SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR
3/20/2012 8:11:26 AM
My Worship Time Focus: Prayer
& Praise
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: Psalm
61
Message
of the verses: “David, in this
psalm, as in many others, begins with a sad heart, but concludes with an air of
pleasantness—begins with prayers and tears, but ends with songs of praise. Thus
the soul, by being lifted up to God, returns to the enjoyment of itself. It
should seem David was driven out and banished when he penned this psalm,
whether by Saul or Absalom is uncertain: some think by Absalom, because he
calls himself ‘the king.’” (Matthew
Henry)
“TITLE. To the Chief Musician upon
Neginah, a Psalm of David. The original indicates that both the hymn and the
musical instrument were David’s. He wrote the verses and himself sang them to
the stringed instrument whose sound he loved so well. We have left the Psalms
entitled Michtam, but we shall still find much precious meaning though the
golden name be wanting. We have met with the title of this Psalm before, in #Ps
4:1 6:1 54:1 55:1, but with this difference, that in the present case the word
is in the singular number: the Psalm itself is very personal, and well adapted
for the private devotion of a single individual.” (Charles H. Spurgeon)
“David could have written this psalm
during any of the many times he was in danger, but perhaps the best context is
the rebellion under Absalom (2Sam. 15-18). David prayed about a foe (v. 3),
protection for his life (v. 6), and the security of his throne (v. 7, where he
‘abide’ means ‘be enthroned’). The psalm
opens with David crying out in distress but closes with him singing praises to
God.” (Warren Wiersbe)
“Hear
Me”—A Cry to the Lord (vv. 1-4): “1 For
the choir director; on a stringed instrument. A Psalm of David: Hear my cry, O God; Give heed to my prayer. 2 From the end of the earth I call to You when
my heart is faint; Lead me
to the rock that is higher than I. 3
For You have been a refuge for me, A tower of strength against the
enemy. 4 Let me dwell in Your tent forever; Let me take refuge in the shelter
of Your wings. Selah.”
It seems that we have looked at many
psalms that were written by David when he had moved out of Jerusalem because of
Absalom and according to most of the commentators I read this is another one
that came from that very difficult time in the life of David. I believe that we can gain courage and
strength from that difficult time in the life of David because we can see God’s
hand of love and mercy upon David during that difficult time in his life. We must remember that the reason that David
was in trouble was because of his sin with Bathsheba and Uriah and we must also
remember the words that the Apostle Paul wrote to the Romans, “but where sin
increased, grace abounded all the more”, (Romans 5:20b). It was not in the plan of God to have Absalom
rule in Israel and David knew that so I am sure that this encouraged him and
even though He was down hearted we see in this first part of Psalm 61 that
David cried out to the Lord in prayer in verse one. The phrase “from the end of the earth” is
speaking spiritually because even though David was not too far from Jerusalem
he was away from where he worshiped the Lord at the tent where the dwelling
place of God was he felt that he was at the end of the earth. We know that David took worshiping the Lord
very seriously, something that we all should do.
We also see in verse three that
David refers to God as “Rock” something we have seen in other psalms written by
David. David knows that in himself he
cannot handle this difficult situation so he desires to go to the Rock that is
higher than he is.
In verse three we see the history of
David’s trust in the Lord and how the Lord in the past has taken care of David
and got him out of some very difficult situations and so David reminds the Lord
of this in his prayer. I believe that
this kind of prayer is pleasing to the Lord, for when we pray in this way God
knows that we have remembered His work in our lives that He has done.
We see something familiar in verse
four and that is that David wants to dwell with the Lord forever, David wants
to be in the tent where the presence of God is where the two cherubim’s were on
the Ark of the Covenant in the Holy of Holies.
