SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR
4/28/2012 10:27:16 AM
My Worship Time Focus: Psalm 79 PT-1
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: Psalm 79:1-4
Message of the verses: We begin to look at Psalm 79 in today’s SD and will first look at several introductions from different Bible commentators of which the first one will be Charles H. Spurgeon: “Title and Subject. A Psalm of Asaph. A Psalm of complaint such as Jeremiah might have written amid the ruins of the beloved city. It evidently treats of times of invasion, oppression, and national overthrow. Asaph was a patriotic poet, and was never more at home than when he rehearsed the history of his nation. Would to God that we had national poets whose song should be of the Lord.
“Division: From #Ps 79:1-4 the complaint is poured out, from #Ps 79:5-12 prayer is presented, and, in the closing verse, praise is promised.”
“This psalm, if penned with any particular event in view, is with most probability made to refer to the destruction of Jerusalem and the temple, and the woeful havoc made of the Jewish nation by the Chaldeans under Nebuchadnezzar. It is set to the same tune, as I may say, with the Lamentations of Jeremiah, and that weeping prophet borrows two verses out of it (#Ps 79:6-7) and makes use of them in his prayer, #Jer. 10:25. Some think it was penned long before by the spirit of prophecy, prepared for the use of the church in that cloudy and dark day. Others think that it was penned then by the spirit of prayer, either by a prophet named Asaph or by some other prophet for the sons of Asaph. Whatever the particular occasion was, we have here,
“ I. A representation of the very deplorable condition that the people of God were in at this time, #Ps 79:1-5.
“ II. A petition to God for succour and relief, that their enemies might be reckoned with (#Ps 79:6-7,10,12), that their sins might be pardoned (#Ps 79:8-9), and that they might be delivered, #Ps 79:11.
“ III. A plea taken from the readiness of his people to praise him, #Ps 79:13. In times of the church’s peace and prosperity this psalm may, in the singing of it, give us occasion to bless God that we are not thus trampled on and insulted. But it is especially seasonable in a day of treading down and perplexity, for the exciting of our desires towards God and the encouragement of our faith in him as the church’s patron.”
“God gave His people victory over Egypt (77) and helped them march through the wilderness and then conquer Canaan (78). He also gave them King David who defeated their enemies and expanded their kingdom. But now God’s people are captive, the city and temple are ruined, and the heather nations are triumphant. (See also 74 for parallels: 79:1/74:3, 7; 79:2/74:19; 79:5/74:10; 79:12/74:10, 18, 22) We see Asaph playing four different roles as he contemplates the defeat of Judah by the Babylonians. Each division of the psalm opens with an address to Jehovah: ‘O God’ (v.1); ‘O Lord’ (v. 5); ‘O God our Savior (v.9); and ‘O Lord’ (v.12).” (Warren Wiersbe)
I will begin looking at this psalm using the different verses from 79 and 74 that Dr. Wiersbe has written about in his introductory commentary.
Ps. 79:1 “1 ¶ «A Psalm of Asaph.» O God, the nations have invaded Your inheritance; They have defiled Your holy temple; They have laid Jerusalem in ruins. /Psalm 74:3 & 7 “3 Turn Your footsteps toward the perpetual ruins; The enemy has damaged everything within the sanctuary. 7 They have burned Your sanctuary to the ground; They have defiled the dwelling place of Your name.”
Psalm 79:2 “2 They have given the dead bodies of Your servants for food to the birds of the heavens, The flesh of Your godly ones to the beasts of the earth. / Psalm 74:19 19 Do not deliver the soul of Your turtledove to the wild beast; Do not forget the life of Your afflicted forever.”
Psalm 79:5 “5 How long, O LORD? Will You be angry forever? Will Your jealousy burn like fire? /Psalm 74:10 “10 How long, O God, will the adversary revile, And the enemy spurn Your name forever?”
