“Psalm 113 PT-2” (Ps. 113:4-6)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 8/11/2012 8:02:32 PM

 

My Worship Time                                                                                   Focus:  “Psalm 113 PT-2”

 

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                    Reference:  Psalm 113: 4-6

 

            Message of the verses:  In Today’s SD we will pick up where we left off in the last SD that began with Psalm 113:1-3, and also we looked at three commentators who looked at the introduction to this psalm.  Dr. Wiersbe wrote at the end of his introduction these words:  “The psalm opens and closes with hallelujah (praise Jehovah) and gives us three wonderful reasons for praising the Lord.”  We looked at the first reason for praising the Lord in the last SD.

 

            God’s Throne Is the Highest (vv. 4-6):  “4 The LORD is high above all nations; His glory is above the heavens. 5 Who is like the LORD our God, Who is enthroned on high, 6 Who humbles Himself to behold The things that are in heaven and in the earth?”

 

            God’s throne is not like the thrones of earthly kings, for God’s throne is above all nations for it is in heaven, which is above the heavens.  Now that may not make a lot of sense but when we say that God’s throne is above the heavens we are talking about the planets and the stars that were created by God in the creation which is seen in Genesis chapter one where the text says almost as an afterthought “He made the stars also.”  Yet there are billions upon billions of stars and even billions upon billions of galaxies.  We have learned much more about the stars in the generation that we live in now with higher technology that we have now, things like the Hubel Telescope, and also instruments that can listen to the sounds that come from outer space.  God’s throne is above all of this. 

 

            Dr. Wiersbe writes, “It is not our Lord’s transcendence that captivates the psalmist but His willingness to ‘stoop down’ and pay attention to mere mortals who do not always honor Him.”  I should add that hardly everyone honors Him.  We know that most earthly kings are not accessible to their subject, but the writer to the Hebrews says, “Heb 4:16 Therefore let us draw near with confidence to the throne of grace, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.”  When Jesus died upon the cross the curtain that separated the holy place from the holy of holies was torn from the top to the bottom showing that all of those who have trusted the Lord Jesus Christ as their Savior and Lord can now have direct access to God, which in the OT took a priest, but all believers are priests so that we can have access to the Lord, and the wonderful part of all of this is that He desires us to have contact with Him. 

 

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  Dr. Wiersbe writes at the end of this section of his commendatory these words, “For the believer, God’s throne is not only a throne of glory and authority, but it is also a throne of grace, a topic the psalmist explained in the next three verses.” 

            The verse in Hebrews that was quoted above shows to me that God’s throne is a throne of grace, and grace is a very wonderful thing to have, for we are saved by grace through faith, which means that we do not have to work for it and could not work for it, but it is a gift from God so that we will not have anything to boast about.

 

My Steps of Faith for Today:  Trust the Lord to work out some problems that are affecting my life at this time.

 

Memory verses for the week:  2Peter 1:1-9

 

            1 Simon Peter, a bond-servant and apostle of Jesus Christ, To those who have received a faith of the same kind as ours, by the righteousness of our God and Savior, Jesus Christ: 2  Grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord; 3  seeing that His divine power has granted to us everything pertaining to life and godliness, through the true knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and excellence. 4 For by these He has granted to us His precious and magnificent promises, so that by them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world by lust.

    5 Now for this very reason also, applying all diligence, in your faith supply moral excellence, and in your moral excellence, knowledge, and 6 and in your knowledge, self-control, and in your self-control, perseverance, and in your perseverance, godliness, 7 and in your godliness, brotherly kindness, and in your brotherly kindness, love. 8  For if these qualities are yours and are increasing, they render you neither useless nor unfruitful in the true knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. 9. For he who lacks these qualities is blind or short-sighted, having forgotten his purification for his former sins.

