SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 7/20/2012
7:03:29 PM
My Worship Time Focus: Psalm 106 PT-3
Bible Reading &
Meditation Reference: Psalm 106:24-33
Message of the verses: In Today’s SD we will look at the next two
main points from Psalm 106. We must
remember that this psalm is the last of Book IV in the book of psalms, and it
was written by an anonymous author probably after the Jews returned from captivity
from Babylon. It is line witnessing
autopsy of the nation of Israel, but we must remember that we are to keep our
eyes on our Savior as we study this psalm for then we will see His kindness and
faithfulness to His sinful people.
Remember that our Lord only uses sinful people to accomplish His plans,
for when you stop and think about it sinful people are the only people on this
earth for God to use, for there are no other kinds of people for the Word says “all
have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” The good news is that Jesus died for sinful
people and “if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your
heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.”
Tragic Failure (vv. 24-27): “24 Then they despised the pleasant land; They
did not believe in His word, 25 But
grumbled in their tents; They did not listen to the voice of the LORD. 26 Therefore He swore to them That He would cast
them down in the wilderness, 27 And that
He would cast their seed among the nations And scatter them in the lands.”
Israel spent about two years in
the wilderness when they came out of Egypt, and during this time they received
the Law, and Moses spent time with the Lord in order to write the first books
of the Bible, and Israel built the tabernacle and all of the items needed for
worship. At the end of these two years
Israel was on the edge of going into the Promised Land as they were camped at
Kadesh Barnea ready to triumphantly go into the land that God had promised to
give to the offspring of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. However a problem arose again with the people
and they came to Moses and ask him to send twelve spies into the Promised Land
to see what was there. Now you don’t
find this out until your read the book of Deuteronomy when Moses speaks of this
to the next generation of the children of Israel. Dr. Wiersbe writes “Israel did not need more
facts; they needed more faith.” The
spies were in the land for forty days and when they came back ten of the spies
reported that there was no way that they could conquer these people for they
were large and they lived in walled cities.
Two of the spies reported that God would fight for them and that they
would defeat these inhabitants that were in the land. A couple of points that will help us
understand this better. God had told
Abraham that one of the reasons that the children of Israel would be in Egypt
was because the iniquity of those who were living in this land had not been
complete, “12 ¶ Now when the sun was
going down, a deep sleep fell upon Abram; and behold, terror and great darkness
fell upon him. 13 God said to Abram,
"Know for certain that your descendants will be strangers in a land that
is not theirs, where they will be enslaved and oppressed four hundred years.
14 "But I will also judge the
nation whom they will serve, and afterward they will come out with many possessions.
15 "As for you, you shall go to your
fathers in peace; you will be buried at a good old age. 16 "Then in the fourth generation they will
return here, for the iniquity of the Amorite is not yet complete.’” (Genesis 15:12-16)
When we get
to the time, (38 years later), that the children of Israel were again going to
cross over into the Promised Land Joshua would send two spies into the city of
Jericho to see what the situation was there.
The spies ended up in the house of a prostitute who told them something
that was very interesting. She told them
that the people had lived in fear for many years because of the children of
Israel, for they had heard about what the Lord had done to the Egyptians, how
He had destroyed Egypt with ten plagues.
Again we see that the ten spies were wrong and Israel should have
trusted the Lord. After the incident at
Kadesh Barnea the first time God was again angry with Israel and told them that
they would march around the wilderness for forty years, a year for each day the
spies were in the Promised Land and during that time all those who were over
the age of twenty would die in the wilderness.
Dr. Wiersbe writes “This is what happens when we want our own way and
refuse to trust the Lord and obey Him.”
Costly Disobedience (vv. 28-33): “28
They joined themselves also to Baal-peor, And ate sacrifices offered to
the dead. 29 Thus they provoked Him to
anger with their deeds, And the plague broke out among them. 30 Then Phinehas stood up and interposed, And so
the plague was stayed. 31 And it was
reckoned to him for righteousness, To all generations forever. 32 They also provoked Him to wrath at the waters
of Meribah, So that it went hard with Moses on their account; 33 Because they were rebellious against His
Spirit, He spoke rashly with his lips.”
I will try
to explain about the first of two disobediences of the children of Israel and
then will allow the text of Dr. Wiersbe explain the second. We read in Numbers chapters 22-24 that the
king of Moab hired a “prophet” named Baalam to curse Israel, but God turned the
cursing into blessings which was very upsetting to the king of Moab. Baalam told the king of Moab to invite the
Jewish tribal leaders to share a feast with them and it was during this feast that
they ate meat offered to demons and also slept with cult prostitutes, and this
angered the Lord so he sent a plague and according to Num. 25:9 24,000 from
Israel died and more would have died if not for the High Priest’s son Phinehas
who killed a Jewish man and his Moabite partner who sinning in the camp of
Israel. Phinehas was treated with honor
by the Lord because of his hatred of sin.
“The second
demonstration of carnality was seen in Moses, not a sin of the flesh but of the
spirit: he became proud and angry and
took for himself the glory that belonged only to the Lord (Num. 20:1-13). Provoked by the people, the ‘pride of life’
possessed Moses and he lost his temper and spoke rash words that offended the
Lord (Ps. 78:40; Isa. 63:10; 1John 2:15-17).
This sin cost Moses the privilege of leading the people into the
Promised Land (Deut. 3:23-20). ‘Meribah’
means ‘quarreling’ (see Ex. 17:1-7).”
Spiritual meaning for my life today: One of the things that I learn from this
section or at least have been reminded of, is that God is not a respecter of
people for God is holy and cannot stand sin, which is what Moses did, and even
though Moses did many, many wonderful things in serving the Lord he lost his
privilege of leading the people into the Promised Land because of sin. I cannot live on past merits, and neither can
anyone else.
My Steps of Faith for
Today: Remember the need of having
the spiritual armor on.
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 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
you may 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. and in your knowledge, self-control, and in your self-control, perseverance,
and in your perseverance, godliness
7/20/2012 7:59:13 PM
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