Studies In Psalms – Psa 89:14-23 “Blessed is the people that know the joyful sound”

Part 2: “I go to prepare a place for you” Joh 14:2

Last week’s title is in this week’s verses, however, all that led up to verse 15, which states “Blessed is the people that know the joyful sound“, describes in large part God’s faithfulness to His first fruits in maturing them in this age and establishing them so that they can know the joyful sound:

Psa 89:14 Justice and judgment are the habitation of thy throne: mercy and truth shall go before thy face.
Psa 89:15 Blessed is the people that know the joyful sound: they shall walk, O LORD, in the light of thy countenance.
Psa 89:16 In thy name shall they rejoice all the day: and in thy righteousness shall they be exalted.
Psa 89:17 For thou art the glory of their strength: and in thy favour our horn shall be exalted.
Psa 89:18 For the LORD is our defence; and the Holy One of Israel is our king.
Psa 89:19 Then thou spakest in vision to thy holy one, and saidst, I have laid help upon one that is mighty; I have exalted one chosen out of the people.
Psa 89:20 I have found David my servant; with my holy oil have I anointed him:
Psa 89:21 With whom my hand shall be established: mine arm also shall strengthen him.
Psa 89:22 The enemy shall not exact upon him; nor the son of wickedness afflict him.
Psa 89:23 And I will beat down his foes before his face, and plague them that hate him.

Verse 15 goes on to say “they shall walk, O LORD, in the light of thy countenance” which is a type and shadow experience that Israel of old had in advance of Christ’s body the church, which experiences this light inwardly (Rom 8:9, Mat 11:11, Exo 34:35, 2Co 3:10, 2Co 3:18). Israel of old did experience walking in “the light of thy countenance” (Exo 13:21, 1Ti 3:15-16) which is a shadow of this deeper relationship of knowing God and His son Jesus Christ inwardly where the Kingdom of God is (Col 1:27, Luk 17:21)

Joh 14:20 At that day ye shall know that I am in my Father, and ye in me, and I in you.

1Jn 4:17 Herein is our love made perfect, that we may have boldness in the day of judgment (1Pe 4:17): because as he is, so are we in this world.

The certainty of our Father’s love expressed in the workmanship of His hands is what these verses foreshadow (verses 1 to 14 from last week) as they lead up to verse 15.

Eph 2:10 For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.

Psa 89:1 Maschil of Ethan the Ezrahite. I will sing of the mercies of the LORD for ever: with my mouth will I make known thy faithfulness to all generations.
Psa 89:2 For I have said, Mercy shall be built up for ever: thy faithfulness shalt thou establish in the very heavens.
Psa 89:3 I have made a covenant with my chosen, I have sworn unto David my servant,
Psa 89:4 Thy seed will I establish for ever, and build up thy throne to all generations. Selah.
Psa 89:5 And the heavens shall praise thy wonders, O LORD: thy faithfulness also in the congregation of the saints.
Psa 89:6 For who in the heaven can be compared unto the LORD? who among the sons of the mighty can be likened unto the LORD?
Psa 89:7 God is greatly to be feared in the assembly of the saints, and to be had in reverence of all them that are about him.
Psa 89:8 O LORD God of hosts, who is a strong LORD like unto thee? or to thy faithfulness round about thee?
Psa 89:9 Thou rulest the raging of the sea: when the waves thereof arise, thou stillest them.
Psa 89:10 Thou hast broken Rahab in pieces, as one that is slain; thou hast scattered thine enemies with thy strong arm.
Psa 89:11 The heavens are thine, the earth also is thine: as for the world and the fulness thereof, thou hast founded them.
Psa 89:12 The north and the south thou hast created them: Tabor and Hermon shall rejoice in thy name.
Psa 89:13 Thou hast a mighty arm: strong is thy hand, and high is thy right hand.

Joh 14:2-3 is another condensed way of saying the same certainty of our Father’s love, where our Lord reminds us:

Joh 14:2 In my Father’s house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you.
Joh 14:3 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also.

