Journal for Christ: Six Observations

March 23, 2019

Worship in WORD:

Ps 28:6-29:1

6 Praise be to the Lord,

for he has heard my cry for mercy.

7 The Lord is my strength and my shield;

my heart trusts in him, and I am helped.

My heart leaps for joy

and I will give thanks to him in song.

8 The Lord is the strength of his people,

a fortress of salvation for his anointed one.

9 Save your people and bless your heritance;

be their shepherd and carry them forever.

A psalm of David.

NIV

Ps 28:6-9

6 Praise the Lord!

For he has heard my cry for mercy.

7 The Lord is my strength and shield.

I trust him with all my heart.

He helps me, and my heart is filled with joy.

I burst out in songs of thanksgiving.

8 The Lord gives his people strength.

He is a safe fortress for his anointed king.

9 Save your people!

Bless Israel, your special possession.

Lead them like a shepherd,

and carry them in your arms forever.

Holy Bible, New Living Translation ®,

Ps 28:6-9

6 Blessed be the LORD, because he hath heard the voice of my supplications.

7 The LORD is my strength and my shield; my heart trusted in him, and I am helped: therefore my heart greatly rejoiceth; and with my song will I praise him.

8 The LORD is their strength, and he is the saving strength of his anointed.

9 Save thy people, and bless thine inheritance: feed them also, and lift them up for ever.

KJV

Ps 28:6-9

6 Blessed be the Lord!

For he has heard the voice of my pleas for mercy.

7 The Lord is my strength and my shield;

in him my heart trusts, and I am helped;

my heart exults,

and with my song I give thanks to him.

8 The Lord is the strength of his people;

he is the saving refuge of his anointed.

9 Oh, save your people and bless your heritage!

Be their shepherd and carry them forever.

ESV

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)

I will complete my study for now on verse 6-7 with these six observations.

1. Hope and help are born out of the truth and experience of God’s strengthening and shielding.

· The Lord is my strength and my shield → my heart trusts in him, and I am helped.

Note David says: God “is my strength and my shield.” Though it may be allowable to drop the second possessive pronoun “my” when it comes to translating into English (see NLT), I believe this weakens the emotive power behind David’s words. He is declaring emphatically who God is to him. Because this is true in David’s life, hope and help are conceived and born out in his life.

2. Trust=hope here, not faith.

The Hebrew word used hear means trust, hope, confidence (Sept. always uses the word for hope here in the Greek not faith).

OT:2620

The most general word, however, to express trust is bathach jfb

OT:982), to confide in, or lean upon. Here it is to be remarked that, though we are in the habit of speaking of faith and trust as the same thing, the Hebrew has two distinct words for them, and so has the LXX. We have already seen that aman answers to pisteu/w, to believe, or realise; but bathach, to trust, is never rendered pisteu/w, nor is the substantive derived from it ever rendered pi/sti$. For the verb we generally find e)lpi/zw, to hope, or pei/qomai, to be persuaded; and for the noun we have e)lpi/$, hope. The man who believes God is he who having received a revelation from Him, realises it, and accepts it as true. The man who trusts God is he who casts all his hopes for the present and future on God. It is the former quality, not the latter, that God regards as a condition of justification. Faith must precede hope, because a hope for the future which is not grounded upon a present acceptance with God is no hope; and a sense of acceptance which is not accompanied with a living, working faith is an unreality.

OT:982

1) to trust, to trust in

2) to have confidence, to be confident

3) to be bold

4) to be secure

(from The Online Bible Thayer's Greek Lexicon and Brown Driver & Briggs Hebrew Lexicon, Copyright © 1993, Woodside Bible Fellowship, Ontario, Canada. Licensed from the Institute for Creation Research.)

While not synonyms, faith and hope are closely related. In authentic faith, there is a living hope, and in genuine hope, there is a living faith. There is a symbiotic relationship between faith and hope. Here David is emphasizing his bold, confident hope in Yahweh.

3. The NIV, ESV, and KJV are correct over against the NLT in attaching “I am helped” to the preceding phrase “my heart trusts in Him,” rather than what follows.

