SPIRITUAL
DIARY FOR 9/3/2012 8:39:31 AM
My Worship Time Focus:
Psalm
119-PT-5
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: Psalm
119:25-32
Message
of the verses: We continue in our
long look at the 119th Psalm in Today’s Spiritual Diary by looking
at the fourth section in the psalm.
Daleth—Down
but Not Out (vv. 25-32): “25 Daleth.
My soul cleaves to the dust; Revive
me according to Your word. 26 I
have told of my ways, and You have answered me; Teach me Your statutes. 27 Make me understand the way of Your
precepts, So I will meditate on Your wonders.
28 My soul weeps because of grief; Strengthen me according to Your
word. 29 Remove the false way from me,
And graciously grant me Your law. 30 I
have chosen the faithful way; I have placed Your ordinances before me. 31 I cling to Your testimonies; O LORD, do
not put me to shame! 32 I shall run the
way of Your commandments, For You will enlarge my heart.”
We saw in yesterday’s SD that at the
end of the section we were looking at (vv. 17-24) that the psalmist was
delighting in the Word of God, and now at the beginning of this section he is
down. In our walk with the Lord we have
spiritual highs and lows. When Jesus
took Peter, James, and John on the mountain they saw the Lord transfigured and
He was speaking to Moses and Elijah about His upcoming death on the cross. It was a spiritual high for His disciples
seeing all of this, but the next day they were back down from the mountain and
were encountered with a boy who was possessed with a demon that their fellow
disciples could not cast out of him. We
have situations just like this in our walk with the Lord so we can listen to
the counsel of Andrew Bonar who said “We must be as watchful after the victory as before the
battle.” I wish that I would have
had this advice many years ago when my son went through a very dangerous heart
surgery which left me on top of the world because of the success of it, but
that summer was one of the worst times spiritually that I ever experienced.
Dr. Wiersbe writes “When he found
himself down, the psalmist knew what to do—he prayed!”
“Revive me” (vv. 25): “My soul cleaves to the dust; Revive me according to Your
word.”
Dr. Wiersbe writes “His enemies were
slandering his name (v. 23), restricting him (v. 61), lying about him (v. 69),
causing him to suffer (v. 83) and be despised (v. 141), and even threatening
his life (v. 109), so it is no wonder that he felt like an insect in the
dust.”
In 2Cor. 1:3-11; 12:1-10 the apostle
Paul encourages his readers showing them that when we seem to be at our worst,
the Lord comes along with the very best and in doing this He gives us His much
needed grace.
I want to give the definition of the
word “revive” that the NASB uses in verse 25, while the NIV uses the words
“preserve my life.” “To live, have life,
remain alive, sustain life, live prosperously, live for ever, be quickened, be
alive, be restored to life or health.”
The Hebrew word is “chayah khaw-yaw’” and it is used 262 times in the OT
(KJV) and here is how the KJV translates it:
“AV-live 153, alive 34, save 13, quicken 14, revive 12, surely 10, life
9, recover 8, misc 9; 262”
Dr Wiersbe point out that “there is
much more involved in this request. It
involves saving his life, of course, but also invigorating him and breathing
new life within him.” We will see that
the psalmist prayed this prayer often and we will find out that the Lord
answered him each time. (Verses 25, 37,
40, 40, 88, 93, 107, 149, 154, 156, and 159.)
“Teach Me” (vv. 26-27): “26 I have told of my ways, and You have
answered me; Teach me Your statutes. 27
Make me understand the way of Your precepts, So I will meditate on Your
wonders.”
While walking on my treadmill
yesterday I was listening to a sermon by John MacArthur in which he was
speaking about prayer, and that prayer is the highest form of worship. He was talking about different prayers that
are found in Scripture and states that many times we think of God as the One
who moves at our beckon call, while in reality God desires us to be conformed
to what He wants us to be and when this happens we will begin to pray the
things that God desires in our hearts and He will answer those prayers. The psalmist knew this for he was not
thinking “How can I get out of this trouble,” but was thinking “What can I get
out of this experience,” as he did not want to waste his sufferings (James
1:2-8): “2 Consider it all joy, my
brethren, when you encounter various trials, 3 knowing that the testing of your
faith produces endurance. 4 And let endurance have its perfect result, so that
you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing. 5 But if any of you lacks
wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all generously and without reproach,
and it will be given to him. 6 But he must ask in faith without any doubting,
for the one who doubts is like the surf of the sea, driven and tossed by the
wind. 7 For that man ought not to expect that he will receive anything from the
Lord, 8 being a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways.”