 

8/11/2012 8:45:33 PM 

SECOND SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 8/10/2012 10:51:08 PM

 

SECOND SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 8/10/2012 10:51:08 PM

 

This Spiritual Diary will be a bit different than the others that I have been doing in that what I am about to write is something that I have thought about off and on for a very long period of time.  I am not sure exactly when the idea for this post came to me, but one thing I know is that what I am about to write has had a great deal of meaning to me over the years.  I suppose that this first came to me when I was studying the Old Testament book of Joshua. 

 

The message begins from the book of Joshua and it has to do with some of the failures that the children of Israel did after conquering the Promised Land.  The background actually comes from the book of Genesis when God first told Abram that there would come a day when his offspring would live in the land that he was living in, which was what became known as the Promised Land.  After Moses, by the power of God, brought the children of Israel out of Egypt, in fulfillment of what God had told Abram in Genesis chapter fifteen, they came to Mt. Sinai where God gave the Law to Moses to pass on to the children of Israel, but when Moses came down from the mountain the children of Israel were sinning greatly and so Moses throws down the tablets that had the Ten Commandments on them and eventually many of the children of Israel were killed because of their sin.  There were many incidents like this as Moses led the children of Israel through the wilderness.  There came a time when the children of Israel were to cross over into the Promised Land, but they desired to send out spies to go and spy out the land to see who lived there and whether or not they would be able to conquer them.  You have to read this account from the book of Deuteronomy in order to find out this fact for you won’t see in from reading the book of Numbers.  Ten of the spies came back with a bad report or should I say a report that lacked faith, for God had told them through Moses that Israel would be able to conquer the people living in the Promised Land.  The result of this report was that God would have the people of Israel march around the wilderness for forty years, a year for every day that the spies were in the land.  Two of the spies, Joshua and Caleb gave a good report, a report of faith in God to do what he said He would do and so God said that these two would be able to enter the Promised Land, and as it turns out they were the only two people who entered the Promised land that were over 20 years old at the time the Lord gave this judgment on Israel.  Not even Moses was allowed to enter the Promised Land because of sin he committed later on.  Now we have the background we can move forward to the instructions that God would give to Joshua, who was now leading the nation of Israel. 

 

When Israel crossed over the Jordan River at flood stage on dry land they were near the city of Jericho, which would be the first peoples that they would conquer.  Next they would try and conquer AI, but because of pride and because of the sin of Achan the plans to conquer the Promised Land came to a temporary halt.  Eventually after about seven years the Promised Land was conquered, thus fulfilling the promise that God made to Abram in chapter fifteen of Genesis.  What we have to remember is that not all of the land was conquered, for there were still many enemies that were left in the land, as Joshua and the army of Israel did not conquer all the peoples that lived in the land, but God told him that if they would kill all of these people then the land would be run over by wild animals, so God wanted to have the children of Israel to have faith in Him to receive the power from Him to slowly but surely conquer all of these sinful people.  If Israel would not listen to the Lord and trust Him then these enemies would become a snare to the children of Israel because they worshiped idols and would cause the children of Israel to begin to forget the Lord and begin to worship Idols. 

 

