SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR
6/13/2012 9:46:13 AM
My Worship Time Focus: Psalm 94 (Introduction)
Bible Reading &
Meditation Reference: Psalm 94:1-7
Message of the verses: We will begin this psalm like we have begun
many others, and that is by looking at some different introductions from Bible
Commentators whom I have access.
“SUBJECT.
The writer sees evil doers in power, and smarts under their oppressions. His
sense of the divine sovereignty, of which he had been singing in the previous
Psalm, leads him to appeal to God as the great Judge of the earth; this he does
with much vehemence and importunity, evidently tingling under the lash of the
oppressor. Confident in God’s existence, and assured of his personal
observation of the doings of men, the psalmist rebukes his atheistic
adversaries, and proclaims his triumph in his God: he also interprets the
severe dispensation of Providence to be in very deed most instructive
chastisements, and so he counts those happy who endure them. The Psalm is
another pathetic form of the old enigma —" Wherefore do the wicked
prosper?" It is another instance of a good man perplexed by the prosperity
of the ungodly, cheering his heart by remembering that there is, after all, a
King in heaven, by whom all things are overruled for good.” (Charles H. Spurgeon)
“The
psalmist’s urgent concern in this psalm is that the righteous are being
oppressed, the wicked are prospering, and it does not look as though God
cares. The psalmist thus pleads with God
to punish the wicked (cf. Pss. 73, 82).”
(The John MacArthur Study Bible)
“Along with
10, 14, 73, and 92, the writer deals with the seeming triumph of the wicked and
the unjust treatment of the helpless.
But it is not foreign conquerors who were guilty, but the leaders of the
nation cooperating with the local judges.
Even the king was abusing the people by issuing unjust edicts
(v.20). Perhaps the psalm came out of
the sufferings of the godly during the reign of wicked King Manasseh (2Kings
21), whom the Lord blamed for the destruction of Jerusalem (2Kings
24:1-4). But why is this psalm included
in the section that magnifies the kingship of the Lord (93-100)? Because few problems cause God’s people to
question His rule more than, ‘Why do the helpless and the godly suffer and the
wicked get away with their crimes?’ When
it comes to dealing with the injustices in society, the psalm teaches us that
the righteous have four responsibilities.”
(Warren Wiersbe)
Praying to the Lord for Justice (vv.
1-7): “1 ¶ O LORD, God of vengeance, God of vengeance,
shine forth! 2 Rise up, O Judge of the
earth, Render recompense to the proud. 3
How long shall the wicked, O LORD, How long shall the wicked exult? 4 They pour forth words, they speak arrogantly;
All who do wickedness vaunt themselves. 5
They crush Your people, O LORD, And afflict Your heritage. 6 They slay the widow and the stranger And
murder the orphans. 7 They have said,
"The LORD does not see, Nor does the God of Jacob pay heed.’” (NASB)
“1 ¶ O LORD, the God of vengeance, O God of vengeance, let your glorious justice
shine forth! 2 Arise, O judge of the
earth. Give the proud what they deserve.
3 How long, O LORD? How long will the wicked be allowed to gloat?
4 How long will they speak with
arrogance? How long will these evil
people boast? 5 They crush your people,
LORD, hurting those you claim as your
own. 6 They kill widows and
foreigners and murder orphans. 7 “The LORD isn’t looking, ‘they say, “and besides, the God of Israel doesn’t
care.’’” (NLT)
I have
written about the attributes of God in the past, but there is that attribute of
justice that is seen in this psalm that we must understand if we are to
understand who God is. We see the word “vengeance”
in verse one of this psalm and many people get this mixed up with the word “revenge.” Revenge often speaks of being vindictive, and
this would mean that God may be having a temper tantrum and that is why He is
avenging those who have wronged. God’s
justice has to be completed for God is holy, which is another, and perhaps the
most important attribute that He has.
When we look at salvation in light of God’s justice we know that sin had
to be paid for because God is just and so it was because of God’s love for the
lost that He sent His Son to pay the price of sin, and when Jesus hung on the
cross and the world was dark He was making sure that the justice of God was
satisfied.
Now in the
case of this section of Psalm 94 we see the psalmist crying out to God for
justice upon those who are breaking God’s Laws.
Dr. Wiersbe writes “to avenge’ means to uphold the law and give justice
to those who have been wronged. Since
the Lord is omniscient, He is able to judge motives as well as actions and deal
with situations and people justly.”
I want to
make one more point from this section and that is from verse seven where we
read that the wicked think that the Lord is not looking and so they can do what
they want. I can say that the psalmist does
say that these wicked people know that there is a God, but believe He is just
not looking, but we know that this is wrong for another of God’s attributes is
that He is omnipresent.
In our world today we see that the wicked today are actually
trying to tell people that there is no God at all, and to me, this is worse that
these wicked people in this psalm. Today
we see the “Theory of Evolution” as one of the most dangerous teachings in our
world today, for the teaching of this “false religion” is that the world was
not created, but it just happened by an accident and thus we are not accountable
to God who did create the world.
Okay I do
have one more point and so the one before this one was not the last for me from
this section. The psalmist talks about widows,
orphans, and foreigners in this section and these are special people that God
looks out for. There are many different
passages to show this but let us look at a couple, “20 "He who sacrifices to any god, other
than to the LORD alone, shall be utterly destroyed. 21 "You shall not wrong a stranger or
oppress him, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt. 22 "You shall not afflict any widow or
orphan. 23 "If you afflict him at
all, and if he does cry out to Me, I will surely hear his cry; 24 and My anger will be kindled, and I will kill
you with the sword, and your wives shall become widows and your children
fatherless.” (Ex. 22:20-24) “18
"He executes justice for the orphan and the widow, and shows His
love for the alien by giving him food and clothing. 19 "So show your love for the alien, for
you were aliens in the land of Egypt.”
(Deu. 10:18-19) “17 Learn to do good; Seek justice, Reprove the ruthless,
Defend the orphan, Plead for the widow.”
(Isa. 1:17)
Spiritual meaning for my life today: It was a number of years ago that I was
leading a class at church. I was
teaching on the life of Abraham and I don’t remember exactly how the subject of
justice came up but I do remember that it did, and what I remember was that as
believers, we are to ask the Lord for justice on those who are doing wrong, but
we are also to remember that God will answer it in His timing. If God would care for the things we do wrong
right away we would not like that and so we have to have patience that one day
all of God’s wrath will be satisfied, and so we must wait for God’s timing, but
we are still to pray. Re 15:1 Then I saw another sign in heaven, great and
marvelous, seven angels who had seven plagues, which are the last, because in
them the wrath of God is finished.”
My Steps of Faith for
Today: Trust the Lord as I desire to
remain or abide in the Vine so that I can do what the Lord has for Me to do,
and do it in His power for His glory.
Memory verse for the week:
2Peter 2:1, 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.
6/13/2012 11:05:57 AM
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