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 121st
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 NKMV).
“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
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