SPIRITUAL
DIARY FOR 8/15/2012 9:42:44 AM
My
Worship Time Focus: Psalm
114 PT-1
Bible
Reading & Meditation Reference: Psalm
114:1
Message of the verses: We will begin to look at the 114th
Psalm in Today’s SD by looking at several introductions from different Bible
Commentators.
“This
psalm is the one most explicitly related to the Exodus (Ex. 12-14). It recounts God’s response to a captive
nation (Israel in Egypt) in order to honor His promises in the Abrahamic
Covenant (Gen 28:13-17) given to Jacob (cf. 114:1, ‘The house of Jacob’, 114:7,
‘the God of Jacob’).” (The John
MacArthur Study Bible)
“In
beautiful poetic language, this psalm describes Israel’s exodus from Egypt,
God’s provision for their journey, their entrance into the Promised Land, and
their conquest of their enemies. The
psalmist used striking poetic metaphors to teach history and theology, and this
approach reaches the imagination and stirs the heart. When Jewish families sing this psalm at
Passover, it must be very meaningful to them.
But the psalm is about God and reveals His gracious relationship to His
own people.” (Warren Wiersbe)
This sublime SONG OF THE EXODUS is
one and indivisible. True poetry has here reached its climax: no human mind has
ever been able to equal, much less to excel, the grandeur of this Psalm. God is
spoken of as leading forth his people from Egypt to Canaan, and causing the
whole earth to be moved at his coming. Things inanimate are represented as
imitating the actions of living creatures when the Lord passes by. They are apostrophized
and questioned with marvelous force of language, till one seems to look upon
the actual scene. The God of Jacob is exalted as having command over river,
sea, and mountain, and causing all nature to pay homage and tribute before his
glorious majesty.” (Charles H. Spurgeon)
God
Is for Us (v. 1): “1 When Israel
went forth from Egypt, The house of Jacob from a people of strange
language.”
The story of the Israel’s exodus
from Egypt is mentioned in many of the psalms, and the reason for this is that
this was Israel’s national birthday. As
mentioned in one of the introductions God had prophesied in the book of Genesis
to Abraham that this was going to happen to his family. In Genesis chapter fifteen where God is
confirming His covenant with Abraham with the blood of different animals He
tells Abraham, “"Know for certain that your descendants will be strangers
in a land that is not theirs, where they will be enslaved and oppressed four
hundred years. 14 “But I will also judge the nation whom they will serve, and
afterward they will come out with many possessions.” This is preciously the way that it happened,
for this was God’s plan for Abraham’s offspring. However Abraham also has a spiritual
offspring and I want to quote from Dr. Wiersbe’s commentary on how the Exodus
speaks to us as well as it did to the children of Israel. “In terms of ‘biblical geography,’ Egypt
represents the world and the bondage of the sinner to its evil forces
(Ephesians 2:1-3 ‘1 And you were dead in your trespasses and sins, 2 in which
you formerly walked according to the course of this world, according to the
prince of the power of the air, of the spirit that is now working in the sons
of disobedience. 3 Among them we too all formerly lived in the lusts of our
flesh, indulging the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature
children of wrath, even as the rest.’)
It was the blood of the lamb applied to the doors that protected the
Jewish firstborn from death, just as the blood of Christ, God’s Lamb, saves us
from sin and death. God’s power in
opening the Red Sea liberated Israel and separated them from their cruel
taskmasters. This is a picture of the
resurrection of Christ and the believer’s participation in it (Ephesians 2:4-10
‘4 But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved
us, 5 even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with
Christ (by grace you have been saved), 6
and raised us up with Him, and seated us with Him in the heavenly places
in Christ Jesus, 7 so that in the ages
to come He might show the surpassing riches of His grace in kindness toward us
in Christ Jesus. 8 For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not
of yourselves, it is the gift of God; 9 not as a result of works, so that no
one may boast. 10 For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good
works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them.’)” So just like Israel we as believers have a
heritage in the Exodus also.
Spiritual
meaning for my life today: When I
look at the verses that were quoted from Genesis fifteen and then look at
Ephesians 2:10 I see that just as God had a plan for the offspring of Abraham,
He also has a plan for me, and just as He fulfilled the plan for the children
of Israel I can have faith in Him to fulfill the plan that He has for me
too. We serve an all knowing God who
knows the beginning from the end.
My Steps of Faith for Today:
I desire to remain (abide) in the Vine, to stay in the Word of God so
that I can understand the plans that the Lord has for me to do for the glory of
His Son.
Memory
verses for the week: 2Peter 1:8-10
8 For if these qualities are yours
and are increasing, they render you neither useless nor unfruitful in the true
knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. 9
For he who lacks these qualities is blind or short-sighted, having forgotten
his purification from his former sins. 10 Therefore, brethren, be all the more
diligent to make certain about His calling and choosing you; for as long as you
practice these things, you will never stumble.
8/15/2012
10:23:31 AM
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