Search

Home thoughts from abroad.wordpress.com

Free Daily Bible notes by Rev Stephen Thompson

Open Search
Category

psalms

Daily Bible thoughts 748: Friday 14th November 2014:

 Psalm 109:1-20

You can’t read this psalm without feeling sorry for David. We’ve all been there; we’ve been hurt by people. In some cases, men and women to whom we have done only good, have savagely turned on us. We are left bewildered; perplexed! How can people be like this?

Here are some pointers to how you can live in an unjust world and not lose your mind! The world is not fair and people are not always fair. Life is not fair. Things are not how God originally intended. But you don’t have to let this crush you. There is another way; a better route to travel:

  • Be a person of praise (1). Don’t ever forget that God is ruling, and make Him your continual focus. Remain God-centred. Stay true to Him whatever others may do. You can’t control what anyone else does, but you are in command of your own behaviour. Choose to be a worshipper of God. Always have a ‘’hallelujah prayer.’’ The Message. (As we will see, this psalm opens and closes with praise.)
  • Be a person of prayer (4). I read these words, and I think, ‘This is what I want to be more than anything else. I want to be a man of prayer.’ Even when life seems mad, and I don’t understand; all is well when I get on my knees before the sovereign Lord of the universe. Prayer brings perspective; and, of course, prayer changes things. Most importantly, perhaps, it changes me! It helps me to change my attitudes. And I am in constant need of transformation. It is good to ‘’take it to the Lord in prayer.’’ My pastor, when I was a young lad, under whose ministry I became a Christian, used to sing, ‘’A little talk with Jesus makes it right, all right.’’ I have found that it does (even if nothing outwardly changes!) David committed his case to God in prayer. In this way we see him as a forerunner of Christ (1 Peter 2:21-23.)
  • Be a person who desires justice (6-20). It is good to want justice. We Christians tend to struggle with the kind of prayer recorded in this psalm. It feels distinctly un-Christian. It is true that, given the fuller revelation in the New Testament, this is probably not an example of how we should pray for enemies. However, it does show that we can be honest with God. It does reveal that He cares about our deepest feelings. It does say that we can bring our wounds to Him for healing. It does make the point that God cares about justice and it is right for us to care about it too. It is also reminds us that those who are unjust will face the justice of God if they do not repent. This is a moral universe and God knows and cares. One day He will right all wrongs. No sin is overlooked. Every transgression has been fully paid for in the cross of Christ. Every act of wickedness gets punished. ‘’Remember that this psalm is a prayer; David is not planning revenge, but is asking God to act. David’s enemy is a hardened sinner, heartless and wicked. God has clearly stated in Scripture what will happen to such people (Leviticus 26:14-39)…David is only asking God to do what He has already said He would do. If a sinner repents and turns to God, he will be forgiven. But, by definition, a ‘’hardened sinner’’ is one who refuses to repent; thus he places himself beyond God’s forgiveness. Jesus told us to pray for our enemies (Matthew 5:43-44), and the most important thing we can pray for them is that they might repent.’’ Tom Hale: ‘The Applied Old Testament Commentary, p.905. (Compare verses 12-15 with Exodus 20:5 and 34:7/verse 8 with Acts 1: 20.)’’The best way to get rid of an enemy is to leave him or her with the Lord.’’ Warren W. Wiersbe: ‘With the Word,’ p.380

Prayer: Living in the midst of this mad, mad world, please help me to be a praising, praying person.

 

0

Daily Bible thoughts 732: Thursday 23rd October 2014:

 Psalm 108:1-5

This psalm is made up of parts of two other psalms. Verses 1-5 correspond to Psalm 57:7-11; for verses 6-13 see Psalm 60:5-12. Someone pointed out that the Edomite crisis reflected in Psalm 60 was probably not the last David heard from that quarter. In some later critical moment David drew on his earlier psalmody and moulded and shaped it anew for fresh needs.

