Blessings from God from Psalm 67:1-2

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 3/31/2012 9:24:21 AM

My Worship Time                                                                  Focus:  Blessings from God

Bible Reading & Meditation                                     Reference:  Psalm 67:1-2

            Message of the verses:  In today’s SD we will begin to look at the 67^th Psalm.  First we will look at several introductions to help us understand what the psalmist is writing.

            “TITLE. To the Chief Musician. Who he was matters not, and who we may be is also of small consequence, so long as the Lord is glorified. On Neginoth, or upon stringed instruments. This is the fifth Psalm so entitled, and no doubt like the others was meant to be sung with the accompaniment of "harpers harping with their harps." No author’s name is given, but he would be a bold man who should attempt to prove that David did not write it. We will be hard pushed before we will look for any other author upon whom to father these anonymous odes which lie side by side with those ascribed to David, and wear a family likeness to them. A Psalm or Song. Solemnity and vivacity are here united. A Psalm is a song, but all songs are not Psalms: this is both one and the other.”  (Charles H. Spurgeon)

            “This brief psalm develops two optimistic themes:  the need and result of God’s mercy, and the future universal worship of God.  The psalm reflects the promise to Abraham that God would bless his descendants, and in Abraham, ‘all the families of the earth’ (Genesis 12:1-3) (The John MacArthur Study Bible)

            “Except for verses 1 and 6, each verse in this brief psalm mentions ‘all nations’ or ‘all peoples,’ and in that respect fits in with Psalms 65 and 66.  It’s a psalm of praise to God for all His blessings, as well as a prayer to God that His blessings will flow out to the Gentiles, especially His salvation.  This was part of God’s covenant with Abraham (Gen. 12:1-3).  A blessing is a gift from God that glorifies His name, helps His people, and through them reaches out to help others who will glorify His name.  God blesses us that we might be a blessing to others.  The psalm describes the stages in this sequence.”  (Warren Wiersbe’s Be Worshipful Psalms 1-89)

            Israel Blesses the Nations (vv. 1-2):  “1 For the choir director; with stringed instruments. A Psalm: A Song: God be gracious to us and bless us, And cause His face to shine upon us- Selah. 2 That Your way may be known on the earth, Your salvation among all nations.”

            Dr. Wiersbe points out that this portion of Psalm 67 was adapted from the High Priestly Prayer that is found in Numbers 6:24-26.  Let us look at these verses with a couple more included so that we can get the flavor of what the Lord is telling Moses.  “22 Then the LORD spoke to Moses, saying, 23  "Speak to Aaron and to his sons, saying, ’Thus you shall bless the sons of Israel. You shall say to them: 24  The LORD bless you, and keep you; 25  The LORD make His face shine on you, And be gracious to you; 26  The LORD lift up His countenance on you, And give you peace.’ 27 “So they shall invoke My name on the sons of Israel, and I then will bless them."  The psalmist uses the word Elohim instead of Jehovah.  We have mentioned Genesis 12:1-3 a couple of times and so let’s look at those verses too:  “  1 Now the LORD said to Abram, "Go forth from your country, And from your relatives And from your father’s house, To the land which I will show you; 2  And I will make you a great nation, And I will bless you, And make your name great; And so you shall be a blessing; 3  And I will bless those who bless you, And the one who curses you I will curse. And in you all the families of the earth will be blessed.’”  These wonderful verses go along with Psalm 67 and in them we see a promise from God to Abraham, and to his descendants.  I have read and heard that one can see the raising and the falling of the world’s empires by how they treated the Jews (Israel), and that is what God promised to Abraham in verse three.  What is being taught here is that one cannot treat a Jewish person badly just because they are Jewish or God will curse the one who does this or the nation who does this.  We also see in this section that all of the nations of the earth will be blessed through Abraham.  The apostle Paul writes the following in Romans 9:1-5:  “1 I am telling the truth in Christ, I am not lying, my conscience testifies with me in the Holy Spirit, 2 that I have great sorrow and unceasing grief in my heart. 3 For I could wish that I myself were accursed, separated from Christ for the sake of my brethren, my kinsmen according to the flesh, 4 who are Israelites, to whom belongs the adoption as sons, and the glory and the covenants and the giving of the Law and the temple service and the promises, 5 whose are the fathers, and from whom is the Christ according to the flesh, who is over all, God blessed forever. Amen.”  Paul is describing how God blesses all peoples through the nation of Israel, and we know that Abraham is the father of the nation of Israel.

            Dr. Wiersbe brings up the glory of God which is seen in this passage from Romans, and was also seen in the history of the nation of Israel, and this is a very important part of the history of Israel and also a part of the true Church today.  “To have the light of God’s countenance smile upon them was the height of Israel’s blessing, and to lose that glory meant judgment (1Sam. 4, especially vv. 21-22.)  The prophet Ezekiel watched the glory depart before the temple was destroyed (Eze. 8:4; 9:3; 10:4, 18; 11:22-23).  God’s people today have God’s glory within (1Cor. 6:19-20; 2Cor. 4:6), and in our good works, godly character, and loving ministry we should reveal that glory to the world (Matt. 5:16; Phil. 2:14-16) In the same manner, Israel was to be a light and a blessing to the nations (Isa. 42:6;; 49:6-7; Acts 13:47).  Israel gave us the knowledge of the true and living God, the Word of God and the Son of God, Jesus Christ, the Savior of the world.”

