PRÉCIS ON LAST MINUTE HOUSEKEEPING: EXAMINE ME THOROUGHLY LORD, TO MAKE ME READY FOR LAST THINGS

SCRIPTURE. “Who can discern his lapses and errors? Clear me from hidden [and unconscious] faults. Keep back Your servant also from presumptuous sins; let them not have dominion over me! Then shall I be blameless, and I shall be innocent and clear of great transgression. Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in Your sight, O Lord, my [firm, impenetrable] Rock and my Redeemer.” – PSALM 19:12-14, AMPC

KEY TERM: “KEEP (ME) BACK!” ‘Chasak’ [חֲשֹׂ֬ךְ]: “‘To restrain, withhold or refrain [from];’ to refuse, spare, or preserve; to hinder, hold back, punish [if necessary]; it is often used in contexts where restraint or sparing is involved, whether it be withholding physical items, refraining from actions, or sparing individuals from harm or judgment. The term conveys a sense of intentional restraint or deliberate decision not to act or give.”

QUOTATION. “Guidance, like all God’s acts of blessing under the Covenant of Grace, is a sovereign act. Not merely does God will to guide us in the sense of showing us His Way, that we may tread it; He wills also to guide us in the more fundamental sense of ensuring that, whatever happens, whatever mistakes we may make, we shall come safely Home. Slippings and strayings there will be, no doubt, but the Everlasting Arms are beneath us; we shall be caught, rescued, restored. This is God’s Promise; this is how good He is.” ― J.I. PACKER, Knowing God, 1973; edited

COMMENTARY. “‘God’s word warns the Wicked not to go on in his wicked way, and warns the Righteous not to turn from his good way.’ There is a reward, not only after keeping, but in keeping God’s Commandments. Religion makes our comforts sweet, and our crosses easy, life truly valuable, and death itself truly desirable.

David not only desired to be pardoned and cleansed from the sins he had discovered and confessed, but from those he had forgotten or overlooked. All discoveries of sin made to us by The Law, should drive us to the Throne of Grace, there to pray. His dependence was the same with that of every Christian who says,

‘Surely in the Lord Jesus have I righteousness and strength.’ No prayer can be acceptable before God which is not offered in the strength of our Redeemer or Divine Kinsman, through Him who took our nature upon Him, that He might redeem us unto God, and restore the long-lost inheritance. May our hearts be much affected with the excellence of the Word of God; and much affected with the evil of sin, and the danger we are in of it, and the danger we are in by it.” – MATTHEW HENRY, Exposition of the Old and New Testaments, 6 vols., 1708-1710; edited

DK. Perhaps it’s just me, beloved, but I am sensing the Narrowing of the Birth Canal recently, prodding me toward some Close Reexamination of my walk. For TWO REASONS:

1. SELF-EXAMINATION. “Examine yourselves as to whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves. Do you not know yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you? — unless indeed you are disqualified” (1 Corinthians 13:5).DK. I have often asked the Lord to give me “Self-Objectivity” in order to see myself as He does, and to improve my areas of weakness as He does so. We must all do this now, as we stand on The Precipice of an entirely New American Order under the Tyranny of Donald Trump.

• FULL READINESS. “And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, and they did not love their lives to the death” (Revelation 12:11). DK. The Final Requirement from the Lord to be fully His, fully ready to serve in the Dark Hour of Antichrist is to “Not love your life even to the death.” Meaning: If Jesus asks, you will be willing to become Martyr for Him. Only those are permitted by God to serve Him in the Last Days. The rest are mere Pretenders to the Faith, beloved. Selah.

CODA. I have said it more than once for its necessary emphasis: What lies ahead for the True Church is designed to be nothing less than ‘Our Finest Hour.’Meaning, in the words of WINSTON CHURCHILL:

“To each there comes in their lifetime a special moment when they are figuratively tapped on the shoulder and offered the chance to do a very special thing, unique to them and fitted to their talents. What a tragedy if that moment finds them unprepared or unqualified for that which could have been their Finest Hour.” – Adapted from “Churchill’s Speech to the House of Commons,” June 16, 1940; edited

Let each of us therefore, beloved, dedicate ourselves to such service to our King that it would give Him the highest pleasure, and accrue to us as our highest honor.