SPIRITUAL
DIARY FOR 10/9/2012 9:47:37 AM
My Worship Time Focus: Psalm
125 PT-1
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference:
Psalm 125:1-2
Message
of the verses: We will begin to look
at the 125th Psalm by looking at several introductions from
different Bible Commentators in order to help us to better understand this
psalm and in order to help us to apply the applications of this psalm to our
lives by the power of the Holy Spirit.
Matthew
Henry says that this 125th Psalm can be summed up from two verses
from the book of Isaiah, “10 Say to the
righteous that it will go well with them, For they will eat the fruit of their
actions. 11 Woe to the wicked! It will
go badly with him, For what he deserves will be done to him.” (Isaiah 3:10-11)
“A
Song of Degrees. Another step is taken in the ascent, another station in the
pilgrimage is reached: certainly a rise in the sense is here perceptible, since
full assurance concerning years to come is a higher form of faith than the
ascription of farther escapes to the Lord. Faith has praised Jehovah for past
deliverances, and t, ere she rises to a confident jury in the present and
future safety of believers. She asserts that they shall forever secure who
trust themselves with the Lord. We can imagine the pilgrims chanting this song
when perambulating the city walls.
“We do not assert that David
wrote this Psalm, but we have as much ground for doing so as others have for
declaring that it was written after the captivity. It would seem provable that
all the Pilgrim Psalms were composed, or, at least, compiled by the same
writer, and as some of them are certainly by David, there is too conclusive
reason for taking away the rest from him.”
“Three kinds of people are
mentioned in this psalm: those who trust
the Lord (v. 1), who are also called righteous and good (vv. 3-4); those who
compromise with the enemy (v. 3); and those who deliberately go on the wrong
path (v. 5). We could probably call them
the faithful, the backslidden, and the apostate. This psalm was probably composed during the
post-exilic period of Ezra and Nehemiah.
Nehemiah mentions all sorts of people who made his work difficult for
him, beginning with Shemiah, the ‘secret informer,’ and Noadiah, the hireling
prophetess (Neh. 6:10-14). Eliashib was
a compromising high priest (Neh. 13:4-9), and one of his grandsons married into
the family of an enemy of the Jews (Neh. 13:28). There were also many unnamed Jewish men who
entered into mixed marriages that were contrary to God’s Law (Neh. 13:1-9,
23-31; Ezra 9-10). Thank God for the
faithful who believe God and obey His Word!
The psalm names the benefits that faith and faithfulness bring to God’s
people.” (Warren Wiersbe)
Faith
Keeps Us Standing (vv 1-2)
“1 A Song of Ascents: Those who trust in the LORD Are as Mount Zion,
which cannot be moved but abides forever. 2 As the mountains surround
Jerusalem, So the LORD surrounds His people From this time forth and forever.”
The psalmist is making a word
picture describing those of faith, for they are like Jerusalem, for Jerusalem
was built upon a hill with a solid rock foundation with hills around it to aid
in the defense of the city. We can look
at this word picture and compare it to the believer today for when we listen to
what the Lord Jesus said in Matthew we get a picture similar to these two
verses. “24 “Therefore everyone who
hears these words of Mine and acts on them, may be compared to a wise man who
built his house on the rock. 25 “And the rain fell, and the floods came, and
the winds blew and slammed against that house; and yet it did not fall, for it
had been founded on the rock. (Matthew 7:24-25)
Jesus will answer the question as to who this Rock is when He quotes an
OT verse, “Mt 21:42 Jesus said to them,
"Did you never read in the Scriptures, ’THE STONE WHICH THE BUILDERS
REJECTED, THIS BECAME THE CHIEF CORNER stone; THIS CAME ABOUT FROM THE LORD,
AND IT IS MARVELOUS IN OUR EYES’?” Paul
picks up on this statement, “For no man can lay a foundation other than the one
which is laid, which is Jesus Christ.”