This Psalm truly expresses how God’s desire, his zeal, is to build up the house of God which is the kingdom of God that is prepared of my Father. He demonstrates how this is done with verses such as “thy faithfulness shalt thou establish in the very heavens”. He establishes His faithfulness in His people for this very purpose of bringing “justice and judgment are the habitation of thy throne: [so] mercy and truth shall go before thy face” to all the world. This process of being established of the Lord that we are called unto requires that we endure together as seeing him who is invisible (Heb 11:27), as we learn to bear each other’s burden and remind each other of the absolute hope that we have in the promises which have been given that are exceedingly great and precious, to the end that they can give us hope and vision of things that are not yet seen in their fullness but will one day be seen by each of us face to face.

Psa 69:9 For the zeal of thine house hath eaten me up; and the reproaches of them that reproached thee are fallen upon me.

Joh 4:23 But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeketh such to worship him.

Mat 25:34 Then shall the King say unto them on his right hand, Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world:

Mat 20:23 And he saith unto them, Ye shall drink indeed of my cup, and be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with: but to sit on my right hand, and on my left, is not mine to give, but it shall be given to them for whom it is prepared of my Father.

Oba 1:21 And saviours shall come up on mount Zion to judge the mount of Esau; and the kingdom shall be the LORD’S.

2Pe 1:4 Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises: that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.

1Co 13:12 For now we see through a glass, darkly [the glass being the corruption that is in the world through lust (1Jn 2:16)]; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known.

The positive meaning of glass is found in this verse:

Rev 15:2 And I saw as it were a sea of glass mingled with fire: and them that had gotten the victory over the beast, and over his image, and over his mark, and over the number of his name, stand on the sea of glass, having the harps of God.

To “know the joyful sound” is to hear the voice of the true Shepherd as we are led of the spirit which guides and strengthens us to be able (Rom 8:14) to love our enemies (Rom 5:5) whose deceived state is used to try and test the heart of the elect more and more as we near the end of this age (2Ti 3:13-14), just as it was with Christ (1Jn 4:17).

I’ve underlined some of the ways that evil men will be used to try us, and there is always inward application to God’s word:

Luk 6:27 But I say unto you which hear, Love your enemies, do good to them which hate you,
Luk 6:28 Bless them that curse you, and pray for them which despitefully use you.
Luk 6:29 And unto him that smiteth thee on the one cheek offer also the other; and him that taketh away thy cloke forbid not to take thy coat also.
Luk 6:30 Give to every man that asketh of thee; and of him that taketh away thy goods ask them not again.
Luk 6:31 And as ye would that men should do to you, do ye also to them likewise.
Luk 6:32 For if ye love them which love you, what thank have ye? for sinners also love those that love them.
Luk 6:33 And if ye do good to them which do good to you, what thank have ye? for sinners also do even the same.

Joh 10:27 My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me:
Joh 10:28 And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand.

As God’s elect we are strongly tested within ourselves at first to forgive ourselves for all the shameful things we’ve done in ignorance against Christ when our “former conversation” has us being an enemy of the cross. In order to understand how great God’s mercy is and how we can extend it to others genuinely from a pure heart, we must come to fully understand how indebted we are to God which is what our Father is in the process of doing in the lives of His sons today, even allowing us to completely fall (seven times, and then receive and understand His goodness that is being extended to our carnal hearts that are being moved and softened to ask forgiveness.

Php 3:18 (For many walk, of whom I have told you often, and now tell you even weeping, that they are the enemies of the cross of Christ:

Pro 24:16 For a just man falleth seven times, and riseth up again: but the wicked shall fall into mischief.

Mat 18:27 Then the lord of that servant was moved with compassion, and loosed him, and forgave him the debt.

Mat 18:32 Then his lord, after that he had called him, said unto him, O thou wicked servant, I forgave thee all that debt, because thou desiredst me:
Mat 18:33 Shouldest not thou also have had compassion on thy fellowservant, even as I had pity on thee?

Rom 2:4 Or despisest thou the riches of his goodness and forbearance and longsuffering; not knowing that the goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance?