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  “A blessing is a gift from God that glorifies His name, helps His people, and through them reaches out to help others who will glorify His name.  God blesses us that we might be a blessing to others.”  I want to be a blessing to others today.

My Steps of Faith for Today:  I don’t want to think so much of me today, but be a blessing to others through the power of God.  I want to continue to learn contentment.

3/31/2012 10:21:42 AM

             

Israel should Praise the Lord and more from Psalm 66:8-20

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 3/30/2012 9:22:59 AM

My Worship Time                                                      Focus: 

Bible Reading & Meditation                         Reference:  Psalm 66:8-20

            Message of the verses:  Dr. Warren Wiersbe writes this at the end of his introduction on Psalm 66:  “The exhortation to praise the Lord begins with the Gentile nations (vv. 1-7), moves to Israel (vv. 8-12), and concludes with the individual believers (vv. 13-20).”

            A National Proclamation:  “Israel, Praise the Lord!”  (vv. 8-12):  “8 Bless our God, O peoples, And sound His praise abroad, 9  Who keeps us in life And does not allow our feet to slip. 10 For You have tried us, O God; You have refined us as silver is refined. 11 You brought us into the net; You laid an oppressive burden upon our loins. 12 You made men ride over our heads; We went through fire and through water, Yet You brought us out into a place of abundance.”

            “8 Let the whole world bless our God and loudly sing his praises. 9 Our lives are in his hands, and He keeps our feet from stumbling. 10 You have tested us, O God; you have purified us like silver. 11 You captured us in your net and laid the burden of slavery on our backs. 12 Then you put a leader over us.  We went through fire and flood, but you brought us to a place of great abundance.”  (NLT) 

            The psalmist wants all Israel to praise the name of the Lord, and if there is any nation that should praise the Lord it is Israel.  All one has to do is look back into history to see how the Lord brought about the nation of Israel, as it began with a 100 year old man and his 90 year old wife who gives birth to a promised child and from there we see this family expand into a nation as when God sent them into Egypt there were 70 in this miracle family and 400 years later there were more than a million people in this family when God brought them out of their slavery and eventually into the Promised Land.  God gave them His law, His sanctuary, and His priests and prophets, and would bless them with all they needed.  God had to discipline them many times for their unfaithfulness, but this was done out of love for them as He moved them to the point where eventually the Messiah would be born to one of them, the Messiah who would pay for the sins of the world.  The apostle Paul writes that Israel has been set aside at this point, but one day God will again be dealing with Israel bringing His Kingdom to earth headed up by Jesus Christ who will set on David’s throne in Jerusalem and rule the world from there for 1000 years.  Yes Israel has much to praise the Lord for, but so does His Church.

            A Personal Affirmation “Praise God with Me!” (vv. 13-20):  “13 I shall come into Your house with burnt offerings; I shall pay You my vows, 14 Which my lips uttered And my mouth spoke when I was in distress. 15 I shall offer to You burnt offerings of fat beasts, With the smoke of rams; I shall make an offering of bulls with male goats. Selah. 16 Come and hear, all who fear God, And I will tell of what He has done for my soul. 17 I cried to Him with my mouth, And He was extolled with my tongue. 18 If I regard wickedness in my heart, The Lord will not hear; 19 But certainly God has heard; He has given heed to the voice of my prayer. 20 Blessed be God, Who has not turned away my prayer Nor His lovingkindness from me.”

            “13 Now I come to your Temple with burnt offerings  to fulfill the vows I made to you- 14 yes, the sacred vows that I made  when I was in deep trouble. 15 That is why I am sacrificing burnt offerings to you- the best of my rams as a pleasing aroma, and a sacrifice of bulls and male goats.  Interlude 16 Come and listen, all you who fear God, and I will tell you what he did for me. 17 For I cried out to him for help, praising him as I spoke. 18 If I had not confessed the sin in my heart, the Lord would not have listened. 19 But God did listen!  He paid attention to my prayer. 20 Praise God, who did not ignore my prayer or withdraw his unfailing love from me.”  (NLT)

            Dr. Wiersbe writes “The change from ‘we/our’ to ‘I/my’ is significant, for corporate worship is the ministry of many individuals, and God sees each heart.  During his times of trial, the psalmist had made vows to God, and now he hastened to fulfill them.  He brought many burnt offerings to the altar, the very best he had, and they symbolized his total dedication to the Lord.  We today obey as Romans 12:1-2 says as we present ourselves as living sacrifices.”  “1 I beseech you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. 2 And be not conformed to this world: but be you transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.”  AKJV  (Romans 12:1-2)  These are two of my favorite verses in all of the Word of God and all believers are to come to the point in their lives, like the psalmist of Psalm 66, to present themselves to the Lord because of all that He has done for them.  The first eleven chapters of the book of Romans talks about all that the Lord has done for His own, and now it is time for them to lay themselves on the altar as a living sacrifice to accomplish what it is that the Lord wants them to accomplish for the cause of Christ.  I believe that according to Ephesians 2:10 that these things were chosen by God for each believer to accomplish while they are alive on planet earth.  The psalmist speaks in this section about having a clean heart or God will not hear him and Psalm 139:23-24 instructs us to ask the Holy Spirit of God to search our hearts for unconfessed sin so that we can confess that sin to the Lord so that He will hear us. 

