Lord, Judge the Enemy! (Psalm 109:6-20)

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 7/31/2012 7:20:51 AM

My Worship Time                                                                     Focus:  Psalm 109 PT-2

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                      Reference:  Psalm 109:6-20

            Message of the verses:  Two days ago we looked at the first part of Psalm 109 and we stated that it was written by David, and that it is the last of the imprecatory psalms.  It is also a Messianic psalm for we see in this psalm verses that speak of Judas, who betrayed Jesus.  As I read this psalm I can see that David was very angry with someone, and it was a righteous anger that David had for he was the anointed king of Israel and to do harm to him meant that his line would be stopped, and it was in his line that the Messiah would be born.  We know that God’s anger is always a righteous anger and Psalm 109 is a part of God’s Word which shows His righteous anger.

            Lord, Judge the Enemy! (vv. 6-20):  “¶  Appoint a wicked man over him, And let an accuser stand at his right hand. 7  When he is judged, let him come forth guilty, And let his prayer become sin. 8  Let his days be few; Let another take his office. 9  Let his children be fatherless And his wife a widow. 10  Let his children wander about and beg; And let them seek sustenance far from their ruined homes. 11  Let the creditor seize all that he has, And let strangers plunder the product of his labor. 12  Let there be none to extend lovingkindness to him, Nor any to be gracious to his fatherless children. 13  Let his posterity be cut off; In a following generation let their name be blotted out. 14  Let the iniquity of his fathers be remembered before the LORD, And do not let the sin of his mother be blotted out. 15  Let them be before the LORD continually, That He may cut off their memory from the earth; 16  Because he did not remember to show lovingkindness, But persecuted the afflicted and needy man, And the despondent in heart, to put them to death. 17  He also loved cursing, so it came to him; And he did not delight in blessing, so it was far from him. 18  But he clothed himself with cursing as with his garment, And it entered into his body like water And like oil into his bones. 19  Let it be to him as a garment with which he covers himself, And for a belt with which he constantly girds himself. 20  Let this be the reward of my accusers from the LORD, And of those who speak evil against my soul.”

            As I read these verses I can see why they could be said of Judas, for Judas spent three years with the Lord Jesus Christ while He was on earth teaching, preaching and healing many thousands of people demonstrating that He was indeed the Messiah and Judas betrayed Him to the Jewish leaders so that He might die.

            Dr. Wiersbe states that there are some who would try to take the barbs out of this prayer by making the words from 6-20 spoken by the enemies of David, but this is not the case for this prayer was prayed by David against his enemies.  In the book of Jeremiah chapter 18 we read the following, “18 ¶  Then they said, "Come and let us devise plans against Jeremiah. Surely the law is not going to be lost to the priest, nor counsel to the sage, nor the divine word to the prophet! Come on and let us strike at him with our tongue, and let us give no heed to any of his words." 19  Do give heed to me, O LORD, And listen to what my opponents are saying! 20  Should good be repaid with evil? For they have dug a pit for me. Remember how I stood before You To speak good on their behalf, So as to turn away Your wrath from them. 21  Therefore, give their children over to famine And deliver them up to the power of the sword; And let their wives become childless and widowed. Let their men also be smitten to death, Their young men struck down by the sword in battle. 22  May an outcry be heard from their houses, When You suddenly bring raiders upon them; For they have dug a pit to capture me And hidden snares for my feet. 23  Yet You, O LORD, know All their deadly designs against me; Do not forgive their iniquity Or blot out their sin from Your sight. But may they be overthrown before You; Deal with them in the time of Your anger!” 

            We do not see any rebuke from the Lord for this prayer that Jeremiah prayed.  There is another portion of Scripture that is part of the Law and perhaps David was praying this prayer in conjunction with it (Lev. 26:14-39). 

            People love to look at the love of God, and God is love, but God is also just and so it is because of God’s justice that things like this happen.  Sin is offensive to God and the wages of sin is death, and so a person has to decide whether they are going to trust the death of Jesus Christ as payment for their sins of pay for their own sins by their death.  We know that David was trusting in God for the forgiveness of his sins and that someday future from David a Messiah would be born who would care for David’s sin problem and ours too.

            There is a progression in who David is talking to in this section for the shifts from they and them to he, him and his in verses 6-7.  Dr. Wiersbe writes “David focused his prayer on the leader of the evil band that was attacking him, and he asked God to appoint a judge or prosecuting attorney as wicked as the defendant himself!  After all the way we judge others is the way we ourselves will be judged (Matt. 7:1-2).  Or perhaps he wanted Satan himself to be there (Zech. 3:1-ff).  David expected the Lord to stand at his right hand to defend him (v. 31; 16:8).  Our Savior is enthroned at the right hand of God and intercedes for us (110:1; Acts 2:25, 34; Rom 8:34).”

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  As I look at this prayer that David prays and how he prayed for the entire family of this cruel person I can’t help but think of what happened to our family yesterday in the opposite way of this family David speaks of.  It was yesterday around 12:15 PM that our family gathered around our dying mother and began to pray for he as she was ending her time here on earth and while we gathered around her she breathed her last and very peaceably proceeded to pass on into glory.  I think that as she did this she may have been able to see us praying for her as she so very often prayed for us.  To God be the Glory great things He has done!

My Steps of Faith for Today:  Believe that God will give us the grace as we mourn the loss of our mother.

Memory verses for the week:  2Peter 1:1-8

1.        Simon Peter, a bond-servant and apostle of Jesus Christ, 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 promises have granted to us everything pertaining to life and righteousness, in 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 can become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption which is in the world by lust.

            5. Now for this 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. and in your godliness, brotherly kindness, and in your brotherly kindness love.  8. For if these qualities are yours, and are increasing, they render your neither useless nor unfruitful in the true knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.”

