SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR
5/10/2012 6:58:23 AM
My Worship Time Focus: A Palm about a new beginning.
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: Psalm 85:1-13
Message of the verses: In today’s SD we will begin to look at Psalm 85 by looking at several introductions to the psalm by different Bible Commentators in order to help us get a flavor for the psalm.
“The psalmist pledges that God will again demonstrate His covenant love to Israel. God has been merciful in the past; He is angry presently; but He will restore Israel in the future (cf. Dt. 30; Hos. 3:4, 5). Though God judges, He is faithful to His promises. The feelings expressed in this psalm may describe those of the Jews returning from exile in Babylon. Though they were grateful for restoration to their land, they were disappointed that the conditions did not measure up to the glory of the pre-Exile life there (cf. Ezr. 3:12, 13).” (The John MacArthur Study Bible)
“12 Yet many of the priests and Levites and heads of fathers’ households, the old men who had seen the first temple, wept with a loud voice when the foundation of this house was laid before their eyes, while many shouted aloud for joy, 13 so that the people could not distinguish the sound of the shout of joy from the sound of the weeping of the people, for the people shouted with a loud shout, and the sound was heard far away.” (Ezra 3:12-13)
“This psalm was probably written after the Jewish people returned to their land following their seventy years of captivity in Babylon (Jer. 29). Note the emphasis on the land (vv. 1, 9 and 12) and on God’s anger against His people (vv. 3-5). God gave them favor with their captors, raised up leaders like Zerubbable the governor, Joshua the high priest, and Ezra the scribe, and protected the Jewish remnant as they traveled to their war-ravaged land. When you read Ezra 6 and the prophets Haggai, Zechariah, and Malachi, you learn that life was very difficult for them in the land. They did not always obey the Lord or show kindness to each other, but they did make a new start. The Scottish preacher George H. Morrison said, ‘The victorious Christian life is a series of new beginnings,’ and he is right. It is a sin to disobey God and fall, but it is also a sin to stay fallen. We must always make a new beginning and this psalm gives us some instructions that we can follow after times of failure and chastening.” (Dr. Warren Wiersbe)
Give Thanks to the Lord (vv. 1-3): “1 ¶ «For the choir director. A Psalm of the sons of Korah.» O LORD, You showed favor to Your land; You restored the captivity of Jacob. 2 You forgave the iniquity of Your people; You covered all their sin. Selah. 3 You withdrew all Your fury; You turned away from Your burning anger.”
1 ¶ "Comfort, O comfort My people," says your God. 2 "Speak kindly to Jerusalem; And call out to her, that her warfare has ended, That her iniquity has been removed, That she has received of the LORD’S hand Double for all her sins.’” (Isaiah 40:1-2) We see in these two verses in Isaiah that the Lord is going to comfort Israel after He had taken her into captivity and then returned her to the land. The psalmist is giving thanks to the Lord because of His goodness of bringing Israel back to the land.
Dr. Wiersbe writes the following: “The Hebrew word shuv basically means ‘to turn or return’ and it is used in verse 1 (brought back), verses 3, and 4, and 8 (turn), and verse 6 (;again;). When we turn back to God, repent, and confess our sins, He turns back to us and restores us.”
Ask Him for Renewed Life (vv. 4-7): “4 Restore us, O God of our salvation, And cause Your indignation toward us to cease. 5 Will You be angry with us forever? Will You prolong Your anger to all generations? 6 Will You not Yourself revive us again, That Your people may rejoice in You? 7 Show us Your lovingkindness, O LORD, And grant us Your salvation.”
When God brought back the children of Israel to their land as He had promised He would do seventy years after the first deportation in 605 B. C., it did not mean that they would all of a sudden walk with the Lord like He desired that they do, for they had to desire to walk with the Lord. Israel had to realize why it was that the Lord had deported them in the first place, confess that sin and then have a desire to walk again with the Lord. In the prayers of the post exile prophets we see wonderful prayers that they had made to the Lord confessing their sins before the Lord and asking Him for forgiveness. We read these in both Nehemiah nine and Daniel nine.
We see the word “revive” in verse six and this does not mean what we as modern believer’s think of where a visiting Pastor will come into a church to preach messages that will bring the people back to the Lord so that they can go out and tell others about the Lord. Dr. Wiersbe writes that “the word revive simply means ‘to live again, to be renewed in life.’” He also writes “It has well been said that a change in geography will never overcome a flaw in character.”
