SPIRITIUAL DIARY FOR 7/11/2012 7:52:08 AM
My Worship Time Focus: Psalm PT-2
Bible Reading &
Meditation Reference: Psalm 104:10-23, 27-30
Message of the verses: In Today’s SD we will continue to look at
Psalm 104, a psalm that talks about creation.
We looked at several introductions to the psalm yesterday along with
looking at the first paragraph.
The Generosity of Our God (vv. 10-23,
27-30): “10 ¶ He sends forth springs in the valleys; They
flow between the mountains; 11 They give
drink to every beast of the field; The wild donkeys quench their thirst. 12 Beside them the birds of the heavens dwell;
They lift up their voices among the branches. 13 He waters the mountains from His upper
chambers; The earth is satisfied with the fruit of His works. 14 He causes the grass to grow for the cattle,
And vegetation for the labor of man, So that he may bring forth food from the
earth, 15 And wine which makes man’s
heart glad, So that he may make his face glisten with oil, And food which
sustains man’s heart. 16 The trees of
the LORD drink their fill, The cedars of Lebanon which He planted, 17 Where the birds build their nests, And the
stork, whose home is the fir trees. 18
The high mountains are for the wild goats; The cliffs are a refuge for
the shephanim.
“19 ¶ He made the moon for the seasons; The sun
knows the place of its setting. 20 You
appoint darkness and it becomes night, In which all the beasts of the forest
prowl about. 21 The young lions roar
after their prey And seek their food from God. 22 When the sun rises they withdraw And lie down
in their dens. 23 Man goes forth to his
work And to his labor until evening.--
27 They all wait for
You To give them their food in due season. 28
You give to them, they gather it up; You open Your hand, they are
satisfied with good. 29 You hide Your
face, they are dismayed; You take away their spirit, they expire And return to
their dust. 30 You send forth Your
Spirit, they are created; And You renew the face of the ground.”
When people
look at creation there are some that believe that God created everything that
can be seen and then because of man’s sin He just withdrew from what is
happening on planet earth lets the earth and all that is in it kind of run down
like a clock or watch that is not powered by electricity or a battery. Of
course there as some who believe that this was just an accident that we evolved
from lower beings. However neither of
these “theories” are correct for God is in control of all things, and is
constantly at work according to the tenses of the verbs that we find in this
passage. We see in this section that God
has given water for the animals to drink and also for humans to drink, and we
see that God has provided food for both animals and humans to eat. I have mentioned in earlier SD’s that this
would be understood to be “common grace,” for God gives food to those who are
believers and those who are not. When
man fell into sin in the garden God told Adam that he would have to work hard in
order to get his food, and getting food has always taken a great deal of work
since the fall of man. Even with the advanced
technology we have today it still takes a great deal of work to grow food.
We see in
this passage that God provides wine, oil, and bread which were the three basics
in the life of the people in biblical days.
Now I must mention that the wine was diluted with water and that
drunkenness was not acceptable. (See Judges 9:13, and Eccl. 10:19.) Dr. Wiersbe writes “wine, oil, and water are
symbols of the Holy Spirit (Eph. 5:18; John 7:37-39; Zech. 4:1-7), and bread
speaks of the nourishing Word of God (Matt. 4:4). God has written spiritual truths into the
very world of nature.”
Now we have
to look at the days, and nights, and the seasons of the year, for without these
there could not be fruitfulness on earth, so the psalmist praises the Lord for
the sun and moon. Without these cycles
things would grind to a halt. When I was
younger there was a popular song that came out and the words to that song came
from the book of Ecclesiastes 3:1-8 as Solomon wrote the following: “1 ¶
To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the
heaven: 2 A time to be born, and a time
to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up that which is planted; 3 A time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to
break down, and a time to build up; 4 A
time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance; 5 A time to cast away stones, and a time to
gather stones together; a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from
embracing; 6 A time to get, and a time
to lose; a time to keep, and a time to cast away; 7 A time to rend, and a time to sew; a time to
keep silence, and a time to speak; 8 A
time to love, and a time to hate; a time of war, and a time of peace.”
Dr. Wiersbe
writes “All of creation looks expectantly to the Lord to provide what it needs
(vv. 27-30), and He does so generously.
However, people made in the image of God think they can ‘make it’
alone. Yet God provides the very breath
in our nostrils, and when He turns it off we die (Gen. 2:7; Eccl. 12:7). On the first day of creation, the Holy Spirit
brooded over the waters (Gen. 1:1-2), and that same Spirit also provides life
and power to the church, God’s ‘new creation.’
Mankind has learned to control a great deal of nature, but the issues of
life and death are still in the hands of God.
How generous He is to a world that ignores Him, and rebels against Him,
and rarely gives thanks for His generous gifts.
(Ponder Job 34:14-15; Acts 17:25-28; Col. 1:17)”
Job
34:14-15, “14 "If He should
determine to do so, If He should gather to Himself His spirit and His breath,
15 All flesh would perish together, And
man would return to dust.”
Acts
17:25-28 “nor is He served by human hands, as though He needed anything, since
He Himself gives to all people life and breath and all things; 26 and He made from one man every nation of mankind
to live on all the face of the earth, having determined their appointed times
and the boundaries of their habitation, 27
that they would seek God, if perhaps they might grope for Him and find
Him, though He is not far from each one of us; 28 for in Him we live and move and exist, as
even some of your own poets have said, ’For we also are His children.’”
Col. 1:17 “17 He is before all things, and in Him all
things hold together.”
Spiritual meaning for my life today: I try and begin my prayers by confessing to
the Lord any sin that I have committed against Him in order to have sweet
fellowship with Him, and then the next things that I do is to praise the Lord
for some of the attributes that He has, things like God’s holiness, goodness,
compassion, all knowledge, all wisdom, all power, that He is everywhere, that
He is Love and that He is just. I need
to praise the Lord for all the provisions that He has provided for me and
praise Him for the very air that I breathe.
As I read through this psalm and the other Scriptures I am convicted
that I need to praise the Lord for all things He has done for me, but most of
all for the great salvation that He has provided for me by His Son as He
purchased me by dying on the cross in order to pay for my sins. Halleluiah What A Savior!
My Steps of Faith for
Today: To praise the Lord for all
that He has done for me.
Memory verses for the week:
2Peter 1:1-5
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 of God and of 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. 4. For by these He has granted to us His
precious and magnificent promises, so that we can become partakers of the
divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world by lust.
5. Now for
this very reason also, applying all diligence, in your faith supply moral
excellence, and in your moral excellence, knowledge,
7/11/2012 8:46:57 AM
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