"In God we make our boast all day long and we will praise Your name forever. Selah
But now you have rejected and humbled us; you no longer go out with our armies." vv.8-9
Read chapter 44
Up and down with emotions. In the first eight verses the psalmist is praising God for all His wonderful works He did with this forefathers, how present and loving He was to them. Then the second part is sorrowful of how God's rejected them. The word Selah is right at this division and is a connecting word between the two parts. Selah means to pause and think about what was said or sung. Contrasting wonderful stories with the sad circumstances of the present in this transition. I wonder if in the musical instruments of when this song was played it went from the very highest key to the very lowest key between verses eight and nine. God was who they were boasting in all day long but when things got rough did they continue to still do this? Maybe this song was a reminder of that, that in God we make our boast all day long and praise His name forever no matter what the circumstances. He's not just a god that we like when things are good and hate when things are bad. They seem to have lost the favor of God and knew to expect what would be upon them.
Take some Selah right now on your life.
Tuesday, December 22, 2015
Monday, December 21, 2015
Psalm 43
Why are you cast down, O my soul?
And why are you disquieted within me?
Hope in God;
For I shall yet praise Him,
The help of my countenance and my God. v.5
Read chapter 43
The writer of this psalm continues to speak out of sadness or depression and in to praise. Some have said that Psalm 42 and 43 are one psalm or continuation of the first. In verse five the writer questions his emotions.: Why do I feel so low to the ground if You God lift up the downcast? Why do I indulge in unreasonable sorrow that benefits no one?
Then come the words "hope in God." Sometimes it seems like that's said without belief or just said because not sure what else to say. In times like these there is a need for patience but ground for hope. Hope in His promises, not for ourselves but for His will. "My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience" James 1:2-3. "he hope which is laid up for you in heaven, of which you heard before in the word of the truth of the gospel," Col. 1:5.
The Hebrew word for help here can also mean salvation. The salvation of his countenance or his face or composure is the praise to God.
What do you do when warring against your own emotions?
And why are you disquieted within me?
Hope in God;
For I shall yet praise Him,
The help of my countenance and my God. v.5
Read chapter 43
The writer of this psalm continues to speak out of sadness or depression and in to praise. Some have said that Psalm 42 and 43 are one psalm or continuation of the first. In verse five the writer questions his emotions.: Why do I feel so low to the ground if You God lift up the downcast? Why do I indulge in unreasonable sorrow that benefits no one?
Then come the words "hope in God." Sometimes it seems like that's said without belief or just said because not sure what else to say. In times like these there is a need for patience but ground for hope. Hope in His promises, not for ourselves but for His will. "My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience" James 1:2-3. "he hope which is laid up for you in heaven, of which you heard before in the word of the truth of the gospel," Col. 1:5.
The Hebrew word for help here can also mean salvation. The salvation of his countenance or his face or composure is the praise to God.
What do you do when warring against your own emotions?
Sunday, December 20, 2015
Psalm 42
As the deer pants for the water brooks,
So pants my soul for You, O God.
2 My soul thirsts for God, for the living God.
When shall I come and appear before God? vv.1-2
Read chapter 42
I love the old hymn to these verses. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_bJGFX5O6Ns
Psalm 42 starts the second book of the psalms (there are five books). It starts off with a lament, crying out for the need of God. As the deer pants for water, especially at the sight or smell of water but cannot reach it, so is how our souls pant for God. We all need water to live and when we are without it we get parched, even longer without it we get delirious, too long without water we die. There's not a soul doesn't need water, yet many go around parched trying to quench their thirst by what does not satisfy. The psalm is longing for God to be in their pressence, to be ruling over the world, not being able to stand the waiting any longer for the promises and hope of God's Kingdom. Charles Spurgeon puts it, "It is the cry of a man far removed from the outward ordinances and worship of God, sighing for the long loved house of his God; and at the same time it is the voice of a spiritual believer, under depressions, longing for the renewal of the divine presence, struggling with doubts and fears, but yet holding his ground by faith in the living God." Does your soul long for God as an animal thirsts? If you do or have, you know its sweet bitterness. What is your soul panting for?
So pants my soul for You, O God.
