SPIRITUAL
DIARY FOR 1/4/2012 10:12:44 AM
My Worship Time Focus: A prayer of David
Bible Reading
& Meditation Reference: Psalm 17
Message
of the verses: “1 A Prayer of David:
Hear a just cause, O LORD, give heed to my cry; Give ear to my prayer, which is
not from deceitful lips. 2 Let my judgment come forth from Your presence; Let
Your eyes look with equity. 3 You have tried my heart; You have visited me by
night; You have tested me and You find nothing; I have purposed that my mouth
will not transgress. 4 As for the deeds of men, by the word of Your lips I have
kept from the paths of the violent. 5 My steps have held fast to Your paths. My
feet have not slipped. 6 I have called upon You, for You will answer me, O God;
Incline Your ear to me, hear my speech. 7 Wondrously show Your lovingkindness,
O Savior of those who take refuge at Your right hand From those who rise up
against them.
“8 Keep me as the apple of the eye; Hide me
in the shadow of Your wings 9 From the wicked who despoil me, My deadly enemies
who surround me. 10 They have closed their unfeeling heart, With their mouth
they speak proudly. 11 They have now surrounded us in our steps; They set their
eyes to cast us down to the ground. 12 He is like a lion that is eager to tear,
And as a young lion lurking in hiding places. 13 Arise, O LORD, confront him,
bring him low; Deliver my soul from the wicked with Your sword, 14 From men
with Your hand, O LORD, From men of the world, whose portion is in this life,
And whose belly You fill with Your treasure; They are satisfied with children,
And leave their abundance to their babes. 15 As for me, I shall behold Your
face in righteousness; I will be satisfied with Your likeness when I awake.”
From the introduction of the
commentary on this psalm Dr. Wiersbe reports that this is one of five psalms
that are “prayer psalms,” (17, 86, 90,142), and three of them were written by
David. We see that David is in some kind
of trouble in Psalm 17 and thus he is crying out to the Lord for help and
vindication. Dr. Wiersbe writes at the
end of his introduction these words: “In
this prayer, David deals with three pressing concerns and makes three major
requests to the Lord. Each section opens
with David addressing the Lord.”
Vindication—“Examine Me” (vv. 1-5): “1 A Prayer of David: Hear a just cause, O
LORD, give heed to my cry; Give ear to my prayer, which is not from deceitful
lips. 2 Let my judgment come forth from Your presence; Let Your eyes look with
equity. 3 You have tried my heart; You have visited me by night; You have
tested me and You find nothing; I have purposed that my mouth will not
transgress. 4 As for the deeds of men, by the word of Your lips I have kept
from the paths of the violent. 5 My steps have held fast to Your paths. My feet
have not slipped.”
We know that David was a sinner,
for he even writes in Psalm 51 that he was conceived in sin, and this does not
mean that there was sinfulness going on with his parents, but that everyone
born is conceived in sin because of the sin nature that is passed on by the
man. However David knew that he was
blameless before God and this is not a statement in which he was bragging about,
but a humble statement knowing that God had tested him and he came out as
gold. Paul writes a similar statement in
Acts 23:1 “Paul, looking intently at the Council, said, ‘Brethren, I have lived
my life with a perfectly good conscience before God up to this day.’”
We have written earlier about times in
David’s life while he was being chased by Saul that he had two opportunities to
kill Saul, yet David knew that Saul was the Lord’s anointed and therefore it
would be a great sin if he killed Saul so he did not, and this shows that David
was blameless before the Lord concerning Saul and this psalm is probably
written about those days when David was on the run hiding out from Saul. Saul and his men were spreading lies about
David and so David asks vindication before the Lord for David and the Lord knew
that David was blameless.
Protection—“Keep
Me” (vv. 6-12): “6 I have called
upon You, for You will answer me, O God; Incline Your ear to me, hear my
speech. 7 Wondrously show Your lovingkindness, O Savior of those who take
refuge at Your right hand From those who rise up against them. 8 Keep me as the apple of the eye; Hide me in
the shadow of Your wings 9 From the
wicked who despoil me, My deadly enemies who surround me. 10 They have closed
their unfeeling heart, With their mouth they speak proudly. 11 They have now
surrounded us in our steps; They set their eyes to cast us down to the ground. 12
He is like a lion that is eager to tear, And as a young lion lurking in hiding
places.”
David uses the word “El” when
calling upon the Lord for God is “the Mighty God,” and David knew that even
though God had given him gifts to be a masterful military tactician, he also
knew that he could not win a battle without help from the Lord. There are similarities in the prayer that
David is praying to when Moses was praying to God found in Exodus 15:1-19 and
perhaps David had read this prayer of Moses and that is why he is praying like
he is now because he knew that if God could lead His children out of Egypt he
could get David out of the fix he was in.
Two images are found in verse 8 “eye”
and “wing” and these remind God how precious that David is to Him. We know from other passages that Israel is
the “apple of God’s eye.” “10 “He found
him in a desert land, And in the howling waste of a wilderness; He encircled
him, He cared for him, He guarded him as the pupil of His eye.” (Deu. 32:10)
As for the wings image David may have been thinking of the wings of the
cherubim that is in the Holy of Holies which is in the tabernacle. David may have been asking the Lord to make
his hiding place like the Holy of Holies, the place of God’s throne and God’s
glory protected by the angels of God.
It is because of the heavenly
intercession of Jesus Christ, that the people of the Lord can enter into the
Holy of Holies and have fellowship with the Lord. (Heb. 10:1-25)
David speaks of his enemies in verses
10-12 and David’s enemies were people who cared little about spiritual things
as they were spiritually insensitive to what was right and it did not upset
them when they did wrong. Paul writes
about this in his letter to the Romans, “and although they know the ordinance
of God, that those who practice such things are worthy of death, they not only
do the same, but also give
hearty approval to those who practice them.” (Rom. 1:32)
Salvation—“Rescue
Me” (vv. 13-15): 13 Arise, O LORD,
confront him, bring him low; Deliver my soul from the wicked with Your sword, 14
From men with Your hand, O LORD, From men of the world, whose portion is in
this life, And whose belly You fill with Your treasure; They are satisfied with
children, And leave their abundance to their babes. 15 As for me, I shall
behold Your face in righteousness; I will be satisfied with Your likeness when
I awake.”
“13 Up, GOD: beard them! break
them! By your sword, free me from their clutches; 14 Barehanded, GOD, break
these mortals, these flat-earth people who can’t think beyond today. I’d like
to see their bellies swollen with famine food, The weeds they’ve sown harvested
and baked into famine bread, With second helpings for their children and crusts
for their babies to chew on. 15 And me? I plan on looking you full in the face.
When I get up, I’ll see your full stature and live heaven on earth.” (Message)
I have inserted this portion of
the psalm from the “Message” in order to get a flavor of what David was saying
about these men. We see a contrast
between men of God and men of the world in this section.
Spiritual
meaning for my life today: The thing
that spoke to me from this psalm was the way that David had spoken to the Lord
with confidence that He knew that he was blameless before the Lord, not
sinless, but blameless. I desire to be
blameless before the Lord too.
My Steps of
Faith for Today:
1.
To be blameless before the Lord. To listen to the still small voice of the
Holy Spirit guiding me into the paths or righteousness.
2.
To continue to learn contentment.
1/4/2012
11:14:55 AM
No comments:
Post a Comment