2/13/2012 10:36:11 AM
SPIRITUAL DIARY
My Worship Time Focus: God’s Word penetrating the heart
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: Psalm 42:6-43:5
Message of the verses: In yesterday’s SD we began to look at Psalm 42 and because Dr. Wiersbe believes that Psalms 42-43 were once one psalm he has put them together into one commentary and that is the way we will look at them. At the end of his introduction to these two psalms he writes “We see him” (the author of these two psalms) “passing through three stages before he comes to victor and peace.” We looked at the first stage yesterday and will begin with the second stage this morning.
Remembering God (42:6-11): “6 ¶ O my God, my soul is in despair within me; Therefore I remember You from the land of the Jordan And the peaks of Hermon, from Mount Mizar. 7 Deep calls to deep at the sound of Your waterfalls; All Your breakers and Your waves have rolled over me. 8 The LORD will command His lovingkindness in the daytime; And His song will be with me in the night, A prayer to the God of my life. 9 I will say to God my rock, "Why have You forgotten me? Why do I go mourning because of the oppression of the enemy?" 10 As a shattering of my bones, my adversaries revile me, While they say to me all day long, "Where is your God?" 11 Why are you in despair, O my soul? And why have you become disturbed within me? Hope in God, for I shall yet praise Him, The help of my countenance and my God.”
In yesterday’s SD I stated that different commentators that I read had a difference of opinion of who wrote Psalm 42 and at that time I did not have an opinion of my own, but after reading this portion of the psalm a number of times I find it hard to believe that David wrote this psalm because I cannot remember any time in the life of David that he was captured like it seems the author was in this portion of the psalm.
In this section we see the psalmist remembering God unlike in the earlier portion of the psalm when he was remembering the “good old days.” The scene has changed from a drought to a storm which pictures the despair that he is going through at this time. The Jordan River begins in the mountains of Hermon and in the spring there would be waterfalls coming from the melting snow which would make the psalmist seem small and that is the meaning of the word “Mizar.” Because the psalmist was now trusting in the Lord the waves and waterfalls were not something that he would fear, which is unlike the disciples who were in the boat with Jesus when He was asleep. The psalmist realized that God was in control, something that I also have to realize when troubles come into my life.
When trouble comes God will give us songs in the night, and that is what the psalmist is saying in verse eight. There is a program that originated from Moody Church in Chicago that is called “Songs in the Night,” and is aired on the Moody radio stations. I believe that this program began when Warren Wiersbe was the Pastor at Moody Church and if my memory is correct that is where he got his material for his book “The Bumps are what we Climb on,” which is one of my favorite books for it was in the last chapter of that book that I began to learn about learning to be content.
We see the name of God used in verse eight as Jehovah while all of the other mentions of God in these two psalms were Elohim, and this was the turning point in the psalmist difficult experience. Dr. Wiersbe writes “Jehovah is the God of the covenant, the faithful God who cares for His people. He is the God who showers His people with lovingkindness, gives them promises they can claim when they pray, and hears them when they praise and worship. The writer didn’t have to go to Jerusalem to worship; he could worship God right where he was! The hand of God was with him in the day time and the song of the Lord in the long hours of the night. Everything might be changing, but the Lord was still his Rock—stable, strong, and unchanging. (See 18:2, 31, 46; Ex. 33:22; Deut. 32:4; 1Samuel 2:2).”
Trusting God (Psalm 43:1-5): “1 ¶ Vindicate me, O God, and plead my case against an ungodly nation; O deliver me from the deceitful and unjust man! 2 For You are the God of my strength; why have You rejected me? Why do I go mourning because of the oppression of the enemy? 3 O send out Your light and Your truth, let them lead me; Let them bring me to Your holy hill And to Your dwelling places. 4 Then I will go to the altar of God, To God my exceeding joy; And upon the lyre I shall praise You, O God, my God. 5 Why are you in despair, O my soul? And why are you disturbed within me? Hope in God, for I shall again praise Him, The help of my countenance and my God.”
Again we see the landscape change again from the desert to the storm and now to the dawn and the dawn announces the morning and reminds the psalmist of God’s light and truth as seen in verse three. The psalmist must have been remembering when the Lord brought Israel out of Egypt and in the day He provided a pillar of cloud to protect them from the heat and at night a pillar of fire to keep them warm and so this light or faithfulness would bring the psalmist back to Jerusalem. The holy hill that the psalmist refers to in verse three is Mt. Zion where God’s sanctuary was located, the dwelling place of God. This is the hill where Abraham was willing to offer Isaac up as a burnt offering and was the hill where David offered burnt offerings in order to stop the plague that was caused by his sin of numbering the people, and was the same hill where David’s son Solomon would construct the temple of God.
The psalmist praise was not just because of God delivering him from his enemies, but also for the privilege of coming to God at His sanctuary and also to offer sacrifices to the Lord there. The psalmist began Dr. Wiersbe writes, “He had made great progress since he watched the hind seeking for water. The ‘living God’ (42:2) became ‘the God of my life’ (42:8), and now He is ‘God my exceeding joy…God, my God (43:8). His focus is no longer on himself, his disappointments, or his circumstances, but on the Lord his God, and that makes all the difference.” Dr Wiersbe goes no talking about the word ‘help’ found in verse five, which is the refrain of these two psalms, “The word ‘help’ can be translated ‘health.’ When by faith we see the face of God smiling upon us (Nu. 6:22-27), our own countenance brightens up and becomes spiritually healthy. We now God is for us, that God will set us free and guide us to His holy city, where we shall worship Him and sing His praises. Weeping may endure for a night, but joy comes in the morning’ (30:NKJV).”
Spiritual meaning for my life today: I see in these two psalms the psalmist taking the Word of God from his mind to his heart where it will do the work that God desires it to do. The Word of God is so important to us as we seek to walk with the Lord and to grow in His grace. Colossians 2:6 states, “Therefore as you have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him,” and verse seven states “having been firmly rooted and now being built up in Him and established in your faith, just as you were instructed, and overflowing with gratitude.” We received the Lord Jesus Christ by grace through faith (Eph. 2:8-9) and if we walk in Him that way we will be as Col. 2:7 explains, and it is then that we will be able to have the Word of God go from our head to our heart.
My Steps of Faith for Today:
1. Follow the path that the psalmist took in psalms 42-43.
2. May the Word of God penetrate my heart so that my walk with Him will be how it should be.
3. Continue to learn contentment.
2/13/2012 11:54:15 AM
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