SPIRITUAL DIARY
FOR 11/30/2012 8:19:38 AM
My Worship Time Focus: Psalm 142 PT-1
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: Psalm 142:1-2
Message of
the verses: We will begin to look at the 142nd
Psalm in Today’s Spiritual Diary by looking at several introductions to the
psalm by different Bible Commentators in order to get a good idea what this
psalm is saying to us.
“This psalm is called a prayer, as some others are,
the ninetieth and hundred second psalms: and was composed by David when either
in the cave of Adullam, #1Sa 22:1; or rather in the cave at Engedi, where he
cut off Saul’s skirt, #1Sa 24:3; as Jarchi and Kimchi think. The psalm
represents the troubles of David, and of the Messiah his antitype, and is
applicable to the church of God, or to any particular soul when in distress.” (John Gill)
“There can be no situation so distressing or dangerous, in
which faith will not get comfort from God by prayer. We are apt to show
our troubles too much to ourselves, poring upon them, which does us no service;
whereas, by showing them to God, we might cast the cares upon him who careth
for us, and thereby ease ourselves. Nor should we allow any complaint to
ourselves or others, which we cannot make to God. When our spirits are
overwhelmed by distress, and filled with discouragement; when we see snares
laid for us on every side, while we walk in his way, we may reflect with
comfort that the Lord knoweth our path. Those who in sincerity take the Lord
for their God, find him all-sufficient, as a Refuge, and as a Portion:
everything else is a refuge of lies, and a portion of no value. In this
situation David prayed earnestly to God. We may apply it spiritually; the souls
of believers are often straitened by doubts and fears. And it is then their
duty and interest to beg of God to set them at liberty, that they may run the
way of his commandments. Thus the Lord delivered David from his powerful
persecutors, and dealt bountifully with him. Thus he raised the crucified
Redeemer to the throne of glory, and made him Head over all things for his
church. Thus the convinced sinner cries for help, and is brought to praise the
Lord in the company of his redeemed people; and thus all believers will at
length be delivered from this evil world, from sin and death, and praise their
Saviour forever.” (Matthew Henry)
“Title: Maschil of David: This Maschil is written for
our instruction. It teaches us principally by example how to order our prayer
in times of distress. Such instruction is among the most needful, practical,
and effectual parts of our spiritual education. He who has learned how to pray
has been taught the most useful of the arts and sciences. The disciples said
unto the Son of David, "Lord, teach, us to pray"; and here David
gives us a valuable lesson by recording his own experience as to supplication
from beneath a cloud.
“A Prayer when he was in the cave.
He was in one of his many lurking places, either Engedi, Adullam, or some other
lone cavern wherein he could conceal himself from Saul and his blood hounds.
Caves make good closets for prayer; their gloom and solitude are helpful to the
exercise of devotion. Had David prayed as much in his palace as he did in his
cave, he might never have fallen into the act which brought such misery upon
his later days.
“Subject: There can be little doubt
that this song dates from the days when Saul was sorely persecuting David, and
David himself was in soul trouble, probably produced by that weakness of faith
which led him to associate with heathen princes. His fortunes were evidently at
their lowest, and, what was worse, his repute had fearfully fallen; yet he
displayed a true faith in God, to whom he made known his pressing sorrows. The
gloom of the cave is over the psalm, and yet as if standing at the mouth of it
the prophet poet sees a bright light a little beyond.” (Charles H. Spurgeon)
“This is the last of the psalm
attributed to David that relate to the years in which he was fleeing from Saul
(see 7, 34, 52, 54, 56, 57, and 59).
Whether his ‘prison’ (v.7) was the cave of Adullum (1Sam. 22) or a cave
in En Gedi (1Sam. 24), we cannot be sure, but it is obvious that he was in
danger and was depressed and feeling abandoned.
But he did what God’s people must always do in times of crisis: he looked to the Lord for help. He knew very little about Saul and his plans,
but he did know about Jehovah and His great promises, and because of his faith
in these assurances, he triumphed over his feelings and his foes.” (Warren Wiersbe)
The Lord Hears Our Prayers (vv.
1-2): “1 A Psalm of David: Hear my prayer, O LORD, Give ear to my
supplications! Answer me
in Your faithfulness, in
Your righteousness! 2 And do not enter into judgment with Your servant,
For in Your sight no man living is righteous.”
