Our text for today’s message is Psalm 138:8 which says ‘The Lord will perfect that which concerns me; Your mercy, O Lord endures forever; do not forsake the works of Your hands’. This Psalm is a Psalm of David. When David said the Lord will perfect that which concerns him, he wasn’t praying to God. He wasn’t saying ‘O Lord, please perfect that which concerns me.’ He wasn’t also making a wish. David wasn’t saying ‘how I wish the Lord will perfect that which concerns me’ like how you could say ‘how I wish there’s no work tomorrow, how I wish there’s no school tomorrow, how I wish I could speak French, or how I wish someone will just write a cheque of 5million in my name.’ A wish doesn’t necessarily have anything to do with God nor is a wish based on faith in God, because it isn’t usually directed to God or addressed to God. When I was young, I used to make a lot of wishes using wishing bones or when blowing out my birthday candles. They were just desires I had in my head not necessarily things I hoped God would do or was even sure God could do.
The Lord Will Perfect All That Concerns Me Is a Declaration of Faith
When David said the Lord will perfect that which concerns me, he was making a declaration of faith. He was saying I am certain, I am confident, I have no doubt in my mind that God will perfect that which concerns me. David’s confident assurance that God will perfect all that concerns him was based on what David knew about God from his own personal dealings with God.
In a declaration of faith you are speaking to yourself which was what David was doing in this verse. Many times in the Psalms we see David speaking to himself, like in Psalm 43:5 where he says to himself ‘why are you downcast O my soul? Put your hope in God’. In a declaration of faith, you take something based on God’s Word and promises and say it out loud or in your heart to yourself, so it registers firmly in your mind, enters deep into your spirit, moves from just something you know in your head, to something you believe with all your heart even if you can’t see it with your physical eyes, even if what you are going through is the complete opposite of what you are saying. In a declaration of faith, you speak to yourself to build up your faith, to activate your faith in God and to encourage yourself in the Lord. So, David was saying it doesn’t matter what my situation is today, it doesn’t matter what is happening around me, I am convinced with everything in me because of the love and mercy of God, the Lord will perfect all that concerns me.
In a declaration of faith you are also indirectly speaking to God, you are reminding God of what He has said and getting Him to act on His Word and His promises.
In a declaration of faith, you are also speaking for all the elements in heaven to hear you, for everything on the earth to hear you and for all the forces and powers of darkness to hear you so they are all bound to cooperate with, surrender and submit to the Word of God. Like when Jesus in Mark 4:39 said ‘Peace be still’. All the elements in heaven, everything in nature, the powers and forces of darkness, all heard that Word and they surrendered to that Word, they submitted to that Word and there was great peace and calm all around.
We must understand that everything in life has a spiritual ear. Your womb has a spiritual ear. You can speak to your womb and effect the promises of God concerning your womb through the spoken Word. Dry bones; hopeless situations have a spiritual ear. You can speak to a dry hopeless situation and the spoken Word can effect a change (Ezekiel 37:1-10). The mountains; the obstacles and hindrances before you have a spiritual ear. You can speak to the mountain and it will give way (Mark 11:23).
It is easy for us to talk to God when there is a problem or issue and more often than not, God hears us. But we don’t seem to see changes in that problem or issue because most times for the situations we find ourselves in, it is not just God we need to talk to. We actually need to go a step further by speaking to ourselves, by letting the elements of heaven, the mountains before us, the forces and powers of darkness, all hear the Word of God and submit to that Word. This was basically what David was doing when he declared ‘The Lord will perfect that which concerns me.’
Can you say it out loud and clear for all the stubborn and hardened enemies of your life and destiny to hear you: The Lord will perfect that which concerns me.
What does it mean for God to Perfect All That Concerns Us?
We have established the fact that ‘the Lord will perfect all that concerns me’ is a declaration of faith. So what does it really mean when we say the Lord will perfect that which concerns me?
