1 I will praise You with my whole heart; before the gods I will sing praises to You. 2 I will worship toward Your holy temple, and praise Your name for Your lovingkindness and Your truth; for You have magnified Your word above all Your name. 

—Psalm 138:1-2

ARE THERE things that we see creeping into our lives and churches that was also seen in Old Testament times? Verse one implies the influence of pagan deities way back then, and in the New Testament, in Matthew, regarding the last days, we read: “Then many false prophets will rise up and deceive many. And because lawlessness will abound, the love of many will grow cold. But he who endures to the end shall be saved. And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in all the world as a witness to all nations, and then the end will come” (Matthew 24:11-14).

Are false witnesses rising up today? Is lawlessness abounding even now? Is the natural love of many growing into selfish, cold indifference to others? Are those who endure to the end, no matter what conditions they go through, still going to be saved?

The information within the Bible is amazing! No other work comes even close to the living Word of God laid out within its pages. What was prophesied so long ago regarding God’s plan for this world has been taking place exactly as He warned and promised.

As we move forward through this psalm, let’s allow the words of David in these verses to guide us and give us our marching orders for living in these last days. What do we know about those prophesied “end times”? We were warned that false men would rise up, but David says that, no matter what, he will praise the Lord with his whole heart right in front of the pagan deities! That gives us a clue as to what we should do as we encounter false prophets on the rise. What is it? Praise the Lord with our whole heart! And David would continue to do that right in front of the false teachers and pagan religions with boldness, publicly!

There’s a beautiful truth in verse two that we need to remember: “You have magnified Your word above all Your name” (v. 2b). It’s important to recall that a per- son’s name is directly associated with their word. If one doesn’t keep one’s word, or if his words aren’t true, his name and reputation is tarnished. What does the name of the Lord reflect? Let’s take a look at some of the most beautiful verses in the Bible: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made. In Him was life, and the life was the light of men. And the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not compre- hend it” (John 1:1-4).

There is so much contained within those verses! To begin with, Jesus is the Word, and He is God. Why is this especially important in these days in which we live? Because there is a growing movement that teaches and believes that as long as you “accept Jesus as Savior,” you can pick and choose what other parts of the Bible you want to believe or adhere to, implying that everything else is subjective. Some reject the importance of prophecy in the Scriptures, and some deny any need for a “changed life” after being saved, in essence saying that the Bible’s moral commands are subservient to cultural thinking and beliefs. Doesn’t this take away from the verses we just read about the Word (Jesus) being God himself, and with God, revealing the truth of the Trinity: Father, Son, Holy Spirit—three in one? We must reject any teaching that denies the inspiration and authority of all of God’s Word! He is all God and the only God. Be careful what you read and hear! There is only one truth, and the enemy hates it.

Excerpt from “Beside Still Waters” now available on Amazon.

BARRY STAGNER