SPIRITUAL
DIARY FOR 10/5/2012 7:45:12 AM
My Worship Time Focus:
Psalm 122 PT-2
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference:
Psalm 122:3-9
Message
of the verses: We began to look at
Psalm 122 in yesterday’s Spiritual Diary as we looked at the first two verses
of the psalm under the heading of “A Heart for God.” We also looked at several introductory
commentaries from different Bible teachers, some from the past and some who are
still with us. Dr. Wiersbe writes the
following at the end of his introductory commentary, “The key thing is the
heart. From David’s words in this psalm,
we can easily discern the kind of heart believers need if we are to please God
in our worship.”
A
Heart for Praise (vv. 3-5): “3 Jerusalem,
that is built As a city that is compact together; 4 To which the tribes go up,
even the tribes of the LORD- An ordinance for Israel-To give thanks to the name of the LORD. 5
For there thrones were set for judgment, The thrones of the house of David.”
We mentioned in yesterday’s SD
that God had promised the children of Israel that one day He would pick a place
in the Promised Land to meet with His people and that place was Jerusalem. The temple of God was built on the same site
where Abraham was to offer his son Isaac for a burnt offering to the Lord, but
the Lord stopped him and provided a lamb.
It was also on this site that the plague was stopped after the angel of
the Lord had killed many of the children of Israel because of David’s sin in
numbering the people. David had captured
this city from the Jebusites and had made Jerusalem his capital city.
David saw the city as a secure place
but he also saw it as a place where the children of Israel came to worship the
Lord, and they were to come there three times a year to worship the Lord on the
Passover, Pentecost, and also the feast of Tabernacles. God had fulfilled His promise of choosing a
city and we know that He loved this city and that David also loved the city of
Jerusalem.
There are some similar things that
the Church and Judaism have in common and one of them is unity, and unity of
the tribes of Israel can be seen in this section of Psalm 122. We can see the unity of the church from
reading Ephesians 4:1-6, “1 Therefore I, the prisoner of the Lord, implore you
to walk in a manner worthy of the calling with which you have been called,
2
with all humility and gentleness, with patience, showing tolerance for one
another in love, 3 being
diligent to preserve the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. 4 There is one body and one Spirit, just as
also you were called in one hope of your calling; 5 one Lord, one faith, one
baptism, 6 one God and Father of all who is over all and through all and in
all.” As believers we are to
endeavor to maintain this unity and as Jesus speaks of in John 17:20-23 as we
are to do it in front of a watching world.
“20 "I do not ask on behalf of these alone, but for those also who
believe in Me through their word; 21 that they may all be one;
even as You, Father, are in Me and I in You, that they also may be in Us, so that the world may
believe that You sent Me. 22
"The glory which You have given Me I have given to them, that they may be one,
just as We are one; 23 I in them and You in Me, that they may be perfected in unity, so that the world may know that
You sent Me, and loved them, even as You have loved Me.”
The central theme in this section
comes from verse four and that is the worship and praise of God and this is
done by giving Him thanks as the verse tells us to do. The people gave thanks to the Lord for who He
is and also they gave thanks to the Lord for the fact that He had given a
dynasty to David and from this dynasty would come the Messiah. Even after the nation was split after the
reign of Solomon many of the children of Israel moved from the Northern tribes
to be in the Southern tribes became they wanted to worship the Lord at
Jerusalem and not in Samaria where a different type of worship was set up by
the first king of the Northern tribes.
A
Heart for Prayer (vv. 6-9): “6 Pray
for the peace of Jerusalem: "May they prosper who love you. 7 “May peace
be within your walls, And prosperity within your palaces." 8 For the sake
of my brothers and my friends, I will now say, "May peace be within you."
9 For the sake of the house of the LORD our God, I will seek your good.”
In the former church that I use
to go to on the prayer list that we had for Wednesday night prayer meeting
verse six was most always on it as we were to pray for the peace of Jerusalem. Jerusalem is a city that does not seem to
ever experience peace and even since the 1967 war when the nation of Israel
recaptured this great city there is not a lot of peace there. I cannot understand why people don’t
understand why all the things that are happening in Israel, for the Bible has
made it very clear what will happen to this region in the end times, and when I
speak of the end times I don’t believe that we are in them as far as being in
what the Bible calls the “tribulation” period, but it seems to me that the
shadows of that time are upon us as many of the signs that will happen during
that period of time are beginning to be seen.
“Zec 12:2 Behold, I will make Jerusalem a cup of trembling unto all the
people round about, when they shall be in the siege both against Judah and
against Jerusalem.” Zechariah is
speaking of the tribulation period in this verse.
The meaning of Jerusalem is
“foundation of peace,” and yet there is no peace in Jerusalem, and will not be
until the Prince of Peace returns to redo the city and begin His 1000 year
reign from Jerusalem.
The prospering that David speaks of
in verse six speaks of primarily to the spiritual enrichment that comes to
those who love God, and love His Son, and also love His Word for His Son was
born a Jew and His Word was written by the Jews. Jesus told the woman at the well that
Salvation was of the Jews (John 4:22).
These are wonderful verses that remind us who believe in the Lord Jesus
Christ as Savior and Lord that we have a great deal of debt to the nation of
Israel, and because of what Jesus did for us in providing salvation we now have
peace with God, and according to the book of Ephesians we are rich in spiritual
things which is much more important than being rich in material things so we
see a parallel from these verses that we as believers have with what David
writes about when speaking of peace and prosperity for Jerusalem.
Spiritual
meaning for my life today: I knew
little about the nation of Israel or the Jewish people before I became a
believer in Jan. of 1974, but I can truly say that I have a great love for the
nation of Israel and have had since I became a believer. I know that there will be no peace in
Jerusalem until Jesus returns, but the Bible tells us in verse six to pray for
the peace of Jerusalem and by doing this I am praying for the return of Jesus
Christ to set up His kingdom from Jerusalem.
My Steps of Faith for Today:
Romans 12:2 talks about two things (1) I am not to be conformed to the
world system, and (2) I am to be transformed by the renewing of my mind. The word transformed is the same word that
describes how Jesus was transformed from the inside out on the mount of
transfiguration. I can be transformed
from the inside out by the renewing of my mind as I listen to the Word of God,
read the Word of God, study the Word of God, memorize the Word of God, and
meditate on the Word of God.
Memory
verse for the week: 1Cor. 13:8
8 Love never fails; but if there are
gifts of prophecy, they will be done away; if there are tongues, they will
cease; if there is knowledge, it will be done away.
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