"Importance of Prayer" (Ps. 28:1-9)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 1/19/2012 7:25:36 AM

 

 

My Worship Time                                                                           Focus:  “Importance of Prayer”

 

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                       Reference:  Psalm 28:1-9

 

            Message of the verses:  “1 A Psalm of David: To You, O LORD, I call; My rock, do not be deaf to me, For if You are silent to me, I will become like those who go down to the pit. 2 Hear the voice of my supplications when I cry to You for help, When I lift up my hands toward Your holy sanctuary. 3 Do not drag me away with the wicked And with those who work iniquity, Who speak peace with their neighbors, While evil is in their hearts. 4 Requite them according to their work and according to the evil of their practices; Requite them according to the deeds of their hands; Repay them their recompense. 5 Because they do not regard the works of the LORD Nor the deeds of His hands, He will tear them down and not build them up.

    “6 Blessed be the LORD, Because He has heard the voice of my supplication. 7 The LORD is my strength and my shield; My heart trusts in Him, and I am helped; Therefore my heart exults, And with my song I shall thank Him. 8 The LORD is their strength; And He is a saving defense to His anointed. 9 Save Your people and bless Your inheritance; Be their shepherd also, and carry them forever.”

           

            David finds himself in trouble again, but as for the particular time it is not known, but he has evil people around him and also has people who have come to him and were nice, but had in their hearts to do harm to him.  This is the last of the “Sanctuary Psalms” that were mentioned in the last two SD’s.  Dr. Wiersbe writes that “this psalm teaches us some important lessons about prayer and patience.”

 

            The Problem of Unanswered Prayer (vv. 1-5):  “1 A Psalm of David: To You, O LORD, I call; My rock, do not be deaf to me, For if You are silent to me, I will become like those who go down to the pit. 2 Hear the voice of my supplications when I cry to You for help, When I lift up my hands toward Your holy sanctuary. 3 Do not drag me away with the wicked And with those who work iniquity, Who speak peace with their neighbors, While evil is in their hearts. 4 Requite them according to their work and according to the evil of their practices; Requite them according to the deeds of their hands; Repay them their recompense. 5 Because they do not regard the works of the LORD Nor the deeds of His hands, He will tear them down and not build them up.”

 

            In these verses we see that David was crying out to the Lord, but the Lord did not answer, nor did David think that He was around.  It has been written that God’s delays are not God’s denials and David was learning the importance of that as seen in verse one where He asks the Lord not to be deaf to him.

           

            We also see in the section that David was in trouble with those who were speaking peace to him, but it was evil that they truly wanted for him.  David felt as if he were in the place of the dead and that is why the Lord was not answering him.  David was lifting his requests towards God’s sanctuary, but still was getting no answer.  The word requite that is translated in verse four is translated in the KJV as:  “give, put, deliver, made, set.”  4 Give them according to their deeds, and according to the wickedness of their endeavors: give them after the work of their hands; render to them their desert (AKJV).”  Now we cannot conclude that David’s prayer was not a personal prayer of revenge, but a prayer that is a call for God to fulfill His covenant and to bring righteousness and peace to the land. 

           

            These enemies of Israel needed to be judged, yet God was delaying the answer to David’s prayer, and was doing nothing about David’s righteous request.  David after all was Israel’s anointed king, but we may need to be reminded that the Father allowed His own Son to be unjustly treated while He was on earth. 

 

            The Joy of Unbounded Praise (vv. 6-7):  “6 Blessed be the LORD, Because He has heard the voice of my supplication. 7 The LORD is my strength and my shield; My heart trusts in Him, and I am helped; Therefore my heart exults, And with my song I shall thank Him.”

           

            As I read and study the Psalms I am, and it seems that I always have been amazed in how fast the scene changes in many of the psalms and this one the scene changes quickly and dramatically, going from sobbing to singing.  We see the reason for the change in verse seven:  “My heart trusts in Him, and I am helped.”  Dr. Wiersbe writes “Faith moves the hands of God, and God’s hands control the universe.”  David knew this wonderful truth and it is demonstrated in this psalm.

           

            David was surely not ashamed to praise the Lord for the answer to his prayer, “Blessed be the LORD, Because He has heard the voice of my supplication.”  Dr. Wiersbe writes, “How wonderful that David turned a painful experience into a song of praise to the Lord and that he left behind a witness that has encouraged other believers for centuries.”

 

            The Promise of Undeserved Blessing (vv. 8-9):  “8 The LORD is their strength; And He is a saving defense to His anointed. 9 Save Your people and bless Your inheritance; Be their shepherd also, and carry them forever.”

           

            David now encourages his “flock” that is Israel, for Israel are God’s people and God had chosen David to lead His people.  David really looked upon himself as a shepherd who cares for his flock that God had given to him.  Sometimes the faithful shepherd has to carry his lambs “Like a shepherd He will tend His flock, In His arm He will gather the lambs And carry them in His bosom; He will gently lead the nursing ewes (Isa. 40:11).”

           

            The Lord has invested much in Israel, and believer’s today should be very thankful for Israel and one reason is that “Salvation is of the Jews (John 4:22).”  Israel has been a blessing to the entire world, and yet in this day and age many people are against the nation of Israel and many have forgotten the tragedy of those six million Jews who were murdered just because they were Jews.  After the prayer of Daniel in Daniel chapter nine we see the answer to his prayer that was sent to him by the angel Gabriel, and in that answer we see one of the most incredible prophecies that are found in all of Scripture.  Part of that prophecy speaks of all of the trouble that the people of Israel will have after the rejection of their Messiah and as one looks down the corridors of time they can see that Israel has always been in trouble.  The movie “Fiddler on the Roof” depicts some of the troubles that the Jews went through.  In Ezekiel 36-37 we see that God would call His people back to their land and this happened after WWII on May of 1948.  Ezekiel prophecies that when Israel comes back that the last thing that would happen to them would be spiritually, that they would then seek their God and Paul writes in Romans that “all Israel will be saved,” showing that there is coming a day when all Israel will come to know their Messiah, the Lord Jesus Christ.

           

            David realized that Israel was a special people and he praised the Lord for the people of Israel, and so do I.

 

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  It was 38 years ago a week from today that I came to know the Lord Jesus Christ as my personal Savior and Lord, what a wonderful day that was.  I was in Florida on a vacation and staying with a friend of mine where I began to listen to some taped messages by a man named Hal Lindsey who was talking about Israel and how the fact that Israel was now back in their land and would usher in the times of the end as we now know it.  I was very frightened about how the world was going to end, and what he was saying all made sense to me, and that was because I had just become a new believer and had the Holy Spirit living in me to aid me in understanding the Scriptures.  Daniel chapter nine was explained in one of those messages and it must have been at that time when Christ came into my life and so that chapter has always been special to me.  One thing that happened to me during that trip was that after God saved me he cleaned up my mouth and gave me a love for Israel, which I still have today.  I guess a lot of things changed on that wonderful day.

 

My Steps of Faith for Today:

 

1.     Trust the Lord even when my prayers are not answered right away or at all because the Lord is in control and will always work things out for my good and His glory even when I don’t seem to understand it at the time.

2.     Continue to learn contentment.

 

1/19/2012 8:34:25 AM   

I have been mentioning the issues that are going on with my wife in earlier SD's.  Today there was another issue that caused her much pain and suffering as a result of the surgery.  Today the Lord answered our prayers in a very special way, and the first words to come out of my mouth was "Praise the Lord."  This psalm encouraged me very much, and I am thankful that David went through what he did so that I could read this Psalm this morning.  "Praise the Lord!!"