The Lord Hears Our Prayers (Psalm 142:1-2)

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 11/30/2012 8:19:38 AM

 

My Worship Time                                                               Focus:  Psalm 142 PT-1

 

Bible Reading & Meditation                                             Reference:  Psalm 142:1-2

 

            Message of the verses:  We will begin to look at the 142^nd Psalm in Today’s Spiritual Diary by looking at several introductions to the psalm by different Bible Commentators in order to get a good idea what this psalm is saying to us.

 

            “This psalm is called a prayer, as some others are, the ninetieth and hundred second psalms: and was composed by David when either in the cave of Adullam, #1Sa 22:1; or rather in the cave at Engedi, where he cut off Saul’s skirt, #1Sa 24:3; as Jarchi and Kimchi think. The psalm represents the troubles of David, and of the Messiah his antitype, and is applicable to the church of God, or to any particular soul when in distress.”  (John Gill)

 

            “There can be no situation so distressing or dangerous, in which faith will not get comfort from God by prayer. We are apt to show our troubles too much to ourselves, poring upon them, which does us no service; whereas, by showing them to God, we might cast the cares upon him who careth for us, and thereby ease ourselves. Nor should we allow any complaint to ourselves or others, which we cannot make to God. When our spirits are overwhelmed by distress, and filled with discouragement; when we see snares laid for us on every side, while we walk in his way, we may reflect with comfort that the Lord knoweth our path. Those who in sincerity take the Lord for their God, find him all-sufficient, as a Refuge, and as a Portion: everything else is a refuge of lies, and a portion of no value. In this situation David prayed earnestly to God. We may apply it spiritually; the souls of believers are often straitened by doubts and fears. And it is then their duty and interest to beg of God to set them at liberty, that they may run the way of his commandments. Thus the Lord delivered David from his powerful persecutors, and dealt bountifully with him. Thus he raised the crucified Redeemer to the throne of glory, and made him Head over all things for his church. Thus the convinced sinner cries for help, and is brought to praise the Lord in the company of his redeemed people; and thus all believers will at length be delivered from this evil world, from sin and death, and praise their Saviour forever.”  (Matthew Henry)

 

            “Title:  Maschil of David: This Maschil is written for our instruction. It teaches us principally by example how to order our prayer in times of distress. Such instruction is among the most needful, practical, and effectual parts of our spiritual education. He who has learned how to pray has been taught the most useful of the arts and sciences. The disciples said unto the Son of David, "Lord, teach, us to pray"; and here David gives us a valuable lesson by recording his own experience as to supplication from beneath a cloud.

            “A Prayer when he was in the cave. He was in one of his many lurking places, either Engedi, Adullam, or some other lone cavern wherein he could conceal himself from Saul and his blood hounds. Caves make good closets for prayer; their gloom and solitude are helpful to the exercise of devotion. Had David prayed as much in his palace as he did in his cave, he might never have fallen into the act which brought such misery upon his later days.

            “Subject: There can be little doubt that this song dates from the days when Saul was sorely persecuting David, and David himself was in soul trouble, probably produced by that weakness of faith which led him to associate with heathen princes. His fortunes were evidently at their lowest, and, what was worse, his repute had fearfully fallen; yet he displayed a true faith in God, to whom he made known his pressing sorrows. The gloom of the cave is over the psalm, and yet as if standing at the mouth of it the prophet poet sees a bright light a little beyond.”  (Charles H. Spurgeon)

 

            “This is the last of the psalm attributed to David that relate to the years in which he was fleeing from Saul (see 7, 34, 52, 54, 56, 57, and 59).  Whether his ‘prison’ (v.7) was the cave of Adullum (1Sam. 22) or a cave in En Gedi (1Sam. 24), we cannot be sure, but it is obvious that he was in danger and was depressed and feeling abandoned.  But he did what God’s people must always do in times of crisis:  he looked to the Lord for help.  He knew very little about Saul and his plans, but he did know about Jehovah and His great promises, and because of his faith in these assurances, he triumphed over his feelings and his foes.”  (Warren Wiersbe)

 

            The Lord Hears Our Prayers (vv. 1-2):  “1 ¶  «A Psalm of David.» Hear my prayer, O LORD, Give ear to my supplications! Answer me in Your faithfulness, in Your righteousness! 2 And do not enter into judgment with Your servant, For in Your sight no man living is righteous.”

            I am reminded of Psalm 130, the psalm that I have been committing to memory, for in Psalm 130 we also learn about the Psalmist great need for prayer as he begins by stating “Out of the debts I cried to You, O LORD,” and then he goes on to talk about having the Lord’s ears hear the his supplications.  Faith is a key ingredient in our prayers, promises is another key ingredient in our prayers.  David was a very young man when Saul came to anoint him as the next king of Israel, and yet David now finds himself out in the wilderness running for his life, crying out to God to save him from his enemies.  Dr. Wiersbe writes that “Later in life, David would understand more fully that during those fugitive years in the wilderness, God was equipping him for the work he would do the rest of his life, but at the time, his situation was miserable.  His feelings were so pent up within him that he ‘poured out’ his troubles (43:4; 62:8; 102 title) and his inner turmoil (‘complaint’).  God knew David’s difficult situation better than he did, but the Lord has ordained that our prayers are a part of His providential answers.”

