SPIRITUAL DIARY
FOR 12/6/2012 9:36:10 AM
My Worship Time Focus: Psalm 145
PT-1
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: Psalm 145:1-7
Message of
the verses: As we begin to look at Psalm 145 in Today’s
Spiritual Diary we will do as we have been doing for most of the psalms and
that is look at several introductions to the psalm by different Bible
Commentators in order for us to better understand what the psalmist has written
about and how we can learn from the psalm in order to apply it to our lives.
“This psalm is rendered by Ainsworth
"a hymn of David"; and the whole book of Psalms is from hence called
"the Book of Hymns"; see #Eph 5:19; It seems to have been a psalm
David took great delight in, and it may be that he often repeated and sung it,
as it was made by him with great care and contrivance, in a very curious
manner, as well as he was assisted in it by divine inspiration; for it is wrote
in an alphabetical order, each verse: beginning with the letter of the alphabet
in course, and goes through the whole, excepting one letter; and very probably
it was composed in this form that it might be the more easily committed to
memory, and retained in it. The Jews have a very high opinion of it; their
Rabbins say, that whoever says this psalm thrice every day may be sure of being
a child of the world to come. This is mentioned by Arama and Kimchi; and which
the latter explains thus, not he that says it any way, but with his mouth, and
with his heart, and with his tongue. It seems to have been written by David
after the Lord had granted him all his requests put up in the preceding psalms,
and had given him rest from all his enemies; and when he turned his prayers into
praises; for this psalm is wholly praise from one end to the other; and so are
all the five following ones; they begin and end with "hallelujah":
nor is there a single petition in them, as I remember; so that it may in some
sense be said, "here the prayers of David the son of Jesse are
ended". It no doubt, as Cocceius observes, belongs to the Messiah and his
kingdom, which is everlasting, #Ps 145:13.”
(John Gill)
“The five foregoing psalms were all
of a piece, all full of prayers; this, and the five that follow it to the end
of the book, are all of a piece too, all full of praises; and though only this
is entitled David’s psalm yet we have no reason to think but that they were all
his as well as all the foregoing prayers. And it is observable,
“1.
That after five psalms of prayer follow six psalms of praise; for those that
are much in prayer shall not want matter for praise, and those that have sped
in prayer must abound in praise. Our thanksgivings for mercy, when we have
received it, should even exceed our supplications for it when we were in
pursuit of it. David, in the last of his begging psalms, had promised to praise
God (#Ps 144:9), and here he performs his promise.
“2.
That the book of Psalms
concludes with psalms of praise, all praise, for praise, is the conclusion of
the whole matter; it is that in which all the psalms centre. And it intimates
that God’s people, towards the end of their life, should abound much in praise,
and the rather because, at the end of their life, they hope to remove to the
world of everlasting praise, and the nearer they come to heaven the more they
should accustom themselves to the work of heaven. This is one of those
psalms which are composed alphabetically (as Psalm 25 and 34, &c.), that it
might be the more easily committed to memory, and kept in mind. The Jewish
writers justly extol this psalm as a star of the first magnitude in this bright
constellation; and some of them have an extravagant saying concerning it, not
much unlike some of the popish superstitions, That whosoever will sing this
psalm constantly three times a day shall certainly be happy in the world to
come. In this psalm,
“I. David engages himself and others to
praise God,
#Ps
145:1,2,4-7,10-12.
“II.
He fastens upon those things that are proper matter for praise, God’s greatness
(#Ps 145:3), his goodness (#Ps 145:8,9), the proofs of both in the
administration of his kingdom (#Ps 145:13), the kingdom of providence (#Ps
145:14-16), the kingdom of grace (#Ps 145:17-20), and then he concludes with a
resolution to continue praising God (#Ps 145:21) with which resolution our
hearts must be filled, and in which they must be fixed, in singing this psalm.” (Matthew Henry)
“This is one of the alphabetical
psalms, composed with much art, and, doubtless, so arranged that the memory
might be aided. The Holy Spirit condescends to use even the more artificial
methods of the poet, to secure attention, and impress the heart.
Title: David’s Psalm
Of Praise. It is David’s, David’s very own, David’s favourite. It is David’s
Praise just as another (#Ps 86:1-17) is David’s Prayer. It is altogether
praise, and praise pitched in a high key. David had blessed God many a time in
other psalms, but this he regarded as his peculiar, his crown jewel of praise. Certainly David’s
praise is the best of praise, for it is that of a man of experience, of
sincerity, of calm deliberation, and of intense warmth of the heart. It is not
for any one of us to render David’s praise, for David only could do that, but we may take David’s psalm as a
model, and aim at making our own personal adoration as much, like it as
possible: we shall be long before we equal our model. Let each Christian reader
present his own praise unto the Lord, and call it by his own name. What a
wealth of varied praise will thus be presented through Christ Jesus!