In order for me to make the point that I want to make I have to write about my testimony, how I came to know the Lord Jesus Christ as my Savior and Lord, which happened on the 26^th of January, 1974 while visiting a friend in Florida.  When I was about ten years old I went fishing with a few of my friends and these friends were probably two years older than me, and when you are ten years old two years makes a great deal of difference.  At any rate I begin to swear, to use the Lords name in vain, and this was to kind of show off in front of these older friends.  I have to now fast forward to 1966 when I was drafted into the U. S. Army, it was July 5, 1966 that I was inducted into the army and I did not like it one bit.  I began to pray to God to get me out of the army and if He answered this “fox hole” prayer then I would quit my swearing.  Well it took three days for the Lord to answer this prayer and so I had to keep up my part of the bargain.  I did for at least two weeks, and then I was right back at the swearing as if the deal was all forgotten by me.  Now we have to fast forward to January of 1974 the time when the Lord saved me.  One of the ways that I knew that the Lord had changed me was that when He saved me He took away my swearing mouth, He took away the desire of swearing from me.  God had not forgotten the bargain that I had made with Him.  What does that have to do with all of this that happened to Israel after they had conquered the majority of the land?  Well when I became a believer the Lord forgave me of all of my sins, past, present and future, and He took away my desire to swear, but just like the children of Israel He allowed enemies to remain, enemies that the Bible describes as the world, the flesh, and the devil.  These enemies desire to cause me to stumble, to sin just like the enemies of Israel.  Now when we look at a man called Caleb, one of the two men who were from that first generation, he was 85 years old and Caleb conquered, by faith, the enemies that were in the land that was promised to him by God.  Caleb had great faith, and it takes great faith for believers to conquer the enemies that all believers have.  I can tell you that there are some different sins that I wish the Lord would have taken away from me in addition to swearing, but I believe that the Lord did not do this so that I would grow in my walk with Him.  I mentioned in a recent SD about 1 Cor. 10:13, “There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it.” (AV)  I mentioned that the Greek word for temptation can also mean testing, and that the Lord tests us, but Satan tempts us.  Here is another thing that when I first learned about it surprised me, but not as much now, and that is that a believer can earn the same crown for resisting temptation as a believer who dies for the cause of Christ, so temptation is a difficult thing to overcome, and cannot be done without the power of God’s Word, and God’s Spirit and the use of God’s Spiritual Armor.

 

In conclusion I want to say that not all people are tempted by the same temptation, for we all have our weaknesses, and it is good to remember that Satan knows what these are.  Think about the weakness that you have, for I know the ones that I have, and when it is hard to hang on it is good to know a verse from the Bible that will counteract the temptation that you have, and just as Jesus resisted the devil in the wilderness by quoting Scripture so we can do the same.      

“Psalm 113 PT-1” (Psalm 113:1-3)

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 8/10/2012 11:16:30 AM

 

My Worship Time                                                                                   Focus:  “Psalm 113 PT-1”

 

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                     Reference:  Psalm 113:1-3

 

            Message of the verses:  In Today’s SD we will begin to look at Psalm 113, and then Lord willing we will continue in the book of Mark chapter nine after we finish looking at this psalm.  We will begin as we have in the past when beginning a new psalm by looking at the introductions by several different Bible Commentators.

 

            “This Psalm is one of pure praise, and contains but little which requires exposition; a warm heart full of admiring adoration of the Most High will best of all comprehend this sacred hymn. Its subject is the greatness and condescending goodness of the God of Israel, as exhibited in lifting up the needy from their low estate. It may fitly be sung by the church during a period of revival after it has long been minished and brought low.  With this Psalm begins the Hallel, or Hallelujah of the Jews, which was sung at their solemn feasts: we will therefore call it THE COMMENCEMENT OF THE HALLEL. Dr. Edersheim tells us that the Talmud dwells upon the peculiar suitableness of the Hallel to the Passover, "since it not only recorded the goodness of God towards Israel, but especially their deliverance from Egypt, and therefore appropriately opened with Praise ye Jehovah, ye servants of Jehovah, — and no longer servants of Pharaoh." Its allusions to the poor in the dust and the needy upon the dunghill are all in keeping with Israel in Egypt, and so also is the reference to the birth of numerous children where they were least expected.”  (Charles H. Spurgeon)

 

            “Psalms 113-118 comprise rich 6-psalm praise to God commonly called the ‘Egyptian Hallel’ (‘Hallel’ meaning praise in Hebrew).  These were sung at Passover, Pentecost, and Tabernacles, but had the greatest significance at Passover, which celebrated the Jews’ deliverance from Egypt (cf. Ex. 12-14).  Traditionally Pss 112, 114 were sung before the Passover meal and Pss 115-118 afterwards.  Psalm 118 would most likely be what Christ and the disciples sang before they left the Upper Room the night Christ was betrayed (cf. Mat. 26:30; Mk. 14:26).  There are two other notable sets of praise in the Psalter: 1) The Great Hallel (Pss 120-136) and 2) The Final Hallel (Pss 145-150).  (The John MacArthur Study Bible)