The worldwide vision in the Old Testament is one of its notable features (3, 5b). This outlook doesn’t belong only to the New Testament era. I am reading a book at the moment called, ‘The mission of God’s people’ by Christopher Wright. It is about the Biblical doctrine of mission, and much of its teaching is drawn from the Old Testament. David’s desire and intention was to glorify God ‘’among the nations’’ and ‘’among the peoples’’. His prayer was that God’s glory would be ‘’over all the earth’’. Indeed, his vision was not only as wide as the world, but as high as ‘’the heavens’’ (5a). Back in Genesis 12, Abraham was called to be a blessing to the nations (Genesis 12:3) and that missionary pulse can be felt throughout the Old Testament. There is a missionary/evangelistic aspect to our praise/worship. Preaching the gospel itself is a form of praising the Lord. ‘’I’m thanking you, GOD, out in the streets, singing your praises in town and country.’’ The Message. David Watson, writing about the day of Pentecost, said, ‘’A praising church preaches to answer questions raised by its praise.’’

God’s ‘’great’’ love and expansive faithfulness (4) will give anyone cause for song. The first stanza (1-5) of this three stanza psalm hinges on the reality of God’s unchanging love. But we do not always feel like singing. Reminding yourself of great doctrinal truth, such as that expressed in (4) can stir you to sing again. It can stoke the fires. But most of all, you need a ‘’steadfast’’ heart (1) to continue being a music maker to God through all the days of your life. Such a heart causes you to say with determination: ‘’I will…I will…I will…I will…’’ You make a commitment to sing the Lord’s song in a strange land. ‘’I’m ready, God, so ready, ready from head to toe. Ready to sing, ready to raise a God-song: ‘’Wake, soul! Wake, lute! Wake up, you sleepyhead sun!’’ The Message. It seems like David is up and about even before the sunrise, keen to get on with worshipping God. You certainly need a ‘’steadfast’’ heart to get you out of bed that early in the morning. David’s ‘quiet time’ wasn’t all that quiet it appears. But it was ‘quite a time’! He made so much noise he woke up the dawn!! There is no rule in the Bible about having to get up early for personal devotions. Not everyone is a ‘morning person’. That said, there is something special about the early morning, and many of the great Christian leaders through the centuries have kept David’s company in the early hours.

Prayer: Lord, I want to sing to you and of you always, not necessarily because I will always feel like it, but because you are worthy.

0

Daily Bible thoughts 716: Wednesday 1st October 2014:

Psalm 107:33-43

Never lose sight of God and what He can do. He can transform situations.  In the concluding verses the psalmist describes how all of life is under God’s control. Sin brings dryness and barrenness into  life – regardless of what it may appear to promise (33, 34), but God Himself is behind this process, working out His plans. For when people in spiritually dry places turn to Him, He turns the desert into a place of refreshing and blessing. God gives the growth! (35-38)

However, the life of the believer does not necessarily head upwards continually in a straight line. The chart may show a wiggly line. There are ups and downs; highs and lows. There are seasons of great blessing and growth. But these can be punctuated with times when the graph lines are ‘heading south’ (39, 40). Times of decline in the church may be connected to sin. They often are. But it is not always the case. Some days are just more difficult than others. But behind the bad times stands God. He has a purpose in all things. And He still comes to the one who is down and lifts them up (41). Tough times come, but with God we travel through them to a better day. Seeing God at work has an impact on both believers and unbelievers (42).

It seems to me that the call in the final verse (43) is take to heart the overall message of this psalm, which is that in every circumstance of life we can turn to God in prayer, and He will help us. In all of this we see ‘’the great love of the LORD.’’ Everyone can pray.

‘’What is it in all this that the upright (those who are right with God and committed to rightness of life)see? First, that every circumstance is directed by the Lord who is not a watcher from the sidelines but an executive director. It is he who works transformations in both directions. The most practical course in life is to be right with the One who directs all. Secondly, his providences are moral. If fruitful land becomes a waste, it is a judgment on sin (34); therefore the upright should determine on holiness. Thirdly, when prosperity comes it is not a reward for good behaviour, but a sheer act of divine concern for the needy (41). For this reason, true wisdom (43) will always fill its gaze with the great love, (lit.) ‘the loves’ of the Lord – that changeless, ‘ever-unfailing’ love which is so many -faceted  that within it (in answer to prayer) there lies the solution to every need.’’ J.A. Motyer: The ‘New Bible Commentary’, p.558.

Prayer: Thank you Lord for prayer. And thank you for your love expressed in multitudes of answers.

0

Daily Bible thoughts 701: Wednesday 10th September 2014:

Psalm 107:10-22

This psalm covers various situations believing people might find themselves in during the course of a lifetime. Whatever comes our way we can turn to God in prayer and find His help.

