SPIRITUAL
DIARY FOR 10/8/2012 9:08:39 AM
My Worship Time Focus:
Psalm 124 PT-1
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: Psalm
124:1-8
Message
of the verses: We will begin to look
at the 124th Psalm by looking at several different commentaries on
the introduction to this psalm.
“David
penned this psalm (we suppose) upon occasion of some great deliverance which
God wrought for him and his people from some very threatening danger, which was
likely to have involved them all in ruin, whether by foreign invasion, or
intestine insurrection, is not certain; whatever it was he seems to have been
himself much affected, and very desirous to affect others, with the goodness of
God, in making a way for them to escape. To him he is careful to give all the
glory, and takes none to himself as conquerors usually do.” (Matthew Henry)
“A
Song of degrees of David. Of course the superfine critics have pounced upon
this title as inaccurate, but we are at liberty to believe as much or as little
of their assertions as we may please. They declare that there are certain
ornaments of language in this little ode which were unknown in the Davidic
period. It may be so; but in their superlative wisdom they have ventured upon
so many other questionable statements that we are not bound to receive this
dictum. Assuredly the manner of the song is very like to David’s, and we are
unable to see why he should be excluded from the authorship. Whether it be his
composition or no, it breathes the same spirit as that which animates the
unchallenged songs of the royal composer.”
(Charles H. Spurgeon)
“The
contempt and ridicule of Psalm 123 has now been mixed with anger (v. 3) and
become open hostility. When David began
his reign in Jerusalem, the Philistines attacked him twice, and the Lord gave
David great deliverance (2Sam. 5:17-25).
This psalm may have been his song of thanksgiving to the Lord. Note the ‘flood’ image in 2Samuel 5:20, (20
So David came to Baal-perazim and defeated them there; and he said, "The
LORD has broken through my enemies before me like the breakthrough of
waters." Therefore he named that place Baal-perazim.”), and 124:4-5 (“4
Then the waters would have engulfed us, The stream would have swept over our
soul; 5 Then the raging waters would have swept over our soul.’”). However, when Nehemiah and the people were
repairing the walls and gates of Jerusalem, the surrounding nations ridiculed
them (Neh. 2:19-20; 4:1-5) and then threatened to attack them (Neh. 4:7-23). Nehemiah’s words ‘Our God will fight for us’
(Neh. 4:20) reminded us of 124:1-2 and 8.
We may not have entire nations and armies opposing us, but we do face
emergencies that are more than we can handle.
That is when we turn to the Lord for help, because He is on our side and
helps us with these emergencies.”
(Warren Wiersbe)
The Sudden Attack (vv. 1-2):
“1 A Song of Ascents, of David: "Had it not been the LORD who was
on our side," Let Israel now say, 2 “Had it not been the LORD who was on
our side When men rose up against us.”
When we look at the words “rose up
against us” we understand that this was a sneak attack from the enemies of
Israel and we can see in verse one and two that the Lord was on the side of
Israel.
Now as we look back at the history
of Israel from the very beginning we see that God had promised Abraham that He
would bless those that blessed Israel, and those that cursed Israel because of
who they were, God would curse them. As
we look further into the history of the nation of Israel we see that both the
Assyrians and the Babylonians did defeat them, the first in 722 B.C. and the
second in 586 B.C. Dr. Wiersbe points
out that this was not because God was weaker than the armies of these two
nations, “but because God’s people were great sinners and the Lord had to
chasten them. If we are walking with the
Lord, we need not feel unprepared for the enemy’s sudden attacks.”
Israel was worshiping other gods and
because our God is a Jealous God He allowed them to be defeated. To much is granted, much is required. To those who have been given much grace much
is required of them.
The Deepening Flood (vv. 3-5):
“3 Then they would have swallowed us alive, When their anger was kindled
against us; 4 Then the waters would have engulfed us, The stream would have
swept over our soul; 5 Then the raging waters would have swept over our
soul."
David speaks of the enemy swallowing
Israel up and this image can also be seen in the book of Jeremiah when Babylon
was actually doing this to Israel, “’34 Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon has
devoured me and crushed me, He has set me down like an empty vessel; He has swallowed me like a
monster, He has filled his stomach with my delicacies; He has washed me
away.” “44 “I will punish Bel in Babylon,
And I will make what he
has swallowed come out of his mouth; And the nations will no longer
stream to him. Even the wall of Babylon has fallen down!”
The picture of a raging flood coming
over Israel is seen in verse five and John, the author of the book of
Revelations also uses this image in Revelations 12:13-17 “13 And when the dragon saw that he was thrown
down to the earth, he persecuted the woman who gave birth to the male child. 14
But the two wings of the great eagle were given to the woman, so that she could
fly into the wilderness to her place, where she was nourished for a time and
times and half a time, from the presence of the serpent. 15 And the serpent poured water
like a river out of his mouth after the woman, so that he might cause her to be
swept away with the flood. 16 But the earth helped the woman, and the
earth opened its mouth and drank up the river which the dragon poured out of
his mouth. 17 So the dragon was enraged with the woman, and went off to make
war with the rest of her children, who keep the commandments of God and hold to
the testimony of Jesus.”