(1Corn. 3:11) Peter speaks of the same thing in 1Petter 2:4-8, “4 And
coming to Him as to a living stone which has been rejected by men, but is
choice and precious in the sight of God, 5 you also, as living stones, are
being built up as a spiritual house for a holy priesthood, to offer up
spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. 6 For this is
contained in Scripture: "BEHOLD, I LAY IN ZION A CHOICE STONE, A PRECIOUS
CORNER stone, AND HE WHO BELIEVES IN HIM WILL NOT BE DISAPPOINTED." 7 This
precious value, then, is for you who believe; but for those who disbelieve,
"THE STONE WHICH THE BUILDERS REJECTED, THIS BECAME THE VERY CORNER
stone," 8 and, "A STONE OF STUMBLING AND A ROCK OF OFFENSE"; for
they stumble because they are disobedient to the word, and to this doom they
were also appointed.”
Like
Jerusalem, people of faith cannot be moved, “I have set the LORD continually
before me; Because He is at my right hand, I will not be shaken.” (Psalm
16:8) “For the king trusts in the LORD,
And through the lovingkindness of the Most High he will not be shaken. (Psalm
21:7) “He only is my rock and my
salvation, My stronghold; I shall not be shaken.” (Psalm 62:6)
The
Apostle Paul teaches us that are wonderful standing is in God’s grace, “1Therefore,
having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus
Christ, 2 through whom also we have obtained our introduction by faith into
this grace in which we stand; and we exult in hope of the glory of God.”
(Romans 5:1-2) “It was for freedom that
Christ set us free; therefore keep standing firm and do not be subject again to
a yoke of slavery.” (Gal. 5:1) Not only do we, as believers stand in God’s
Grace, but we also stand by faith, “Quite right, they were broken off for their
unbelief, but you stand by your faith.”
(Romans 11:20A) We also take our
stands on the truths of the Word of God as Paul writes, “So then, brethren,
stand firm and hold to the traditions which you were taught, whether by word of
mouth or by letter from us.” (2Thes.
2:15) In this verse Paul is speaking of
the Old Testament when he writes “the traditions which you were taught,” and he
speaks of the New Testament when he writes “by letter from us,” for Paul’s
letters that are in the NT were written under the inspiration of the Holy
Spirit. Paul also writes that as
believers are stand is also in the will of God, “Epaphras, who is one of your
number, a bondslave of Jesus Christ, sends you his greetings, always laboring earnestly for
you in his prayers, that you may stand perfect and fully assured in all the
will of God.” (Col. 4:12) This
is a wonderful prayer for us to pray for other believers. Paul shows us that it is God who enables us
to stand when he writes, “Now He who establishes us with you in Christ and
anointed us is God, & Not that we lord it over your faith, but are workers
with you for your joy; for in your faith you are standing firm.” (2Cro 1:21, 24) Now it is because that God enables us to
stand, we are also able to accomplish the work that He wants us to do, “Therefore,
my beloved brethren, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of
the Lord, knowing that your toil is not in vain in the Lord.” (1Cor. 15:58)
Dr. Wiersbe concludes this section by writing “When we begin to trust
ourselves or other people, and we bypass the Lord, then we begin to waver,
stumble, and fall.”
Spiritual
meaning for my life today: I am not
sure that the psalmist had all of these things in mind when he penned these two
verses, but by looking at these NT verses we can learn a lot about our faith,
who are faith is in, and also who we stand in and how we can pray for others,
along with better understanding how we can accomplish the work that God has for
us to accomplish. I have said in earlier
SD’s that when I look at Ephesians 2:10, “For we are His workmanship, created
in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would
walk in them.,” that God has chosen, not only those He will save in eternity
past, but has also assigned work for us to accomplish for His glory.
My Steps of Faith for Today:
I desire to accomplish the work that God has ordained for me to
accomplish in order to bring glory to my Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.
Memory
verses for the week: 1Cor. 13:8-10
8
Love never fails, 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. 9 For we know in part, and we
prophecy in part, 10 but when the
perfect comes the partial will be done away.
10/9/2012
10:56:38 AM
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