            There are sometimes when we as believers, just ordinary believers, feel very small when we compare are troubles with the troubles like David or Moses or even Abraham went through and we tend to think less of ourselves than we should.  Paul admonishes us not to think more highly of ourselves than we should, however we should not think less of ourselves than we are either.  Paul wrote the letter of Ephesians to help believers understand how rich that we are in Christ Jesus and so Dr. Wiersbe “Be” book on Ephesians is “Be Rich,” because of that fact.  Getting the right balance is a difficult thing to get our arms around.  One of the things that I have heard many times when I or someone else is going through a difficult situation that I or whoever else is going through a difficult situation is to look at so and so to see how much worse their troubles are than yours.  For some reason I find little comfort in that statement and so I have thought about it for some time. I think that there are many factors in understanding troubles that we go through, and believing that God is sovereign is one of the things that helps me when I am going through troubles, sovereign that God gives to me things that are geared to make me more like Jesus Christ (Romans 8:29).  Am I to have compassion for others who are going through more difficult problems that I am going through?  I believe that I am to be compassionate to their troubles and help in any way that I can, and even learn from how they handle their troubles.  Paul writes to the Corinthians, “3 ¶  Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, 4  who comforts us in all our affliction so that we will be able to comfort those who are in any affliction with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God (2Cor. 1:3-4).” 

            Another factor in our prayers to our Heavenly Father when troubles come is that we must believe that God cares for us, in fact He cares for us more than we care for ourselves, more than others care for us.  I think that sometimes I feel like God has more important things to do than to care for my troubles, and this is not only wrong, but I think is sinful, and yet that is how I feel at times, feeling that I am not as important as the one who has more troubles than I have and so God can just leave me alone and put His efforts in helping the ones with more troubles.  God is not only sovereign, but He is omnipresence, and not only omnipresence, but the Holy Spirit lives within my heart as I, and all believers are the temple of the Holy Spirit.  Not only are these facts true, but God is love and He loved me even before I was one of His adopted children.  Paul writes about this in his letter to the Romans, “6 ¶  For while we were still helpless, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. 7  For one will hardly die for a righteous man; though perhaps for the good man someone would dare even to die. 8  But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. 9  Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from the wrath of God through Him. 10  For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life (Romans 5:6-10).”

Paul then goes on to talk about the love God now has for us as His children in Romans 8:31 “What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who is against us? 32  He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him over for us all, how will He not also with Him freely give us all things? 33  Who will bring a charge against God’s elect? God is the one who justifies; 34  who is the one who condemns? Christ Jesus is He who died, yes, rather who was raised, who is at the right hand of God, who also intercedes for us. 35  Who will separate us from the love of Christ? Will tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? 36  Just as it is written, "FOR YOUR SAKE WE ARE BEING PUT TO DEATH ALL DAY LONG; WE WERE CONSIDERED AS SHEEP TO BE SLAUGHTERED." 37  But in all these things we overwhelmingly conquer through Him who loved us. 38  For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, 39  nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

 

Spiritual meaning for my life today:  As a person born a sinner it is at times hard for me to believe of the wonderful love that God has for me, and yet it is true, for I can see it in what God did for me through Jesus Christ in the pages of the Bible.  My troubles are allowed to come into my life because God loves me:  “3  And not only this, but we also exult in our tribulations, knowing that tribulation brings about perseverance; 4  and perseverance, proven character; and proven character, hope; 5  and hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out within our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us (Romans 5:3-5).” 

Believing these truths will bring comfort to me in times of troubles.

 

My Steps of Faith for Today:  Contentment and being transformed by the renewing of my mind through the promises of the Scriptures is something that will be steps of faith until I see Jesus.

 

Memory verses for the week:  Psalm 130:1-6

 

            1 Out of the debts I cried to You, O LORD.  2 Lord, hear my voice!  Let Your ears be attentive to the voice of my supplications.  3 If You, Lord, should mark iniquities, O Lord, who could stand?  4 But there is forgiveness with You, that You may be feared.

            5 I wait for the LORD, my soul does wait, and in His Word do I hope.  6 My soul waits for the Lord more than the watchman for the morning; Indeed more than the watchman for the morning.

 

11/30/2012 10:13:18 AM    

              

 

 

David Trusts In the Lord BIG TIME (Psalm 141:5-10)

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 11/29/2012 8:14:51 AM

 

My Worship Time                                                               Focus:  Psalm 141 PT-2

 

Bible Reading & Meditation                                        Reference:  Psalm 141:5-10

 

            Message of the verses:  “I Will Gladly Accept Counsel” (v5):  “5 ¶  Let the righteous smite me in kindness and reprove me; It is oil upon the head; Do not let my head refuse it, For still my prayer is against their wicked deeds.”

