SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 7/24/2012 9:18:05 AM
My Worship Time Focus: Psalm 107 PT-2
Bible Reading &
Meditation Reference: Psalm 107: 17-43
Message of the verses: In Today’s SD we will continue to look at the
107th Psalm. Dr. Wiersbe
writes the following at the end of his introduction in order to help us
understand the outline of this psalm: “Five
specific situations are described involving people who lose something valuable.”
When You Lose Your Health (vv. 17-22): “17 ¶
Fools, because of their rebellious way, And because of their iniquities,
were afflicted. 18 Their soul abhorred
all kinds of food, And they drew near to the gates of death. 19 Then they cried out to the LORD in their
trouble; He saved them out of their distresses. 20 He sent His word and healed them, And
delivered them from their destructions. 21
Let them give thanks to the LORD for His lovingkindness, And for His
wonders to the sons of men! 22 Let them
also offer sacrifices of thanksgiving, And tell of His works with joyful
singing.”
Dr. Wiersbe
writes “In Scripture, sickness is often used as a picture of sin and its
painful consequences, but not all sickness is the result of sin (John 9:1-3;
2Cor. 12:7-10).” I wish to add that
there are times when sin does cause sickness and even death. Paul writes to the Corinthians in chapter 11
these words in which he is speaking about taking the Lord’s Supper without examining
themselves: “28 But a man must examine himself, and in so
doing he is to eat of the bread and drink of the cup. 29 For he who eats and drinks, eats and drinks
judgment to himself if he does not judge the body rightly. 30 For this reason many among you are weak and sick,
and a number sleep.” The word sleep is a
word for believers who die.
We see in
this section from Psalm 107 that the Lord was gracious to some rebels who
became sick because of sinful living and they then cried out to the Lord and He
answered their prayers and healed them right as they were at the gates of death,
and this term “gates of death” is speaking of the word “sheo the land of the
dead (Ps. 9:13; Job 17:16; 38:17; Isa. 38:10).” After the Lord healed these
rebels they were to praise the Lord for His lovingkindness and for His wonders
to the sons of men.
When You Lose Your Hope (vv. 23-32): “23 ¶
Those who go down to the sea in ships, Who do business on great waters;
24 They have seen the works of the LORD,
And His wonders in the deep. 25 For He
spoke and raised up a stormy wind, Which lifted up the waves of the sea.
26 They rose up to the heavens, they
went down to the depths; Their soul melted away in their misery. 27 They reeled and staggered like a drunken man,
And were at their wits’ end. 28 Then
they cried to the LORD in their trouble, And He brought them out of their
distresses. 29 He caused the storm to be
still, So that the waves of the sea were hushed. 30 Then they were glad because they were quiet,
So He guided them to their desired haven. 31
Let them give thanks to the LORD for His lovingkindness, And for His
wonders to the sons of men! 32 Let them
extol Him also in the congregation of the people, And praise Him at the seat of
the elders.”
It is
possible that this section describes the Jewish exiles when they were sent to
Babylon, for they were taken away from their homeland and placed in a land that
they did not know and it may have felt like being out on the sea in a great
storm, but then they called out to the Lord and He answered their prayers and
the storm quieted down and so they began to praise the Lord.
I would
suppose that being out to sea and having a storm come up is one of the scariest
things that can happen to anyone. We read
about a storm in the book of Acts where the apostle Paul who was being taken to
Rome and it was a very long storm in which all the people had given up hope,
yet Paul knew that the Lord had promised to take him to Rome, but even so he
prayed and an angel of the Lord came and spoke to him stating that all the
people in the boat would be spared, but the boat would be lost and it happened
just that way.
As believers
we can go through difficult storms and not be on any water, and the first thing
we should do is to pray and when the Lord answers our prayers the next thing we
should do is give thanks to our gracious Lord.
As believers our hope is in the Lord and also our hope is in the return
of our Lord from heaven in the Rapture to take us to be with Him in heaven.
