SPIRITUAL DIARY
FOR 12/11/2012 10:28:18 PM
My Worship Time Focus: Psalm 147-PT-2
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: Ps. 147:7-20
Message of
the verses: We will continue to look at Psalm 147 in
Today’s Spiritual Diary. Dr. Wiersbe
wrote the following at the end of his introductory commentary, “The psalm
presents three reasons why the people should praise the Lord, and each section
is marked off by the command praise the Lord (vv. 1, 7 and 12).”
Sing
to the Lord—the Land Has Been Refreshed (vv. 7-11): “7 Sing to the LORD with thanksgiving; Sing
praises to our God on the lyre, 8 Who
covers the heavens with clouds, Who provides rain for the earth, Who makes
grass to grow on the mountains. 9 He gives to the beast its food, And to the
young ravens which cry. 10 He does not delight in the strength of the horse; He
does not take pleasure in the legs of a man. 11 The LORD favors those who fear Him, Those who wait for His
lovingkindness.”
As we began to look at this psalm
yesterday we decided that the psalm was written after the captives of Israel
had returned from Babylon to Jerusalem.
These exiles knew that they would need rain to come from the Lord in
order to have their crops grow and so the psalmist praises the Lord for
providing the clouds and the rain to cause their crops to grow. The Lord caused the grass to grow on the
mountains even though no one had planted it there, and this grass was used to
feed the beasts that lived there. This
feeding of these beasts would cause them to stay there and not go down where
the children of Israel were.
As far as feeding the young ravens
Dr. Wiersbe writes, “The ancients believed that the young ravens were abandoned
by the parent birds and had to find their own food (Luke 112:24).” It is remarkable that we as His children can
bring pleasure to the heart of God.
Extol the Lord—the Word Has Been
Revealed (vv. 121-20): “12 Praise the LORD, O Jerusalem! Praise your God,
O Zion! 13 For He has strengthened the bars of your gates; He has blessed your
sons within you. 14 He
makes peace in your borders; He satisfies you with the finest of the
wheat. 15 He sends forth His command to the earth; His word runs very swiftly. 16
He gives snow like wool; He scatters the frost like ashes. 17 He casts forth
His ice as fragments; Who can stand before His cold? 18 He sends forth His word
and melts them; He causes His wind to blow and the waters to flow. 19 He declares
His words to Jacob, His statutes and His ordinances to Israel. 20 He has not dealt thus with any
nation; And as for His ordinances, they have not known them. Praise the
LORD!”
The psalmist speaks of peace in
verse fourteen and Dr. Wiersbe writes the following about this word: “In the Hebrew language ‘peace’ (shalom) is much more than the absence of
war. It describes total well being,
including material prosperity and physical and spiritual health. Peace at the borders means peace in the nation,
for invaders have to cross the borders before they can attack.” The psalmist speaks of this in this section
of the psalm. He also speaks of snow,
which does not happen a lot in Jerusalem, but in the higher elevations it does
snow.
In verse nineteen the psalmist
begins to talk about the Word of God that He had given to Israel, and states
that God has not given any other nation the Law of God. It was the responsibility of the children of
Israel to take care of the Word of God as their scribes would copy the different
books. They would count the letters on
each page that they copied and if it was not the correct number they would
throw away the page and begin again. The
problem was not that they did not know the Word of God, but that they did not
follow it. D. L. Moody states “Every
Bible should be bound in shoe leather,” and Dr. Wiersbe states that this is
another way of stating that “faith without works is dead.”
Spiritual
meaning for my life today: I surely
agree that it is easier to know the Word of God than to practice and keep it.
My Steps of Faith for Today: Continue to
learn contentment, and continue to seek to have my mind transformed by renewing
it with the Word of God.
Memory verses for the
week: Psalm 130:1-8
1 Out of the depths I have 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 watchmen for the morning; Indeed, more than
the watchmen for the morning. 7 O Israel, hope in the LORD; For with the LORD
there is lovingkindness, And with Him is abundant redemption. 8 And He will
redeem Israel From all his iniquities.
12/11/2012 11:12:13
PM
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