 

            “It was traditional for the Jewish people to sing 113-114 before they ate their Passover meal, and they closed the meal by singing 115-118 (Matt. 26:30; Mark 14:26).  These psalms were also sung in celebration of Pentecost, Tabernacles, the new moon festivals, and the Feast of Dedication.  Because of the emphasis in 114, this small collection of psalms was called ‘The Egyptian Hallel.’  The psalm opens and closes with ‘hallelujah’ (‘praise Jehovah’) and gives us three wonderful reasons for praising the Lord.”  (Warren Wiersbe)

 

            God’s Name Is the Greatest (vv. 1-3):  “1 Praise the LORD! Praise, O servants of the LORD, Praise the name of the LORD. 2 Blessed be the name of the LORD From this time forth and forever. 3 From the rising of the sun to its setting The name of the LORD is to be praised.”

 

            We see the word “praise” four times in these three verses, but the question arises who are the servants of the LORD spoken of in verse one.  In different parts of God’s Word like Psalms 34:22; 69:36; 136:22; and Isaiah 42:8-9; and 54:17 we see that this term is used for all of Israel, the entire nation.  Israel had the great responsibility, a responsibility that believers have today, of spreading the news about God to others who do not know about Him, the true and living God. 

 

            Dr. Wiersbe points out that the word “name” is used three times in these verses and refers to the character of God and the revelation of who His is and what He does.  We know that God has a good name, and because of who He is that name should be magnified among those who have never trusted him.  Dr. Wiersbe writes “To ‘glorify God’ means to make God look good to those who do not know Him.  This kind of praise pays no attention to time (‘forever more’) or space (from east to west).  God’s name is attached to His covenant with Israel and both His name and His covenant can be trusted.”  (See Deut. 28:1-14, especially noting verse 10):  “10 “So all the peoples of the earth will see that you are called by the name of the LORD, and they will be afraid of you.”

 

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  There are several reasons why I spend time in God’s Word each day, and one of those reasons is because God tells us to do this in His Word, and by doing this I bring glory to the name of God.  There is nothing that I have that has not been given to me by the Lord, especially the salvation that He provided for me on the cross by His Son, Jesus Christ, and for this reason alone I owe all that I have been entrusted to too the Lord.  By doing these Spiritual Diaries and posting them on the WWW I can lift up the name of God to those who know Him and perhaps to those who will come to know Him, and this I count as a great privilege.  I desire to bring glory to my Lord through these Spiritual Diaries by the Holy Spirit using them to call some to salvation, to lift up those who know the Lord by encouraging them in their walk with the Lord, and to have the Holy Spirit stimulate those who know the Lord to begin a systematic study of God’s Word.  This psalm provided a good place to bring out these points.

 

My Steps of Faith for Today:  Continue to abide in the Vine (John 15) in order to be led by the Holy Spirit of God to do the works that He has planned for me to do.

 

Memory verses for the week:  2Peter 1:1-9

 

            1 Simon Peter, a bond-servant and apostle of Jesus Christ, To those who have received a faith of the same kind as ours, by the righteousness of our God and Savior, Jesus Christ: 2  Grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord; 3  seeing that His divine power has granted to us everything pertaining to life and godliness, through the true knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and excellence. 4  For by these He has granted to us His precious and magnificent promises, so that by them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world by lust.

    5 ¶  Now for this very reason also, applying all diligence, in your faith supply moral excellence, and in your moral excellence, knowledge, 6  and in your knowledge, self-control, and in your self-control, perseverance, and in your perseverance, godliness, 7  and in your godliness, brotherly kindness, and in your brotherly kindness, love.  8 For if these qualities are yours and are increasing, they render you neither useless nor unfruitful in the true knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.  9 For he who lacks these qualities is blind or short-sighted, having forgotten his purification from his former sins.

