SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 12/4/2012
8:34:36 AM
My Worship Time Focus: Psalm 144
PT-1
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: Psalm
144:1-4
Message of
the verses: In Today’s Spiritual we will begin to look at
Psalm 144 by looking at several introductions to the psalm by several different
Bible Commentators in order to learn more about the psalm so that we can better
understand how to apply it to our lives.
“The four preceding psalms seem to have been penned
by David before his accession to the crown, when he was persecuted by Saul; this seems to have been penned
afterwards, when he was still in trouble (for there is no condition in this
world privileged with an exemption from trouble), the neighboring
nations molesting him and giving him disturbance, especially the Philistines,
#2Sa 5:17. In this psalm,
“I. He acknowledges, with triumph and
thankfulness, the great goodness of God to him in advancing him to the
government, #Ps 144:1-4.
“II. He prays to God to help him against the
enemies who threatened him, (#Ps 144:5-8 and again #Ps 144:11).
“III. He rejoices in the assurance of
victory over them, #Ps 144:9-10.
“IV. He prays for the prosperity of his own
kingdom, and pleases himself with the hopes of it, #Ps 144:12-15. In singing
this psalm we may give God the glory of our spiritual privileges and
advancements, and fetch in help from him against our spiritual enemies; we may
pray for the prosperity of our souls, of our families, and of our land; and, in
the opinion of some of the Jewish writers, we may refer the psalm to the
Messiah and his kingdom.” (Matthew
Henry)
“Albeit that this Psalm is in some measure very similar
to #Ps 18:1-50, yet it is a new song, and in its latter portion it is
strikingly so. Let the reader accept it as a new psalm, and not as a mere
variation of an old one, or as two compositions roughly joined together. It is
true that it would be a complete composition if the passage from #Ps 144:12-15
were dropped; but there are other parts, of David’s poems which might be
equally self contained if certain verses were omitted; and the same might be
said of many uninspired sonnets. It does not, therefore, follow that the latter
part was added by another hand, nor even that the latter part was a fragment by
the same author, appended to the first song merely with the view of preserving
it. It seems to us to be highly probable that the Psalmist, remembering that he
had trodden some of the same ground before, felt his mind moved to fresh
thought, and that the Holy Spirit used this mood for his own high purposes.
Assuredly the addendum is worthy of the greatest Hebrew poet, and it is so
admirable in language, and so full of beautiful imagery, that persons of taste
who were by no means overloaded with reverence have quoted it times without
number, thus confessing its singular poetical excellence. To us the whole psalm
appears to be perfect as it stands, and to exhibit such unity throughout that
it would be a literary Vandalism, as well as a spiritual crime, to rend away
one part from the other.
“TITLE:
Its title is "Of David," and its language is of David, if ever
language can belong to any man. As surely as we could say of any poem, this is
of Tennyson, or of Longfellow, we may say, This is of David. Nothing but the
disease which closes the eye to manifest fact and opens it to fancy, could have
led learned critics to ascribe this song to anybody but David. Alexander well
says, "The Davidic origin of this psalm is as marked as that of any in the
Psalter."
“It is to God the devout warrior sings
when he extols him as his strength and stay (#Ps 144:1-2). Man he holds in
small account, and wonders at the Lord’s regard for him (#Ps 144:3-4); but he
turns in his hour of conflict to the Lord, who is declared to be "a man of
war," whose triumphant interposition he implores (#Ps 144:5-8). He again
extols and entreats in #Ps 144:9-11 and then closes with a delightful picture
of the Lord’s work for his chosen people, who are congratulated upon having
such a God to be their God.” (Charles H.
Spurgeon) I wanted to pass on that
Charles H. Spurgeon’s come from his commentary on the psalms entitled “Treasury
of David,” and while looking for this book on the internet I found out that it
contains over 5400 pages.
“David wrote this psalm to ‘bless the Lord’ (vv. 1-5) and
honor Him for making him a successful warrior and king, and to pray for His
continued blessing of his people. He was
concerned about dangers around them (vv. 6-7, 11) and needs within the land
(vv. 12-14). In writing this psalm, he used
material from Psalm 18, his great song of victory when he became king, so
perhaps 144 was written about the same time (1Sam. 5, 8). During his years of exile, David had learned
much about himself and about the Lord.