· my heart trusts in him → and I am helped

· My heart leaps for joy → I will give thanks to him in song

These are couplets, each reveals a cause and effect: Strength and shield results in hope and help; gladness leads to gratitude.

...[and I am helped] this was the fruit of his trust, even a gracious experience of divine assistance: saints are helpless in themselves, and are also as to the help of man; God is the only helper of them; he helps them out of all their troubles; in whatsoever he calls them unto, and to what they want; and the help he affords is sometimes quick, and always seasonable; and sometimes by means, and sometimes without them;

My heart trusted in him, and I am helped. Heart work is sure work; heart trust is never disappointed. Faith must come before help, but help will never be long behindhand. Every day the believer may say, "I am helped," for the divine assistance is vouchsafed us every moment, or we should go back unto perdition; when more manifest help is needed, we have but to put faith into exercise, and it will be given us.

As far as feeling goes, David is already "helped." He feels himself delivered out of his peril. Therefore, he says, my heart greatly rejoiceth; and with my song - literally, out of my song, which is explained to mean "out of my store of song" - will I praise him. He is ready to offer thanksgiving for a mercy not yet received.

4. Note though that there are internal and external aspects which also reveal another cause and effect.

· My heart trusts and I am helped

↓ ↓

· My heart leaps for joy and I will give thanks to him in song.

“My heart trusts” corresponds to “My heart leaps for joy.” [the internal aspect]

“I am helped” corresponds to “I will give thanks in song.” [the external aspect]

So the psalmist is exuberant and happily tautological in telling how his trusting heart has become a leaping heart...

Faith cries, I am helped! Let us rejoice even before the jailer comes to tell us that we are free

5. As noted in a previous study and assumed in this study: “I am helped” – written as if fully received – is David’s confidence in God’s help not yet fully realized.

My heart trusteth in him, and I am helped — God had in part heard and answered him already; and, it seems, had assured him by his Spirit that he would more fully answer and grant his requests.

https://biblehub.com/commentaries/benson/psalms/28.htm

6. “I am helped” is not only in reference to God’s help expected, but to the present peace and joy experienced when still in his predicament!!!

So, while I categorized “I am helped” as external there are internal benefits as well.

As in many psalms, the faith which prays passes at once into the faith which possesses. This man, when he "stood praying, believed that he had what he asked," and, so believing, had it. There was no change in circumstances, but he was changed. There is no fear of going down into the pit now, and the rabble of evil-doers have disappeared. This is the blessing which every true suppliant may bear away from the throne, the peace which passeth understanding, the sure pledge of the Divine act which answers prayer. It is the first gentle ripple of the incoming tide; high water is sure to come at the due hour.

And undoubtedly, when God spreads cheerfulness through our hearts, it is to open our mouths to sing his praises.

Witness in Witness:

Recently I have noticed as read from my past journal entries that there are some glaring typos. This has caused some feelings of embarrassment on my part, but not too much. For who really reads what I write but me and a few friends. I have made the corrections in my electronic journal, and today I even made corrections in my online blog.

Wouldn’t it be great if we could go back and make corrections to the typos (sins) in our lives? We could go back and delete or change the harsh words we spoke to a friend or a spouse. Redact untruth we have said or written. Correct the rude or ridiculous things we have said or done. But then we would be swamped, wouldn’t we? The challenge of changing the past mistakes, gaffs, and sin would take up most of our time, would it not?

So the answer is no. It would not be great or even feasible to return to the scenes of our crimes to change things if it were possible to do so. Therefore, I am glad that I have an advocate with the Father, who intercedes on my behalf – Jesus my Lord. I am happy I have a Father who loves me and will not disown or reject me, His child, even when others have disowned me as a friend and one has rejected me as a spouse.

All these things are covered and erased by the blood of Christ. My heavenly Father chastens me but does not cast me out of His family. One day these works of “wood, hay, and stubble” will be burnt up at the judgment seat of Christ but I will be saved and seated on His throne. Oh, what marvelous grace, what infinite mercy He has, is, and will show towards me His erring but devoted child. My tears will be wiped away. Tears born of life’s griefs for sure, but even more so for the grieving of the Spirit during my life.