When we don’t extend the same mercy to others that God has extended to us, we are in effect despising the riches of his goodness, and one of the great historical types and shadows of this spirit in God’s word is with Jonah the prophet:

Jon 4:6 And the LORD God prepared a gourd, and made it to come up over Jonah, that it might be a shadow over his head, to deliver him from his grief. So Jonah was exceeding glad of the gourd.
Jon 4:7 But God prepared a worm when the morning rose the next day, and it smote the gourd that it withered.
Jon 4:8 And it came to pass, when the sun did arise, that God prepared a vehement east wind; and the sun beat upon the head of Jonah, that he fainted, and wished in himself to die, and said, It is better for me to die than to live.
Jon 4:9 And God said to Jonah, Doest thou well to be angry for the gourd? And he said, I do well to be angry, even unto death.
Jon 4:10 Then said the LORD, Thou hast had pity on the gourd, for the which thou hast not laboured, neither madest it grow; which came up in a night, and perished in a night:

This misconstrued spirit of not understanding that God wants all the world to be encouraged and saved, as Moses declared in type and shadow is also explained in another light with the story of those who come in at the eleventh hour where we see ourselves accepting God’s forgiveness toward our enormous debt but we are yet bitter toward our enemies or those who we feel are indebted to us. In this type and shadow example, the Ninevites who have not had to bear “the burden and heat of the day” as far as Jonah was concerned, are a people to whom he is not ready to extend mercy.

Num 11:29 And Moses said unto him, Enviest thou for my sake? would God that all the LORD’S people were prophets, and that the LORD would put his spirit upon them!

Act 2:17 And it shall come to pass in the last days, saith God, I will pour out of my Spirit upon all flesh: and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams:

Mat 20:12 Saying, These last have wrought but one hour, and thou hast made them equal unto us, which have borne the burden and heat of the day.

Mat 18:32 Then his lord, after that he had called him, said unto him, O thou wicked servant, I forgave thee all that debt, because thou desiredst me:
Mat 18:33 Shouldest not thou also have had compassion on thy fellowservant, even as I had pity on thee?

As God’s keepers of the vineyard (Luk 19:13), the proper spirit is to rejoice in the harvest that is coming in right now ‘is, was and will be’ (Joh 4:35) and to be thankful that we have been instrumental in helping lay a foundation for that which is yet to come as well, all by the grace and faith of Christ. God is bringing us to appreciate the enormity of Christ’s sacrifice and how it is connected to our fellowship (1Co 10:16 “The burden and heat of the day” as we learn to bear each other’s burdens and so fulfill the law of Christ (Gal 6:2). We do need to ask God to help us keep out or burn out any resentment or spirit of bitterness that we have toward anyone, which is what is required to be His sons in this age (Heb 12:15).

Mat 5:43 Ye have heard that it hath been said, Thou shalt love thy neighbour, and hate thine enemy.
Mat 5:44 But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you;
Mat 5:45 That ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven: for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust.
Mat 5:46 For if ye love them which love you, what reward have ye? do not even the publicans the same?
Mat 5:47 And if ye salute your brethren only, what do ye more than others? do not even the publicans so?
Mat 5:48 Be ye therefore perfect^G5046, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect.

G5046  teleios  tel’-i-os

From G5056; complete (in various applications of labor, growth, mental and moral character, etc.); neuter (as noun, with G3588) completeness: – of full age, man, perfect.

Rom 10:4 For Christ is the end^G5056 of the law for righteousness to every one that believeth.

G5056  telos  tel’-os

From a primary word τέλλω tellō (to set out for a definite point or goal); properly the point aimed at as a limit, that is, (by implication) the conclusion of an act or state (termination [literally, figuratively or indefinitely], result [immediate, ultimate or prophetic], purpose); specifically an impost or levy (as paid): – + continual, custom, end (-ing), finally, uttermost. Compare G5411.

Our understanding and gratitude and rejoicing are all getting deeper because we know that it is His stripes and the stripes placed on the church, His body, that are going to and are bringing healing to all the nations within, and in due time to all the world (Col 1:24, Luk 17:15). The gourd destroyed by the worm in the book of Jonah is a shadow of the Lord taking away our creature comforts that hinder us so He can provide the spiritual comfort that these physical things only foreshadow. God provides for all our needs but His primary goal is to bring us to understand the everlasting comfort that comes in knowing and believing in His promises which are filled with hope that save us.

Luk 19:13 And he called his ten servants, and delivered them ten pounds, and said unto them, Occupy till I come. (Mat 24:13)

2Pe 1:4 Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises: that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.

