SPIRITUAL DIARY
FOR 12/4/2012 8:34:36 AM
My Worship Time Focus: Psalm 144
PT-1
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: Psalm
144:1-4
Message of
the verses: In Today’s Spiritual we will begin to look at
Psalm 144 by looking at several introductions to the psalm by several different
Bible Commentators in order to learn more about the psalm so that we can better
understand how to apply it to our lives.
“The four preceding psalms seem to have been penned
by David before his accession to the crown, when he was persecuted by Saul; this seems to have been penned
afterwards, when he was still in trouble (for there is no condition in this
world privileged with an exemption from trouble), the neighboring
nations molesting him and giving him disturbance, especially the Philistines,
#2Sa 5:17. In this psalm,
“I. He acknowledges, with triumph and
thankfulness, the great goodness of God to him in advancing him to the
government, #Ps 144:1-4.
“II. He prays to God to help him against the
enemies who threatened him, (#Ps 144:5-8 and again #Ps 144:11).
“III. He rejoices in the assurance of
victory over them, #Ps 144:9-10.
“IV. He prays for the prosperity of his own
kingdom, and pleases himself with the hopes of it, #Ps 144:12-15. In singing
this psalm we may give God the glory of our spiritual privileges and
advancements, and fetch in help from him against our spiritual enemies; we may
pray for the prosperity of our souls, of our families, and of our land; and, in
the opinion of some of the Jewish writers, we may refer the psalm to the
Messiah and his kingdom.” (Matthew
Henry)
“Albeit that this Psalm is in some
measure very similar to #Ps 18:1-50, yet it is a new song, and in its latter
portion it is strikingly so. Let the reader accept it as a new psalm, and not
as a mere variation of an old one, or as two compositions roughly joined
together. It is true that it would be a complete composition if the passage
from #Ps 144:12-15 were dropped; but there are other parts, of David’s poems
which might be equally self contained if certain verses were omitted; and the
same might be said of many uninspired sonnets. It does not, therefore, follow
that the latter part was added by another hand, nor even that the latter part
was a fragment by the same author, appended to the first song merely with the
view of preserving it. It seems to us to be highly probable that the Psalmist,
remembering that he had trodden some of the same ground before, felt his mind
moved to fresh thought, and that the Holy Spirit used this mood for his own
high purposes. Assuredly the addendum is worthy of the greatest Hebrew poet,
and it is so admirable in language, and so full of beautiful imagery, that
persons of taste who were by no means overloaded with reverence have quoted it
times without number, thus confessing its singular poetical excellence. To us
the whole psalm appears to be perfect as it stands, and to exhibit such unity
throughout that it would be a literary Vandalism, as well as a spiritual crime,
to rend away one part from the other.
“TITLE:
Its title is "Of David," and its language is of David, if ever
language can belong to any man. As surely as we could say of any poem, this is
of Tennyson, or of Longfellow, we may say, This is of David. Nothing but the
disease which closes the eye to manifest fact and opens it to fancy, could have
led learned critics to ascribe this song to anybody but David. Alexander well
says, "The Davidic origin of this psalm is as marked as that of any in the
Psalter."
“It is to God the devout warrior sings
when he extols him as his strength and stay (#Ps 144:1-2). Man he holds in
small account, and wonders at the Lord’s regard for him (#Ps 144:3-4); but he
turns in his hour of conflict to the Lord, who is declared to be "a man of
war," whose triumphant interposition he implores (#Ps 144:5-8). He again
extols and entreats in #Ps 144:9-11 and then closes with a delightful picture
of the Lord’s work for his chosen people, who are congratulated upon having such
a God to be their God.” (Charles H.
Spurgeon) I wanted to pass on that
Charles H. Spurgeon’s come from his commentary on the psalms entitled “Treasury
of David,” and while looking for this book on the internet I found out that it
contains over 5400 pages.
“David wrote this psalm to ‘bless
the Lord’ (vv. 1-5) and honor Him for making him a successful warrior and king,
and to pray for His continued blessing of his people. He was concerned about dangers around them
(vv. 6-7, 11) and needs within the land (vv. 12-14). In writing this psalm, he used material from
Psalm 18, his great song of victory when he became king, so perhaps 144 was
written about the same time (1Sam. 5, 8).
During his years of exile, David had learned much about himself and
about the Lord. In this psalm, he gave
witness to Jehovah, the God of Israel, and reminded his people that their God
was not like the gods of their neighbors.
