SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 9/10/2012 6:43:45 AM
My Worship Time Focus: Faith and Patience
Bible Reading &
Meditation Reference: Psalm 119:81-88
Message of the verses: Today’s SD marks getting to the middle of
Psalm 119, the longest psalm or chapter in all of Scripture.
Kaph—Faith and Patience (vv. 81-88): “81 Kaph. My soul languishes for Your salvation;
I wait for Your word. 82 My eyes fail with longing for Your word,
While I say, "When will You comfort me?" 83 Though I have become like a wineskin in
the smoke, I do not forget Your statutes.
84 How many are the days of Your servant? When will You execute judgment
on those who persecute me? 85 The
arrogant have dug pits for me, Men who are not in accord with Your law. 86 All
Your commandments are faithful; They have persecuted me with a lie; help me! 87
They almost destroyed me on earth, But as for me, I did not forsake Your
precepts. 88 Revive me according to Your
lovingkindness, So that I may keep the testimony of Your mouth.”
Jesus says
the following in John 16:33, “’These things I have spoken to you, so that in Me
you may have peace. In the world you have tribulation, but take courage; I have
overcome the world.’” As believers we
can expect persecution, and in the country that I live in the name of Jesus
cannot be mentioned in the schools, although it is ok to mention other
religions, just not Christianity. While watching a news program last night on
TV this subject came up and there are people who are rising up to do things
about it, and by God’s grace this freedom will not be taken away from us, but
if it is God is still God and He will care for us just as He cared for the
psalmist who wrote this psalm. The devil
is out to destroy the Jewish nation, from the time that they left Egypt up
until today as we see that they are surrounded by enemies in the Middle East
this very day, and this will continue until he is put into chains and then put
into the pit at the end of the tribulation period. The enemies of the psalmist were the enemies
of God and the enemies of those who fight against the Church today as also the
enemies of God. We must take courage for
I have read the last chapter and we win!
Fainting by hoping (vv. 81-83): “My soul languishes for Your salvation; I wait
for Your word. 82 My eyes fail with longing for Your word,
While I say, "When will You comfort me?" 83 Though I have become like a wineskin in
the smoke, I do not forget Your statutes.”
Raymond Edman
wrote “IT is always too soon to quit,” and these words were true of the
psalmist, for although he was dried up like a worn out wine skin his hope was
still in the Lord as he awaited the Lord to care for his troubles. The psalmist hoped in the Word of God and the
God of the Word.
Questing but waiting (vv. 84-85): “84 How many are the days of Your servant?
When will You execute judgment on those who persecute me? 85 The arrogant have dug pits for me, Men who
are not in accord with Your law.”
Hebrews
6:11-12 says, “11 And we desire that
each one of you show the
same diligence so
as to realize the full assurance of hope until the end, 12 so that you will not be sluggish, but imitators of those who through
faith and patience inherit the promises.” Romans 15:4 says, “For whatever was written
in earlier times was written for our instruction, so that through perseverance and the encouragement of the
Scriptures we might have hope.”
Next time
you are waiting in a traffic jam or at a long checkout line think about this
section of Scripture, and remember that it is hard to wait for things that we
see, but harder to wait upon the Lord that we do not see, but place our hope
and trust in. The psalmist was questing
about his circumstances, but his hope was in the Lord.
Trusting and reviving (vv. 86-88): “86 All Your commandments are faithful;
They have persecuted me with a lie; help me! 87 They almost destroyed me on
earth, But as for me, I did not forsake Your precepts. 88 Revive me according to Your lovingkindness, So that I may keep
the testimony of Your mouth.”
Revival is
what our country needs and what I hope and pray for, and that is what the
psalmist was asking for at the end of this section.
There are
times when our enemies spread lies about us, and that is when we are to put our
trust in the Lord, and in His Word like the psalmist was doing, as seen in verse
86. Dr. Wiersbe writes, “When the Father
allows His children to go into the furnace of affliction, He keeps His eye on
the clock and His hand on the thermostat.
He knows how long and how much.
To walk by faith will bring unrest and weakness, but to meditate on the
Word will bring peace and power.” One of
the founders of the General Association of Regular Baptist Churches, Robert T.
Ketcham wrote “Your Father in heaven loves you too much to harm you, and He is
too wise to make a mistake.”
Spiritual meaning for my life today: I see in this section the psalmist possessing
faith and hope and patience along with contentment, and these are qualities
that are good to have, and qualities I too need to trust the Lord to help me
with, so that I can demonstrate them.
My Steps of Faith for
Today: Continue to learn contentment
and to demonstrate patience, knowing that the Lord does indeed have all things
worked out for my good.
Memory verses for the week:
1Cor. 13:1-4.
1 If I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but do
not have love, I have become a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. 2 And if I have the gift of prophecy, and
know all mysteries and have all knowledge, and have all fait so as to remove mountains,
but do not have love, I am nothing. 3
And if I give all my possessions to feed the poor, and surrender my body to be
burned, and do not have love, it profits me nothing.
4 Love is patient, love is kind, and is not jealous; love
does not brag, and is not arrogant.
9/10/2012 7:37:19 AM
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