Psalm 123

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 10/7/2012 8:09:47 AM

 

My Worship Time                                                                                         Focus:  Psalm 123

 

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                            Reference:  Psalm 123:1-4

 

            Message of the verses:  We will begin this SD by taking a look at several introductions to Psalm 123 in order to better understand what this psalm is saying, and what it will say to us.

 

            “A Song of degrees. We are climbing. The first step (Ps. 120) saw us lamenting our troublesome surroundings, and the next saw us lifting or eyes to the hills and resting in assured security; from this we rose to delight in the house of the Lord; but here we look to the Lord himself, and this is the highest ascent of all by many degrees. The eyes are now looking above the hills, and above Jehovah’s footstool on earth, to his throne in the heavens. Let us know it as "the Psalm of the eyes". Old authors call it Oculus "Sperans," or the eye of hope. It is a short Psalm, written with singular art, containing one thought, and expressing if in a most engaging manner. Doubtless it would be a favorite song among the people of God. It has been conjectured that this brief song, or rather sigh, may have first been heard in the days of Nehemiah, or under the persecutions of Antiochus. It may be so, but there is no evidence of it; it seems to us quite as probable that afflicted ones in all periods after David’s time found this psalm ready to their hand If it appears to describe days remote from David, it is all the more evident that the Psalmist was also a prophet, and sang what he saw in vision.”  (Charles H. Spurgeon)

 

            “It is not until we read verse 4 that we discover the burden of the writer:  the constant persecution of the people of Israel, being treated with scorn and contempt.  In Psalm 124, Israel was almost swallowed up, drowned, and imprisoned in a trap.  Captivity is the theme of 126, and 129 compares their suffering to a farmer plowing their backs.  Has any nation ever suffered the way Israel has suffered?  Of course, God’s people today are also suffering because of their commitment to Christ (John 16:30).  According to missiologists, more Christians were martyred in the twentieth century than in all the previous centuries combined!  Some students assign this psalm to the time of King Hezekiah, when the Assyrians were attacking Jerusalem and making humiliating speeches about the Jews (Isa. 36-37).  But during the post-exilic years, Israel also suffered the ridicule and scorn of their Gentile neighbors (Neh. 2:19; 4:1-4, 4ff).  This psalm speaks about the God who is enthroned in heaven whose hand would work for His people, and you find both of these themes in Ezra and Nehemiah.  The ‘hand of God’ is found in Ezra 7:6, 9, 28; 8:18, 22, 31 and Nehemiah 2:8, 18.  ‘The God of heaven’ is mentioned in Ezra 1:2; 5:11-12; 6:9-10; 7:12, 21, 23 and Nehemiah 1:4; 2:4.  The psalm begins in the first person singular, (I, my), but then changes to the plural (we, our, us).  Perhaps this was a communal prayer, begun by a priest or Levite (v. 1), continued by a choir (v. 2), and closed by the congregation (vv. 3-4).

 

            “When we find ourselves among the slandered, ridiculed, and persecuted, where do we turn for help?  The psalm gives three answers to that question.”  (Dr. Warren Wiersbe)

 

            We Look by Faith to God’s Throne (v. 1):  “1 A Song of Ascents: To You I lift up my eyes, O You who are enthroned in the heavens!”

            What is it when we think of God’s throne?  How do we picture it in our minds?  How important is the truth of God sitting on His throne to us?  We are told that God is Spirit and therefore we cannot see Him, and that is why the Father sent His Son to be the Savior of the World.  Jesus told His disciples on the night that He would be betrayed that if anyone saw Him they saw the Father and we are also told in the 7^th chapter of the book of Acts these words by Steven as he was about to die from being stoned:  “55 But being full of the Holy Spirit, he gazed intently into heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God; 56  and he said, "Behold, I see the heavens opened up and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God.’”

 

            When we think about the throne of God we have to think about power for God is all powerful and as He sits on His throne this demonstrates all the power of heaven.

