SPIRITUAL
DIARY FOR 7/28/2012 7:22:47 AM
My
Worship Time Focus: Psalm 108 PT-1
Bible
Reading & Meditation Reference: Psalm 108:1-13
Message
of the verses: In Today’s SD we will
begin to look at the 108th Psalm by looking at several introductions
from different Bible Commentators in order to better understand this psalm and
how we can apply this psalm to our lives in order to bring glory to our Lord.
“TITLE AND SUBJECT: A Song or Psalm of David. To be sung
jubilantly as a national hymn, or solemnly as a sacred psalm. We cannot find it
in our heart to dismiss this psalm by merely referring the reader first to #Ps
57:7-11 and then to #Ps 60:5-12, though it will be at once seen that those two
portions of Scripture are almost identical with the verses before us. It is
true that most of the commentators have done so, and we are not so presumptuous
as to dispute their wisdom; but we hold for ourselves that the words would not
have been repeated if there had not been an object for so doing, and that this
object could not have been answered if every hearer of it had said, "Ah,
we had that before, and therefore we need not meditate upon it again." The
Holy Spirit is not so short of expressions that he needs to repeat himself, and
the repetition cannot be meant merely to fill the book: there must be some
intention in the arrangement of two former divine utterances in a new
connection; whether we can discover that intent is another matter. It is at
least ours to endeavour to do so, and we may expect divine assistance therein.
“ We have before us The Warrior’s Morning
Song, with which he adores his God and strengthens his heart before entering
upon the conflicts of the day. As an old Prussian officer was wont in prayer to
invoke the aid of "his Majesty’s August Ally," so does David appeal
to his God and set up his banner in Jehovah’s name.” (Charles H. Spurgeon)
“David combines portions of his own
previously written Pss. 57 and 60 to make up this psalm commemorating God’s
victories (vv. 1-5 are from 57:7-11; vv. 6-13 are from 60:5-12). He deleted the laments that began each psalm
(57:1-6 and 60:1-4) while combining his own words of exaltation and confidence
in God with only slight word variation.
NO specific historical occasion behind this psalm is given.” (The John MacArthur Study Bible)
“The worship leader took the first
five verses from 57:7-11 and the last eight from 60:5-12 and made a new
psalm. (For commentary, see those
psalms.) God’s truth is adaptable to new
situations and old songs become ‘new songs’ when new challenges are matched
with changeless theology. The writer
opened with praise to the Lord (vv. 1-5) and then reminded Him of His promises
to conquer Israel’s enemies given them to the land (vv. 6-9). He closed with prayer for God’s help and
expression of confidence in the power of the Lord (vv. 10-13). Praise, prayer, and promises form a
combination found often in the psalms, a pattern that we ought to imitate in
our own daily lives.” (Warren Wiersbe)
Psalm 108:1-13: “1 A Song, a Psalm of David. My heart is
steadfast, O God; I will sing, I will sing praises, even with my soul. 2 Awake,
harp and lyre; I will awaken the dawn! 3 I will give thanks to You, O LORD,
among the peoples, And I will sing praises to You among the nations. 4 For Your
lovingkindness is great above the heavens, And Your truth reaches to the skies.
5 Be exalted, O God, above the heavens, And Your glory above all the earth.
“6 That Your beloved may be delivered, Save
with Your right hand, and answer me! 7 God has spoken in His holiness: "I
will exult, I will portion out Shechem And measure out the valley of Succoth. 8
“Gilead is Mine, Manasseh is Mine; Ephraim also is the helmet of My head; Judah
is My scepter. 9 “Moab is My washbowl; Over Edom I shall throw My shoe; Over
Philistia I will shout aloud." 10 Who will bring me into the besieged
city? Who will lead me to Edom? 11 Have not You Yourself, O God, rejected us?
And will You not go forth with our armies, O God? 12 Oh give us help against
the adversary, For deliverance by man is in vain. 13 Through God we will do
valiantly, And it is He who shall tread down our adversaries.”
The following is what I wrote on
Psalm 57:6-11 on March 13, 2012: “Dr.
Wiersbe writes this about the order of this psalm: “In verses 1-5, the order is prayer (v.1),
witness (vv. 2-3) and a description of the enemy (v.4), followed by the
refrain, but in this section the order is the enemy (v. 6), witness to the Lord
(vv. 7-8), and praise (vv. 9-11), with praise as the emphasis.”