            The psalmist had something wonderful happen to him and now he is sharing it with all we as believers in Jesus Christ are to share the wonderful thing that God has done for us and the first thing on that list ought to be how He saved us.  Peter writes “but sanctify Christ as Lord in your hearts, always being ready to make a defense to everyone who asks you to give an account for the hope that is in you, yet with gentleness and reverence.”

            Warren Wiersbe writes more about verse 18:  “The verb ‘regard’ (v. 18) means ‘to recognize and to cherish, to be unwilling to confess and forsake know sins.’  It means approving that which God condemns.  When we recognize sin in our hearts, we must immediately judge it, confess it, and forsake it (1John 1:5-10); otherwise, the Lord can’t work on our behalf (Isa. 59:1-2).  To cover sin is to invite trouble and discipline (Proverbs 28:13; Josh 7).”

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  An old Scottish Preacher said “The Christian life is a series of new beginnings.”  I agree with that for even though I have been born from above into the family of God and received a new nature that always wants to obey the Lord in everything there are also three enemies that I face each day, the world, the flesh, and the devil.  Thus at times I fail the Lord and am in need of 1John 1:9.  I am also in need of Psalm 139:23-24.  There came a time in my early walk with the Lord that I offered myself as a living sacrifice to the Lord, to live for the Lord and He has not failed me, nor will He.  The issue is that I fail Him from time to time and I need to confess my sin in order to be able to have sweet fellowship with the God who save me.

My Steps of Faith for Today:  Romans 12:1-2; Psalm 139:23-24; Proverbs 3:5-6; Phil. 4:11b & Psalm 66:18.

3/30/2012 10:13:49 AM  

             

Remembering the Works of the Lord from Psalm 66:1-7

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 3/29/2012 7:52:55 AM

My Worship Time                       Focus:  Remembering the works of the Lord.

Bible Reading & Meditation                            Reference: Psalm 66:1-7

          Message of the verses:  In today’s SD we will begin to look at Psalm 66, the first thing will be to look at several introductions.

          “This joyful psalm begins with group praise and then focuses on the individual worship.  The psalmist rehearses some of the major miracles in Israel’s history and testifies that God has always been faithful in the midst of serious troubles.”  (The John MacArthur Study Bible)

“At the close of the previous psalm, you hear nature praising the Lord, and the psalm exhorts all mankind to join creation in celebrating God’s greatness.  It appears that Israel had gone through severe trials (vv. 8-12) and yet won a great victory with the Lord’s help. Some students believe this even it was the Lord’s miraculous defeat of Assyria (Isa. 36-37) and that the individual speaking in verses 13-20 was King Hezekiah, whose prayer the Lord answered (37:14-20).  The exhortation to praise the Lord begins with the Gentile nations (vv. 1-7), moves to Israel (vv. 8-12), and concludes with the individual believers (vv. 13-20).”  (Warren Wiersbe)

A Global Invitation:  “All Nations, Praise the Lord!”:  “1 For the choir director. A Song, A Psalm: Shout joyfully to God, all the earth; 2 Sing the glory of His name; Make His praise glorious. 3 Say to God, "How awesome are Your works! Because of the greatness of Your power Your enemies will give feigned obedience to You. 4 “All the earth will worship You, And will sing praises to You; They will sing praises to Your name." Selah. 5 Come and see the works of God, Who is awesome in His deeds toward the sons of men. 6 He turned the sea into dry land; They passed through the river on foot; There let us rejoice in Him! 7 He rules by His might forever; His eyes keep watch on the nations; Let not the rebellious exalt themselves. Selah.” 

It was in the 63^rd Psalm that David remembered what the Lord had done for him in the “night watches,” and remembering what the Lord has done in a person’s life is a wonderful way to worship the Lord, although we must remember that the past can aid us in that way, but we still have to move on in life each day.  We see in this section that the psalmist is remembering the exodus of Israel from Egypt as they crossed the sea on dry land and then came into Canaan by crossing the dried up Jordan River that the Lord had dried up so they could cross into Canaan. 

This psalm is also a missionary psalm and the psalmist wants the Gentile nations to praise the Lord because of what God has done for Israel.  This is not unusual for all believers praise the Lord for what the Lord Jesus Christ did to bring about their salvation.  Jesus said to the woman at the well that “Salvation is of the Jews” and of course He was speaking of His death, burial and resurrection.  The Church has much to praise the Lord about for what has come from the nation of Israel and we would do good to thank the Lord for the accomplishment that He has done through Israel.  Satan hates Israel and has done much to try and destroy her, but this will never happen, for that which is going to happen to Israel is written in the pages of Scripture and will not be changed.

Dr. Wiersbe writes the following describing what the Exodus and Passover mean to the nation of Israel:  “What the resurrection of Jesus Christ is to believers today, the Exodus was to Israel (Eph. 1:15-23).  The Jews remember the Exodus at Passover, and the church remembers the death and resurrection of Christ at the Lord’s Supper.”  Yes God wants us to remember.

Spiritual meaning for my life today:  To remember what the Lord has done in my life is a wonderful reason to worship the Lord.  A young Christian couple, who knew little about living the Christian life, but had a desire to learn was given a small boy through birth who had a difficult heart problem along with a number of other smaller problems that also needed surgery to correct.  I believe that it was around May 7^th or 8^th of 1981 that we entrusted our son to the Lord and the doctors who did very major surgery on our son’s heart and heart valve.  The surgery was long and the results were mixed and may have to be repeated, but by the grace of God and the prayers of the saints more surgery on his little heart was not necessary and today that little son of ours has three children of his own.  Yes it is good to remember the wonderful works of the Lord and praise and worship Him because of those wonderful works.