(Warren Wiersbe)
The Loving God Who Cares for Us
Personally (vv. 1-4): “1 A Psalm of
David: Blessed be the LORD, my rock, Who trains my hands for war, And my
fingers for battle; 2 My lovingkindness
and my fortress, My stronghold and my deliverer, My shield and He in whom I
take refuge, Who subdues my people under me. 3 O LORD, what is man, that You
take knowledge of him? Or the son of man, that You think of him? 4 Man is like
a mere breath; His days are like a passing shadow.”
We know much of the background of
David from other portions of Scripture, and other psalm, but it may be good to
be reminded of a little bit of it. David
was the youngest of seven sons of Jessie and lived in Bethlehem, which is near
Jerusalem. The story of David actually
goes back to the book of Ruth where we see more of the early background of
David as he was the great-grandson of Boaz and Ruth. At an early age David was anointed king over
Israel by the prophet Samuel because of the fact that Saul was a great
disappointment in being king over Israel, and because God wanted a man after
His own heart over the nation of Israel, and David was that man. We know that when he was in his teens that he
splayed Goliath and then was working for Saul who eventually became jealous of
David and so David had to flee from the presence of Saul and was on the run for
over ten years before Saul would die at the hands of the Philistines. David wrote many of his psalms while running
from Saul, as the Lord was preparing him to be king in similar ways that He had
prepared Abraham, Moses, and Joseph. God
does the same for his children today, as He prepares His children to do the
works that He has called us to do in eternity past (Eph. 2:10). David was then king of Judah for seven and a
half years before becoming king over all of Israel. It was probably during this time that David
wrote this psalm to the Lord.
Let us look at some of the different
images that David uses in this psalm to speak of God. We see the image of God as a Rock, shield,
fortress, and deliverer in Psalm 18:2, “The LORD is my rock and my fortress and
my deliverer, My God, my rock, in whom I take refuge; My shield and the horn of
my salvation, my stronghold.” Psalm 3:3
also speaks of God as a Shield, “But You, O LORD, are a shield about me, My
glory, and the One who lifts my head.”
We see these images in this section of Psalm 144 as were in Psalm
18. Dr. Wiersbe writes that “the
associating of love and war is unusual, but ‘You who love the Lord, hate evil’
(Psalm 97:10).” We must remember that
one of the attributes of God is Justice and as we read through the Bible,
especially the OT, we find a very bloody book.
We know that there are both physical and spiritual battles that go on
all over the world every day for Satan does not stop doing evil, which causes
many of the wars that have been fought physically over the years of human
history. The greatest battle ever to
take place was at the cross as Satan tried many, many times to stop Jesus from
going to the cross, from even being born and then to be killed before His time,
yet the victory belonged to the Lord as He triumphed over death and now reigns
in heaven awaiting the coming of His bride to be with Him forever, and then the
last seven years of history as we know it will be the most bloody in all of
human history where a great deal of humans will die terrible deaths. This war will end with the King of Kings and
Lord of Lords returning to planet earth to set up His kingdom for 1000 year as
He reigns from Jerusalem while Satan is in chains for those 1000 years.
We know that David was a humble man
and his position did not go to his head for when the Lord told David through
Nathan that He would build a dynasty for him that Messiah would come through
David said “Who am I that God should do this for me?”
Dr. Wiersbe writes about a word that
is translated as “breath” in verse four as it refers to how short men’s lives
are. He states “The Hebrew word translated ‘breath’ is habel, the name of one of Adam’s sons (Abel), and the word
translated ‘vanity’ thirty-eight times in Ecclesiastes. The ‘shadow’ image is found in 102:11,
109:23, Job 8:9, and 14:2, and Ecclesiastes 6:12 and 8:13. How helpless we are without God.”
Spiritual
meaning for my life today: I want to
take up on that last statement from Dr. Wiersbe’s commentary and say that it is
a good thing to realize that we are helpless without God, for when we think
that we can do things on our own we will surely fall, and be humbled by the
Lord. I continue to think of how I am to
be a hose that the Lord uses to send “living water” through in order to tell
others about the Lord as Jesus told the woman at the well in John chapter
four. The Lord will receive the glory as
He should for He has paid it all for me and now I want to live for Him.
My Steps of Faith for Today: Learning
contentment and being transformed by the Word of God.
Memory verses for the
week: Psalm 130:1-7
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.
12/4/2012 9:45:32 AM
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