2 My soul thirsts for God, for the living God.
When shall I come and appear before God? vv.1-2
Read chapter 42
I love the old hymn to these verses. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_bJGFX5O6Ns
Psalm 42 starts the second book of the psalms (there are five books). It starts off with a lament, crying out for the need of God. As the deer pants for water, especially at the sight or smell of water but cannot reach it, so is how our souls pant for God. We all need water to live and when we are without it we get parched, even longer without it we get delirious, too long without water we die. There's not a soul doesn't need water, yet many go around parched trying to quench their thirst by what does not satisfy. The psalm is longing for God to be in their pressence, to be ruling over the world, not being able to stand the waiting any longer for the promises and hope of God's Kingdom. Charles Spurgeon puts it, "It is the cry of a man far removed from the outward ordinances and worship of God, sighing for the long loved house of his God; and at the same time it is the voice of a spiritual believer, under depressions, longing for the renewal of the divine presence, struggling with doubts and fears, but yet holding his ground by faith in the living God." Does your soul long for God as an animal thirsts? If you do or have, you know its sweet bitterness. What is your soul panting for?
Saturday, December 19, 2015
2 Kings 25
"Now it came to pass in the thirty-seventh year of the captivity of Jehoiachin king of Judah, in the twelfth month, on the twenty-seventh day of the month, that Evil-Merodach king of Babylon, in the year that he began to reign, released Jehoiachin king of Judah from prison." v.27
Read chapter 25
The last chapter of 2 Kings and the last of the people of Israel taken in to captivity. Captivity lasted seventy years and was under the Babylonian Empire and later the Medo-Persian Empire. Of course during all that time there were multiple kings and here we read of the second king of Babylon son of Nebuchadnezzar named Evil-Merodaach. Interesting name, in Babylonian Amil-marduk, “man of Merodach.” He took Jehoiachin out of prison; not sure why. "Influenced probably by Daniel, he showed kindness to Jehoiachin, who had been a prisoner in Babylon for thirty-seven years." (biblestudytools.com). Sometimes in difficult places or situations one can create great bonds with others in the same situation that no matter what future comes they're never forgotten. Do you have a relationship like that in your life?
Read chapter 25
The last chapter of 2 Kings and the last of the people of Israel taken in to captivity. Captivity lasted seventy years and was under the Babylonian Empire and later the Medo-Persian Empire. Of course during all that time there were multiple kings and here we read of the second king of Babylon son of Nebuchadnezzar named Evil-Merodaach. Interesting name, in Babylonian Amil-marduk, “man of Merodach.” He took Jehoiachin out of prison; not sure why. "Influenced probably by Daniel, he showed kindness to Jehoiachin, who had been a prisoner in Babylon for thirty-seven years." (biblestudytools.com). Sometimes in difficult places or situations one can create great bonds with others in the same situation that no matter what future comes they're never forgotten. Do you have a relationship like that in your life?
Friday, December 18, 2015
2 Kings 24
"Then the king of Babylon made Mattaniah, Jehoiachin’s[a] uncle, king in his place, and changed his name to Zedekiah." v.17
Read chapter 24
Read chapter 24
Seems strange that there's still a king of Judah even when the Israelites are in captivity under Babylon. We read that all the strong, valiant men were taken into captivity as well and only the poorest of the land remained. Nebuchadnezzar appointed the next king of Judah after Jehoachin was taken into captivity. Mattaniah (Zedekiah) who was a son of Josiah and uncle to Joehachin was picked by Nebu to reign over those poor people still in the land, possibly as a show of maintaining the monarchy. "The custom of conquerors, who changed the names of the great men they took captives in war, in token of their supremacy," Nebu gave him the new name of Zedekiah. Zedekiah was the last of the kings of Judah and his end is captivity after about eleven years. All this was under the kingdom of Babylon and Zedekiah, although king as well over a smaller region, was in submission to Nebu. It's kind of like every supervisor has a supervisor. How do supervise differently because of how you're supervised?
