SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR
4/28/2012 10:27:16 AM
My Worship Time Focus: Psalm
79 PT-1
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: Psalm
79:1-4
Message
of the verses: We begin to look at
Psalm 79 in today’s SD and will first look at several introductions from
different Bible commentators of which the first one will be Charles H.
Spurgeon: “Title and Subject. A Psalm of Asaph: A Psalm of complaint such
as Jeremiah might have written amid the ruins of the beloved city. It evidently treats of times of invasion,
oppression, and national overthrow.
Asaph was a patriotic poet, and was never more at home than when he
rehearsed the history of his nation. Would to God that we had national poets
whose song should be of the Lord.
“Division: From #Ps 79:1-4 the complaint is poured out,
from #Ps 79:5-12 prayer is presented, and, in the closing verse, praise is
promised.”
“This
psalm, if penned with any particular event in view, is with most probability
made to refer to the destruction of Jerusalem and the temple, and the woeful
havoc made of the Jewish nation by the Chaldeans under Nebuchadnezzar. It is
set to the same tune, as I may say, with the Lamentations of Jeremiah, and that
weeping prophet borrows two verses out of it (#Ps 79:6-7) and makes use of them
in his prayer, #Jer. 10:25. Some think it was penned long before by the spirit
of prophecy, prepared for the use of the church in that cloudy and dark day.
Others think that it was penned then by the spirit of prayer, either by a
prophet named Asaph or by some other prophet for the sons of Asaph. Whatever
the particular occasion was, we have here,
“I. A representation of the very deplorable
condition that the people of God were in at this time, #Ps 79:1-5.
“II. A petition to God for succour and
relief, that their enemies might be reckoned with (#Ps 79:6-7,10,12), that
their sins might be pardoned (#Ps 79:8-9), and that they might be delivered,
#Ps 79:11.
“III. A plea taken from the readiness of his
people to praise him, #Ps 79:13. In times of the church’s peace and prosperity
this psalm may, in the singing of it, give us occasion to bless God that we are
not thus trampled on and insulted. But it is especially seasonable in a day of
treading down and perplexity, for the exciting of our desires towards God and
the encouragement of our faith in him as the church’s patron.”
“God gave His people victory over
Egypt (77) and helped them march through the wilderness and then conquer Canaan
(78). He also gave them King David who
defeated their enemies and expanded their kingdom. But now God’s people are captive, the city
and temple are ruined, and the heathen nations are triumphant. (See also 74 for parallels: 79:1/74:3, 7;
79:2/74:19; 79:5/74:10; 79:12/74:10, 18, 22)
We see Asaph playing four different roles as he contemplates the defeat
of Judah by the Babylonians. Each
division of the psalm opens with an address to Jehovah: ‘O God’ (v.1); ‘O Lord’
(v. 5); ‘O God our Savior (v.9); and ‘O Lord’ (v.12).” (Warren Wiersbe)
I will begin looking at this psalm
using the different verses from 79 and 74 that Dr. Wiersbe has written about in
his introductory commentary.
Ps. 79:1
“1 A Psalm of Asaph: O God, the nations have invaded Your inheritance; They
have defiled Your holy temple; They have laid Jerusalem in ruins. /Psalm 74:3
& 7 “3 Turn Your footsteps toward the perpetual ruins; The enemy has
damaged everything within the sanctuary.
7 They have burned Your sanctuary to the ground; They have defiled the
dwelling place of Your name.”
Psalm
79:2 “2 They have given the dead bodies of Your servants for food to the birds
of the heavens, The flesh of Your godly ones to the beasts of the earth. /
Psalm 74:19 19 Do not deliver the soul of Your turtledove to the wild beast; Do
not forget the life of Your afflicted forever.”
Psalm
79:5 “5 How long, O LORD? Will You be angry forever? Will Your jealousy burn
like fire? /Psalm 74:10 “10 How long, O God, will the adversary revile, And the
enemy spurn Your name forever?”
Psalm
79:12 “12 And return to our neighbors sevenfold into their bosom The reproach
with which they have reproached You, O Lord. /Psalm 74:10 “10 How long, O God, will the adversary revile,
And the enemy spurn Your name forever? Psalm 74:18 Remember this, O LORD, that
the enemy has reviled, And a foolish people has spurned Your name. Psalm 74:22
Arise, O God, and plead Your own cause; Remember how the foolish man reproaches
You all day long.”
