SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR
7/24/2012 9:18:05 AM
My Worship Time Focus: Psalm
107 PT-2
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: Psalm 107:
17-43
Message
of the verses: In Today’s SD we will
continue to look at the 107th Psalm.
Dr. Wiersbe writes the following at the end of his introduction in order
to help us understand the outline of this psalm: “Five specific situations are described
involving people who lose something valuable.”
When
You Lose Your Health (vv. 17-22): “17
Fools, because of their rebellious way, And because of their iniquities, were afflicted. 18 Their
soul abhorred all kinds of food, And they drew near to the gates of death. 19
Then they cried out to the LORD in their trouble; He saved them out of their
distresses. 20 He sent His word and healed them, And delivered them from their
destructions. 21 Let them give thanks to the LORD for His lovingkindness, And
for His wonders to the sons of men! 22 Let them also offer sacrifices of
thanksgiving, And tell of His works with joyful singing.”
Dr. Wiersbe writes “In Scripture,
sickness is often used as a picture of sin and its painful consequences, but
not all sickness is the result of sin (John 9:1-3; 2Cor. 12:7-10).” I wish to add that there are times when sin
does cause sickness and even death. Paul
writes to the Corinthians in chapter 11 these words in which he is speaking
about taking the Lord’s Supper without examining themselves: “28 But a man must examine himself, and in so
doing he is to eat of the bread and drink of the cup. 29 For he who eats and
drinks, eats and drinks judgment to himself if he does not judge the body
rightly. 30 For this reason many among you are weak and sick, and a number
sleep.” The word sleep is a word for believers
who die.
We see in this section from Psalm
107 that the Lord was gracious to some rebels who became sick because of sinful
living and they then cried out to the Lord and He answered their prayers and
healed them right as they were at the gates of death, and this term “gates of
death” is speaking of the word “sheo the land of the dead (Ps. 9:13; Job 17:16;
38:17; Isa. 38:10).” After the Lord healed these rebels they were to praise the
Lord for His lovingkindness and for His wonders to the sons of men.
When
You Lose Your Hope (vv. 23-32): “23 Those
who go down to the sea in ships, Who do business on great waters; 24 They have
seen the works of the LORD, And His wonders in the deep. 25 For He spoke and
raised up a stormy wind, Which lifted up the waves of the sea. 26 They rose up
to the heavens, they went down to the depths; Their soul melted away in their
misery. 27 They reeled and staggered like a drunken man, And were at their
wits’ end. 28 Then they cried to the LORD in their trouble, And He brought them
out of their distresses. 29 He caused the storm to be still, So that the waves
of the sea were hushed. 30 Then they were glad because they were quiet, So He
guided them to their desired haven. 31 Let them give thanks to the LORD for His
lovingkindness, And for His wonders to the sons of men! 32 Let them extol Him
also in the congregation of the people, And praise Him at the seat of the
elders.”
It is possible that this section
describes the Jewish exiles when they were sent to Babylon, for they were taken
away from their homeland and placed in a land that they did not know and it may
have felt like being out on the sea in a great storm, but then they called out
to the Lord and He answered their prayers and the storm quieted down and so they
began to praise the Lord.
I would think that being out to sea
and having a storm come up is one of the scariest things that can happen to
anyone. We read about a storm in the
book of Acts where the apostle Paul who was being taken to Rome and it was a
very long storm in which all the people had given up hope, yet Paul knew that
the Lord had promised to take him to Rome, but even so he prayed and an angel
of the Lord came and spoke to him stating that all the people in the boat would
be spared, but the boat would be lost and it happened just that way.
As believers we can go through
difficult storms and not be on any water, and the first thing we should do is
to pray and when the Lord answers our prayers the next thing we should do is
give thanks to our gracious Lord. As
believers our hope is in the Lord and also our hope is in the return of our
Lord from heaven at the Rapture to take us to be with Him in heaven.
