3/30/2012 9:22:59 AM
SPIRITUAL DIARY
My Worship Time Focus:
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: Psalm 66:8-20
Message of the verses: Dr. Warren Wiersbe writes this at the end of his introduction on Psalm 66: “The exhortation to praise the Lord begins with the Gentile nations (vv. 1-7), moves to Israel (vv. 8-12), and concludes with the individual believers (vv. 13-20).”
A National Proclamation: “Israel, Praise the Lord!” (vv. 8-12): “8 ¶ Bless our God, O peoples, And sound His praise abroad, 9 Who keeps us in life And does not allow our feet to slip. 10 For You have tried us, O God; You have refined us as silver is refined. 11 You brought us into the net; You laid an oppressive burden upon our loins. 12 You made men ride over our heads; We went through fire and through water, Yet You brought us out into a place of abundance.”
“8 ¶ Let the whole world bless our God and loudly sing his praises. 9 Our lives are in his hands, and he keeps our feet from stumbling. 10 You have tested us, O God; you have purified us like silver. 11 You captured us in your net and laid the burden of slavery on our backs. 12 Then you put a leader over us. We went through fire and flood, but you brought us to a place of great abundance.” (NLT)
The psalmist wants all Israel to praise the name of the Lord, and if there is any nation that should praise the Lord it is Israel. All one has to do is look back into history to see how the Lord brought about the nation of Israel, as it began with a 100 year old man and his 90 year old wife who gives birth to a promised child and from there we see this family expand into a nation as when God sent them into Egypt there were 70 in this miracle family and 400 years later there were millions of people in this family when God brought them out of their slavery and eventually into the Promised Land. God gave them His law, His sanctuary, and His priests and prophets, and would bless them with all they needed. God had to discipline them many times for their unfaithfulness, but this was done out of love for them as He moved them to the point where eventually the Messiah would be born to one of them, the Messiah who would pay for the sins of the world. The apostle Paul writes that Israel has been set aside at this point, but one day God will again be dealing with Israel bringing His Kingdom to earth headed up by Jesus Christ who will set on David’s throne in Jerusalem and rule the world from there for 1000 years. Yes Israel has much to praise the Lord for, but so does the Church.
A Personal Affirmation “Praise God with Me!” (vv. 13-20): “13 ¶ I shall come into Your house with burnt offerings; I shall pay You my vows, 14 Which my lips uttered And my mouth spoke when I was in distress. 15 I shall offer to You burnt offerings of fat beasts, With the smoke of rams; I shall make an offering of bulls with male goats. Selah. 16 Come and hear, all who fear God, And I will tell of what He has done for my soul. 17 I cried to Him with my mouth, And He was extolled with my tongue. 18 If I regard wickedness in my heart, The Lord will not hear; 19 But certainly God has heard; He has given heed to the voice of my prayer. 20 Blessed be God, Who has not turned away my prayer Nor His lovingkindness from me.”
“13 ¶ Now I come to your Temple with burnt offerings to fulfill the vows I made to you- 14 yes, the sacred vows that I made when I was in deep trouble. 15 That is why I am sacrificing burnt offerings to you- the best of my rams as a pleasing aroma, and a sacrifice of bulls and male goats. Interlude 16 Come and listen, all you who fear God, and I will tell you what he did for me. 17 For I cried out to him for help, praising him as I spoke. 18 If I had not confessed the sin in my heart, the Lord would not have listened. 19 But God did listen! He paid attention to my prayer. 20 Praise God, who did not ignore my prayer or withdraw his unfailing love from me.” (NLT)
Dr. Wiersbe writes “The change from ‘we/our’ to ‘I/my’ is significant, for corporate worship is the ministry of many individuals, and God see each heart. During his times of trial, the psalmist had made vows to God, and now he hastened to fulfill them. He brought many burnt offerings to the altar, the very best he had, and they symbolized his total dedication to the Lord. We today obey Romans 12:1-2 and present ourselves as living sacrifices.” “1 ¶ I beseech you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. 2 And be not conformed to this world: but be you transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.” AKJV (Romans 12:1-2) These are two of my favorite verses in all of the Word of God and all believers are to come to the point in their lives, like the psalmist of Psalm 66, to present themselves to the Lord because of all that He has done for them. The first eleven chapters of the book of Romans talks about all that the Lord has done for His own, and not it is time for them to lay themselves on the altar as a living sacrifice to accomplish what it is that the Lord wants them to accomplish for the cause of Christ. I believe that according to Ephesians 2:10 that these things were chosen by God for each believer to accomplish while they are alive on planet earth. The psalmist speaks in this section about having a clean heart or God will not hear him and Psalm 130:23-24 instructs us to ask the Holy Spirit of God to search our hearts for unconfessed sin so that we can confess that sin to the Lord so that He will hear us.
The psalmist had something wonderful happen to him and now he is sharing it with all we as believers in Jesus Christ are to share the wonderful thing that God has done for us and the first thing on that list ought to be how He saved us. Peter writes “but sanctify Christ as Lord in your hearts, always being ready to make a defense to everyone who asks you to give an account for the hope that is in you, yet with gentleness and reverence.”
Warren Wiersbe writes more about verse 18: “The verb ‘regard’ (v. 18) means ‘to recognize and to cherish, to be unwilling to confess and forsake know sins.’ It means approving that which God condemns. When we recognize sin in our hearts, we must immediately judge it, confess it, and forsake it (1John 1:5-10); otherwise, the Lord can’t work on our behalf (Isa. 59:1-2). To cover sin is to invite trouble and discipline (Proverbs 28:13; Josh 7).”
Spiritual meaning for my life today: An old Scottish Preacher said “The Christian life is a series of new beginnings.” I agree with that for even though I have been born from above into the family of God and received a new nature that always wants to obey the Lord in everything there are also three enemies that I face each day, the world, the flesh, and the devil. Thus at times I fail the Lord and am in need of 1John 1:9. I am also in need of Psalm 139:23-24. There came a time in my early walk with the Lord that I offered myself as a living sacrifice to the Lord, to live for the Lord and He has not failed me, nor will He. The issue is that I fail Him from time to time and I need to confess my sin in order to be able to have sweet fellowship with the God who save me.
My Steps of Faith for Today: Romans 12:1-2; Psalm 139:23-24; Proverbs 3:5-6; Phil. 4:11b & Psalm 66:18.
3/30/2012 10:13:49 AM
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