 

            When we think of the throne of God we also think about God’s grace.  “14 Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. 15 For we do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but One who has been tempted in all things as we are, yet without sin. 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.”  (Hebrews 4:14-16)

 

            Dr. Wiersbe writes “The life of faith begins by looking to the Lord by faith and trusting Him for salvation (Isa. 45:22) The life of faith continues as we keep our eyes of faith on Jesus (Heb. 12:2), and it will climax with faith becoming sight and we’ll see Jesus in His glory (1John 3:1-3).”

 

            Let’s look at the verses that are mentioned in this paragraph in the order that they are mentioned.

            “’Turn to Me and be saved, all the ends of the earth; For I am God, and there is no other.’”  (Isaiah 45:22)

            “12 Fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.”  (Hebrews 12:2)

 

            “1 See how great a love the Father has bestowed on us, that we would be called children of God; and such we are. For this reason the world does not know us, because it did not know Him. 2 Beloved, now we are children of God, and it has not appeared as yet what we will be. We know that when He appears, we will be like Him, because we will see Him just as He is. 3 And everyone who has this hope fixed on Him purifies himself, just as He is pure.”  (1John 3:1-3)

 

            We Look by Faith to God’s Hand (v. 2):  “2 Behold, as the eyes of servants look to the hand of their master, As the eyes of a maid to the hand of her mistress, So our eyes look to the LORD our God, Until He is gracious to us.”

 

            The psalmist introduces us to the hands of God by talking about how a servant deals with a master.  The servants during this time (according to Dr. Wiersbe) would watch the hands of their masters in order to get hand signals from them in order to do what their master wanted them to do.  I have seen this portrayed in different movies from this time period.  We can also see that the hands of the master provide for their servants, for all that the servant has been provided by their master.  We also know that the master’s hands as they protect the servant.  And so it is with our God’s hands for as believers we receive direction, provision, and protection from the hands of our Gracious Heavenly Father.

 

            We Look for God’s Mercy and Grace (vv.3-4):  “3 Be gracious to us, O LORD, be gracious to us, For we are greatly filled with contempt. 4 Our soul is greatly filled With the scoffing of those who are at ease, And with the contempt of the proud.”

 

            Grace is God giving us what we do not deserve and cannot ever earn, and mercy is God holding back from us what we do deserve.

 

            When we read through the books of Ezra and Nehemiah (I have Spiritual Diaries on these two books posted on my blog), we find that these were very difficult times for the 50,000 Jews who came back from Babylon to rebuild the city and also the temple of God.  They were persecuted by their neighbors because they were Jews and this comes right from Satan.  However God promised Abraham these promises, “1 Now the LORD said to Abram, "Go forth from your country, And from your relatives And from your father’s house, To the land which I will show you; 2  And I will make you a great nation, And I will bless you, And make your name great; And so you shall be a blessing; 3  And I will bless those who bless you, And the one who curses you I will curse. And in you all the families of the earth will be blessed.’”

 

            This is one of my great fears as our country goes down the road to destruction and that is if God does not give unto us another great revival that we will be a nation that curses the Jews and therefore we will be cursed.  Our government had changed its views on how we deal with Israel from when Israel first became a nation in 1948 and this is one of the last steps that Scripture speaks of on a downward spiral towards destruction.  Paul writes these words that also speak of how a nation or even individuals falls, “19 because that which is known about God is evident within them; for God made it evident to them. 20  For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood through what has been made, so that they are without excuse. 21 For even though they knew God, they did not honor Him as God or give thanks, but they became futile in their speculations, and their foolish heart was darkened. 22 Professing to be wise, they became fools, 23 and exchanged the glory of the incorruptible God for an image in the form of corruptible man and of birds and four-footed animals and crawling creatures. 24 Therefore God gave them over in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, so that their bodies would be dishonored among them. 25 For they exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen. 26 For this reason God gave them over to degrading passions; for their women exchanged the natural function for that which is unnatural, 27 and in the same way also the men abandoned the natural function of the woman and burned in their desire toward one another, men with men committing indecent acts and receiving in their own persons the due penalty of their error. 28 And just as they did not see fit to acknowledge God any longer, God gave them over to a depraved mind, to do those things which are not proper, 29  being filled with all unrighteousness, wickedness, greed, evil; full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, malice; they are gossips, 30 slanderers, haters of God, insolent, arrogant, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents, 31 without understanding, untrustworthy, unloving, unmerciful; 32  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.”  (Romans 1:19-32)

 

            The nations that were giving all these problems to the Jews when they came out of Babylon were judged by the Lord, and every nation that has done evil to the Jews or will do evil to the Jews just because they are Jews will suffer the same fate.

