SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 7/18/2012 6:58:24 AM
My Worship Time Focus: Psalm 106 PT-1
Bible Reading &
Meditation Reference: Psalm 106:1-6
Message of the verses: In Today’s SD we will begin to look at the
106th Psalm by looking at several introductions from different Bible
Commentators and then look at the first main section of the psalm.
“After
reading this psalm, we might be tempted t say, ‘Those Israelites were certainly
a sorry band of sinners!’ Instead, we
ought to be commending the psalmist for telling the truth about his own
people. Most historians present their
nations in the best possible light and blame other nations rather than their
own, but our anonymous psalmist told the truth.
‘History will bear me out,’ said Sir Winston Churchill, ‘particularly as
I shall write that history myself.’ But the writer is also to be commended for
identifying himself with his struggling people and saying ‘We have sinned’ and ‘Save us’
(vv. 6 and 47, italics mine). We noted
that 105 said nothing about Israel’s failings, but that deficiency is remedied
by 106. However, the purpose of the
psalm is not to condemn Israel but to extol the Lord for His longsuffering and
mercy toward His people. In order to
glorify God, the writer had to place God’s mercies against the dark background
of Israel’s repeated disobedience. The
psalm was probably written after the Babylonian captivity, when the Jewish
people were scattered and a remnant had returned to the land to rebuild the
temple and restore the nation (vv. 44-47).
After expressing his praise to the Lord (vv. 1-6), the writer pointed
out nine serious offenses the nation had committed. He began with the Exodus and closed with the
Babylonian captivity, and at the heart of the list he placed Israel’s rebellion
at Kadesh Barnea He did not arrange
these selected events in order of their occurrence, for his purpose was to
teach us theology and not chronology. (Warren
Wiersbe)
“Psalm 106
rehearses God’s mercy during Israel’s history in spite of Israel’s sinfulness
(cf. Ne 9:1-38; Ps 78; Is 63:7—64:12; Eze 20:1-44; Da 9:1-19; Ac 7:2-53; 1Co
10:1-13). The occasion for this psalm is
most likely the repentance (v6) of post-Exilic Jews who had returned to
Jerusalem (vv. 46, 47). Verses 1, 47, 48
seem to be borrowed from 1Ch 16:34-36, which was sung on the occasion of the
ark’s first being brought to Jerusalem by David (cf. 2Sa 6:12-19; 1Ch
16:1-7). True revival appears to be the psalmist
intention.” (The John MacArthur Study
Bible)
I want to
mention a couple of things before I begin to comment on this psalm, and that is
the 106th Psalm is the last psalm in the fourth book that is
contained in the Psalms. This is a
fairly long psalm and so it will take us several days to get through what this
psalm contains. It is more important to
go slowly through this psalm as if we were mining for gold, than to speed
through it and miss some of the nuggets of truth that are found here. Lastly, I am reading a book at this time
entitled “Implosion” by Joel Rosenberg. The
book has just come out and the purpose of the book is to tell people of the
peril that our country is in at this time in history. The cure for this peril is revival and it
seems that that was at least one of the purposes of the author of Psalm
106.
Joyful Faith (vv. 1-6): “1 ¶
Praise the LORD! Oh give thanks to the LORD, for He is good; For His
lovingkindness is everlasting. 2 Who can
speak of the mighty deeds of the LORD, Or can show forth all His praise? 3 How blessed are those who keep justice, Who
practice righteousness at all times! 4
Remember me, O LORD, in Your favor toward Your people; Visit me with
Your salvation, 5 That I may see the
prosperity of Your chosen ones, That I may rejoice in the gladness of Your
nation, That I may glory with Your inheritance. 6 We have sinned like our fathers, We have
committed iniquity, we have behaved wickedly.”
My first
thought as I read these six verses is that this would be a wonderful prayer for
the concerns that I have for our country, a prayer worth praying often for a
revival that is greatly needed here, and I suppose around the world.
The psalm
begins with praise to the Lord before the psalmist looks back at the sinful
history of the people of Israel. 1Thes.
5:18 says, “in everything give thanks; for this is God’s will for you in Christ
Jesus.” The psalmist was doing this even
thought the times were very bad because of the sinfulness of the nation of
Israel. We know that this did not come
as a surprise to God that all of these things would happen to Israel for when
we look at the 28th chapter of Deuteronomy we find that Moses wrote
through the inspiration of the Holy Spirit even before Israel would cross the
Jordan River to enter the Promised Land that this would occur, and he also
wrote that it would occur again, which it did in 70 A. D. God had sent His prophets to tell the children
of Israel that the destruction of Jerusalem and His temple was coming, but as
Jesus said to the sinful people when He was on earth that they killed the
prophets because they did not want to hear the truth. They also killed the Lord of Glory for the
same reason. In Acts chapter seven Stephen
gives a similar account of what the psalmist gives in Psalm 106, and he also
speaks of killing the prophets who were doing the will of God in telling the
people the truth. I have just finished
reading the book of Jeremiah as I read through the Bible and in his book we
read of the awful things that the people did to Jeremiah because they did not
believe that he was sent from God to tell them the truth. There comes a time in a person’s life and in
the life of a nation when, as Paul writes in Romans chapter one that God will
give them over to what they are doing, and this is a very dangerous time in the
life of that person or that nation.
The
psalmist includes himself as a sinner as seen in verse six where he writes “We
have sinned like our fathers, We have committed iniquity, we have behaved
wickedly.” He did not say that his
forefathers sinned, but we have sinned.
In the books of Nehemiah and Daniel we read the same thing, as both
Nehemiah and Daniel confess the sins of their fathers and include themselves in
their confession. Take a moment to read
through the first nineteen verses of Daniel chapter nine to see the confession
that Daniel makes along with true intercessory prayer.
Dr. Wiersbe
concludes this section in his commentary on it by writing “As we study this
psalm, it may be like witnessing an autopsy, but we will benefit from it if,
like the psalmist, we keep our eyes on the Lord of glory and see His kindness
and faithfulness to His sinful people.”
Spiritual meaning for my life today: I think that remembering the attributes of
God is very helpful in the study of Psalm 106, for we know that God is love,
but we also know that God is just and therefore He must punish sin. The attributes of God help us to understand
who God is and therefore we will not have a tendency to “put God in a box” as
some people do. God was just in his
judging Israel and merciful in allowing them to return to their land. We also know that this was part of God’s
plan, for He was going to bring Messiah into the world after He brought Israel
back into the land of Israel. God has
again brought Israel back into their land beginning on May 14, 1948, and I
believe that the Bible teaches that Messiah will soon return to planet earth
again.
My Steps of Faith for
Today: Continue to trust the Lord to
use me in the way that He has planned to use me, as I desire to remain or abide
in the Vine to get my marching orders from the Lord.
Memory verses for the week:
2Peter 1:1-6
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 by 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 righteousness. 4. For by these He has granted to us His
precious and magnificent promises, so that by them 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,
6. in your knowledge self-control, in your self-control perseverance, and in
your perseverance godliness, and in your godliness, love.
7/18/2012 8:23:16 AM
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