SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR
6/28/2012 9:41:40 AM
My Worship Time Focus: Psalm 99 PT-2
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: Psalm 99:4-9
Message of the verses: We will continue to look at the 99th
Psalm in Today’s Spiritual Diary, picking up with verse four.
A Just Throne (vv. 4-5): “4 The
strength of the King loves justice; You have established equity; You have
executed justice and righteousness in Jacob. 5
Exalt the LORD our God And worship at His footstool; Holy is He.”
According
to Deuteronomy 17:14-20 it was God’s plan all along to have a king in Israel,
one whom He chose, one who would rule in righteousness and in justice. David was the man that God chose to be king
over Israel, and his sons would rule after him.
We know that the Lord Jesus Christ is the son of David and He will one
day rule over all the earth from Jerusalem, and we know that when He rules over
all the nations of the world He will rule in justice and righteousness. It is very interesting that God has Moses
write about a king to come and rule over Israel so many years before God chose
David to begin the dynasty over first all of Israel, and then just Judah and
Benjamin. The reason I say this is
because when the people cried out to Samuel to give them a king God was not happy
with this but He allowed them to have a king.
I believe that the first king over Israel, Saul, was a man after the
people’s heart while David was a man after God’s own heart as the Scriptures
state. Sometimes the worst thing we can
get is an answer to a prayer that is not in line with what God desires for you,
and this was the case with Israel in wanting a king and getting Saul.
The
word “footstool” in verse five is seen in different places in the Scriptures. God has called the earth His footstool, and
it can also mean the Ark of the Covenant as seen in 1Chronicles 28:2. The sanctuary of God is seen as the footstool
in Psalm 132:7, and also in Isaiah 60:13, along with Ezekiel 43:7, then the
city of Jerusalem is also called the footstool,” How the Lord has covered the
daughter of Zion With a cloud in His anger! He has cast from heaven to earth
The glory of Israel, And has not remembered His footstool In the day of His
anger.” (Lam. 2:1) We see in Isaiah 66:1 and Matthew 5:35 these
words, “Thus says the LORD, "Heaven is My throne and the earth is My
footstool. Where then is a house you could build for Me? And where is a place
that I may rest?” “or by the earth, for
it is the footstool of His feet, or by Jerusalem, for it is THE CITY OF THE
GREAT KING.”
Dr.
Wiersbe writes, “Note that verse 5 is the central verse of the psalm and
emphasizes the three major themes of the psalm:
God’s holiness and our privilege and responsibility to worship Him and
exalt Him (see vv. 3 and 9).”
A Gracious Throne (vv. 6-9): “6 ¶
Moses and Aaron were among His priests, And Samuel was among those who
called on His name; They called upon the LORD and He answered them. 7 He spoke
to them in the pillar of cloud; They kept His testimonies And the statute that
He gave them. 8 O LORD our God, You answered
them; You were a forgiving God to them, And yet an avenger of their evil deeds.
9 Exalt the LORD our God And worship at
His holy hill, For holy is the LORD our God.”
I always enjoy
reading the psalms that go back and speak of things that happened before they
were written and this is the case in this last section too. I also enjoy reading the psalms that have to
do with the future, and many of them point to the reign of Jesus Christ on the
earth, and we can even see the crucifixion of Jesus Christ in Psalm 22.
We see in the
Old Testament that there were priests who ministered before the Lord in either
the tabernacle or in the temple. The
high priest was the only one who could go into the Holy of Holies on the Day of
Atonement to apply the blood on the Ark of the Covenant, however according to “Hebrews
4:16 Therefore let us draw near with
confidence to the throne of grace, so that we may receive mercy and find grace
to help in time of need.” How is this
made possible? Through the death and resurrection
of Jesus Christ, and because of this all who have accepted Him as their Lord
and Savior are not priests and that is why we can come to God. Re 1:6
and He has made us to be a kingdom, priests to His God and Father-to Him
be the glory and the dominion forever and ever. Amen. Re 5:10 "You have made them to be a kingdom and
priests to our God; and they will reign upon the earth." Re 20:6 Blessed and holy is the one who has a part in
the first resurrection; over these the second death has no power, but they will
be priests of God and of Christ and will reign with Him for a thousand years.”
Dr. Wiersbe
writes “To the lost sinner, God’s throne is a throne of judgment, but to the
believer, it is a throne of grace (Heb. 4:14-16), and we can come to Him with
our worship and praise as well as our burdens and needs.
“How should we
respond to this kind of a God who sits on this kind of a throne? We must worship Him (vv. 5, 9), praise and
exalt Him (vv. 3, 5, 9), and remember that He is holy (vv. 3, 5, 9). We must pray to Him and seek to glorify His
name by our obedience and service. The
next psalm describes all of this and climaxes the ‘royal psalm’ series.”
Spiritual meaning for my life today: Praying to God in times of need, and continue
to pray to God is something that I can take out of not only this passage, but
also from the message that was given at our church last evening. The text of that message was Luke 18:1-8 and
verse one states, “Now He was telling them a parable to show that at all times
they ought to pray and not to lose heart.”
Praying and not loosing heart is at times, a difficult thing to do.
My Steps of Faith for Today:
Praying in difficult times.
Memory verses for the week: 2Peter 1:1-3:
1. Simon Peter, a bond-servant and apostle of Jesus Christ, To those who
have received a faith of the same kind as ours, by the righteousness of our God
and Savior Jesus Christ: 2. Grace and
peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge God and Jesus our Lord; 3. Seeing that
His divine power has granted to us everything pertaining to life and godliness,
through the true knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and
excellence.
6/28/2012 11:10:08 AM
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