Thursday, May 3, 2012

More on Worship from Psalm 81:5b-16

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR
5/3/2012 8:32:56 AM
My Worship Time      Focus:  More on Worship
Bible Reading & Meditation     Reference:  Psalm 81:5b-16
 Message of the verses:  We began to look at Psalm 81 in yesterdays and we looked at the first five verses and also several introductions.  At the end of Dr. Wiersbe’s introduction he wrote:  “The psalm reminds us of three different aspects of true worship.”  We looked at the first aspect in yesterday’s SD.
Hearing God’s Word (vv. 6-10):  “I heard a language that I did not know:6  "I relieved his shoulder of the burden, His hands were freed from the basket. 7  "You called in trouble and I rescued you; I answered you in the hiding place of thunder; I proved you at the waters of Meribah. Selah.  8 "Hear, O My people, and I will admonish you; O Israel, if you would listen to Me! 9  "Let there be no strange god among you; Nor shall you worship any foreign god. 10  "I, the LORD, am your God, Who brought you up from the land of Egypt; Open your mouth wide and I will fill it.”
 “I heard an unknown voice say, 6  “Now I will take the load from your shoulders;  I will free your hands from their heavy tasks. 7  You cried to me in trouble, and I saved you;  I answered out of the thundercloud  and tested your faith when there was no water at Meribah.  Interlude 8  “Listen to me, O my people, while I give you stern warnings.  O Israel, if you would only listen to me! 9  You must never have a foreign god;  you must not bow down before a false god. 10  For it was I, the LORD your God,  who rescued you from the land of Egypt.  Open your mouth wide, and I will fill it with good things.”  (NLT)
 We see that the last part of verse five from both the NLT and the NASB95 versions says that they heard an unknown voice, and Dr. Wiersbe points out that this unknown voice is the voice of God and He speaks in verses 6-10.
 In the first five verses of this psalm we looked at one of the festivals that God had set up while the children of Israel were in the wilderness and Dr. Wiersbe points out that “at some point in the festal celebration, a pries received God’s message and declared it to the people.”  This reminds me of when Jesus came into the festival of booths and spoke to the people declaring “"If anyone is thirsty, let him come to Me and drink. 38  "He who believes in Me, as the Scripture said, ’From his innermost being will flow rivers of living water.’’”  Jesus was speaking of the Holy Spirit when making this statement.  Dr. Wiersbe comments on this by writing “At the Feast of Tabernacles, the priests poured out water in the temple to commemorate these events.”  The events that he is speaking of are what happened at Meribah where the people had not trusted the Lord (See Exodus 17 and Numbers 20).
 One of the things we should be doing when we pray to the Lord is to listen to the Lord, and one of the ways that we can listen to Him is to meditate upon the Word of God, but we can also listen to Him by asking Him to speak to our hearts when we are praying.  I have always found this difficult to do because it seems that your mind never shuts down, you are always thinking about something and so I have to pray that the Lord will slow me down so that I can listen to Him.  We see many times in the book of Deuteronomy that the Lord desires His people to listen to Him.
 By speaking of God’s covenant to His people in this psalm He reminds them that they too are part of this covenant that their forefathers had made with the Lord.
 Dr. Wiersbe writes when commenting on the Lord reminding the people of His deliverance from the land of Egypt these words:  “Frequently the Lord reminded His people of their miraculous deliverance from Egypt (v. 6), the power of God that accomplished it, and the love of God that motivated it.”  These are two of the attributes that God possesses Power and Love.  
Obeying God’s Will (vv. 11-16):  “11  "But My people did not listen to My voice, And Israel did not obey Me. 12  "So I gave them over to the stubbornness of their heart, To walk in their own devices. 13  "Oh that My people would listen to Me, That Israel would walk in My ways! 14  "I would quickly subdue their enemies And turn My hand against their adversaries. 15  "Those who hate the LORD would pretend obedience to Him, And their time of punishment would be forever. 16  "But I would feed you with the finest of the wheat, And with honey from the rock I would satisfy you.’”
 “11  “But no, my people wouldn’t listen.  Israel did not want me around. 12  So I let them follow their own stubborn desires,  living according to their own ideas. 13  Oh, that my people would listen to me!  Oh, that Israel would follow me, walking in my paths! 14  How quickly I would then subdue their enemies!  How soon my hands would be upon their foes! 15  Those who hate the LORD would cringe before him;  they would be doomed forever. 16  But I would feed you with the finest wheat.  I would satisfy you with wild honey from the rock.’’”  (NLT)
 First we will look at two verses that show that worship and service go together:  “"You shall fear only the LORD your God; and you shall worship Him and swear by His name.”  (Deu. 6:13)  “Then Jesus *said to him, "Go, Satan! For it is written, ’YOU SHALL WORSHIP THE LORD YOUR GOD, AND SERVE HIM ONLY.’"”  (Matthew 4:10)  We read in Psalm 81:1-16 that God’s people would not serve the Lord but wanted to go their own way and so the Lord let them do this.  Sometimes the hardest thing that God can do to us is to let us have our own way.  The children of Israel that came out of Egypt did not listen to the Lord and after Israel went into the Promised Land their children did not listen to the Lord either and in the book of Judges we see a decline of the spirituality of the children of Israel throughout that entire book.  If the children of Israel would have obeyed the Lord then He would have blessed them as He said He would in the covenant that He made with them.  Dr. Wiersbe writes “When we disobey the Lord, not only do we feel the pain of His chastening, but we also miss out on the blessings He so desires to give us.  The Lord gave Israel water out of the rock, but He was prepared to give them honey out of the rock (Deu. 32:13).  He sent manna from heaven, but He would have given them the finest wheat.  The word ‘if’ (v. 13) is small, but it carries big consequences (Der. 5:29; 32:29; Isa. 48:18; Matt. 23:37).
 “Of all sad words of tongue or pen,
 The saddest are these: ‘It might have been.’”  (John Greenleaf Whittier)
 Spiritual meaning for my life today:  I desire to listen to the Lord and obey what He tells me to do.  This is one of the things that I have been reminded of in these two sections from Psalm 81.
My Steps of Faith for Today:  I want to be a better listener of God and obey Him.
5/3/2012 9:30:17 AM

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