SPIRITUAL
DIARY FOR 8/26/2012 7:51:40 AM
My Worship Time
Focus: Psalm 118 PT-2
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: Psalm
118:5-14
Message
of the verses: In yesterday’s SD we
began to look at Psalm 118, which is the psalm that is between the shortest and
the longest psalms that are found in the Bible.
We learned through several introductions that it is difficult to truly
understand who the author was or when the psalm was written as some thought the
author was David, and one even thought it was Moses. At the end of his introduction Dr. Wiersbe
wrote the following in order to show us the direction that we will be going
while studying this psalm: “—the psalm
speaks to all believers in every age and gives them four practical
instructions.” We looked at the first
instruction in yesterday’s SD and will continue with the second in today’s SD.
Trust
the Lord in Every Crisis (vv. 5-14): “5
From my distress I called upon the LORD; The LORD answered me and set me in a
large place. 6 The LORD is for me; I will not fear; What can man do to me? 7
The LORD is for me among those who help me; Therefore I will look with
satisfaction on those who hate me. 8 It is better to take refuge in the LORD
Than to trust in man. 9 It is better to take refuge in the LORD Than to trust
in princes. 10 All nations surrounded me; In the name of the LORD I will surely
cut them off. 11 They surrounded me, yes, they surrounded me; In the name of
the LORD I will surely cut them off. 12 They surrounded me like bees; They were
extinguished as a fire of thorns; In the name of the LORD I will surely cut
them off. 13 You pushed me violently so that I was falling, But the LORD helped
me. 14 The LORD is my strength and song, And He has become my salvation.”
We see the “LORD” mentioned eleven
times in these ten verses and it is because He is the One who protects Israel
from their enemies and He is the One who enabled the people to complete the
work in difficult times. (Now we must
remember that Dr. Wiersbe believes that this 118th Psalm was written
after the Jews returned from their captivity in Babylon and since much of my
help comes from Dr. Wiersbe, along with other commentators, this commentary may
slant towards the psalm being written after the captivity.) I must say that what is found in these ten
verses could well fit in with the times when the Jews returned from captivity
since there was a lot of trouble during that time period from 537 when they
first returned until the time when the Jews finished the temple and the walls
around the city of Jerusalem as seen in the books of Ezra and Nehemiah. The Jews laid the foundation of the temple in
536 BC but because of troubles from local officials it was stopped and then
resumed in 520 BC. Israel was surrounded
by their enemies similar to what they are today, but God is and always has been
the protector of Israel, and continues to be that today even though most of
them today do not realize this. We see
from Ezekiel’s writings in chapters 36-37 that God would bring Israel back to
their land in the “last days” and that the last thing that would come to them
was the Spirit, for they would come into the land not truly realizing that it
was the hand of God who brought them back there, not realizing that it was
during the “last days.” When you look at
Israel today you can see this, especially in the generations that followed
those who came out of WW-II who mostly came from the holocaust in Europe during
that time. In some ways this is good
since the younger Jews that are living there today do not follow the Jewish
religion and are more open to the gospel.
So we can see that when Israel came
back to their land there was a time of great trouble and so perhaps this psalm
speaks of their trouble and their dependence upon the Lord during this time
period, but we can also learn from these words that the psalmist writes when we
as believers go through difficult times in our lives, knowing that the Lord will
see us through those difficult times, and if we cling to the Lord we can learn
to trust Him more and more as the psalmist was learning. The psalmist learned to trust the Lord and
not trust in man. This is also true in
trusting the gifts that the Lord has given to us and forget about trusting the
Giver of the gifts. I have also learned
this from some difficult times that I have gone through.
Spiritual
meaning for my life today: Trusting
the Lord in all situations of my life is the best and one of the reasons is
that He does not change, and also I know that He loves me as was demonstrated
at the cross.
My Steps of Faith for Today:
Trust in the Giver of the gifts and not in the gifts that the Giver has
given to me.
8/26/2012
8:43:36 AM
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