WORD:
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Ps 28:1-5
28 To you I call, O LORD my Rock;
do not turn a deaf ear to me.
For if you remain silent,
I will be like those who have gone down to the pit.
2 Hear my cry for mercy
as I call to you for help,
as I lift up my hands
toward your Most Holy Place.
3 Do not drag me away with the wicked,
with those who do evil,
who speak cordially with their neighbors
but harbor malice in their hearts.
4 Repay them for their deeds
and for their evil work;
repay them for what their hands have done
and bring back upon them what they deserve.
5 Since they show no regard for the works of the LORD
and what his hands have done,
he will tear them down
and never build them up again.
NIV
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Ps 28:1-5
28 1 I pray to you, O LORD, my rock.
Do not turn a deaf ear to me.
For if you are silent,
I might as well give up and die.
2 Listen to my prayer for mercy
as I cry out to you for help,
as I lift my hands toward your holy sanctuary.
3 Do not drag me away with the wicked—
with those who do evil—
those who speak friendly words to their neighbors
while planning evil in their hearts.
4 Give them the punishment they so richly deserve!
Measure it out in proportion to their wickedness.
Pay them back for all their evil deeds!
Give them a taste of what they have done to others.
5 They care nothing for what the LORD has done
or for what his hands have made.
So he will tear them down,
and they will never be rebuilt!
Holy Bible, New Living Translation ®, copyright © 1996, 2004 by Tyndale Charitable Trust. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers. All rights reserved.
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Ps 28:1-5
28 Unto thee will I cry, O LORD my rock; be not silent to me: lest, if thou be silent to me, I become like them that go down into the pit.
2 Hear the voice of my supplications, when I cry unto thee, when I lift up my hands toward thy holy oracle.
3 Draw me not away with the wicked, and with the workers of iniquity, which speak peace to their neighbors, but mischief is in their hearts.
4 Give them according to their deeds, and according to the wickedness of their endeavours: give them after the work of their hands; render to them their desert.
5 Because they regard not the works of the LORD, nor the operation of his hands, he shall destroy them, and not build them up.
KJV
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Ps 28:1-5
28 To you, O LORD, I call;
my rock, be not deaf to me,
lest, if you be silent to me,
I become like those who go down to the pit.
2 Hear the voice of my pleas for mercy,
when I cry to you for help,
when I lift up my hands
toward your most holy sanctuary.
3 Do not drag me off with the wicked,
with the workers of evil,
who speak peace with their neighbors
while evil is in their hearts.
and according to the evil of their deeds;
give to them according to the work of their hands; render them their due reward.
he will tear them down and build them up no more.
ESV
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I. Minor Key: vv. 1-5
A. Pleas (vv. 1- 3)
1. Hear Me! - v. 1
2. Have Mercy! – v. 2a
3. Help! – v. 2b
B. Imprecation (vv. 4-5)
II. Major Key: vv. 6-9
A. Praise (vv. 6-8)
B. Supplication (v. 9)
Having a firm belief that God is righteous and therefore just, David breaks out in prayer concerning the wicked he is acquainted with. He has been sorely vexed by God’s seeming silence, and the tension has been building up inside of him. He does not want to fall prey to the wicked’s enticements and hypocritical speech. David may be troubled in his soul, yet alongside this tension that is growing inside of him, is the conviction that God is good and He will uphold His covenant and bring judgment on the evil doers.
Suddenly, he bursts forth in prayer against these “workers of iniquity.” He calls upon the Lord to bring retribution (not revenge) upon these enemies (of God). Many people don’t like to think of God as a judge or punisher of sin. Many believers don’t care to think of God in this way. Yet the mature believer will recognize and love this aspect of the God of the universe.
We must love God in every character — upon the throne of justice, as well as upon the seat of love.(from Spurgeon's Expository Notes. Biblesoft Formatted Electronic Database Copyright © 2014 by Biblesoft, Inc. All rights reserved.)
Notice that David is not asking for more than what they deserve. He is asking for recompense equal to their crimes.
Gill says:
[render to them their desert] what their iniquities, in thought, word, and deed, deserve: such petitions are not contrary to that Christian charity which the Gospel recommends; nor do they savour of a spirit of revenge, which is condemned by the word of God; for it should be observed, that these things are said with respect to men given up to a reprobate mind; and that the psalmist does not seek to avenge himself, nor to gratify his own mind; but he sought the glory of God...(from John Gill's Exposition of the Old and New Testaments, PC Study Bible formatted electronic database Copyright © 2011 by Biblesoft, Inc. All rights reserved.)
