1 In my distress I cried unto the Lord,
and he heard me.
2 Deliver my soul, O Lord, from lying lips,
and from a deceitful tongue.
3 What shall be given unto thee? or what shall be done unto thee,
thou false tongue?
4 Sharp arrows of the mighty,
with coals of juniper.
5 Woe is me, that I sojourn in Mesech,
that I dwell in the tents of Kedar!
6 My soul hath long dwelt
with him that hateth peace.
7 I am for peace:but when I speak, they are for war.
Comments by Joan Boney
1 In my distress I cried unto the Lord,
and HE heard me.
When God opens your eyes to the sin people are doing, especially when these people are in the church, it is very distressing. You want to run away. You want to quit seeing. You want to erase all you have written about sin and ignore sin.
You begin to feel like Jonah must have felt when he ran away from the judgment message given him by God.
I had just finished the exhortation in the last parts of Psalm 119 and was glad to be finished. Though I wanted to delete what I had written and write "happy things", I was persuaded by God to leave what I had written.
I thought, "Oh good ... now I can go to Psalm 120." I eagerly turned to Psalm 120 only to find the expressed grief by the Psalmist in Psalm 120 was the same grief the Psalmist expressed in Psalm 119. It is the same grief I feel today when I see the sin in the congregation and the sin committed by the ministers, and the sin of the unsaved.
God stopped me from deleting everything and running away by getting me to focus on the following instruction: II Tim. 3:14
14 But continue thou in the things which thou hast learned and hast been assured of, knowing of WHOM thou hast learned ...
I thought on those things God taught me to show me what HE wanted me to do on this earth in the ministry offices, apostle/prophet.
Acts 15 ... There was a problem in the church. The apostles came together to discuss what to do. Then James stood up and gave the ruling on the matter. 13 And after they had held their peace, James answered, saying, Men and brethren, hearken unto me:14 Simeon hath declared how God at the first did visit the Gentiles, to take out of them a people for his name. 15 And to this agree the words of the prophets; as it is written, 16 After this I will return, and will build again the tabernacle of David, which is fallen down; and I will build again the ruins thereof, and I will set it up:17 That the residue of men might seek after the Lord, and all the Gentiles, upon whom my name is called, saith the Lord, who doeth all these things. 18 Known unto God are all his works from the beginning of the world. 19 Wherefore my sentence is, that we trouble not them, which from among the Gentiles are turned to God:20 But that we write unto them, that they abstain from pollutions of idols, and from fornication, and from things strangled, and from blood. I saw by this that apostles have to consider cases and doctrines and give "rulings" on such for the church.
I saw Paul rebuke Peter in front of all because Peter did something wrong. Paul didn't try to save face where Peter was concerned. Gal. 2 ... 11 But when Peter was come to Antioch, I withstood him to the face, because he was to be blamed. 12 For before that certain came from James, he did eat with the Gentiles:but when they were come, he withdrew and separated himself, fearing them which were of the circumcision. 13 And the other Jews dissembled likewise with him; insomuch that Barnabas also was carried away with their dissimulation. Not only was Peter wrong in what he did, but Barnabas was affected to wrong doing by what Peter did.
Paul warned the church about Alexander the coppersmith, telling of his wrong doing, naming him by name in front of all. II Tim. 4 ... 14 Alexander the coppersmith did me much evil:the Lord reward him according to his works:15 Of whom be thou ware also; for he hath greatly withstood our words.
After I was shown all these things more than 30 years ago, God said to me over and over ... The time is come that judgment must begin at the house of God ... the time is come that judgment must begin at the house of God... The time is come that judgment must begin at the house of God ...
I Peter 2 ... 17 For the time is come that judgment must begin at the house of God:and if it first begin at us, what shall the end be of them that obey not the gospel of God? 18 And if the righteous scarcely be saved, where shall the ungodly and the sinner appear? 19 Wherefore let them that suffer according to the will of God commit the keeping of their souls to him in well doing, as unto a faithful Creator.
So I did the work for 30+ years because I was persuaded it was God showing me to do this work and showing me by the scriptures how HE wanted me to do the work.
Now God is showing me to continue in that HE has shown me to do.
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I Jn. 2 ... 22 Who is a liar but he that denieth that Jesus is the Christ? He is antichrist, that denieth the Father and the Son. 23 Whosoever denieth the Son, the same hath not the Father:(but) he that acknowledgeth the Son hath the Father also.
24 Let that therefore abide in you, which ye have heard from the beginning. If that which ye have heard from the beginning shall remain in you, ye also shall continue in the Son, and in the Father. 25 And this is the promise that he hath promised us, even eternal life.
26 These things have I written unto you concerning them that seduce you. 27 But the anointing which ye have received of him abideth in you, and ye need not that any man teach you:but as the same anointing teacheth you of all things, and is truth, and is no lie, and even as it hath taught you, ye shall abide in him.
We continue to "abide in HIM" as HE has taught us to do.