 

            As believers in Jesus Christ we ought to thank God everyday for His wonderful grace and mercy.  Dr. Wiersbe concludes his commentary with these words, “There is grace available at the throne of grace from the God of all grace, so lift your eyes of faith to Him.”

 

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  I am thankful for God’s grace and mercy for without it my fate would be in the burning fires of Hell.  I am thankful for the Lord Jesus Christ who provided salvation for me.

            Even though I believe that our nation could implode in the near future my prayer is that God will be gracious to us and provide another “Great Awakening” for us as He did before both the Revolutionary War and the Civil War.  Please pray to this end!

 

My Steps of Faith for Today:  Continue to seek to learn contentment from the Lord.

 

Memory verses for the week:  1Cor. 13:8-10

 

            8 Love never fails; but if there are gifts of prophecy they will be done away, if there are tongues, they will cease, if there is knowledge it will be done away.  9 For we know in part and we prophecy in part, 10 but when the perfect comes the partial will be done away.

 

10/7/2012 9:16:58 AM

 

Psalm 121-PT-3

 SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 10/3/2012 9:31:33 AM

 

My Worship Time                                                                Focus:  Psalm 121-PT-3

 

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                           Reference:  Psalm 121:5-8

 

            Message of the verses:  I really want to finish up with the 121^st Psalm in Today’s Spiritual Diary, looking at the last four verses.  I once again want to quote from Dr. Wiersbe’s ending introductory commentary in order to have a better idea of how to look at this psalm.  “The message of the psalm applies to God’s pilgrims today and gives us the assurances we need as we journey in this life.”

 

            “My Father’s Presence Is Beside Me” (vv. 5-6):  “5 The LORD is your keeper; The LORD is your shade on your right hand. 6 The sun will not smite you by day, Nor the moon by night.”

            It is possible to get the wrong idea of what the psalmist is talking about when we read these verses.  We may even begin to believe in the health and prosperity gospel when we look at these verses, but that is not what the psalmist is writing about here.  Just a few words on those who proclaim this health and prosperity gospel, and that is all we have to do is look at the life of the Lord Jesus Christ while He was on the earth to see that what they are proclaiming, that once you become a believer that no harm will come to you ever and that you will become wealthy, for materially Jesus was not rich while on the earth, nor was He kept from physical harm, for after all He suffered and died at the hands of His enemies.  Dr. Wiersbe writes “The things that God permits to happen to us in His will may hurt us but they will not harm us.  David had many experiences that brought heartache and even threatened his life, but the Lord enabled him to turn those seeming tragedies into beautiful psalms that encourage us today.”

            When the psalmist speaks of the sun and the moon we need to understand a bit about the weather that they have in that part of the world.  We remember from the book of Exodus that when the children of Israel were coming out of Egypt that the Spirit of God was a cloud for them in the day light hours and then a fire for them when the sun went down.  He kept them cool in the daytime, and warm in the night time.  One more thing to learn from the sun and the moon and that is that the children of Israel used a lunar calendar and so every month was a cycle of the moon and so this verse may also be talking about the Lord caring for His children every month and every year without fail.  Dr. Wiersbe writes, “Whether by day or by night, in heat or cold, whatever the changes might be, the Father’s presence provides all that we need. We need not be afraid of sudden attacks that can come in the day or the night, for ‘the shadow of the Almighty’ covers us (see Psalm 91).”

 

            “My Father’s Care Is Around Me” (vv. 7-8):  “7 The LORD will protect you from all evil; He will keep your soul. 8 The LORD will guard your going out and your coming in From this time forth and forever.”

