Psalm 129:1-8

Affliction is going to be a part of the lives of those who live to love and serve the Lord.  We are surrounded by people who have no fear of the Lord but they have great hatred for all of us who do fear the Lord.  We should not be surprised by the difficulties that come our way and we should not become distressed or discouraged in our walk with God.  We can, however, take comfort in the truth that God will not allow them to prevail.  There are those who stand in opposition to the Lord, but they are not going to be victorious.  Their plots will be thwarted.  They will be defeated and stand eternally judged by God.  Knowing their future demise should be and encouragement to us, but it is still important for us to prepare to stand firm in the face of their attacks.  Here are a few things that we must keep in mind about the wicked.

THEY ARE UNMERCIFUL: Those who have no fear of God are unmerciful.  The start early and they are unrelenting in their pursuit of afflicting those who love the Lord.  The psalmist describes this as having long furrows plowed on his back.  This speaks of great physical pain that he was faced to endure, but it also indicates that they were preparing to do far more.  We plow in preparation for planning and we plant in anticipation of a harvest.  The hope of the wicked is to harvest the lives of the godly.  God stands in the defense of His children and will not allow them to prevail.  We must be prepared to suffer under the affliction of the wicked but we must not despair because we know that the Lord is always with us.

THEY ARE UNSUCCESSFUL: God’s grace upon us and His power over all who inhabit the earth assures us that the wicked will have a crop failure.  The lives of the just that they were hoping to harvest are under the protective hands of the Lord.  Their efforts will come to naught and their plans will be thwarted.  They will be put to shame and all of their plotting will be turned back.  The crop of wrath they wanted to gather will wither up like grass left in the sun and will simply be useless.  We are on the victory side and can be assured that no matter how deep of a furrow they may plow and how painful that may be to us; they will be unsuccessful.


THEY ARE UNPOPULAR: There may be many wicked people, but in the end each of them will stand alone before the Lord.  They are not part of a permanent Body of believes that experience the blessing of being a part of the family of God.  We enjoy God’s blessing in the midst of trials and have a wonderful fellowship of believers who constantly remind us of the Lord’s blessings in our lives.  They have no such fellowship and do not enjoy the glorious blessing of God in their lives.

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