            First we must know that the “righteous” could be translated as the “Righteous One,” and therefore be speaking of God.  Either way the meaning is the same as Dr. Wiersbe explains, “When we yield to God’s will, the difficulties of life are tools that God uses to bring maturity to our lives.  Often the Lord sends people to speak to us and their words hurt us, but they do not harm us.”  “Do not reprove a scoffer, or he will hate you, Reprove a wise man and he will love you (Pr. 9:8); “10 ¶  A rebuke goes deeper into one who has understanding Than a hundred blows into a fool (Pr. 10:17): 25 ¶  Strike a scoffer and the naive may become shrewd, But reprove one who has understanding and he will gain knowledge (Pr. 19:25); 10  Do not forsake your own friend or your father’s friend, And do not go to your brother’s house in the day of your calamity; Better is a neighbor who is near than a brother far away (Pr. 27:10.”

            The mention of oil upon the head is speaking of David’s enemies using a bait to trap him by their so called kindness and David would have none of it.

 

            “I Will Let God Judge My Enemies (vv. 6-7):  “6  Their judges are thrown down by the sides of the rock, And they hear my words, for they are pleasant. 7  As when one plows and breaks open the earth, Our bones have been scattered at the mouth of Sheol.”

 

11/29/2012 12:34:23 PM

 

             This is a difficult passage to understand so I will use the “Message” to help us better understand these verses:   “6  Oh, let their leaders be pushed off a high rock cliff; make them face the music. 7  Like a rock pulverized by a maul, let their bones be scattered at the gates of hell.” 

Next I want to show what Charles H. Spurgeon has to say about verse six:  “This is a verse of which the meaning seems far to seek. Does it refer to the righteous among the Israelites? We think so. David surely means that when their leaders fell never to rise again, they would then turn to him and take delight in listening to his voice. When their judges are overthrown in stony places, they shall hear my words; for they are sweet. And so they did: the death of Saul made all the best of the nation look to the son of Jesse as the Lord’s anointed; his words became sweet to them. Many of those good men who had spoken severely of David’s quitting his country, and going over to the Philistines, were nevertheless dear to his heart for their fidelity, and to them he returned nothing but good will, loving prayers, and sweet speeches, knowing that by and by they would overlook his faults, and select him to be their leader.  They smote him when he erred, but they recognized his excellences. He, on his part, bore no resentment, but loved them for their honesty. He would pray for them when their land lay bleeding at the feet of their foreign enemies; he would come to their rescue when their former leaders were slain; and his words of courageous hopefulness would be sweet in their ears. This seems to me to be a good sense, consistent with the context. At the same time, other and more labored interpretations have their learned admirers, and to these we will refer in our notes from other authors.”

Ver. 7. Our bones are scattered at the grave’s mouth, &c.] Into which they were not suffered to be put, but lay unburied; or from whence they were dug up, and lay scattered about; which is to be understood of such of David’s friends as fell into the hands of Saul and his men, and were slain: perhaps it may refer to the fourscore and five priests, and the inhabitants of Nob, slain by the order of Saul, #1Sa 22:18,19. Though the phrase may be only proverbial, and be expressive of the danger David and his men were in, and their sense of it, who looked upon themselves like dry bones, hopeless and helpless, and had the sentence of death in themselves, and were as it were at the mouth of the grave, on the brink of ruin.”  (John Gill on verse seven.)

Dr. Wiersbe has this to say about these verses, “When God judged the leaders; their followers will agree that David’s words were correct, especially when they see unburied bones of those leaders bleaching in the sun.”

He states at the beginning of his commentary these words, “These two verses have puzzled translators and expositors, but the general message seems clear.  David continued to pray for his enemies, and he saw a day coming when God would judge them and vindicate his own cause (138:8; 140:12).”

 

“I Will Keep Going by Faith (vv. 8-10):  “8  For my eyes are toward You, O GOD, the Lord; In You I take refuge; do not leave me defenseless. 9  Keep me from the jaws of the trap which they have set for me, And from the snares of those who do iniquity. 10  Let the wicked fall into their own nets, While I pass by safely.”

David starts verse eight by saying that His eyes are toward the Lord, which means that he was living a moment by moment dependence upon the Lord.  Sometimes when we are having most everything going our way, and living in our country this seems to be the way we feel much of the time, however David was living in an era where he was being chased by Saul’s men, fearing for his life and living out in the wilderness, things were surely different.  It was about sixteen years ago that both of my children were on short term missionary trips, which made it tough on my wife and myself because we were use to having them around the house and missed both of them greatly.  When they returned, from their trips we learned that our daughter had a very difficult situation which she faced in Peru.  She testified in church that at this time in her life she had learned first handed how to depend on the Lord step by step.  The situation was difficult by her faith increased through going through this difficult situation.  David faced difficulties too, and we see that he too kept going by faith, faith in the Lord his God.