1. The Lord will perfect all that concerns me means the Lord will complete the good work He has started in me
When David said the Lord will perfect that which concerns him, he went on to say ‘Your mercy O Lord endures forever, do not forsake the works of Your hands’. God perfecting what concerns us is linked with God not forsaking or abandoning the works of His hands. It is calling out to God to carry on and complete the good work He has started in our lives. Our God is not a God of abandoned projects, He completes what He starts. This is why Philippians 1:6 tells us that He who began a good work in us will complete it. If we look at our lives, if we look at our families, church and nation, if we look all around, we will see many good works God has started.
If for instance you are into property; you sell lands and houses, or you sell clothes or books and God has helped you to sell some or quite a number, when you say the Lord will perfect all that concerns me, you are saying God will complete this good work He has started. He will help me to complete the sales of all the products I have. Or if you are a student and you are presently in Year 2, the Lord will perfect all that concerns you, means the Lord will see you to your final year, the Lord will help you to complete your education. Your education shall not end up as an abandoned project.
One of the greatest work God has started in our lives which we should desire to see the completion of is the work of salvation. It is not everyone that this good work has been started in that actually sees its completion. In Colossians 4:14, when writing to fellow believers and workers, Paul said Luke and Demas send their greetings. These were men who were actively serving God with Paul. Again in Philemon 23-24, Paul was sending greetings to the brethren and he mentioned those who were with him, labouring and working with him. These were Mark, Aristarchus, Demas and Luke. Demas is mentioned amongst Mark and Luke, great men of God that even have books of the Bible in their names. So, we can say that Demas was someone God started the good work of salvation in. He started off as a committed worker for God, from there he grew to be a missionary like Paul. We can say that Demas was a man of God, Demas was a servant of the Most High God. But see what Paul says about Demas in 2 Timothy 4:10, ‘For Demas has forsaken me, having loved this present world…’ that was how Demas salvation story ended. The things of this world took him away from God, away from the things of God. May our salvation story not end up like that of Demas. May it never be said of us that because of the love of the world, because of the problems and challenges in this world, we have forsaken God, our faith in God has been shipwrecked.
Paul on the other hand, talks about how the good work of salvation in his life was completed because he stayed true to God, he remained faithful to God. In 2 Timothy 4:7, Paul said ‘I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.’ May we finish our race, may the good work of salvation God has started in our lives be completed in Jesus mighty name. Amen!
2. The Lord will perfect all that concerns me means God will fulfil His promises to me
It means God will fulfil His plans and purpose for my life. It means the Lord will do everything He has promised me. What God has promised us are the things God plans to do in our lives. There are so many things God has promised us: forgiveness of sins (1 John 1:9, Hebrews 8:12) good health (3 John 2, Exodus 23:25), divine provision (Philippians 4:19, Psalm 23:1), divine protection (Psalm 91), restoration of lost blessings and opportunities (Joel 2:25-26), and so many other precious promises.
God promised Abraham a blessed and fruitful life. God promised Abraham a son. This promise was not just made once, but was repeated again and again to Abraham (Genesis 12:1-3, Genesis 17:1-2, 17-22, Genesis 18:10). Abraham waited for years to see the fulfilment of this promise. As the years went by and he became really old, it looked foolish to the human eye for Abraham to still believe this promise of God (Romans 4:18-21). People must have laughed at him for believing in this promise and holding on to it. I am sure Abraham had many days of thinking will this promise ever be fulfilled, days that doubt would set in, but he was able to push such thoughts aside and cling tightly to the promise of God. Abraham kept waiting on God, even when humanly speaking there was really no tangible reason to believe in the promise of God. At the end God came through for Abraham, God fulfilled His promise to Abraham. The Lord shall fulfil His promises to you in Jesus mighty name. Amen!