When You Lose Your Home (vv. 33-43): “33 ¶
He changes rivers into a wilderness And springs of water into a thirsty
ground; 34 A fruitful land into a salt
waste, Because of the wickedness of those who dwell in it. 35 He changes a wilderness into a pool of water
And a dry land into springs of water; 36
And there He makes the hungry to dwell, So that they may establish an
inhabited city, 37 And sow fields and
plant vineyards, And gather a fruitful harvest. 38 Also He blesses them and they multiply
greatly, And He does not let their cattle decrease. 39 When they are diminished and bowed down
Through oppression, misery and sorrow, 40
He pours contempt upon princes And makes them wander in a pathless
waste. 41 But He sets the needy securely
on high away from affliction, And makes his families like a flock. 42 The upright see it and are glad; But all
unrighteousness shuts its mouth. 43 Who
is wise? Let him give heed to these things, And consider the lovingkindnesses
of the LORD.”
There are
sometimes when I am reading in the Psalms and it reminds me of reading in the
book of Proverbs, and this section is one that seems to me like it could be
from the book of Proverbs. When we began
the book of Psalms we learned that it was Hebrew poetry and likewise the book
of Proverbs is Hebrew poetry along with other sections from some of the
prophets and other books like Lamentations, Song of Solomon and
Ecclesiastes. Dr. Wiersbe writes these
words at the beginning of his commentary on the Psalms as he explains Hebrew
Poetry: “Hebrew poetry is based on ‘thought
lines’ and not rhymes. If the second
line repeats the first line in different words, as in Psalm 24:1-3, you have synonymous parallelism. If the second line contrasts with the first,
as in Psalm 1:6 and 37:9, it is antithetic
parallelism. When the second line explains
and expands the first, the writer has used synthetic
parallelism (Ps. 19:7-9), but when the second line completers the first, it
is climactic parallelism (ps.
29:1). With iterative parallelism, the second line repeats the thought of the
first (Ps 93), and in alternate
parallelism, the alternate lines carry the same thought, as in Psalm
103:8-13.”
We see in
this section that the approach changes and it is now on the Lord and not on the
people because we see it is the Lord who can do the things that are described
in this section and not the people. God
can judge the land when both good and evil people live on it, for if a nation
is evil God may cause the weather and the land to change, making things
difficult on the sinful people, and the opposite can also be true. Again we cannot always look at these
situations and determine that when storms come that there are sinful things
happening in the land, but it could be so.
I am reading a book by Joel Rosenberg entitled “Implosion” and the book is
about some end time scenarios that could happen to the United States. Joel Rosenberg is a very accomplished writer
who has written a series of novels that parts of them were coming true in real
life and this was what lifted him to being an accomplished writer and
speaker. Implosion is not a novel, but
is based on Scripture and also things that are happening in the world today
which leads many people to believe that we are at the end of history as we know
it. The biggest thing that has happened
to make people think this is Israel becoming a nation in just one day on May
14, 1948. The prophet Isaiah said that
this would happen: “8 "Who has heard such a thing? Who has
seen such things? Can a land be born in one day? Can a nation be brought forth
all at once? As soon as Zion travailed, she also brought forth her sons.” The prophet Ezekiel in chapters 36-37 also
give an account of Israel becoming a nation again and it was not too long ago
that the leader of Israel spoke publicly that Israel becoming a nation was the
fulfillment of Ezekiel 36-37. In
Rosenberg’s book he speaks of how many weather disasters have been happening to
the United States and one of the things that he writes about in the chapter
describing these things is that in Yellowstone National Park sits what could be
one of the largest volcanoes that could actually cause a tremendous amount of
damage to the entire country, being much more powerful that the volcano that
blew in Iceland a few years back. My
point in all of this is that the Lord is in control of everything including the
weather and He can use weather and natural disasters to judge nations and to
bless nations, which is what the psalmist is writing about in this last section
of Psalm 107.
Spiritual meaning for my life today: As I look at these five pictures in Psalm 107
I can ask what can I learn from them.
Dr. Wiersbe writes: “To be wise
and heed the Word of God (v. 43; Hos. 14:9).
Yes, God shows His love and mercy to the disobedient who repent and call
on His name, but our Father would rather share that love with obedient children who would enjoy it
more (2Cor. 6:14-7:1).” I have also been
reminded the need to praise the Lord for His goodness to me, for this is seen
every day of my life.
My Steps of Faith for
Today: To abide in the Vine so that
I can continue to learn from the Lord and to obey what I have learned.
Memory verses for the week:
2Peter 1:1-7
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 grace and
excellence. 4. For by these He has
granted to us His precious and magnificent promises, so that by them 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 all 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.
and in your godliness brotherly kindness, and in your brotherly kindness, love.
7/24/2012 11:03:21 AM
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