Now we know that David was not a priest and could not enter the Holy of
Holies but David knew about this from the Scriptures. Believers today can enter into the presence
of God for when the Lord Jesus Christ died on the cross the curtain that divided
the holy place from the Holy of Holies was torn from top to bottom opening up
the Holy of Holies to all who trust in the Lord Jesus Christ for their
salvation. “19 Therefore, brethren,
since we have confidence to enter the holy place by the blood of Jesus, 20 by a
new and living way which He inaugurated for us through the veil, that is, His
flesh, 21 and since we have a great priest over the house of God, 22 let us
draw near with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts
sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water.” (Hebrews 10:19-22)
“You
Have Heard Me”—Confidence in the Lord (vv. 5-8): “5 For
You have heard my vows, O God; You have given me the inheritance of those who
fear Your name. 6 You will prolong the king’s life; His years will be as many
generations. 7 He will abide before God forever; Appoint lovingkindness and
truth that they may preserve him. 8 So I will sing praise to Your name forever,
That I may pay my vows day by day.”
In verse five we see that David speaks
of the vows that he had made to the Lord while he was wandering in the
wilderness, vows that had to do with how he would lead God’s chosen people of
Israel. David lead the people in a godly
way, in a way, for the most part, honored the Lord. We find these words written in 1Kings
15:5 “because David did what was right
in the sight of the LORD, and had not turned aside from anything that He
commanded him all the days of his life, except in the case of Uriah the
Hittite.” When we go to the account of
David’s life in 1Chronicles we do not even see the incident of David and
Bathsheba and Uriah at all, and the NT does not mention it either. I think that we as believers must remember
that because our sins have been paid for that they are as far away as the East
is from the West. When we sin, and we
will sin, we must do as 1John 1:9 instructs us to do “If we confess our sins,
He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all
unrighteousness.” We are to agree with
God that what we have done is sin for God is just in forgiving our sins because
of what Jesus Christ did on our behalf.
In verse six and seven we see that
David is talking about the covenant that the Lord made with him about having
someone from David’s family on the throne forever and that someone is Jesus
Christ the Lord who is the greater Son of David and who is on the throne at
this time and will remain there forever.
There were many sons of David that were not good kings, who did evil in
the sight of the Lord, but when you look back at the genealogy of Jesus Christ
in the books of Matthew and Luke you will see a bit of a difference in their
lists. Most commentators believe that Matthews’s
genealogy is the kingly line through Solomon to Joseph while in Luke’s
genealogy most believe that the line goes through David’s son Nathan to Mary. I
believe that David knew that Messiah would come through his family and for this
David was truly in awe of the grace of God.
Dr. Wiersbe writes “David’s concern
was not for his own name or family but for the future of Israel and God’s great
plan of redemption. His own throne was
in jeopardy at that time, but he had confidence that God would keep His
promises. ‘May he sit enthroned forever’
(v. 7 AMP) meant ‘May King David live out his full life,’ protected by God’s
mercy and truth, but to believers today it means, ‘May Jesus Christ reign
forever!’ The throne of glory is secure,
for God has set His King on His holy hill of Zion! (2:6). In view of this, let’s follow David’s example
and trust the Lord, call on Him, obey him ‘day after day,’ and sing His
praises.”
Spiritual
meaning for my life today: I want to
go back to one of the comments that I made about the forgiveness of God and the
grace of God, something that David knew much about. I want to live my life to do the will of God
in my life and when I sin I want to confess my sin right away to the Lord so
that I do not have any long lists of unconfessed sin, and in that way I can be
in fellowship with the Lord. When David
was confronted with his sin by Nathan he confessed his sin right away, he did
not argue with Nathan and I cannot argue with the Holy Spirit when He convicts
me of sin.
I also want to remember that the
Lord is my Rock who is higher than I as David wrote and because of this I desire
to rely on the Holy Spirit of God to lead me so that the works that I do are
the works that the God planned for me to do in eternity past (Eph. 2:10).
My
Steps of Faith for Today: Follow the
leading of the Holy Spirit and do the works that God has planned for me to do
in eternity past. I desire to seek the
Holy Spirit to search my heart for unconfessed sin (Psalm 139:23-24). I desire to continue to learn contentment (Phil.
4:11b).
3/20/2012
9:40:49 AM
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