2/11/2012 9:37:05 AM
SPIRITUAL DIARY
My Worship Time Focus:
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: Psalm 41:5-13
Message of the verses: “When we find ourselves in difficulty, we may use this psalm to take an inventory of our spiritual condition by asking and answering four questions.” In yesterday’s SD we looked at the first question that Dr. Wiersbe asked and today we will look at the next three questions.
Treachery: How Do Others Treat Us (vv. 5-9)? “5 ¶ My enemies speak evil against me, "When will he die, and his name perish?" 6 And when he comes to see me, he speaks falsehood; His heart gathers wickedness to itself; When he goes outside, he tells it. 7 All who hate me whisper together against me; Against me they devise my hurt, saying, 8 “A wicked thing is poured out upon him, That when he lies down, he will not rise up again." 9 Even my close friend in whom I trusted, Who ate my bread, Has lifted up his heel against me.”
It is the belief of Dr. Wiersbe that this Psalm was written around the time when Absalom was plotting against David and was trying to take over the kingdom. The history of this goes back to David’s sin with Bathsheba and the discipline from the Lord that followed. There were many sins involved in David’s adultery with Bathsheba including the murder of her husband who as one of David’s mighty men and loyal to David. Bathsheba’s grandfather was a counselor of David and he sided with Absalom during his uprising and because of what David did to Bathsheba and her husband Ahithophel hated David. Now the Lord had promised to David that there would always be one of his descendants who would sit on the throne of Judah and Absalom did not have any children and so if Absalom was successful then the plans for David would stop, but God was not going to allow this to happen.
David was sick during this time, probably sick over what was happening and his friends and family may have wished him well, but David knew better for even this close friend who he trusted and ate with David turned against him. Verse nine is the verse that is quoted for what Judas did to the Lord Jesus Christ.
I want to go back to the story of David and Bathsheba and talk about the great love that the Lord had for their son Solomon. God has a special love for Solomon as seen in 2Samuel 12:24-25 “Then David comforted his wife Bathsheba, and went in to her and lay with her; and she gave birth to a son, and he named him Solomon. Now the LORD loved him and sent word through Nathan the prophet, and he named him Jedidiah for the LORD’S sake.” As I looked back at my SD on September 25, 2010 I had some trouble understanding this special love that God had for Solomon. John Gill helps to explain this name Jedidiah, “and he called his name Jedidiah, because of the Lord: that is, David also called him by this name, because of the love of the Lord unto him; for Jedidiah signifies "the beloved of the Lord"; a name and character which well agrees with the Messiah, Solomon’s antitype, #Mt 3:17 17:5.” Matthew 3:17 says, “and behold, a voice out of the heavens said, "This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well-pleased.’”
I don’t want to get too far off the track here but God’s special love for Solomon was kind of hard for me to understand for a long time and yet it all has to do with the grace of God. When you think of the background of how Solomon came into the world one could think that there could be a problem here, but God’s love reaches to places where we would never think it could reach and it is all because the grace of God. God’s grace is truly an amazing grace.
One more thing about verse nine and that is that when we look at this verse and how it is repeated in John 13:18 ¶ "I do not speak of all of you. I know the ones I have chosen; but it is that the Scripture may be fulfilled, ’HE WHO EATS MY BREAD HAS LIFTED UP HIS HEEL AGAINST ME.’” The words “in whom I trusted” is not seen in the verse from John 13:18, and Dr. Wiersbe explains this: “Note that our Lord didn’t quote the phrase “whom I trusted” from verse 9, for He knew that Judas had no saving faith (John 6:70-71). This psalm opens with a statement about the poor, and Judas tried to identify himself with the poor (John 12:4-6; 13:26-30). David’s enemies wanted the king’s name to perish, but it was Judas who destroyed a good name—‘Judah’ which means ‘praise.’ We call our sons David but we would never call a son Judas (See 2 Samuel 16:15-17; 23 for Ahitophel’s part in the rebellion.) The phrase ‘lifted up his heel’ pictures a deceptive and underhanded attack, but see Joshua 10:4 and Romans 16:20.”
