Joyful Faith (Ps. 106:-16)

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 7/18/2012 6:58:24 AM

My Worship Time                                                                  Focus:  Psalm 106 PT-1

Bible Reading & Meditation                                     Reference:  Psalm 106:1-6

            Message of the verses:  In Today’s SD we will begin to look at the 106^th Psalm by looking at several introductions from different Bible Commentators and then look at the first main section of the psalm.

            “After reading this psalm, we might be tempted t say, ‘Those Israelites were certainly a sorry band of sinners!’  Instead, we ought to be commending the psalmist for telling the truth about his own people.  Most historians present their nations in the best possible light and blame other nations rather than their own, but our anonymous psalmist told the truth.  ‘History will bear me out,’ said Sir Winston Churchill, ‘particularly as I shall write that history myself.’ But the writer is also to be commended for identifying himself with his struggling people and saying ‘We have sinned’ and ‘Save us’ (vv. 6 and 47, italics mine).  We noted that 105 said nothing about Israel’s failings, but that deficiency is remedied by 106.  However, the purpose of the psalm is not to condemn Israel but to extol the Lord for His longsuffering and mercy toward His people.  In order to glorify God, the writer had to place God’s mercies against the dark background of Israel’s repeated disobedience.  The psalm was probably written after the Babylonian captivity, when the Jewish people were scattered and a remnant had returned to the land to rebuild the temple and restore the nation (vv. 44-47).  After expressing his praise to the Lord (vv. 1-6), the writer pointed out nine serious offenses the nation had committed.  He began with the Exodus and closed with the Babylonian captivity, and at the heart of the list he placed Israel’s rebellion at Kadesh Barnea  He did not arrange these selected events in order of their occurrence, for his purpose was to teach us theology and not chronology.  (Warren Wiersbe)

            “Psalm 106 rehearses God’s mercy during Israel’s history in spite of Israel’s sinfulness (cf. Ne 9:1-38; Ps 78; Is 63:7—64:12; Ezek 20:1-44; Da 9:1-19; Ac 7:2-53; 1Co 10:1-13).  The occasion for this psalm is most likely the repentance (v6) of post-Exilic Jews who had returned to Jerusalem (vv. 46, 47).  Verses 1, 47, 48 seem to be borrowed from 1Ch 16:34-36, which was sung on the occasion of the ark’s first being brought to Jerusalem by David (cf. 2Sa 6:12-19; 1Ch 16:1-7).  True revival appears to be the psalmist intention.”  (The John MacArthur Study Bible)

            I want to mention a couple of things before I begin to comment on this psalm, and that is the 106^th Psalm is the last psalm in the fourth book that is contained in the Psalms.  This is a fairly long psalm and so it will take us several days to get through what this psalm contains.  It is more important to go slowly through this psalm as if we were mining for gold, than to speed through it and miss some of the nuggets of truth that are found here.  Lastly, I am reading a book at this time entitled “Implosion” by Joel Rosenberg.  The book has just come out and the purpose of the book is to tell people of the peril that our country is in at this time in history.  The cure for this peril is revival and it seems that that was at least one of the purposes of the author of Psalm 106. 

            Joyful Faith (vv. 1-6):  “1 Praise the LORD! Oh give thanks to the LORD, for He is good; For His lovingkindness is everlasting. 2 Who can speak of the mighty deeds of the LORD, Or can show forth all His praise? 3 How blessed are those who keep justice, Who practice righteousness at all times! 4  Remember me, O LORD, in Your favor toward Your people; Visit me with Your salvation, 5  That I may see the prosperity of Your chosen ones, That I may rejoice in the gladness of Your nation, That I may glory with Your inheritance. 6 We have sinned like our fathers, We have committed iniquity, we have behaved wickedly.”

            My first thought as I read these six verses is that this would be a wonderful prayer for the concerns that I have for our country, a prayer worth praying often for a revival that is greatly needed here, and I suppose around the world. 

            The psalm begins with praise to the Lord before the psalmist looks back at the sinful history of the people of Israel.  1Thes. 5:18 says, “in everything give thanks; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.”  The psalmist was doing this even thought the times were very bad because of the sinfulness of the nation of Israel.  We know that this did not come as a surprise to God that all of these things would happen to Israel for when we look at the 28^th chapter of Deuteronomy we find that Moses wrote through the inspiration of the Holy Spirit even before Israel would cross the Jordan River to enter the Promised Land that this would occur, and he also wrote that it would occur again, which it did in 70 A. D.  God had sent His prophets to tell the children of Israel that the destruction of Jerusalem and His temple was coming, but as Jesus said to the sinful people when He was on earth that they killed the prophets because they did not want to hear the truth.  They also killed the Lord of Glory for the same reason.  In Acts chapter seven Stephen gives a similar account of what the psalmist gives in Psalm 106, and he also speaks of killing the prophets who were doing the will of God in telling the people the truth.  I have just finished reading the book of Jeremiah as I read through the Bible and in his book we read of the awful things that the people did to Jeremiah because they did not believe that he was sent from God to tell them the truth.  There comes a time in a person’s life and in the life of a nation when, as Paul writes in Romans chapter one that God will give them over to what they are doing, and this is a very dangerous time in the life of that person or that nation.

            The psalmist includes himself as a sinner as seen in verse six where he writes “We have sinned like our fathers, We have committed iniquity, we have behaved wickedly.”  He did not say that his forefathers sinned, but we have sinned.  In the books of Nehemiah and Daniel we read the same thing, as both Nehemiah and Daniel confess the sins of their fathers and include themselves in their confession.  Take a moment to read through the first nineteen verses of Daniel chapter nine to see the confession that Daniel makes along with true intercessory prayer.

            Dr. Wiersbe concludes this section in his commentary on it by writing “As we study this psalm, it may be like witnessing an autopsy, but we will benefit from it if, like the psalmist, we keep our eyes on the Lord of glory and see His kindness and faithfulness to His sinful people.” 

