SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 1/4/2012 10:12:44 AM
My
Worship Time Focus: A prayer of David
Bible
Reading & Meditation
Reference: Psalm 17:1-15
Message of the verses: “1 A
Prayer of David: Hear a just cause, O LORD, give heed to my cry; Give ear to my
prayer, which is not from deceitful lips. 2 Let my judgment come forth from
Your presence; Let Your eyes look with equity. 3 You have tried my heart; You
have visited me by night; You have tested me and You find nothing; I have
purposed that my mouth will not transgress. 4 As for the deeds of men, by the
word of Your lips I have kept from the paths of the violent. 5 My steps have
held fast to Your paths. My feet have not slipped. 6 I have called upon You,
for You will answer me, O God; Incline Your ear to me, hear my speech. 7
Wondrously show Your lovingkindness, O Savior of those who take refuge at Your
right hand From those who rise up against them.
“8 Keep me as the apple of the eye;
Hide me in the shadow of Your wings 9 From the wicked who despoil me, My deadly
enemies who surround me. 10 They have closed their unfeeling heart, With their
mouth they speak proudly. 11 They have now surrounded us in our steps; They set
their eyes to cast us down to the ground. 12 He is like a lion that is eager to
tear, And as a young lion lurking in hiding places. 13 Arise, O LORD, confront
him, bring him low; Deliver my soul from the wicked with Your sword, 14 From
men with Your hand, O LORD, From men of the world, whose portion is in this
life, And whose belly You fill with Your treasure; They are satisfied with
children, And leave their abundance to their babes. 15 As for me, I shall
behold Your face in righteousness; I will be satisfied with Your likeness when
I awake.”
From
the introduction of the commentary on this psalm Dr. Wiersbe reports that this
is one of five psalms that are “prayer psalms,” (17, 86, 90,142), and three of
them were written by David. We see that
David is in some kind of trouble in Psalm 17 and thus he is crying out to the
Lord for help and vindication. Dr.
Wiersbe writes at the end of his introduction these words: “In this prayer, David deals with three
pressing concerns and makes three major requests to the Lord. Each section opens with David addressing the
Lord.”
Vindication—“Examine
Me” (vv. 1-5): “1 A Prayer of David: Hear a just cause, O
LORD, give heed to my cry; Give ear to my prayer, which is not from deceitful
lips. 2 Let my judgment come forth from Your presence; Let Your eyes look with
equity. 3 You have tried my heart; You have visited me by night; You have
tested me and You find nothing; I have purposed that my mouth will not
transgress. 4 As for the deeds of men, by the word of Your lips I have kept
from the paths of the violent. 5 My steps have held fast to Your paths. My feet
have not slipped.”
We know that David was a sinner,
for he even writes in Psalm 51 that he was conceived in sin, and this does not
mean that there was sinfulness going on with his parents, but that everyone
born is conceived in sin because of the sin nature that is passed on by the
man. However David knew that he was
blameless before God and this is not a statement in which he was bragging about,
but a humble statement knowing that God had tested him and he came out as
gold. Paul writes a similar statement in
Acts 23:1 “Paul, looking intently at the
Council, said, ‘Brethren, I have lived my life with a perfectly good conscience
before God up to this day.’”
We
have written earlier about times in David’s life while he was being chased by
Saul that he had two opportunities to kill Saul, yet David knew that Saul was
the Lord’s anointed and therefore it would be a great sin if he killed Saul so
he did not, and this shows that David was blameless before the Lord concerning
Saul and this psalm is probably written about those days when David was on the
run hiding out from Saul. Saul and his
men were spreading lies about David and so David asks vindication before the
Lord for David and the Lord knew that David was blameless.
Protection—“Keep
Me” (vv.
6-12): “6 I have called upon You, for
You will answer me, O God; Incline Your ear to me, hear my speech. 7 Wondrously
show Your lovingkindness, O Savior of those who take refuge at Your right hand
From those who rise up against them. 8 Keep
me as the apple of the eye; Hide me in the shadow of Your wings 9 From the wicked who despoil me, My deadly
enemies who surround me. 10 They have closed their unfeeling heart, With their
mouth they speak proudly. 11 They have now surrounded us in our steps; They set
their eyes to cast us down to the ground. 12 He is like a lion that is eager to
tear, And as a young lion lurking in hiding places.”
David uses the word “El” when
calling upon the Lord for God is “the Mighty God,” and David knew that even
though God had given him gifts to be a masterful military tactician, he also
knew that he could not win a battle without help from the Lord. There are similarities in the prayer that
David is praying to when Moses was praying to God found in Exodus 15:1-19 and
perhaps David had read this prayer of Moses and that is why he is praying like
he is now because he knew that if God could lead His children out of Egypt he
could get David out of the fix he was in.
Two
images are found in verse 8 “eye”
and “wing” and these remind God how
precious that David is to Him. We know
from other passages that Israel is the “apple
of God’s eye.” “10 “He found him in a desert land, And in the howling waste of a
wilderness; He encircled him, He cared for him, He guarded him as the pupil of
His eye.” (Deu. 32:10) As for the wings image David may have been
thinking of the wings of the cherubim that is in the Holy of Holies which is in
the tabernacle. David may have been
asking the Lord to make his hiding place like the Holy of Holies, the place of
God’s throne and God’s glory protected by the angels of God.
It
is because of the heavenly intercession of Jesus Christ, that the people of the
Lord can enter into the Holy of Holies and have fellowship with the Lord. (Heb.
10:1-25)
David
speaks of his enemies in verses 10-12 and David’s enemies were people who cared
little about spiritual things as they were spiritually insensitive to what was
right and it did not upset them when they did wrong. Paul writes about this in his letter to the
Romans, “and although they know the
ordinance of God, that those who practice such things are worthy of death, they
not only do the same, but also give hearty approval to those who practice them.” (Rom. 1:32)
Salvation—“Rescue
Me” (vv. 13-15): 13 Arise, O LORD, confront him, bring him
low; Deliver my soul from the wicked with Your sword, 14 From men with Your
hand, O LORD, From men of the world, whose portion is in this life, And whose
belly You fill with Your treasure; They are satisfied with children, And leave
their abundance to their babes. 15 As for me, I shall behold Your face in
righteousness; I will be satisfied with Your likeness when I awake.”
“13 Up, GOD: beard them! break them!
By your sword, free me from their clutches; 14 Barehanded, GOD, break these
mortals, these flat-earth people who can’t think beyond today. I’d like to see
their bellies swollen with famine food, The weeds they’ve sown harvested and
baked into famine bread, With second helpings for their children and crusts for
their babies to chew on. 15 And me? I plan on looking you full in the face.
When I get up, I’ll see your full stature and live heaven on earth.” (Message)
I have inserted this portion of
the psalm from the “Message” in order to get a flavor of what David was saying
about these men. We see a contrast
between men of God and men of the world in this section.
Spiritual meaning for my life today: The thing that spoke to me from this
psalm was the way that David had spoken to the Lord with confidence that He
knew that he was blameless before the Lord, not sinless, but blameless. I desire to be blameless before the Lord too.
My
Steps of Faith for Today:
1.
To be blameless before the Lord. To listen to the still small voice of the
Holy Spirit guiding me into the paths or righteousness.
2.
To continue to learn contentment.
1/4/2012 11:14:55 AM
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