SPIRITUAL DIARY
FOR 12/14/2012 12:08:49 PM
My Worship Time Focus: Psalm 149-PT-1
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: Psalm 149:1-2
Message of
the verses: We will begin looking at Psalm 149 by looking
at several introductions from different Bible Commentators in order to better
understand what this psalm is saying and how we can better apply it to our
lives.
“The foregoing Psalm was a hymn of praise to the
Creator; this is a hymn of praise to the Redeemer. It is a psalm of triumph in the God of
Israel, and over the enemies of Israel.
Probably it was penned upon occasion of some victory which Israel was
blessed and honored with. Some
conjecture that it was penned when David had taken the strong-hold of Zion, and
settled his government there. But it
looks further, to the kingdom of the Messiah, who, to in the chariot of the
everlasting gospel, goes forth conquering and to conquer. To him, and his grace and glories, we must
have an eye, in singing this psalm, which proclaims,
I. Abundance of the joy to all the people of
God, #Ps 149:1-5.
II. Abundance of terror to the proudest of
their enemies, #Ps 149:6-9.”
“We are almost at the last Psalm,
and still among the Hallelujahs. This is "a new song," evidently
intended for the new creation, and the men who are of new heart. It is such a
song as may be sung at the coming of the Lord, when the new dispensation shall
bring overthrow to the wicked and honour to all the saints. The tone is
exceedingly jubilant and exultant. All through one hears the beat of the feet
of dancing maidens, keeping time to the timbrel and harp.”
“Everything that God’s people do in
serving and glorifying the Lord must flow out of worship, for without Him we
can do nothing (John 15:5). The most
important activity of the local church is the worship of God, for this is the
activity we will continue in heaven for all eternity. This psalm is a primer on worship and gives
us the basic instructions we need.”
(Warren Wiersbe)
Worship the Lord Intelligently (vv.
1-2): “1 Praise the LORD! Sing to the
LORD a new song, And His praise in the congregation of the godly ones. 2 Let
Israel be glad in his Maker; Let the sons of Zion rejoice in their King.”
I remember after being a believer
for around six of seven years that the subject of worship came up with a friend
of mine who has been a believer for most of her life. The question came up about what worship was
to which I did not have a good answer for.
Some years later I began to listen to a series of tapes from Dr. David
Jeremiah on worship that helped me a great deal. I then read and studied a book entitled “Real
Worship” by Warren Wiersbe that helped more.
Worship is 24/7, but we probably don’t realize, especially when we are
doing something we are ashamed of. Jesus
told the woman at the well “21 Jesus said to her, "Woman, believe Me, an
hour is coming when neither in this mountain nor in Jerusalem will you worship
the Father. 22 “You worship what you do not know; we worship what we know, for salvation is from the Jews.
23 "But an hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will
worship the Father in spirit and truth; for such people the Father seeks to be
His worshipers. 24 “God is spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in
spirit and truth.’” We learn from this
quotation from John’ gospel chapter four that salvation is from the Jews, and
because Jesus Christ was born a Jew, that is why salvation is from the
Jews. We also learn that worship is
spirit and truth. The book of Hebrews
tells not to forsake the gathering together with those who are believers,
speaking of those in your local church, for that is where corporate worship
takes place. Dr. Wiersbe writes that “In
times of corporate worship, the saints do minister to one another (Eph. 5:19;
Col. 3:16), but the primary focus must be on the Lord glorifying and extolling
Him. Yes we may worship the Lord in solitude,
and we should (v.5), but we must not forsake the assembly of the saints (Heb.
10:25).
As believers we are to sing new
songs to the Lord and also older songs to the Lord. The local church is made up of born-again
believers, and in the local church we will find all sorts of people, young
people, middle aged people and older people, we will also find young people in
the Lord, and those who have been believers for a while, and those who have
been believers for a long period of time.
We can learn from each other, and all segments are important. In today’s churches it seems that the younger
people don’t have much use for the older people, but they are missing out on a
lot of knowledge and experience that they cannot get on their smart
phones. While living in Hawaii last year
the pastor of the church we were attending stated this fact that all age groups
are needed. He stated that the older
people are needed to share with the younger people about the mistakes that they
have made so that the younger people could avoid them. One of the younger (probably in her thirty’s)
began to laugh and she had a difficult time in stopping her laughter when she
heard this, but the Pastor told her that this was not funny, but true.
Dr. Wiersbe concludes his commentary
on this section with these words, “How He has made us is His gift to us, and
what we do with it is our gift to Him.
We must remind ourselves that we came from dust, but because of God’s
grace, we are destined for glory! ‘Soon and very soon/ We’re going to see the
King.”
Spiritual
meaning for my life today: Worship
is the most important thing that we as believers can do for it is something
that we will be doing throughout eternity, for when we get to heaven we will
surely worship the King is spirit and in truth.
My Steps of Faith for Today: Continue to
learn contentment and also continue to learn from the Word of God so that I can
be transformed by the renewing of my mind.
Memory verses for the
week: Psalm 130:1-8
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. 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.
12/14/2012 2:42:52 PM
No comments:
Post a Comment