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 67th 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
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