SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR
4/16/2012 9:02:48 AM
My Worship Time Focus: Remember
Who is in control!
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: Psalm
74:12-23
Message
of the verses: In today’s SD we will
begin to look at the rest of Psalm 74, remembering that the psalm is a psalm by
Asaph and the subject is the destruction of the temple of God in Jerusalem by
the Babylonians. How he deals with this
is what this psalm is about and in the first eleven verses we saw that Asaph
though that the Lord had rejected Israel.
The
Throne: “The Lord Reigns!” (vv.
12-17): “12 Yet God is my king from
of old, Who works deeds of deliverance in the midst of the earth. 13 You
divided the sea by Your strength; You broke the heads of the sea monsters in
the waters. 14 You crushed the heads of Leviathan; You gave him as food for the
creatures of the wilderness. 15 You broke open springs and torrents; You dried
up ever-flowing streams. 16 Yours is the day, Yours also is the night; You have
prepared the light and the sun. 17 You have established all the boundaries of
the earth; You have made summer and winter.”
“12 Yet God my King is from of
old, working salvation in the midst of
the earth. 13 You divided the sea by your might; you broke the heads of the sea
monsters on the waters. 14 You crushed the heads of Leviathan; you gave him as
food for the creatures of the wilderness. 15 You split open springs and brooks;
you dried up ever-flowing streams. 16 Yours is the day, yours also the night;
you have established the heavenly lights and the sun. 17 You have fixed all the
boundaries of the earth; you have made summer and winter.” (ESV)
We can picture Asaph standing in
the ruins of Jerusalem as it burns and is smoldering and he wonders who is
still in charge, and then a turning point comes and he remembers that the Lord
is still on His throne and in control of what is happening on the earth. Asaph remembers that God brings salvation to
those on the earth and he probably was speaking of not only the salvation of
humans from sin but the salvation that God would provide for the nation of
Israel in caring for them. Asaph then
goes back to the Exodus, remembering how the Lord brought Israel out of Egypt
by dividing the sea and the he is probably speaking of the Egyptians when he
talks about the sea monsters, for God killed all the Egyptians who had followed
Israel into the sea. In verse 15 Asaph
speaks of God giving water to Israel in the wilderness and then even goes back
to the creation in verse 16 as he speaks about the creation of the day and
night and the sun. Verse 17 continues
speaking of creation speaking of how God set the boundaries for the seas and
dry land. It was good for Asaph to
remember these things in such a difficult time.
The
Covenant: “The Lord Remembers Us!”
(vv.18-23): “18 Remember this, O
LORD, how the enemy scoffs, and a
foolish people reviles your name. 19 Do not deliver the soul of your dove to
the wild beasts; do not forget the life of your poor forever. 20 Have regard
for the covenant, for the dark places of the land are full of the habitations
of violence. 21 Let not the downtrodden turn back in shame; let the poor and
needy praise your name. 22 Arise, O God, defend your cause; remember how the
foolish scoff at you all the day! 23 Do not forget the clamor of your foes, the
uproar of those who rise against you, which goes up continually!” (ESV)
Psalm 89:14 says, “Righteousness
and justice are the foundation of Your throne; Lovingkindness and truth go
before You.” Since this is true then
Asaph could now move on in his mind to the covenant that God had made with
Israel. The covenant is found in Lev. 26
and also in Deu. 28-30. The covenant says that if Israel obeys the Lord then He
will bless them and if they disobey Him God would chasten them. God had sent prophets to speak to the people
and the kings of Israel, but they would not listen to them. In this paragraph we see that Asaph is
talking about how the Babylonians are mocking God and this is a concern to
him. In the world we live in today we
have seen leaders of nations mock God, but rest assured those who have done
this and not confessed it and are now in the grave are not mocking God anymore. We must remember the story that the Lord
Jesus told in Luke’s gospel about the rich man and Lazarus. In that story the rich man died and was in
the flames and looked across a great divide to see Abraham and Lazarus asking
Abraham to send Lazarus back to tell his brothers of what awaits them, but
Abraham told them that they had the Word of God and even if a person came back
from the dead to tell them to repent they would not do it. I remind us of this story to show that death
is final, and as John the Baptist said in John 3:36 there are only two kinds of
people in this world: “"He who
believes in the Son has eternal life; but he who does not obey the Son will not
see life, but the wrath of God abides on him.’”
The wrath of God would come upon the Babylonians for their mocking of
God (See Daniel 5).
Israel would repent of their sins
(See Daniel 9, Ezra 9, and Nehemiah 9), and God would remember them as He
promised that He would and bring them back into the land. (See Jeremiah 25:11-12 and also 29:10) and
when we look at chapters 44 & 45 of Isaiah we will even see that God had
called Cyrus to send His people back to Israel.
Dr. Wiersbe writes about Asaph’s
cause “It was God’s cause that was uppermost in his (Asaph) mind. The prophet Jeremiah had preached about the
dependability of God’s covenant (Jer. 33:19-20), and Asaph was asking God to
fulfill His purposes for the nation.”
“The nation had been ravaged, the
city of Jerusalem had been wrecked, and the temple had been destroyed and
burned—but the essentials had not been
touched by the enemy! The nation still had Jehovah God as their God, His
Word and His covenant had not been changed, and Jehovah was at work in the
world! God is at work in our world
today, and we need not despair.”
Spiritual
meaning for my life today: “God is
at work in our world today, and we need not despair.”
My Steps of Faith for Today: remember
that God is at work in our world today, and we need not despair.
4/16/2012
9:52:47 AM
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