Division: The psalm
does not fall into any marked divisions, but is one and indivisible. Our other translators have mapped out this
song with considerable discernment. It is or a perfect arrangement, but it will
suit our convenience in exposition. David praiseth God for his fame or glory
(#Ps 145:1-7), for his goodness (#Ps 145:8-10), for his kingdom (#Ps
145:11-13), for his providence (#Ps 145:14-16), for his saving mercy (#Ps
145:17-21).” (Charles H. Spurgeon)
“This is the last psalm in the book
attributed to David, and it is also an acrostic. The Hebrew letter nun (our letter n) is
missing at verse 14, although some early versions based on the Septuagint have
a verse starting with nun. See NIV marginal note.) This is the only psalm called ‘A psalm of
praise.’ David mentioned several attributes of God, among them His
greatness (v.3), His grace, goodness and compassion (vv. 8-9), His glory and
might (v.11), His righteousness and kindness (v. 17), and His providential care
(v.20). Who could not praise a God with these wonderful
characteristics? But along with
telling us why we should praise the Lord David tells us when we should praise
Him.” (Warren Wiersbe)
Praise God from Day to Day (vv.
1-2): 1 A Psalm of Praise, of David: I will extol You, my
God, O King, And I will bless Your name forever and ever. 2 Every day I will bless You,
And I will praise Your name forever and ever.”
David speaks of praising the Lord
every day and also forever and forever.
As we look at how the universe works we see that the earth rotates
around in 24 hours and as it is rotating around it is also rotating around the
sun, which takes 365 days. This is the
way that God designed the universe to work.
Time began when God created the earth and we are to take time each day
to praise the Lord, as we have much to praise Him for. First of all we can praise Him for the Lord
Jesus Christ who has provided salvation for those who have called upon His name
to come into their lives and forgive them of their sins. We certainly can praise the Lord for His
Word, which we can read, study, memorize and meditate on. We can praise Him for our lives, and the
privilege of living on planet earth at this time in history. We are told by the apostle Paul that we are
to give thanks in everything for this is the will for us in Christ Jesus. Giving thanks is surely a form of praising
the Lord. When we look at the book of
Revelations and also the sixth chapter of Isaiah we see that in heaven God is
being praised at every moment, and when we are taken to heaven we will have
that privilege too.
Praise God from Generation to
Generation (vv. 3-7): “3 Great is the
LORD, and highly to be praised, And His greatness is unsearchable. 4 One generation shall praise Your
works to another, And shall declare Your mighty acts. 5 On the glorious
splendor of Your majesty And on Your wonderful works, I will meditate. 6 Men shall speak of the
power of Your awesome acts, And I will tell of Your greatness. 7 They shall eagerly utter the memory
of Your abundant goodness And will shout joyfully of Your
righteousness.”
As I prepare in my mind the things
that I believe God is prompting me to include in our Christmas letter,
something that I try to do each year, I have been impressed by the Lord this
morning before I got out of bed to write this letter about Christmas memories,
memories from my childhood along with my wife’s childhood, and then memories
from when our children were small and then move onto memories with our
grandchildren. I can say that God has
been involved in all of my Christmas memories, even before I knew Him.
As David writes this section of
Psalm 145 he is writing about the memories that he has about how the Lord had
worked in his life. David wanted to take
the time to praise the Lord for the things that He had done in his life. Dr. Wiersbe writes “God is so great that the
human mind cannot fathom Him, but the human heart can love Him and tell others
how great He is.” He later writes,
“David was not writing only about theology; he was also writing about personal
witness, what the Lord has done in our own lives.” Psalm 34:11 states “Come, you children,
listen to me; I will teach you the fear of the Lord.” Paul writes to Timothy in 2Timothy 2:2 “The
things which you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses, entrust
these to faithful men who will be able to teach others also.” We must remember that this was the last
letter that is recorded in the Bible written by Paul, and when a person nears
the end of his life they tell others what is most important to them. As older believers in Jesus Christ we must
tell younger believers the important things we have learned from following
Jesus Christ.
Spiritual
meaning for my life today: I have
been thinking about memories today, and then I begin to read Psalm 145 and
wouldn’t you know it the psalm has a portion about memories in it. God is great!
My Steps of Faith for Today: Trust the
Lord to continue to teach me contentment, and to continue to encourage me to be
transformed by the renewing of my mind, and remember this is done by the Word
of God.
Memory verses for the
week: Psalm 130:1-7
1Out 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, An 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. 7 O
Israel, hope in the LORD; For with the LORD there is lovingkindness, And with
Him is abundant redemption.
12/6/2012 10:46:20 AM
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