            We have talked about fear in many of these Spiritual Diaries, and have mentioned that the only thing that we need to fear is the Lord, and that kind of fear is not a dread but the kind of fear that a child has for a godly parent, knowing that the parent has the best interest in mind for the child.  So when we look at life or death, today or tomorrow, time or eternity we must realize that they are all in the hands of our Loving Father and we are not to fear.  When we see the words “all evil” we can learn from Dr. Wiersbe what that means, “anything that could harm us, but in His grace, He turns into good the things we think are evil.”  Now we have a good example of this in the life of Joseph and as we look at his life from the book of Genesis we see that because of the hatred and jealousy of his brothers that they sold him to people who took him to Egypt where he was bought by a man who made him his salve.  It was because God was with him that he rose to be the top slave for this man and took care of all his property, but because of his good looks the wife of the man tried to sleep with Joseph, but he refused and because he would not do this she accused him of trying to sleep with her and he then ended up in prison.  While in prison God was with him and he rose to be the top prisoner and eventually told the future of two of the kings men who ended up in prison.  God gave him the ability of understand their dreams and because of this Joseph eventually was released from prison to tell the meaning of the kings dream and was made second in command of all of Egypt.  Next we see his brothers coming to buy food from Egypt because of a famine in the land and Joseph could have gotten even with his brothers, but he knew that God was the One who was working all of these evil things that were happening for the good of his family.  We read from Genesis 50:20 these words, “’As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good in order to bring about this present result, to preserve many people alive.’”  Now we read the following from Romans 8:28, “And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose.” 

            We can see from the words in verse eight, “The LORD will guard your going out and your coming,” that God cares for all that is going on in our lives.  I want to look at three Scriptures that speak of this going out and coming in.  “6 “Blessed shall you be when you come in, and blessed shall you be when you go out (Deu. 28:6).”  “Then Achish called David and said to him, "As the LORD lives, you have been upright, and your going out and your coming in with me in the army are pleasing in my sight; for I have not found evil in you from the day of your coming to me to this day. Nevertheless, you are not pleasing in the sight of the lords (1Sam. 29:6).”  “"You know Abner the son of Ner, that he came to deceive you and to learn of your going out and coming in and to find out all that you are doing,’ (2Sam. 3:25).”

            Now let us look at the wonderful promise that is at the end of verse eight, “From this time forth and forever.”  So we see that God cares for all that is going on in our lives from the time we are born until the time when we enter glory.  Dr. Wiersbe concludes his commentary by writing, “What a delight it is to know that, as we go in and out of the house, to and fro in the city, and even fly from city to city and country to country, the Father is with us and cares for our every need.  ‘Casing all your care upon Him, for He cares for you’ (1Peter 5:7).”  And His loving care will go on! (v.-8). ‘You will guide me with Your counsel, and afterward receive me to glory….My flesh and my heart fail; but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever’ (Psalm 73:23, 26 NKJV).

            “Who can mind the journey when the road leads Home.”

 

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  I am thankful to be reminded that the Lord, the God and Creator of the universe and all creation care for my going out and my coming in and will continue to care for this until my coming into glory.

 

My Steps of Faith for Today:  I do not want to be conformed to this world, but I desire to be transformed by the renewing of my mind in order to understand what God’s will is for me.  How can I be transformed? I believe that there are five ways.  1.  Listen to the Word of God (good preaching); 2. Read the Word of God; 3.  Study the Word of God; 4.  Memorize the Word of God; and 5.  Meditate upon the Word of God.

 

Memory verses for the week:  1Cor. 13:8

            8 Love never fails, but if there are gifts of prophecy, they will be done away, if there are tongues, they will cease, if there is knowledge it will be done away.

 

10/3/2012 10:41:01 AM

 

 

Psalm 122 Intro and verses 1-2

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 10/4/2012 9:41:31 AM

 

My Worship Time                                                                 Focus:  Psalm 122 PT-1

 

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                            Reference:  Psalm 122:1-2

 

            Message of the verses:  In Today’s Spiritual Diary we will begin to look at the 122^nd Psalm by looking at several introductions to the psalm by different Bible commentators.