Now that we know the order we will
look at these verses and tie them in with praise. We can see in verse six that David is
comparing his enemies with hunters who were hunting him as their prey. Then, because of his confidence and faith in
the Lord David has great reason to praise the Lord in verses 7-11. David had been through many difficult
situations and his confidence and faith in the Lord had grown and so he knew
that he could praise the Lord even while in this difficult situation. When you read about David’s experiences in
1Samuel, experiences of being on the run we do not get all of what was going on
inside of David’s heart. When we read
the psalms that go along with this ten year period of being on the run we can
better understand how much David learned and leaned upon the Lord during this
difficult time in his life. We see this
time of testing that turns into trusting not only in David’s life, but also in
Abraham’s life and Moses’ life and also in the life of Joseph. We can even see a wilderness testing for our
Lord Jesus Christ from Mark1 and also the 4th chapters of Matthew
and Luke.
Let us
talk about “My heart is steadfast” and the word steadfast. Dr. Wiersbe states “that a steadfast heart is
a heart that is fixed on the Lord’s promises and not wavering between doubt and
faith (Ps. 51:10; 108:1; 112:7; 119:5).
This same word is used to describe the constancy of the heavenly bodies
(Ps. 8:3; 74:16).”
The prayer is a prayer that seems to
last throughout the day as it begins by David actually praising the Lord at
dawn. I know that there is a verse in
1Thessalonians that tells us to “pray without ceasing” which in theory is
probably what David was doing. I believe
that this verse means to have an attitude of prayer all of the time which is
what David was doing at this time.
“Each
Day Is a Day of Exalting the Lord” (vv. 5 & 11): “5 Be exalted above the heavens, O God;
Let Your glory be above all the earth. 11
Be exalted above the heavens, O God; Let Your glory be above all the earth.”
These two verses are the refrain
of Psalm 57 and “they call upon the Lord to manifest His greatness in such a
way that people had to say, ‘This is the Lord’s doing; it is marvelous in our
eyes.’”
Dr. Wiersbe writes these concluding
words at the end of his commentary, “If we are praying, trusting, and praising
the Lord, we should have no problem exalting His name in all that we say, do,
and suffer.” “The elements of prayer,
praise, and a desire for God to be magnified will transform any cave into a
Holy of Holies to the glory of God.”
As I look at the life of David I am
able to see why David is a man after God’s own heart, and a man that I have
great admiration for.”
Now we will look at my commentary
from March 19, 2012 on Psalm 60 which actually included that entire psalm.
““Abandonment—A Troubled People (vv. 1-5): “1 For the choir director; according to
Shushan Eduth. A Mikhtam of David, to teach; when he struggled with
Aram-naharaim and with Aram-zobah, and Joab returned, and smote twelve thousand
of Edom in the Valley of Salt. O God, You have rejected us. You have broken us;
You have been angry; O, restore us. 2 You have made the land quake, You have
split it open; Heal its breaches, for it totters. 3 You have made Your people
experience hardship; You have given us wine to drink that makes us stagger. 4
You have given a banner to those who fear You, That it may be displayed because
of the truth. Selah. 5 That Your beloved may be delivered, Save with Your right
hand, and answer us!”
“1 For the choir director: A psalm of David
useful for teaching, regarding the time David fought Aram-naharaim and
Aram-zobah, and Joab returned and killed 12,000 Edomites in the Valley of Salt.
To be sung to the tune “Lily of the Testimony.’’! You have rejected us, O God, and broken our
defenses. You have been angry with us;
now restore us to your favor. 2 You have shaken our land and split it
open. Seal the cracks, for the land
trembles. 3 You have been very hard on us, making us drink wine that sent us
reeling. 4 But you have raised a banner for those who fear you- a rallying
point in the face of attack. Interlude: 5 Now rescue your beloved people. Answer and save us by your power.” (NLT)
The first verse gives the
background for the occasion of writing this psalm and we see that David and the
army of Israel were in Syria fighting there when the Edomites came and attacked
Israel so David sent Joab who was the commander of his army back to fight the
Edomites while David stayed in Syria to fight against the Syrians. The valley of Salt is below the Dead Sea.
In verses 2-5 we see how
upsetting it was for the people of Israel to be defeated by Edom, but because
David was a man of faith and because David knew the covenant that God had made
with Israel to protect Israel, David rallied around his faith in the Lord and
trusted Him for victory. Verse four
speaks of a banner and we find this is the name of the Lord, Jehovah Nissi—the
Lord our Banner as found in Exodus 17:15.
“Moses built an altar and named it The LORD is My Banner.”
