snare of the fowler and from the perilous pestilence.

He will cover you with his feathers, and under his wings you shall take refuge. You shall not be afraid of, in verse 5, of the terror by night, nor the arrow that flies by day, nor the pestilence that walks in darkness, nor the destruction that wastes away at noonday.

And yet, all of those things are going to be coming upon Israel and Judah. It says in verse 7,

A thousand may fall at your side, and ten thousand at your right hand, but it shall not come near you.

But it does come near Israel and Judah, under the leadership of these various evil kings.

Why? Why? Because of the conditions of this psalm that haven't been met.

What hasn't been met, what isn't going to be met, is that God's people and the leaders of God's people don't dwell in the secret place of the

Most High. In verse 2, they don't say of the Lord, He is my refuge and my fortress, my

God, in him I will trust. Instead, they end up trusting in other gods and false gods and so forth.

And in verse 9, the Lord promises, Because you have made the

Lord who is my refuge even the Most High your dwelling place, no evil shall befall you. But they haven't, you see, they haven't.

And so, you know, we want to claim the feel -good promises from God, don't we?

Listen to these promises in here, in this next several verses, verses 9 and following.

No evil shall befall you, no calamity shall befall you, nor shall any plague come near your dwelling.

I heard that verse quoted a lot in 2020, during COVID year, that, you know, if we'll just trust the

Lord, COVID won't affect us, COVID won't afflict us. He shall give his angels charge over you to keep you in all your ways.

You shall tread upon the lion and the cobra, the young lion and the serpent, and so forth.

So, you know, we like to focus on those good promises. No plague, no evil, no harm, no hurt.

But what about the conditions? What about the conditions? And what do those promises entail?

If I do make the Lord my refuge, if I do trust in him as my help and my stay, and I look only to him,

I don't look to the gods of this world to provide me satisfaction and meaning in life,

I look to the Lord my God. I trust in him. Can I then count on a life of prosperity and of health and well -being and no harm coming my way?

I'll never get hurt, I'll never be in any kind of an accident? I think the way to look at it is this.

Those who set their love on the Lord, as in verse 14, he has set his love upon me, therefore

I will deliver him. Those who set their love on the Lord and put their faith and trust in him for security will enjoy the security and the relative prosperity and health that is promised to them under the providence of God.

In other words, God does allow us in his providence to go through difficulty, to experience harm, to suffer sickness and so forth, but it's always purposeful.

It's not judgmental, if you will.

So the things that the psalmist is talking about here, that the Lord will deliver the person, deliver the one who loves him and trusts in him, the things that the psalmist is talking about are judgments from the

Lord for snubbing him, for leaving him, for turning their back upon him.

Well, you put your trust in him, you abide under the shadow of the Almighty, you dwell in the secret place of the

Most High, you're not going to experience the hand of God's judgment upon you. This is what he's saying.

What a wonderful promise. I trust you hold on to that promise today.

I trust you do because you're abiding in the right place. So our

Father and our God, help us so to abide, we pray in Jesus' name and for his sake. Amen.