Dr. Wiersbe concludes his commentary with these words, “Life goes on and there is work to do, so we must not allow tough situations to paralyze us but to energize us in trusting the Lord.  Life’s trials are not excuses for doing nothing; they are opportunities for claiming God’s promises and experiencing His miraculous power.”

 

Spiritual meaning for my life today:  As I go through life I learn that life is a series of tests, a series of temptations and trials which are given to me so that I can be transformed into the image of my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.  Temptations are from the devil to make us worse off, while trials come from the Lord to make us better.  Paul writes that there is no temptation (or trial) that has taken me that is not common to man, and then he goes on to say that God is faithful in not allowing any trial to overcome us, but He will give us what is needed to overcome these trails and temptations, and then we should praise the Lord for what He has done.

 

My Steps of Faith for Today:  Learn to be content, and learn to be transformed by His Word.

 

Memory verses for the week:  Psalm 130:1-6

 

            1 Out of the debts I cried to You, O LORD.  2 Lord hear my voice!  Let Your ears be attentive to the voice of my supplications.  3 If You, LORD, should mark iniquities, O Lord, who could stand?  4 But there is forgiveness with You, that You may be feared.

            5 I wait for the Lord, my soul does wait, And in His Word do I hope.  6 My soul waits for the Lord more than the watchman for the morning; Indeed more than the watchman for the morning.

 

11/29/2012 1:16:03 PM  

Good Decisions build Good Character (Psalm 141:1-4)

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 11/28/2012 8:08:12 AM

 

My Worship Time                                                               Focus:  Psalm 141 PT-1

 

Bible Reading & Meditation                                             Reference:  Psalm 141:1-4

 

            Message of the verses:  We will begin to look at the 141^st Psalm in Today’s Spiritual Diary by looking at several introductions from different Bible Commentators in order to get a better idea as to what this psalm is all about.

 

            “This psalm was written about the same time, and upon the same occasion, as that going before and what follows after; even when David was persecuted by Saul, and when he was in great danger of his enemies, and snares were laid for his life.”  (John Gill)

 

            “Title:  A Psalm, Of David. Yes, David under suspicion, half afraid to speak lest he should speak unadvisedly while trying to clear himself; David slandered and beset by enemies; David censured even by saints, and taking it kindly; David deploring the condition of the godly party of whom he was the acknowledged heard: David waiting upon God with confident expectation. The Psalm is one of a group of four, and it bears a striking likeness to the other three. Its meaning lies so deep as to be in places exceedingly obscure, yet even upon its surface it has dust of gold. In its commencement the psalm is lighted up with the evening glow as the incense rises to heaven; then comes a night of language whose meaning we cannot see; and this gives place to morning light in which our eyes are unto the Lord.

 

            “Division: The Psalmist cries for acceptance in prayer (#Ps 141:1-2); Then he begs to be kept as to his speech, preserved in heart and deed, and delivered from every sort of fellowship with the ungodly. He prefers to be rebuked by the gracious rather than to be flattered by the wicked, and consoles himself with the confident assurance that be will one day be understood by the godly party, and made to be a comfort to them (#Ps 141:3-6). In the last verses the slandered saint represents the condition of the persecuted church, looks away to God and pleads for rescue from his cruel enemies, and for the punishment of his oppressors.”  (Charles H. Spurgeon)

 

            “Even a casual reading of 140 and 141 reveals that the two are related and use a similar vocabulary—heart, tongue, hands, snares, the righteous, and so forth.  The enemy was after David again and he needed immediate help.  It has been suggested that David wrote this psalm after his cave experience with Saul (1Sam. 24), but then he was not really in danger; or perhaps he wrote it when he was away from the sanctuary during Absalom’s rebellion.  Life is built on character and character is built on decisions.  This psalm reveals David making a number of wise decisions as he faced the attacks of the enemy.”  (Warren Wiersbe)

 

            I Will Seek the Lord’s Help (vv. 1-2):  “1 ¶  «A Psalm of David.» O LORD, I call upon You; hasten to me! Give ear to my voice when I call to You! 2  May my prayer be counted as incense before You; The lifting up of my hands as the evening offering.”

            As we have looked at the life of David we can see that he was a man of prayer, and he was a man who demonstrated great faith in the Lord.  When David found himself in trouble the first thing that he did was pray to the Lord.  Verse one reminds me of verse two from Psalm 130, a psalm that I am committing to memory.  David speaks of praying at the time of the evening sacrifice, which is something that is seen in the life of Daniel (chapter 9) and also Nehemiah (chapter 9).  At the evening sacrifice the priests would offer sacrifices on the brazen alter and then would offer incense on the golden alter.  The incense is a picture of the prayers of the saints, “When He had taken the book, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb, each one holding a harp and golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints (Rev. 5:8).”  “And the smoke of the incense, with the prayers of the saints, went up before God out of the angel’s hand (Rev. 8:4).”