 

            “This psalm seems to have been penned by David for the use of the people of Israel, when they came up to Jerusalem to worship at the three solemn feasts. It was in David’s time that Jerusalem was first chosen to be the city where God would record his name. It being a new thing, this, among other means, was used to bring the people to be in love with Jerusalem, as the holy city, though it was but the other day in the hands of the Jebusites.”  (Matthew Henry)

 

            “This brief but spirited Psalm is entitled "A Song of Degrees of David," and thus we are informed as go its author, and the occasion for which it was designed: David wrote it for the people to sing at the time of their goings up to the holy feasts at Jerusalem. It comes third in the series, and appears to be suitable to be sung when the people had entered the gates, and their feet stood within the city. It was most natural that they should sing of Jerusalem itself, and invoke peace and prosperity upon the Holy City, for it was the center of their worship, and the place where the Lord revealed himself above the mercy seat. Possibly the city was not all built in David’s day, but he wrote under the spirit of prophecy, and spoke of it as it would be in the age of Solomon; a poet has license to speak of things, not only as they are, but as they will be when they come to their perfection. Jerusalem, or the Habitation of Peace, is used as the key word of this Psalm, wherein we have in the original many happy allusions to the Salem, or peace, which they implored upon Jerusalem.  When they stood within the triple walls, all things around the pilgrims helped to explain the words which they sang within her ramparts of strength. One voice led the Psalm with its personal "I," but ten thousand brethren and companions united with the first musician and swelled the chorus of the strain.(Charles H. Spurgeon)

 

            “David expressed his great joy over Jerusalem, which he had settled by defeating the Jebusites and bringing the tabernacle and ark for permanent residency.  David’s desire/prayer was temporarily fulfilled in Solomon’s reign.  It is ironic that Jerusalem, which means ‘city of peace’, has been fought over through history more than any other city in the world.  Prophetically, David’s desire will not be experienced in its fullness until the Prince of Peace comes to rule permanently as the promised Davidic King.  (John MacArthur Study Bible)

 

            The following is from the introductory commentary of Warren Wiersbe:  “Believers today need not make long pilgrimages to ‘holy places’ in order to worship God, for the Lord does not dwell in man-made buildings (Acts 7:48-50).  Nor do we need the kind of ‘religious entertainment’ that draws people to some meetings.  The key thing is the heart.  From David’s words in this psalm, we can easily discern the kind of heart believers need if we are to please God in our worship.” 

 

A Heart for God (vv. 1-2):  “1 A Song of Ascents, of David: I was glad when they said to me, "Let us go to the house of the LORD." 2 Our feet are standing Within your gates, O Jerusalem,”

 

It was a fairly long time ago when our family went to “Founder’s Week” at the Moody Bible Institute in Chicago, Illinois that I became familiar with a CD that is entitled “Shalom Jerusalem.”  The CD was made in the city of Jerusalem sometime in the 1990’s and many of the songs on it were right out of Scripture that were put to music and the first verse of Psalm 122 was used in this CD.  I also have this presentation in VHS and it is now on DVD.  I suppose that it could be said that this is one of my all time favorite musical pieces and it is because it is from Jerusalem and also because it is from the Scriptures.

 

There are some who think that David did not write this psalm because the temple had not been built yet, but the tent that David had set up could be what he is writing about here or David could have been looking forward to the time when Solomon would build the temple, which was actually in the heart of David to build, but God would not allow him to do it.  However David did help in the plans of the temple along with supplying much of the gold and other things that would be used in the building of the temple, so it does not seem like a problem to believe that David wrote this psalm.

 

Dr. Wiersbe states that the phrase “let us go to the house of the LORD” would be better translated as “we will go to the house of the LORD.”  He says that the first sounds like an invitation to a tea while the second states what people were going to do.  The second statement sounds more like the statement of expressed determination and dedication. 

