SPIRITUAL DIARY
FOR 11/28/2012 8:08:12 AM
My Worship Time Focus: Psalm 141
PT-1
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: Psalm 141:1-4
Message of
the verses: We will begin to look at the 141st
Psalm in Today’s Spiritual Diary by looking at several introductions from
different Bible Commentators in order to get a better idea as to what this
psalm is all about.
“This psalm was written about the same time, and
upon the same occasion, as that going before and what follows after; even when
David was persecuted by Saul, and when he was in great danger of his enemies,
and snares were laid for his life.”
(John Gill)
“Title: A Psalm, Of David. Yes, David under
suspicion, half afraid to speak lest he should speak unadvisedly while trying
to clear himself; David slandered and beset by enemies; David censured even by
saints, and taking it kindly; David deploring the condition of the godly party
of whom he was the acknowledged heard: David waiting upon God with confident
expectation. The Psalm is one of a group of four, and it bears a striking
likeness to the other three. Its meaning lies so deep as to be in places
exceedingly obscure, yet even upon its surface it has dust of gold. In its
commencement the psalm is lighted up with the evening glow as the incense rises
to heaven; then comes a night of language whose meaning we cannot see; and this
gives place to morning light in which our eyes are unto the Lord.
“Division: The Psalmist cries for
acceptance in prayer (#Ps 141:1-2); Then he begs to be kept as to his speech,
preserved in heart and deed, and delivered from every sort of fellowship with
the ungodly. He prefers to be rebuked by the gracious rather than to be
flattered by the wicked, and consoles himself with the confident assurance that
be will one day be understood by the godly party, and made to be a comfort to
them (#Ps 141:3-6). In the last verses the slandered saint represents the
condition of the persecuted church, looks away to God and pleads for rescue
from his cruel enemies, and for the punishment of his oppressors.” (Charles H. Spurgeon)
“Even a casual reading of 140 and
141 reveals that the two are related and use a similar vocabulary—heart,
tongue, hands, snares, the righteous, and so forth. The enemy was after David again and he needed
immediate help. It has been suggested
that David wrote this psalm after his cave experience with Saul (1Sam. 24), but
then he was not really in danger; or perhaps he wrote it when he was away from the
sanctuary during Absalom’s rebellion. Life is built on character and
character is built on decisions.
This psalm reveals David making a number of wise decisions as he faced
the attacks of the enemy.” (Warren
Wiersbe)
I Will Seek the Lord’s Help (vv.
1-2): “1 A Psalm of David: O LORD, I call upon You; hasten to me! Give
ear to my voice when I call to You! 2 May my prayer be counted as incense
before You; The lifting up of my hands as the evening offering.”
As we have looked at the life of David we can see
that he was a man of prayer, and he was a man who demonstrated great faith in
the Lord. When David found himself in
trouble the first thing that he did was pray to the Lord. Verse one reminds me of verse two from Psalm
130, a psalm that I am committing to memory.
David speaks of praying at the time of the evening sacrifice, which is
something that is seen in the life of Daniel (chapter 9) and also Nehemiah
(chapter 9). At the evening sacrifice
the priests would offer sacrifices on the brazen alter and then would offer
incense on the golden alter. The incense
is a picture of the prayers of the saints, “When He had taken the book, the
four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb,
each one holding a harp and golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers
of the saints (Rev. 5:8).” “And the
smoke of the incense, with the prayers of the saints, went up before God out of
the angel’s hand (Rev. 8:4).”
I Will Keep Myself from Sin (vv.
3-4): “3 Set a guard, O LORD, over my
mouth; Keep watch over the door of my lips. 4 Do not incline my heart to any
evil thing, To practice deeds of wickedness With men who do iniquity; And do
not let me eat of their delicacies.”
I want to quote from Charles H. Spurgeon on a portion
of what he writes on verse three, especially the part about setting a guard
over David’s mouth, “That mouth had been used in prayer, it would be a pity it should
ever be defiled with untruth, or pride, or wrath; yet so it will become
unless carefully watched, for these intruders are ever lurking about the door.
David feels that with all his own watchfulness he may be surprised into sin,
and so he begs the Lord
himself to keep him. When Jehovah sets the watch the city is well
guarded: when the Lord becomes the guard of our mouth the whole man is well
garrisoned.”
David was facing temptation and so
he calls upon the Lord to keep him from committing sin against the Lord. He was with people who were sinful, but their
sinfulness must have been something that appealed to David because he was being
tempted. We read of Moses not wanting to
be involved in the “pleasures of sin for a season,” and we learn from this that
sin is pleasurable, but it can also cause great destruction in one’s life and
David knew this. When we look at the
life of David we can see that the pleasure of sin with Bathsheba caused much
death in David’s household, but we also know that David was a man who would not
hesitate to confess his sins to the Lord seeking the forgiveness that only God
could give to him.
David speaks about the pleasures of
sin in verse four when he writes about eating their delicacies. “14 Do not enter the path of the wicked And
do not proceed in the way of evil men. 15 Avoid it, do not pass by it; Turn
away from it and pass on. 16 For they cannot sleep unless they do evil; And
they are robbed of sleep unless they make someone stumble. 17 For they eat the
bread of wickedness And drink the wine of violence (Proverbs 4:4-17).”
Dr. Wiersbe finishes his commentary
on verses 3-4 with these words, “Times of testing become times of temptation when we stop believing and start
scheming, when we
ask ‘How can I get out of this?’
instead of ‘What can I get out of this.’”
Spiritual
meaning for my life today: I think
of what Dr. Wiersbe wrote about in his introduction to this psalm, “Life is
built on character and character is built on decisions.” As a believer I have had to make many
decisions in my life and some of them were not the best, and yet like David I
know that when making wrong decisions I have to confess it to the Lord and then
do believe what the old Scottish preacher said “The successful Christian life
is a series of new beginnings.”
My Steps of Faith for Today: Continue to
learn contentment so that I can make better decisions, and continue to be
transformed by the renewing of my mind from the pages of Scripture.
Memory verses for the
week: Psalm 130:1-6
1 Out of the debts I cried to You, O
LORD. 2 Lord hear my voice! Let Your ears be attentive to the voice of my
supplications. 3 If You, LORD, should
mark iniquities, O Lord, who could stand?
4 But there is forgiveness with You, that You may be feared.
5 I wait for the Lord, my soul does
wait, and in His Word do I hope. 6 My
soul waits for the Lord more than the watchman for the morning, Indeed more
than the watchman for the morning.
11/28/2012 9:39:20 AM
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