Lara Gboyega Adedeji: Good day everyone and welcome to Bible in Focus. We are so excited to have you join us. Again, we will be focusing on the Word of God. And we'll be focusing on Psalm chapter 94 as he takes us through it.
Gboyega Adedeji: Alright, Psalm 94, from verse 12-14, see what the Bible says:
Blessed is the man whom You instruct, O Lord,
And teach out of Your law,
13 That You may give him rest from the days of adversity,
Until the pit is dug for the wicked.
14 For the Lord will not cast off His people,
Nor will He forsake His inheritance.
Lara Gboyega Adedeji: Psalm 94, from verse 12 let us into the promise of God for a blessing. And it said the blessing is conditional. It says: “Blessed is the man whom you instruct, O Lord…” And today, we are going to focus on that instruction. Why is it important for us as children of God, as believers, as those that the Lord has called separate and called out of the world to receive the instruction of God? Sometimes when we receive the instructions of God, it looks as if the instruction of God is hard, it is burdensome, is something that we find it difficult to swallow; just like what happened to the disciples of Jesus. When Jesus was speaking to them about His death about His burial, it was too difficult for them to digest, and they left Him. And Jesus was preparing them for the days of adversity, just like it is scripted in this Scripture.
In Psalm 94:13, it says: “that you might give him rest from the days of adversity…” meaning that once the Lord instruct us, once we release ourselves to the instruction and the teachings of God, we will be saved from the days of adversity. And that's the same thing that we must receive in this season, that every instruction of God, every teaching of God, every guidance of God is to save us from the days of adversity, so that instead of having trouble, we will have rest.
Gboyega Adedeji: You know, reading those few verses, I saw two things, actually, from verse 12 to verse 14. Looking at that verse 14 specifically, the Bible says: “For the Lord will not cast off His people no will He forsake His inheritance.” And I begin to see that as the basis for every other thing, because the Lord is too faithful to cast off His own inheritance, his own people, therefore, He will instruct them ahead of time. And you should look at it. The instruction that that God gives to His people comes before adversity. We love to get instructed; we love to seek instruction in adversity. And you know it has been said that the best time to prepare for war is in a time of peace.
So, in the time when things are rosy, things are blissful, peaceful; that is the time that God sees a need to instruct His own people, lest they enter into adversity unprepared, shocked. God doesn't want that. He wants His people to enter into adversity. That's why He said “when you pass through the fire, I will be with you. When you pass through the water, I will not allow it to overwhelm you.” God does not exempt His people from adversity. Bible says “Jesus although a So, He had to learn obedience from the things He suffered.” So, if God didn’t spare Jesus His ow Son from suffering, God would not spare us, yet, He wouldn't leave us alone to suffer the adversity. He will prepare us ahead of time, He will give us warning.
That's why sometimes some of us believers will dream, dreams that warns us about things that may happen if you don't do certain things. And so, we are guided as believers, by the things that God instruct us with. Do you remember that place in Matthew, about Joseph, Mary, and the child that was to be born. In the dream the angel appeared to the father Joseph and said, “Take your wife and get out of this place because his life is in danger.” When he got to the place the angel came again and said, “go back the person that wanted the child dead, God has sorted them out.” So, instruction was coming to preserve the child that was born from the days of adversity. Before adversity came, the instruction came so they had rest. When everyone is running helter-skelter, God’s people ideally are expected to be in rest. Not because they are not in the midst of what looks like adversity, but because God has shielded them, God has protected them and preserved them aforetime.
Lara Gboyega Adedeji: So, instructions are what protects the believers.
Gboyega Adedeji: Yes!
Lara Gboyega Adedeji: Saints of God, children of God are in the world, even though they are not of the world. And that's why you must not take your instructions from the world, but from God from the Word of God so that when the whole earth, the whole world is in turmoil and adversity, you can enjoy the rest of God that has come to you on the platform of His instructions, and His teachings. And that is why we should always seek out the instructions of God, we should be people given to the instructions of God, the teachings of God, so that we would have a rest in the days of adversity. So, the children of God will not be cast off. It says: the Lord will not cast off His people, nor will He forsake His inheritance because He will teach them, He will instruct them.”
The reason why He will not forsake is not because we are now trying to find God in the midst of adversity, they had found God ahead of time and they are now enjoying rest in the midst of adversity.
