SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 10/7/2012 8:09:47 AM
My Worship Time Focus: Psalm 123 PT-1
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 favourite 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 Era 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 7th
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
3:1-2).”
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)
“2 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 servants have has been provided by their master. We also know that the master’s hands were
what protected 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 every 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. 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 fall, “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
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