SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 8/7/2012 8:19:48 AM
My Worship Time Focus: Psalm 112- PT-1
Bible Reading &
Meditation Reference: Psalm 112:1
Message of the verses: In Today’s SD we will begin to look at Psalm
112 by looking at several introductions from different Bible Commentators so
that we can get a better idea of what the psalmist is presenting to us in this
psalm.
“There is
no title to this psalm, but it is evidently a companion to the hundred and
eleventh, and, like it, it is an alphabetical psalm. Even in the number of
verses, and clauses of each verse, it coincides with its predecessor, as also
in many of its words and phrases. The reader should carefully compare the two
psalms line by line. The subject of the poem before us is — the blessedness of
the righteous man, and so it bears the same relation to the preceding which the
moon does to the sun; for, while the first declares the glory of God, the
second speaks of the reflection of the divine brightness in men born from
above. God is here praised for the manifestation of his glory which is seen in
his people, just as in the preceding psalm he was magnified for his own
personal acts. The hundred and eleventh speaks of the great Father, and this
describes his children renewed after his image. The psalm cannot be viewed as
the extolling of man, for it commences with "Praise ye the Lord;" and
it is intended to give to God all the honour of his grace which is manifested
in the sons of God.” (Charles H.
Spurgeon)
At the end
of Warren Wiersbe’s commentary on the 111th Psalm he writes the
following in order to tell us what to look forward to in the 112th
Psalm. “The word ‘beginning’ means ‘the
principal part,’ and without this we are unprepared to learn God’s truth. But fearing the Lord leads to obeying the
Lord, and obedience is important to spiritual understanding (John 7:17). How all of this works out in our practical
daily life is explained in the next psalm.”
(The 112th Psalm)
“In the
previous psalm, the writer extolled the Lord for His great and marvelous works,
and he ended by admonishing us to fear the Lord and obey His precepts (111:10). The blessings of obeying that admonition are
described in 112 (Note v. 1). Like 111,
this psalm is an acrostic, and you will find the vocabulary of 112 similar to that
of 111. Both psalms use delight (111:2;
112:1, righteousness (111:3; 112:3-4, 6, 9), established (111:8; 112:8), grace
and compassion (111:4; 112:4), and just (111:7; 112:5). Both psalms must be read in light of God’s
covenant with Israel in which He promises to bless them if they fear Him and
obey His Word (Lev. 26:1-13); Deut. 28:1-14).
Nothing is said about the wife and mother in this home, but surely a man
of such godly character would have a wife like the one described in Proverbs
31. We must not conclude that , on the
basis of this psalm, all believers today can claim health, wealth, success, and
happiness if they faithfully obey the Lord, for this promise is not found in
the new covenant. For that matter, the
believer described in this psalm had times of darkness (v. 4), occasionally
received bad news (v. 7), had his enemies (vv. 8, 10), and had to consider the justice
of his decisions (v. 5). We who live
under the new covenant have in Jesus Christ every spiritual blessings that we
will ever need (Eph. 1:3; 2Peter 1:3-4), and we have the promise that our God
will meet our needs (Phil. 4:19). The
attributes of God given in 111 become the character qualities of the godly
believer in 112, for becoming more and more like Jesus Christ is the greatest
reward of a faithful life of obedience (Rom 8:29; 2Cor. 3:18). We want more than the blessing; we want to be
like the One who gives the blessing. The
psalmist describes the faithful believer in various relationships of life.” (Warren Wiersbe).
Our Relationship to the Lord (v. 1): “1 ¶
Praise the LORD! How blessed is the man who fears the LORD, Who greatly
delights in His commandments.”
I have not ever read any
commentary on who the author of the 111th and the 112th
Psalms are, but it would not surprise me to find out that the author of the 119th
Psalm is the same as the author of these two Psalms.
We see in
verse seven that the psalmist talks about fearing bad news, and then in verse
eight he speaks of fearing his enemies, but in verse one he writes about
fearing the Lord, and if a believer fears the Lord he will not have to fear
anything else. Solomon writes a lot of
things in the book of Ecc. that have to do with human wisdom, which is not too
good as he found out, but at the end of his writing he understands what is the
most important thing to do when he writes, “Fear God and keep His commandments,
for this is the whole duty of man,” (Eccl. 12:13).The psalmist who wrote the
112th Psalm would agree with Solomon.
When we
have small children we teach them that they should not cross the street without
looking both ways, and we teach them that the stove is hot, and we teach them
not to talk to strangers, these are all rational fears that energize us and
protect us and our children. Dr. Wiersbe
writes “The psalmist is writing about fears that can paralyze us and make life
miserable. To overcome these fears, we
cultivate a right relationship with the Lord:
we fear Him, learn His will from His Word, and obey His commands. Learning His will and doing it is not a
burdensome thing, because we delight in His Word (Ps. 1:2; 119:16, 35, 47-48,
70, 97, 143). Fear and delight can live
together in the same heart because they are tied together by love (Ps. 1:11;
119:19-20; 1John 4:16-19). Because we
love the Lord, His commands are not burdensome to us (1John 5:3).”
We have
already written about the 112th Psalm being written about a person,
a man as can be seen in verse one. This
man fears the Lord first of all and this man keeps the commandments of the
Lord, and delights in keeping the commandments of the Lord. With this said we have to realize that when
God made man and then made a woman they both kept perfectly the Law or
commandment that God gave them to keep for a while. Then came the fall in the garden and all of a
sudden man dies spiritually and will then die physically because of his
sin. Now man does not have a desire to
follow the commands of the Lord because he has a sinful nature that he is born
with. When a person is “born again” or “born
from above” they receive a new nature however they still have the old nature
and so the believer now has two natures.
I heard about a Native American Indian who became a believer in Jesus Christ
and after a while he came to his pastor to get some counseling. He told his pastor that he had two dogs
living in him, a black dog that always want to do wrong and a white dog that
always want to do good. His pastor asked
him which one he obeyed, and the Indian told his pastor the one that I say
sickem to. Yes the Christian life is, at
times complicated for we have two natures and we have the world, the flesh, and
the devil as our enemies, but we also have a new nature that always wants to
obey the Lord, and we have the Holy Spirit living in us to guide us and to help
us understand the Word of God. We should
also have a Bible believing church to attend where we can receive help from
pastors, and other friends that have a like faith.
Dr. Wiersbe
writes the following that is true, but it is also difficult to follow as he
writes about the man described in Psalm 112:
“The person described in this psalm praises the Lord in worship, stands
in awe of the Lord, delights in fellowship with the Lord, and seeks to obey the
Lord. This kind of life brings blessing
to the entire family (Pss. 34:8-14; 37:25; 127:3-5; 128:3). If our life doesn’t
make an impact at home, among people we know and love, it is not going to make
much of a difference out in the marketplace where people blaspheme the name of
the Lord.”
Spiritual meaning for my life today: I desire to have my spiritual life to be an
impact at home, which is probably the most difficult place to have it make an
impact because the people in your home know you the best. I also desire to fear the Lord and obey His
commandments.
My Steps of Faith for
Today: Continue to abide in the
vine. Continue to work hard at my memory
verses in order to apply them in my life and to meditate on them.
Memory verses for the week:
2Peter 1:1-9
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 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 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. 8 For if these qualities are yours
and are increasing, they render you neither useless nor unfruitful in the true
knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.
9 For he who lacks these
qualities is blind or short-sighted, having forgot his purifications from his
former sins.
8/7/2012 10:03:31 AM
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