2/24/2012 10:24:02 AM
SPIRITUAL DIARY
My Worship Time Focus:
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: Psalm 49:1-4
Message of the verses: In today’s SD we will begin to look at Psalm 49 and at the beginning of this psalm we will as usual look at a number of introductions by various people to help us understand what this psalm will teach us.
“Title. To the Chief Musician, a Psalm for the sons of Korah. This is precisely the same as on former occasions, and no remark is needed.
“Division. The poet musician sings, to the accompaniment of his harp, the despicable character of those who trust in their wealth, and so he consoles the oppressed believer. The first four verses are a preface; from #Ps 49:5-12 all fear of great oppressors is removed by the remembrance of their end and their folly; #Ps 49:13 contains an expression of wonder at the perpetuity of folly; #Ps 49:14-15 contrast the ungodly and the righteous in their future; and from #Ps 49:16-20 the lesson from the whole is given in an admonitory form. Note the chorus in #Ps 49:2,20, and also the two Selahs.” (Charles H. Spurgeon)
“This psalm is a sermon, and so is the next. In most of the psalms we have the penman praying or praising; in these we have him preaching; and it is our duty, in singing psalms, to teach and admonish ourselves and one another. The scope and design of this discourse is to convince the men of this world of their sin and folly in setting their hearts upon the things of this world, and so to persuade them to seek the things of a better world; as also to comfort the people of God, in reference to their own troubles and the grief that arises from the prosperity of the wicked.
“I. In the preface he proposes to awaken worldly people out of their security (#Ps 49:1-3) and to comfort himself and other godly people in a day of distress, #Ps 49:4,5.
“This is the psalmist’s preface to his discourse concerning the vanity of the world and its insufficiency to make us happy; and we seldom meet with an introduction more solemn than this is; for there is no truth of more undoubted certainty, nor of greater weight and importance, and the consideration of which will be of more advantage to us.” (Matthew Henry)
“Psalm 49 deals with the most real thing about life—the certainty of death. One of its major lessons is that ‘you really can’t take it with you.’ Containing these kinds of very practical lessons about life and death, it falls neatly into the category of a didactic (educational) or wisdom poem. At places it sounds very much like portions of Job, Proverbs, and Ecclesiastes. It contains warnings to the rich and famous and words of comfort for the poor. These timeless OT messages undergird many NT passages, such as the accounts about the rich fool in Luke 12:13-21 or the rich man and Lazarus in Luke 16. After a fairly lengthy introduction the body of the psalm falls into two parts as indicated by the climaxing refrain in vv. 12 and 20. The wisdom poet of Ps 49 developed his somber theme in two stages, focusing on death as the universal experience of all men.” (John MacArthur’s Study Bible)
Now we come to the man that I have been reading most every day of my life since I began doing these Spiritual Diaries and that is Warren Wiersbe. I have mentioned many times that it has been said of Warren Wiersbe that he puts the cookies on the shelf where you can reach them and I have had many “cookies” from Warren Wiersbe’s shelf in the fifteen or so years that I have been reading from his books and commentaries.
Warren Wiersbe states that the psalmist of Psalm 49 has a message for everybody in the world. His message is for the important people and it is also for the nobodies. It is for the rich and it is for the poor as we see in verses one and two: “1 For the choir director. A Psalm of the sons of Korah. Hear this, all peoples; Give ear, all inhabitants of the world, 2 Both low and high, Rich and poor together.” He goes on to talk about the word that is translated “world” which is seen in verse one. The word is an unusual Hebrew word that means “the total human scene, the whole sphere of passing life.” Let us look at two famous and wonderful verse from the pen of John the apostle which are found in his first letter, 1John: 2:15-17, “15 Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. 16 For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world. 17 And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abideth forever.” (KJV)
Let’s us look now at verse three of Psalm 49 to see that the psalmist is speaking from his heart, “3 My mouth will speak wisdom, And the meditation of my heart will be understanding.” Dr. Wiersbe writes “The wisdom and understanding that the Lord gave him, and he dealt with an enigma (riddle) that only the Lord could explain (v.4) ‘4 I will incline my ear to a proverb; I will express my riddle on the harp. 5 Why should I fear in days of adversity, When the iniquity of my foes surrounds me.’ The enigma was life itself and its puzzling relationship to the distribution of wealth and the power that wealth brings. How should believers respond when they see the rich get richer? Should they be afraid that the wealthy will abuse the poor? Should they be impressed by the wealth that others possess and seek to imitate them? The writer gives us three reminders to help us keep our perspective in a world obsessed with wealth and the power it brings.”
