My Strength and Trust is in the Lord (Ps. 84:5-12)

SPIRIRTUAL DIARY FOR 5/9/2012 6:24:19 PM

My Worship Time                                          Focus:  My Strength & Trust is in the Lord

Bible Reading & Meditation                         Reference:  Psalm 84: 5-12

            Message of the verses:  In yesterday’s SD we began to look at Psalm 84 and we looked at the first four verses in the psalm.  The first section was entitled “My delight is in the Lord and it covered verses 1-4.  We learned that Dr. Wiersbe wrote the following at the end of his introduction in order to help us better understand the psalm:  “The psalmist’s inability to attend the feast did not rob him of the blessings of fellowship with the Lord.  All who are true pilgrims can make the same three affirmations that he made.”

            My Strength Is in the Lord (vv. 5-8):  “5 How blessed is the man whose strength is in You, In whose heart are the highways to Zion! 6 Passing through the valley of Baca they make it a spring; The early rain also covers it with blessings. 7 They go from strength to strength, Every one of them appears before God in Zion.  8 O LORD God of hosts, hear my prayer; Give ear, O God of Jacob! Selah.”

            We see in these verses that the psalmist was not able to go up to Jerusalem, but in his mind he had a map of Israel and certainly knew the route that he would have gone if he had been able.  In verse six we see that the psalmist writes about “passing through the valley of Baca and then he writes about the early rain which covers it with a blessing.  Dr. Wiersbe writes the following on this section, something that will bless your hearts.  “The ‘Valley of Baca’ is a name for any difficult and painful place in life, where everything seems hopeless and you feel helpless, like ‘the pit of despair.’  The people who love God expect to pass through this valley and not remain there.  They get a blessing from the experience, and they leave a blessing behind.  Like Abraham and Isaac, they ‘did a well’ and like Samuel and Elijah, they pray down the rain.  It’s wonderful to receive a blessing, but it’s even greater to be a blessing and transform a desert into a garden.  True pilgrims ‘go from strength to strength’ and trust God to enable them to walk a step at a time and work a day at a time.  They are people of prayer who keep in communion with the Lord, not matter what their circumstances may be.  ‘Blessed are those who strength is in you’ (v. 5, NIV).”

            My Trust Is in the Lord (vv. 9-12):  “9 Behold our shield, O God, And look upon the face of Your anointed. 10 For a day in Your courts is better than a thousand outside. I would rather stand at the threshold of the house of my God Than dwell in the tents of wickedness. 11 For the LORD God is a sun and shield; The LORD gives grace and glory; No good thing does He withhold from those who walk uprightly. 12 O LORD of hosts, How blessed is the man who trusts in You!”

            In verse eight the psalmist is asking God to hear his prayer and in verse nine the psalmist then will lift his prayers to the Lord, and he begins his prayer by praying for the king, for the words “our shield” can mean either the king of Israel or it can also mean the Lord.  "O mountains of Gilboa, Let not dew or rain be on you, nor fields of offerings; For there the shield of the mighty was defiled, The shield of Saul, not anointed with oil.’”  David writes this verse in 2Samuel 1:21 about Saul who had just been killed by the Philistines along with his sons.   Dr. Wiersbe writes “Because the future of the Messianic promise rested with the line of King David. (2Sam. 7), and the psalmists wanted the Messiah to come.  Believers today should pray faithfully for those in authority (1Tim. 2:1-4).

            Verse ten speaks of walking by faith and this is the OT version of two verses in the NT:  “"But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.”  “For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain.”  (Matthew 6:33 & Phil. 1:21)

            In the last part of verse ten we read about standing at the threshold of the house of God.  In the beginning of the psalm we read that it is a psalm of the sons of Korah, and when you go back to the OT book of Numbers we find that Korah was a Levite and he had rebelled against the Lord and Moses and so the Lord destroyed him, but not all of his family for the sons do not pay for the sins of the fathers.  We read at the end of the verses that the psalmist states that he would rather be a gatekeeper in the house of the Lord than dwell in the tents of wickedness.   We see here that the psalmist did not aspire to a high place, for a gatekeeper is not a high goal.  We also read about the tents of wickedness and that speaks of Korah when he was living in a tent and rebelled against the Lord and Moses. 

            Verse eleven speaks of the Lord God being a sun and a shield, and we can learn from this that those who put their total trust in the Lord have all that they need.  The Lord is to them what the sun is to our universe, and we know that we couldn’t get along without it.

            Dr. Wiersbe writes at the end of his commentary these words:  “Do we depend on His strength?  Do we walk and work by faith?  Are we among those who walk uprightly (v.11)?”

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  The three questions that are written at the end of the commentary are compelling questions, questions that step on my toes.  I know in my heart that all that I need is the Lord, but do I always act that way?

My Steps of Faith for Today:  “5 Trust in the LORD with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. 6 In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.”

5/9/2012 7:22:32 PM