The Lord, Most Vehement

Psalm 94:12 & 13
"Blessed is the man whom thou chastenest, O LORD, and teachest him out of thy law; That thou mayest give him rest from the days of adversity, until the pit be digged for the wicked."
What I love is what the amplified bible actually says-that the Lord gives us the power to keep ourselves calm in the days of adversity. Isn't it good to know that God has actually give us the power we need, a supernatural calm, through His word and His instruction, that will keep us through the hardest, most difficult of times?

As I was reading further in this passage, I was introduced to and spent time with the Lord, in a way I never have before. Verse 17 of Psalm 94 says, "Unless the Lord, had been my help, my soul had almost dwelt in silence." I asked Father, "What part of your personality is this talking about?" and as I began to search it out, I found that "Lord" in this passage is the Lord Most Vehement. I am so thankful to have been in His presence. You see, the Lord Most Vehement, is the characteristic of the Lord that is marked by strong feeling or expression, and this is the part of Him that is passionate, so much so that this name describes the duration of time in which Jesus lived from the last supper to the Cross. This is the part of His character that saw Him through and now determines our outcome! This is the part that can also be translated "soundness of mind".

And when I began to explore this word, I wondered what it meant for my soul, my mind, will and emotions to dwell in silence. To be silent is equal to living in a place of death. When our emotions are shut down,ruling us to the place where we can't seem to even be able to set our minds on God's word, this is where we will find ourselves. But what I love is that regardless of how "vehement" or strong our emotions may seem to be, whether it be sadness, grief, depression, anger, etc., the Lord Himself, is the MOST vehement and is able to help us! His "strong feelings" & passion for us have superceded every influencing emotion and His soundness of mind is available to us! And if Christ is in us, we too have the "Most Vehement" stronger emotion living and working through us...if we will acknowledge Him.

I know how important my words are...that they influence every aspect of my life...EVERYTHING! I can't emphasize that enough and I don't know how many times recently, despite knowing that, that I have caught myself saying, "I just can't do this anymore. I can't continue like this...and woe is me...pity me, it's my party, pity me!" And don't you know, God wouldn't have it any other way than to sit me down in church and make sure I didn't get away with it! Even the guy taking up the offering didn't realize it but all of his meditation and the time he spent studying was so that I would get the picture. But condemnation had found opportunity and I was again thinking I had failed.

But then there was Psalm 94:18, written just for me. "When I said my foot slippeth; thy mercy O Lord, held me up." First, let me point out "when I said", that's important to note here. The foot represents our ability to endure and to slip means to "waver, fluctuate in opinion, allegiance or direction" and to give an "unsteady sound". This passage can be read like this, "When I said, my ability to endure is wavering! My opinion is not steady...where is my allegiance, what is my direction? I have made an unsteady sound and I have betrayed myself but thy mercy O Lord, held me up!" In His mercy, He will even bend down and stoop to me and grant me grace and hold me up! He loves me enough to say, "Oh no...I'm not going to let you slip" and He doesn't mind at all telling me when it's time to take up the offering!