7/31/2012 8:46:02 AM     

Lord, Do Something! (Psalm 109:1-5)

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 7/29/2012 8:22:42 AM

My Worship Time                                                                     Focus:  Psalm 109 PT-1

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                      Reference:  Psalm 109:1-5

            Message of the verses:  Today we begin the 109^th Psalm by looking at several introduction to the psalm in order to better understand what the message is that is in the psalm and how we can apply it to our lives. 

            “This imprecatory psalm of David cannot be conclusively connected by the psalm’s general details with any particular incident/person in the king’s life as chronicled in 1, 2Sa; 1Ki; and 1Ch David responds here to those who have launched a vicious verbal assault of false accusation against him (cf. 109:2, 3, 20). This psalm is considered messianic in nature, since Acts 1:20 quotes v. 8 in reference to Judas’ punishment for betraying Christ (cf Pss 41:9; 69:25).  David reverses roles with his enemies by moving from being the accused in man’s court to being the accuser/prosecutor before the bar of God.”  (The John MacArthur Study Bible)

            “This is the last of the ‘imprecatory psalms,’ and some consider it to be the most vehement (See Ps. 5.)  The psalm is ascribed to David (Acts 1:20), but it must have been written before he took the throne, for no king would be obligated to put up with this kind of treatment from an officer (v.8) in his own court.  The man was outwardly religious (v.7) but hated David (vv. 3, 5) and falsely accused him (vv. 1-2, 4 see Ex. 23:6-8; Deut, 19:15-21) and cursed him (vv. 17-19).  David’s attempts to return good for evil failed (vv. 4-5), and the man showed him no mercy (v. 16). This unknown opponent may have been King Saul himself, whose life David spared on at least two occasions, or perhaps one of Saul’s important officers who wanted to please his master.  Had we been in this situation with David, we might have prayed as he did!  There was terrible injustice in the land, and only God could remove Saul and put the rightful king on the throne.  David did not avenge himself but put the matter in the hands of the Lord (Rom:12:17-21).  The psalm is built around three major requests.”  (Warren Wiersbe)

            Lord, Do Something!  (vv. 1-5):  “1 ¶  «For the choir director. A Psalm of David.» O God of my praise, Do not be silent! 2  For they have opened the wicked and deceitful mouth against me; They have spoken against me with a lying tongue. 3  They have also surrounded me with words of hatred, And fought against me without cause. 4  In return for my love they act as my accusers; But I am in prayer. 5  Thus they have repaid me evil for good And hatred for my love.”

            We see in this psalm that David is crying out to the Lord to answer him, but the Lord is silence and not answering him.  This was not the type of prayer that we often call “fox hole” prayers, a person praying because they are in trouble, but prayer is not their habit. David was a man of praise for in the Hebrew version of this psalm it begins with “O God of my praise.”  God was not answering and this was upsetting to David for there were people who were treating him very badly, in fact there were people who were trying to take his life.  David had the chance on at least two occasions of killing his enemy, Saul, but David gave good for evil.  Many people give good for good and evil for evil, but God’s people are to give good for evil, while Satan give evil for good and the word in verse four “accuser” is the word “Satan” in English, which is one of the names for the Devil.  Rev. 12:10 says “Then I heard a loud voice in heaven, saying, "Now the salvation, and the power, and the kingdom of our God and the authority of His Christ have come, for the accuser of our brethren has been thrown down, he who accuses them before our God day and night.” 

            David was asking the Lord to do something and I would suppose that if any believer was in the position that he was in they would have asked the Lord to do something too.

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  It is very difficult for me to pray about something that is very important to me and find that the Lord is silent.  I realize that God is in control of all things and that His plans are perfect because He is perfect and there are times when God is testing me and therefore is silent so that my faith may be increased, but that does not mean that it is not difficult, for it surely is.

My Steps of Faith for Today:  I must trust the Lord in how he is working in the life of my mother who is so very sick at this time.  God’s plans are perfect for her but we need His grace to deal with this difficult time.

Memory verses for the week:  2Peter 1:1-8

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, 6  and in your knowledge, self-control, and in your self-control, perseverance, and in your perseverance, godliness, 7  and in your godliness, brotherly kindness, and in your brotherly kindness, love. 8  For if these qualities are yours and are increasing, they render you neither useless nor unfruitful in the true knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.

7/29/2012 9:17:07 AM       

Psalm 108 "A look Back" (Psalm 108:1-13)

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 7/28/2012 7:22:47 AM

My Worship Time                                                                     Focus:  Psalm 108 PT-1

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                      Reference:  Psalm 108:1-13

            Message of the verses:  In Today’s SD we will begin to look at the 108^th Psalm by looking at several introductions from different Bible Commentators in order to better understand this psalm and how we can apply this psalm to our lives in order to bring glory to our Lord.

            “TITLE AND SUBJECT:  A Song or Psalm of David. To be sung jubilantly as a national hymn, or solemnly as a sacred psalm. We cannot find it in our heart to dismiss this psalm by merely referring the reader first to #Ps 57:7-11 and then to #Ps 60:5-12, though it will be at once seen that those two portions of Scripture are almost identical with the verses before us. It is true that most of the commentators have done so, and we are not so presumptuous as to dispute their wisdom; but we hold for ourselves that the words would not have been repeated if there had not been an object for so doing, and that this object could not have been answered if every hearer of it had said, "Ah, we had that before, and therefore we need not meditate upon it again." The Holy Spirit is not so short of expressions that he needs to repeat himself, and the repetition cannot be meant merely to fill the book: there must be some intention in the arrangement of two former divine utterances in a new connection; whether we can discover that intent is another matter. It is at least ours to endeavour to do so, and we may expect divine assistance therein.

