SPIRITUAL DIARY 2/14/2012
10:02:18 AM
My Worship Time Focus:
It’s Good to Look back
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: Psalm
44
Message
of the verses: We look at Psalm 44
in today’s SD and I will begin with the introduction of this psalm by Charles
H. Spurgeon, and he will break down the psalm in a similar way that Warren
Wiersbe does, and that will be the way we look at it. “Title:
To the Chief Musician for the sons of Korah, Maschil. The title is
similar to the forty-second, and although this is no proof that it is by the
same author it makes it highly probable.
No other writer should be sought for to father any of the Psalms when
David will suffice, and therefore we are loathe to ascribe this sacred song to
any but the great psalmist, yet as we hardly know any period of his life which
it would fairly describe, we feel compelled to look elsewhere. Some Israelitish patriot fallen on evil
times, sings in mingled faith and sorrow, his country’s ancient glory and her
present griefs, her traditions of former favour and her experience of pressing
ills. By Christians it can best be
understood if put into the mouth of the church when persecution is peculiarly
severe. The last verses remind us of
Milton’s famous lines on the massacre of the Protestants among the mountains of
Piedmont.
The song before us is fitted for the voices
of the saved by grace, the sons of Korah, and is to them and to all others full of teaching, hence the title Maschil.
Division.
From #Ps 44:1-3, the Lord’s mighty works for Israel are rehearsed, and in
remembrance of them faith in the Lord is expressed #Ps 44:4-8. Then the notes of complaint are heard #Ps
44:9-16, the fidelity of the people to their God is aroused, #Ps 44:17-22, and
the Lord is entreated to interpose, #Ps 44:23-26.
It is interesting that some of the
commentaries written by men a long time age mention that Psalm 44 was written
for the Church. The reason that they say
this is because of all of the troubles that the Church has gone through since
its beginning in Acts chapter two. Those
of us who have been privileged enough to live in countries where the Church has
not been persecuted may not truly understand why these early writers and
preachers would say this. I am told and
have read that in the age that we now live in there are 1000 people every day
who die for the cause of Jesus Christ, and unless you do some research you may
never hear of this. Voice of the Martyrs
has a website that tells of this.
In my John MacArthur Study Bible I
find these words of introduction to help me understand this psalm. “Psalm 44 is a national lament following some
great but historically unidentifiable defeat in battle. Throughout this psalm there are subtle shifts
between speakers of the first person plural and the first person singular. This may indicate that the psalm was
originally sung antiphonally with alterations coming from both the beaten
king-general and his defeated nation.
The prayer of vv. 23-26 may have been offered in unison as a
climax. By employing 3 historical
centers in psalm 44, the psalmist tries to understand and deal with a national
tragedy.
I.
Focus on Past History: The Shock of This National Tragedy (44:1-8)
II.
Focus
on Current History: The Inscrutability
of This National Tragedy (44:9-26)
III.
Focus
on Future History: A Prayer for an End
of This Nations Tragedy (44:23-26)”
In
Dr. Wiersbe’s introduction to this psalm I have found similar things written, but
I wish to quote the following words:
“Perhaps this psalm was used at a national ‘day of prayer’ with a
worship leader speaking the ‘I/my’ verses and the people the ‘we/our’
verses. The four stanzas that make up
this psalm reveal four different attitudes on the part of the people.”
Boasting
in God: “You Have Helped Us” (vv. 1-8): “1 For the choir director. A Maskil of the
sons of Korah: O God, we have heard with our ears, Our fathers have told us The
work that You did in their
days, In the days
of old. 2 You with Your own hand drove out the nations; Then You planted
them; You afflicted the peoples, Then You spread them abroad. 3 For by their
own sword they did not possess the land, And their own arm did not save them,
But Your right hand and Your arm and the light of Your presence, For You
favored them. 4 You are my King, O God; Command victories for Jacob. 5 Through You we will push
back our adversaries; Through
Your name we will trample down those who rise up against us. 6 For I
will not trust in my bow, Nor will my sword save me. 7 But You have saved us
from our adversaries, And You have put to shame those who hate us. 8 In God we
have boasted all day long, And we will give thanks to Your name forever. Selah.”
In Deuteronomy chapter six we
find a very interesting passage that instructs the parents to tell their
children of all that happened to them when the Lord destroyed the nation of
Egypt so that the children of Israel could leave Egypt and marched into the
Promised Land that God was going to give them.
The meaning of Deuteronomy means “The Renewing of the Law,” and the
reason for the book is that after the Law was given to Israel at Mt. Sinai the
children of Israel sinned against the Lord by not believing that God could
cause them to conquer the people in the land and so everyone who was twenty
years old and older would die in the wilderness as they marched for forty years
in the wilderness. Now that older generation
was all dead Moses reinstructs the next generation, thus we have the book of
Deuteronomy. The psalmist looks back to
the time when God enabled the children of Israel to conquer those who were in
the Promised Land. Now before we think
that this was not a “just” thing for God to do we need to look back at Genesis
15 at the words that God told to Abraham (Abram) in making a covenant with him
and the nation of Israel which would come from Abraham and Sarah. “12 Now when the sun was going down, a deep
sleep fell upon Abram; and behold, terror and great darkness fell upon him. 13
God said to Abram, "Know for certain that your descendants will be
strangers in a land that is not theirs, where they will be enslaved and
oppressed four hundred
years. 14 “But I will also judge the nation whom they will serve, and afterward
they will come out with many possessions. 15 “As for you, you shall go to your
fathers in peace; you will be buried at a good old age. 16 “Then in the fourth
generation they will return here, for the iniquity of the Amorite is not yet complete." We know that God had a great love for Israel,
but we also know that God had a plan for the nation of Israel and the brining
of the Messiah into the world was a major part of that plan. We see that from this Genesis passage that
Egypt would suppress the children of Israel for four hundred years and then God
would bring them out of Egypt and take them into the Promised Land and in the
process destroy some very sinful nations in the process. It would take these nations four hundred
years of sinning until God would use the nation of Israel to destroy them. In four hundred years of God’s patient these
nations never turned to the Lord for salvation.
The psalmist is looking back at this
reminding his readers of the greatness of God and bringing glory to God in the
process. Dr. Wiersbe writes “The
psalmist affirmed that Jehovah was still King (v. 4; 10:16; 29:10; 47:6; 74:12)
and could easily command (decree) victories for His people. The nation wanted no glory for itself; they
wanted the Lord to receive all the glory.”
Spiritual
meaning for my life today: I believe
that it is good to look back at what the Lord has done for me and to praise His
name for the wonderful things that He has done for me. I am so thankful for that January day in 1974
when the Lord saved me and changed my life and my destination forever by giving
me eternal life. I am thankful for my
wife and my children whom the Lord has given to me along with seven
grandchildren. I am thankful for the
salvation of my two children and their spouses and their desire to do as Moses
wrote in Deuteronomy chapter six, that is to tell them about the Lord and His
wonderful salvation.
The Bible teaches us to give
thanks for everything in 1Thes. And as I look back there have been some
difficult things for me to give thanks for, and yet it was those things that
God has used to cause me to grow in His grace and my walk with my Lord.
My Steps of Faith for Today:
1.
1Th
5:18 “in everything give thanks; for this is God’s will for you in Christ
Jesus.”
2.
Psalm
139:23-24.
3.
Romans
12:1-2.
4.
Phil.
4:11b.
5.
Eph.
6:10-18.
2/14/2012
11:11:59 AM
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