SPIRITUAL
DIARY FOR 9/6/2012 7:26:45 AM
My Worship Time Focus:
The
Ministry of Memory
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference:
Psalm 119:49-56
Message
of the verses: “49 Zayin. Remember
the word to Your servant, In which You have made me hope.
50 This is my comfort in my affliction,
That Your word has revived me.
51 The arrogant utterly deride me, Yet I do
not turn aside from Your law.
52 I have remembered Your ordinances from
of old, O LORD, And comfort myself.
53 Burning indignation has seized me
because of the wicked, Who forsake Your law.
54 Your statutes are my songs In the house
of my pilgrimage.
55 O LORD, I remember Your name in the
night, And keep Your law. 56 This has become mine, That I observe Your
precepts.
Dr. Wiersbe believes that the
psalmist was either a priest or a Levite and therefore was required to do a
full study of the book of Deuteronomy, the “second Law.” He points out that the word remember is found
fifteen times in that book along with forget fourteen times, so we are to
remember some things but forget other things. “12 Not that I have already
obtained it or have already become perfect, but I press on so that I may lay
hold of that for which also I was laid hold of by Christ Jesus. 13 Brethren, I
do not regard myself as having laid hold of it yet; but one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and
reaching forward to what lies ahead, 14 I press on toward the goal for
the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus (Phil 3:12-14).”
God
remembers His people (vv. 49-51):
“49 Zayin. Remember the word to
Your servant, In which You have made me hope.
50 This is my comfort in my affliction, That Your word has revived me. 51 The arrogant utterly deride me, Yet I do
not turn aside from Your law.”
The word “deride” means treated
with contemp. God who is omniscient does
not forget anything, yet God has chosen to forget or not to remember things
against us as seen in Isa. 43:25; Jer.31-34; Hebrews 8:12; and 10:17. This makes up the negative side of the word
remember, but the positive side means that God remembers to do good for us, and
give us His blessings as seen in the lives of Noah, Abraham and Lot (Gen.
19:29). He also remembered Rachel and
Hannah so they could conceive. Now by
saying He remembered these things does not mean that He forget them and then remembered
them, for God never forgets, it is relating to His people in a special way.
The psalmist wanted the Lord to use
His Word in a special way to him, or on behalf of him. This is similar to when the prophet Daniel
was reading Jeremiah that showed him that the Lord was going to release His
people in 70 years from captivity and so Daniel prayed that this Word of the
Lord would come true even though Daniel knew that God would keep His promise he
interceded for the children of Israel and confessed their many sins along with
confessing his sins to the Lord. This
demonstrates that true faith not only believes the promises but also prays for
God to work. This would bring
encouragement to the psalmist.
His
people remember God’s Word (vv. 52-54): “ 52 I
have remembered Your ordinances from of old, O LORD, And comfort myself. 53
Burning indignation has seized me because of the wicked, Who forsake Your law.
54 Your statutes are my
songs In the house of my pilgrimage.”
I can relate to these verses,
especially verse 53, when I look at the things that are happening to our
country for I never thought that I would see the day when a political party
would desire to take God out of their platform, especially when we have seen
what has happened when God was taken out of the schools, how many children have
been killed since this has happened.
This causes me to have burning indignation as it did the psalmist. The psalmist knew the Word of God because he
had been preserved and taught by it, something that must happen to the next
generation or it will be lost, and it is the obligation of the Church to do
this. (1Tim 2:2)
Dr. Wiersbe writes these insightful
words, “Anger alone can be
very destructive, but anger plus love produces anguish, and anguish can lead to
constructive action. His response
was to turn God’s statutes into songs to use the Word to praise the Lord (vs.
54; Eph. 5:19; Col. 3:16).”
As believers we must remember that
God’s Word is not a burden to bear; but a blessing to share, and share it we
must to those who are not believers so they can become believers and to those
who are believer so that they can grow and mature in their walk with the Lord.
His
People remember His Name (vv. 55-56):
“55 O LORD, I remember Your name
in the night, And keep Your law. 56 This has become mine, That I observe Your
precepts”
I think that it was Warren Wiersbe,
when he was the Pastor at Moody Church in Chicago that he began the program
“Songs in the Night,” and perhaps the name came from verse 55 as the psalmist
remembered to praise the Lord at night.
Dr. Wiersbe explains the full
meaning of God’s name that we call Jehovah or Yahweh, “I am present, I am
actively present, and I can do what I choose when I choose to do it. God’s name Yahweh speaks not only of His
existence and His eternality, but also of His sovereignty, His power, and the
dynamic working out of His will in this world.”
As believers we are to remember
God’s name, and we are to sing praises to His name. We gain victory over our enemies in His name,
and this is the reason we should call on Him when we are in need of help.
If you have a desire to find out how
strong the name of the Lord is study His names that are found in the OT, and
then you can also look at the “I Am” statements that Jesus spoke in the Gospel
of John, for this is one of the things that John built His story of Jesus on.
Spiritual
meaning for my life today: I want to
remember and practice these words that Dr. Wiersbe wrote in this section: “Anger alone can be very destructive, but anger plus love produces
anguish, and anguish can lead to constructive action. His response was to turn God’s statutes into
songs to use the Word to praise the Lord (vs. 54; Eph. 5:19; Col. 3:16).”
My Steps of Faith for Today:
Practice anguish.
Memory
verses for the week: 1Cor 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.
9/6/2012
8:15:36 AM
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