3/29/2012 7:52:55 AM
SPIRITUAL DIARY
My Worship Time Focus: Remembering the works of the Lord.
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: Psalm 66:1-7
Message of the verses: In today’s SD we will begin to look at Psalm 66, the first thing will be to look at several introductions.
“TITLE. To the Chief Musician. He had need be a man of great skill, worthily to sing such a Psalm as this: the best music in the world would be honored by marriage with such expressions. A Song or Psalm, or a Song and Psalm. It may be either said or sung; it is a marvelous poem if it be but read; but set to suitable music, it must have been one of the noblest strains ever heard by the Jewish people. We do not know who is its author, but we see no reason to doubt that David wrote it. It is in the Davidic style, and has nothing in it unsuited to his times. It is true the "house" of God is mentioned, but the tabernacle was entitled to that designation as well as the temple.
“SUBJECT AND DIVISION. Praise is the topic, and the subjects for song are the Lord’s great works, his gracious benefits, his faithful deliverances, and all his dealings with his people, brought to a close by a personal testimony to special kindness received by the prophet bard himself. #Ps 66:1-4 are a kind of introductory hymn, calling upon all nations to praise God, and dictating to them the words of a suitable song. #Ps 66:5-7 invite the beholder to "Come and see" the works of the Lord, pointing attention to the Red Sea, and perhaps the passage of Jordan. This suggests the similar position of the afflicted people which is described, and its joyful issue predicted, #Ps 66:8-12. The singer then becomes personal, and confesses his own obligations to the Lord; #Ps 66:13-15 and, bursting forth with a vehement "Come and hear," declares with thanksgiving the special favour of the Lord to himself, #Ps 66:16-20.” (Charles H. Spurgeon)
“This joyful psalm begins with group praise and then focuses on the individual worship. The psalmist rehearses some of the major miracles in Israel’s history and testifies that God has always been faithful in the midst of serious troubles.” (The John MacArthur Study Bible)
“At the close of the previous psalm, you hear nature praising the Lord, and the psalm exhorts all mankind to join creation in celebrating God’s greatness. It appears that Israel had gone through severe trials (vv. 8-12) and yet won a great victory with the Lord’s help. Some students believe this even t was the Lord’s miraculous defeat of Assyria (Isa. 36-37) and that the individual speaking in verses 13-20 was King Hezekiah, whose prayer the Lord answered (37:14-20). 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).” (Warren Wiersbe)
A Global Invitation: “All Nations, Praise the Lord!”: “1 ¶ «For the choir director. A Song. A Psalm.» Shout joyfully to God, all the earth; 2 Sing the glory of His name; Make His praise glorious. 3 Say to God, "How awesome are Your works! Because of the greatness of Your power Your enemies will give feigned obedience to You. 4 "All the earth will worship You, And will sing praises to You; They will sing praises to Your name." Selah. 5 Come and see the works of God, Who is awesome in His deeds toward the sons of men. 6 He turned the sea into dry land; They passed through the river on foot; There let us rejoice in Him! 7 He rules by His might forever; His eyes keep watch on the nations; Let not the rebellious exalt themselves. Selah.”
It was in the 63rd Psalm that David remembered what the Lord had done for him in the “night watches,” and remembering what the Lord has done in a person’s life is a wonderful way to worship the Lord, although we must remember that the past can aid us in that way, but we still have to move on in life each day. We see in this section that the psalmist is remembering the exodus of Israel from Egypt as they crossed the sea on dry land and then came into Canaan by crossing the dried up Jordan River that the Lord had dried up so they could cross into Canaan.
This psalm is also a missionary psalm and the psalmist wants the Gentile nations to praise the Lord because of what God has done for Israel. This is not unusual for all believers praise the Lord for what the Lord Jesus Christ did to bring about their salvation. Jesus said to the woman at the well that “Salvation is of the Jews” and of course He was speaking of His death, burial and resurrection. The Church has much to praise the Lord about for what has come from the nation of Israel and we would do good to thank the Lord for the accomplishment that He has done through Israel. Satan hates Israel and has done much to try and destroy her, but this will never happen, for that which is going to happen to Israel is written in the pages of Scripture and will not be changed.
Dr. Wiersbe writes the following describing what the Exodus and Passover mean to the nation of Israel: “What the resurrection of Jesus Christ is to believers today, the Exodus was to Israel (Eph. 1:15-23). The Jews remember the Exodus at Passover, and the church remembers the death and resurrection of Christ at the Lord’s Supper.” Yes God wants us to remember.
Spiritual meaning for my life today: To remember what the Lord has done in my life is a wonderful reason to worship the Lord. A young Christian couple, who knew little about living the Christian life, but had a desire to learn was given a small boy through birth who had a difficult heart problem along with a number of other smaller problems that also needed surgery to correct. I believe that it was around May 7th or 8th of 1981 that we entrusted our son to the Lord and the doctors who did very major surgery on our son’s heart and heart valve. The surgery was long and the results were mixed and may have to be repeated, but by the grace of God and the prayers of the saints more surgery on his little heart was not necessary and today that little son of ours has three children of his own. Yes it is good to remember the wonderful works of the Lord and praise and worship Him because of those wonderful works.
My Steps of Faith for Today: Continue to trust the Lord for the healing of my mother who is quit ill at this time. Continue to remember the works of the Lord, especially the perfect salvation He has provided for me. Continue to learn contentment in the Lord as I go through life’s trials and troubles.
3/29/2012 8:40:08 AM
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