 

            I Will Keep Myself from Sin (vv. 3-4):  “3  Set a guard, O LORD, over my mouth; Keep watch over the door of my lips. 4  Do not incline my heart to any evil thing, To practice deeds of wickedness With men who do iniquity; And do not let me eat of their delicacies.”

            I want to quote from Charles H. Spurgeon on a portion of what he writes on verse three, especially the part about setting a guard over David’s mouth, “That mouth had been used in prayer, it would be a pity it should ever be defiled with untruth, or pride, or wrath; yet so it will become unless carefully watched, for these intruders are ever lurking about the door. David feels that with all his own watchfulness he may be surprised into sin, and so he begs the Lord himself to keep him. When Jehovah sets the watch the city is well guarded: when the Lord becomes the guard of our mouth the whole man is well garrisoned.”

            David was facing temptation and so he calls upon the Lord to keep him from committing sin against the Lord.  He was with people who were sinful, but their sinfulness must have been something that appealed to David because he was being tempted.  We read of Moses not wanting to be involved in the “pleasures of sin for a season,” and we learn from this that sin is pleasurable, but it can also cause great destruction in one’s life and David knew this.  When we look at the life of David we can see that the pleasure of sin with Bathsheba caused much death in David’s household, but we also know that David was a man who would not hesitate to confess his sins to the Lord seeking the forgiveness that only God could give to him.

            David speaks about the pleasures of sin in verse four when he writes about eating their delicacies.  “14 ¶  Do not enter the path of the wicked And do not proceed in the way of evil men. 15  Avoid it, do not pass by it; Turn away from it and pass on. 16  For they cannot sleep unless they do evil; And they are robbed of sleep unless they make someone stumble. 17  For they eat the bread of wickedness And drink the wine of violence (Proverbs 4:4-17).” 

            Dr. Wiersbe finishes his commentary on verses 3-4 with these words, “Times of testing become times of temptation when we stop believing and start scheming, when we ask ‘How can I get out of this?’ instead of ‘What can I get out of this.’”

 

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  I think of what Dr. Wiersbe wrote about in his introduction to this psalm, “Life is built on character and character is built on decisions.”  As a believer I have had to make many decisions in my life and some of them were not the best, and yet like David I know that when making wrong decisions I have to confess it to the Lord and then do believe what the old Scottish preacher said “The successful Christian life is a series of new beginnings.”

 

My Steps of Faith for Today:  Continue to learn contentment so that I can make better decisions, and continue to be transformed by the renewing of my mind from the pages of Scripture.

 

Memory verses for the week:  Psalm 130:1-6

 

            1 Out of the debts I cried to You, O LORD.  2 Lord hear my voice!  Let Your ears be attentive to the voice of my supplications.  3 If You, LORD, should mark iniquities, O Lord, who could stand?  4 But there is forgiveness with You, that You may be feared.

            5 I wait for the Lord, my soul does wait, and in His Word do I hope.  6 My soul waits for the Lord more than the watchman for the morning, Indeed more than the watchman for the morning.

 

11/28/2012 9:39:20 AM

 

More from Psalm 140 (Psalm 140:6-13)

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 11/27/2012 10:05:57 AM

 

My Worship Time                                                               Focus:  Psalm 140 PT-2

 

            Bible Reading & Meditation                                             Reference:  Psalm 14:6-13

 

Message of the verses:  We will continue looking at Psalm 140 in Today’s Spiritual Diary, apologies for not doing my SD yesterday.

Dr. Wiersbe stated the following at the end of his introductory commentary on Psalm 140:  “We learn four lessons from this psalm that encourage us to trust God and be faithful when Satan’s servants oppose us.”

 

What People Should Do to Sinners (vv. 6-8):  “6  I said to the LORD, "You are my God; Give ear, O LORD, to the voice of my supplications. 7  "O GOD the Lord, the strength of my salvation, You have covered my head in the day of battle.  8 "Do not grant, O LORD, the desires of the wicked; Do not promote his evil device, that they not be exalted. Selah.”

I would suppose that the first thing that a person could do for a sinner is to bring him up before the Lord in order for the Lord to save him.  However we have to remember the circumstances that David was in when he wrote this psalm, and that was that he was in the court of King Saul, and it was not a friendly place to be because most everyone with the exception of Jonathan hated him.  David when found in this position would ask the Lord of wisdom on how to deal with it, wisdom and strength were things that he needed and that is not unlike what we as believers need today.  When put in situations like this, like David we are in need of the Spiritual Armor that is found in Ephesians 6:10-18, but David did not have that letter to read, but we do see in verse seven that the helmet of salvation can be seen.  In verse eight David prays for his enemies, praying that God not give them their desires, and I suppose that their desire would kill David, so David was praying for his life.  Dr. Wiersbe writes, “Our prayers for godless people must focus on changing their character, and not just stopping their persecution of believers. David obeyed (Matthew 5:44),” “’But I say to you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you.’”