We will begin to look at verses 5-20 in the next SD, but I think that the things that have been said about Psalm 49 so far are worth thinking about, for as we look back through the corridors of time we will see that wealth and power have been the reason for most of the wars that have been fought through the history of the world.
How, as believers are we suppose to think about wealth in a personal way? It took me a while to find where these three verses in the book of Proverbs were as I first thought they were in the book of Psalms. “Proverbs 30:7 Two things I asked of You, Do not refuse me before I die: 8 Keep deception and lies far from me, Give me neither poverty nor riches; Feed me with the food that is my portion, 9 That I not be full and deny You and say, "Who is the LORD?" Or that I not be in want and steal, And profane the name of my God.” These verses give an answer to the question that I asked at the beginning of this paragraph, for they give balance in the answer and if one reads the Bible for any length of time they will find balance in it in many areas.
I am going to close this section of this SD with a something that a wonderful friend of mine said to me a few weeks ago that has to do with what the psalmist is talking about in Psalm 49. My friend just turned 80 years old a few days ago and I went over to see him just for a casual visit. He began to speak of how money and riches caused the downfall of some of the former Christian Colleges and Universities in the U. S. He said something that I never would have thought about, but after I heard it believed it was true. When the U. S. was a young country we had schools like Harvard and Yale that began as Christian schools. He believes that there were wonderful Christian people on their boards, but in time as all schools go they needed more money and so they would find people that were not as faithful in their walk with the Lord, but had a great deal of money and put them on the board, and next these people would bring some of their rich friend on the board who were not believers at all and so you have the downfall of these schools, and as he said money was the cause of it.
It goes back 125 years ago that D. L. Moody began a school in Chicago that is now called the “Moody Bible Institute.” Moody is still a strong Christian school and has been all of the days it has been in Chicago. I believe the difference is that the school has always had strong believers on their board and strong believers as their presidents and strong believers as their teachers. In 1974 I began to listen to one of Moody’s radio stations WCRF in Cleveland, Ohio. I have learned many things from listening to that radio station and also visiting Moody on several occasions and I am thankful for Moody Bible Institute, I am thankful that it did not go the way of most schools that began as Christian schools and fell into the trap of money. I believe that the first “Founder’s Week” at Moody I heard a sermon about money and the speaker was telling a story of a church or college that needed money and they went to the Lord in prayer claiming a verse in the Scriptures that said that God owned the cattle on a thousand hills. It was a cattle rancher who was moved by the Holy Spirit to meet their needs. Yes God owns all of the wealth on this earth and all of the planets we see, but sometimes we are like what James says, “1 ¶ What is the source of quarrels and conflicts among you? Is not the source your pleasures that wage war in your members? 2 You lust and do not have; so you commit murder. You are envious and cannot obtain; so you fight and quarrel. You do not have because you do not ask. 3 You ask and do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, so that you may spend it on your pleasures.”
Spiritual meaning for my life today: “ “Proverbs 30:7 Two things I asked of You, Do not refuse me before I die: 8 Keep deception and lies far from me, Give me neither poverty nor riches; Feed me with the food that is my portion, 9 That I not be full and deny You and say, "Who is the LORD?" Or that I not be in want and steal, And profane the name of my God.”
My Steps of Faith for Today:
1. Proverbs 30:7-9.
2. Mark 14:38.
3. Proverbs 3:5-6.
4. Phil. 4:11b.
5. Eph. 6:10-18.
6. Romans 12:1-2.
2/24/2012 12:15:32 PM
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