My Steps of Faith for Today:  Continue to trust the Lord for the healing of my mother who is quit ill at this time.  Continue to remember the works of the Lord, especially the perfect salvation He has provided for me.  Continue to learn contentment in the Lord as I go through life’s trials and troubles.

3/29/2012 8:40:08 AM

God is the Ruler and Provider for All as seen in Psalm 65:5-13

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 3/28/2012 8:13:04 AM

My Worship Time                                          Focus: God is ruler and provider for all!

Bible Reading & Meditation                                  Reference:  Psalm 65:5-13

            Message of the verses:  As we continue to look at Psalm 65 in today’s SD I want to remind you of what Dr. Wiersbe wrote at the end of his introduction in order to help us better understand more about this psalm:  “Whatever the historical setting, the psalm helps us to worship our great God and glorify Him for who He is and what He does for us.”

            He Is the Ruler of All Nations (vv. 5-8):  “5 By awesome deeds You answer us in righteousness, O God of our salvation, You who are the trust of all the ends of the earth and of the farthest sea; 6 Who establishes the mountains by His strength, Being girded with might; 7 Who stills the roaring of the seas, The roaring of their waves, And the tumult of the peoples. 8 They who dwell in the ends of the earth stand in awe of Your signs; You make the dawn and the sunset shout for joy.”

            During the time when this psalm was written and even before it was written the nations around Israel thought that all nations had their own Gods, but one of the functions of Israel was to let others around them that there was only One True God and so this psalm moves from the people of Israel to all the nations of the world, and from God’s grace to the Jews to God’s government of the Gentiles.  We see in this section some things that God did in creation and also in sustaining the earth.  The roaring seas are a symbol of the nations in tumult and confusion as seen in (Isa. 17:12-13; 60:5; Dan. 7:2-3; Rev. 13:1; 17:5).  We know from Daniel 2:21 that it is God who chooses the leaders of nations, all nations for God is in control of all things that are going on in the world even though many people do not believe this or understand this.  At a time when there is much confusion in many of the nations around the world believers can be comforted by knowing that God is in control of all the nations and God is in control of all the so called “natural disasters ” that are going on around this earth.

            He Is the Provider of All We Need (vv. 9-13):  “9 You visit the earth and cause it to overflow; You greatly enrich it; The stream of God is full of water; You prepare their grain, for thus You prepare the earth. 10 You water its furrows abundantly, You settle its ridges, You soften it with showers, You bless its growth. 11 You have crowned the year with Your bounty, And Your paths drip with fatness. 12 The pastures of the wilderness drip, And the hills gird themselves with rejoicing. 13 The meadows are clothed with flocks And the valleys are covered with grain; They shout for joy, yes, they sing.”

            I believe that there is one thing that is taught around the world that has been most devastating to the peoples of the earth and that is evolution.  After doing a study by John MacArthur which he calls “The Battle for the Beginning” I have seen from the data that he brings up in his book and from the messages that he gave to the church that he is Pastor of, that evolution is impossible.  We have technology today that proves that evolution is not possible and I do not have time to go into all the details of this here, but once DNA was discovered it made evolutionist look pretty dumb.  The most detrimental thing that evolution has caused in the world today is that it has given those who accept it a way out of being accountable to God, for if the world was made by chance then there is no One to be accountable to and this has led to many people around the world close their eyes to God, who in these verses of Psalm 65 is seen as the Provider of things we all need including food.  All people receive what is called “common grace,” and that would be things like air to breathe, and food to eat, and a way to make shelter to live in, things all people enjoy, but most do not understand that this is all given to them by God’s grace.

            Psalm 65 began in the small country of Israel and now it has spread around the world and into the universe for David writes of the rain and also the sun in this section of this psalm.

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  Psalm 65 is a psalm of praise to our Great God, who deserves all glory and honor.  It has been nice to look at this psalm in order to help me praise the Lord, for it was a good reminder to me of all the things that God has, in His grace given to me.  The Savior He provided to pay for my sins and the Word He has provided for me to understand Him better are two wonderful things to praise the Lord for today and every day of my life.

My Steps of Faith for Today:  I pray and trust that God will give my family the grace we need to deal with a difficult situation that we are facing at this time in our lives.  I pray that through this situation that God will use it to teach me contentment and to praise the Lord in difficult situations.

3/28/2012 8:47:33 AM

           

Savior of Sinners from Psalm 65:1-4

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 3/27/2012 7:18:19 AM

My Worship Time                                                                  Focus: Savior of Sinners

Bible Reading & Meditation                                     Reference:  Psalm 65:1-4

            Message of the verses:  We begin Today’s Spiritual Diary with several introductions to Psalm 65.