When
You Lose Your Home (vv. 33-43): “33 He
changes rivers into a wilderness And springs of water into a thirsty ground; 34
A fruitful land into a salt waste, Because of the wickedness of those who dwell
in it. 35 He changes a wilderness into a pool of water And a dry land into
springs of water; 36 And there He makes the hungry to dwell, So that they may
establish an inhabited city, 37 And sow fields and plant vineyards, And gather
a fruitful harvest. 38 Also He blesses them and they multiply greatly, And He
does not let their cattle decrease. 39 When they are diminished and bowed down
Through oppression, misery and sorrow, 40 He pours contempt upon princes And
makes them wander in a pathless waste. 41 But He sets the needy securely on
high away from affliction, And makes his families like a flock. 42 The upright
see it and are glad; But all unrighteousness shuts its mouth. 43 Who is wise?
Let him give heed to these things, And consider the lovingkindnesses of the
LORD.”
There are sometimes when I am
reading in the Psalms and it reminds me of reading in the book of Proverbs, and
this section is one that seems to me like it could be from the book of
Proverbs. When we began the book of
Psalms we learned that it was Hebrew poetry and likewise the book of Proverbs
is Hebrew poetry along with other sections from some of the prophets and other
books like Lamentations, Song of Solomon and Ecclesiastes. Dr. Wiersbe writes these words at the beginning
of his commentary on the Psalms as he explains Hebrew Poetry: “Hebrew poetry is based on ‘thought lines’
and not rhymes. If the second line
repeats the first line in different words, as in Psalm 24:1-3, you have synonymous parallelism. If the second line contrasts with the first,
as in Psalm 1:6 and 37:9, it is antithetic
parallelism. When the second line
explains and expands the first, the writer has used synthetic parallelism (Ps. 19:7-9), but when the second line
completers the first, it is climactic
parallelism (ps. 29:1). With iterative parallelism, the second line
repeats the thought of the first (Ps 93), and in alternate parallelism, the alternate lines carry the same thought,
as in Psalm 103:8-13.”
We see in this section that the
approach changes and it is now on the Lord and not on the people because we see
it is the Lord who can do the things that are described in this section and not
the people. God can judge the land when
both good and evil people live on it, for if a nation is evil God may cause the
weather and the land can change, making things difficult on the sinful people,
and the opposite can also be true. Again
we cannot always look at these situations and determine that when storms come
that there are sinful things happening in the land, but it could be so. I am reading a book by Joel Rosenberg
entitled “Implosion” and the book is about some end time scenarios that could
happen to the United States. Joel
Rosenberg is a very accomplished writer who has written a series of novels and
parts of them were coming true in real life and this was what lifted him to
being an accomplished writer and speaker.
Implosion is not a novel, but is based on Scripture and also things that
are happening in the world today which leads many people to believe that we are
at the end of history as we know it. The
biggest thing that has happened to make people think this is Israel becoming a
nation in just one day on May 14, 1948.
The prophet Isaiah said that this would happen: “8 “Who has heard such a thing? Who has seen
such things? Can a land be born in one day? Can a nation be brought forth all
at once? As soon as Zion travailed, she also brought forth her sons.” The prophet Ezekiel in chapters 36-37 also
give an account of Israel becoming a nation again and it was not too long ago
that the leader of Israel spoke publicly that Israel becoming a nation was the
fulfillment of Ezekiel 36-37. In
Rosenberg’s book he speaks of how many weather disasters have been happening to
the United States and one of the things that he writes about in the chapter
describing these things is that in Yellowstone National Park sits what could be
one of the largest volcanoes that could actually cause a tremendous amount of
damage to the entire country, being much more powerful that the volcano that blew
in Iceland a few years ago. My point in
all of this is that the Lord is in control of everything including the weather
and He can use weather and natural disasters to judge nations and to bless
nations, which is what the psalmist is writing about in this last section of
Psalm 107.
Spiritual
meaning for my life today: As I look
at these five pictures in Psalm 107 I can ask what can I learn from them. Dr. Wiersbe writes: “To be wise and heed the Word of God (v. 43;
Hos. 14:9). Yes, God shows His love and
mercy to the disobedient who repent and call on His name, but our Father would
rather share that love with obedient
children who would enjoy it more (2Cor. 6:14-7:1).” I have also been reminded the need to praise
the Lord for His goodness to me, for this is seen every day of my life.
My Steps of Faith for Today: To
abide in the Vine so that I can continue to learn from the Lord and to obey
what I have learned.
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 grace 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 all 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.
7/24/2012
11:03:21 AM
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