Psalm 79:12 “12 And return to our neighbors sevenfold into their bosom The reproach with which they have reproached You, O Lord. /Psalm 74:10 “10 How long, O God, will the adversary revile, And the enemy spurn Your name forever? Psalm 74:18 Remember this, O LORD, that the enemy has reviled, And a foolish people has spurned Your name. Psalm 74:22 Arise, O God, and plead Your own cause; Remember how the foolish man reproaches You all day long.”
The Mourner: Beholding God’s Judgment (vv. 1-4): “1 ¶ «A Psalm of Asaph.» O God, the nations have invaded Your inheritance; They have defiled Your holy temple; They have laid Jerusalem in ruins. 2 They have given the dead bodies of Your servants for food to the birds of the heavens, The flesh of Your godly ones to the beasts of the earth. 3 They have poured out their blood like water round about Jerusalem; And there was no one to bury them. 4 We have become a reproach to our neighbors, A scoffing and derision to those around us.”
The first thing that I want to look at here is the reproach that Israel had become to their neighbors which is seen in verse 4. “Deuteronomy 28:37 You will become an object of horror, ridicule, and mockery among all the nations to which the LORD sends you.” (NLT) “You make us a reproach to our neighbors, A scoffing and a derision to those around us.” (Psalm 44:13) You make us an object of contention to our neighbors, And our enemies laugh among themselves.” (Psalm 80:6) GOD, remember those Edomites, and remember the ruin of Jerusalem, That day they yelled out, "Wreck it, smash it to bits!’ (Psalm 137:7 Message) In the 25th chapter of the book of Ezekiel, which has 17 verses in it, the prophet gets a Word from the Lord that says He is going to destroy these nations because of how they acted when Israel was being ravished by the Babylonians. This leads me to the second point that I want to make from this section and that is that the Land of Israel was God’s inheritance and He shared it with the children of Israel. God made a covenant with Israel and they did not fulfill their part of the covenant and so they were invaded by the Babylonians and taken into captivity, which was part of the covenant that God had made with Israel, that if they did not follow the Lord He would lead them into captivity.
There is one more thing that I want to mention here and that is what we read in verse one “Your Inheritance” and “Your holy Temple” and in verse 2 “Your servants.” Asaph realizes that all of this that has happened, the defeat by the Babylonians, the mocking of the neighbors, the burning of Jerusalem, and the temple, and the awfulness that was done to the bodies of the children of Israel was done to God because it is all Gods. There are times, too many times, when all we are thinking of is ourselves and not about the holiness of God. If you are a born again believer in Jesus Christ you belong to God and be thankful for that for otherwise you would belong to Satan and the world and end up in hell. Our lives are all about God and we need to live for God. There is a gospel going around called the health and wealth gospel, where if you accept Jesus Christ as your Savior you will be blessed with health and wealth, but that is not at all what God has promised for believers. What happened to all of the Apostles of Jesus Christ? All but one of them were martyred for the cause of Christ. I have read that in today’s world there are 1000 people each day in this world of seven billion souls that dies for the cause of Jesus Christ. This is a far cry from the health and wealth gospel that is being preached in today’s world.
THE SHORTER CATECHISM EXPLAINED
QUESTION 1: What is the chief end of man?
ANSWER: Man’s chief end is to glorify God, and to enjoy him forever.
This comes from the West Minster Catechism and gives the first question and the answer to the first question, and it says that as believers, we are to bring glory to God, and we are also to enjoy God forever. The question and answer is Scriptural, but there is nothing in this to show that we are to expect in this life wealth and health. Asaph realized this when he wrote Psalm 79, he also realized that it was all about God. When we look at the prayers in the ninth chapter of Ezra, and also the ninth chapter of Daniel we see both Ezra and Daniel confessing to God the sins that the people had committed that caused them to be captive in Babylon, but they also put themselves in that same category as those who had sinned against the Lord. Both Ezra and Daniel knew that they were born sinners and that is probably why the put themselves with those who had sinned against the Lord, but they also knew that it was all about God and not about them and so did Asaph.
Spiritual meaning for my life today: I want to remember that I am to glorify God and to enjoy Him forever.
My Steps of Faith for Today: Bring glory to my Lord this day. Continue to learn contentment.
4/28/2012 11:52:27 AM
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