God is faithful to His promises. He is not a man that He should lie (Numbers 23:19), He does what He says He will do. It takes patience to see the promises of God fulfilled (Hebrews 6:13-15), a virtue many of us lack, a virtue that our fast paced world will tell you is not necessary. Don’t get weary and tired of believing the promises of God, don’t give up on the promises of God. It may take time for you to see the fulfilment, but as long as God is the One that gave you the promise, keep holding on to the promises of God, keep believing in them and God will surely come through for you. He will fulfil His Word in your life (Jeremiah 1:12). This shall be your story, this shall be your testimony if you don’t give up, if you don’t lose faith.
If there’s one thing the devil is after and tries hard to attack, it is the fulfilment of the promises of God in our lives. Before Jesus was born, God made several promises concerning Him (Genesis 3:15, Isaiah 7:14, Isaiah 9:6-7, Matthew 2:6). God had said many good things about Jesus about how He would bring salvation to mankind, crush the head of the serpent; conquer and defeat the devil. But when Jesus was born, Herod rose up to try to destroy Jesus so those promises would not be fulfilled. For every promise God has given you, there is a ‘Herod’ somewhere that is troubled and threatened by the promises of God to you, by the Word of God concerning your life (Matthew 2:1-3). There is a Herod that will come against you, fight you, try everything possible to see that the promises of God don’t come to pass in your life (Matthew 2:13, 16). But just as God brought down the Herod that was against the fulfilment of God’s promises concerning Jesus (Matthew 2:19-20), every Herod against the fulfilment of God’s promises in your life will be brought down in Jesus mighty name. Amen!
This is what God has to say to every Herod trying to delay, frustrate or hinder the manifestation of God’s promises in your life:
‘For the Lord Almighty has purposed, and who can thwart him? His hand is stretched out, and who can turn it back?’ (Isaiah 14:27).
“There is no wisdom, no insight, no plan that can succeed against the LORD” (Proverbs 21:30).
In the name of Jesus, the Lord will perfect all that concerns you; God will fulfil His promises to you. No ‘Herod’, no demon, no power or force of darkness will be able to stop the manifestation of the promises of God in your life. Amen and amen.
3. The Lord will perfect that which concerns me means the Lord will attend to that thing that gives me cause for concern
A concern is a feeling of worry about something. The Lord will perfect that which concerns me means the Lord will attend to that thing I am worried or troubled about. There are different things we are worried and concerned about. A lot of people are worried about the state of our nation. People have worries about their health or the health of someone close to them. Singles are worried about when they will get married. People who need children, about when they will have a child. For most people, money is a major source of worry – we worry about money for school fees, house rent, money to pay off a debt etc.
Medically, it has been proven that worry can affect our daily life, relationship with others, sleep and appetite. Some people eat so much when they are worried, some don’t eat at all when they are worried and stressed. Worry can affect our performance at work. It can also have an effect on our face and appearance. It can cause wrinkles, pimples, bags under the eyes, grey hair etc.
One person in the Bible that we see facing a situation that brought worry, stress and anxiety to is Hannah. Her not having a child was a major source of concern for Hannah, it was something she was worried about. It used to make her cry a lot, it affected her appetite (1 Samuel 1:4-5), it made her go around with a sad face (1 Samuel 1:18), it affected her relationship with her husband; he did things to try to show her love, but she didn’t really notice or appreciate them because of her overwhelming concern to have a child (1 Samuel 1:4-5, 7-8).
The good thing about Hannah was that she knew what to do about her worry. She took it to the Lord in prayer. Hannah must have gotten to the point where she said I’m tired of not eating and maybe losing weight or having ulcer pains, I’m tired of people always asking me what’s wrong with you, your face looks so dull, I’m tired of anything they say to me, I burst into tears because I’m already so stressed out about not having a child, I’m tired of living yet it is like I’m not living at all. So, she went to the Lord to cry to Him, to pour her heart to the Lord in all sincerity (1 Samuel 1:9-11). And God heard her cry, God perfected that which concerns her, God took away the burden of worry and anxiety from her shoulders, he took the yoke of worry and anxiety from her neck, he destroyed the yoke of worry and anxiety from her life as she was in the presence of God praying. 1 Samuel 1:18 tells us that after that time of intense, earnest and sincere prayer, Hannah went away and ate, and her face was no longer sad. This means she went away no longer troubled and agitated. I pray for everyone here today that has something you are stressed and worried about, something that has been troubling you to the extent that it has affected you physically, after today’s service, if you haven’t been eating, your appetite will return back today. If you haven’t been sleeping well, as you lie down to sleep tonight, God will give you a peaceful night rest, your face will no longer be sad but radiant with joy because God will perfect that which concerns you, God will attend to that situation that has been a major source of worry in your life.
