SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 10/27/2012
10:46:03 AM
My Worship Time Focus: Psalm 132
PT-1
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: Psalm 132:1-5
Message of
the verses: We begin to look at Psalm 132 in Today’s
Spiritual Diary by looking at several introductions from this psalm.
“David bound himself to
find a place for the Lord, for the ark, the token of God’s presence. When work
is to be done for the Lord, it is good to tie ourselves to a time. It is good
in the morning to fix upon work for the day, with submission to Providence, for
we know not what a day may bring forth. And we should first, and without delay,
seek to have our own hearts made a habitation of God through the Spirit. He
prays that God would take up his dwelling in the habitation he had built; that
he would give grace to the ministers of the sanctuary to do their duty. David
pleads that he was the anointed of the Lord, and this he pleads as a type of
Christ, the great Anointed. We have no merit of our own to plead; but, for His
sake, in whom there is a fullness of merit, let us find favour. And every true
believer in Christ, is an anointed one, and has received from the Holy One the
oil of true grace. The request is that God would not turn away, but hear and
answer their petitions for his Son’s sake.”
(Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary)
“A joyful song indeed: let
all pilgrims to the New Jerusalem sing it often. The degrees or ascents are
very visible; the theme ascends step by step from, "afflictions" to a
"crown," from "remember David," to, "I will make the
horn of David to bud." The latter half is like the over arching sky
bending above "the fields of the wood" which are found in the
resolves and prayers of the former portion.
“Our translators have
rightly divided this Psalm. It contains a statement of David’s anxious care to
build a house for the Lord (#Ps 132:1-7); a prayer at the removal of the Ark
(#Ps 132:8-10); and a pleading of the divine covenant and its promises (#Ps 132:11-18).” (Charles H. Spurgeon)
“It is not likely that this
is a post-exilic psalm. The ark is
mentioned (v.8), and after the destruction of the temple, the ark disappeared
from the scene. Also, the writer referred
in verse 10 to a king from David’s dynasty, and there was no Davidic king after
Zedekiah, until Jesus came to earth.
Nobody in post-exilic Jerusalem was anointed as king. Since verses 8-10 are quoted by Solomon in
his prayer at the dedication of the temple (2Chron. 6:41-42), perhaps this
psalm was written for that occasion. It
coul well have been a litany, with the worship leader opening (vv. 1-5) and the
people responding (vv.6-10). The leader
then quoted God’s words to David (vv. 10-12), and the people or a choir closed
with a recital of God’s promises to Israel (vv. 13-18). Note especially the references to David in
Solomon’s prayer (2Chron. 11, 15-17).
Psalm 132 also parallels Psalm 89 but is more optimistic in
outlook. Note in 89 the use of anointed
(v.20; 132:10), enemy (vv. 22-23; 132:18), horn (v. 24; 132:17), and throne
(v.29). (For other ‘Zion psalms,’ see 24, 48, 68, and 89.) The completion of the temple was no assurance
of God’s blessing on Israel, for the important thing was that the people
fulfill their responsibilities toward the Lord.” (Dr. Warren Wiersbe)
Give
God His rightful Place (vv. 1-5)
“1 ¶ «A Song of Ascents.» Remember, O LORD, on
David’s behalf, All his affliction; 2
How he swore to the LORD And vowed to the Mighty One of Jacob, 3 "Surely I will not enter my house, Nor
lie on my bed; 4 I will not give sleep
to my eyes Or slumber to my eyelids, 5
Until I find a place for the LORD, A dwelling place for the Mighty One
of Jacob.’”
As we begin this section we
will look at a brief history of the Ark of God.
Whenever we read the book of Exodus we find that after God took Israel
out of Egypt by those ten plagues that He gave to Israel that they eventually
ended up at Mt. Sinai and stayed there for about one year. During this time Moses went up on the mountain
two times and while He was up there God gave him the plans to build the Ark of
the Covenant along with the Tabernacle of God.
Once this was completed and set up the Israelites were again on the move
towards the Promised Land. Forty years
later they arrived in the Promised Land and begin to conquer the sinful people
who lived there. Dr. Wiersbe writes that
“it is possible that the ark was temporarily at Bethel (Judges 20:7), and then
Mizpah (Judges 21:5), but it finally rested at Shiloh (1Samuel 1-3). The wicked sons of Eli used the ark as a ‘good
luck charm’ and took it into battle against the Philistines, but the Philistines
returned the ark to the Jews, and for twenty years it rested in the house of
Abinadad in Kirjath Jearim (1Sam. 6:1-7:2).”