 

8/10/2012 11:55:19 AM

 

 

“Psalm 112- PT-2” (Ps. 112:2-10)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 8/8/2012 8:38:18 AM

 

My Worship Time                                                                                 Focus:  “Psalm 112- PT-2”

 

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                   Reference:  Psalm 112:2-10

 

            Message of the verses:  In Today’s SD we will continue to look at Psalm 112, beginning with the second verse.  Dr. Wiersbe writes at the end of his introductory commentary on Psalm 112 these words in order to help us understand what this psalm is all about:  “The psalmist describes the faithful believer in various relationships of life.”  We looked yesterday at the faithful believer’s relationship with the Lord.

 

            Our Relationship to Material Wealth (vv. 3-5, 9):  “3 Wealth and riches are in his house, And his righteousness endures forever. 4 Light arises in the darkness for the upright; He is gracious and compassionate and righteous. 5 It is well with the man who is gracious and lends; He will maintain his cause in judgment.

            “9 He has given freely to the poor, His righteousness endures forever; His horn will be exalted in honor.”

 

            I wrote yesterday that I thought that the person who wrote Psalm’s 111 & 112 could be the same one who wrote Psalm 119 because of the way he speaks about the Word of God.  Now as I read these verses they make me think of Proverbs 31 but in the way that a righteous man lives his life, while Proverbs 31 speaks of how a righteous woman lives her life.

 

            Now as we look at this section we must realize that in the OT as we read the different laws and covenants we find that material wealth was one of the evidences of the Lord’s blessing on His people as they moved into the Promised Land.  This can be seen in Deut. 7:12 and following along with chapter 28:1-14.  The NT teachings are different about those who are wealthy as they are not necessarily rich in spiritual blessings, but as Paul writes to the Ephesians we are rich beyond belief in the Lord, and this is the most important kind of richness.  Jesus brought about this teaching while He was ministering on the earth as seen in Matthew 19:16-30, and it shocked His disciples who though if the rich, who they thought were blessed by God the most, would have the hardest time entering into the kingdom then who could make it.  The rich were depending upon their wealth, and thus did not depend on the Lord, while those who were poor found it necessary to depend upon the Lord.  Now this does not mean that all rich will end up in hell and all poor will end up in heaven, for the same is true for both the rich and the poor and that is that they have to confess their sins to the Lord, telling the Lord that they are bankrupted in getting to heaven on their own and then fully trust the Lord who has died for their sins to save them. 

 

            We see that the person who is described in Psalm 112 as being righteous, not acquiring his wealth in an unlawful way, and then we see that he is a very generous man with the funds that the Lord has entrusted him with, by helping the poor and then lending without interest to those who were in need which is seen in the Law of God.  (Deu. 23:19-20)  In 2 Corinthians chapter nine the apostle Paul is writing about giving and in verse nine he quotes verse nine of Psalm 112 to help in his explanation of giving and how it should be done by the believer.  Dr. Wiersbe points out that the word “horn” which is in verse nine speaks of power and dignity, “Because of this man’s generosity, the Lord allowed him to be lifted up in the eyes of his peers.  As you see this man’s faith in the Lord and love for those in need, you cannot help but think of the promise in Matthew 6:33.”  “"But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.”

 

            Our Relationship to Circumstances (vv. 6-8):  “6 For he will never be shaken; The righteous will be remembered forever. 7 He will not fear evil tidings; His heart is steadfast, trusting in the LORD. 8 His heart is upheld, he will not fear, Until he looks with satisfaction on his adversaries.”

