SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 12/6/2012
9:36:10 AM
My Worship Time Focus: Psalm 145
PT-1
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: Psalm 145:1-7
Message of
the verses: As we begin to look at Psalm 145 in Today’s
Spiritual Diary we will do as we have been doing for most of the psalms and
that is look at several introductions to the psalm by different Bible
Commentators in order for us to better understand what the psalmist has written
about and how we can learn from the psalm in order to apply it to our lives.
“This psalm is rendered by Ainsworth "a hymn of
David"; and the whole book of Psalms is from hence called "the Book
of Hymns"; see #Eph 5:19; It seems to have been a psalm David took great
delight in, and it may be that he often repeated and sung it, as it was made by
him with great care and contrivance, in a very curious manner, as well as he
was assisted in it by divine inspiration; for it is wrote in an alphabetical
order, each verse: beginning with the letter of the alphabet in course, and
goes through the whole, excepting one letter; and very probably it was composed
in this form that it might be the more easily committed to memory, and retained
in it. The Jews have a very high opinion of it; their Rabbins say, that whoever
says this psalm thrice every day may be sure of being a child of the world to
come. This is mentioned by Arama and Kimchi; and which the latter explains
thus, not he that says it any way, but with his mouth, and with his heart, and
with his tongue. It seems to have been written by David after the Lord had
granted him all his requests put up in the preceding psalms, and had given him
rest from all his enemies; and when he turned his prayers into praises; for
this psalm is wholly praise from one end to the other; and so are all the five
following ones; they begin and end with "hallelujah": nor is there a
single petition in them, as I remember; so that it may in some sense be said,
"here the prayers of David the son of Jesse are ended". It no doubt,
as Cocceius observes, belongs to the Messiah and his kingdom, which is
everlasting, #Ps 145:13.” (John Gill)
“The five foregoing psalms were all of a piece, all full
of prayers; this, and the five that follow it to the end of the book, are all
of a piece too, all full of praises; and though only this is entitled David’s
psalm yet we have no reason to think but that they were all his as well as all
the foregoing prayers. And it is observable,
“1.
That after five psalms of prayer follow six psalms of praise; for those that
are much in prayer shall not want matter for praise, and those that have sped
in prayer must abound in praise. Our thanksgivings for mercy, when we have
received it, should even exceed our supplications for it when we were in
pursuit of it. David, in the last of his begging psalms, had promised to praise
God (#Ps 144:9), and here he performs his promise.
“2.
That the book of Psalms
concludes with psalms of praise, all praise, for praise, is the conclusion of
the whole matter; it is that in which all the psalms centre. And it intimates
that God’s people, towards the end of their life, should abound much in praise,
and the rather because, at the end of their life, they hope to remove to the
world of everlasting praise, and the nearer they come to heaven the more they
should accustom themselves to the work of heaven. This is one of those
psalms which are composed alphabetically (as Psalm 25 and 34, &c.), that it
might be the more easily committed to memory, and kept in mind. The Jewish
writers justly extol this psalm as a star of the first magnitude in this bright
constellation; and some of them have an extravagant saying concerning it, not
much unlike some of the popish superstitions, That whosoever will sing this
psalm constantly three times a day shall certainly be happy in the world to
come. In this psalm,
“I. David engages himself and others to praise
God,
#Ps 145:1,2,4-7,10-12.
“II.
He fastens upon those things that are proper matter for praise, God’s greatness
(#Ps 145:3), his goodness (#Ps 145:8,9), the proofs of both in the
administration of his kingdom (#Ps 145:13), the kingdom of providence (#Ps
145:14-16), the kingdom of grace (#Ps 145:17-20), and then he concludes with a
resolution to continue praising God (#Ps 145:21) with which resolution our
hearts must be filled, and in which they must be fixed, in singing this psalm.” (Matthew Henry)
“This is one of the alphabetical psalms, composed with
much art, and, doubtless, so arranged that the memory might be aided. The Holy
Spirit condescends to use even the more artificial methods of the poet, to
secure attention, and impress the heart.
Title: David’s Psalm Of
Praise. It is David’s, David’s very own, David’s favourite. It is David’s
Praise just as another (#Ps 86:1-17) is David’s Prayer. It is altogether
praise, and praise pitched in a high key. David had blessed God many a time in
other psalms, but this he regarded as his peculiar, his crown jewel of praise. Certainly David’s
praise is the best of praise, for it is that of a man of experience, of
sincerity, of calm deliberation, and of intense warmth of the heart. It is not
for any one of us to render David’s praise, for David only could do that, but we may take David’s psalm as a
model, and aim at making our own personal adoration as much, like it as
possible: we shall be long before we equal our model. Let each Christian reader
present his own praise unto the Lord, and call it by his own name. What a
wealth of varied praise will thus be presented through Christ Jesus!
