“God Comes to Us” (Psalm 68:1-6)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 4-02-2012 9:15AM

 

My Worship Time                                                                                 Focus: “God Comes to Us”

 

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                       Reference:  Psalm 68:1-6

 

            Message of the verses:  I have decided to only use the introduction written by Warren Wiersbe as we begin to look at Psalm 68. 

           

“Read the ‘Song of Deborah’ (Judges 5) as preparation for studying this psalm, and compare the parallels:  Psalm 68:4; Judges 5:3, 7-8, 4-5, 12/30, 13/16, 18/12, and 27, 14, 18.  The emphasis is on God’s mighty acts on behalf of Israel resulting in His decision to dwell on Mount Zion.  Several names of God are used, including Elohim (23 times), Jehovah, Jat (short for Jehovah, as in hallelujah, Elijah, etc), Adonai (6 times), and Shaddai. The psalm is Messianic; Paul quotes verse 18 in Ephesians 4:8 and applies it to the ascension of Christ.  The use of ‘temple’ in verse 29 doesn’t prohibit Davidic authorship since the word hekal was applied to the tabernacle as well (1Samuel 1:9, 3:3; and see Psalm 5:7; 41:4; 18:6; 27:4; 65:4).  The psalm is a jubilant hymn of praise to Jehovah in which the nation of Israel gives four expressions of triumph through their God.”

 

            Before we begin to look at Psalm 68 I want to quote the verses from Judges 5 along with the verses in Psalm 68 like Dr. Wiersbe suggests in his introduction.  I will highlight the verses from Judges 5 in yellow and the verses in Psalm 68 in blue to tell the difference.

 

“4 Sing to God, sing praises to His name; Lift up a song for Him who rides through the deserts, Whose name is the LORD, and exult before Him.  3 “Hear, O kings; give ear, O rulers! I-to the LORD, I will sing, I will sing praise to the LORD, the God of Israel.

 

“7 O God, when You went forth before Your people, When You marched through the wilderness, Selah. 8 The earth quaked; The heavens also dropped rain at the presence of God; Sinai itself quaked at the presence of God, the God of Israel.  4 “LORD, when You went out from Seir, When You marched from the field of Edom, The earth quaked, the heavens also dripped, Even the clouds dripped water. 5 “The mountains quaked at the presence of the LORD, This Sinai, at the presence of the LORD, the God of Israel.”

 

“12 “Kings of armies flee, they flee, And she who remains at home will divide the spoil!"  30 ’Are they not finding, are they not dividing the spoil? A maiden, two maidens for every warrior; To Sisera a spoil of dyed work, A spoil of dyed work embroidered, Dyed work of double embroidery on the neck of the spoiler?’”

 

“13 When you lie down among the sheepfolds, You are like the wings of a dove covered with silver, And its pinions with glistening gold.  16 “Why did you sit among the sheepfolds, To hear the piping for the flocks? Among the divisions of Reuben There were great searchings of heart.”

 

“18 You have ascended on high, You have led captive Your captives; You have received gifts among men, Even among the rebellious also, that the LORD God may dwell there.  12 "Awake, awake, Deborah; Awake, awake, sing a song! Arise, Barak, and take away your captives, O son of Abinoam.”

 

 

“27 There is Benjamin, the youngest, ruling them, The princes of Judah in their throng, The princes of Zebulun, the princes of Naphtali.  14 "From Ephraim those whose root is in Amalek came down, Following you, Benjamin, with your peoples; From Machir commanders came down, And from Zebulun those who wield the staff of office.  18 “Zebulun was a people who despised their lives even to death, And Naphtali also, on the high places of the field.”

 

            Our God Is Coming to Us (vv. 1-6):  “1 For the choir director. A Psalm of David: A Song. Let God arise, let His enemies be scattered, And let those who hate Him flee before Him. 2 As smoke is driven away, so drive them away; As wax melts before the fire, So let the wicked perish before God. 3 But let the righteous be glad; let them exult before God; Yes, let them rejoice with gladness. 4 Sing to God, sing praises to His name; Lift up a song for Him who rides through the deserts, Whose name is the LORD, and exult before Him. 5 A father of the fatherless and a judge for the widows, Is God in His holy habitation. 6 God makes a home for the lonely; He leads out the prisoners into prosperity, Only the rebellious dwell in a parched land.”

 

            Verse one is a quotation from Numbers 10:35, but in order to understand what it means I will quote Numbers 10:33-35 “33 Thus they set out from the mount of the LORD three days’ journey, with the ark of the covenant of the LORD journeying in front of them for the three days, to seek out a resting place for them. 34 The cloud of the LORD was over them by day when they set out from the camp. 35 Then it came about when the ark set out that Moses said, "Rise up, O LORD! And let Your enemies be scattered, And let those who hate You flee before You.’”  Psalm 68 pictures the Lord on the march on behalf of His people.  We can see that God fights their battles and leads them into the Promised Land and then He will take up residence in the sanctuary on Mt. Zion.  In verse two we see that the enemies of the Lord are blown away like smoke, like the melting of wax that gets close to a fire.  This is the fate of the rebels who oppose the Lord, but in verse three we see a different story for the righteous, for they will be glad to see the Lord and will lift up a song for the Lord who rides through the desert.  Dr. Wiersbe writes that the phrase riding through the desert should read “cast up a highway for him who rides through the desert” (AMP). This would be something like what John the Baptist did in preparation for the coming of Messiah, The Lord Jesus Christ, and I believe that it will be like when Elijah comes to prepare the second coming of the Lord Jesus Christ.  I think that many Bible commentators believe that Elijah is one of the two witnesses that are spoken of in the book of Revelations chapter eleven. 

           

            The Lord will care for the fatherless and the widows and this is something that is mentioned in Scripture many times.  The wicked will be judged but the Lord will make a home for the lonely and lead the prisoners into prosperity.

 

            Spiritual meaning for my life today: One of the things that I trust in the Lord doing is seen in this portion of Psalm 68 and that is He will make all wrongs right.  God will judge the wicked one day and I am looking forward to that happening.  In today’s world we see many people living their lives like there is no God, but one day they will find out that the wickedness that they have done was not done in a closet for the Lord knows what they have done and because one of His attributes is Justice He will judge those who have not accepted the judgment that was taken out on His Son on the cross, something that is celebrated this coming Friday, but something that should be celebrated every day, and also the celebration of His resurrection should be celebrated every day too. God judged His Son for those who will accept it but for those who turn their back on it God will judge them.

 

My Steps of Faith for Today:  Trust the Lord when it come to judgment for He has said that vengeance is Mine saith the Lord, and so as I continue to learn contentment I must be content that God will do the judging in His own time.

 

4/2/2012 10:03:33 AM