The Menacing Beast (v.6):
“6 Blessed be the LORD, Who has not given us to be torn by their teeth.”
David may well be speaking of a lion
for as a shepherd he had kill both the lion and the bear. “1Sa 17:34 But David said to Saul, "Your
servant was tending his father’s sheep. When a lion or a bear came and took a
lamb from the flock. 1Sa 17:36 “Your servant has killed both the lion and the
bear; and this uncircumcised Philistine will be like one of them, since he has
taunted the armies of the living God. "1Sa 17:37 And David said, "The LORD who delivered
me from the paw of the lion and from the paw of the bear, He will deliver me
from the hand of this Philistine." And Saul said to David, "Go, and
may the LORD be with you." We can
see from these verses that David knew much about the lion and the bear and thus
he could use this type of image in this psalm.
He is not the only one who speaks of
a lion like this for Peter writes these words, “Be of sober spirit, be on the
alert. Your adversary, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking
someone to devour.” (1Peter 5:8) Dr. Wiersbe writes, “Like a cunning animal,
Satan stalks us and waits until we have relaxed our guard, and then he
pounces. But the Lord is stronger than
Satan, and if we are abiding in Him, we can win the victory.”
The Hidden Trap (vv. 7-8):
“7 Our soul has escaped as a bird out of the snare of the trapper; The
snare is broken and we have escaped. 8 Our help is in the name of the LORD, Who made heaven and
earth.”
I have just finished listening to
the book of Acts in my journey through the Bible this year and there is a story
in the twelfth chapter that will help us explain these verses. “5 So Peter was kept in the prison, but
prayer for him was being made fervently by the church to God. 6 On the very
night when Herod was about to bring him forward, Peter was sleeping between two
soldiers, bound with two chains, and guards in front of the door were watching
over the prison. 7 And behold, an angel of the Lord suddenly appeared and a
light shone in the cell; and he struck Peter’s side and woke him up, saying,
"Get up quickly." And his chains fell off his hands. 8 And the angel
said to him, "Gird yourself and put on your sandals." And he did so.
And he said to him, "Wrap your cloak around you and follow me." 9 And
he went out and continued to follow, and he did not know that what was being
done by the angel was real, but thought he was seeing a vision. 10 When they
had passed the first and second guard, they came to the iron gate that leads
into the city, which opened for them by itself; and they went out and went
along one street, and immediately the angel departed from him.”
We see from this story that Peter
was in a trap for he was in prison and was about to be executed, but we also
see that Peter was sleeping between two guards that he was chained to. Satan was behind this, for in the first
verses of this section we saw that John’s brother James had been killed by the
sword, and because this pleased the Jews Herod had also put Peter into jail
(the trap), and as we look at this story we see the angel who actually brings
light to the dark prison cell wakes Peter up and causes him to escape from the
trap. The question may arise as to why
James had been killed and Peter released, and the answer may be in two
parts. It was obviously God’s will not
to save James from being killed, and it was His will not to have Peter executed
at this time. We see another answer to
this question from the 21st chapter of John Gospel, “18 “Truly,
truly, I say to you, when you were younger, you used to gird yourself and walk
wherever you wished; but when you grow old, you will stretch out your hands and
someone else will gird you, and bring you where you do not wish to go." 19
Now this He said, signifying by what kind of death he would glorify God. And
when He had spoken this, He said to him, "Follow Me!’” Peter knew this promise and I believe this is
why he was able to fall asleep on the night before he was supposed to die.
There is more to this story from
chapter twelve of Acts, and it kind of brings about poetic justice in my way of
thinking. Herod begins this chapter by
having James killed and trying to kill Peter and as the chapter ends we read
these words, “20 Now he (Herod) was very angry with the people of Tyre and
Sidon; and with one accord they came to him, and having won over Blastus the
king’s chamberlain, they were asking for peace, because their country was fed
by the king’s country. 21 On an appointed day Herod, having put on his royal
apparel, took his seat on the rostrum and began delivering an address to them. 22
The people kept crying out, "The voice of a god and not of a man!" 23
And immediately an angel of the Lord struck him because he did not give God the
glory, and he was eaten by worms and died. 24 But the word of the Lord continued to grow and to be
multiplied.” Satan was using
Herod to stop the growth of the newly formed Church but in the end God had
pulled Peter from the trap that was set for him and Herod was killed by the
Lord, and the Word of the Lord continued to grow and to multiply.
Spiritual
meaning for my life today: “Our help is in the name of the
LORD, Who made heaven and earth.”
This is verse eight of Psalm 124 and this verses shows me that if I am
to be helped when sudden attacks come upon me that my help must come from the
Lord and that means that I am to be walking with Him in order to understand
more about these attacks and to trust Him to have His perfect will worked out
in my life. The light of God’s Word has
to shine upon me as I study it in order to make sure that I see the attacks
that Satan is throwing at me.
My Steps of Faith for Today:
Trust the Lord to teach me more of His Word as I listen to it, as I read
it, as I study it, as I memorize it, and as I meditate upon it.
Memory
verses for the week: 1Cor. 13:8-10
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. 9 For we know in part and we
prophecy in part, 10 but when the perfect comes, the partial will be done
away.
10/8/2012
10:46:16 AM
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