Rom 8:24 For we are saved by hope: but hope that is seen is not hope: for what a man seeth, why doth he yet hope for?

The end result of hearing and receiving “the joyful sound” of His voice is believing and doing the work of God which is connected, part and parcel, with our being able to pray for our enemies and love those whom God uses to falsely accuse our Lord and His Christ (of which we are all guilty at first). Being a doer of the word to this degree is the evidence that we are His sons being granted to love not our own life unto death while we simultaneously love those who God uses to try us in this age. If our life is still something we’ve not been given to lay down completely, then the love of God within us will wax cold in the heat of the battle separating the court from the temple.

Joh 6:29 Jesus answered and said unto them, This is the work of God, that ye believe on him whom he hath sent.

Rom 2:13 (For not the hearers of the law are just before God, but the doers of the law shall be justified.

Act 4:27 For of a truth against thy holy child Jesus, whom thou hast anointed, both Herod, and Pontius Pilate, with the Gentiles, and the people of Israel, were gathered together,

Mat 5:11 Blessed are ye, when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake.
Mat 5:12 Rejoice, and be exceeding glad: for great is your reward in heaven: for so persecuted they the prophets which were before you.

Mat 24:12 And because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold.

Mat 22:14 For many are called, but few are chosen.

If, on the other hand, we are given to lay down our life and love our enemies in this age (and love not our own life which in the flesh is just naturally enmity against the spirit), that love will not just manifest in our turning the other cheek, but we will also extend our life out to those who hate us as we have opportunity. Once again God will reassure us by those actions that Christ is working in us both to will and to do of His good pleasure, demonstrating that we are not of this warring world that exacts vengeance on its enemy and does not obey the commandments of God while resisting evil.

Mat 5:38 Ye have heard that it hath been said, An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth:
Mat 5:39 But I say unto you, That ye resist not evil: but whosoever shall smite thee on thy right cheek, turn to him the other also.
Mat 5:40 And if any man will sue thee at the law, and take away thy coat, let him have thy cloke also.

Gal 6:10 As we have therefore opportunity, let us do good unto all men, especially unto them who are of the household of faith.

Mat 5:41 And whosoever shall compel thee to go a mile, go with him twain.

Luk 6:29 And unto him that smiteth thee on the one cheek offer also the other; and him that taketh away thy cloke forbid not to take thy coat also.

Tit 3:8 This is a faithful saying, and these things I will that thou affirm constantly, that they which have believed in God might be careful to maintain good works. These things are good and profitable unto men.

1Ti 6:19 Laying up in store for themselves a good foundation against the time to come, that they may lay hold on eternal life.

Php 2:13 For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure.

It may appear that people have a form of “peace, peace” [false witness of Christ] in their hearts, but God’s elect know better that ‘there is none good’ and that the heart of man is deceitful and desperately wicked above all things, and that given the right circumstances and without the help of the holy spirit, we can find ourselves denying Christ just as Peter did, with as much bravissimo as the flesh can muster (Mat 26:33) . We are judged in advance of the world so that we can help the world navigate out of that place of darkness that goes in a self-righteous direction that seems right unto itself, wanting to exact our own vengeance and make things right by our own might and hand. That carnal gentile place is where we all start without Christ as our saviour and shepherd to guide us in the living way (Rom 12:19, Pro 14:12).

Because we experience God’s judgment and justice in this age, we can come to know how indebted we are to our Lord, to be filled with a desire to only want to be His servants, which is another way of saying we have been given to hear “the joyful sound” of the true gospel that is full of mercy, and will conclude in the redemption of all mankind (1Co 15:22).

Psa 89:14 Justice and judgment are the habitation of thy throne: mercy and truth shall go before thy face.
Psa 89:15 Blessed is the people that know the joyful sound: they shall walk, O LORD, in the light of thy countenance.
Psa 89:16 In thy name shall they rejoice all the day: and in thy righteousness shall they be exalted.

We are God’s habitation or inheritance (Rom 8:17, Gal 3:29) where we find ourselves being justly judged of our King (1Pe 4:17), and being given to bind mercy and truth about our neck as we grow in grace and knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ (Pro 3:3, 2Pe 3:18).