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  I think that remembering the attributes of God is very helpful in the study of Psalm 106, for we know that God is love, but we also know that God is just and therefore He must punish sin.  The attributes of God help us to understand who God is and therefore we will not have a tendency to “put God in a box” as some people do.  God was just in his judging Israel and merciful in allowing them to return to their land.  We also know that this was part of God’s plan, for He was going to bring Messiah into the world after He brought Israel back into the land of Israel.  God has again brought Israel back into their land beginning on May 14, 1948, and I believe that the Bible teaches that Messiah will soon return to planet earth again.

My Steps of Faith for Today:  Continue to trust the Lord to use me in the way that He has planned to use me, as I desire to remain or abide in the Vine to get my marching orders from the Lord.

Memory verses for the week:  2Peter 1:1-6

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 by 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 righteousness.  4. For by these He has granted to us His precious and magnificent promises, so that by them we 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. in your knowledge self-control, in your self-control perseverance, and in your perseverance godliness, and in your godliness, love.

7/18/2012 8:23:16 AM  

PT-2 "Warning the Disciples" (Mark 8:22-26)

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 7/17/2012 11:18:00 AM

My Worship Time                                                      Focus:  Warning the Disciples PT-2

Bible Reading & Meditation                                     Reference:  Mark 8:22-26

            Message of the verses:  In yesterday’s SD we looked at Mark 8:10-21 and now I want to finish up this section today by looking at Mark 8:22-26. 

            “22 And they came to Bethsaida. And they brought a blind man to Jesus and implored Him to touch him. 23 Taking the blind man by the hand, He brought him out of the village; and after spitting on his eyes and laying His hands on him, He asked him, "Do you see anything?" 24 And he looked up and said, "I see men, for I see them like trees, walking around." 25 Then again He laid His hands on his eyes; and he looked intently and was restored, and began to see everything clearly. 26 And He sent him to his home, saying, "Do not even enter the village.’”

            I wish to make a short comment on this entire section that is from verses 10-26 and as I have looked at the names of the sermon messages that John MacArthur had on these verses I came to realize that throughout this section Mark is speaking about blindness and then sight, for in these last four verses Jesus performs a miracle in which the person that he heals from blindness is completed in two phases.  At first the man is totally blind, and then he can see only partially, and then he is healed by Jesus to see fully.  We have seen that the Pharisees were totally blind, and the disciples were partially blind and in the remaining part of this chapter we will see that the disciples will become completely cured from their blindness because Peter will announce to Jesus and the rest of His disciples that He is the Messiah, which is what a person must do in order to have his blindness cured:  “that if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.”  (Romans 10:9)

            A little more background material about this miracle:  It is the only miracle done by Jesus that was done in two stages, and it is only mentioned in Mark’s gospel.  This is the last recorded miracle that is done in Galilee and so this may have some special meaning just because of that fact.  After this miracle is done we will see a great turning point in Mark’s Gospel, in that Jesus will just begin to focus on the teaching of His disciples, and one of the things that He will teach them again and again is that He is going to die, and then three days later be resurrected back to life.  They did not get this and did not even want to talk about it.  When you look at the 24^th chapter of Luke and some of Jesus’ disciples are headed to Emmaus, and remember this is after His death, they still did not get it and Jesus had to make this clear to them as He showed them that all of this was predicted by the prophets from the beginning of Genesis till the end of the Old Testament.  Genesis 3:15 states “And I will put enmity between you and the woman, And between your seed and her seed; He shall bruise you on the head, And you shall bruise him on the heel.’”  This is the first prediction that Messiah will come into the world to save sinners from their sin and it happened right after Adam and Eve sinned.

            I have run into some obstacles in trying to finish this SD and one of them was losing the electric power for a while when working on this.  The power is now back on and so I will continue working on this SD.

            This miracle that we are looking at in Mark 8:22-26 is not the only miracle that Mark records that is not in any of the other gospels, for the miracle that is in Mark 7:31-37 is the other miracle that is not recorded in the other gospels.  Dr. Wiersbe writes that “Perhaps we can see in these two men illustrations of the disciples’ spiritual condition described in Mark 8:18, ‘18  Having eyes, see you not? and having ears, hear you not? And do you not remember?’ (AKJV).  Jewish readers would connect these two miracles with the messianic promises in Isaiah 35.

            “In both these situations, friends brought the men to Jesus; and in both situations, Jesus led the men away from the crowds.  In fact, in the latter case, He took the man outside the city.  Why?  Probably because the city of Bethsaida had already been judged because of its unbelief (Matt. 11:21-24).  No more evidence would be given to them.”

            I have already mentioned that this is the only healing of a blind person that Jesus did that happened in stages, and perhaps it was to show that we as believers grow in stages like this man received his sight, or perhaps it was to illustrate that the disciples were in a position of partial blindness as mentioned before too, at any rate Jesus did it this way.  The man was not from Bethsaida, for Jesus tells him to go to his town after he is healed, and we can surmise that the people who lived in Bethsaida were not going to get any more miracles done because of their unbelief.  This man could go to his town and tell the people what Jesus had done for them.

            It was not until the 19^th century that people could be healed of their diseases, but up until that time they had to live with the diseases they had and that is one of the reasons that during the life of Jesus on this earth that these miracles was so astonishing, but in most cases it was not enough for people to believe that Jesus was indeed the Messiah.

            The chapter from Dr. Wiersbe’s commentary that covers this section is entitled “The Servant-Teacher” and it covers Mark 7:1-8:26.”  He concludes his commentary in this section, and this chapter by writing, “The disciples learned some valuable lessons on this trip, lessons that they would need to remember and apply in later years of ministry.  We today need to learn these same lessons: (1) don’t seek after signs, but live by faith in His Word; (2) trust Jesus to meet needs; (3) avoid the leaven of false doctrine; (4) let Jesus work as He wills, and expect variety in His working.