     “ We have before us The Warrior’s Morning Song, with which he adores his God and strengthens his heart before entering upon the conflicts of the day. As an old Prussian officer was wont in prayer to invoke the aid of "his Majesty’s August Ally," so does David appeal to his God and set up his banner in Jehovah’s name.”  (Charles H. Spurgeon)

            “David combines portions of his own previously written Pss. 57 and 60 to make up this psalm commemorating God’s victories (vv. 1-5 are from 57:7-11; vv. 6-13 are from 60:5-12).  He deleted the laments that began each psalm (57:1-6 and 60:1-4) while combining his own words of exaltation and confidence in God with only slight word variation.  NO specific historical occasion behind this psalm is given.”  (The John MacArthur Study Bible)

            “The worship leader took the first five verses from 57:7-11 and the last eight from 60:5-12 and made a new psalm.  (For commentary, see those psalms.)  God’s truth is adaptable to new situations and old songs become ‘new songs’ when new challenges are matched with changeless theology.  The writer opened with praise to the Lord (vv. 1-5) and then reminded Him of His promises to conquer Israel’s enemies given them to the land (vv. 6-9).  He closed with prayer for God’s help and expression of confidence in the power of the Lord (vv. 10-13).  Praise, prayer, and promises form a combination found often in the psalms, a pattern that we ought to imitate in our own daily lives.”  (Warren Wiersbe)

            Psalm 108:1-13:  “1 ¶  «A Song, a Psalm of David.» My heart is steadfast, O God; I will sing, I will sing praises, even with my soul. 2  Awake, harp and lyre; I will awaken the dawn! 3  I will give thanks to You, O LORD, among the peoples, And I will sing praises to You among the nations. 4  For Your lovingkindness is great above the heavens, And Your truth reaches to the skies. 5  Be exalted, O God, above the heavens, And Your glory above all the earth.

    “6 ¶  That Your beloved may be delivered, Save with Your right hand, and answer me! 7  God has spoken in His holiness: "I will exult, I will portion out Shechem And measure out the valley of Succoth. 8  "Gilead is Mine, Manasseh is Mine; Ephraim also is the helmet of My head; Judah is My scepter. 9  "Moab is My washbowl; Over Edom I shall throw My shoe; Over Philistia I will shout aloud." 10  Who will bring me into the besieged city? Who will lead me to Edom? 11  Have not You Yourself, O God, rejected us? And will You not go forth with our armies, O God? 12  Oh give us help against the adversary, For deliverance by man is in vain. 13  Through God we will do valiantly, And it is He who shall tread down our adversaries.”

            The following is what I wrote on Psalm 57:6-11 on March 13, 2012:  “Dr. Wiersbe writes this about the order of this psalm:  “In verses 1-5, the order is prayer (v.1), witness (vv. 2-3) and a description of the enemy (v.4), followed by the refrain, but in this section the order is the enemy (v. 6), witness to the Lord (vv. 7-8), and praise (vv. 9-11), with praise as the emphasis.”

            Now that we know the order we will look at these verses and tie the in with praise.  We can see in verse six that David is comparing his enemies with hunters who were hunting him as their prey.  Then, because of his confidence and faith in the Lord David has great reason to praise the Lord in verses 7-11.  David had been through many difficult situations and his confidence and faith in the Lord had grown and so he knew that he could praise the Lord even while in this difficult situation.  When you read about David’s experiences in 1Samuel, experiences of being on the run we do not get all of what was going on inside of David’s heart.  When we read the psalms that go along with this ten year period of being on the run we can better understand how much David learned and leaned upon the Lord during this difficult time in his life.  We see this time of testing that turns into trusting not only in David’s life, but also in Abraham’s life and Moses’ life and also in the life of Joseph.  We can even see a wilderness testing for our Lord Jesus Christ from Mark1 and also the 4^th chapters of Matthew and Luke.

              Let us talk about “My heart is steadfast” and the word steadfast.  Dr. Wiersbe states “that a steadfast heart is a heart that is fixed on the Lord’s promises and not wavering between doubt and faith (Ps. 51:10; 108:1; 112:7; 119:5).  This same word is used to describe the constancy of the heavenly bodies (Ps. 8:3; 74:16).”

            The prayer is a prayer that seems to last throughout the day as it begins by David actually praising the Lord at dawn.  I know that there is a verse in 1Thes. that tells us to “pray without ceasing” which in theory is probably what David was doing.  I believe the this verse means to have an attitude of prayer all of the time which is what David was doing at this time.

           

            “Each Day Is a Day of Exalting the Lord” (vv. 5 & 11):  “5  Be exalted above the heavens, O God; Let Your glory be above all the earth.  11  Be exalted above the heavens, O God; Let Your glory be above all the earth.”

            These two verses are the refrain of Psalm 57 and “they call upon the Lord to manifest His greatness in such a way that people had to say, ‘This is the Lord’s doing; it is marvelous in our eyes.’”

            Dr. Wiersbe writes these concluding words at the end of his commentary, “If we are praying, trusting, and praising the Lord, we should have no problem exalting His name in all that we say, do, and suffer.”   “The elements of prayer, praise, and a desire for God to be magnified will transform any cave into a Holy of Holies to the glory of God.”

            As I look at the life of David I am able to see why David is a man after God’s own heart, and a man that I have great admiration for.”

            Now we will look at my commentary from March 19, 2012 on Psalm 60 which actually included that entire psalm.