Thursday, December 17, 2015
2 Kings 23
"Moreover Josiah put away those who consulted mediums and spiritists, the household gods and idols, all the abominations that were seen in the land of Judah and in Jerusalem, that he might perform the words of the law which were written in the book that Hilkiah the priest found in the house of the Lord. Now before him there was no king like him, who turned to the Lord with all his heart, with all his soul, and with all his might, according to all the Law of Moses; nor after him did any arise like him." vv.24-25
Read chapter 23
Josiah restores true worship. This chapter is amazing reading all the Josiah did to tear down and destroy all the detestable things in Jerusalem that dishonored God and caused people to sin. A lot of good kings in the past may have torn down a few things or didn't partake, but Josiah gets rid of it all not only the public forms of idolatry but the private things too. This was all because he had found the book of the law (22:8) that showed God's righteous decrees and commands to desire him to turn to the Lord with all his heart, soul and might. "His diligent study in God’s law, and his exact care, and unwearied industry, and fervent zeal, in rooting out idolaters, and all kinds and appearances of idolatry, not only in Judah, but in Israel also; and in the establishment of the true religion in all his dominions, and in the conforming of his own life, and his people’s too, (as far as he could,) to the holy law of God" (Benson Commentary). How can you let the Word of God rule this way in you?
Read chapter 23
Josiah restores true worship. This chapter is amazing reading all the Josiah did to tear down and destroy all the detestable things in Jerusalem that dishonored God and caused people to sin. A lot of good kings in the past may have torn down a few things or didn't partake, but Josiah gets rid of it all not only the public forms of idolatry but the private things too. This was all because he had found the book of the law (22:8) that showed God's righteous decrees and commands to desire him to turn to the Lord with all his heart, soul and might. "His diligent study in God’s law, and his exact care, and unwearied industry, and fervent zeal, in rooting out idolaters, and all kinds and appearances of idolatry, not only in Judah, but in Israel also; and in the establishment of the true religion in all his dominions, and in the conforming of his own life, and his people’s too, (as far as he could,) to the holy law of God" (Benson Commentary). How can you let the Word of God rule this way in you?
Wednesday, December 16, 2015
2 Kings 22
"So Hilkiah the priest, Ahikam, Achbor, Shaphan, and Asaiah went to Huldah the prophetess, the wife of Shallum the son of Tikvah, the son of Harhas, keeper of the wardrobe. (She dwelt in Jerusalem in the Second Quarter.) And they spoke with her. 15 Then she said to them, “Thus says the Lord God of Israel, ‘Tell the man who sent you to Me, " vv.14-15
Read chapter 22
A woman prophet, a prophetess. This is only one of six (or so) prophetess mentioned in scripture. We don't know much about her other than what's recorded here. "She lived in Jerusalem, and her husband, Shallum, was probably a Levite, as he had charge of what must have been the wardrobe for the vestments of the priests. The narrative here shews in what esteem she was held both by king and people, and her language in her answer has quite the prophetic character. She speaks not her own words but the message of the Lord the God of Israel" (Cambridge Bible). Both Jeremiah and Zephaniah were prophets during this time yet here the king goes to her to hear the word of the Lord. Perhaps because she dwelt in Jerusalem where Jeremiah and Zephaniah would have been outside of the land???
We can learn some from her character and attitude whether we're a man or a woman. Huldah is not moved by big titles or intimidated by the power of men as she responds confidently and with authority to the high ranking government officials. She refers to the king as just any other man by saying in a manner to "Tell the man who sent you to me". She spoke directly and to the point. This wasn't a public show, but private, not trying to usurp Jeremiah or Zephaniah. So women, how can you be like Huldah? Men, how can you learn to go to women of God?
Read chapter 22
A woman prophet, a prophetess. This is only one of six (or so) prophetess mentioned in scripture. We don't know much about her other than what's recorded here. "She lived in Jerusalem, and her husband, Shallum, was probably a Levite, as he had charge of what must have been the wardrobe for the vestments of the priests. The narrative here shews in what esteem she was held both by king and people, and her language in her answer has quite the prophetic character. She speaks not her own words but the message of the Lord the God of Israel" (Cambridge Bible). Both Jeremiah and Zephaniah were prophets during this time yet here the king goes to her to hear the word of the Lord. Perhaps because she dwelt in Jerusalem where Jeremiah and Zephaniah would have been outside of the land???
We can learn some from her character and attitude whether we're a man or a woman. Huldah is not moved by big titles or intimidated by the power of men as she responds confidently and with authority to the high ranking government officials. She refers to the king as just any other man by saying in a manner to "Tell the man who sent you to me". She spoke directly and to the point. This wasn't a public show, but private, not trying to usurp Jeremiah or Zephaniah. So women, how can you be like Huldah? Men, how can you learn to go to women of God?
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