And what is their chief crime? They gave full vent to their evil endeavors by “the works of their hands” and ignored the “work of His (the LORD’s) hands.”
They partied on as if God did not exist and would not judge them if He did. They were like those described in Isaiah 5:12
They have lyre and harp,
tambourine and flute and wine at their feasts (grand parties – NLT),
but they do not regard the deeds of the Lord,
or see the work of his hands.
ESV
Maclaren declares:
The sin of sins, from which all specific acts of evil flow, is blindness to God's "deeds" and to "the work of His hands," His acts both of mercy and of judgment... the blindness to God's work here meant is that of an averted will rather than that of mistaken understanding, and from the stem of such a thorn the grapes of holy living cannot be gathered.(from The Expositor's Bible, PC Study Bible formatted electronic database Copyright © 2013 by Biblesoft, Inc. All rights reserved.)
A note of warning here. We as believers can be guilty of this too sometimes. We can start a work for the Lord without prayer for guidance or plan without consulting the Lord. Even if we do, we may not saturate each day and move we make with prayer that what we do will be God’s will and be done in the strength He provides (James 4:13-15; 1 Peter 4:11).
The results of ignoring and not appreciating God’s works, or relying on Him to build the structure called our lives, are devastating. In some cases, it is irreversible as in the case of those spoken of in this psalm. The locus of this psalm is either in the times of Saul or Absalom according to many commentators. Keil and Delitzsch place it in the time of Absalom’s (one of David’ sons) rebellion. Both scenarios fit, but it really doesn’t matter, both end up with the same outcomes.
In v. 5 a, the prominent thought in David's mind is, that they shamefully fail to recognize how gloriously and graciously God has again and again acknowledged him as His anointed one. He has (2 Sam 7) received the promise, that God would build him a house, i.e., grant perpetual continuance to his kingship. The Absalomites are in the act of rebellion against this divine appointment. Hence they shall experience the very reverse of the divine promise given to David: Jahve will pull them down and not build them up, He will destroy, at its very commencement, this dynasty set up in opposition to God.(from Keil and Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament: New Updated Edition, Electronic Database. Copyright © 1996 by Hendrickson Publishers, Inc. All rights reserved.)
There are two prevailing views on verse 5. One is that this is a prayer and the other is that this is a prophecy.
Calvin represents those who think that this a prayer.
... in my opinion, the words are just a continuance of his petitions. In this way, he prays that the wicked may be overthrown, so as not to rise again, or recover their former state. The expression, Let him destroy them, and not build them up, is a common figure of speech among the Hebrews, according to what Malachi says concerning Edom, "Thus saith the Lord of Hosts, They shall build, but I shall throw down," (Mal 1:4.)
(from Calvin's Commentaries, PC Study Bible formatted electronic database Copyright © 2005-2006 by Biblesoft, Inc. All rights reserved.)
Others are of the opinion that this is David speaking as a prophet of God (see Acts 2:30 where David is called a prophet).
Maclaren states:
Therefore the psalmist is but putting into words the necessary result of such lives when from suppliant he becomes prophet, and declares that "He shall cast them down, and not build them up."
(from The Expositor's Bible, PC Study Bible formatted electronic database Copyright © 2013 by Biblesoft, Inc. All rights reserved.)
Gill states the same and offers a further application from this fact:
... [David] spoke by a prophetic spirit, knowing what was the will of God in this case ... and therefore these petitions of his are not to be drawn into an example in common and ordinary cases.(from John Gill's Exposition of the Old and New Testaments, PC Study Bible formatted electronic database Copyright © 2011 by Biblesoft, Inc. All rights reserved.)
Another view could be that the destruction was the predictable or inevitable results of a depraved life without God based on the curses declared in the covenant God made with Israel. Whether a prayer, prophecy, or prediction (I lean towards the second view) the results are disastrous. Only a fool would ignore the warning.
The fool says in his heart,"There is no God."They are corrupt, their deeds are vile;there is no one who does good.
Psalm 14:1 NIV
Lest a believer thinks they get off unscathed here, let us remember that, while we may not be guilty of pride that leads to destruction (Prov. 16:18a), we may be guilty of presumption (haughty spirit – Prov. 16:18b) that leads to a fall.