            ““Abandonment—A Troubled People (vv. 1-5):  “1 ¶  «For the choir director; according to Shushan Eduth. A Mikhtam of David, to teach; when he struggled with Aram-naharaim and with Aram-zobah, and Joab returned, and smote twelve thousand of Edom in the Valley of Salt.» O God, You have rejected us. You have broken us; You have been angry; O, restore us. 2  You have made the land quake, You have split it open; Heal its breaches, for it totters. 3  You have made Your people experience hardship; You have given us wine to drink that makes us stagger. 4  You have given a banner to those who fear You, That it may be displayed because of the truth. Selah. 5  That Your beloved may be delivered, Save with Your right hand, and answer us!”

“1 ¶  For the choir director: A psalm of David useful for teaching, regarding the time David fought Aram-naharaim and Aram-zobah, and Joab returned and killed 12,000 Edomites in the Valley of Salt. To be sung to the tune “Lily of the Testimony.’’!  You have rejected us, O God, and broken our defenses.  You have been angry with us; now restore us to your favor. 2  You have shaken our land and split it open.  Seal the cracks, for the land trembles. 3  You have been very hard on us,  making us drink wine that sent us reeling. 4  But you have raised a banner for those who fear you-  a rallying point in the face of attack.  Interlude 5  Now rescue your beloved people.  Answer and save us by your power.”  (NLT)

The first verse gives the background for the occasion of writing this psalm and we see that David and the army of Israel were in Syria fighting there when the Edomites came and attacked Israel so David sent Joab who was the commander of his army back to fight the Edomites while David stayed in Syria to fight against the Syrians.  The valley of Salt is below the Dead Sea.

In verses 2-5 we see how upsetting it was for the people of Israel to be defeated by Edom, but because David was a man of faith and because David knew the covenant that God had made with Israel to protect Israel, David rallied around his faith in the Lord and trusted Him for victory.  Verse four speaks of a banner and we find this is the name of the Lord, Jehovah Nissi—the Lord our Banner as found in Exodus 17:15.  “Moses built an altar and named it The LORD is My Banner.” 

“Encouragement—A Triumphant Message” (vv. 6-8):  “6 ¶  God has spoken in His holiness: "I will exult, I will portion out Shechem and measure out the valley of Succoth. 7  "Gilead is Mine, and Manasseh is Mine; Ephraim also is the helmet of My head; Judah is My scepter. 8  "Moab is My washbowl; Over Edom I shall throw My shoe; Shout loud, O Philistia, because of Me!’” 

“6 ¶  God has promised this by his holiness: “I will divide up Shechem with joy.  I will measure out the valley of Succoth. 7  Gilead is mine,  and Manasseh, too. Ephraim, my helmet, will produce my warriors,  and Judah, my scepter, will produce my kings. 8  But Moab, my washbasin, will become my servant,  and I will wipe my feet on Edom  and shout in triumph over Philistia.’”  (NLT)

It is not told to us when David got this message from the Lord, but we know that David was a man of prayer and he also had one of the priests with him and so it is possible that when David heard of the attack of the Edomites that he asked the Lord how he was to respond and this was the answer he got from the Lord so David then sent Joab to fight against Edom.

We see in these verses a description of the land of Israel, a land that God had given to Israel.  We see how the Lord divided up the land of Israel and these verses speak of Ephraim being the helmet for Ephraim was a strong tribe called to defend Israel and Judah was the tribe where the kings would come from, David being the first king out of the tribe of Judah.  Genesis 49:10 says, “"The scepter shall not depart from Judah, Nor the ruler’s staff from between his feet, Until Shiloh comes, And to him shall be the obedience of the peoples.”  This was a prophecy given to Jacob from God.  Jacob was about to die when he blessed all of his sons and the two sons of Joseph telling them about the future of their tribes.  We see here that Messiah (Shiloh) would come from the tribe of Judah.

God describes Moab as a washbasin and Edom would be nothing more than a servant who cleaned dirty shoes.  It must be remembered that Moab was the nation where David’s great-grandmother Ruth came from.  See the last part of Ruth chapter 4.

“Enablement—A Trustworthy Lord” (vv. 9-12):  “9  Who will bring me into the besieged city? Who will lead me to Edom? 10  Have not You Yourself, O God, rejected us? And will You not go forth with our armies, O God? 11  O give us help against the adversary, For deliverance by man is in vain. 12  Through God we shall do valiantly, And it is He who will tread down our adversaries.”

“9  Who will bring me into the fortified city?  Who will bring me victory over Edom? 10  Have you rejected us, O God?  Will you no longer march with our armies? 11  Oh, please help us against our enemies,  for all human help is useless. 12  With God’s help we will do mighty things,  for he will trample down our foes.”

Verse nine speaks of a fortified city, and this could be Petra which was the capital of Edom.  This city was a city that was greatly fortified and it gave the Edomites a reason to brag about it, but God still destroyed them and one of the reasons was because of their arrogance.  In the book of Revelations we see that God is going to hide Israel and many Bible Commentators believe that the place where this will be is in the city of Petra.

David believed that God would bring victory to Israel for David was not trusting in humans, but in the Lord. 

I have mentioned that the background for this psalm is found in 2Samuel 8:1-14 and in verse thirteen of that section we read the following: “So David made a name for himself when he returned from killing 18,000 Arameans in the Valley of Salt.”  It is not impossible that David was beginning to become proud and perhaps the Lord was using the defeat that came from Edom as something to humble him, but David being a man after God’s own heart would begin again to trust in the Lord as we see in these last verses of Psalm 60.

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  The first part of Psalm 108 has been written into one of my favorite songs (“Be Exalted”) and on today this is even more precious to me as my 90 year old mother is very close to coming into the presence of her Lord and because of this we can surely exalt the Lord.

My Steps of Faith for Today:  Draw the strength that we need from the One who is all powerful, all compassionate, and all loving.

Memory verses for the week:  2Peter 1:1-7

            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, 6  and in your knowledge, self-control, and in your self-control, perseverance, and in your perseverance, godliness, 7  and in your godliness, brotherly kindness, and in your brotherly kindness, love.

