SPIRITUAL DIARY
FOR 11/30/2012 8:19:38 AM
My Worship Time Focus: Psalm 142 PT-1
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: Psalm 142:1-2
Message of
the verses: We will begin to look at the 142nd
Psalm in Today’s Spiritual Diary by looking at several introductions to the
psalm by different Bible Commentators in order to get a good idea what this
psalm is saying to us.
“This psalm is called a prayer, as some others are,
the ninetieth and hundred second psalms: and was composed by David when either
in the cave of Adullam, #1Sa 22:1; or rather in the cave at Engedi, where he
cut off Saul’s skirt, #1Sa 24:3; as Jarchi and Kimchi think. The psalm
represents the troubles of David, and of the Messiah his antitype, and is
applicable to the church of God, or to any particular soul when in distress.” (John Gill)
“There
can be no situation so distressing or dangerous, in which faith will not get
comfort from God by prayer. We are apt to show our troubles too much to
ourselves, poring upon them, which does us no service; whereas, by showing them
to God, we might cast the cares upon him who careth for us, and thereby ease
ourselves. Nor should we allow any complaint to ourselves or others, which we
cannot make to God. When our spirits are overwhelmed by distress, and filled
with discouragement; when we see snares laid for us on every side, while we
walk in his way, we may reflect with comfort that the Lord knoweth our path.
Those who in sincerity take the Lord for their God, find him all-sufficient, as
a Refuge, and as a Portion: everything else is a refuge of lies, and a portion
of no value. In this situation David prayed earnestly to God. We may apply it
spiritually; the souls of believers are often straitened by doubts and fears.
And it is then their duty and interest to beg of God to set them at liberty,
that they may run the way of his commandments. Thus the Lord delivered David
from his powerful persecutors, and dealt bountifully with him. Thus he raised
the crucified Redeemer to the throne of glory, and made him Head over all
things for his church. Thus the convinced sinner cries for help, and is brought
to praise the Lord in the company of his redeemed people; and thus all
believers will at length be delivered from this evil world, from sin and death,
and praise their Saviour forever.”
(Matthew Henry)
“Title: Maschil of
David: This Maschil is written for our instruction. It teaches us principally
by example how to order our prayer in times of distress. Such instruction is
among the most needful, practical, and effectual parts of our spiritual
education. He who has learned how to pray has been taught the most useful of
the arts and sciences. The disciples said unto the Son of David, "Lord,
teach, us to pray"; and here David gives us a valuable lesson by recording
his own experience as to supplication from beneath a cloud.
“A Prayer when he was in the cave. He was in one of his
many lurking places, either Engedi, Adullam, or some other lone cavern wherein
he could conceal himself from Saul and his blood hounds. Caves make good
closets for prayer; their gloom and solitude are helpful to the exercise of
devotion. Had David prayed as much in his palace as he did in his cave, he
might never have fallen into the act which brought such misery upon his later
days.
“Subject: There can be little doubt that this song dates
from the days when Saul was sorely persecuting David, and David himself was in
soul trouble, probably produced by that weakness of faith which led him to
associate with heathen princes. His fortunes were evidently at their lowest,
and, what was worse, his repute had fearfully fallen; yet he displayed a true
faith in God, to whom he made known his pressing sorrows. The gloom of the cave
is over the psalm, and yet as if standing at the mouth of it the prophet poet
sees a bright light a little beyond.”
(Charles H. Spurgeon)
“This is the last of the psalm attributed to David that
relate to the years in which he was fleeing from Saul (see 7, 34, 52, 54, 56,
57, and 59). Whether his ‘prison’ (v.7)
was the cave of Adullum (1Sam. 22) or a cave in En Gedi (1Sam. 24), we cannot
be sure, but it is obvious that he was in danger and was depressed and feeling
abandoned. But he did what God’s people
must always do in times of crisis: he
looked to the Lord for help. He knew
very little about Saul and his plans, but he did know about Jehovah and His
great promises, and because of his faith in these assurances, he triumphed over
his feelings and his foes.” (Warren
Wiersbe)
The Lord Hears Our Prayers (vv. 1-2): “1 A Psalm of David: Hear my prayer, O LORD, Give ear to my
supplications! Answer me
in Your faithfulness, in
Your righteousness! 2 And do not enter into judgment with Your servant,
For in Your sight no man living is righteous.”
I am reminded of Psalm 130, the psalm that I have
been committing to memory, for in Psalm 130 we also learn about the Psalmist
great need for prayer as he begins by stating “Out of the debts I cried to You, O LORD,” and then he goes on to
talk about having the Lord’s ears hear the his supplications. Faith is a key ingredient in our prayers,
promises is another key ingredient in our prayers. David was a very young man when Samuel came
to anoint him as the next king of Israel, and yet David now finds himself out
in the wilderness running for his life, crying out to God to save him from his
enemies. Dr. Wiersbe writes that “Later
in life, David would understand more fully that during those fugitive years in
the wilderness, God was equipping him for the work he would do the rest of his
life, but at the time, his situation was miserable. His feelings were so pent up within him that
he ‘poured out’ his troubles (43:4; 62:8; 102 title) and his inner turmoil
(‘complaint’). God knew David’s
difficult situation better than he did, but the Lord has ordained that our prayers are a part of His
providential answers.”