We must remember these three principles we all know but often forget:
· Submit your works and plans to the Lord’s confirmation
Commit your work to the Lord, and your plans will be established. Prov 16:3 ESV
· Submit your works and plans to the Lord’s control
13 Now listen, you who say, "Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business and make money." 14 Why, you do not even know what will happen 14 Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes. 15 Instead, you ought to say, "If it is the Lord's will, we will live and do this or that."
James 4:13-15 NIV
· Submit your works and plans to the Lord’s construction
Unless the Lord builds the house, its builders labor in vain. Ps 127:1 NIV
To do this, we must come to the end of ourselves. In essence, we must die to ourselves and live unto the Lord.
Witness:
I was reading from the Devotional, Morning and Evening by C. H. Spurgeon the other day. Here is what he wrote for the evening devotion:
Day 26 01/26/PM "All they that heard it wondered at those things."— Luke 2:18 We must not cease to wonder at the great marvels of our God. It would be very difficult to draw a line between holy wonder and real worship; for when the soul is overwhelmed with the majesty of God's glory, though it may not express itself in song, or even utter its voice with bowed head in humble prayer, yet it silently adores. Our incarnate God is to be worshipped as "the Wonderful." That God should consider His fallen creature, man, and instead of sweeping him away with the besom of destruction, should Himself undertake to be man's Redeemer, and to pay his ransom price, is, indeed marvellous! But to each believer redemption is most marvellous as he views it in relation to himself. It is a miracle of grace indeed, that Jesus should forsake the thrones and royalties above, to suffer ignominiously below for you. Let your soul lose itself in wonder, for wonder is in this way a very practical emotion. Holy wonder will lead you to grateful worship and heartfelt thanksgiving. It will cause within you godly watchfulness; you will be afraid to sin against such a love as this. Feeling the presence of the mighty God in the gift of His dear Son, you will put off your shoes from off your feet, because the place whereon you stand is holy ground. You will be moved at the same time to glorious hope. If Jesus has done such marvellous things on your behalf, you will feel that heaven itself is not too great for your expectation. Who can be astonished at anything, when he has once been astonished at the manger and the cross? What is there wonderful left after one has seen the Saviour? Dear reader, it may be that from the quietness and solitariness of your life, you are scarcely able to imitate the shepherds of Bethlehem, who told what they had seen and heard, but you can, at least, fill up the circle of the worshippers before the throne, by wondering at what God has done.Spurgeon's Morning & Evening, Biblesoft formatted electronic database Copyright © 2014 by Biblesoft, Inc. All rights reserved.
As I mused upon this devotional thought and I came up with this application concerning my own situation and according to how my thoughts run from time to time.
I can wonder if I am lost because of my words, thoughts, and actions. Or I can be lost in wonder, because of in spite of all these things, You died for me and they are covered by the cross! |
Worship:
You chose the cross with every breathThe perfect life, the perfect deathYou chose the crossA crown of thorns You wore for usAnd crowned us with eternal lifeYou chose the crossAnd though Your soul was overwhelmed with painObedient to death You overcameI'm lost in wonderI'm lost in loveI'm lost in praise forevermoreBecause of Jesus' unfailing loveI am forgiven, I am restoredYou loosed the cords of sinfulnessAnd broke the chains of my disgraceYou chose the crossUp from the grave victoriousYou rose again so gloriousYou chose the crossThe sorrow that surrounded You was mine'Yet not my will but yours be done!' you criedI'm lost in wonderI'm lost in loveI'm lost in praise forevermoreBecause of Jesus' unfailing loveI am forgiven, I am restoredAnd though your soul was overwhelmed with painObedient to death you overcameThe sorrow that surrounded you was mine'Yet not my will but yours be done!' You criedI'm lost in wonderI'm lost in loveI'm lost in praise forevermoreBecause of Jesus' unfailing loveI am forgiven, I am restoredBecause of JesusBecause of JesusBecause of JesusI am restored (2X)I'm lost in wonderI'm lost in loveI'm lost in praise forevermoreBecause of Jesus' unfailing loveI am forgiven, I am restoredBecause of JesusBecause of JesusBecause of Jesus (2X)Video: https://youtu.be/vzMubghVEM0Lyrics: (I adapted them from this site because they were closest to the video lyrics – I had to make some changes in order to make it match the video)
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