 

What Sin Does to Sinners (vv. 9-11):  “9  ‘As for the head of those who surround me, May the mischief of their lips cover them. 10  "May burning coals fall upon them; May they be cast into the fire, Into deep pits from which they cannot rise. 11  "May a slanderer not be established in the earth; May evil hunt the violent man speedily.’”

We can look at Numbers 32:23 to see the outcome of what sin does for sinners, along with a verse in Galatians, “Be sure your sin will find you out.”  (Num. 32:23b).  “7  Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, this he will also reap. 8  For the one who sows to his own flesh will from the flesh reap corruption, but the one who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal life. 9  Let us not lose heart in doing good, for in due time we will reap if we do not grow weary. 10  So then, while we have opportunity, let us do good to all people, and especially to those who are of the household of the faith.” (Gal. 6:7-10) 

The things that the enemies of David were planning for him would be eventually put on them.  We know the outcome of King Saul, and yet David was moved greatly at the killing of King Saul even though he was David’s enemy.  David knew that he was the anointed of the Lord to be king of Israel and therefore David mourned over his death. 

There is a verse in the Bible that tells us that God did rain down fire and brimstone on two cities that greatly sinned against the Lord, “Then the LORD rained on Sodom and Gomorrah brimstone and fire from the LORD out of heaven.”  Perhaps this is what David was thinking about when he wrote this section. 

 

What God Does for His People (vv. 12-13):  “12  I know that the LORD will maintain the cause of the afflicted And justice for the poor. 13  Surely the righteous will give thanks to Your name; The upright will dwell in Your presence.”

As Paul Harvey use to say, “And that’s the rest of the story.”  Well we know the rest of the story of David, how God saved him from his enemies, how God established his kingdom through David bys sending the Lord Jesus Christ to earth through the line of David.  How David prepared to have Solomon to build the temple.  David was a great man.  Dr. Wiersbe ends his commentary on this psalm with the following statement:  “For God’s devoted people, the best is yet to come.  Yield to Him and He will accomplish what He has planned for you, and you will be satisfied.”

 

Spiritual meaning for my life today:  David is one of my heroes in all of Scripture, but especially in the OT.  We named our son David Paul (first and middle names) because of David being my hero in the OT and Paul in the NT.  I have learned much from the life of David and continue to do so by reading the psalms that he wrote, psalms like Psalm 140.

 

My Steps of Faith for Today:  Trust the Lord to continue to teach me contentment, and to continue to use the Word of God to transform my mind. (Romans 12:2)

 

 

 

Memory verses for the week:  Psalm 130:1-6

 

            1 Out of the debts I cried to You, O LORD.  2 Lord, hear my voice!  Let Your ears be attentive to the voice of my supplications.  3 If You, Lord should mark iniquities, O Lord who could stand?  4 But there is forgiveness with You, That You may be feared.

            5 I wait for the Lord, my soul does wait, and in His Word do I hope.  6 My soul waits for the Lord, more than the watchman for the morning; indeed more than the watchman for the morning.

 

11/27/2012 11:19:13 AM

 

           

 

What Sinners Do to God's People (Psalm 140:1-5)

SPIRIRUAL DIARY FOR 11/25/2012 8:39:02 AM

 

My Worship Time                                                               Focus:  Psalm 140 PT-1

 

Bible Reading & Meditation                                             Reference:  Psalm 140:1-5

 

            Message of the verses:  Today we will begin to look at the 140^th Psalm by looking at several introductions to the psalm by different Bible Commentators.

 

            “This Psalm is in its proper place, and so fitly follows 139 that you might almost read right on, and make no break between the two. Serious injury would follow to the whole Book of Psalms if the order should be interfered with as certain wiseacres propose. It is The Cry Of A Hunted Soul the supplication of a believer incessantly persecuted and beset by cunning enemies, who hungered for his destruction. David was hunted like a partridge upon the mountains, and seldom obtained a moment’s rest. This is his pathetic appeal to Jehovah for protection, an appeal which gradually intensifies into a denunciation of his bitter foes. With this sacrifice of prayer he offers the salt of faith; for in a very marked and emphatic manner he expresses his personal confidence in the Lord as the Protector of the oppressed, and as his own God and Defender. Few short Psalms are so rich in the jewellery of precious faith.

            “To the Chief Musician: The writer wished this experimental hymn to be under the care of the chief master of song, that it might neither be left unsung, nor chanted in a slovenly manner. Such trials and such rescues deserved to be had in remembrance, and to be set up among the choicest memorials of the Lord’s goodness. We, too, have our songs which are of no ordinary kind, and these must be sung with our best powers of heart and tongue. We will offer them to the Lord by no other hand than that of ‘the Chief Musician.’