 

I am not sure how this psalm was put into the ascent psalms, but for that matter I don’t have any idea as to how any of the psalms were put into the order that they are in except that the Holy Spirit, who is the author of the Scriptures led the people to arrange them in the way that He wanted them to be in.  With this said as we look at this psalm, and David as the author we know that David did not have to travel to Jerusalem for all of the feasts, but lived in Jerusalem and it was David who put up the tent and brought the Ark of the Covenant to place it into the tent that was in Jerusalem.  We also know that the Bible states that David was a man after God’s own heart, and David had a great love for the Lord, as can be seen in the many psalms that he wrote and also from the different books of the Bible that David is seen in.  We know that David also loved the city of Jerusalem and that God foretold that one day He would choose a city to have His name in, and that city was Jerusalem.  There is coming a day when the Lord Jesus Christ will reign from the rebuilt city of Jerusalem for 1000 years and then there is also coming a day when the Lord Jesus Christ will rule from the New Jerusalem which is described in the book of Revelations. As we study these ascent psalms we can picture in our minds what it must have been like for the pilgrims to ascend to Jerusalem to worship the Lord, but then we can also be thankful that we, as NT believers can worship the Lord right where we are because we are the temple of the Holy Spirit.

 

Spiritual meaning for my life today:  When our son was born we named him David Paul because David is my favorite character from the OT and Paul is my favorite character from the NT.  I believe that the reason that David is my favorite character from the OT is that he was a man after God’s own heart, and this is something that I desire to be.  I truly enjoy reading the psalms that David wrote and also reading about him because of his great love for the Lord is seen in these writings and they inspire me.  He loved the city of Jerusalem and this psalm is about Jerusalem, and one day all believers will be able to go up to Jerusalem to worship the Lord.

 

My Steps of Faith for Today:  Contentment is something that I am still being taught by the Lord, and also how to remain in the Vine.  Another thing He is teaching me is humility and also to learn to have my mind transformed by His Word as I put His Word in my heart that I may not sin against Him.

 

Memory verse for the week:  1Cor. 13:8

 

            Love never fails; but if there are gifts of prophecy they will be done away; if there are tongues; they will cease; if there is knowledge it will be done away.

 

10/4/2012 10:37:51 AM 

 

 

 

Psalm 121-PT-3 (Ps. 121:pt-3)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 10/3/2012 9:31:33 AM

 

My Worship Time                                                                  Focus:  Psalm 121-PT-3

 

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                 Reference:  Psalm 121:5-8

 

            Message of the verses:  I really want to finish up with the 121^st Psalm in Today’s Spiritual Diary, looking at the last four verses.  I once again want to quote from Dr. Wiersbe’s ending introductory commentary in order to have a better idea of how to look at this psalm.  “The message of the psalm applies to God’s pilgrims today and gives us the assurances we need as we journey in this life.”

 

            “My Father’s Presence Is Beside Me” (vv. 5-6):  “5 The LORD is your keeper; The LORD is your shade on your right hand. 6 The sun will not smite you by day, Nor the moon by night.”

 

            It is possible to get the wrong idea of what the psalmist is talking about when we read these verses.  We may even begin to believe in the health and prosperity gospel when we look at these verses, but that is not what the psalmist is writing about here.  Just a few words on those who proclaim this health and prosperity gospel, and that is all we have to do is look at the life of the Lord Jesus Christ while He was on the earth to see that what they are proclaiming, that once you become a believer that no harm will come to you ever and that you will become wealthy, for materially Jesus was not rich while on the earth, nor was He kept from physical harm, for after all He suffered and died at the hands of His enemies.  Dr. Wiersbe writes “The things that God permits to happen to us in His will may hurt us but they will not harm us.  David had many experiences that brought heartache and even threatened his life, but the Lord enabled him to turn those seeming tragedies into beautiful psalms that encourage us today.”

 

            When the psalmist speaks of the sun and the moon we need to understand a bit about the weather that they have in that part of the world.  We remember from the book of Exodus that when the children of Israel were coming out of Egypt that the Spirit of God was a cloud for them in the day light hours and then a fire for them when the sun went down.  He kept them cool in the daytime, and warm in the night time.  One more thing to learn from the sun and the moon and that is that the children of Israel used a lunar calendar and so every month was a cycle of the moon and so this verse may also be talking about the Lord caring for His children every month and every year without fail.  Dr. Wiersbe writes, “Whether by day or by night, in heat or cold, whatever the changes might be, the Father’s presence provides all that we need. We need not be afraid of sudden attacks that can come in the day or the night, for ‘the shadow of the Almighty’ covers us (see Psalm 91).”

