SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR
4-02-2012 9:15AM
My Worship Time Focus:
God comes to us
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: Psalm
68:1-6
Message
of the verses: I have decided to
only use the introduction written by Warren Wiersbe as we begin to look at
Psalm 68.
“Read the ‘Song of Deborah’
(Judges 5) as preparation for studying this psalm, and compare the
parallels: Psalm 68:4; Judges 5:3, 7-8, 4-5,
12/30, 13/16, 18/12, and 27, 14, 18. The
emphasis is on God’s mighty acts on behalf of Israel resulting in His decision
to dwell on Mount Zion. Several names of
God are used, including Elohim (23 times), Jehovah, Jat (short for Jehovah, as
in hallelujah, Elijah, etc), Adonai (6 times), and Shaddai. The psalm is
Messianic; Paul quotes verse 18 in Ephesians 4:8 and applies it to the
ascension of Christ. The use of ‘temple’
in verse 29 doesn’t prohibit Davidic authorship since the word hekal was applied to the tabernacle as
well (1Samuel 1:9, 3:3; and see Psalm 5:7; 41:4; 18:6; 27:4; 65:4). The psalm is a jubilant hymn of praise to Jehovah in which the nation
of Israel gives four expressions of triumph through their God.”
Before we begin to look at Psalm 68
I want to quote the verses from Judges 5 along with the verses in Psalm 68 like
Dr. Wiersbe suggests in his introduction.
I will highlight the verses from Judges 5 in yellow and the verses in
Psalm 68 in blue to tell the difference.
4 Sing to God, sing praises to His
name; Lift up a song for Him who rides through the deserts, Whose name is the
LORD, and exult before Him. 3 “Hear, O kings; give ear, O rulers! I-to the LORD, I will sing, I will
sing praise to the LORD, the God of Israel.
7 O God, when You went forth before
Your people, When You marched through the wilderness, Selah. 8 The earth
quaked; The heavens also dropped rain at the presence of God; Sinai itself
quaked at the presence of God, the God of Israel. 4 “LORD, when You went out from
Seir, When You marched from the field of Edom, The earth quaked, the heavens
also dripped, Even the clouds dripped water. 5 “The mountains quaked at the
presence of the LORD, This Sinai, at the presence of the LORD, the God of
Israel.
12 “Kings of armies flee, they flee,
And she who remains at home will divide the spoil!"
30 ’Are they not
finding, are they not dividing the spoil? A maiden, two maidens for every
warrior; To Sisera a spoil of dyed work, A spoil of dyed work embroidered, Dyed
work of double embroidery on the neck of the spoiler?’
13 When you lie down among the
sheepfolds, You are like the wings of a dove covered with silver, And its
pinions with glistening gold. 16 “Why did you sit among the sheepfolds, To hear the piping for the
flocks? Among the divisions of Reuben There were great searchings of heart.
18 You have ascended on high, You have
led captive Your captives; You have received gifts among men, Even among the
rebellious also, that the LORD God may dwell there.
12 "Awake, awake,
Deborah; Awake, awake, sing a song! Arise, Barak, and take away your captives,
O son of Abinoam
27 There is Benjamin, the youngest,
ruling them, The princes of Judah in their throng, The princes of Zebulun, the
princes of Naphtali. 14 "From Ephraim those whose root is in Amalek came down, Following
you, Benjamin, with your peoples; From Machir commanders came down, And from
Zebulun those who wield the staff of office.
18 “Zebulun was a people who despised their lives even to death, And
Naphtali also, on the high places of the field.
Our
God Is Coming to Us (vv. 1-6): “1 For
the choir director. A Psalm of David: A Song. Let God arise, let His enemies be
scattered, And let those who hate Him flee before Him. 2 As smoke is driven
away, so drive them away; As wax melts before the fire, So let the wicked
perish before God. 3 But let the righteous be glad; let them exult before God;
Yes, let them rejoice with gladness. 4 Sing to God, sing praises to His name;
Lift up a song for Him who rides through the deserts, Whose name is the LORD,
and exult before Him. 5 A father of the fatherless and a judge for the widows,
Is God in His holy habitation. 6 God makes a home for the lonely; He leads out
the prisoners into prosperity, Only the rebellious dwell in a parched land.”
Verse one is a quotation from
Numbers 10:35, but in order to understand what it means I will quote Numbers
10:33-35 “33 Thus they set out from the mount of the LORD three days’ journey,
with the ark of the covenant of the LORD journeying in front of them for the
three days, to seek out a resting place for them. 34 The cloud of the LORD was
over them by day when they set out from the camp. 35 Then it came about when
the ark set out that Moses said, "Rise up, O LORD! And let Your enemies be scattered, And let those
who hate You flee before You.’”
Psalm 68 pictures the Lord on the march on behalf of His people. We can see that God fights their battles and
leads them into the Promised Land and then He will take up residence in the
sanctuary on Mt. Zion. In verse two we
see that the enemies of the Lord are blown away like smoke, like the melting of
wax that gets close to a fire. This is
the fate of the rebels who oppose the Lord, but in verse three we see a
different story for the righteous, for they will be glad to see the Lord and
will lift up a song for the Lord who rides through the desert. Dr. Wiersbe writes that the phrase riding
through the desert should read “cast up a highway for him who rides through the
desert” (AMP). This would be something like what John the Baptist did in
preparation for the coming of Messiah, The Lord Jesus Christ, and I believe
that it will be like when Elijah comes to prepare the second coming of the Lord
Jesus Christ. I think that many Bible
commentators believe that Elijah is one of the two witnesses that are spoken of
in the book of Revelations chapter eleven.
The Lord will care for the fatherless
and the widows and this is something that is mentioned in Scripture many
times. The wicked will be judged but the
Lord will make a home for the lonely and lead the prisoners into prosperity.
Spiritual
meaning for my life today: One of the things that I trust in the Lord doing
is seen in this portion of Psalm 68 and that is He will make all wrongs
right. God will judge the wicked one day
and I am looking forward to that happening.
In today’s world we see many people living their lives like there is no
God, but one day they will find out that the wickedness that they have done was
not done in a closet for the Lord knows what they have done and because one of
His attributes is Justice He will judge those who have not accepted the
judgment that was taken out on His Son on the cross, something that is
celebrated this coming Friday, but something that should be celebrated every
day, and also the celebration of His resurrection should be celebrated every
day too. God judged His Son for those who will accept it but for those who turn
their back on it God will judge them.
My Steps of Faith for Today:
Trust the Lord when it come to judgment for He has said that vengeance
is Mine saith the Lord, and so as I continue to learn contentment I must be
content that God will do the judging in His own time.
4/2/2012
10:03:33 AM
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