I am reminded of Psalm 130, the psalm that I have
been committing to memory, for in Psalm 130 we also learn about the Psalmist
great need for prayer as he begins by stating “Out of the debts I cried to You,
O LORD,” and then he goes on to talk about having the Lord’s ears hear the his
supplications. Faith is a key ingredient
in our prayers, promises is another key ingredient in our prayers. David was a very young man when Samuel came
to anoint him as the next king of Israel, and yet David now finds himself out
in the wilderness running for his life, crying out to God to save him from his
enemies. Dr. Wiersbe writes that “Later
in life, David would understand more fully that during those fugitive years in
the wilderness, God was equipping him for the work he would do the rest of his
life, but at the time, his situation was miserable. His feelings were so pent up within him that
he ‘poured out’ his troubles (43:4; 62:8; 102 title) and his inner turmoil
(‘complaint’). God knew David’s
difficult situation better than he did, but the Lord has ordained that our prayers are a part of His
providential answers.”
There are sometimes when we as
believers, just ordinary believers, feel very small when we compare are
troubles with the troubles like David or Moses or even Abraham went through and
we tend to think less of ourselves than we should. Paul admonishes us not to think more highly
of ourselves than we should, however we should not think less of ourselves than
we are either. Paul wrote the letter of
Ephesians to help believers understand how rich that we are in Christ Jesus and
so Dr. Wiersbe “Be” book on Ephesians is “Be Rich,” because of that fact. Getting the right balance is a difficult
thing to get our arms around. One of the
things that I have heard many times when I or someone else is going through a
difficult situation that I or whoever else is going through a difficult
situation is to look at so and so to see how much worse their troubles are than
yours. For some reason I find little
comfort in that statement and so I have thought about it for some time. I think
that there are many factors in understanding troubles that we go through, and
believing that God is sovereign is one of the things that helps me when I am
going through troubles, sovereign that God gives to me things that are geared
to make me more like Jesus Christ (Romans 8:29). Am I to have compassion for others who are
going through more difficult problems that I am going through? I believe that I am to be compassionate to
their troubles and help in any way that I can, and even learn from how they handle
their troubles. Paul writes to the
Corinthians, “3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and
God of all comfort,
4 who comforts us in all our affliction so that we will be able to comfort those who are in any
affliction with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God
(2Cor. 1:3-4).”
Another factor in our prayers to our
Heavenly Father when troubles come is that we must believe that God cares for
us, in fact He cares for us more than we care for ourselves, more than others
care for us. I think that sometimes I
feel like God has more important things to do than to care for my troubles, and
this is not only wrong, but I think is sinful, and yet that is how I feel at
times, feeling that I am not as important as the one who has more troubles than
I have and so God can just leave me alone and put His efforts in helping the
ones with more troubles. God is not only
sovereign, but He is omnipresence, and not only omnipresence, but the Holy
Spirit lives within my heart as I, and all believers are the temple of the Holy
Spirit. Not only are these facts true,
but God is love and He loved me even before I was one of His adopted
children. Paul writes about this in his
letter to the Romans, “6 For
while we were still helpless, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly.
7 For one will hardly die for a righteous man; though perhaps for the good man
someone would dare even to die. 8 But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were
yet sinners, Christ died for us. 9 Much more then, having now been
justified by His blood, we shall be saved from the wrath of God through Him. 10
For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His
Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life (Romans
5:6-10).”
Paul
then goes on to talk about the love God now has for us as His children in
Romans 8:31 “What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who is
against us? 32 He who did not spare His
own Son, but delivered Him over for us all, how will He not also with Him
freely give us all things? 33 Who will bring a charge against God’s elect? God
is the one who justifies; 34 who is the one who condemns? Christ Jesus is He
who died, yes, rather who was raised, who is at the right hand of God, who also
intercedes for us. 35 Who will separate us from the love of Christ? Will
tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or
sword? 36 Just as it is written,
"FOR YOUR SAKE WE ARE BEING PUT TO DEATH ALL DAY LONG; WE WERE CONSIDERED
AS SHEEP TO BE SLAUGHTERED." 37 But in all these things we overwhelmingly
conquer through Him who loved us. 38 For I am convinced that neither death, nor
life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come,
nor powers, 39 nor height, nor depth,
nor any other created thing, will be able to separate us from the love of God,
which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
Spiritual meaning for my life
today: As a person born a
sinner it is at times hard for me to believe of the wonderful love that God has
for me, and yet it is true, for I can see it in what God did for me through
Jesus Christ in the pages of the Bible.
My troubles are allowed to come into my life because God loves me: “3 And not only this, but we also exult in
our tribulations, knowing that tribulation brings about perseverance; 4 and perseverance, proven character; and
proven character, hope; 5 and hope does
not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out within our hearts
through the Holy Spirit who was given to us (Romans 5:3-5).”
Believing
these truths will bring comfort to me in times of troubles.
My Steps of Faith for Today: Contentment
and being transformed by the renewing of my mind through the promises of the
Scriptures is something that will be steps of faith until I see Jesus.
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.
11/30/2012 10:13:18
AM
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