My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. 1 John 2:1-2 ESV

Who is to condemn? Christ Jesus is the one who died—more than that, who was raised— who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us.
Rom 8:34 ESV

²³ Now there have been many of those priests, since death prevented them from continuing in office; ²⁴ but because Jesus lives forever, he has a permanent priesthood. ²⁵ Therefore he is able to save completely those who come to God through him, because he always lives to intercede for them.
Heb 7:23-25 NIV

⁷ Endure hardship as discipline; God is treating you as sons. For what son is not disciplined by his father? ⁸ If you are not disciplined (and everyone undergoes discipline), then you are illegitimate children and not true sons. ⁹ Moreover, we have all had human fathers who disciplined us and we respected them for it. How much more should we submit to the Father of our spirits and live! ¹⁰ Our fathers disciplined us for a little while as they thought best; but God disciplines us for our good, that we may share in his holiness. ¹¹ No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it.
Heb 12:7-11 NIV

For the Lord loves justice;he will not forsake his saints.They are preserved forever,but the children of the wicked shall be cut off.Ps 37:28 ESV

¹¹ For no one can lay any foundation other than the one already laid, which is Jesus Christ. ¹² If any man builds on this foundation using gold, silver, costly stones, wood, hay or straw, ¹³ his work will be shown for what it is, because the Day will bring it to light. It will be revealed with fire, and the fire will test the quality of each man's work. ¹⁴ If what he has built survives, he will receive his reward. ¹⁵ If it is burned up, he will suffer loss; he himself will be saved, but only as one escaping through the flames.
1 Cor 3:11-15 NIV

Your Boundless Supply

Lord,

I’ve built my life with useless things

The wood of worry, the hay of haste

The straw of sin, all bound with strings

Yet to this life may I apply

The gold of godliness, the silver of sacrifice

The jewels of joy from Your boundless supply

Amen

¹⁹Those whom I love I rebuke and discipline. So be earnest, and repent. ²⁰ Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with him, and he with me.
²¹ To him who overcomes, I will give the right to sit with me on my throne, just as I overcame and sat down with my Father on his throne. ²² He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches."
Rev 3:19-22 NIV

Worship in Song: O Worship the King by Robert Grant (1833)

I have searched for the original word actually penned by Grant. I am not sure these are the exact words. I have looked through many Hymnals and some have 6 verses, some 5, and some 4. The ones that have all six differ slightly but this is the version I believe is the original or closest to the original version. I have included several videos of the song. No one sings all the verses. Some sing most but change the order of the verses.

1 O worship the King, all-glorious above,
O gratefully sing his pow'r and his love;
our Shield and Defender, the Ancient of Days,
pavilioned in splendor and girded with praise.

2 O tell of his might, O sing of his grace,
whose robe is the light, whose canopy space.
His chariots of wrath the deep thunderclouds form,
and dark is his path on the wings of the storm.

3 The earth with its store of wonders untold,
Almighty, your pow'r has founded of old;
has 'stablished it fast by a changeless decree,
And round it has cast, like a mantle, the sea.

4 Your bountiful care, what tongue can recite?
It breathes in the air, it shines in the light;
it streams from the hills, it descends to the plain,
and sweetly distils in the dew and the rain.

5 Frail children of dust, and feeble as frail,
in you do we trust, nor find you to fail;
your mercies how tender, how firm to the end,
our Maker, Defender, Redeemer, and Friend!

6 O measureless Might! Ineffable Love!
While angels delight to hymn you above,
the humbler creation, though feeble their lays,
with true adoration shall lisp to your praise.

Lyrics: Trinity Psalter Hymnal #219

Videos: https://youtu.be/We9aR22C9BI by Chris Thomlin – a contemporary version

https://youtu.be/ciJrPDRYmOY this is an a cappella version

https://youtu.be/V2nxK_sO04Q by Second Chapter of Acts – a more traditional vers.

Journal for Christ

Tuesday, March 26, 2019

Six Observations

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