Here are two further examples. Both have to do with disobedience to God’s Word (11, 17). In both sets of circumstances there is a price to pay for rebellion against God. In the first example it is ‘captivity’ written on the bill (10-16); in the second it is ‘sickness’. We cannot sin as God’s people and think we will get away with it. Someone said that sin in a Christian is never less than serious. It seems that God has set things up so that when we set our faces against Him we experience consequences that drive us back to Him. Then, when we come to Him sincerely, with genuinely repentant hearts, He will be gracious and merciful to us, rescuing us from dire situations, and putting songs of praise to God in our hearts and mouths (15, 21, and 22). Haven’t you proved the essential truth of this psalm over and again?

In (10-16) the psalmist describes people whose circumstances have become confined and constricted because of rebellion against God’s Word (11). He may have in mind a literal imprisonment or enslavement, as happened to the Israelites at various points in their history. But there is also a spiritual darkness and bondage that can come upon people who fight against the truth. They resist the liberating knowledge that would otherwise set them free (John 8:31, 32). How miserable it is to be out of step with God and know that you are. Yet God will even deliver rebels if they genuinely call out to Him for mercy. ‘’In the garden (Gn.3) it was the purpose of the serpent to make the word of God seem unnaturally restrictive, an unwarranted denial of human liberty. Too late the man and his wife discovered that it was only by binding themselves to obey God’s word that they enjoyed liberty (cf. Ps. 119:45)…How often divine mercy protects us from the results of our own false choices we shall never know, but sometimes, with equal love, the barrier is allowed to fall and we experience the bitter bondage we have brought on ourselves. But even then we can pray (13) and find that…grace responds to prayer in deliverance (14-16).’’ J.A. Motyer: The ‘New Bible Commentary’, p.558.

As already noted, (17-22) deal with a similar situation, but here the outcome is one of suffering ‘’affliction’’ (17). This may refer to physical, mental or spiritual illness. As Motyer says, sin is our all-time ‘’own goal’’. Through it we bring great damage to ourselves. But when these people cry to God, He will send ‘’forth his word’’ and heal them (20). So God’s Word brings judgment on those who disobey it, but healing to those who accept and believe and obey it. ‘’Just as the source of our spiritual plight is rejection of the word (11), so the return to spiritual wholeness (20) is through the return of the word into our lives.’’ J.A. Motyer: The ‘New Bible Commentary’, p. 558.

‘’When the heart is quiet in God, the eye looks out on the scenes of nature and life around it, and detects everywhere, even where to ordinary men every appearance seems in the contrary direction, the loving-kindness of the Lord. As life advances, and one climbs the hill, one is able to review the path by which life has been directed and controlled. We observe with the wisdom which we have obtained by long experience, and we understand God’s reasons for many rebuffs, denials, and bitter disappointments. I believe that we shall one day turn to Him, and say, when we know all, ‘’Thou couldst not have done otherwise. We would not have wished otherwise.’’ ‘’ F.B. Meyer: Great verses through the Bible, p.233.

Prayer: Lord, I need your healing Word today.

 

 

0

Daily Bible thoughts 686: Wednesday 20th August 2014:

 Psalm 107:1-9

‘’He poured great draughts of water down parched throats; the starved and hungry got plenty to eat.’’ The Message. Strong spiritual desire, let it be said, is so important, and a missing ingredient in lots of churches and in the lives of many professing Christians. There is a Biblical principle, exemplified in these verses, that those who hunger and thirst will be filled (5, 9). Hunger and thirst for God (and for the things of God) get translated into heartfelt prayer, and God answers prayer (6, 7). I read a wonderful testimony, written by a woman, Tara Edelschick, who lost her husband of five years through complications from routine surgery. Ten days later, her first child, Sarah, was stillborn. In the throes of this loss she embarked on a spiritual search, and came to know Jesus through reading John’s gospel with a Christian friend. She found that she was hungry for the very real Jesus who leapt out of the pages of ‘John’. Like the people mentioned in (4-9) she was restless, looking for a place to ‘’settle’’ we might say (4, 7). In Jesus, her restlessness came to an end. Over time she discovered that a number of Christians, who did not know her, living many miles away, had prayed for her in her loss and pain. Some were (amazingly) now her friends, and one she was married to! She writes in ‘Christianity Today’ (July/August 2014): ‘’Piecing it all together, I wept and wept, unable to imagine the grace of it all. In 1997, when I was an agnostic widow living in New Jersey, a group of Christians in Massachusetts had been praying for me. And while my own attempts to find a faith never adequately explained my conversion, this did. I had been prayed into the kingdom.’’ This psalm emphasises the truth of a prayer-answering God.