            “This is a praise psalm, full of hopeful, confident, even enthusiastic feelings in response to God’s goodness with no complaints of cruses.  The setting is a celebration at the tabernacle, perhaps at Passover and the Feast of Unleavened Bread in the spring, or the Feasts of Booths, or Tabernacles, in the fall.”  (The John MacArthur Study Bible)

            “This is the first of four psalms (65-68) that focus on praising the Lord for His manifold blessings in nature and for His gracious dealings with His people.  He is the God of creation and the God of the covenant.  The psalm acknowledges our total dependence on the Lord to provide both our spiritual and material needs.  The phrase ‘crown the year’ (v. 11) suggests a harvest festival in October, the first month of Israel’s civil year.  (The religious calendar opened with Passover; Ex. 12:2.)  Perhaps verse 3 suggests the annual Day of Atonement that ushered in the Feast of Tabernacles, a harvest festival (Lev.17; 23:26-44).  The early rains usually began in late October, softening the hard soil and enabling the farmers to plow the ground and sow their seed (vv. 9-13).  Perhaps God had disciplined His people by sending drought and famine (Lev. 26:3-6; Deut. 11:8-17) and allowing other nations to threaten Israel (v. 7).  This discipline brought them to repentance and they anticipated the promised rains and a blessed harvest from the Lord.  David’s unusual experience involving the Gibeonites might have been the occasion (2Sam. 21:1-14).  Whatever the historical setting, the psalm helps us to worship our great God and glorify Him for who He is and what He does for us.”  (Warren Wiersbe)

            I stated in the last Spiritual Diary that it seemed that many of David’s writings in the psalms were due to difficult situations where we would see David write about the curses that would affect those who were causing him trouble and then he would go about praising the Lord because of his confidence in Him to take care of the adverse situation that he was in, but for the next four psalms it seems that this pattern will be changed.

            He Is the Savior of Sinners (vv. 1-4):  “1 For the choir director. A Psalm of David. A Song:  There will be silence before You, and praise in Zion, O God, And to You the vow will be performed. 2 O You who hear prayer, To You all men come. 3 Iniquities prevail against me; As for our transgressions, You forgive them. 4 How blessed is the one whom You choose and bring near to You To dwell in Your courts. We will be satisfied with the goodness of Your house, Your holy temple.”

            Charles H. Spurgeon writes the following which will help us to understand the first the first verse in this psalm:  “A Psalm and song of David. The Hebrew calls it a Shur and Mizmor, a combination of psalm and song, which may be best described by the term, "A Lyrical Poem." In this case the Psalm may be said or sung, and be equally suitable. We have had two such Psalms before, Psalm 30 and 48, and we have now the first of a little series of four following each other. It was meant that Psalms of pleading and longing should be followed by hymns of praise.”

            The first verse also speaks of being silent before the Lord; something we have already seen is Psalm 62:1 “My soul waits in silence for God only; From Him is my salvation.”  Dr. Wiersbe writes “But silence is also a part of worship, and we must learn to wait quietly before the Lord.”  I can remember that at times in our church services that the Pastor would come in and ask all of us to take the first moments of the service, even before someone was speaking or singing to be silent with reverence before the Lord, but the next Sunday there would again be a buzz in the congregation of people talking with others about who knows what.  It is difficult to be silent before the Lord, for it seems that your mind is always working, for you are always thinking thoughts, but at least we can stop talking and just focus our thoughts on the goodness of the Lord which it seems that David is doing in this psalm.

            It is good to come before the Lord with clean hearts so the first thing we must do is confess any sins that we have committed in body or in our thoughts and ask the Lord for forgiveness (1John 1:9).  I think that we should then ask the Holy Spirit to search our hearts (Psalm 139:23-24) before we begin to approach the Lord.  David speaks of our approach before the Lord in verses two and three and then in verse four David speaks of (it seems) the priests who can come before the Lord in the sanctuary of the Lord.  We see in 1Peter 2:9-10 these words “9  But you are A CHOSEN RACE, A royal PRIESTHOOD, A HOLY NATION, A PEOPLE FOR God’s OWN POSSESSION, so that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who has called you out of darkness into His marvelous light; 10  for you once were NOT A PEOPLE, but now you are THE PEOPLE OF GOD; you had NOT RECEIVED MERCY, but now you have RECEIVED MERCY.”  Also in the book of Revelations chapter one and verses five and six we read: “5 and from Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, the firstborn of the dead, and the ruler of the kings of the earth. To Him who loves us and released us from our sins by His blood- 6  and He has made us to be a kingdom, priests to His God and Father-to Him be the glory and the dominion forever and ever. Amen.”

After Jesus died on the cross the veil between the holy place and the holy of holies was torn into from the top to the bottom which opens the way to come into the presence of God, so as NT believers we can intercede for others before the throne of God in heaven, which makes us priests.  Jesus Christ is all we need to be satisfied for we find our complete satisfaction in Him, where the OT saints had to go to the temple to worship the Lord and find that satisfaction.

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  As I look at verse four in this psalm it reads that we will be satisfied with the goodness of Your house of Your temple and am thankful for the fact that I can come into the very presence of the Lord to find grace to help in a time of need.  The OT temple was a shadow of what was to come in Jesus Christ.  I find in Scripture that I am the temple of the Holy Spirit who lives in all believers and it is He who will guide me into all truth and even pray for me when things get too hard.  “Ro 8:26  In the same way the Spirit also helps our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we should, but the Spirit Himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words.”  At this difficult time in my life I am thankful for this very special promise.

My Steps of Faith for Today:  I desire to continue to meditate upon God’s Word and seek to continue to learn contentment in Him.

