SPIRITUAL
DIARY FOR 2/3/2012 9:51:51 AM
My Worship Time Focus: PT-2
Psalm 37
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: Psalm
37:12-40
Message
of the verses: In today’s SD we will
begin to look at the next sections of Psalm 37 and we must remember that in
this psalm David will answer the question as to why the wicked prosper and the
righteous suffer.
The Lord Understands Your Situation (vv.
12-20): “12 The wicked plots
against the righteous And gnashes at him with his teeth. 13 The Lord laughs at
him, For He sees his day is coming. 14 The wicked have drawn the sword and bent
their bow To cast down the afflicted and the needy, To slay those who are upright in conduct. 15
Their sword will enter their own heart, And their bows will be broken. 16 Better is the little of the
righteous Than the abundance of many wicked. 17 For the arms of the wicked will be broken, But the
LORD sustains the righteous. 18 The LORD knows the days of the blameless, And their inheritance will be
forever. 19 They will not be ashamed in the time of evil, And in the
days of famine they will have abundance. 20 But the wicked will perish; And the enemies of the
LORD will be like the glory of the pastures, They vanish-like smoke they vanish
away.”
I see in this section the
differences between what will happen to the wicked and what will happen to the
righteous. We see that the wicked are
plotting against the righteous and for the most it does not bother them for
they are just doing what wicked people do.
I believe that this goes back to the original sin and the results of
that sin. God told Adam and Eve that in
the day you eat of the forbidden fruit “you will die.” I have to believe that with the superior
intelligence that both of them had that they knew what death was even though
they had not seen it before. After their
sin Adam and Eve knew something was different in that they did know the
difference between good and evil. What
happened to them was that they died spiritually. They hid themselves from God because of the
guilt that they now had as a result of the spiritual death. This spiritual death is what has been passed
on to all of their descendants and it is this spiritual death, or old nature,
or flesh, is what causes the wicked to act the way they act because they cannot
act any other way. When a person has
been born again or born from above they receive a new nature, but they still
have the flesh, however God looks at the believer through the righteousness of
Jesus Christ.
The word slay in verse fourteen is a
word that is used to slay an animal, and that is the desire of the wicked to
slay the righteous, but God has other plans for them as seen in verse
fifteen. We have to remember that the
Lord does not take care of everything on the time table of man for He has His
own time table and in the end the wicked will perish, but the righteous will
live forever with the Lord. “For the LORD knows the way of the
righteous, But the way of the wicked will perish (Psalm 1:6).”
I want to look at the word “know” that is found in verse eighteen, for sometimes we
will say that we know a person and mean that we have a causal contact with
them, but that is not what it means as far as the Lord is concerned. When He says that He knows someone, or even
in the case of Adam and Eve, as the Bible says that Adam knew his wife it meant
in a deep understanding of her and even in a sexual way. I think that it is John 10 that Jesus says
that “I know my sheep.” He is not just saying that He knows who they
are, but that He knows all about them and that they belong to Him and that He
will care for them. I am thankful that
Jesus knows all about me and cares for me.
The Lord Blesses His People (vv. 21-31): “21 The
wicked borrows and does not pay back, But the righteous is gracious and gives. 22
For those blessed by Him will inherit the land, But those cursed by Him will be
cut off. 23 The steps of a
man are established by the LORD, And He delights in his way. 24 When he falls, he will
not be hurled headlong, Because the LORD is the One who holds his hand. 25 I have been young and
now I am old, Yet I have
not seen the righteous forsaken Or his descendants begging bread. 26 All
day long he is gracious and lends, And his descendants are a blessing. 27 Depart from evil and do
good, So you will abide forever. 28 For the LORD loves justice And does not forsake His godly
ones; They are
preserved forever, But the descendants of the wicked will be cut off. 29
The righteous will inherit the land And dwell in it forever. 30 The mouth of
the righteous utters wisdom, And his tongue speaks justice. 31 The law of his
God is in his heart; His steps do not slip.”
We see in verses 21-22 that the
Lord blesses His own by providing their daily needs. We know that the wicked may succeed for a
time, but eventually they have to borrow in order to survive, while the godly
have what they need and have the means to lend to others. Dr. Wiersbe writes “This isn’t a promise for
every believer at all times in all places, for many believers have died in
poverty and hunger.
We see in verses 23-24 that God also
blesses us with protection. Our steps
are established by the Lord and even if we fall He will pick us up as seen in
Jude 24: “Now to Him who is able to keep you from stumbling, and to make you
stand in the presence of His glory blameless with great joy.” The reason that the Lord will pick us up when
we fall or fail is because He delights in all of His children even though at
times we find it hard to sense the truth of it.