Gboyega Adedeji: It's like you're doing investment. And then you're putting in all your efforts, all your resources into an investment. Now the goal is not for now. The goal is the future. You want to have rest at your retirement, you want to be able to draw from it. That's how our relationship with God is. Every time we have a relationship with God, we are investing our time in prayer in the study of the Word, we're investing our time in worship, in praising God, the time we should rest is the time of adversity. Because the instruction of God will come to us, not because we are going to be a people who are a bit gullible or ignorant or foolish. We are going to be wise. Because how do you know a foolish and a wise person is in how they are able to prepare for the future.
Lara Gboyega Adedeji: Yeah!
Gboyega Adedeji: Do you still remember the ten virgins? Five were foolish, and the other ones they were wise. So, what was their difference? One set, one group prepared for an unforeseen circumstance. The other group did not.
Lara Gboyega Adedeji: Yeah.
Gboyega Adedeji: And so, what separate us on this earth as a people of God from those who are not God’s people is that why others are living their lives gullibly, and sheepishly, we are living our lives guided, we're living our lives preparing for the days of adversity. There's a Scripture that I would like to actually read before we conclude this matter, In Isaiah chapter 60:1-3, the Bible says:
Arise, shine;
The question is, when are you supposed to shine? Why would you have to shine if there is light? It means at that time there is darkness. Look at it, lest you also become like every other person in darkness who don't have any means to shine, “arise and shine for your own light has come. How it come? And the glory of the LORD is risen upon you. You are God's people, God’s inheritance.
For your light has come!
And the glory of the Lord is risen upon you.
Lara Gboyega Adedeji: You have gotten light via instruction and teaching from God.
Gboyega Adedeji: It says
2 For behold, the darkness shall cover the earth,
And deep darkness the people;
But the Lord will arise over you,
And His glory will be seen upon you.
3 The Gentiles shall come to your light,
And kings to the brightness of your rising.
God has separated you from the rest. You have been warned and have been guided.
Lara Gboyega Adedeji: Just like the men of Issachar, they understood times and seasons. When people are in the midst of adversity, they want to follow somebody that knows how to get out or the way.
Gboyega Adedeji: You know the way because have also followed God all the while.
Lara Gboyega Adedeji: Yes! And He has given you a way of rest in the midst of the adversity. And people want to enjoy that rest, so, they will follow you. Wow. It's such a beautiful Scripture that we have focused on today. The need for us to rely on the instructions and the teachings of God for light, the need for us as children of God to be those people that the whole world is focusing on because we are resting in the midst of adversity, and we are not cast off because we are shining forth as light. Wonderful.
Gboyega Adedeji: Yes. So, it's important we understand this. Before we start saying “God didn't you see this problem coming? This economic meltdown coming, didn’t you see it coming? You didn't want us? How come you didn't warn us?” Yet the Bible says God will never leave His people without a witness. Every generation is always left with a witness. Somebody is speaking for God. Are you listening? Are you taking heed to the instruction? I can remember the days of Joseph. There was going to be farming upon the whole earth. But the king was instructed, he didn't understand it until Joseph interpreted the dream. That was an instruction. When the farming came upon the whole earth, the people that were instructed by God, they were actually in plenty.
Our lives can really be better than the rest of the people around us. But we must be distinguished by our obedience, our followership of God’s instruction. God won’t force it down our throats, He will instruct us. I'm sure we understand that the Holy Spirit is a gentle Spirit. When He is teaching us, when He is instructing us, it will come in a gentle and in a quiet manner. Are we going to receive it or deflect it. “This is not for me, it's for somebody else.” And yet when the adversity comes, somebody else is protected and preserved.
Lara Gboyega Adedeji: Just like what happened in Goshen, during the plagues of Egypt. It was an instruction that preserved the firstborn of the children of Israel; “kill a lamb, put the blood on your signposts.” That instruction was what preserved them in the midst of adversity. So, you are just one instruction away from your own rest. Receive the instruction of God, receive the teaching of God and follow it, obey it and receive your own rest, in the name of Jesus.
It is such a beautiful time that we have come your way today with the word of God. I believe you have been blessed, you have been enlightened by this word, and just don't be a hearer of it, be a doer of it so that the blessing can rest upon you and your household. So, till we come your way again on another episode of Bible in Focus, we love you to like, comment, and subscribe to this channel so that new episodes can come to your notification. Thank you very much for the gift of your time. God bless you.