In this psalm, he gave witness to Jehovah, the God of Israel, and
reminded his people that their God was not like the gods of their
neighbors. (Warren Wiersbe)
The Loving God Who Cares for Us Personally (vv. 1-4): “1 ¶
«A Psalm of David.» Blessed be the LORD, my rock, Who trains my hands
for war, And my fingers for battle; 2 My
lovingkindness and my fortress, My stronghold and my deliverer, My shield and
He in whom I take refuge, Who subdues my people under me. 3 O LORD, what is man, that You take knowledge
of him? Or the son of man, that You think of him? 4 Man is like a mere breath; His days are like
a passing shadow.”
We know much of the background of David from other
portions of Scripture, and other psalm, but it may be good to be reminded of a
little bit of it. David was the youngest
of seven sons of Jessie and lived in Bethlehem, which is near Jerusalem. The story of David actually goes back to the
book of Ruth where we see more of the early background of David as he was the
great-grandson of Boaz and Ruth. At an
early age David was anointed king over Israel by the prophet Samuel because of
the fact that Saul was a great disappointment in being king over Israel, and
because God wanted a man after His own heart over the nation of Israel, and
David was that man. We know that when he
was in his teens that he splayed Goliath and then was working for Saul who
eventually became jealous of David and so David had to flee from the presence
of Saul and was on the run for over ten years before Saul would die at the
hands of the Philistines. David wrote
many of his psalms while running from Saul, as the Lord was preparing him to be
king in similar ways that He had prepared Abraham, Moses, and Joseph. God does the same for his children today, as
He prepares His children to do the works that He has called us to do in
eternity past (Eph. 2:10). David was
then king of Judah for seven and a half years before becoming king over all of
Israel. It was probably during this time
that David wrote this psalm to the Lord.
Let us look at some of the different images that David
uses in this psalm to speak of God. We see
the image of God as a Rock, shield, fortress, and deliverer in Psalm 18:2, “The
LORD is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer, My God, my rock, in whom I
take refuge; My shield and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold.” Psalm 3:3 also speaks of God as a Shield, “But
You, O LORD, are a shield about me, My glory, and the One who lifts my head.” We see these images in this section of Psalm
144 as were in Psalm 18. Dr. Wiersbe
writes that “the associating of love and war is unusual, but ‘You who love the
Lord, hate evil’ (Psalm 97:10).” We must
remember that one of the attributes of God is Justice and as we read through
the Bible, especially the OT, we find a very bloody book. We know that there are both physical and
spiritual battles that go on all over the world every day for Satan does not
stop doing evil, which causes many of the wars that have been fought physically
over the years of human history. The
greatest battle ever to take place was at the cross as Satan tried many, many
times to stop Jesus from going to the cross, from even being born and then to
be killed before His time, yet the victory belonged to the Lord as He triumphed
over death and now reigns in heaven awaiting the coming of His bride to be with
Him forever, and then the last seven years of history as we know it will be the
most bloody in all of human history where a great deal of humans will die
terrible deaths. This war will end with
the King of Kings and Lord of Lords returning to planet earth to set up His
kingdom for 1000 year as He reigns from Jerusalem while Satan is in chains for
those 1000 years.
We know that David was a humble man and his position did
not go to his head for when the Lord told David through Nathan that He would
build a dynasty for him that Messiah would come through David said “Who am I
that God should do this for me?”
Dr. Wiersbe writes about a word that is translated as “breath”
in verse four as it refers to how short men’s lives are. He states “The Hebrew
word translated ‘breath’ is habel,
the name of one of Adam’s sons (Abel), and the word translated ‘vanity’
thirty-eight times in Ecclesiastes. The ‘shadow’
image is found in 102:11, 109:23, Job 8:9, and 14:2, and Ecclesiastes 6:12 and
8:13. How helpless we are without God.”
Spiritual meaning
for my life today: I want to take up
on that last statement from Dr. Wiersbe’s commentary and say that it is a good
thing to realize that we are helpless without God, for when we think that we
can do things on our own we will surely fall, and be humbled by the Lord. I continue to think of how I am to be a hose
that the Lord uses to send “living water” through in order to tell others about
the Lord as Jesus told the woman at the well in John chapter four. The Lord will receive the glory as He should
for He has paid it all for me and now I want to live for Him.
My Steps of Faith for Today: Learning contentment and being transformed
by the Word of God.
Memory verses for the
week: Psalm 130:1-7
1 Out of the depths I have 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 watchmen
for the morning; Indeed, more than the watchmen for the morning. 7 O Israel, hope in the LORD; For with the LORD
there is lovingkindness, And with Him is abundant redemption.
12/4/2012 9:45:32 AM
No comments:
Post a Comment