The next blessing we find is in
verses 25-26 and that is the Lord’s presence with His people. I seem to remember the content of verse 25,
but never where it is located at. I hope
now that I will remember where it is found now.
We have to remember that David was advanced in age when he wrote this
psalm and so he is drawing on his own experiences.
In verses 27-29 we see the blessing
of God enabling His children to live obedient lives and that will result in
righteousness and good character and also justice in conduct.
In verses 30-31 we can see a
favorite blessing of mine and that is that God blesses us with His Word. We know from other psalms the importance of
hiding God’s Word in our hearts. “Thy Word I have hid in my heart that I
might not sin against Thee.” Psalm
119:11 KJV.
The Lord Judges the Wicked (vv. 32-40): “32
The wicked spies upon the righteous And seeks to kill him. 33 The LORD will not
leave him in his hand Or let him be condemned when he is judged. 34 Wait for the LORD and keep His way, And He
will exalt you to inherit the land; When the wicked are cut off, you will see
it. 35 I have seen a wicked, violent man Spreading himself like a luxuriant
tree in its native soil. 36 Then he passed away, and lo, he was no more; I
sought for him, but he could not be found. 37 Mark the blameless man, and
behold the upright; For
the man of peace will have a posterity. 38 But transgressors will be altogether destroyed; The posterity
of the wicked will be cut off. 39 But the salvation of the righteous is from the LORD;
He is their strength in time of trouble. 40 The LORD helps them and delivers
them; He delivers them from the wicked and saves them, Because they take refuge in Him.”
Dr. Wiersbe writes “Three images
illustrate God’s judgment of those who reject Him and rebel against His
law: the court trial (vv. 32-34), the
tree (vv. 35-36), and the rescue (vv. 37-40).”
We know from history, not only in
Israel but other countries that it is the rich who are usually given better
treatment when they go to court, and even though that is not right in the eyes
of the Lord it still happens, and it happened in David and Solomon’s time too
even though they had the Word of God that taught how to judge others. Amos wrote about this to the shame of Israel
in Amos 2:4-8; 4:1-3. We know that in
the end when the Lord judges it will be perfect judgment.
“4 Thus
says the LORD, "For three transgressions of Judah and for four I will not
revoke its punishment, Because they rejected the law of the LORD And
have not kept His statutes; Their lies also have led them astray, Those after
which their fathers walked. 5 “So I will send fire upon Judah And it will
consume the citadels of Jerusalem." 6 Thus says the LORD, "For three transgressions
of Israel and for four I will not revoke its punishment, Because they
sell the righteous for money And the needy for a pair of sandals. 7 “These who
pant after the very dust of the earth on the head of the helpless Also
turn aside the way of the humble; And a man and his father resort to the same
girl In order to profane My holy name. 8 “On garments taken as pledges they
stretch out beside every altar, And in the house of their God they drink the
wine of those who have been fined” (Amos 2:4-8).
“1
Hear this word, you cows of Bashan who are on the mountain of Samaria, Who
oppress the poor, who crush the needy, Who say to your husbands, "Bring
now, that we may drink!" 2 The Lord GOD has sworn by His holiness, "Behold,
the days are coming upon you When they will take you away with meat hooks, And
the last of you with fish hooks. 3 "You will go out through
breaches in the walls, Each one straight before her, And you will be
cast to Harmon," declares the LORD” (Amos 4:1-3).
Psalm 1: 3 reads as follows, “He
will be like a tree firmly planted by streams of water, Which yields its fruit
in its season And its leaf does not wither; And in whatever he does, he
prospers.” Now compare Psalm 37:36: “I have seen a wicked, violent man Spreading
himself like a luxuriant tree in its native soil.” Different kinds of trees are seen in these
two verses. The tree in Psalm 37 dies
and is not seen again, not like the tree in Psalm 1.
In verses 37-40 we see that God not
only judges the wicked but He will rescue the righteous from the clutches of
the wicked. It does not matter what a
man looks like or how much money he has, the question is where will he spend
eternity, with the wicked in hell or with the righteous in heaven where the
Lord is.
Spiritual
meaning for my life today: I am
thankful that the Lord knows me and that He knows me better than I know
myself. I want to know myself better and
I want to know the Lord better as I study His Word.
My Steps of Faith for Today:
1.
I
want to continue to learn contentment as Paul wrote of in Phil. 4:11b and
following.
2/3/2012
11:51:34 AM
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