7/28/2012 8:09:37 AM

Confusion Part Two (Mark 8:34-38)

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 7/27/2012 7:14:05 AM

My Worship Time                                                                     Focus:  Confusion PT-2

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                      Reference:  Mark 8:34-38

            Message of the verses:  We will continue to look at what Dr. Wiersbe has entitled confusion for his sub-title on Mark 8:31-34.  This sub-point is under a main point entitled “Suffering Leads to Glory,” which covers Mark 8:27-9:13, and as I said yesterday this section of Mark’s Gospel is a turning point in the Gospel as we see that at this time the disciples of Jesus know that He is the awaited Messiah, but do not understand that, as the title suggests, suffering does indeed lead to glory, for the sufferings of Jesus Christ on the cross will surely lead to glory, and this is an example for all of His believers to follow.

            Mark 8:34-38:  “34  And He summoned the crowd with His disciples, and said to them, "If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross and follow Me. 35  "For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake and the gospel’s will save it. 36  "For what does it profit a man to gain the whole world, and forfeit his soul? 37  "For what will a man give in exchange for his soul? 38  "For whoever is ashamed of Me and My words in this adulterous and sinful generation, the Son of Man will also be ashamed of him when He comes in the glory of His Father with the holy angels.’”

            I know that there are sometimes more than one way to look at a passage of Scripture and one could look at this passage and say that Jesus was only talking about salvation and what one could expect when they become a true follower of Jesus Christ, but as I was reading over the commentary from Dr. Wiersbe on this section he states that this message was not only given to the crowds that were following Him, but also to His disciples who have just confessed Him and the true Son of God.  Therefore this section can be seen as for a believer and that is the way I want to look at it this morning and in looking at it this way I wish to quote much of the commentary from Dr. Wiersbe because of its great importance.  When he give the sub-point name to this section as confusion then I have to say that after reading this I was a bit confused, but not so much now.

            “Jesus summoned the people and taught them what He taught His own disciples:  there is a price to pay for true discipleship.

            “Jesus laid down three conditions for true discipleship:  1) we must surrender ourselves completely to Him; 2) we must identify with Him in suffering and death; and 3) we must follow Him obediently, wherever He leads.  If we live for ourselves, we will lose ourselves, but if we lose ourselves for His sake and the Gospel’s, we will find ourselves.

            “But we deny self when we surrender ourselves to Christ and determine to obey His will.  This once-for-all dedication is followed by a daily ‘dying to self’ as we take up the cross and follow Him.  From the human point of view, we are losing ourselves, but from the divine perspective, we are finding ourselves.  When we live for Christ, we become more like Him, and this brings out our own unique individuality.

            “But note the motivation for true discipleship:  ‘for My sake and the Gospel’s ‘ (Mark 8:35).  To lose yourself is not an act of desperation; it is an act of devotion.  But we do not stop there:  personal devotion should lead to practical duty, the sharing of the Gospel with a lost world.  ‘For My sake’ could lead to selfish religious isolationism, so it must be balanced with ‘and the Gospel’s.’  Because we live for Him we live for others.

            “Discipleship is a matter of profit and loss; a question of whether we will waste our lives or invest our lives.  Note the severe warning Jesus give us here: once we have spent our lives, we cannot buy them back!  Remember, He was instructing His disciples, men who had already confessed Him as the Son of God.  He was not telling them how to be saved and go to heaven, but  how to save their lives and make the most of their opportunities God give you to make your life count.  You may g

Gain the whole world’ and be a success in the eyes of men, and yet have nothing to show for your life when you stand before God.  If that happens, though you did own the whole world, it would not be s sufficient price to give to God to buy another chance at life.

            “Is there any reward for the person who is a true disciple?  Yes, there is: he becomes more like Jesus Christ and one day shares in His glory.  Satan promises you glory, but in the end, you receive suffering.  God promises you suffering, but in the end, that suffering is transformed into glory.  If we acknowledge Christ and live for Him, He will one day acknowledge us and share His glory with us.”

            I have to admit that this is not what my plans were for this section of Scripture, but after deciding to see exactly what Dr. Wiersbe had written about this section, and really not planning to use it, it became very clear to me that this was the correct way for me to understand this passage, and so I believe that the Spirit of the Lord made it clear to me that this was the way to go.

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  Make sure that I make a once and for all dedication to follow the Lord Jesus wherever He leads me.  I am sure that is some way that I have done this in the past, but for sure I need to renew it today after reading over this passage and the commentary that supports it.

My Steps of Faith for Today:  My family is all of a sudden going through some difficult times, which means we need to make difficult decisions, and for that I truly desire to trust the leading of the Lord to make the correct decisions that will glorify Him, and give peace to us all.

Memory verses for the week:  2Peter 1:1-7

            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, 6  and in your knowledge, self-control, and in your self-control, perseverance, and in your perseverance, godliness, 7  and in your godliness, brotherly kindness, and in your brotherly kindness, love.

7/27/2012 8:30:37 AM     

Confusion PT-1 (Mark 8:31-33)

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 7/26/2012 7:22:41 AM

My Worship Time                                                                     Focus:  Confusion

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                      Reference:  Mark 8:31-33

            Message of the verses:  We will continue to look into Mark’s Gospel, chapter eight in Today’s SD.  Mark chapter eight is one of the most critical chapters in the book of Mark, for in it we see a great turning point in the ministry of our Lord as for the first time in the book of Mark we see humans testifying that Jesus Christ is the Messiah, the Son of God, and as it says in Matthews Gospel, the Son of the Most High.  Jesus will spend much time with the twelve in the last days of His life on planet earth as He prepares them for life when He returns to heaven. 