“Encouragement—A
Triumphant Message” (vv. 6-8):
“6 God has spoken in His holiness: "I will exult, I will portion
out Shechem and measure out the valley of Succoth. 7 “Gilead is Mine, and
Manasseh is Mine; Ephraim also is the helmet of My head; Judah is My scepter. 8
“Moab is My washbowl; Over Edom I shall throw My shoe; Shout loud, O Philistia,
because of Me!’”
“6 God has promised this by his
holiness: “I will divide up Shechem with joy.
I will measure out the valley of Succoth. 7 Gilead is mine, and
Manasseh, too. Ephraim, my helmet, will produce my warriors, and Judah, my
scepter, will produce my kings. 8 But Moab, my washbasin, will become my
servant, and I will wipe my feet on Edom and shout in triumph over
Philistia.’” (NLT)
It is not told to us when David
got this message from the Lord, but we know that David was a man of prayer and
he also had one of the priests with him and so it is possible that when David
heard of the attack of the Edomites that he asked the Lord how he was to
respond and this was the answer he got from the Lord so David then sent Joab to
fight against Edom.
We see in these verses a
description of the land of Israel, a land that God had given to Israel. We see how the Lord divided up the land of
Israel and these verses speak of Ephraim being the helmet for Ephraim was a
strong tribe called to defend Israel and Judah was the tribe where the kings
would come from, David being the first king out of the tribe of Judah. Genesis 49:10 says, “"The scepter shall
not depart from Judah, Nor the ruler’s staff from between his feet, Until
Shiloh comes, And to him shall be the obedience of the peoples.” This was a prophecy given to Jacob from God. Jacob was about to die when he blessed all of
his sons and the two sons of Joseph telling them about the future of their
tribes. We see here that Messiah
(Shiloh) would come from the tribe of Judah.
God describes Moab as a washbasin
and Edom would be nothing more than a servant who cleaned dirty shoes. It must be remembered that Moab was the
nation where David’s great-grandmother Ruth came from. See the last part of Ruth chapter 4.
“Enablement—A
Trustworthy Lord” (vv. 9-12): “9 Who
will bring me into the besieged city? Who will lead me to Edom? 10 Have not You
Yourself, O God, rejected us? And will You not go forth with our armies, O God?
11 O give us help against the adversary, For deliverance by man is in vain. 12 Through God
we shall do valiantly, And it is He who will tread down our adversaries.”
“9 Who will bring me into the
fortified city? Who will bring me
victory over Edom? 10 Have you rejected us, O God? Will you no longer march with our armies? 11
Oh, please help us against our enemies, for all human help is useless. 12 With God’s help we will do mighty
things, for he will trample down our foes.”
Verse nine speaks of a fortified
city, and this could be Petra which was the capital of Edom. This city was a city that was greatly fortified
and it gave the Edomites a reason to brag about it, but God still destroyed
them and one of the reasons was because of their arrogance. In the book of Revelations we see that God is
going to hide Israel and many Bible Commentators believe that the place where
this will be is in the city of Petra.
David believed that God would
bring victory to Israel for David was not trusting in humans, but in the
Lord.
I have mentioned that the
background for this psalm is found in 2Samuel 8:1-14 and in verse thirteen of
that section we read the following: “So David made a name for himself when he
returned from killing 18,000 Arameans in the Valley of Salt.” It is not impossible that David was beginning
to become proud and perhaps the Lord was using the defeat that came from Edom
as something to humble him, but David being a man after God’s own heart would
begin again to trust in the Lord as we see in these last verses of Psalm 60.
Spiritual
meaning for my life today: The first
part of Psalm 108 has been written into one of my favorite songs (“Be Exalted”)
and on today this is even more precious to me as my 90 year old mother is very
close to coming into the presence of her Lord and because of this we can surely
exalt the Lord.
My
Steps of Faith for Today: Draw the strength that we need from the One
who is all powerful, all compassionate, and all loving.
Memory
verses for the week: 2Peter 1:1-7
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 of God and of 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. 4 For by these He has granted to us His
precious and magnificent promises, so that by them you may become partakers of
the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world by lust.
5 ¶
Now for this very reason also, applying all diligence, in your faith
supply moral excellence, and in your moral excellence, knowledge, 6 and in your knowledge, self-control, and in
your self-control, perseverance, and in your perseverance, godliness, 7 and in your godliness, brotherly kindness,
and in your brotherly kindness, love.
7/28/2012
8:09:37 AM
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