SPIRITUAL DIARY
FOR 11/20/2012 1:35:28 PM
My Worship Time Focus: Psalm 137
PT-2
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: Psalm 137:5-9
Message of
the verses: We will continue looking at Psalm 137 in today’s
SD.
Memory Can Build Character: (vv. 5-6): “5 If I forget you, O Jerusalem, May my right
hand forget her skill. 6 May my tongue cling to the roof of my mouth If I do
not remember you, If I do not exalt Jerusalem Above my chief joy.”
It is believed that this psalm was written after the
return of the Jewish people to their land, but the author of this psalm states
that while he was in Babylon that he remembered Jerusalem and even vowed to God
that if he forgot Jerusalem that God could punish him because of the breaking
of the vow.
Psalm 90:12 states, “So teach us to
number our days, That we may present to You a heart of wisdom.” The psalmist was doing this and we also
should do this. The psalmist had a long
time to remember things that perhaps he could have done to prevent the nation
of Israel to fall to the Babylonians. It
did not happen but it was not too late for the psalmist. I think the quote from the old Scottish
preacher comes into play here, “The successful Christian life is a series of
new beginnings.”
Memory Can Encourage Faith (vv. 7-9): “7 Remember,
O LORD, against the sons of Edom The day of Jerusalem, Who said, "Raze it,
raze it To its very foundation." 8 O daughter of Babylon, you devastated
one, How blessed will be the one who repays you With the recompense with which
you have repaid us. 9 How blessed will be the one who seizes and dashes your
little ones Against the rock.”
7 O LORD, remember
what the Edomites did on the day the armies of Babylon captured Jerusalem.
“Destroy it! ‘they yelled. “Level it to
the ground!’’ 8 O Babylon, you will be
destroyed. Happy is the one who pays you
back for what you have done to us. 9 Happy is the one who takes your babies and
smashes them against the rocks!” (NLT)
I suppose that many people over the
years have had trouble with these three verses, but they probably took them out
of context and even did not realize what these verses mean for after all they
are in the Holy Scriptures and therefore we have to look at them to see what we
can learn from them.
Dr. Wiersbe states that the Law of
God is “lex talionis” or the law of
retaliation—and retaliation is not revenge. “In short, the punishment must fit
the crime.” When we read from Deut.
19:16-21 these words “Eye for eye, tooth for tooth” we probably get the meaning
of that verse wrong. What this means is
that the punishment should fit the crime.
If a man knocks someone’s tooth our and does so in a crime then his tooth
must be knocked out too. You cannot kill
the man for knocking out someone’s tooth.
The following came from my
Spiritual Diary from June 3, 2009 from Deuteronomy 19:15-21, “Moses then speaks
of how the punishment shall fit the crime by repeating a statement he spoke
earlier in Exodus 21:23-25, “23 “But if there is any further injury, then you
shall appoint as a penalty life for life, 24 eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand
for hand, foot for foot, 25 burn for burn, wound for wound, bruise for bruise.” There is a Latin phrase that speaks of this “lex talionis” which is the Latin for
‘The law of retaliation.’ If a person
goes into a store and shop lifts something he should not receive the same
punishment of a person who rapes someone and the same in reverse is true. Warren
Wiersbe writes, “Jesus exhorted us not to practice personal revenge but to
leave such matters in the hand of God (Romans 12:17-21). We’re to imitate the Master and return good
for evil, love for hatred, and sacrifice for selfishness (1 Peter 2:11-25).”
The psalmist knew from the prophets
that Edom and Babylon were to be destroyed by the God of Israel, and so he
prayed that this would come about. We
could be living in a time when the countries that surround Israel along with
those a bit further away will be destroyed by the Lord. Ezekiel 38 and 39 speak of this, and just as
Edom and Babylon were destroyed in fulfillment of the prophecies found in the
OT prophets so these nations listed in Ezekiel 38-39 will be destroyed by the
Lord.
The Lord used Babylon to judge
Israel for her sins, but the Babylonians went too far and now the psalmist is
praying that they too will receive the same thing to them as they did to
Israel. When Jerusalem was being
destroyed by Babylon the Edomites, who came from Jacob’s brother Esau, Edom was
calling for Babylon to do more. One day
all the wrongs that have been done to those persecuted in the Church will be
made right, “9 When the Lamb broke the fifth seal, I saw underneath the altar
the souls of those who had been slain because of the word of God, and because
of the testimony which they had maintained; 10 and they cried out with a loud
voice, saying, "How
long, O Lord, holy and true, will You refrain from judging and avenging our
blood on those who dwell on the earth?" 11 And there was given to
each of them a white robe; and they were told that they should rest for a
little while longer, until the number of their fellow servants and their
brethren who were to be killed even as they had been, would be completed also. “
Spiritual
meaning for my life today: I have to
admire Joel Rosenberg from what he wrote on his blog today about not only
praying for Israel as she goes through this time of trouble that we should also
pray for those living in Gaza too. Joel
is over there in Israel and is seeing the war first hand as to what is going
on. He is praying for souls of
unbeliever on both side of the war and I admire him for that.
My Steps of Faith for Today: Continue to
learn contentment and also to continue to have my mind transformed by the Word
of God.
Memory verses for the
week: Psalm 130:1-5
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
supplication. 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.
11/20/2012 2:43:39 PM
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