SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 1/8/2012 8:36:08 AM
My
Worship Time Focus: Pt. 3 Psalm 19
Bible
Reading & Meditation Reference: Psalm 19: 12-14
Message of the verses: In today’s SD we will look at the last three
verses of this wonderful psalm, a psalm that has blessed the hearts of many
people for many years.
The
Witness Within Us—God the Redeemer (vv. 12-14): “12 Who can discern his errors? Acquit me of hidden faults. 13 Also
keep back Your servant from presumptuous sins; Let them not rule over me; Then
I will be blameless, And I shall be acquitted of great transgression. 14 Let
the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart Be acceptable in Your
sight, O LORD, my rock and my Redeemer.”
As
I began to study Psalm 19 I read in different places that it was a psalm that
was to be read during the Christmas season.
As we look back at what happened to the Magi that is recorded in
Matthew’s gospel we see that they started their journey by looking up at God’s
creation and saw God’s special star that would lead them to where the new King
was. Then next consulted with the
Scriptures to find out where He was to be born, and then they went to Bethlehem
and worshiped the King. I know that when
we look at a nativity set we often see the Magi there, but they probably did
not get there until the baby was older perhaps even two years old, but the
story of them seems to always be around the birth of Jesus.
I
want to quote a section from Dr. Wiersbe’s commentary to show that when we
study creation with the Bible open you will see Jesus Christ: “He is seen in the vine (John 15), the sun
(John 8:12; Mal. 4:2), the stars (Num. 24:17), the lambs (John 1:29), the apple
trees and lilies (Song of Solomon 2:3, 16; 6:3), the seed planted in the ground
(John 12:23-24), and the bread on the table (John 6:35). The Word in the hand is fine; the Word in the
head is better; but the Word in the heart is what transforms us and matures us
in Christ (Ps. 119:11; Col. 3:16-17).”
We can look at Hebrews 4:12 to understand how the Word of God works in a
person’s life: “For the word of God is quick, and powerful,
and sharper than any twoedged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of
soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the
thoughts and intents of the heart.”
(KJV) James 1:22-25 shows us
that the Word of God is mirror: “22 But prove yourselves doers of the word,
and not merely hearers who delude themselves. 23 For if anyone is a hearer of
the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks at his natural face in a
mirror; 24 for once he has looked at himself and gone away, he has immediately
forgotten what kind of person he was. 25 But one who looks intently at the
perfect law, the law of liberty, and abides by it, not having become a
forgetful hearer but an effectual doer, this man will be blessed in what he
does.”
As
we look at these different verses from the Scriptures that show us about the
functions of the Word of God and how we are suppose to study the Word, we are
to read the Word, and we are to hide it in our hearts so we can meditate upon
it then that is a big part of me taking time every day to put onto my computer
things that I have learned from the study of God’s Word. I then desire to share these thoughts with
other so that they can see how very important it is to stay in God’s Word and
then they too can pass it on to others and so on so.
Psalm
139:23-24 are verses that I often quote or write down in my Spiritual Diary to
remind me that I need to have the Holy Spirit convict me of any unconfessed
sin. We see in Psalm 19:12-13 that David
asks “who can discern his errors? Acquit
me of hidden faults. 13 Also keep back Your servant from presumptuous sins; Let
them not rule over me.” I believe
that the answer to that question is actually in two parts, for we have seen the
power of God’s Word to do this in Hebrews 4:12 and we know that it is the Holy
Spirit who uses the Word of God to do this in our lives: “23 Search me, O God, and know my heart: try me, and know my thoughts: 24
And see if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way
everlasting.” This is a wonderful
prayer to pray when we are concerned that there is some sin in our lives that
we may have committed and do not remember and so we ask the Holy Spirit to show
that to us so we can then again get back into a wonderful fellowship with the
Lord.
We
see the word acceptable in the last verse of Psalm 19 and Dr. Wiersbe writes
the following about that word: “The word
translated ‘acceptable’ refers to the priest’s examination of the sacrifices to
make sure they were without blemish. If
the sacrifice wasn’t acceptable to the Lord, the worshipper was not accepted by
the Lord (Lev. 1:1-9; 22:17-25; Mal. 1:6-8).
The words we speak begin with the thoughts in our heart (Matt.
12:33-37), so it’s important that we meditate on God’s Word and God’s works,
the first two themes of Psalm 19. If we
delight in God’s Words, we will naturally meditate on it and give expression of
His truth with our lips, and this will help to keep us from sin. The usage here refers to the ‘kinsman
redeemer’ (goel= ‘one who has the
right to redeem’) who could rescue a relative from difficult situations as seen
in the book of Ruth. Jesus is our
Redeemer and He became our ‘kinsman’ when He came in sinless human flesh to die
for us on the cross. He is both Rock and
Redeemer, for He not only paid the price to set us free, but He also keeps us
free.”
Spiritual meaning for my life today: As I read these words from Dr. Wiersbe I am
convicted that perhaps I do not praise the Lord as much as I should for the
fact that He is my kinsman redeemer who took my sin upon Himself and then gave
me His righteousness so that I can one day stand before God clothed in the
righteousness of my Savior.
My
Steps of Faith for Today:
1.
As I prepare to go and worship the Lord
at church this morning I pray that the Holy Spirit has already empowered our
Pastor with the words that He wants him to speak and that the Spirit will use
these words from our Pastor to equip me to do the work that God has called me
to do.
2.
Continue to learn contentment.
1/8/2012 9:32:33 AM
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