            “Mark recorded the events of some busy days in the ministry of God’s Servant!  Next he will take us ‘behind the scenes’ as the Servant instructs His disciples and prepares them for His death on the cross.”

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  Dr. Wiersbe gave four valuable lessons that I need to continue to learn and put into practice as I walk with the King today so that I can be a blessing to others whom the Lord brings into my path.

My Steps of Faith for Today:  I still desire to be content, and in doing this I desire to remain in the Vine in order to be led by the Spirit of God to do the things that He has for me to do that were planned from eternity past. (Eph. 2:10)

Memory verses for the week:  2Peter 1:1-6

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 mercy 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 His who has 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 in your knowledge self-control, and in your self-control perseverance, and in your perseverance godliness,

7/17/2012 5:22:33 PM

 

           

Warning the Disciples (Mark 8:10-21)

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 7/16/2012 7:40:29 AM

My Worship Time                                                                          Focus:  Warning the Disciples

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                    Reference:  Mark 8:10-21

                        Message of the verses:  In Today’s SD we will again look at the eight chapter of the book of Mark as we take a little break from the psalms.  I have mentioned that it is my desire to study the book of Mark, doing a chapter each month in addition to continue looking at the different books of Old Testament that I have not looked at before. The book of Mark was written by Mark with the aid of the Apostle Peter, and he also was familiar with the Apostle Paul, so he may have helped Mark in his preparation in writing this book.  Mark’s audience was Roman, and so he does not write about some of the prophecies that are found in the other Gospels.  In this section we will see that when the Jewish leaders ask Jesus for a sign that Mark will leave out what was in Matthew, where Jesus told them that the only sign that He would give them was the sign of the prophet Jonah.  Not let us begin to look at this section in Mark’s Gospel.

            Warning the Disciples (Mark 8:10-26):  Before we begin this section from the view point of this main point from Dr. Wiersbe’s commentary I want to talk a bit about how John MacArthur approached this section, and he did it by talking about “spiritual blindness,” which comes up in this section.  There are a couple of types of spiritual blindness that come up here, and the first is the kind that the Pharisees had, which was a permanent kind, and then there was the kind that the apostles had, which is temporary spiritual blindness.  The Bible teaches us that we are all born spiritually blind, for we are all born with a sin nature which makes us spiritually blind.  John MacArthur speaks of five different kinds of blindness in his sermon on this text and I only want to mention them and not comment on them a lot.

“So every human being comes into the world blind in the darkness by virtue of being human. Add to that the fact that sin compounds the blindness, John 3:19 and 20, “Men love the darkness rather than light because their deeds are evil.” Sin compounds natural blindness.

“According to 2 Corinthians 4:4, Satan then compounds it again, “The god of this world has blinded the minds of them who do not believe lest the light of the glorious gospel should shine under them.” Man is naturally blinded, sinfully blinded, satanically blinded. There is a profound blindness that engulfs the souls of all human beings. It can also become a sovereign blindness. There are illustrations of that in the ministry of our Lord Jesus as well as in other places in the Scripture, but in Luke 19 Jesus basically said to the Jews, “No more, no more, it’s over. You ignored the day of your heavenly visitation and now you have no opportunity.” And they were confirmed in their darkness.

“That leads a fifth kind of blindness, eternal blindness. Hell is outer darkness. We all come into the world blind but we don’t all leave the world blind. Some of us come to see. Some of us are delivered out of the kingdom of darkness into the Kingdom of God’s dear Son. Some of us come to the light of the world in whom all darkness is dispelled. Some of us who were in darkness have now become light. Some of us walk in the light. We were all blind, some permanently and some temporarily.”  (John MacArthur)

“10 And immediately He entered the boat with His disciples and came to the district of Dalmanutha. 11 The Pharisees came out and began to argue with Him, seeking from Him a sign from heaven, to test Him. 12 Sighing deeply in His spirit, He said, "Why does this generation seek for a sign? Truly I say to you, no sign will be given to this generation." 13 Leaving them, He again embarked and went away to the other side. 14 And they had forgotten to take bread, and did not have more than one loaf in the boat with them. 15 And He was giving orders to them, saying, "Watch out! Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and the leaven of Herod." 16 They began to discuss with one another the fact that they had no bread. 17 And Jesus, aware of this, said to them, "Why do you discuss the fact that you have no bread? Do you not yet see or understand? Do you have a hardened heart? 18 “HAVING EYES, DO YOU NOT SEE? AND HAVING EARS, DO YOU NOT HEAR? And do you not remember, 19 when I broke the five loaves for the five thousand, how many baskets full of broken pieces you picked up?" They said to Him, "Twelve." 20 "When I broke the seven for the four thousand, how many large baskets full of broken pieces did you pick up?" And they said to Him, "Seven." 21 And He was saying to them, "Do you not yet understand?’”

