Appreciating the Present (Psalm 78:65-72)

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR
4/27/2012 7:51:56 AM
My Worship Time           Focus: Appreciating the Present
Bible Reading & Meditation     Reference:  Psalm 78:65-72
 Message of the verses:  In today’s SD we will look at the last main section in Psalm 78.  Once more I want to quote from Dr. Wiersbe’s introductory comments in order for us to better understand this psalm.  “Since Israel is a covenant nation, she has the responsibility of obeying and honoring the Lord, and this psalm presents three responsibilities God expected His people to fulfill.”
 Appreciating the Present (vv. 65-72):  “65  Then the Lord awoke as if from sleep, Like a warrior overcome by wine. 66  He drove His adversaries backward; He put on them an everlasting reproach. 67  He also rejected the tent of Joseph, And did not choose the tribe of Ephraim, 68  But chose the tribe of Judah, Mount Zion which He loved. 69  And He built His sanctuary like the heights, Like the earth which He has founded forever. 70  He also chose David His servant And took him from the sheepfolds; 71  From the care of the ewes with suckling lambs He brought him To shepherd Jacob His people, And Israel His inheritance. 72  So he shepherded them according to the integrity of his heart, And guided them with his skillful hands.”
 The time in which Asaph wrote Psalm 78 is not clear, for he may have written it before Israel was divided into two nations or he may have written it just before that happened.  We do know that the temple had been built, for he speaks of it in verse 68, so his writing of Psalm 78 took place after the death of David.  If he is writing this psalm after Israel split, then he is warning them not to follow the ways of the Northern Kingdom that is not to follow the idolatrous ways of the Northern tribes.
 Verse 65 is speaking metaphorically, for God does not get drunk, and God does not sleep.  Asaph is stating that when God chose David to led Israel as their shepherd it was as if God had woke up from a long sleep and began again to work in the nation of Israel.  We know from Genesis 49:10 the following, “"The scepter shall not depart from Judah, Nor the ruler’s staff from between his feet, Until Shiloh comes, And to him shall be the obedience of the peoples.”  Jacob is saying that Israel’s king will come from the tribe of Judah and from that line the Messiah will come.
 Asaph is saying in verse 67 that the Lord had rejected the tribe of Joseph, that is Ephraim as having the temple built there, and also God rejected the tribe of Benjamin as the tribe where the king would come from, for Saul came from Benjamin. 
 Like Moses before him David was a shepherd and it was from the sheepfolds that the Lord took both of them to lead the children of Israel.  The kings Israel were called shepherds for they were to lead and shepherd the flock of Israel.  When we look at 1Peter 5 we will see that the leaders of the local churches today are called shepherds, that is the Pastors or Elders are to shepherd the flock of God.  We sometimes wonder if God made sheep in order to compare them to humans for there are many similarities between sheep and humans.
 We read the following statement from the end of Warren Wiersbe’s commentary on Psalm 78 as he is writing on the integrity of leaders like David.  “Integrity and skill need each other, for no amount of ability can compensate for a sinful heart, and no amount of devotion to God can overcome lack of ability.”  We know from studying the life of David and other leaders from the pages of Scripture that this is a true statement.
 Spiritual meaning for my life today:  It is my prayer that God has given me an ability to serve Him so that my service will bring glory to my Lord, and with this God given ability I will serve Him with integrity.
My Steps of Faith for Today:  I pray that the Lord will continue to use me in whatever way He desires to use me and that I will do it with integrity, and that as I serve Him He will continue to teach me contentment.
4/27/2012 8:29:34 AM