SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 11/20/2012
1:35:28 PM
My Worship Time Focus: Psalm 137
PT-2
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: Psalm 137:5-9
Message of
the verses: We will continue looking at Psalm 137 in today’s
SD.
Memory Can Build Character:
(vv. 5-6): “5 If
I forget you, O Jerusalem, May my right hand forget her skill. 6 May my tongue cling to the roof of my mouth
If I do not remember you, If I do not exalt Jerusalem Above my chief joy.”
It is believed that this psalm was written after the
return of the Jewish people to their land, but the author of this psalm states that
while he was in Babylon that he remembered Jerusalem and even vowed to God that
if he forgot Jerusalem that God could punish him because of the breaking of the
vow.
Psalm 90:12 states, “So teach us to number our days, That
we may present to You a heart of wisdom.”
The psalmist was doing this and we also should do this. The psalmist had a long time to remember
things that perhaps he could have done to prevent the nation of Israel to fall
to the Babylonians. It did not happen
but it was not too late for the psalmist.
I think the quote from the old Scottish preacher comes into play here, “The
successful Christian life is a series of new beginnings.”
Memory Can Encourage Faith (vv. 7-9): “7 ¶ Remember, O LORD, against the sons of Edom
The day of Jerusalem, Who said, "Raze it, raze it To its very
foundation." 8 O daughter of
Babylon, you devastated one, How blessed will be the one who repays you With
the recompense with which you have repaid us. 9
How blessed will be the one who seizes and dashes your little ones
Against the rock.”
7 ¶ O LORD, remember what the Edomites did on the day the armies of Babylon captured
Jerusalem. “Destroy it!’’they yelled.
“Level it to the ground!’’ 8 O Babylon, you will be destroyed. Happy is the one who pays you back for what you have done to us. 9 Happy is the one who takes your babies and smashes them against the rocks!” (NLT)
I suppose that many people over the years have had
trouble with these three verses, but they probably took them out of context and
even did not realize what these verses mean for after all they are in the Holy
Scriptures and therefore we have to look at them to see what we can learn from them.
Dr. Wiersbe states that the Law of God is “lex talionis” or the law of retaliation—and
retaliation is not revenge. “In short, the punishment must fit the crime.” When we read from Deut. 19:16-21 these words “Eye
for eye, tooth for tooth” we probably get the meaning of that verse wrong. What this means is that the punishment should
fit the crime. If a man knocks someone’s
tooth our and does so in a crime then his tooth must be knocked out too. You cannot kill the man for knocking out
someone’s tooth. The following came from my Spiritual Diary
from June 3, 2009 from Deuteronomy 19:15-21, “Moses then speaks of how the
punishment shall fit the crime by repeating a statement he spoke earlier in
Exodus 21:23-25, “23 “But if there is any further injury, then you shall
appoint as a penalty life for life, 24 eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for
hand, foot for foot, 25 burn for burn, wound for wound, bruise for bruise.” There is a Latin phrase that speaks of this “lex talionis” which is the Latin for
‘The law of retaliation.’ If a person
goes into a store and shop lifts something he should not receive the same
punishment of a person who rapes someone and the same in reverse is true.
Warren Wiersbe writes, “Jesus exhorted us not to practice
personal revenge but to leave such matters in the hand of God (Romans
12:17-21). We’re to imitate the Master
and return good for evil, love for hatred, and sacrifice for selfishness (1
Peter 2:11-25).”
The psalmist knew from the prophets that Edom and Babylon
were to be destroyed by the God of Israel, and so he prayed that this would
come about. We could be living in a time
when the countries that surround Israel along with those a bit further away
will be destroyed by the Lord. Ezekiel
38 and 39 speak of this, and just as Edom and Babylon were destroyed in
fulfillment of the prophecies found in the OT prophets so these nations listed
in Ezekiel 38-29 will be destroyed by the Lord.
The Lord used Babylon to judge Israel for her sins, but
they went too far and now the psalmist is praying that they too will receive
the same thing to them as they did to Israel.
When Jerusalem was being destroyed by Babylon the Edomites, who came
from Jacob’s brother Esau, Edom was calling for Babylon to do more. One day all the wrongs that have been done to
those persecuted in the Church will be made right, “9 ¶ When the Lamb broke the fifth seal, I saw
underneath the altar the souls of those who had been slain because of the word
of God, and because of the testimony which they had maintained; 10 and they cried out with a loud voice, saying,
"How long, O Lord,
holy and true, will You refrain from judging and avenging our blood on those
who dwell on the earth?" 11
And there was given to each of them a white robe; and they were told
that they should rest for a little while longer, until the number of their fellow
servants and their brethren who were to be killed even as they had been, would
be completed also. “
Spiritual meaning
for my life today: I have to admire
Joel Rosenberg from what he wrote on his blog today about not only praying for
Israel as she goes through this time of trouble that we should also pray for
those living in Gaza too. Joel is over
there in Israel and is seeing the war first hand as to what is going on. He is praying for souls of unbeliever on both
side of the war and I admire him for that.
My Steps of Faith for Today: Continue to learn contentment and also to
continue to have my mind transformed by the Word of God.
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
supplication. 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.
11/20/2012 2:43:39 PM
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