We see in verse ten Mark’s favorite word, immediately, and he is saying that as soon as the miracle of feeding the 4000 was completed that they left for the other side of the Sea of Galilee.  Remember that they were on the Gentile side of the lake which is where this miracle took place and now they will move to the Jewish side of the lake where they will come into a confrontation with the Jewish leaders again.  We see in verse twelve that the Pharisees came out to meet him and they wanted a sign from heaven to be given to them.  The Pharisees could see that Jesus had been doing great miracles, but they believed that He was doing them in the power of Satan, and so they wanted to see a sign that was in the heavens, something perhaps like the prophet Joes describes and Peter uses in his sermon from Acts 2: 17  ’AND IT SHALL BE IN THE LAST DAYS,’ God says, ’THAT I WILL POUR FORTH OF MY SPIRIT ON ALL MANKIND; AND YOUR SONS AND YOUR DAUGHTERS SHALL PROPHESY, AND YOUR YOUNG MEN SHALL SEE VISIONS, AND YOUR OLD MEN SHALL DREAM DREAMS; 18  EVEN ON MY BONDSLAVES, BOTH MEN AND WOMEN, I WILL IN THOSE DAYS POUR FORTH OF MY SPIRIT And they shall prophesy. 19 ’AND I WILL GRANT WONDERS IN THE SKY ABOVE AND SIGNS ON THE EARTH BELOW, BLOOD, AND FIRE, AND VAPOR OF SMOKE. 20 ’THE SUN WILL BE TURNED INTO DARKNESS AND THE MOON INTO BLOOD, BEFORE THE GREAT AND GLORIOUS DAY OF THE LORD SHALL COME. 21 ’AND IT SHALL BE THAT EVERYONE WHO CALLS ON THE NAME OF THE LORD WILL BE SAVED.’”  This asking of a sign actually put Jesus between a rock and a hard place, for if He did not provide a sign for them then they would say that He could not perform a sign.  Jesus however had an agenda that was from His Father, and so no sign would be given to them except from the prophet Jonah, which is seen in Matthew’s account.  “What is ‘the sign of Jonah’?  Death, burial, and resurrection!  The proof that Jesus is what He claimed to be is the fact of His own, death, burial and resurrection (Acts 2:22-36; 3:12-26)” (Warren Wiersbe)

Verse twelve speaks also of the way that Jesus felt after they asked for a sign, for He had been in this area for over a year doing many wonderful miracles and preaching about the kingdom of God and because of their blindness they could not see the true Light.

Jesus again gets into the boat to cross the “lake” again and from verses 13-21 we will see the darkness of the disciples, which again is surely upsetting to our Lord.  Jesus speaks of the unbelief of the Scribes and the Pharisees by speaking using leaven as a way to introduce their unbelief.  The disciples thought that Jesus was speaking of the fact that they only had one loaf of bread, and so Jesus reminds them of how many people that He had feed with a small amount of bread and a few fish.  Dr. Wiersbe writes “God’s people often have a tendency to forget His blessings (Ps 103:1-2).  He meets our needs, but then when the next problem arises, we complain or become frightened.  As long as we are with Him, we can be sure He will care for us.  It would do us all good to pause occasionally and remind ourselves of His goodness and faithfulness.”

Dr. Wiersbe explains that in most cases the Bible uses the term leaven as a symbol of evil.  He says, “Evil, like leaven, is small and hidden, but it spreads and soon infects the whole.”  (“A little leaven leavens the whole lump of dough.”)  Gal. 5:9

The Bible also uses leaven as a symbol of false teaching and if the false teaching of the Pharisees penetrated the disciples then there would be trouble.  This is what was happening to the Galatians and was one of the reasons Paul wrote to them.

Spiritual meaning for my life today:  The Bible is without error and so I desire to continue to study it so that I can defend the truth and to know when someone is trying to lie to me about false doctrine.  Putting on the belt of truth is important because it shields me from those who are lying to me.

I am reminded again to praise the Lord for His goodness to me, and remember that He is in charge and that I can trust Him.

My Steps of Faith for Today:  To continue to abide in the Vine so that I am prepared to do the works that God has planned for me to do from eternity past.

Memory verses for the week:  2Peter 1:1-6

            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 in your knowledge self-control, and in your self-control perseverance, and in your perseverance, godliness,

7/16/2012 8:46:36 AM

All Believers-God's Dependable Promise (Ps. 105:42-45)

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 7/15/2012 8:47:17 AM

My Worship Time                                                                  Focus:  Psalm 105 PT-3

Bible Reading & Meditation                                     Reference:  Psalm 105:42-45

            Message of the verses:  In Today’s SD we will look at the last section in the lengthy 105^th Psalm remembering that this psalm is talking about the history of the nation of Israel.

            All Believers—God’s Dependable Promise (vv. 42-45):  “41 He opened the rock and water flowed out; It ran in the dry places like a river. 42 For He remembered His holy word With Abraham His servant; 43 And He brought forth His people with joy, His chosen ones with a joyful shout. 44 He gave them also the lands of the nations, That they might take possession of the fruit of the peoples’ labor, 45  So that they might keep His statutes And observe His laws, Praise the LORD!”

            I am not sure how many Bible Scholars believe what I am about to write, but I heard a long time ago that there are many who believe that the rock that is spoken of in verse 41 was carried around by Israel in their wilderness wonderings so that it supplied water for them.  I suppose that this thought does have merit because when you have at least two million people wandering in the wilderness they had to have a source of water to survive.

            I have mentioned earlier that Dr. Wiersbe believes that this psalm was written after the exiles of Israel returned from Babylon and when I look at this psalm in the way that it was written I can believe it.  I think about the books of 1^st and 2^nd Chronicles and it is believed that these two books were written after the exiles returned in order to give them a history of Israel.  In these two books you only see the history of Judah and they do not contain all of the sinfulness that went on, but focused more on how the Lord moved through the different peoples of Judah, especially focusing on King David.  It is in this book that we find out that the evil King Manasseh came to know the Lord in a saving way at the end of his life.  So we see in Psalm 105 that the psalmist leaves out all of the sinful things that happened by Israel on their wilderness wonderings, the things that went on at Mt. Sinai, and at Kadesh Barnes where Israel refused to enter the land and thus walked around in the wilderness for forty years until all who were over twenty years old had died.  This psalm focuses in on God’s great works and does not expose the great failures of man.  I have to say at this point, because we are on the subject, that the New Testament does not focus in on the sins of those in the OT when they are mentioned because their sins have been forgiven through Jesus Christ.  When the Bible mentions David in the NT it does not mention any of his sins or any other of the OT saints sins.