 

            Because we live in a sinful world, a world that is no way near what it was when God created it, we will from time to time have to suddenly face difficult circumstances.  I suppose that we could also call them tests from the Lord and when this kind of a thing happens we need to be a steadfast believer who knows that the God we worship is in control of all things and that He can handle any problem that we face.  I suppose the prime example of this in the OT could be seen by both Job and Joseph, for both of them suffered much for their faith and yet both of them had a great faith in God knowing that because for a while (thirteen years in the case of Joseph) they were in the darkness they both knew that the Lord would send them light so that they could find their way out of the darkness.  When difficult times come upon us we need to remember that Satan wants to use these situations in order to tempt us, but God uses these difficult situations to test us, and His desire for us is to make us more like Jesus Christ.  One of my favorite verses is 1 Cor. 10:13 which says, “There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it.”  In this verse the word “temptation” can also mean test or trial.  We also see that in this test or trial that God will send to us a way to bear it or to stand up to it, and this can be done by God sending us His light.

 

            Our Relationship to the Wicked (v. 10):  “10 The wicked will see it and be vexed, He will gnash his teeth and melt away; The desire of the wicked will perish.”

 

            In his commentary on this section Dr. Wiersbe writes the following:  “Those who walk with the Lord and live godly lives are opposed and hated by the wicked, because the good works of the godly are like lights that reveal the evil in the world.” 

 

            I would like to state an example of this going on in our world today by talking about Tim Tebow, who is a young man (around 24 years old) who stands up for what he believe in and does this on the national scene as a football player.  He helped take an under-manned team to the playoffs last year and beat a team that was much better than his.  His reward was to be traded to a team in New York, the media capital of the world where we find that his teammates are trying to cause him to stumble in his walk with the Lord.  We live in a world today where there is very little shame, a world where not only do people do wrong, but try to get others to do wrong.  Paul writing to the Romans talks about this in his incitement to the sinfulness of mankind when he writes, “and although they know the ordinance of God, that those who practice such things are worthy of death, they not only do the same, but also give hearty approval to those who practice them.”

 

            I am sure that the man in Psalm 112 faced the same kind of temptations by wicked people as Tim Tebow and others do today, but in the end this man knows that God will judge them when His time is right.

 

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  A couple of days ago I was listening to a sermon by John MacArthur on the last verse in Mark eight and the first verse in Mark nine, and it was in that sermon that he spoke about shame, and how shame in the United States is not seen like it use to be seen.  It use to be shameful to dress like some women dress today and go out into public, it use to be shameful to take the Lord’s name in vain, and in the same way it use to be thought of when a righteous person does something good to praise him for it.  As I listened to this sermon along with reading a book by Joel Rosenberg entitled “Implosion,” which speaks of four possibilities of the implosion of the United States, I greatly fear for the country that I love.  It was back in the 1980’s that Billy Graham was speaking in Calvary, Canada that he stated “If God does not judge the United States of America soon He will have to apologize to Sodom and Gomorra.”  Things are much worse in the year we are living in now. 

 

            I pray for another “Great Awaking” to happen in our land before it is too late.

 

My Steps of Faith for Today:  Pray for Tim Tebow to be able to live out 1Cor. 10:13, and pray for a great revival to sweep across the Church in America.

 

Memory verses for the week:  2 Peter 1:1-9

 

            1 Simon Peter, a bond-servant and apostle of Jesus Christ,

            To those who have received a faith on the same kind as ours, by the righteousness of our God and Savior, Jesus Christ, 2 Grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord, 3 seeing that His divine power has granted to us everything pertaining to life and godliness, through the true knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and excellence.  4 For by these He has granted to us His precious and magnificent promises, so that by them you can become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world by lust.

            5 Now for this very reason also, applying all diligence, in your faith supply moral excellence, and in your moral excellence, knowledge, 6 and in your knowledge, self-control, and in your self-control, perseverance, and in your perseverance, godliness, 7 and in your godliness, brotherly kindness, and in your brotherly kindness, love.  8 For if these qualities are yours and are increasing, they render you neither useless nor unfruitful in the true knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.  9 For he who lacks these qualities is blind or short-sighted, having forgotten his purification from his former sins.

 

8/8/2012 10:03:34 AM