The Will and Perseverance

Psalm 119 is the longest psalm in the Bible. It has 176 verses in total. Within the luxury of space this particular psalm provides, the Psalmist experiences just about every strife, fear, defeat, victory, dedication, resolution, sorrow, elation, and emotion that could be possibly experienced. If this had been a therapy session for the Psalmist, then he would have experienced the ultimate earth shaking and cathartic life change. Which makes it most curious that the very last verse of Psalms 119 reads as follows:

“I have gone astray like a lost sheep; seek thy servant; for I do not forget thy commandments” (Psalm 119:176)

How is this possible? After all the Psalmist has gone through with his life as a child of God, how could he have “gone astray”? He is spiritually (which also means emotionally) lost.

This is the plea of a cognoscente, awake, and aware soul. He hasn’t left God but has somehow wondered. And the fact that he knows this and identifies as a servant of God shows that his current condition is not what he wants. The Psalmist evidently is lost in a way that he cannot help himself and really doesn’t know anything about his status. It’s as if he was in some dark void. He asks God to “seek” after him, and even with the knowledge of God’s commandments he has still 1. Gotten lost and 2. Has no idea how to return.

What this verse demonstrates is that no one is immune to stumbling and falling out of the way. We are all susceptible to sin and its consequences. This can be very difficult for some to comprehend, particularly those who are ardent “once saved always saved” advocates, which tend to believe they have nothing to fret or fear. That’s exactly what the devil wants you to believe.

No one is immune to sin. No one is immune to adversity or the dire straits of this life. Nowhere is it written that we are to rest in your salvation. Oh no, quite the opposite.

 “Wherefore let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall” (1 Corinthians 10:12)

The ability to persevere in our salvation is a gift from God. Let that sink in. Just like our salvation is a gift of God’s grace, so is our ability to stay in it! And here is a reality that must be faced and understood. Not everyone will persevere to the end. Jesus said, “But he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved” (Matthew 24:13).

God has his elect. These are His chosen people.

“My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me: And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand. My Father, which gave them me, is greater than all; and no man is able to pluck them out of my Father's hand.” (John 10:27-29)

But it has to be understood that, “many are called, but few are chosen.” (Matthew 22:14)

"Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven. Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works? And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity." (Matthew 7:21-23)

Not everyone will hear and respond to the Lord’s call. Of the ones who do respond, not all will persevere. Some will fall and never return while others will fall and come back.

Augustine said, “It is He therefore, who makes them to persevere in good, who makes them good. But they who fall and perish have never been in the number of the predestined….It is He Himself, therefore, that gives perseverance, who is able to establish those who stand, so that they may stand fast with the greatest perseverance; or to restore those who have fallen, for “the Lord setteth up those who are broken down” (Psalm145:8)

Remember the sower (Matthew 13). Some seed fell on stony places without much dirt, the seed sprouted and grew but soon perished when the sun came out due to the lack of depth to the dirt it was planted in. Sometimes we think too black and white. We think in terms of saint and sinner as a permanent fixture with no other option. No! There will be some who will confess Christ and will lead the life of a Christian and yet fall away. This is what Jesus is teaching us in the parable. Remember, many are called, but few are chosen. But some fall but only for a season and then return!

“When men by correction either come or return to the way of righteousness, who is it that works salvation in their hearts but he who gives the increase. Whoever it be that plants and waters? When he is pleased to save, there is no free will in man to resist.” (John Calvin/Institutes 3:23:14)

This would seem to be where the Psalmist is at. He has fallen, he knows he has, and he is pleading for God to come save him.

Sometimes we may be a little unsure of our salvation. It’s actually a pretty common feeling and question among the elect.

“But it daily happens that those who seemed to belong to Christ revolt from him and fall away: Nay, in the very passage where he declares that none of those whom the Father hath given to him have perished, he excepts the son of perdition. This, indeed, is true; but it is equally true that such persons never adhered to Christ with that heartfelt confidence by which I say that the certainty of our election is established: “They went out from us,” says John, “but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would, no doubt, have continued with us” (1 John ii. 19). I deny not that they have signs of calling similar to those given to the elect; but I do not at all admit that they have that sure confirmation of election which I desire believers to seek from the word of the gospel. Wherefore, let not examples of this kind move us away from tranquil confidence in the promise of the Lord, when he declares that all by whom he is received in true faith have been given him by the Father, and that none of them,while he is their Guardian and Shepherd, will perish (John iii. 16; vi. 39).” (John Calvin/Institutes 3:24:7)

If we are of God, of the elect, we will show it through the life we live and we will persevere in Christ to the end. We must pray for everyone at all times. We never know at what point in someone’s life they will have their eyes opened to Christ. They may be children, or they may be very old when Christ enters their life. We have no idea of those who have fallen away, who will return. We need to always pray, always preach the word and above all, always be the word.

Bill Hitchcock