            The psalmist mentions the promise that God made with Abraham, giving them the Promised Land, and the fact that God kept His promise to Abraham as the people defeated the nations who were in that land, something God told Abraham in Genesis chapter fifteen.  God even told Abraham that Israel would come out from the land that kept them captive for 400 years with many spoils. 

            Dr. Wiersbe writes “God’s people live on promises, not explanations, and it is ‘through faith and patience’ that we see these promises fulfilled (Heb. 6:12).”  This is something very important to remember that believers live on promises and not explanations.  I am sure that the children of Israel who lived in Egypt those 400 years had to believe the promise that God would send a redeemer to remove them from Egypt, for their lives were surely very hard during those long year and they needed hope in the Lord in order to survive.  There was no written Word at that time from the Bible only the hope that was passed down from generation to generation of a promise that was given to Abraham concerning his descendants by the Lord.

            Dr. Wiersbe goes on to write “But God’s keeping His promise meant more for Israel than victory over the enemy and the acquisition of riches. It meant accepting the responsibility of obeying the God who had been so faithful to them.  Before his death, Joshua reminded the people what the Lord had done for them and admonished them to serve the Lord and not turn to idols (Josh. 24:1-28).  When we consider all that the Lord has done for us, we find we have the same obligation.”

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  To remember all that the Lord has done for me through the “precious and magnificent promises” that He has given to me.

My Steps of Faith for Today:  I am having a difficult time memorizing the verses in 2Peter that I believe the Lord desires for me to memorize, and my step of faith today is to continue to work on them until I have them memorized in order to meditate on the great truths that are found in these verses.

Memory Verses for the Week:  2Peter 1:1-6

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

To those who have received a faith of the same kind as our, by the righteous of our God

and Savior, Jesus Christ. 2. Grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and Jesus our Lord; 3. seeing the 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 you can be 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,

7/15/2012 9:27:11 AM

Joseph-God's Wise Preparation, Moses-God's Awesome Judgment (Ps. 105:16-41

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 7/14/2012 8:18:20 AM

My Worship Time                                                                  Focus:  Psalm 105 PT-2

Bible Reading & Meditation                                     Reference:  Psalm 105:16-41

            Message of the verses:  Just a bit of review from the last SD on Psalm 105 as we looked at several introductions to this psalm finding out that it is a psalm about the history of the nation of Israel.  This is not the first psalm that we have looked at that was about the history of Israel.  Dr. Wiersbe believes that this psalm was written by someone who came back from the exile in Babylon.  The Jewish people needed to be reminded of their past and also the covenants that the Lord had made with Abraham and then with David in order to help them begin a new life in the country that their ancestors lived in and so this psalm would help them to remember their past.

            Joseph—God’s Wise Preparation (vv. 16-25):  “16 And He called for a famine upon the land; He broke the whole staff of bread. 17 He sent a man before them, Joseph, who was sold as a slave. 18 They afflicted his feet with fetters, He himself was laid in irons; 19 Until the time that his word came to pass, The word of the LORD tested him. 20 The king sent and released him, The ruler of peoples, and set him free. 21 He made him lord of his house And ruler over all his possessions, 22 To imprison his princes at will, That he might teach his elders wisdom. 23 Israel also came into Egypt; Thus Jacob sojourned in the land of Ham. 24 And He caused His people to be very fruitful, And made them stronger than their adversaries.25 He turned their heart to hate His people, To deal craftily with His servants.”

            Who doesn’t love the story of Joseph when they read about it in the book of Genesis, for Joseph was a young man whom the Lord used in a mighty way, and he was also a young man who trusted the Lord greatly, and suffered for the cause of His God in order to bring about the plan that God had for His chosen people.  Suffering brings about glory as we read “After you have suffered for a little while, the God of all grace, who called you to His eternal glory in Christ, will Himself perfect, confirm, strengthen and establish you (1Peter 5:10).”  We can also read concerning a servant, which Joseph was that being a servant precedes being a ruler.  (“"His master said to him, ’Well done, good and faithful slave. You were faithful with a few things, I will put you in charge of many things; enter into the joy of your master.’)”  (Matthew 25:21)

            God’s Word that He gave to Joseph came true and the way that God fulfilled this promise was to send Joseph to Egypt through means that caused great suffering to him and also to his father, as Joseph was Jacob’s favorite son.  Once in Egypt Joseph was a slave and bought by a man named Potiphar, and Joseph was successful because God was with him, yet Potiphar wife desired to sleep with Joseph, but Joseph would not do this so she accused him of rape.  Joseph was then thrown into prison where God was with him there too as he became a leader to those in charge of the prisoners.  It is believed that Joseph was about 17 years old when his brothers sold him into slavery and about 30 years old when he began to serve Pharaoh as the second in command of Egypt.  Joseph interpreted a dream for Pharaoh showing that there would be seven years of plenty in the land followed by seven years of famine.  The famine was what brought Joseph and the rest of his family to Egypt, and this is where the Lord was going to take 400 years to make this family into a nation.  Joseph was a big part of God’s plan in getting the rest of his family to Egypt where God’s Word was fulfilled by having Joseph’s brother’s bow down to him. 

            Dr. Wiersbe writes “No matter how dark the day, God always sends His servant ahead to prepare the way.  God permitted the Egyptians to persecute His people, for suffering is one of the secrets of fruitfulness.  God did not force the Egyptians to hate the Jews nor did He force Pharaoh to harden his heart.  The Lord arranged the circumstances so that Pharaoh and his officers could either obey or disobey His Word, and their repeated disobedience hardened their hearts more.  God sent the plagues, but Pharaoh would not obey.  The same sun that melts the ice will harden the clay.”