To live and move and have our being in Christ is just the beginning, and it takes a miracle to be convinced that not only do we live and move and have our being within Him (Act 17:28), but ultimately this experience of living and moving in the flesh is leading to that time when the indwelling of the holy spirit is going to give us the power to be more than conquerors through Christ. Moses’ countenance, his skin shone, is a type and shadow of having the holy spirit within us (Exo 34:35, Rom 8:9, Rom 8:37). People overcame many physical obstacles in the old covenant in the flesh, but no one has ever overcome one single sin without Christ giving us the victory to do so (Joh 8:36, 2Co 3:18). Neither has anyone been able to grow in the grace and knowledge of Christ that brings us to be mature sons in him, except by being given the holy spirit of God that guides us into all truth and makes a way where there appears to be none in the flesh. That way is the narrow way that is found in our hope of glory Jesus Christ (Joh 16:13, Isa 43:16, Col 1:27).

“Justice and judgment” will go before His face as God grants His elect to be those who are first blessed to see Him face to face (1Co 13:12) so that we may be a city set on a hill for the rest of world to come to understand as being His face (Oba 1:21).

The same thing which we are hated by all the world for keeping, is the very thing that brings us to rejoice in the Lord all the day, and again I say rejoice (Mar 13:13, Php 4:4).

We thank God and rejoice in His truth of which we are growing in grace and knowledge, but we are also “exalted” by God when He gives us the ability to be more than conquerors through our Lord who is exalted within His people through a process of “justice and judgment” that was predestined for “thy people” from the foundation of the world.

Rom 8:30 Moreover whom he did predestinate, them he also called: and whom he called, them he also justified: and whom he justified, them he also glorified.
Rom 8:31 What shall we then say to these things? If God be for us, who can be against us?

Psa 89:17 For thou art the glory of their strength: and in thy favour our horn shall be exalted.
Psa 89:18 For the LORD is our defence; and the Holy One of Israel is our king.

Verse 17 confirms that our going from glory to glory (2Co 3:18) is only possible via Christ through whom we can endure all things.

It takes God’s favor or grace for our horn (power – strength) to be exalted (Php 4:13).

It also takes the Lord staying the hand of Satan in order for verse 17 to be fulfilled, and in that way God is our defense, protecting us as our King against evil and keeping us in this relationship of holiness through “the Holy One of Israel”(1Pe 1:16, 1Jn 4:17).

Because we are in a day of judgment that is upon us, we can be made holy and have a boldness that allows us to continue to come before the throne of His grace to “obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need” (Heb 4:16).

Psa 89:19 Then thou spakest in vision to thy holy one, and saidst, I have laid help upon one that is mighty; I have exalted one chosen out of the people.

The vision or dream is one, and God has placed this vision upon our hearts, the weak of the world, who understand they are mighty in the Lord (Php 4:13). We are exalted because God has exalted us for the purpose that the world will learn that God does what he wants to do with the sons of men to bring to nought things that are via the things which are despised (1Co 1:28, Dan 4:32).

Psa 89:20 I have found David my servant; with my holy oil have I anointed him:
Psa 89:21 With whom my hand shall be established: mine arm also shall strengthen him.

David, in type and shadow, is the accepted and anointed Christ (God’s elect). He (David) was anointed with the “holy oil” which represents a relationship with God via the inspiration of God through this anointing (Joh 16:3). The spirit moved David and the men of old just like oil on water moves about and stays atop the water. God’s elect today have this same anointing, with the difference being that we are being bruised and filling up what is behind of the afflictions of Christ (Col 1:24), which is what is required for his oil to be emulsified and ministered within us as it was upon the Samaritan who was bruised and beaten (again type and shadow), which beating represents God’s elect being rejected by the world but received of God into a place of comfort (the inn or Abraham’s/Christ’s bosom where all that we need will be provided (Php 4:19).

If God be for us, who can be against us (Rom 8:31) is what comes to mind when I read that “mine arm shall strengthen him” to demonstrate that his power, shall be established through His people.