            Confusion (vv. 31-38):  31  And He began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders and the chief priests and the scribes, and be killed, and after three days rise again. 32  And He was stating the matter plainly. And Peter took Him aside and began to rebuke Him. 33  But turning around and seeing His disciples, He rebuked Peter and *said, "Get behind Me, Satan; for you are not setting your mind on God’s interests, but man’s." 34  And He summoned the crowd with His disciples, and said to them, "If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross and follow Me. 35  "For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake and the gospel’s will save it. 36  "For what does it profit a man to gain the whole world, and forfeit his soul? 37  "For what will a man give in exchange for his soul? 38  "For whoever is ashamed of Me and My words in this adulterous and sinful generation, the Son of Man will also be ashamed of him when He comes in the glory of His Father with the holy angels.’”

            This section is packed with many things that are very important to those who have trusted Jesus Christ as their Savior and Lord and those who may be considering to take this most important step.  We see in verses 31-32 Jesus preparing His disciples for His death and then His resurrection from the grave, His victory over death becoming the first fruits of many who will one day have their bodies raised again.  This surely brings about confusion to His disciples, for they were looking for a conquering King to defeat the Romans and make Israel the most powerful nation on earth.  This is surely prophesied in the OT, but there are also prophecies that tell that the Messiah must suffer and die for the sins of the world and bring in a spiritual kingdom before He returns to set up His 1000 year reign on earth from Jerusalem.  The 1000 years of His reign is seen in the NT book of Revelations, but His reign from Jerusalem is clearly seen in the OT.

            Peter decides to rebuke our Lord stating that He must be mislead, but Jesus in turns rebukes Peter stating that he was doing the will of Satan and not the will of God.  We know from the reading of the Gospels that Peter often stuck his foot into his mouth, but we also know from reading the book of Acts that Peter became the kind of man that the Lord knew he would become as Peter is the first to preach the gospel after the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

            Why was what Peter said in league with Satan’s plans?  The answer is that Jesus Christ had to die in order to satisfy the justice of God.  His death on the cross would pay for the sins of all who would accept God’s forgiveness through Jesus Christ and Peter did not realize this at that time. 

            Dr. Wiersbe writes about Peter’s confession and then his rebuke to Jesus:  “This is a warning to us that when we argue with God’s Word, we open the door for Satan’s lies.  Peter began rebuking his Master, and Mark used the same word that describes our Lord’s rebuking of the demons (Mark 1:25; 3:12).

            “Peter’s protest was born out of his ignorance of God’s will and his deep love for his Lord.  One minute Peter was a ‘rock,’ and the next he was a stumbling block!  Dr. G. Campbell Morgan said ‘The man who love Jesus, but who shuns God’s method, is a stumbling block to Him.’  Peter did not yet understand the relationship between suffering and glory.  He would eventually learn this lesson and would even emphasize it in his first epistle (Note 1Peter 1:6-8; 4:13-5:10).”

            I can see at this point that I will have to continue this SD tomorrow as we take up then the important subject of how Jesus gives an evangelistic message that would not be too popular in certain circles in today’s world.  Before that there is one more important quote from Warren Wiersbe that needs to be made to tie up this section:  “Note, however, that when Jesus rebuked Peter, He also ‘looked on His disciples,’ because they agreed with Peter’s assessment of this situation!  Steeped in Jewish tradition interpretation, they were unable to understand how their Messiah could ever suffer and die.” 

            This shows us the importance of studying the Word of God to make sure that some of the traditions that we have lines up correctly with the Word of God, and this is where Peter and the other disciples missed the mark as they took the word of tradition and not the Word of God to be the truth.

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  The importance of reading and studying the Word of God is seen clearly in this section of Scripture.

My Steps of Faith for Today:  Continue to study the Word of God, and continue to abide in the Vine to get my marching orders from the Spirit of God.

Memory verses for the week:  2Peter 1:1-7

            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, 6  and in your knowledge, self-control, and in your self-control, perseverance, and in your perseverance, godliness, 7  and in your godliness, brotherly kindness, and in your brotherly kindness, love.

7/26/2012 8:11:13 AM 

Confession (Mark 8:27-30)

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 7/25/2012 8:07:53 AM

My Worship Time                                                                     Focus:  Confession

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                      Reference:  Mark 8:27-30

            Message of the verses:  In Today’s SD we will take a little break from the book of Psalms and look to the eight chapter of Mark’s Gospel.  It has been my desire to look more intently into Mark’s Gospel, taking one chapter a month and study it and then use that study as part of my Spiritual Diaries. 

            Confession:  (vv.27-30):  “27 ¶  Jesus went out, along with His disciples, to the villages of Caesarea Philippi; and on the way He questioned His disciples, saying to them, "Who do people say that I am?" 28  They told Him, saying, "John the Baptist; and others say Elijah; but others, one of the prophets." 29  And He continued by questioning them, "But who do you say that I am?" Peter *answered and *said to Him, "You are the Christ." 30  And He warned them to tell no one about Him.”

            As we look at this section of Scripture we must understand that this is a turning point in the ministry of Jesus Christ, for from now on we will hear about the fact that Jesus is the Messiah and that as the Messiah He would suffer at the hands of the Gentiles and die on a cross for the sins of the world.  This is something that His disciples did not want to hear, and I suppose the question is why they not wanted to hear about it.  The answer goes deep into what the Jewish people thought about when they thought about their Messiah, and Jesus did not fulfill those expectations.  In the OT there are many prophecies about who the Messiah would be and what He would do.  When we look at passages like Isaiah 52-53 and also Psalm 22 we see a suffering Messiah, but most of the Jews did not want to look at a suffering Messiah because they were living in their own land, but were not in control of their own land and so they were looking for a Messiah to come and to defeat the Roman government, to make Israel the capital of the world, and so when Jesus tells His disciples that He is going to die then they do not want to hear of any such talk.  I must say that I am getting ahead of myself so we will save this type of talk until the next SD.