            Moses—God’s Awesome Judgments (vv. 26-41):  “26 He sent Moses His servant, And Aaron, whom He had chosen. 27 They performed His wondrous acts among them, And miracles in the land of Ham. 28 He sent darkness and made it dark; And they did not rebel against His words. 29 He turned their waters into blood And caused their fish to die. 30 Their land swarmed with frogs Even in the chambers of their kings. 31 He spoke, and there came a swarm of flies And gnats in all their territory. 32 He gave them hail for rain, And flaming fire in their land. 33 He struck down their vines also and their fig trees, And shattered the trees of their territory. 34 He spoke, and locusts came, And young locusts, even without number, 35 And ate up all vegetation in their land, And ate up the fruit of their ground. 36 He also struck down all the firstborn in their land, The first fruits of all their vigor. 37 Then He brought them out with silver and gold, And among His tribes there was not one who stumbled. 38 Egypt was glad when they departed, For the dread of them had fallen upon them. 39 He spread a cloud for a covering, And fire to illumine by night. 40 They asked, and He brought quail, And satisfied them with the bread of heaven. 41 He opened the rock and water flowed out; It ran in the dry places like a river.”

            We see in this section as well as the last that the psalmist uses the word “Ham” when referring to the people of Egypt.  Ham was of course one of the son’s of Noah, and it was the three sons of Noah that God used to repopulate the earth after the flood.  The children of Israel came from the line of Shem which can be seen in Luke’s Gospel when giving the genealogy of Jesus Christ, “Lu 3:36  the son of Cainan, the son of Arphaxad, the son of Shem, the son of Noah, the son of Lamec.”

The story that is contained in this section is a very familiar story as it tells about Moses, the servant of God, and how the Lord would use Moses and Aaron to lead the new nation of Israel out of bondage from the Land of Egypt.  God performed ten miracles or plagues in order to have Pharaoh finally agree into allowing the children of Israel to leave Egypt.  The psalmist writes that Egypt was glad to see Israel leave and gave them gifts of silver and gold as kind of a goodbye present.  The Egyptians were in dread of them because of the plagues that God sent on them and after all of their first born children died I believe that Egypt was afraid that the next plague would have killed all of them.

Just as in the case of Joseph God had His servant prepared to take Israel through another crisis, and Moses was the man that God prepared for this job.  Moses was rescued from the edict that Pharaoh that all baby boys were to be killed, and was raised in the household of Pharaoh.  Moses knew that he was from Israel and sensed that God had chosen him to lead the people out of Egypt.  Israel knew that God would send a redeemer and so Moses tried to do this on his own when he was forty years old by killing an Egyptian.  Moses fled to the land of Midian where he lived as a shepherd for the next forty years of his life.  At age 80 God called Moses to lead the Israelites out of Egypt by speaking to him from a burning bush.  The rest as is said is history and this is what the psalmist writes about in this section.

The ten plagues that God performed in Egypt were actually against different gods that Egypt worshiped, showing them that there was only one True God and they should worship Him.  The psalmist mentioned the ninth plague first, the plague of darkness and then stayed in sequence in mentioning the rest of them.  The psalmist then proceeds to bring up some of the miracles that God did while He led Israel to the Promised Land, miracles of the keeping Israel comfortable with a cloud over them during the day and fire at night to keep them warm.  Giving the water out of a rock and food from heaven along with some meat too, so we see that God cared for His people, but when reading the text in Exodus through Deuteronomy we also see much disbelief with the children of Israel.

Spiritual meaning for my life today:  I have not seen the types of miracles that God did to get Israel out of Egypt, but I have seen an even bigger miracle, and that is that the Lord Jesus Christ has freed me from the bondage of sin, which is far better than what He did with the children of Israel, freeing them from the bondage of slavery in Egypt.  Being freed from the bondage of sin makes me free indeed, and ready to serve the Lord with the new life that He has given me through the Lord Jesus Christ.

My Steps of Faith for Today:  “He has told you, O man, what is good; And what does the LORD require of you But to do justice, to love kindness, And to walk humbly with your God?”

Memory verses for the week:  2Peter 1:1-5

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 mercy 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. Nor for this very reason also, applying all diligence, in your faith supply moral excellence and in your moral excellence knowledge,

7/14/2012 9:31:48 AM

           

             

The Patriarchs—God’s Gracious Election (Ps. 105:1-15)

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 7/13/2012 9:47:23 AM

My Worship Time                                                                  Focus:  Psalm 105 PT-1



Bible Reading & Meditation                                     Reference:  Psalm 105:1-15



            Message of the verses:  We will begin to look at Psalm 105 in Today’s SD by looking at the introduction of the psalm by several different Bible Commentators.

“This psalm was penned by David, and sung at the time when the ark was brought from the house of Obededom to the place which David had prepared for it; at least the first fifteen verses of it, the other part being probably added afterwards by the same inspired penman, as appears from #1Ch 16:1-7. The subject matter of the psalm is the special and distinguishing goodness of God to the children of Israel, and to his church and people, of which they were typical: the history of God’s regard to and care of their principal ancestors, Abraham, Jacob, Joseph, &c. and of the whole body of the people, in bringing them out of Egypt, leading them through the wilderness, and settling them in the land of Canaan, is here recited, as an argument for praise and thankfulness.”   (John Gill)

“This historical psalm was evidently composed by King David, for the first fifteen verses of it were used as a hymn at the carrying up of the ark from the house of Obededom, and we read in #1Ch 16:7, "Then on that day David delivered first this psalm to thank the Lord, into the hand of Asaph and his brethren." Such a song was suitable for the occasion, for it describes the movements of the Lord’s people and his guardian care over them in every place, and all this on account of the covenant of which the ark, then removing, was a symbol. Our last psalm sang the opening chapters of Genesis, and this takes up its closing chapters and conducts us into Exodus and Numbers.