            “A Psalm of David: The life of David wherein he comes in contact with Saul and Doeg is the best explanation of this Psalm; and surely there can be no reasonable doubt that David wrote it, and wrote it in the time of his exile and peril. The tremendous outburst at the end has in it the warmth which was so natural to David, who was never lukewarm in anything; yet it is to be noticed that concerning his enemies he was often hot in language through indignation, and yet he was cool in action, for he was not revengeful. His was no petty malice, but a righteous anger: he foresaw, foretold, and even desired the just vengeance of God upon the proud and wicked, and yet he would not avail himself of opportunities to revenge himself upon those who had done him wrong. It may be that his appeals to the great King cooled his anger, and enabled him to leave his wrongs unredressed by any personal act of violence. ‘Vengeance is mine; I will repay, saith the Lord’; and David when most wounded by undeserved persecution and wicked falsehood was glad to leave his matters at the foot of the throne, where they would be safe with the King of kings.”  (Charles H. Spurgeon)

 

            “It seems likely that the circumstances behind this psalm occurred during David’s years as a member of King Saul’s official staff, when Saul’s envy and paranoia were developing.  In their attempt to please the king some of Saul’s officers spread lies about young David and even tried to set traps to make him look bad.  God’s people face similar situations today, for Satan is a murderer (John 8:44), a slanderer and accuser (Rev. 12:10), and a deceiver (2Cor. 11:3).  We learn four lessons from this psalm that encourage us to trust God and be faithful when Satan’s servants oppose us.”  (Dr. Warren Wiersbe)

 

            What Sinners Do to God’s People (vv. 1-5):  “1 ¶  «For the choir director. A Psalm of David.» Rescue me, O LORD, from evil men; Preserve me from violent men 2  Who devise evil things in their hearts; They continually stir up wars. 3  They sharpen their tongues as a serpent; Poison of a viper is under their lips. Selah. 4  Keep me, O LORD, from the hands of the wicked; Preserve me from violent men Who have purposed to trip up my feet. 5  The proud have hidden a trap for me, and cords; They have spread a net by the wayside; They have set snares for me. Selah.”

 

            David was living in the house of Saul, and David was a godly man, but the men who surrounded Saul were evil as verse one states.  Light is something those who live in the darkness do not want anything to do with unless they allow the light to penetrate into their darkness so that they hear the truth and become a believer in the Lord.  I cannot say if Saul was a believer or not, there are some who think that he was, and others who do not think that he was.  At best he was a back-sliding believer.  After all we would not know about Lot being a believer if Peter had not written about it in his letter.

            David was living in the midst of evil men who would have like nothing better than to have him killed.  David is asking the Lord for wisdom to deal with the situation that he found himself in and it would not be too long before he would be on the run from Saul for ten years, and yet David when he had two opportunities to kill Saul would not raise his hand against the Lord’s anointed. 

            David describes the wickedness of these men and Paul takes up part of verse three in the third chapter of Romans.  Paul is teaching that all men without the Lord do wrong and in that third chapter of Romans Paul uses quotes from the OT kind of like a machine gun shooting many bullets to prove his point, and then at the end of that chapter states that all have sinned and come short of the glory of God.  Paul is describing the depravity of man, which means that man is not necessarily as bad as he can be, but all mankind is as bad off as then can be.

            Dr. Wiersbe concludes his commentary on this section with these words:  “As God’s people in an evil world, we must expect the opposition of the enemy and trust the Lord to enable us to overcome (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.’”   

 

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  Just as David needed wisdom to live in an evil world I need that same wisdom.  I am not living with the threat of death over me like David was at the time of this psalm, but I still need God’s wisdom to live out my Christian life in order to bring honor and glory to the Lord.

 

My Steps of Faith for Today:  To continue to learn contentment and to continue to be transformed by the renewing of my mind through the Word of God.

 

Memory verses for the week:  Psalm 130:1-6

 

            1 Out of the debts I cried to You, O LORD.  2 Lord hear my voice!  Let your ears be attentive to the voice of my supplications.  3 If You, Lord should mark iniquities, O Lord, who could stand?  4 But there is forgiveness with You, that You may be feared.

            5 I wait for the Lord, my soul does wait, and in His Word do I hope.  My soul waits for the Lord more than the watchman for the morning; Indeed more than the watchman of the morning.

 

11/25/2012 9:45:17 AM

 

 

 

God Judges Righteously-WE Cannot Dispute Him (Psalm 139:19-24)

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 11/24/2012 10:12:07 AM

 

My Worship Time                                                                 Focus:  Psalm 139-PT-3

 

Bible Reading & Meditation                                        Reference:  Psalm 139:19-24

 

            Message of the verses:  We will continue looking at the wonderful 139^th Psalm in Today’s Spiritual Diary.