3/27/2012 8:17:33 AM

             

Trusting and Giving Glory to the Lord from Psalm 64:7-10

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 3/26/2012 8:23:27 AM

My Worship Time                              Focus:  Trusting and giving glory to the Lord

Bible Reading & Meditation                                   Reference:  Psalm 64:7-10

            Message of the verses:  “Trust the Lord for Victory” (vv. 7-8):  “7 But God will shoot at them with an arrow; Suddenly they will be wounded. 8 So they will make him stumble; Their own tongue is against them; All who see them will shake the head.”

            David knew of the promises of the Lord and he is known for meditating on the Word of the Lord in the night and this has given confidence to David as he writes these words in verses 7-8.  His enemies were shooting arrows at him and now God will shoot arrows at them.  We see from verse five that David’s enemies were trying to trap him so now the Lord will cause his enemies to stumble and fall.  We also see in verse eight that God will use their sword-like tongues against his enemies.

            Give Glory to the Lord (vv. 9-10):  “9 Then all men will fear, And they will declare the work of God, And will consider what He has done. 10 The righteous man will be glad in the LORD and will take refuge in Him; And all the upright in heart will glory.”

            As I have been looking at many of David’s psalms I find a similar pattern in them as is in this one and that is that David finds himself in trouble and so he calls upon the Lord.  I then see that David will to some extent explain the trouble to the Lord and perhaps even remember different times when the Lord has been faithful to David causing him to escape the trouble and then I find a very important thing in David’s writings, and that is that he will praise the Lord and give glory to the Lord for causing him to escape the trouble he is in.  This is not the pattern to all of his writings in the psalms, but many and Psalm 64 follows this pattern.

            There are those who were watching David’s victories over the nations around Israel who want to destroy them and this gives them a picture of who the Lord is, but many times they miss this opportunity because they believe that the God of Israel is just another God among all the gods that were worshipped then. 

            These two verses are a testimony to the Lord and bring glory to his name.  Some will see the works of the Lord and believe in Him, but like I said above many will not.  However the believers will see the great works of the Lord and praise the Lord along with David.  God deserves all of the glory.

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  One of the things that I have been finding David do as he speaks about them in the psalms he writes and that is to meditate upon the Word of the Lord.  This is part of a good process that I as a believer need to follow.  I am to read the Word of God, study the Word of God, meditate on the Word of God, and then put into practice what I have been learning and meditating.  Our minds are always working and so we need to fill them with God’s Word and as we think about it, which is meditating on it, we will be drawing closer to the Lord and what He has for us to do.

My Steps of Faith for Today:  Meditate upon the Word of God and continue to learn contentment.  To praise the Lord in all situations that I am in.

3/26/2012 8:47:39 AM 

Seek God's Protection and His Wisdom from Psalm 64:1-6

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 03/25/2012 8:10 AM

My Worship Time                                          Focus:  Seek God’s protection and Wisdom

                                                         

Bible Reading & Meditation                                     Reference:  Psalm 64:1-6

            Message of the verses:  “This psalm begins with a vivid description of the devious ways of the wicked, especially their speech (vv. 3-5, 8).  Still the psalmist does not fear that God will lose control of the situation.  After seeing His justice at work, the righteous will be glad and trust all the more in Him (64:10).”  (John MacArthur Study Bible)

            “David was probably serving in Saul’s court when he wrote this psalm (1Sam. 18-20). He knew that Saul was his enemy and wanted to kill him and that most of Saul’s officers were in a conspiracy against him.  Though he was the anointed king, David had no authority to oppose Saul, and eventually he had to flee and hide in the wilderness.  People give us all kinds of trouble, but our battle is not against flesh and blood, but against Satan and his hosts (Eph. 6:10ff).  This psalm instructs us what to do in the battles of life.”  (Warren Wiersbe)

            John Gill gives a very interesting approach to Psalm 64 in his introductory writings:  “This psalm is applied by R. Obadiah to Haman and Mordecai. The enemy is Haman, the perfect man shot at is Mordecai; about whom Haman communed with his friends to lay snares for him, and searched diligently for occasions against him and his people, which issued in his own destruction. The ancient Midrash {y} of the Jews applies it to Daniel, when cast into the den of lions; and Jarchi supposes that David, by a spirit of prophecy, foresaw it, and prayed for him who was of his seed; and that everything in the psalm beautifully falls in with that account: Daniel is the perfect man aimed at; the enemy are the princes of Darius’s court, who consulted against him, communed of laying snares for him, and gained their point, which proved their own ruin. But the psalm literally belongs to David, by whom it was composed. The Arabic versions call it a psalm of David, when Saul persecuted him; and the Syriac version refers it to the time when Gad said to him, abide not in the hold, #1Sa 22:5. He is the perfect man, who was upright and innocent as to what he was charged with in respect to Saul; who is the enemy, from the fear of whom he desires his life might be preserved; and who with his courtiers took counsel against him, and laid deep schemes to destroy him, but at last were destroyed themselves. Moreover, the psalm may very well be applied to the Messiah, the son of David, and who was his antitype, and especially in his sufferings: he is the perfect man in the highest sense; the Jews were the enemies that took counsel, and searched for occasions against him, and accomplished their designs in a good measure; for which wrath came upon them to the uttermost. The psalmist also may be very well thought to represent the church and people of God; who in all ages have had their enemies and their fears; against whom wicked men have devised mischief, and leveled their arrows of persecution; though no weapon formed against them shall prosper.”

            Seek the Lord’s Protection (vv. 1-2):  “1 For the choir director. A Psalm of David:  Hear my voice, O God, in my complaint; Preserve my life from dread of the enemy. 2 Hide me from the secret counsel of evildoers, From the tumult of those who do iniquity.”