The opening three verses of the psalm read like this in The Message: ‘’Oh, thank GOD – he’s so good! His love never runs out. All of you set free by GOD, tell the world! Tell how he freed you from oppression, Then rounded you up from all over the place, from the four winds, from the seven seas.’’ Those of us ‘’redeemed’’ through Christ have a responsibility to tell about our Redeemer and His redemption (Romans 10:9, 10). What God has done in the ‘heart’ should be expressed through the ‘mouth’. God has shown His goodness and love to people from all over the world and gathered them into His kingdom. It is only right that we should give Him His due in praise and worship and testimony. Four times in Psalm 107 the psalmist mentions God’s ‘’wonderful deeds for men’’ (8, 15, 21, 31). That means for all mankind. God’s love is not just for the Jews. It is for all people everywhere. Of course, though, it is only truly known by those who cry out to Him for help (6, 13, 19, and 28). Alec Motyer heads this psalm: ‘’Everybody can pray’’ and says ‘’the stance of the psalm is deliberately worldwide’’ New Bible Commentary, p.557

The psalmist describes four categories of people: those wandering in the desert (4-9); those in prison or enslaved (10-16); those afflicted in body and soul (17-22); and ‘’those in peril on the sea’’ (23-32). Here are illustrations of the different kinds of trouble people can experience in life, and from which they can be delivered through prayer. These words do not necessarily describe four different groups of people. It could be the same people facing these various troubles at different times in their lives. But in all circumstances, they (and we) can cry out to the Lord and experience His love and goodness, for He is a prayer-answering God. Whatever life throws at us can be met with prayer. ‘’One of the enduring delights of this psalm is repetition – repeated descriptions of threatening situations (4-5, 10, 17-18, 23-26), repeated recourse to prayer (6,13, 19, 28), repeated divine response (6-7, 13-14, 19-20, 28-29), repeated calls to thankfulness (8, 15, 21, 31).’’ J.A. Motyer: New Bible Commentary, p.557.

Prayer: Thank you Lord for your every encouragement to pray.

0

Daily Bible thoughts 673: Friday 1st August 2014:

 Psalm 106:32-39

”They angered God again at Meribah Springs; this time Moses got mixed up in their evil; Because they defied GOD yet again, Moses exploded and lost his temper.” The Message.

Leaders can get angry (32, 33). They can be sorely tried by their people and say what they shouldn’t. The story of Moses is sobering. I feel great sympathy for him. What a job he had. He endured more than most. But God held him accountable for doing wrong. The Israelites drove him to it, you might want to argue, but there was no excuse for Moses. He was responsible for his words (which are always the index of the heart). He reaped the consequences of his sin and was barred from entering the Promised Land (Numbers 20:1-13). So Hebrews 13:17 has a relevance here. You might like to have a look at it, then pray that you will not be the cause of a church leader sinning!! But there was something far more important than their making Moses angry; it was the fact that they angered the Lord by their rebellion against the Holy Spirit.

There is always good reason to do what God says (34-39; see Ex.34:11-16; Deut.7:1-6). He knows what the purpose is even if we don’t. It remains true today that if you get too close to the wrong sort of people you are liable to become like them with potentially disastrous outcomes. ‘Mingling’ can quickly lead to ‘adopting’ someone else’s way of life; and even to worshipping their gods. Be warned that any ‘idol’ (and it doesn’t have to be a physical statue that you prostrate yourself before) will become ”a snare” to you. The Israelites were meant to be the instruments of God’s judgment on the Canaanites, and not friendly neighbours dropping in for a cuppa and a chat! The psalmist can say that the Israelites ”prostituted themselves” (39) in that they forsook their true love; their Heavenly Husband, God, and went after other ‘lovers’. They committed spiritual adultery with the false gods of Canaan.

”They didn’t wipe out those godless cultures as ordered by GOD; instead they intermarried with the heathen, and in time became just like them…Their way of life stank to high heaven; they lived like whores.” The Message.

”Refusing to become a separate people, they became a compromised people…- it is always so.” J.A. Motyer: New Bible Commentary p.555

Prayer: Lord let me not be influenced by others towards evil, but always influence them for God and for good.

 

0

Blog at WordPress.com.

Up ↑