“God Goes Before Us” (Ps. 68:7-18)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 4/3/2012 8:31:26 AM

 

My Worship Time                                                                           Focus:  “God Goes Before Us”

 

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                     Reference:  Psalm 68:7-18

 

            Message of the verses:  In today’s SD we continue to look at Psalm 68.  Warren Wiersbe wrote the following at the end of his introduction to Psalm 68:  “this psalm is a jubilant hymn of praise to Jehovah in which the nation of Israel gives four expressions of triumph through their God.”  We looked at the first expression in yesterday’s SD.

 

            Our God Is Marching Before Us (vv. 7-18):  “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. 9 You shed abroad a plentiful rain, O God; You confirmed Your inheritance when it was parched. 10 Your creatures settled in it; You provided in Your goodness for the poor, O God. 11 The Lord gives the command; The women who proclaim the good tidings are a great host: 12 “Kings of armies flee, they flee, And she who remains at home will divide the spoil!" 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. 14 When the Almighty scattered the kings there, It was snowing in Zalmon.

            “15 A mountain of God is the mountain of Bashan; A mountain of many peaks is the mountain of Bashan. 16 Why do you look with envy, O mountains with many peaks, At the mountain which God has desired for His abode? Surely the LORD will dwell there forever. 17 The chariots of God are myriads, thousands upon thousands; The Lord is among them as at Sinai, in holiness. 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.”

           

            We see in verses 7-8 that David is reviewing Israel’s Exodus out of Egypt all the way to Mt. Sinai and the rain that he is writing about could be real rain or it may refer to the manna that the Lord provided for food which He gave six days a week to the children of Israel.  We then see in verses 9-14 Israel going into the Promised Land and conquering it.  God promised this land to the children of Israel as far back as when He first promised it to Abraham which can be seen in Genesis 15 where we find a part of the Abrahamic covenant that God made with Abraham.

           

            Verses 13-14 are difficult to understand as Dr. Wiersbe points out:  “Students have long been puzzled by verses 13-14 and don’t always agree on either their translations or their interpretations.  There appears to be a reference to the ‘Song of Deborah’ in Judges 5:15-18 where she shamed Reuben for staying home and not fighting the enemy, but praised Benjamin, Zebulun, and Naphtali for joining in the battle. These three tribes are commended in 68:27, but we don’t know of any tribes that failed to participate in the conquering of Canaan. The New Living Translation interprets verses 12-14:  ‘12 Enemy kings and their armies flee, while the women of Israel divide the plunder. 13 Even those who lived among the sheepfolds found treasures- doves with wings of silver and feathers of gold. 14 The Almighty scattered the enemy kings like a blowing snowstorm on Mount Zalmon.’  Israel is compared to a turtledove in 74:19.”

           

            God conquered Canaan not only to give the children of Israel a home, but to also to “secure” a home for Himself.  He also conquered it to deal with the sinful nations that were living there as we see in Genesis chapter 15.  God chose Mt. Zion for His home and this goes back to when He told Abraham to offer his son as a burnt offering on Mt. Mariah as seen in Genesis 22.  It was also on this mountain that the Angel of the Lord stopped the plague that was caused by David’s numbering of the children of Israel.  Solomon built the temple of the Lord on this very spot and later on the Lord Jesus Christ the Son of God would suffer and die outside the gates of Jerusalem in order to provide salvation for God’s people.  We see in this the attribute of wisdom that God was in planning all of this.  Mt. Zion was not as tall as Mt. Hermon, which is 9,000 feet, but it was where God chose to secure His home and we can see this all being played out in verses 15-18.  The chariots of God make up His heavenly army, for after all God is the Lord of Hosts.  When we read about ascending on high this is referring to winning the victory and returning in triumph (See Psalm 47:1-6).  Dr. Wiersbe points out that “some think this refers to a time when the ark was ‘in the field’ with the army and then brought back to the sanctuary on Zion (2Sam. 11:11; 12:26-31).  Paul quoted verse 18 in Ephesians 4:8 when referring to the ascension of Christ.  A king ascending the throne both receives and gives gifts, and even those who reject him will honor him outwardly.”

 

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  I am not the only one who sees difficult times coming soon to our country and as I read verses like that are in Psalm 68 and other verses in the Scriptures that speak of the wisdom and planning of the Lord it gives comfort to me to know that He is in charge and nothing will happen unless it is allowed by God.  We were once a nation where people feared the Lord, but now we live in a nation where the theory of evolution has had its toll on our country and not only ours but many countries too.  The toll that it has had is that if the world and the universe are just an accident then there is no Creator who created them, and if there is no Creator who created them then we are not accountable to this Creator.  I once heard a Pastor give an illustration to help explain how foolish the theory of evolution is.  He stated that at one time he had received a Rolex watch as a gift and told us how wonderfully this watch was engineered and then he stated that if it takes a person to design and build a watch, for that watch did not happen by accident then it took a Designer to create the world and the universe that the earth is in. 

 

My Steps of Faith for Today:  Continue to trust the Lord to teach me contentment in the circumstances that I am facing, knowing that the Lord is in charge and has a plan for, not only me but for all His creation.

 

4/3/2012 9:43:28 AM