SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR
6/28/2012 9:41:40 AM
My Worship Time Focus: Psalm
99 PT-2
Bible Reading &
Meditation Reference:
Psalm 99:4-9
Message
of the verses: We will continue to
look at the 99th Psalm in Today’s Spiritual Diary, picking up with
verse four.
A
Just Throne (vv. 4-5): “4 The
strength of the King loves justice; You have established equity; You have
executed justice and righteousness in Jacob. 5 Exalt the LORD our God And
worship at His footstool; Holy is He.”
According to Deuteronomy 17:14-20 it
was God’s plan all along to have a king in Israel, one whom He chose, one who
would rule in righteousness and in justice.
David was the man that God chose to be king over Israel, and his sons
would rule after him. We know that the
Lord Jesus Christ is the son of David and He will one day rule over all the
earth from Jerusalem, and we know that when He rules over all the nations of
the world He will rule in justice and righteousness. It is very interesting that God has Moses
write about a king to come and rule over Israel so many years before God chose
David to begin the dynasty over first all of Israel, and then just Judah and
Benjamin. The reason I say this is
because when the people cried out to Samuel to give them a king God was not
happy with this but He allowed them to have a king. I believe that the first king over Israel,
Saul, was a man after the people’s heart while David was a man after God’s own
heart as the Scriptures state. Sometimes
the worst thing we can get is an answer to a prayer that is not in line with
what God desires for you, and this was the case with Israel in wanting a king
and getting Saul.
The word “footstool” in verse five
is seen in different places in the Scriptures.
God has called the earth His footstool, and it can also mean the Ark of
the Covenant as seen in 1Chronicles 28:2.
The sanctuary of God is seen as the footstool in Psalm 132:7, and also
in Isaiah 60:13, along with Ezekiel 43:7, then the city of Jerusalem is also
called the footstool,” How the Lord has covered the daughter of Zion With a
cloud in His anger! He has cast from heaven to earth The glory of Israel, And
has not remembered His footstool In the day of His anger.” (Lam. 2:1)
We see in Isaiah 66:1 and Matthew 5:35 these words, “Thus says the LORD,
"Heaven is My throne and the earth is My footstool. Where then is a house
you could build for Me? And where is a place that I may rest?” “or by the earth, for it is the footstool of
His feet, or by Jerusalem, for it is THE CITY OF THE GREAT KING.”
Dr. Wiersbe writes, “Note that verse
5 is the central verse of the psalm and emphasizes the three major themes of
the psalm: God’s holiness and our
privilege and responsibility to worship Him and exalt Him (see vv. 3 and 9).”
A
Gracious Throne (vv. 6-9): “6 Moses
and Aaron were among His priests, And Samuel was among those who called on His
name; They called upon the LORD and He answered them. 7 He spoke to them in the
pillar of cloud; They kept His testimonies And the statute that He gave them. 8
O LORD our God, You answered them; You were a forgiving God to them, And yet an
avenger of their evil deeds. 9 Exalt the LORD our God And worship at His holy
hill, For holy is the LORD our God.”
I always enjoy reading the psalms that go back and
speak of things that happened before they were written and this is the case in
this last section too. I also enjoy
reading the psalms that have to do with the future, and many of them point to
the reign of Jesus Christ on the earth, and we can even see the crucifixion of
Jesus Christ in Psalm 22.
We see in the Old Testament that
there were priests who ministered before the Lord in either the tabernacle or
in the temple. The high priest was the
only one who could go into the Holy of Holies on the Day of Atonement to apply
the blood on the Ark of the Covenant, however according to “Hebrews 4:16
Therefore let us draw near with confidence to the throne of grace, so that we
may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.” How is this made possible? Through the death and resurrection of Jesus
Christ, and because of this all who have accepted Him as their Lord and Savior
are now priests and that is why we can come to God. Re 1:6 “and He has made us to be a kingdom,
priests to His God and Father-to Him be the glory and the dominion forever and
ever. Amen.” Re 5:10 “You have made them to be a kingdom and priests to our
God; and they will reign upon the earth." Re 20:6 Blessed and holy is the
one who has a part in the first resurrection; over these the second death has
no power, but they will be priests of God and of Christ and will reign with Him
for a thousand years.”
Dr. Wiersbe writes “To the lost
sinner, God’s throne is a throne of judgment, but to the believer, it is a
throne of grace (Heb. 4:14-16), and we can come to Him with our worship and
praise as well as our burdens and needs.
“How should we respond to this
kind of a God who sits on this kind of a throne? We must worship Him (vv. 5, 9), praise and
exalt Him (vv. 3, 5, 9), and remember that He is holy (vv. 3, 5, 9). We must pray to Him and seek to glorify His
name by our obedience and service. The
next psalm describes all of this and climaxes the ‘royal psalm’ series.”
Spiritual
meaning for my life today: Praying to God in times of need, and continue
to pray to God is something that I can take out of not only this passage, but
also from the message that was given at our church last evening. The text of that message was Luke 18:1-8 and
verse one states, “Now He was telling them a parable to show that at all times
they ought to pray and not to lose heart.”
Praying and not loosing heart is at times, a difficult thing to do.
My Steps of Faith
for Today: Praying in difficult times.
Memory
verses for the week: 2Peter 1:1-3: 1. Simon Peter, a bond-servant and apostle of
Jesus Christ, To those who have received a faith of the same kind as ours, by
the righteousness of our God and Savior Jesus Christ: 2. Grace and peace be multiplied to you in
the knowledge God and Jesus our Lord; 3. Seeing that His divine power has
granted to us everything pertaining to life and godliness, through the true
knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and excellence.
6/28/2012
11:10:08 AM
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