We are all in the school of life, as
was the psalmist, and wanted to learn from the school of life and pass all of
the tests that are given in that school.
We see from the verses in James that we are to ask wisdom from the Lord
and He will give it to us.
“Strengthen Me” (Vv. 28-30: “28 My soul weeps because of grief; Strengthen me according
to Your word. 29 Remove the false way
from me, And graciously grant me Your law. 30 I have chosen the faithful way; I
have placed Your ordinances before me.
Our Pastor was speaking on
“Copy-Cat” Christianity in the service last evening and he was speaking about
some of the mega-churches, the feel good churches who do not preach the whole
counsel of God. He ask a question that
seems to go along with this section, He asked if difficult persecution came to
our country would these feel good mega churches be able to stand. We see in this section and throughout the
psalm that the psalmist was being persecuted for his beliefs and yet he did not
wish to destroy those who were persecuting him but he wept over them and turned
them over to God. The psalmist wanted
strength, strength according to the Word of God to continue to live for the Lord
and to magnify His Word. The psalmist
mentions grace in verse 29, and he learned that was all that he needed,
something that Paul speaks about: “And
He has said to me, "My
grace is sufficient for you, for power is perfected in weakness."
Most gladly, therefore, I will rather boast about my weaknesses, so that the
power of Christ may dwell in me.” Dr.
Wiersbe writes “When we find ourselves pressured by the enemy, our first
response is usually to pray that God will change them, when perhaps our best
response would be that God would change us and enable us to overcome.”
“Defend me” (vv 31-32): “31 I cling to Your testimonies; O LORD, do
not put me to shame! 32 I shall run the
way of Your commandments, For You will enlarge my heart.”
The psalmist is saying that he did
not want to bring shame upon the Lord, and this would happen if he was put to
shame because of his relationship with the Lord so he turned the situation over
to the Lord by faith.
Paul instructs us not to think up
clever ways or clever schemes to slander our enemies, for if we do that the
Lord will not be able to defend us: “17
Never pay back evil for evil to anyone. Respect what is right in the sight of
all men. 18 If possible, so far as it depends on you, be at peace with all men.
19 Never take your own revenge, beloved, but leave room for the wrath of God, for it is
written, "VENGEANCE IS MINE, I WILL REPAY," says the Lord. 20 “BUT IF
YOUR ENEMY IS HUNGRY, FEED HIM, AND IF HE IS THIRSTY, GIVE HIM A DRINK; FOR IN SO
DOING YOU WILL HEAP BURNING COALS ON HIS HEAD." 21 Do not be overcome by
evil, but overcome evil with good.”
As believers we are to hold to the
truth of the Word of God and we are to trust His promises even though at times
we want to go out on our own and take matters into our own hands, but will
latter realize that this is not the way to go.
Dr. Wiersbe concludes by saying:
“Faith delivers us
from the confinement of the enemy’s plots and sets us free to enjoy a larger
place. He has gone from biting the dust
(V.25) to running freely in the way of the Lord.”
Spiritual
meaning for my life today: As I see
many things happening in our country that I do not agree with, and yet I
suppose if I were the Lord I would have judged our country more harshly and
earlier that He is doing now, for I do believe that the Lord is judging
us. Billy Graham said to an audience
many years ago that if God did not judge the United States that He would have
to apologize to Sodom and Gomorra. I
have to trust the Lord to do what He knows is best, and not to get so angry
over the people who are destroying our country.
I will have to admit that this is hard for me to do, but these lessons
in Psalm 119 are helping me.
My Steps of Faith for Today: Trust
the Lord and lean upon His Word.
Memory
verses for the week: 1Corinthians 13:1-2
1
¶ If I speak with the tongues of men and
of angels, but do not have love, I have become a noisy gong or a clanging
cymbal. 2 If I have the gift of
prophecy, and know all mysteries and all knowledge; and if I have all faith, so
as to remove mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing.
9/3/2012
10:18:58 AM
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