Division: The psalm does
not fall into any marked divisions, but is one and indivisible. Our other translators have mapped out this
song with considerable discernment. It is or a perfect arrangement, but it will
suit our convenience in exposition. David praiseth God for his fame or glory
(#Ps 145:1-7), for his goodness (#Ps 145:8-10), for his kingdom (#Ps
145:11-13), for his providence (#Ps 145:14-16), for his saving mercy (#Ps
145:17-21).” (Charles H. Spurgeon)
“This is the last psalm in the book attributed to David,
and it is also an acrostic. The Hebrew
letter nun (our letter n) is missing at verse 14, although some
early versions based on the Septuagint have a verse starting with nun.
See NIV marginal note.) This is
the only psalm called ‘A psalm of praise.’
David mentioned
several attributes of God, among them His greatness (v.3), His grace, goodness
and compassion (vv. 8-9), His glory and might (v.11), His righteousness and
kindness (v. 17), and His providential care (v.20). Who could not praise a God with these wonderful characteristics? But along with telling us why we should
praise the Lord David tells us when we should praise Him.” (Warren Wiersbe)
Praise God from Day to Day (vv. 1-2): 1 «A Psalm of Praise, of David.» I will extol You, my God, O King,
And I will bless Your name forever and ever. 2 Every day I will bless You, And I will praise
Your name forever and ever.”
David speaks of praising the Lord every day and also
forever and forever. As we look at how the
universe works we see that the earth rotates around in 24 hours and as it is
rotating around it is also rotating around the sun, which takes 365 days. This is the way that God designed the
universe to work. Time began when God
created the earth and we are to take time each day to praise the Lord, as we
have much to praise Him for. First of
all we can praise Him for the Lord Jesus Christ who has provided salvation for
those who have called upon His name to come into their lives and forgive them
of their sins. We certainly can praise
the Lord for His Word, which we can read, study, memorize and meditate on. We can praise Him for our lives, and the
privilege of living on planet earth at this time in history. We are told by the apostle Paul that we are
to give thanks in everything for this is the will for us in Christ Jesus. Giving thanks is surely a form of praising
the Lord. When we look at the book of
Revelations and also the sixth chapter of Isaiah we see that in heaven God is
being praised at every moment, and when we are taken to heaven we will have
that privilege too.
Praise God from Generation to Generation (vv. 3-7): “3
Great is the LORD, and highly to be praised, And His greatness is
unsearchable. 4 One generation shall praise Your works to another,
And shall declare Your mighty acts. 5
On the glorious splendor of Your majesty And on Your wonderful works, I will meditate. 6 Men shall speak of the power of Your awesome
acts, And I will tell of Your greatness. 7
They shall eagerly
utter the memory of Your abundant goodness And will shout
joyfully of Your righteousness.”
As I prepare in my mind the things that I believe God is
prompting me to include in our Christmas letter, something that I try to do
each year, I have been impressed by the Lord this morning before I got out of
bed to write this letter about Christmas memories, memories from my childhood
along with my wife’s childhood, and then memories from when our children were
small and then move onto memories with our grandchildren. I can say that God has been involved in all
of my Christmas memories, even before I knew Him.
As David writes this section of Psalm 145 he is writing
about the memories that he has about how the Lord had worked in his life. David wanted to take the time to praise the
Lord for the things that He had done in his life. Dr. Wiersbe writes “God is so great that the
human mind cannot fathom Him, but the human heart can love Him and tell others
how great He is.” He later writes, “David
was not writing only about theology; he was also writing about personal
witness, what the Lord has done in our own lives.” Psalm 34:11 states “Come, you children,
listen to me; I will teach you the fear of the Lord.” Paul writes to Timothy in 2Timothy 2:2 “The
things which you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses, entrust
these to faithful men who will be able to teach others also.” We must remember that this was the last
letter that is recorded in the Bible written by Paul, and when a person nears
the end of his life they tell others what is most important to them. As older believers in Jesus Christ we must
tell younger believers the important things we have learned from following
Jesus Christ.
Spiritual meaning
for my life today: I have been
thinking about memories today, and then I begin to read Psalm 145 and wouldn’t
you know it the psalm has a portion about memories in it. God is great!
My Steps of Faith for Today: Trust the Lord to continue to teach me
contentment, and to continue to encourage me to be transformed by the renewing
of my mind, and remember this is done by the Word of God.
Memory verses for the
week: Psalm 130:1-7
1Out 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, An 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. 7 O Israel, hope in the LORD;
For with the LORD there is lovingkindness, And with Him is abundant redemption.
12/6/2012 10:46:20 AM
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