After this David tried to move it to Jerusalem, but failed at his first
attempt because they did not follow the procedure that God had set up to move
the Ark and instead of having the Levites carry it they put it on a cart and it
was about to slip off the cart and Uzzah took hold of it and the Lord killed
him. This angered David and I suppose
that after he realized that it was not being carried in the right way that he
got over his anger and had it carried in the correct way. The Ark went into a tent that David had
prepared for it and stayed there until the day that Solomon finished the temple
and it was moved into the temple. It
stayed there until the Babylonians captured Jerusalem, but when the new temple
was built it was returned to the new temple and was there until the Romans
destroyed the city of Jerusalem in 70 A.D by Titus.
Where is the Ark now? This is a good question. When the Dead Sea scrolls were found in 1948
there was a scroll in them called the “Copper” scrolls and in that scroll there
was suppose to be directions to where the Ark was to be found. In the 1980’s there was a man whose last name
was Jones who along with some college students were looking for the “Ashes of
the Red Heifer” and he believed that according to these Copper Scrolls that the
Ark was in the same place. The next part
of the story is kind of funny, but true as I used to have the video that showed
Mr. Jones standing outside a cave where they were looking for these articles
and he had a hat on his head as he was talking about what he was doing
there. Well some Hollywood producers saw
him there and that is the background for the “Indiana Jones” movies.
Back to Psalm 132 as we
want to phrase “The Mighty One of Jacob.”
But his bow remained firm, And his arms were agile, From the hands of
the Mighty One of Jacob (From there is the Shepherd, the Stone of Israel).” This verse is Genesis 49:24 and it is spoken
by Jacob and this is the first time we see this written in the Scriptures, but
this is an ancient word for Jehovah.
David had two desires and the
first one was to move the Ark of the Covenant to Jerusalem and then to build a
temple for the Lord. He accomplished the
first one, but God would not allow him to accomplish the second, but did allow
his son to build it. David had the plans
for the temple and had all the provisions for the temple, even the land for the
temple. God told David that He would
build a dynasty from Him that would bring Messiah to the earth, and He did in
the person of Jesus Christ.
Spiritual meaning
for my life today: Dr. Wiersbe
writes the following that I will use for this part of my SD: “Unless God is on the throne of our lives,
not enterprise we attempt can be really successful.”
My Steps of Faith for Today: I have been using the word “contentment” in
this section, and still desire to learn contentment, but now I want to use
another word that we have looked at in past SD’s. The word is “transformed,” and this being the
first time I used this I will give the definition of it from the Greek/English
Dictionary.
“1) to change into another
form, to transform, to transfigure
1a) Christ appearance was
changed and was resplendent with divine brightness on “the mount of
transfiguration.
This word means to change
from the inside out as Christ did on the mount of transfiguration, and that is
what believers are to do. How is this
accomplished? Romans 12:2 says that we
are transformed by the renewing of our minds, and that has to be done by the
Word of God, for the only way to have our minds renewed is to have the Lord do
it as we read, study, listen, memorize, and meditate upon the Word of God.
Memory verses for the
week: 1Cor. 13:1-13 (Since this is the last time for these verses
to appear on my SD before I began my next series of verses I want to do all of
them this one time.)
1 If I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but
do not have love, I have become a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. 2 If I have the gift of prophecy, and know
all mysteries, and all knowledge; and if I have all faith so as to remove mountains,
but do not have love, I am nothing. 3 And
if I give all my possessions to feed the poor, and if I deliver my body to be
burned, but do not have love it profits me nothing.
4 Love is patient, love is
kind and is not jealous, love does not brag and is not arrogant 5 does not act
unbecomingly, it does not seek its own, is not provoked, does not take into
account a wrong suffered, 6 does not rejoice in unrighteousness, but rejoices
with the truth, 7 bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things,
endures all things.
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. 11 When I was a child, I use to speak like a
child, thought like a child, reasoned like a child; when I became a man I did away
with childish things. 12 For now we see
in a mirror dimly, but then face to face; now I know in part, but then I will
know fully just as I also have been fully known. 13 But now, faith, hope, love, abide these
three, but the greatest of these is love.
10/27/2012 12:51:21 PM
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