The
Mourner: Beholding God’s Judgment (vv.
1-4): “1 A Psalm of Asaph.: O God, the nations have invaded Your inheritance; They
have defiled Your holy
temple; They have laid Jerusalem in ruins. 2 They have given the dead
bodies of Your servants
for food to the birds of the heavens, The flesh of Your godly ones to the
beasts of the earth. 3 They have poured out their blood like water round about
Jerusalem; And there was no one to bury them. 4 We have become a reproach to
our neighbors, A scoffing and derision to those around us.”
The first thing that I want to
look at here is the reproach that Israel had become to their neighbors which is
seen in verse 4. “Deuteronomy 28:37 You
will become an object of horror, ridicule, and mockery among all the nations to
which the LORD sends you.” (NLT) “You make us a reproach to our neighbors, A
scoffing and a derision to those around us.” (Psalm 44:13) You make us an object of contention to our
neighbors, And our enemies laugh among themselves.” (Psalm 80:6)
GOD, remember those Edomites, and remember the ruin of Jerusalem, That
day they yelled out, "Wreck it, smash it to bits!’ (Psalm 137:7 Message) In the 25th chapter of the book of
Ezekiel, which has 17 verses in it, the prophet gets a Word from the Lord that
says He is going to destroy these nations because of how they acted when Israel
was being ravished by the Babylonians.
This leads me to the second point that I want to make from this section
and that is that the Land of Israel was God’s inheritance and He shared it with
the children of Israel. God made a
covenant with Israel and they did not fulfill their part of the covenant and so
they were invaded by the Babylonians and taken into captivity, which was part
of the covenant that God had made with Israel that if they did not follow the
Lord He would lead them into captivity.
There is one more thing that I want
to mention here and that is what we read in verse one “Your Inheritance” and
“Your holy Temple” and in verse 2 “Your servants.” Asaph realizes that all of this that has
happened, the defeat by the Babylonians, the mocking of the neighbors, the
burning of Jerusalem, and the temple, and the awfulness that was done to the
bodies of the children of Israel was done to God because it is all Gods. There are times, too many times, when all we
are thinking of is ourselves and not about the holiness of God. If you are a born again believer in Jesus
Christ you belong to God and be thankful for that for otherwise you would
belong to Satan and the world and end up in hell. Our lives are all about God and we need to
live for God. There is a gospel going
around called the health and wealth gospel, where if you accept Jesus Christ as
your Savior you will be blessed with health and wealth, but that is not at all
what God has promised for believers.
What happened to all of the Apostles of Jesus Christ? All but one of them was martyred for the
cause of Christ. I have read that in
today’s world there are 1000 people each day in this world of seven billion
souls that dies for the cause of Jesus Christ.
This is a far cry from the health and wealth gospel that is being
preached in today’s world.
THE SHORTER
CATECHISM EXPLAINED
QUESTION 1: What is the chief end of man?
ANSWER: Man’s chief end is to glorify God, and to enjoy him forever.
This comes from the West Minster
Catechism and gives the first question and the answer to the first question,
and it says that as believers, we are to bring glory to God, and we are also to
enjoy God forever. The question and
answer is Scriptural, but there is nothing in this to show that we are to
expect in this life wealth and health.
Asaph realized this when he wrote Psalm 79, he also realized that it was
all about God. When we look at the
prayers in the ninth chapter of Ezra, and also the ninth chapter of Daniel we
see both Ezra and Daniel confessing to God the sins that the people had
committed that caused them to be captive in Babylon, but they also put
themselves in that same category as those who had sinned against the Lord. Both Ezra and Daniel knew that they were born
sinners and that is probably why the put themselves with those who had sinned
against the Lord, but they also knew that it was all about God and not about
them and so did Asaph.
Spiritual
meaning for my life today: I want to
remember that I am to glorify God and to enjoy Him forever.
My Steps of Faith for Today:
Bring glory to my Lord this day.
Continue to learn contentment.
4/28/2012
11:52:27 AM
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