            We see in verse twenty-seven that Jesus and His disciples were moving along heading to the villages of Caesarea Philippi, and while they were walking along they began to talk and Jesus questioned them by giving them a two part exam:  Who do people say that I am?  Who do you say that I am?  We will get to the answers to these two questions in a minute but first I want to talk a bit about the town that they were heading for, Caesarea Philippi.  This town was located at the base of MT. Hermon, a mountain of about 9,000 feet where when the snows begin to melt they run off they make up a part of the head waters of the Jordan River.  The town was name after Augustus Caesar, who was the leader of the Roman world and some thought to be a god.  It was also named after Herod Philip who was the ruler of this part of Israel.  There was a marble temple that was built there that was dedicated to Augustus, you see there were towns like this around the Roman Empire that were built in honor of the Emperor, but we don’t see any of them today but what we do see today is that Jesus Christ is still Lord and is still being praised for who He is.

            Now back to the questions.  If we think about a person asking another person what others say about himself we might think that there is an evidence of pride involved, but of course this is not the case with Jesus, for He was teaching His disciples something here and that is the reason for the question.  In fact what people think about who Jesus is, is the most important question that can be asked for the correct answer will put you in heaven and the wrong answer will land you in hell.  The answer the His disciples gave was that many people thought He was John the Baptist or Elijah or even some said that He was Jeremiah.  Why Jeremiah?  I am told that in the book of Second Maccabeus (Spelling?) that there is a story about Jeremiah that says that he took some articles out of the temple before it was destroyed, including the Ark of the Covenant, and when Messiah comes Jeremiah would come before Him.  The same is true with John the Baptist and also Elijah.  These people were thinking that Jesus was the forerunner of the Messiah.  The next question is who do His disciples think that He is and I think that when Peter speaks he is speaking for the whole group with the possible exception of Judas when He say that Jesus is the Son of God.  We know that this is something that Peter did not understand on his own for in another Gospel Jesus tells him that flesh and blood didn’t cause him to answer correctly, but His Father in heaven revealed this to him.  This of course is true not only of Peter, but of anyone who truly confesses this of who Jesus Christ truly is.

            Jesus tells them not to tell any people about this and this may seem a bit strange.  Why do you suppose that Jesus would make this statement?  Let me make a comparison to another time in the life of Jesus, after He arose from the dead when He states that His disciples were to go into all the world and tell others about what He had done, which is the “great commission.”  When Peter made his confession the message of the Gospel was not complete and this is probably the reason that Jesus warns them not to tell others about this. 

            Jesus had spent over two years with these men and in a short time He would be leaving them to go back to His Father, and in those two plus years we wonder how much they truly learned about Him.  The good part is that after Jesus did go back to heaven to be with His Father the Holy Spirit brought into remembrance the things that Jesus had taught His disciples and these twelve men turned the world upside down with their message about Jesus. 

7/25/2012 9:05:13 AM   

When You Lose Your Health, Hope or Home (Psalm 107:17-43)

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 7/24/2012 9:18:05 AM

My Worship Time                                                                     Focus:  Psalm 107 PT-2

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                      Reference:  Psalm 107: 17-43

            Message of the verses:  In Today’s SD we will continue to look at the 107^th Psalm.  Dr. Wiersbe writes the following at the end of his introduction in order to help us understand the outline of this psalm:  “Five specific situations are described involving people who lose something valuable.”

            When You Lose Your Health (vv. 17-22):  “17 ¶  Fools, because of their rebellious way, And because of their iniquities, were afflicted. 18  Their soul abhorred all kinds of food, And they drew near to the gates of death. 19  Then they cried out to the LORD in their trouble; He saved them out of their distresses. 20  He sent His word and healed them, And delivered them from their destructions. 21  Let them give thanks to the LORD for His lovingkindness, And for His wonders to the sons of men! 22  Let them also offer sacrifices of thanksgiving, And tell of His works with joyful singing.”

            Dr. Wiersbe writes “In Scripture, sickness is often used as a picture of sin and its painful consequences, but not all sickness is the result of sin (John 9:1-3; 2Cor. 12:7-10).”  I wish to add that there are times when sin does cause sickness and even death.  Paul writes to the Corinthians in chapter 11 these words in which he is speaking about taking the Lord’s Supper without examining themselves:  “28  But a man must examine himself, and in so doing he is to eat of the bread and drink of the cup. 29  For he who eats and drinks, eats and drinks judgment to himself if he does not judge the body rightly. 30  For this reason many among you are weak and sick, and a number sleep.”  The word sleep is a word for believers who die.

            We see in this section from Psalm 107 that the Lord was gracious to some rebels who became sick because of sinful living and they then cried out to the Lord and He answered their prayers and healed them right as they were at the gates of death, and this term “gates of death” is speaking of the word “sheo the land of the dead (Ps. 9:13; Job 17:16; 38:17; Isa. 38:10).” After the Lord healed these rebels they were to praise the Lord for His lovingkindness and for His wonders to the sons of men.

            When You Lose Your Hope (vv. 23-32):  “23 ¶  Those who go down to the sea in ships, Who do business on great waters; 24  They have seen the works of the LORD, And His wonders in the deep. 25  For He spoke and raised up a stormy wind, Which lifted up the waves of the sea. 26  They rose up to the heavens, they went down to the depths; Their soul melted away in their misery. 27  They reeled and staggered like a drunken man, And were at their wits’ end. 28  Then they cried to the LORD in their trouble, And He brought them out of their distresses. 29  He caused the storm to be still, So that the waves of the sea were hushed. 30  Then they were glad because they were quiet, So He guided them to their desired haven. 31  Let them give thanks to the LORD for His lovingkindness, And for His wonders to the sons of men! 32  Let them extol Him also in the congregation of the people, And praise Him at the seat of the elders.”

