SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR
2/10/2012 9:11:47 AM
My Worship Time Focus: Help
from David
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: Psalm
41
Message
of the verses: “Title. To the Chief Musician. A Psalm of David: This title has frequently
been seen before in other Psalms written by David. It serves to remind us of
the value of the Psalm, seeing that it was committed to no mean songster; and
also to inform us as to the author who has made his own experience the basis of
a prophetic song, in which a far greater than David is set forth. How wide a range of experience David
had! What power it gave him to edify
future ages! And how full a type of our
Lord did he become! What was bitterness
to him has proved to be a fountain of unfailing sweetness to many generations
of the faithful.
“Jesus Christ betrayed by Judas Iscariot is
evidently the great theme of this Psalm, but perhaps not exclusively. He is the antitype of David, and all his
people are in their measure like him; hence words suitable to the Great
Representative are most applicable to those who are in him. Such as receive a vile return for long
kindness to others, may read this song with much comfort, for they will see
that it is alas! Too common for the best of men, to be rewarded for their holy
charity with cruelty and scorn; and when they have been humbled by falling into
sin, advantage has been taken of their low estate, their good deeds have been
forgotten and the vilest spite has been vented upon them.
“Division.
The psalmist in #Ps 41:1-3, describes the mercies which are promised to such as
consider the poor, and this he uses as a preface to his own personal plea for
succour: from #Ps 41:4-9 he states his own case, proceeds to prayer in #Ps
41:10, and closes with thanksgiving, #Ps 41:11-13.” (Introduction to Psalm 41 by Charles H.
Spurgeon)
Note from John MacArthur’s Study
Bible: “The words of this psalm are
general and apply to anyone who might be considered ‘down.’ The most painful and specific factor
addressed here is the insult which is being added to the psalmist’s injury (cf.
Pss. 6, 38; and portions of Job and Jeremiah).
While the form and structure of Ps. 41 is quite complex, ‘blessed’
serves as bookends in vv. 1, 13. Within
these, others elements include 1) confidence (vv. 1b-3, 11, 12), 2) prayers
(vv. 4, 10), and 3) lament (vv. 5-9), with moments of wisdom and praise. David’s message in Ps 41 speaks of God’s
tender, loving care in the critical care unit of life.”
In the ending sentence of Dr.
Wiersbe’s introduction he writes: “When
we find ourselves in difficulty, we may use this psalm to take an inventory of
our spiritual condition by asking and answering four questions.”
Integrity: How Do We Treat Others (vv.1-4)? “1 For the choir director. A Psalm of
David: How blessed is he who considers the helpless; The LORD will deliver him
in a day of trouble. 2 The LORD will protect him and keep him alive, And he
shall be called blessed upon the earth; And do not give him over to the desire
of his enemies. 3 The LORD will sustain him upon his sickbed; In his illness,
You restore him to health. 4 As for me, I said, "O LORD, be gracious to
me; Heal my soul, for I have sinned against You.’”
Before getting started on the
commentary of this section from Psalm 41 I want to say a word about why I put
the introductions from different sources at the beginning of the psalms and why
it was not there before. I began to look
at different sources in order to help understand the psalms better. I use a program called “Online Bible,” and
have used it in my devotions since the 1980’s to help me to understand the
Scriptures better. In that program are
many different Bible translations, notes, and books along with many other
things. The program also has the
“Strongs” numbers so one can look up all of the different words in the
Scriptures. For instance if you wanted
to look up the word “blessed” from verse one all you have to do is click on the
word and the Hebrew word that was translated “blessed” into English will come
up and give the meaning. “0835 רשׁא
‘esher eh’ sher
from 0833; n m; {See TWOT on 183
@@ "183a"}
AV-blessed 27, happy 18; 45
1) happiness, blessedness
1a)
often used as interjection
1b)
blessed are”
The Online Bible program also has
notes from different people such as John Gill, Charles Spurgeon, Matthew Henry
and others which can be read to help understand a verse or even a chapter and
that is where I got the note from Spurgeon.
The reason that I choose the note from Spurgeon is because of this
statement: “How wide a range of experience David had! What power it gave him to edify future
ages!” I think that this statement helps
me to understand why David had to go through some of the difficult circumstances
he went through, and because he went through them and wrote about them all who
read them can be blessed. I go through
difficult circumstances and need to be encouraged by what David has written.
When I look at the first section of
this psalm it again reminds me of the book of Proverbs, for in this section we
see a scenario in which if David did something (to help the poor) then the Lord
would bless him for this action. Where
did David get this information from? The
OT Law that God had given through Moses had things in it that told how to care
for the poor. Jesus said in the gospels
when Mary poured oil over him to prepare for His burial and Judas complained
about using the money for the poor “You will always have the poor with you, but
I will not always be here.” Jesus was
stating that there will always be opportunity to help the poor for they will
always be in the world. David knew this
and while king we can be sure that David helped the poor like the Law had told
about. I believe that David also helped
the poor because he was a compassionate man, and had the heart to help
them. Again we go back to the statement
that David was a man after God’s own heart, and we know that God has compassion
on those who He created. The coming of
Jesus Christ shows the compassion of God.
“ For even when we were with you, we
used to give you this order: if
anyone is not willing to work, then he is not to eat, either.” (2Thes. 3:10)
The Apostle Paul gave this order to those who lived in Thessalonica and
I think that it is something that can help a person decide whether or not they
are going to help someone or not.
David knew who it was that he was to
help and he helped them and therefore he had a clear conscience before the Lord
as he wrote the words in this section of Psalm 41.
We see again that David admits that
he is a sinner, and as for the background of Psalm 41, and the occasion that he
sinned we do not know, but what we see is the willingness of David to admit to
God that he had sinned. The word “confess”
actually means to agree with so when a person confesses his sins to the Lord he
is agreeing with the Lord that he has sinned.
As we have stated many times that
David was a man after God’s own heart it comes up here because David knew that
when he sinned it was sin, and this is unlike Saul who would argue with Samuel
when he sinned not wanting to admit it.
It was the people of Israel who wanted a king to rule over them and so
God gave them Saul, a man that the people wanted, for he was tall and handsome
so the people wanted a man like him, while David was small and not good looking
like Saul, but David’s heart was right with the Lord and that means that God
had chosen him.
Spiritual
meaning for my life today: When a
person is down the best place for him is to be in the book of Psalms, and to
see the times when the authors of the Psalms were also down and what they did
about it. This is the case for me today,
and I am grateful for this psalm.
My Steps of Faith for Today:
1. Trust the Lord to see me through
a difficult time.
2. Continue to trust the Lord to
teach me contentment.
2/10/2012
10:30:32 AM
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