Mercy: How Does God Treat Us (vv. 10-12)? “10 But You, O LORD, be gracious to me and raise me up, That I may repay them. 11 By this I know that You are pleased with me, Because my enemy does not shout in triumph over me. 12 As for me, You uphold me in my integrity, And You set me in Your presence forever.”
The answer to this question for a believer is that God in His mercy doesn’t give us what we do deserve, and God in His grace gives us what we do not deserve, and the reason that God can do this is because of the death of His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ who paid the penalty for sin for all those who believe in Him.
We see in this section the words “That I may repay them,” and perhaps we wonder about that statement, thinking that David is vindictive. David was the anointed king of Israel, anointed of the Lord and was given the promise of having his descendants following him in reigning over that nation with the Lord Jesus Christ, the greater son of David coming to reign over all the earth and David did not want to see his enemies destroy this promise from God as stated earlier.
David wielded the sword of justice in Israel at that time and we can see this same principle in Romans 12:1-4, “ 1 ¶ Every person is to be in subjection to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those which exist are established by God. 2 Therefore whoever resists authority has opposed the ordinance of God; and they who have opposed will receive condemnation upon themselves. 3 For rulers are not a cause of fear for good behavior, but for evil. Do you want to have no fear of authority? Do what is good and you will have praise from the same; 4 for it is a minister of God to you for good. But if you do what is evil, be afraid; for it does not bear the sword for nothing; for it is a minister of God, an avenger who brings wrath on the one who practices evil.”
The thing that drove David was his desire to please the Lord and once again we can go back to the passage that tells us that David was a man after God’s own heart.
Glory: How Do We Treat God (v.13)? “13 Blessed be the LORD, the God of Israel, From everlasting to everlasting. Amen and Amen.”
In order to understand what this verse teaches I think it necessary to quote from Dr. Wiersbe’s commentary: “This verse was probably added later by an editor to mark the end of book one of the Psalms. Each of the first four books ends with a similar doxology (72:18-20; 89:52; 106:48), and Book Five ends with a praise psalm (150). But the verse reminds us that the main thing in our lives must be the eternal praise and glory of the Lord. ‘Hallowed be thy name’ is the first request in the Disciple’s Prayer (Matt.6:9), and it governs all the other requests. God answers prayer, not to make His people more comfortable, but to bring glory to His name. The Lord still had more work for David to do, particularly the preparation for the building of the temple, and His glory would one day move into that holy sanctuary (1Kings 8:1-11).
“Can we honestly say ‘Amen and amen!’ to the prayer in verse 13?”
I wish to make a short comment on the highlighted section from Dr. Wiersbe’s commentary and it has to do with how we end most of our prayers “in Jesus’ name Amen.” In John 15 we read "If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you.” This is where we get the ending of most of our prayers, and saying in Jesus name is not going to necessarily get be the results that is seen in the verse seven from John 15. Dr. Wiersbe has the right thing to say about God answering prayer, and asking in Jesus’ name means that our prayers will bring glory to the Lord and would be the thing that He wants accomplished. John MacArthur write the following statement as he comments on John 15:7-10, “True believers obey the Lord’s commands, submitting to His Word (14:21, 23). Because of their commitment to God’s Word, they are devoted to His will, thus their prayers are fruitful (14:13, 14), which puts God’s glory on display as He answers.”
Spiritual meaning for my life today: Whenever I sin it is hard for me to get my arms wrapped around the fact that God still loves me. God’s love does not change for me when I sin, but He does want me to agree with Him that what I have done is sin, just like David has done in these last two psalms that we have looked at. Understanding the love of God is a difficult thing to do, yet I know that God’s love for me is truly awesome.
My Steps of Faith for Today:
1. Trust in the love of God.
2. Continue to trust the Lord to teach me contentment.
3. Pray those prayers that will bring glory to the Lord and would be what Jesus Christ wants for me in my life.
2/11/2012 11:57:57 AM
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