 

            “My Father’s Care Is Around Me” (vv. 7-8):  “7 The LORD will protect you from all evil; He will keep your soul. 8 The LORD will guard your going out and your coming in From this time forth and forever.”

 

            We have talked about fear in many of these Spiritual Diaries, and have mentioned that the only thing that we need to fear is the Lord, and that kind of fear is not a dread but the kind of fear that a child has for a godly parent, knowing that the parent has the best interest in mind for the child.  So when we look at life or death, today or tomorrow, time or eternity we must realize that they are all in the hands of our Loving Father and we are not to fear.  When we see the words “all evil” we can learn from Dr. Wiersbe what that means, “anything that could harm us, but in His grace, He turns into good the things we think are evil.”  Now we have a good example of this in the life of Joseph and as we look at his life from the book of Genesis we see that because of the hatred and jealousy of his brothers that they sold him to people who took him to Egypt where he was bought by a man who made him his salve.  It was because God was with him that he rose to be the top slave for this man and took care of all his property, but because of his good looks the wife of the man tried to sleep with Joseph, but he refused and because he would not do this she accused him of trying to sleep with her and he then ended up in prison.  While in prison God was with him and he rose to be the top prisoner and eventually told the future of two of the kings men who ended up in prison.  God gave him the ability of understand their dreams and because of this Joseph eventually was released from prison to tell the meaning of the kings dream and was made second in command of all of Egypt.  Next we see his brothers coming to buy food from Egypt because of a famine in the land and Joseph could have gotten even with his brothers, but he knew that God was the One who was working all of these evil things that were happening for the good of his family.  We read from Genesis 50:20 these words, “’As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good in order to bring about this present result, to preserve many people alive.’”  Now we read the following from Romans 8:28, “And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose.” 

 

            We can see from the words in verse eight, “The LORD will guard your going out and your coming,” that God cares for all that is going on in our lives.  I want to look at three Scriptures that speak of this going out and coming in.  “6 “Blessed shall you be when you come in, and blessed shall you be when you go out (Deu. 28:6).”  “Then Achish called David and said to him, "As the LORD lives, you have been upright, and your going out and your coming in with me in the army are pleasing in my sight; for I have not found evil in you from the day of your coming to me to this day. Nevertheless, you are not pleasing in the sight of the lords (1Sam. 29:6).”  “"You know Abner the son of Ner, that he came to deceive you and to learn of your going out and coming in and to find out all that you are doing,’ (2 Sam. 3:25).”

 

            Now let us look at the wonderful promise that is at the end of verse eight, “From this time forth and forever.”  So we see that God cares for all that is going on in our lives from the time we are born until the time when we enter glory.  Dr. Wiersbe concludes his commentary by writing, “What a delight it is to know that, as we go in and out of the house, to and fro in the city, and even fly from city to city and country to country, the Father is with us and cares for our every need.  ‘Casing all your care upon Him, for He cares for you’ (1Peter 5:7).”  And His loving care will go on! (v.-8). ‘You will guide me with Your counsel, and afterward receive me to glory….My flesh and my heart fail; but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever’ (Psalm 73:23, 26 NKJV).

 

            “Who can mind the journey when the road leads Home.”

 

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  I am thankful to be reminded that the Lord, the God and Creator of the universe and all creation care for my going out and my coming in and will continue to care for this until my coming into glory.

 

My Steps of Faith for Today:  I do not want to be conformed to this world, but I desire to be transformed by the renewing of my mind in order to understand what God’s will is for me.  How can I be transformed? I believe that there are five ways.  1.  Listen to the Word of God (good preaching); 2. Read the Word of God; 3.  Study the Word of God; 4.  Memorize the Word of God; and 5.  Meditate upon the Word of God.

 

Memory verses for the week:  1Cor. 13:8

            8 Love never fails, but if there are gifts of prophecy, they will be done away, if there are tongues, they will cease, if there is knowledge it will be done away.

 

10/3/2012 10:41:01 AM