There are sometimes when we as believers, just ordinary
believers, feel very small when we compare are troubles with the troubles like
David or Moses or even Abraham went through and we tend to think less of
ourselves than we should. Paul
admonishes us not to think more highly of ourselves than we should, however we
should not think less of ourselves than we are either. Paul wrote the letter of Ephesians to help
believers understand how rich that we are in Christ Jesus and so Dr. Wiersbe
“Be” book on Ephesians is “Be Rich,” because of that fact. Getting the right balance is a difficult
thing to get our arms around. One of the
things that I have heard many times when I or someone else is going through a
difficult situation that I or whoever else is going through a difficult
situation is to look at so and so to see how much worse their troubles are than
yours. For some reason I find little
comfort in that statement and so I have thought about it for some time. I think
that there are many factors in understanding troubles that we go through, and
believing that God is sovereign is one of the things that helps me when I am
going through troubles, sovereign that God gives to me things that are geared
to make me more like Jesus Christ (Romans 8:29). Am I to have compassion for others who are
going through more difficult problems that I am going through? I believe that I am to be compassionate to
their troubles and help in any way that I can, and even learn from how they
handle their troubles. Paul writes to the
Corinthians, “3 Blessed be the God and
Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, 4 who comforts us in all our
affliction so that we will
be able to comfort those who are in any affliction with the comfort with which
we ourselves are comforted by God (2Cor. 1:3-4).”
Another factor in our prayers to our Heavenly Father when
troubles come is that we must believe that God cares for us, in fact He cares
for us more than we care for ourselves, more than others care for us. I think that sometimes I feel like God has
more important things to do than to care for my troubles, and this is not only
wrong, but I think is sinful, and yet that is how I feel at times, feeling that
I am not as important as the one who has more troubles than I have and so God
can just leave me alone and put His efforts in helping the ones with more
troubles. God is not only sovereign, but
He is omnipresence, and not only omnipresence, but the Holy Spirit lives within
my heart as I, and all believers are the temple of the Holy Spirit. Not only are these facts true, but God is
love and He loved me even before I was one of His adopted children. Paul writes about this in his letter to the
Romans, “6 For while we were still helpless, at the right time
Christ died for the ungodly. 7 For one will hardly die for a righteous
man; though perhaps for the good man someone would dare even to die. 8 But God demonstrates His own
love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. 9
Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from
the wrath of God through Him. 10 For if while we were enemies we were
reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been
reconciled, we shall be saved by His life (Romans 5:6-10).”
Paul
then goes on to talk about the love God now has for us as His children in
Romans 8:31 “What then shall we say to
these things? If God is for us, who is against us? 32 He who did not spare His own Son, but
delivered Him over for us all, how will He not also with Him freely give us all
things? 33 Who will bring a charge against God’s elect? God is the one who
justifies; 34 who is the one who condemns? Christ Jesus is He who died, yes,
rather who was raised, who is at the right hand of God, who also intercedes for
us. 35 Who will separate us from the love of Christ? Will tribulation, or distress,
or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? 36 Just as it is written, "FOR YOUR SAKE WE
ARE BEING PUT TO DEATH ALL DAY LONG; WE WERE CONSIDERED AS SHEEP TO BE
SLAUGHTERED." 37 But in all these things we overwhelmingly conquer through
Him who loved us. 38 For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor
angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers,
39 nor height, nor depth, nor any other
created thing, will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in
Christ Jesus our Lord.”
Spiritual meaning for my life
today: As a person born a
sinner it is at times hard for me to believe of the wonderful love that God has
for me, and yet it is true, for I can see it in what God did for me through
Jesus Christ in the pages of the Bible.
My troubles are allowed to come into my life because God loves me: “3 And not only this, but we also exult in
our tribulations, knowing that tribulation brings about perseverance; 4 and perseverance, proven character; and
proven character, hope; 5 and hope does
not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out within our hearts
through the Holy Spirit who was given to us (Romans 5:3-5).”
Believing
these truths will bring comfort to me in times of troubles.
My Steps of Faith for Today: Contentment
and being transformed by the renewing of my mind through the promises of the
Scriptures is something that will be steps of faith until I see Jesus.
Memory verses for the
week: Psalm 130:1-6
1 Out of the
debts I cried to You, O LORD. 2 Lord,
hear my voice! Let Your ears be
attentive to the voice of my supplications.
3 If You, Lord, should mark iniquities, O Lord, who could stand? 4 But there is forgiveness with You, that You
may be feared.
5 I wait for the LORD, my soul does
wait, and in His Word do I hope. 6 My
soul waits for the Lord more than the watchman for the morning; Indeed more
than the watchman for the morning.
11/30/2012 10:13:18 AM
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