      The first verses are full of joyful praise, and call upon the people to extol Jehovah, #Ps 105:1-7; then the earliest days of the infant nation, are described, #Ps 105:8-15; the going into Egypt, #Ps 105:16-23, the coming forth from it with the Lord’s outstretched arm, #Ps 105:24-38, the journeying through the wilderness and the entrance into Canaan.

      We are now among the long Psalms, as at other times we have been among the short ones. These varying lengths of the sacred poems should teach us not to lay down any law either of brevity or prolixity in either prayer or praise. Short petitions and single verses of hymns are often the best for public occasions, but there are seasons when a whole night of wrestling or an entire day of psalm slinging will be none too long. The Spirit is ever free in his operations, and is not to be confined with, the rules of conventional propriety. The wind bloweth as it listeth, and at one time rushes in short and rapid sweep, while at another it continues to refresh the earth hour after hour with its reviving breath.”  (Charles H. Spurgeon)

“Just as Pss. 103 and 104 were matched pairs; so are Pss 105 and 106, as they look at Israel’s history from God’s perspective and then Israel’s vantage respectively.  This psalm possibly originated by a command of David to Asaph on the occasion when the Ark of the Covenant was first brought to Jerusalem (2Sam. 6:12-19; 1Chron. 16:1-7). Psalm 105 1:15 repeats 1Chron. 16:8-22.

“Psalm 104 magnifies the God of creation and 106 the God who chastens His people and forgives them, but this psalm focuses on the God of the covenant (vv. 8-10) who works out His divine purposes in human history.  ‘Make known his deeds’ (vv. 1-2, 5) is the major thrust, referring, of course, to God’s mighty acts on behalf of Israel.  (See also 78, and note that 105:1-15 is adapted in 1Chron. 16:8-22.)  The psalm does not go beyond the conquest of Canaan (v. 44) or mention the Davidic dynasty, which suggests that it may have been written after the Babylonian exile, possibly by one of the Levites who returned to Judah with the Jewish remnant.  The psalmist saw the hand of God in the events of Jewish history, and this was the kind of encouragement the struggling remnant needed.  He reminded them that they were God’s chosen people and that God worked according to His schedule.  Beginning with Egypt, the Lord had already revealed His power over the Gentile nations, and He will always keep His promises.  Remembering these truths can bring God’s people encouragement and any time in history! (v. 5)” (Warren Wiersbe)

The Patriarchs—God’s Gracious Election (vv. 1-15):  “1 Oh give thanks to the LORD, call upon His name; Make known His deeds among the peoples. 2 Sing to Him, sing praises to Him; Speak of all His wonders. 3 Glory in His holy name; Let the heart of those who seek the LORD be glad. 4 Seek the LORD and His strength; Seek His face continually. 5 Remember His wonders which He has done, His marvels and the judgments uttered by His mouth, 6 O seed of Abraham, His servant, O sons of Jacob, His chosen ones! 7 He is the LORD our God; His judgments are in all the earth.  8 He has remembered His covenant forever, The word which He commanded to a thousand generations, 9 The covenant which He made with Abraham, And His oath to Isaac. 10  Then He confirmed it to Jacob for a statute, To Israel as an everlasting covenant, 11  Saying, "To you I will give the land of Canaan As the portion of your inheritance," 12  When they were only a few men in number, Very few, and strangers in it. 13 And they wandered about from nation to nation, From one kingdom to another people. 14 He permitted no man to oppress them, And He reproved kings for their sakes: 15 “Do not touch My anointed ones, And do My prophets no harm.’”    

In the first five verses of this psalm we see ten commandments that the psalmist gives to his readers, especially the nation of Israel, but not just for them, for it is for all those who belong to the Lord.  We know that Israel was chosen by the Lord for we read this in verse six, and the reason that God chose them was because they were His sovereign choice, and there is no other reason necessary. 

Israel was supposed to be a light to the Gentile nations, and this could have been done by their giving thanks to the Lord, their praying and also their singing.  Sadly for the most part this was not done on a regular basis.  The prophet Daniel, in his wonderful prophecy that he writes in chapter nine tells of a number of things that the nation of Israel was to do in order to be wittiness to the nations around them.  The Lord Jesus Christ fulfilled most of these commands that is found there:  Daniel 9:“24 “Seventy weeks have been decreed for your people and your holy city, to finish the transgression, to make an end of sin, to make atonement for iniquity, to bring in everlasting righteousness, to seal up vision and prophecy and to anoint the most holy place.”

The psalmist speaks of the covenant that God made with Abraham, a covenant that is still in effect to this day, as seen in verses 6, 9, and 42.  This covenant is seen in the Book of Genesis 12:1-5 and 15:9-21; and also in Acts 7:1-8 where Stephen repeats it to those who were about to stone him to death.  This covenant would apply to all of Abraham’s physical descendants as well as for those who are believers today as they are his spiritual descendants. See Luke 1:68-79; Galatians 3:1-9 and 29.  Part of this covenant promise was the gift of the land of Canaan, and we can see today that Israel lives in part of this land, and for the first time in nearly 2500 years Israel is back in their land having control of their nation there.  After the Babylonian exile they came back to Israel, but were subject to the nations who had control over it, not so today.  Dr. Wiersbe writes that “this covenant will endure forever (vv. 8-11; Deut. 7:9).  Again this was an act of grace on the part of the Lord, for none of the patriarchs had any claim to God nor did He owe them anything.  They were homeless nomads—pilgrims and strangers (Heb. 11:8-16)—who depended on the Lord to protect and guide them (Gen. 34:30; Deut. 7:6-11; 26:5).  Even when they erred, the Lord protected them and even reproved kings on their behalf (Gen. 12:10ff; 20; 26; 32-33).  God is sovereign, and though He does not turn men and women into robots, He does rule and overrule when they disobey.  His will shall be done and His plans shall be fulfilled (vv. 8-11; 19; 22:11).”

Spiritual meaning for my life today:  Just as the Lord called the nation of Israel to be His witness to a lost world He has also called the Church today to do the same, and that is my desire too. 