 

God Judges Righteously—We Cannot Dispute Him (vv. 19-24):  “19  O that You would slay the wicked, O God; Depart from me, therefore, men of bloodshed. 20  For they speak against You wickedly, And Your enemies take Your name in vain. 21  Do I not hate those who hate You, O LORD? And do I not loathe those who rise up against You? 22  I hate them with the utmost hatred; They have become my enemies. 23  Search me, O God, and know my heart; Try me and know my anxious thoughts; 24  And see if there be any hurtful way in me, And lead me in the everlasting way.”

 

            This section has some tough verses in it, tough to understand, especially for those who only see God as love, and do not want to look at God as the Judge.  The health and wealth gospel that is popular today does not look at God as the Judge, but God is not only love but just.  We cannot pick and choose which attributes of God we want to believe, for in doing so we are putting God in a box, and He becomes our own personal god to do as we want him to do.  As we look back at the cross of Christ, and this was the reason that He came to earth which is stated as far back as Genesis 3:15, we know that it was not only God’s love that was involved in the crucifixion of Jesus Christ, but it was also God’s justice that was involved.  “Isa 53:10  But the LORD was pleased To crush Him, putting Him to grief; If He would render Himself as a guilt offering, He will see His offspring, He will prolong His days, And the good pleasure of the LORD will prosper in His hand.”  We see here that God was involved in the death of our Lord, but there are others too.  The Jewish people were involved, for after all they wanted Him to die as they shouted out crucify Him, crucify Him.  Judas was also involved as he was the one who betrayed Him.  Pilate too was involved because although he did not want to have him crucified he still gave the order.  Finally there was me and all others that He died for, for “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.”  As we look at the cross we can praise the Lord for being a just God for the only way that God could have anyone go to His heaven and be in His presence is to have His justice satisfied.  “1Jo 4:10  In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins.”  In the Greek culture there were many gods and the use of the word propitiation meant to them the satisfaction of an angry god.  Yes God is angry with sin, but when a person realizes that he is a sinner and turns to Jesus Christ and confesses his sins and then invites Him into his life to be his Savior and Lord then God looks at him through His Son because His Son has satisfied the anger of God, thus the person is saved.  Without the satisfaction of God’s anger, satisfying His Justice no one could be saved.

 

            Now I want to quote from Warren Wiersbe from his commentary on this section of Scripture.  Yes, it is difficult to love rebellious sinners and still hate their sins, but we need more ‘holy hatred’ in this day when blatant sin is a popular form of entertainment.  Let love be without hypocrisy.’ Abhor what is evil; cling to what is good’ (Rom. 12:9).  Whenever we pray ‘Thy kingdom come,’ we are asking the Lord to judge the wicked, and we leave the matter in His hands.”

            As far as the last two verses Dr. Wiersbe states, “We must be cautious as we examine ourselves because we do not even know our own hearts (Jer. 17:9).  It is best to open the Word and let the Spirit search us and speak to us, for then we discover the truth.  We must never dispute with God, for He loves us and wants only the very best for us.”

 

Here is a song that speaks about verses 23-24:

 

1. Search me, O God, and know my heart today,
   Try me, O Savior, know my thoughts, I pray;
   See if there be some wicked way in me;
   Cleanse me from every sin, and set me free.
2. I praise Thee, Lord, for cleansing me from sin;
   Fulfill Thy word and make me pure within;
   Fill me with fire, where once I burned with shame;
   Grant my desire to magnify Thy name.
3. Lord, take my life, and make it wholly Thine;
   Fill my poor heart with Thy great love divine;
   Take all my will, my passion, self and pride;
   I now surrender, Lord, in me abide.
4. O Holy Ghost, revival comes from Thee;
   Send a revival, start the work in me;
   Thy Word declares Thou wilt supply our need;
   For blessings now, O Lord, I humbly plead.

Spiritual meaning for my life today:  I try and begin my prayer time before working on my Spiritual Diary by asking the Lord to search my heart.  By doing this I then am keeping a short list with the Lord so that He can bless my effort in doing my Spiritual Diaries.  It is very important to me to have the Holy Spirit teach me through His Word so that I can then pass along what I am learning to those who read my Spiritual Diaries.  After placing my Spiritual Diaries onto my blog I then look at the countries who have looked at them and pray for those who have looked at them.  I pray that God will be pleased to glorify His Son through the salvation of souls, through the growth of believers, and also for believers to begin to have some sort of time with the Lord as they are encouraged by what they read.

 

My Steps of Faith for Today:  God will be glorified through these Spiritual Diaries. I will continue to learn contentment and I will continue to have my  mind renewed through the Word of God, to be transformed.

 

Memory verses for the week:  Psalm 130:1-5

 

            1 Out of the debts I cried to You, O LORD.  2 Lord, hear my voice!  Let Your ears be attentive to the voice of my supplications.  3 If You, LORD, should mark iniquities, O Lord, who could stand?  But there is forgiveness in You, That You may be feared.

            5 I wait for the Lord, my soul does wait, and in His Word to I hope.

 

11/24/2012 11:12:52 AM