SPIRITUAL DIARY
FOR 12/18/2012 8:08:03 AM
My Worship Time Focus: Psalm
150-PT-2
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: Ps. 150:1b-6
Message
of the verses: We will continue our
look at the last psalm, Psalm 150, which is a psalm of praise as the last six
Psalms have been, and this is a wonderful way to conclude the book of
Psalms. At the end of his introductory
commentary Dr. Wiersbe wrote the following, “Like the previous psalm, it gives
us a summary of some essentials of true worship.”
The
Place of Worship: Heaven and Earth
(v.1b):
“Praise God in His sanctuary; Praise Him in His mighty expanse.”
The psalmist has mentioned two places where the
worship of the Lord is done from, the expanse, which is the heaven above, where
we read from Hebrews 12:23 the following to show this truth, “to the general
assembly and church of the firstborn who are enrolled in heaven, and to God,
the Judge of all, and to the spirits of the righteous made perfect.” The other place where worship is conducted is
from the earth and the psalmist mentions the sanctuary, which of course is
speaking of the temple that is in Jerusalem.
Now we know that this temple was destroyed in 70 A.D. and that now the
temple of the Lord is in the hearts of true believers where the Holy Spirit of
God lives and this should cause all believers to worship and praise the Lord
for the wonderful works that He has accomplished on our behalf. Since the Church age began in Acts chapter
two believers has set aside places where they come to corporately worship the
Lord, at first it was in the homes of the believers, and now it is in buildings
where the church meets that we call church buildings. The word “church” in the Greek is the word
“ekklesia ek-klay-see’-ah,” and this word means “an assembly of Christians
gathered for worship in a religious meeting.”
Believers are those who have been called out by God for salvation and
because of this we desire to worship the Lord together in a corporate
setting. The writer to the Hebrews gives
this command to believers, “not forsaking our own assembling together, as is
the habit of some, but encouraging one another; and all the more as you see the
day drawing near.”
The Themes of Worship: God’s Acts and Attributes (v.2): “2 Praise Him for His mighty deeds; Praise
Him according to His excellent greatness.”
I mentioned a couple of days ago that I am reading a
book by A. W. Tozer entitled “The Knowledge of the Holy,” and also mentioned
that in this book Tozer writes about knowing God and knowing Him through His
attributes. He has a chapter in this
book explaining exactly what attributes means and I wish to quote a number of
passages from this chapter so we can better understand what an attribute means
when we are speaking of the attributes of God.
Tozer entitles this chapter “A Divine Attribute: Something True About
God.” He states, “It would seem to be
necessary before proceeding further to define the word attribute as it is used in this volume. It is not used in its philosophical sense nor
confined to its strictest theological meaning.
By it is meant simply whatever may be correctly ascribed to God. For the purpose of this book an attribute
of God is whatever God has in any revealed as being true of Himself.”
“If an attribute is something true
of God, it is also something that we can conceive
as being true of Him. God, being
infinite, must possess attributes about which we can know nothing. An attribute, as we can know it, is a mental
concept, an intellectual response to God’s self-revelation. It is an answer to a question, the reply God
makes to our interrogation concerning Himself.”
“An attribute, then, is not a part
of God. It is how God is, and as far as the reasoning mind can go, we may say
that it is what God is, through, as I have tried to explain, exactly what He is He cannot tell us. Of what God is conscious when He is conscious
of self, only He knows. ‘The things of God
knoweth no man, but the Spirit of God.’
Only to an equal could God communicate the mystery of His Godhead; and
to think of God as having an equal is to fall into an intellectual absurdity.”
When we look at some of the mighty
acts that the Lord performed in the OT we have many to choose from. We would have to begin with creation which is
the way that the OT begins. The flood
was also a mighty act of God. When God
called Abram to begin the nation of Israel and giving he and his wife a child
after they were past the age of childbearing is also a might act preformed by
God. The Exodus from the land of Egypt
and the ten great miracles that God performed to accomplish this along with the
drying of the Red Sea so Israel could cross on dry land. The conquering of the Promised Land and the
call of David and his line in which the Messiah would be born into are also
mighty acts performed by God. As we move
into the NT we see the miracles and more miracles, and that is found in the
four Gospels where we see the second person of the Godhead becoming a man so
that He could complete the will of the Father which was to provide salvation
for all who believe in Him. The first
words that we hear Jesus speak in the Gospel of Luke is that He was going about
His Father’s business and the last words He speaks are “It is finished,” which
means paid in full. As we move into the
book of Acts we see more mighty works that are done by the Lord as the Church
age begins and the calling of those whom the Father had chosen in eternity past
begins, and is still going on to this day.
Dr. Wiersbe states “The acts of God reveal the character of God, His
holiness, love, wisdom, power, grace, and so on—what the psalmist called ‘His
excellent greatness’ (NASB).
“We cannot plumb the debts of all
that God is or all that He has done (106:2; 145:4 11, 12). This is why our eternal worshiping of God
will never become boring!”
The Means of Worship: Musical Instruments and Human Voices (vv.
3-6): “3 Praise Him with trumpet sound;
Praise Him with harp and lyre. 4 Praise Him with timbrel and dancing; Praise
Him with stringed instruments and pipe. 5 Praise Him with loud cymbals; Praise
Him with resounding cymbals. 6 Let everything that has breath praise the LORD.
Praise the LORD!”
It seems that the psalmist is
describing an orchestra with the instruments that he speaks of here, and he
also is speaking of using our voices to praise the Lord. He states at the end that everything that has
breath should be praising the Lord and ends the psalm and also the book of
Psalms with the words, “Praise the LORD.”
Now if the sun, the moon, the stars
all praise the Lord even though they have no breath, then all of us who have
breath should praise the Lord, especially all of the true believers who have
been chosen by the Father, had their sins paid for by the Son, and called by
the Holy Spirit to eternal salvation. As
we ponder these truths let us Praise the LORD!
Spiritual
meaning for my life today: There are
a number of reasons that I am studying the book “The Knowledge of the Holy,”
and one of them is that it is my desire to know God better, and by knowing Him
better I will then be able to worship Him in Spirit and in Truth, and to have a
part of my worship praising the Lord.
There is some
emotion within me as I finish the study of the book of Psalm, a book that has
taken nine days more than a year to complete.
My prayer is that God will be glorified with the things that I have
learned and shared from this great portion of Scripture, a portion of Scripture
that has great meaning to all believers from every age who have named the name
of Christ and have known the God of the Bible.
This book has brought much comfort to those who have read it and it also
helps us to come better acquainted with our Lord.
My Steps of Faith for Today: Continue to
have a desire to learn contentment, to continue to have my mind transformed by
the Word of God, and to continue to praise and know my Lord.
Memory verse for the
week: Psalm 121:1
1 I will lift up my eyes to the
mountains; From where shall my help come?
12/18/2012 9:30:52 AM
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