SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR
6/18/2012 9:56:20 AM
My Worship Time Focus: Psalm
96 PT-2
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: Psalm
96:4-13
Message
of the verses: In yesterday’s SD we
began to look at Psalm 96 by looking at several introductions to the psalm and
also looking at the first section, (verses 1-3). Dr. Wiersbe writes the following at the end
of his introduction: “The psalm also
looks ahead to the kingdom age when Messiah shall reign and the Gentile nations
will worship the God of Israel. The
psalmist gives four commands to God’s people and backs up each command with a
reason for their obedience.”
Praise! Our God is Great! (vv. 4-6): “4 For great is the LORD and greatly to
be praised; He is to be feared above all gods. 5 For all the gods of the
peoples are idols, But the LORD made the heavens. 6 Splendor and majesty are
before Him, Strength and beauty are in His sanctuary.”
We have gone over what an idol is
in earlier SD’s but it is good to remember that an idol is anything that comes between you and
God. The children of Israel were
disciplined severely for their worship of idols and taken out of their land for
70 years, and after they returned they did not worship idols again, but the
idols that they worshiped before they were taken out of the land were idols
made of wood, and stone, and gold or silver, something that was made with
hands. After making these idols they
would bow down and worship them. Here
the psalmist talks about the idols that the “peoples” worshiped, which were
what I just described, and then he contrasts them with the ONE TURE GOD, the
God who made everything in His creation.
Everything we see, whether on this earth or in the heavens above were
made by God in six days between six and seven thousands years ago, and the last
part of His creation was the creation of man.
Nothing has been created since then!
Dr. Wiersbe writes “Both in His sanctuary in heaven and His sanctuary on
earth, God was enthroned in glory and power.
How we ought to praise Him!”
Worship! The Lord Is Worthy! (vv. 7-9): “7 Ascribe to the LORD, O families of the
peoples, Ascribe to the LORD glory and strength. 8 Ascribe to the LORD the
glory of His name; Bring an offering and come into His courts. 9 Worship the
LORD in holy attire; Tremble before Him, all the earth.”
Dr. Wiersbe writes “We approach
God only through Christ’s righteousness, but we please God when we are obedient
children.” When the children of Israel
wanted to praise the Lord they lifted up their hands, but when they worshiped
the Lord they bowed down before Him.
“John 15:15 "No longer do I call you slaves, for the
slave does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends,
for all things that I have heard from My Father I have made known to you.” “Ro 8:15 For you have not received a spirit
of slavery leading to fear again, but you have received a spirit of adoption as
sons by which we cry out, "Abba! Father!"
6/18/2012
4:32:47 PM
When
we look at these two verses above we see that a person who is a born-again can
see God as a friend and an intimate Father, which both of them are true. However when that is the only way that we
look at God we are probably missing the aspect that God is Holy, and that we as
His children are to fear Him. I am not
speaking about the kind of fear that caused dread in one’s life, but the kind
of reverence that one should have for a parent or grand-parent. The important point to remember is that God
is HOLY!
Rejoice! The King
is Coming! (vv. 10-13) “10 Say among the nations,
"The LORD reigns; Indeed, the world is firmly established, it will not be
moved; He will judge the peoples with equity." 11 Let the heavens be glad,
and let the earth rejoice; Let the sea roar, and all it contains; 12 Let the
field exult, and all that is in it. Then all the trees of the forest will sing
for joy 13 Before the
LORD, for He is coming, For He is coming to judge the earth. He will
judge the world in righteousness And the peoples in His faithfulness.”
I
like the word equity that is found in verse ten for that means that God will
give everyone what they have coming. Now
in the case of those who do not accept the forgiveness that God offers them
through Jesus Christ they will receive eternity apart from God in the place
that the Bible calls Hell. Those who
have accepted the Lord Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord will spend eternity with
Him. At the judgment seat of Christ
which is spoken of in Romans and 1Corinthians, believers will be rewarded for
their works that they have done while in the body here on earth and all will be
with equality.
Dr.
Wiersbe writes “’The Lord reigns’ (v. 10; see 93:1) can also be translated ‘The
Lord has become King’ (see Revelations 11:17), referring to the day Jesus will
sit on David’s throne and rule over the nations (Luke 1:26-33; Rev.
19:11-16). Only then will there be true
justice on the earth.” Romans 8:18-23
shows us that the whole creation, which now groans will be set free at the
return of Jesus Christ: “18 For I consider that the sufferings of this
present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that is to be
revealed to us. 19 For the anxious longing of the creation waits eagerly for
the revealing of the sons of God. 20 For
the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of Him who
subjected it, in hope 21 that the
creation itself also will be set free from its slavery to corruption into the
freedom of the glory of the children of God. 22 For we know that the whole
creation groans and suffers the pains of childbirth together until now. 23 And
not only this, but also we ourselves, having the first fruits of the Spirit,
even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting eagerly for our adoption as
sons, the redemption of our body.”
Dr.
Wiersbe finishes his commentary with these insightful words, “The whole
creation is on tiptoe to see the wonderful sight of the sons of God coming into
their own (Romans 8:19, Phillips)
Rejoice!”
Spiritual meaning for my life
today: The second coming of Jesus Christ to this
earth is one of the most beloved subjects that are in all of the Word of
God. We see bits and pieces of it in the
OT, but it is seen in full from the writings of the NT, especially looking at
the event as it will occur in the 19th chapter of the book of
Revelations. In seeing this I must put
into perspective that this world is not my home for I am just passing through,
and while I am hear I want to do the things that God has prepared from me to do
from eternity past.
My Steps of Faith for Today:
I desire to continue to remain or abide in the Vine in order to be
equipped to serve the Lord and to do what He has called me to do.
Memory
verses for the week: 2 Peter 1:1-2: 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 knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord;
6/18/2012
4:56:50 PM
No comments:
Post a Comment