Await and Arise: Why it's Important...

**Angela** (0:01)
Welcome to another episode of Await & Arise.

**Angela** (0:04)
Join me as we dive into scripture and just pause in awe of our good God, and as we give our souls just a moment of rest and refresh. Today, I wanted to come to you with something a little different. We are in the Psalms 7, 17, 54, 120, and 123 I can't believe I remembered all of those.
And even in order, that was pretty good.
And in those, it talks about vindication. So David's kind of on the run, and not kind of, he's on the run. And he's being pursued by people that he wants trusted. And he is crying out to God for vindication. And it's vindication that he won't get from Saul. I mean, even in one of the sections, it's the one after his time in the cave, and Saul comes in the cave, and he thinks that he's safe in the cave, so much so that he uses the restroom in the cave, and David and his men are hiding in the back, and David comes up and cuts his cloak quietly, and then comes out after Saul leaves and says, my Lord, my Lord, I had the opportunity to kill you, and I didn't, why do you seek after me? Why don't you believe me? I don't want to harm you. And he's seeking vindication. And Saul never gives it. Saul kind of, oh, I'm so sorry, but then, let's kill him, you know.
So it's this back and forth for David. And so that's what we're studying this week. And it looks at peace and it looks at being in times of pride and rightness and not looking for God's righteousness, right? And so David is constantly seeking after God saying, look, here are my iniquities. I have put them at your feet. Please, Lord, vindicate me. And we know the story. We know that David ends up on the throne and that God does vindicate him, but he still walks through many hardships in his life. So I wanted to share with you or not. I've been thrown into this space of spiritually where I am digging. I'm just digging. I want to dive deeper into what it is I believe. And I have a pretty firm foundation of what I believe. I was raised in the church. I've studied the word for a long time. I've taught the word for 10 years. I have a strong understanding of my belief. But sometimes I come up against others who believe differently. And in this time, there's been some things that I want to re-navigate or re-establish.
And so I am back in the word again with more specific questions, digging more for God's will, for God's understanding to understand my faith and to seek after him. So first off, I want to say it is so important that you do this. It is so important, not that you question faith or question God, but that you take it to the word and you make sure that what you believe is tested by scripture and true to scripture. So John 4.1 says, Beloved, believe not every spirit, but test the spirits, whether they are of God, because many prophets are gone out into the world. It's easy for us to listen to things and to get persuaded into things, and to start going, that sounds good, that sounds right, and not to take it back to the word. So what I'm telling you is, please take it back to the word. It is so important that as we grow in our faith, we are constantly in the word, making sure it lines up with the word. And then seek out godly counsel and advice and discussion. And you might not always agree with those discussions. That's okay, take it back to the word, take it back to the Lord. I have been so blessed to be in these conversations recently and to be reading some books that not only make me think more critically and to dig, but they also frustrate me.
Because some of the things that they say, I don't think I agree with. And so I want to take it back to the word. I want to grow in my knowledge and my understanding so that I might look more like Christ and less like me.
And so in that, as I was studying this vindication scriptures in Psalms, it really hit me that David is saying in Psalm 123, too long have I had my dwelling place among those who hate peace. I am for peace, but when I speak, they are for war. If we are seeking in conversations, in our dialogue, in our understanding to be right and to make sure that everyone around us knows that we are right, we will not be doing any good for the glory of the kingdom. We will not be doing any good for God and His purpose. Instead, we should be seeking understanding. We should be seeking God and peace with our brothers and sisters and dialogue that cares for one another, dialogue that's done in love so that we might have understanding from both sides. It doesn't mean that we give up truth. It doesn't mean that we tolerate untruths. It means that we are steady in the truth of the Bible, but that we are loving in our actions and our way of dispersing it and understanding others through it. So the more that we gain understanding, the more we should be in the word, and the more we should be seeking not to be right, but to be loving and understanding, and then to be truthful. So I hope that this week, instead of being vindicated in your rightness, that you will come back to the word, that you will study it, that you will ask questions, the hard questions of God, and that you will have discussions with others, where you can, as we say in Community Bible Study, agree to disagree agreeably.