4. The Lord will perfect that which concerns me means the Lord will give me a complete miracle.
God doesn’t do things in half measures. If God is going to give you a testimony, it will be a complete testimony. If God is going to deliver you, it will be complete deliverance not partial deliverance. In Mark 8:22-25, Jesus touched a blind man and he started to see. But what the man saw were men like trees, walking. The first time Jesus touched him, healing took place, a miracle took place, the man had a testimony because someone who was blind, someone who hadn’t been seeing, started to see. You can’t compare where he was at this point in his life to where he was coming from. Progress had been made in his eye sight. But it wasn’t a complete testimony, a complete healing, a complete deliverance and breakthrough because he was seeing men like trees, walking. So Jesus touched the man a second time and it was then that his testimony, his miracle, his healing, his deliverance was complete. He started to see clearly.
Many of us are like that man. If we look at our lives, we aren’t where we started from. There has been progress, there have been changes, there has been improvement, but there’s still something that needs to be done to give us a complete testimony. For example, if you are a student and you haven’t been involved in any sexual sins, despite attempts lecturers have made to get you to sleep with them, you have refused. This is very good progress, this is a good testimony. But right now you are heavily in debt or you don’t have money to complete your project or pay for your final year exams. So, you don’t yet have a complete testimony as regards your education. You need another touch from the Lord. You need the same God that touched you and gave you grace to keep yourself pure, to touch you and give you a financial miracle so you can complete your studies, so you can have a complete testimony about your education. God will give us a complete, all round testimony not just a testimony in one area of our lives.
An incomplete testimony is a testimony that is short-lived. You don’t really get to enjoy the testimony, your joy over that testimony is very brief, it doesn’t last for long. Both Saul and David where nobodies, people God picked from low positions in life, raised them up and set them up as kings. Saul’s joy over being a king was short-lived because of his act of disobedience and failure to repent. David’s joy over being a king, was never cut short despite the mistakes he made, sins he committed like adultery, murder, and a census God didn’t send him to count. God established David on the throne (2 Samuel 7:15-17). This blessing, this testimony even outlived David. That is what a complete testimony from God is; it is a testimony that outlives you, a testimony that your children and children’s children can benefit from. If you are a great man or woman of faith, but your children, the generation after you turns away from the living God that is not a complete testimony. I pray for every one of us that God will give us testimonies that outlive us. I pray that every sin that will make us have a short-lived testimony, an incomplete testimony, God will remove from our lives in Jesus mighty name. Amen!
So when we say God perfect that which concerns me, we our saying Lord don’t cut short my joy.
An incomplete, short-lived testimony can be very painful that sometimes you would have preferred it if God just left you at the level you were in. It can be very painful for you to get a contract after praying and praying for it, only for you not to have the money to execute the contract. It can be very painful for you to pray and pray for a life partner, only for you to get married and you don’t have a child or your spouse dies a year after. It can be very painful for you to get pregnant and you have a miscarriage or still birth. It can be very painful for you to buy a house only for the house to collapse or get burnt by fire.
This was how the Shunamite woman felt. For years she was believing God for a child. When Elisha came into her life, he prayed for her and God blessed her with a son (2 Kings 4:13-17). Only for the boy to die a few years after (2 Kings 4:18-20). In 2 Kings 4:28, she told Elijah, did I ask for a son? Did I not say do not deceive me. In other words, why didn’t you leave me barren? It would have been much better for me if you left me that way than for me to have a child and my joy over the child is short-lived. Because we serve a God who doesn’t do things in half measures, who gives complete miracles, God intervened in the situation and brought the boy back to life (2 Kings 4:32-37).