            It is possible that this section describes the Jewish exiles when they were sent to Babylon, for they were taken away from their homeland and placed in a land that they did not know and it may have felt like being out on the sea in a great storm, but then they called out to the Lord and He answered their prayers and the storm quieted down and so they began to praise the Lord.

            I would suppose that being out to sea and having a storm come up is one of the scariest things that can happen to anyone.  We read about a storm in the book of Acts where the apostle Paul who was being taken to Rome and it was a very long storm in which all the people had given up hope, yet Paul knew that the Lord had promised to take him to Rome, but even so he prayed and an angel of the Lord came and spoke to him stating that all the people in the boat would be spared, but the boat would be lost and it happened just that way. 

            As believers we can go through difficult storms and not be on any water, and the first thing we should do is to pray and when the Lord answers our prayers the next thing we should do is give thanks to our gracious Lord.  As believers our hope is in the Lord and also our hope is in the return of our Lord from heaven in the Rapture to take us to be with Him in heaven.

            When You Lose Your Home (vv. 33-43):  “33 ¶  He changes rivers into a wilderness And springs of water into a thirsty ground; 34  A fruitful land into a salt waste, Because of the wickedness of those who dwell in it. 35  He changes a wilderness into a pool of water And a dry land into springs of water; 36  And there He makes the hungry to dwell, So that they may establish an inhabited city, 37  And sow fields and plant vineyards, And gather a fruitful harvest. 38  Also He blesses them and they multiply greatly, And He does not let their cattle decrease. 39  When they are diminished and bowed down Through oppression, misery and sorrow, 40  He pours contempt upon princes And makes them wander in a pathless waste. 41  But He sets the needy securely on high away from affliction, And makes his families like a flock. 42  The upright see it and are glad; But all unrighteousness shuts its mouth. 43  Who is wise? Let him give heed to these things, And consider the lovingkindnesses of the LORD.”

            There are sometimes when I am reading in the Psalms and it reminds me of reading in the book of Proverbs, and this section is one that seems to me like it could be from the book of Proverbs.  When we began the book of Psalms we learned that it was Hebrew poetry and likewise the book of Proverbs is Hebrew poetry along with other sections from some of the prophets and other books like Lamentations, Song of Solomon and Ecclesiastes.  Dr. Wiersbe writes these words at the beginning of his commentary on the Psalms as he explains Hebrew Poetry:  “Hebrew poetry is based on ‘thought lines’ and not rhymes.  If the second line repeats the first line in different words, as in Psalm 24:1-3, you have synonymous parallelism.  If the second line contrasts with the first, as in Psalm 1:6 and 37:9, it is antithetic parallelism.  When the second line explains and expands the first, the writer has used synthetic parallelism (Ps. 19:7-9), but when the second line completers the first, it is climactic parallelism (ps. 29:1).  With iterative parallelism, the second line repeats the thought of the first (Ps 93), and in alternate parallelism, the alternate lines carry the same thought, as in Psalm 103:8-13.”

            We see in this section that the approach changes and it is now on the Lord and not on the people because we see it is the Lord who can do the things that are described in this section and not the people.  God can judge the land when both good and evil people live on it, for if a nation is evil God may cause the weather and the land to change, making things difficult on the sinful people, and the opposite can also be true.  Again we cannot always look at these situations and determine that when storms come that there are sinful things happening in the land, but it could be so.  I am reading a book by Joel Rosenberg entitled “Implosion” and the book is about some end time scenarios that could happen to the United States.  Joel Rosenberg is a very accomplished writer who has written a series of novels that parts of them were coming true in real life and this was what lifted him to being an accomplished writer and speaker.  Implosion is not a novel, but is based on Scripture and also things that are happening in the world today which leads many people to believe that we are at the end of history as we know it.  The biggest thing that has happened to make people think this is Israel becoming a nation in just one day on May 14, 1948.  The prophet Isaiah said that this would happen:  “8  "Who has heard such a thing? Who has seen such things? Can a land be born in one day? Can a nation be brought forth all at once? As soon as Zion travailed, she also brought forth her sons.”  The prophet Ezekiel in chapters 36-37 also give an account of Israel becoming a nation again and it was not too long ago that the leader of Israel spoke publicly that Israel becoming a nation was the fulfillment of Ezekiel 36-37.  In Rosenberg’s book he speaks of how many weather disasters have been happening to the United States and one of the things that he writes about in the chapter describing these things is that in Yellowstone National Park sits what could be one of the largest volcanoes that could actually cause a tremendous amount of damage to the entire country, being much more powerful that the volcano that blew in Iceland a few years back.  My point in all of this is that the Lord is in control of everything including the weather and He can use weather and natural disasters to judge nations and to bless nations, which is what the psalmist is writing about in this last section of Psalm 107.

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  As I look at these five pictures in Psalm 107 I can ask what can I learn from them.  Dr. Wiersbe writes:  “To be wise and heed the Word of God (v. 43; Hos. 14:9).  Yes, God shows His love and mercy to the disobedient who repent and call on His name, but our Father would rather share that love with obedient children who would enjoy it more (2Cor. 6:14-7:1).”  I have also been reminded the need to praise the Lord for His goodness to me, for this is seen every day of my life.

My Steps of Faith for Today:  To abide in the Vine so that I can continue to learn from the Lord and to obey what I have learned.

Memory verses for the week:  2Peter 1:1-7

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 grace 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 all 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. and in your godliness brotherly kindness, and in your brotherly kindness, love.

7/24/2012 11:03:21 AM