When our Lord tells us that He has “found David”, the underlying idea is what ‘shall be established’. A quick look at the Strong’s number for that word translated as ‘found’ in verse 20 shows us that this Strong’s number H4672 precedes numbers H4673 through 4680:

found^H4672:   mâtsâ’ maw-tsaw’   A primitive root;

properly to come forth to, that is, appear or exist; transitively to attain, that is, find or acquire; figuratively to occur, meet or be present: – + be able, befall, being, catch, X certainly (cause to) come (on, to, to hand), deliver, be enough (cause to) find (-ing, occasion, out), get (hold upon), X have (here), be here, hit, be left, light (up-) on, meet (with), X occasion serve, (be) present, ready, speed, suffice, take hold on.

H4673   matstsâb   mats-tsawb’   From H5324; a fixed spot; figuratively an office, a military post: – garrison, station, place where … stood.

H4674   mûtstsâb   moots-tsawb’   From H5324;
a station, that is, military post: – mount.

H4675 matstsâbâh mitstsâbâh mats-tsaw-baw’, mits-tsaw-baw’
Feminine of H4673; a military guard: – army, garrison

H4676   matstsêbâh   mats-tsay-baw’
Feminine (causative) participle of H5324; something stationed, that is, a column or (memorial stone); by analogy an idol: – garrison, (standing) image, pillar

H4678 matstsebeth   mats-tseh’-beth
From H5324; something stationary, that is, a monumental stone; also the stock of a tree: – pillar, substance.

H4679   metsad metsâd metsâdâh   mets-ad’, mets-awd’, mets-aw-daw’
From H6679; a fastness (as a covert of ambush): – castle, fort, (strong) hold, munition.

H4680   mâtsâh   maw-tsaw’
A primitive root; to suck out; by implication to drain, to squeeze out: – suck, wring (out).

God allows a harlot to ride a beast in our heavens for so many years (Rev 17:3, Rev 17:16) until the time comes that the contrast is made to demonstrate to us what true holiness is, and it can only be when his hand is “established” in our lives (always through that wringing out or just judgment), and his arm strengthens us to endure all things that we can truly live with the confidence of the next verse.

1Pe 5:10 But the God of all grace, who hath called us unto his eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after that ye have suffered a while, make you perfect, stablish, strengthen, settle you.

Heb 12:6 For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth.

1Th 3:13 To the end he may stablish your hearts unblameable in holiness before God, even our Father, at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ with all his saints.

1Pe 5:11 To him be glory and dominion for ever and ever. Amen.

Psa 89:22 The enemy shall not exact upon him; nor the son of wickedness afflict him.

The day comes when the enemy no longer has to “exact upon him” or “afflict him” as prophesied in this verse in revelation and confirmed in Ephesians (Eph 2:8).

Rev 9:10 And they had tails like unto scorpions, and there were stings in their tails: and their power was to hurt men five months.

That day does not come to its fullness until the sins of the Amorites are fulfilled (Gen 15:16) and I receive a sufficient amount of stripes by which I will learn obedience by those things which I suffer for, just as our Lord did (Heb 5:8). Christ did not suffer for foolishness sake, but we as the second loaf of the wave offering or the second dove that is set free into the field will suffer both for righteousness sake and for foolishness sake which is symbolized by the bread being baked with leaven (sin in the lump that needs to be deactivated through fiery trials 1Pe 4:12) as we grow and mature in our desire to “keep the feast, not with old leaven” (Lev 14:7).

Lev 23:17 Ye shall bring out of your habitations two wave loaves of two tenth deals: they shall be of fine flour; they shall be baken with leaven; they are the firstfruits unto the LORD.

1Co 5:8 Therefore let us keep the feast, not with old leaven, neither with the leaven of malice and wickedness; but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.

Psa 89:23 And I will beat down his foes before his face, and plague them that hate him.

I’ll just state the obvious now for God’s people, because I know that we know that God is primarily beating down the foes within us right before our face, and plaguing those parts of us within which are not yet coming down to the feast so to speak (Zec 14:17).

So there is an is, was and will be component to Isa 3:1 where God withholds from us the rain, and if Christ is in us as our hope of glory, we will get very thirsty like the woman at the well and start asking for the living waters through Christ (Joh 4:10).

Next week we will look at the next series of verses which demonstrate God’s faithfulness to His people to create a hunger and thirst in our life to want to keep all His statutes and to be pleasing in His site always (Psa 119:2, Psa 19:14)