A complete testimony comes through God’s restorative power. God is able to wipe away your tears and give you double for all your troubles, and give you much more than what you have lost so your joy overflows (Job 42:12-17). For everyone that it appears like you have been saddled with an incomplete testimony, for everyone that it appears like the joy over something good God did for you was short-lived, for everyone that has suffered for a little while, God’s restorative power will come on you and God will perfect, establish, strengthen and settle you (2 Peter 5:15). Like He did for the Shunamite woman, like He did for Job.
What Is Our Assurance, Our Confidence, Our Hope That God Will Perfect That Which Concerns Us?
How can I be confident that God will complete the good work He has started in my life especially when it looks like nothing is happening? How can we be confident that God will fulfil His promises to us even when the promises seems to have been delayed for so long? How can we be sure that God will accomplish His plan and purpose for our lives? How can we be confident and certain that God will attend to that situation that is troubling us? How can we be confident that God will give us a complete testimony, God will ensure that our joy isn’t cut short but overflows?
When David said the Lord will perfect that which concerns me, David went on to say something really important ‘Your mercy, O Lord endures forever’ (Psalm 138:8). It is only the mercy of God that endures forever that can make God not turn His back on us, it is only the mercy of God that can make God continue the good work He has started in us because so many times, we do things that grieve God’s Spirit. We do things that can make God say I’m not going to bother with this person again. She keeps taking advantage of me, she only remembers me when she needs something, or despite all the blessings I have given this man, he just complains and complains, no appreciation, no gratitude. When the mercy of God is at work, God overlooks things that ordinarily shouldn’t be overlooked. God keeps showing love even when we don’t reciprocate His love, even when we don’t deserve His love. When the mercy of God is at work, everything that can disqualify us for a blessing, a testimony, a miracle is put aside. It is nailed to the cross and covered in the blood of Jesus.
In 2 Samuel 7:15-17 Prophet Nathan explained to David why God established him on the throne, why God overlooked many of the things David did. Nathan didn’t say it was because David was the most righteous man on earth or that it was because David knew how to pray and praise God very well. It was simply because of the mercy of God. Indeed, David knew how powerful the mercy of God is, David knew what the mercy of God had done for him throughout his life that was why when God gave David the choice of fleeing three months before his enemies while they pursue him, David said please let me fall into the hand of God not man for God’s mercies are great. David knew no man could take from him what God takes from him, no man could tolerate the things God has tolerated from him, no man no matter how kind and loving, can do the things God does for him. David knew that the only thing that can make God perfect that which concerns him is the mercy of God which endures forever.
One day of God’s mercy can wipe away years of tears. It can bring a long-standing problem to an end. It can give you what people think you don’t deserve. It can turn your life around. It can perfect all that concerns you. This was what happened to Blind Bartimeaus (Mark 10:46-52). The day God showed Blind Bartimeaus mercy, blindness was taken away from him and God’s promise of healing and good health was fulfilled in his life. Those that tried to keep him quiet, those that tried to stop him from getting attention from Jesus; from experiencing the blessing and promise of healing, Jesus didn’t allow them have their way. All the concerns; burden, worry and troubles associated with blindness was removed. God also gave Blind Bartimeaus a complete testimony. His physical life as well as his spiritual life was touched by God. Mark 10:52 tells us that after he received his healing, Blind Bartimeaus started following Jesus. Like it happened to Blind Bartimeaus, the Lord will show you mercy today and ALL that concerns you, the Lord will perfect in Jesus mighty name. AMEN!
The worst thing that can happen to anyone is for the mercy of God to depart from the person. But when the mercy of God is on you and with you, you can be confident, you can be assured, that God will certainly perfect ALL that concerns you.