There are people and circumstances that would "seduce" us.
Seduce means: attract us to a belief or a course of action that is inadvisable or fool hardy.
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Psalm 120
In my distress I cried unto the Lord,
2 Deliver my soul, O Lord, from lying lips,
and from a deceitful tongue.
We can't deliver ourselves our own way. We must have God's way. A woman troubled me for several years. The troubling became much more difficult toward the end. Finally I was so grieved by her pompous, scornful words that I spent an entire day in bed, crying out for God to deliver me from this woman. She is very religious in her church group but she is not born again of the Spirit of God. Her works were her god. And she loved to tell me of her religious works. It was very hard for me.
Then God awoke me with a message for this woman which I delivered by email. "The time will come when you will see the way you are going is totally wrong and you will be so ashamed." (I enclosed the first 7 or 8 verses of Psalm 37 to show her the right way to go.
Psalm 37 ...
1 Fret not thyself because of evildoers,
neither be thou envious against the workers of iniquity.
2 For they shall soon be cut down like the grass,
and wither as the green herb.
3 Trust in the Lord, and do good;
so shalt thou dwell in the land, and verily thou shalt be fed.
4 Delight thyself also in the Lord;
and he shall give thee the desires of thine heart.
5 Commit thy way unto the Lord;
trust also in him; and he shall bring it to pass.
6 And he shall bring forth thy righteousness as the light,
and thy judgment as the noonday.
7 Rest in the Lord, and wait patiently for him:
fret not thyself because of him who prospereth in his way,
because of the man who bringeth wicked devices to pass.
8 Cease from anger, and forsake wrath:
fret not thyself in any wise to do evil.
9 For evildoers shall be cut off:
but those that wait upon the Lord, they shall inherit the earth.
This woman fretted constantly concerning earthly, secular, things people were doing. She thought herself to be right and far above these people. She was scornful. God told me this woman was "self-righteous" ... and she was angry all the time ... I never saw her when she wasn't angry over someone or something but her anger was not an anger over the evil doing of man. Her anger was because she wanted to exalt man and she couldn't exalt man unless that man was worthy.
After I delivered this message to her, she stopped calling and "visiting" and asking me to go to lunch with her. The message delivered me from her.
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3 What shall be given unto thee? or what shall be done unto thee,
thou false tongue?
Iniquity and unrighteousness calls for judgment. What judgment will come to that person?
1 Timothy 5:24 Some men's sins are open beforehand, going before to judgment; and some men they follow after.
We may not see an immediate judgment (penalty) for their sins. Sometimes their judgment will happen later at the judgment seat of Christ.
2 Corinthians 5:10 For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ; that every one may receive the things done in his body, according to that he hath done, whether it be good or bad.
Make no mistake. Unrepentant sin and sin that is continued in will call for judgment somewhere, at some point. Righteousness requires that sin be set straight one way or another. And God is a very righteous God.
Paul says ...
2 Corinthians 5:11 Knowing therefore the terror of the Lord, we persuade men;
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Psalm 120
5 Woe is me, that I sojourn in Mesech,
that I dwell in the tents of Kedar!
6 My soul hath long dwelt
with him that hateth peace.
Sin of those around you makes you want to run away ...
Jeremiah 9 ... God says ... 1 Oh that my head were waters, and mine eyes a fountain of tears,
that I might weep day and night for the slain of the daughter of my people!
2 Oh that I had in the wilderness a lodging place of wayfaring men;
that I might leave my people, and go from them!
for they be all adulterers, an assembly of treacherous men.
3 And they bend their tongues like their bow for lies:
but they are not valiant for the truth upon the earth;
for they proceed from evil to evil,
and they know not me, saith the Lord.
4 Take ye heed every one of his neighbour,
and trust ye not in any brother:
for every brother will utterly supplant,
and every neighbour will walk with slanders.
5 And they will deceive every one his neighbour,
and will not speak the truth:
they have taught their tongue to speak lies,
and weary themselves to commit iniquity.
6 Thine habitation is in the midst of deceit;
through deceit they refuse to know me, saith the Lord.
7 Therefore thus saith the Lord of hosts,
Behold, I will melt them, and try them;
for how shall I do for the daughter of my people?
8 Their tongue is as an arrow shot out; it speaketh deceit:
one speaketh peaceably to his neighbour with his mouth,
but in heart he layeth his wait.
9 Shall I not visit (judge) them for these things? saith the Lord:
shall not my soul be avenged on such a nation as this?
We want to run away when we see them do and say these things, but we cannot run away for we have to continue the work assigned us by God.
I must keep judging the doctrines, correcting the doctrines, trying to persuade those going in a way opposite to God ... continuing to do the work of the calling of God on my life, apostle/prophet.
After Jesus arose, HE gave gifts to the church ... Eph. 4 ... 11 And he gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers; 12 For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ:13 Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ:14 That we henceforth be no more children, tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, and cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive;
Paul was example of the first apostle given to the church after Jesus arose.