            I do not know for sure when David wrote this psalm, and neither do the commentators who I read knew, but it does seem to fit into David’s life when he was living at the court of Saul close to the time when he would flee for his life.  We know from the section in 1Sam. 18-20 that David was greatly hated by Saul, and that the officers of Saul greatly hated David too, so David was, humanely speaking in a bad place and so we see David cry out to the Lord in Psalm 64, asking that God would hear his voice.  We can be sure that David knew that God would listen to his prayer, but David writes similar words in many of the psalms that he has written for David was very serious in his prayers to the Lord.  In the KJV we see the word “prayer”, while in the NASB the Hebrew word is translated as “complaint” in verse one, for David had a complaint that he wanted to talk to the Lord about, and that complaint is seen in verse two.  Dr. Wiersbe writes “David didn’t ask God to change the circumstances but to fortify his own heart and deliver him from fear.  The fear of the Lord mobilizes us, but the fear of man paralyzes us.”  David faced two problems which were the hatred of Saul and the conspiracy of both Saul and his officers.  All the while David had the promise of being anointed king of Israel and I am sure that this bolstered his faith in the Lord.

            Ask for the Lord’s Wisdom (vv. 3-6):  “3 Who have sharpened their tongue like a sword. They aimed bitter speech as their arrow, 4 To shoot from concealment at the blameless; Suddenly they shoot at him, and do not fear. 5 They hold fast to themselves an evil purpose; They talk of laying snares secretly; They say, "Who can see them?" 6 They devise injustices, saying, "We are ready with a well-conceived plot"; For the inward thought and the heart of a man are deep.”

            As we read through these four verses we can surmise that David knew the plans of those who were trying to destroy him.  As believers today we know the strategy of Satan when he attacks us “so that no advantage would be taken of us by Satan, for we are not ignorant of his schemes.”  (2Cor. 2:11) “Be of sober spirit, be on the alert. Your adversary, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.”  (1Peter 5:8)  “1 I wish that you would bear with me in a little foolishness; but indeed you are bearing with me. 2 For I am jealous for you with a godly jealousy; for I betrothed you to one husband, so that to Christ I might present you as a pure virgin. 3 But I am afraid that, as the serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness, your minds will be led astray from the simplicity and purity of devotion to Christ. 4 For if one comes and preaches another Jesus whom we have not preached, or you receive a different spirit which you have not received, or a different gospel which you have not accepted, you bear this beautifully.”  (2Cor. 11:1-4)  One of the chief ways Satan tries to get us is through accusation and this can be found in Revelations 12:10 “Then I heard a loud voice in heaven, saying, "Now the salvation, and the power, and the kingdom of our God and the authority of His Christ have come, for the accuser of our brethren has been thrown down, he who accuses them before our God day and night.”  We can also see this in the third chapter of the book of Zech.

            The enemies of David also set traps for him and they were so arrogant that they did not even think that God knew about the traps they were setting for him.  There is a story in 2Kings about one of the enemies of Israel who were trying to attack them and every time they would try a secret attack Israel was ready for them.  Their king suspected treason among his ranks, but one of his men told him that even whatever he said in his bedroom Elisha would go and tell the King of Israel.  They then tried without success to kill Elisha.

            It was because of all that David was going through from his enemies that he realized much about the deceitfulness of the human heart and it was for this reason that he sought the wisdom of the Lord.  “But if any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all generously and without reproach, and it will be given to him.”  (James 1:5)  I want to write a little hear about the attributes of God, of which wisdom is one of them.  As we study the Scriptures and look at commentaries on the attributes of God we will have our faith grow in the Lord.  Let us take wisdom for a brief moment and see how the wisdom of God can increase our faith in Him and also help us in our prayer life as it surely did for David.  We can look at creation in Genesis chapter one and see the wisdom of God.  We live on a planet suitable for man to live on so that we have air to breathe and food to eat and water to drink and this is all because of God’s wisdom in His planning to create planet earth.  We have heat from the sun which is exactly far enough away from the earth so we do not burn up and not too far from earth so that we freeze to death.  Now let us look at God’s wisdom in providing salvation for His people.  The problem God faced was that man sinned, which deserves death because of the justice of God.  God wisely proved salvation for people by becoming man, as the second person of the godhead, Jesus Christ became a man and took the place of man on the cross where He suffered and died to pay for our sins, and then God through His wisdom and power raised Jesus from the dead to show that He was satisfied with His sacrifice.  Man would never do anything like this, only God would do something like this because another of His attributes is love.

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  Thinking about the wisdom of God, and for that matter God’s attributes is something that give great pleasure to my heart and it also increases the effectiveness of my prayer life and my walk with the Lord for by knowing His attributes I better know my God.

My Steps of Faith for Today:  I trust the Lord to do the best for my mother who is in the hospital with an infection in her lungs.  I trust that He will care for her because He is good and wise and knows all things and because He has a plan for her life, and loves her.  I trust that the Lord will give me contentment even through this difficult time in my life.

3/25/2012 9:13:45 AM  

Praising, Remembering, and Rejoicing in God from Psalm 63:3-11

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 3/24/2012 9:21:42 AM

My Worship Time                      Focus:  Praising, Remembering, and Rejoicing in God.