My Steps of Faith for Today:  I desire to abide in the Vine so that the Lord can teach me and guide me and use me to do what He desires for me to do.  I desire to tell others about the Lord Jesus Christ, the way the truth and the life.



Memory verses for the week:  2Peter 1:1-5



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

            To those who have a received a faith of the same kind as ours, by the righteousness of our God and Savior, Jesus Christ:  2. Grace and mercy 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 righteousness, 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 we 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,



7/13/2012 10:41:20 AM

The Wisdom of Our God (Ps. 104:24-35)

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 7/12/2012 8:07:02 AM

My Worship Time                                                                          Focus:  Psalm 104 PT-3



Bible Reading & Meditation                                     Reference:  Psalm 104:24-35



            Message of the verse:  We will look at the last main section of Psalm 104 in Today’s SD.



            The Wisdom of Our God (vv. 24-35):  “24 O LORD, how many are Your works! In wisdom You have made them all; The earth is full of Your possessions. 25 There is the sea, great and broad, In which are swarms without number, Animals both small and great. 26 There the ships move along, And Leviathan, which You have formed to sport in it. 27 They all wait for You To give them their food in due season. 28 You give to them, they gather it up; You open Your hand, they are satisfied with good. 29 You hide Your face, they are dismayed; You take away their spirit, they expire And return to their dust. 30 You send forth Your Spirit, they are created; And You renew the face of the ground.  “31 Let the glory of the LORD endure forever; Let the LORD be glad in His works; 32 He looks at the earth, and it trembles; He touches the mountains, and they smoke. 33 I will sing to the LORD as long as I live; I will sing praise to my God while I have my being. 34 Let my meditation be pleasing to Him; As for me, I shall be glad in the LORD. 35 Let sinners be consumed from the earth And let the wicked be no more. Bless the LORD, O my soul. Praise the LORD!”



            I try each day to begin my time in prayer, and one of the things that I do in my prayer is to praise the Lord for some of the different attributes that He possesses.  One of them is His wisdom, for God is all wise, and when you think of the creation of the entire universe including the earth without His wisdom that could not have been completed.  However when you think about salvation through the death, burial, and resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ, that could not have been accomplished without the wisdom of God, and so we will look at a portion of God’s wisdom from Psalm 104 today as it relates to creation and the sustaining of the earth.



            Dr. Wiersbe begins his commentary with these words, “Whether we study invisible microscopic life, visible plant and animal life, human life, or the myriad of things that have no life, the diversity in creation is amazing.”  As we look at all of these things we can praise the Lord for the wisdom of His creation.

            When we look at the earth today we have different seasons, we have different kinds of animals, fish, birds, insects whereas God could have made the earth without color and had cookie cutter animals, but He chose to have a beautiful multicolored earth, with many different kinds of animals who live on it.  Verse 24 speaks of God’s works, and that they are done by His wisdom.

            “Charge them that are rich in this world, that they be not high minded, nor trust in uncertain riches, but in the living God, who gives us richly all things to enjoy.”  This is 1Tim. 6:17 and in this verse we are to enjoy the things that God has given to us, and employ it wisely.

            As believers in Jesus Christ we are to be responsible in caring for the earth, and so we should desire to do this even before it has become popular because of greed in today’s world. 

            In verse 25 we see the sea monsters playing in the sea, and other animals on the earth doing the same thing as God has made them to do.  These sea monsters even play with the ships as they said on the sea as verse 26 tells us.  It reminds me of seeing the dolphins swimming alongside the great ships as they sail on the sea.  We see in verse 27 that it was because of God’s wisdom in creating the earth that He provides food for the animals, and He has also provided food for us too.  Think about planting seeds in the ground and with the proper amount of water these seeds will turn into plants that produce more of the same kind of food.  You plant corn you get corn, you plant and apple seed you get an apple tree that produces apples all because of the wisdom of God.  

            I see in verses 28-30 the process of humans living and then dying, coming from dust as Adam did and then returning to dust as all men do when they die. We even see God’s wisdom in this process.

            Dr. Wiersbe writes, “Knowing all this about God and His creation, we have some serious responsibilities to fulfill, and the first is glorifying the Lord (vv. 31-32).  Beginning with our own bodies and minds, our abilities and possessions, we must gratefully accept all He has graciously given us and use it to glorify Him, not to please ourselves (Rom. 12:1-2; 1 Cor. 4:7) “For who regards you as superior? What do you have that you did not receive? And if you did receive it, why do you boast as if you had not received it?”  Second, we must praise the Lord, the Creator.  What a marvelous gift is His creation! We need to get back to singing the great hymns and paraphrases of the psalms that exalt God the Creator.  The more we thank God, the less we will exploit His gifts.  Third, we should think about His creation and rejoice it (v. 34).  The study of natural science is but ‘thinking God’s thoughts after Him.’  If earth and sky are declaring the glory of God (19:1), we who have been saved by His grace ought to be glorifying Him even more!  Finally, we must pray for Christ’s return (v. 35), for only then will the curse of sin be lifted from creation (Rom. 8:18-25).  We must share the gospel with sinners so that they might be able to sing with us, ‘This is my Father’s world.’”



            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  I believe that these four things that Dr. Wiersbe has brought to my attention is a good thing to do for it is good to think about God the Creator and praise Him for His wonderful works, for after all we all live in the world that He created.



My Steps of Faith for Today:  Continue to abide in the vine in order to be equipped to do the works that God has or me to do.



Memory verses for the week:  2Peter 1:1-5

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 by multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord; 3. seeing that His divine power has granted 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 we can become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped from the corruption that is in the world by lust.

            5. Now for this very reason, applying all diligence, in your faith supply moral excellence, and in your moral excellence knowledge,



7/12/2012 9:15:26 AM