One more quote from Dr. Wiersbe before we move on to the next point: “New life is not something that we manufacture ourselves; a new life can come only from the Holy Spirit of God, God gave a special message about this to Haggai (Hag. 2:1-9) and also to Zechariah (Zech. 4:6).”
“1 ¶ On the twenty-first of the seventh month, the word of the LORD came by Haggai the prophet saying, 2 "Speak now to Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and to Joshua the son of Jehozadak, the high priest, and to the remnant of the people saying, 3 ’Who is left among you who saw this temple in its former glory? And how do you see it now? Does it not seem to you like nothing in comparison? 4 ’But now take courage, Zerubbabel,’ declares the LORD, ’take courage also, Joshua son of Jehozadak, the high priest, and all you people of the land take courage,’ declares the LORD, ’and work; for I am with you,’ declares the LORD of hosts. 5 ’As for the promise which I made you when you came out of Egypt, My Spirit is abiding in your midst; do not fear!’ 6 "For thus says the LORD of hosts, ’Once more in a little while, I am going to shake the heavens and the earth, the sea also and the dry land. 7 ’I will shake all the nations; and they will come with the wealth of all nations, and I will fill this house with glory,’ says the LORD of hosts. 8 ’The silver is Mine and the gold is Mine,’ declares the LORD of hosts. 9 ’The latter glory of this house will be greater than the former,’ says the LORD of hosts, ’and in this place I will give peace,’ declares the LORD of hosts." (Haggai 2:1-9)
“Then he said to me, "This is the word of the LORD to Zerubbabel saying, ’Not by might nor by power, but by My Spirit,’ says the LORD of hosts.” (Zec. 4:6)
Listen for God’s Message to You (vv. 8-13): “8 ¶ I will hear what God the LORD will say; For He will speak peace to His people, to His godly ones; But let them not turn back to folly. 9 Surely His salvation is near to those who fear Him, That glory may dwell in our land. 10 Lovingkindness and truth have met together; Righteousness and peace have kissed each other. 11 Truth springs from the earth, And righteousness looks down from heaven. 12 Indeed, the LORD will give what is good, And our land will yield its produce. 13 Righteousness will go before Him And will make His footsteps into a way.”
We see the word “I will hear” in verse eight and perhaps it was time for the people to be silent and to listen to what the Lord has for them as He speaks to them. When we read from the post exile books and prophets we see that God did speak to them through the prophets and there was one occasion at the “Water Gate” that the people stood out in the rain all day to hear Ezra speak to them and this brought about a great revival.
At the end of verse eight we read “godly ones” but in the KJV we see the word saint and this word means those who are set apart for God.
At the end of verse eight we see these words “But let them not turn back to folly.” Israel had a great history of turning back to folly. When we read the book of Judges we see that seven nations came in and fought against Israel, but when they called out to the Lord He drove the nations out of the Land. There are other times when this kind of thing happened to Israel and as we read through the OT we will be reminded of them.
We see in verse nine what Israel was suppose to do and that is to fear the Lord and bring glory to Him, and that has not changed to this day for we as believers are to do the same thing. Dr. Wiersbe points out that the word “dwell” in verse nine is the Hebrew Word shechinah and this is the glory of the Lord that was in the tabernacle and also the temple, the glory of the Lord. In the book of Ezekiel we read that he saw the shehinah glory leave the temple and when the Lord Jesus came to earth we see that glory return. Look at the verses from Haggai that are in this SD and you will see that the Lord promised that His glory would return in a greater way. (Haggai 2:6-9)
We see in verses 10-13 that the Lord announced future blessings that He would send if His people would continue to walk with the Lord. These are surely great and wonderful promises that the Lord promises to give Israel if they walk with Him. Righteousness and peace would be given to them.
Spiritual meaning for my life today: When the Lord Jesus died on the cross He provided salvation for those who would accept this wonderful gift. Jesus Christ would take our sins upon His own body on the cross and then He would give to those who accept Him His righteousness and His peace which is something we can never earn, but receive by faith. All people have been at war with the Lord since the fall of man and therefore peace is something that is very precious to us. Philippians 4:6 states “And the peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.” This is the peace of God that is spoken of here and one cannot have the peace of God until one has peace with God. “Col 1:20 And, having made peace through the blood of his cross, by him to reconcile all things unto himself; by him, I say, whether they be things in earth, or things in heaven.” This speaks of the having peace with God.
My Steps of Faith for Today: Give myself to the Lord for worship and for service.
5/10/2012 8:24:37 AM
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