Bible Reading & Meditation                                     Reference:  Psalm 63:3-11

            Message of the verses:  I missed doing my Spiritual Diary yesterday because I had to visit my mother who had taken a fall and ended up in the hospital.  I will continue with Psalm 63 in today’s Spiritual Diary.

            Praising God (vv. 3-5):  “3 Because Your lovingkindness is better than life, My lips will praise You. 4 So I will bless You as long as I live; I will lift up my hands in Your name. 5 My soul is satisfied as with marrow and fatness, And my mouth offers praises with joyful lips.”

            David did not need the Ark of the Covenant to praise the Lord or to worship the Lord for when he was fleeing from Absalom the Ark was brought out to him and David told them to take it back to Jerusalem.  David did this because he knew that it belonged in Jerusalem and if the Lord would bless him then he would return to Jerusalem where it would be.

            David knew that God’s character and works were declared in the furnishings that were in the Ark so he did not really need it in order to worship the Lord.  The Ark of the Covenant was a superstitious thing to many people of Israel, but not to David for he knew the power of God, and he knew the character of God, for many of the attributes that make up the character of God are found in the passages of Scripture that David wrote in the psalms. 

            David had no priest or altar, but David could lift up his hands to praise the Lord, something we see in verse four.  Paul writes to Timothy:  “Therefore I want the men in every place to pray, lifting up holy hands, without wrath and dissension.” 

            David had no portions of the sacrifices to eat, “but his soul feasted on spiritual delicacies that even the priests were not permitted to eat.”  “Marrow and fatness” typify the very finest of food (Deut. 32:14; Isa. 25:6).  Dr. Wiersbe writes “Instead of complaining, as we are prone to do when things go wrong, David sang praises to the Lord.”

            Remembering God (vv. 6-8):  “6 When I remember You on my bed, I meditate on You in the night watches, 7 For You have been my help, And in the shadow of Your wings I sing for joy. 8 My soul clings to You; Your right hand upholds me.” 

            Let’s begin this section with the ending portions of it, verse eight speaks of clinging to the Lord and Dr. Wiersbe explains this important truth:  “Faith without works is dead.  Believers are safe in the hands of the Father and the Son (John 10:21-29), but that doesn’t give us license to do foolish things that would endanger us.  ‘My soul cleaves after you’ is a literal translation of verse 8, including both submissive faith in God and active pursuit of God.  Jesus described this experience in John 14:21-27.”  “21  "He who has My commandments and keeps them is the one who loves Me; and he who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him and will disclose Myself to him." 22 Judas (not Iscariot) said to Him, "Lord, what then has happened that You are going to disclose Yourself to us and not to the world?" 23 Jesus answered and said to him, "If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our abode with him. 24 “He who does not love Me does not keep My words; and the word which you hear is not Mine, but the Father’s who sent Me.

    25 "These things I have spoken to you while abiding with you. 26  "But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all that I said to you. 27 “Peace I leave with you; My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Do not let your heart be troubled, nor let it be fearful.”

            Now I want to focus in on verses 6-7 where David speaks of meditating on the Lord in the “night watches.”  The night watches three in number, from sunset to ten o’clock and then from ten to two o’clock and from two until sunrise.  We don’t know if David was talking about all three of them or if he was talking about the times that he awakened and then meditated on the Lord. What was David remembering?  David was remembering the things that the Lord had already done for him, and this would give him reason to praise the Lord and also reason to believe that the Lord would continue to take care of him.  Dr. Wiersbe writes “Our God is “I AM”, not ‘I was,” and He must always be recognized in our present situation.”

            When David was speaking of being under the shadow of the wings of God he was speaking of the wings of the cherubim that were in the Holy of Holies.

            Rejoicing in God (vv. 9-11):  “9 But those who seek my life to destroy it, Will go into the depths of the earth. 10 They will be delivered over to the power of the sword; They will be a prey for foxes. 11 But the king will rejoice in God; Everyone who swears by Him will glory, For the mouths of those who speak lies will be stopped.”

            We see in verses 9-10 that David speaks of those who are his enemies and what will happen to them.  David knew that his enemies were also God’s enemies, for God’s enemies were those who wanted to destroy Israel, for God had a purpose for Israel then and still does now.  One of God’s purposes for Israel then was to have the Messiah born through the descendants of King David and we know that this did not include Absalom.  As far as God’s purposes for Israel now we know that the Lord will again deal with Israel in the future and that when the Lord Jesus Christ return from heaven to set up His kingdom on earth that He will rule from Jerusalem for 1000 years, so God is not done with Israel.

            Dr. Wiersbe writes “David didn’t rejoice in the destruction of his enemies; he rejoiced in the God of Israel.  Furthermore, he encouraged all people to praise God with him.  Often David’s personal praise became communal praise as he publicly glorified the Lord for His mercies, and so it should be with us today.” 

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  I have said many times in the past that I love David so much because he was a man after God’s own heart, and as I look at these writing of David’s and remember other psalms that he has written I understand better why he is a man after God’s own heart.  David knew the character of God and David also remembered all of the good things that God did for him and this increased his faith, and this is a great example for me. 

My Steps of Faith for Today:  I desire to remember the great things that the Lord has done for me, and of course the first thing was that He saved me from sin and will one day take me to heaven.  I desire to think about God’s character and they are summed up in His attributes such as His goodness, His wisdom, His power, His love, His justice, and His being in all places at the same time.

3/24/2012 10:26:08 AM