Worship in WORD:
Ps 28:6-29:1
6 Praise be to the Lord,
for he has heard my cry for mercy.
my heart trusts in him, and
I am helped.
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
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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 ®,
copyright © 1996, 2004
by Tyndale Charitable Trust. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers.
All rights reserved.
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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
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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
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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)
1. Preserve: Oh, save your people... ESV
2. Pour out
3. Provide
4. Protect
Psalms 28:9
The secret source of the saints' supplies: -- An old Scotch baron was attacked by his enemy, who encamped before his gates, and would allow no provisions to enter them. He continued the siege long enough to have exhausted the supplies within, but there were no signs of capitulation. Weeks and months passed away, and yet no surrender. After a long time the besieger was surprised, one morning, to see a long line of fish, fresh from the sea, hung over the wall, as much as to say, "We can feed you; and surely you cannot starve us out so long as there are fish in the sea, for we have an underground connection with it, and the supply is exhaustless!" So Satan may besiege our gates, but he can never compel us to surrender, for our food comes, not through the gates, but from above, and through channels invisible to his eye, the supply of which is inexhaustible.(from The Biblical Illustrator Copyright © 2002, 2003, 2006 Ages Software, Inc. and Biblesoft, Inc.)
I have
included this quote above to go along with part two of my outline – Pour out –
but it really illustrates in some ways the whole of verse 9.
2.
Pour out - bless your heritage! ESVESVeritag
As I look at David’s supplications in verse 9,
I see that these are 4 interrelated petitions. One can also divide them into
two couplets. The outline I gave in the previous study (and included above)
might expand to look something like this:
1. First Couplet
a. Preserve – save
b. Pour out – bless
2. Second Couplet
a. Provide – shepherd
b. Protect – carry
However,
one must not make a sharp division between the two couplets. They all are
related and may be seen as positive and negative aspects of one great wish for
God’s people on the part of David. Come to think of it, they are also part of
one gracious desire by God Himself. For is this not the inspired word of God?
Is this not a Spirit-led petition?
David
asks the Lord to “bless” His “heritage” (NIV, ESV) or “inheritance” (KJV). Who
is His inheritance? They are the “people” David asks for God to “save” in the
first entreaty of verse 9 (see also Duet.
32:9). Remember this is a couplet.
There is a parallelism between petition one and two in which the second
includes, and in some ways, expands upon the first petition. Here is the
positive aspect of David’s request. The first request was for deliverance and
thus a negative aspect of the prayer. God’s people needed saving out of trouble.
In this second appeal, he is requesting that they will be brought out of
trouble into triumph. Yet, as the illustration above portrays, the enemy may
still surround us, but the Lord will preserve, provide, and protect us in spite
of this.
The
reason why I say that the phrase “bless your heritage” (ESV) is related to the
first petition of verse 9 is that to be saved from tribulation IS a blessing, but it is not the only
blessing. David desires that God’s people would enjoy the blessings of the
covenant He made with them. There is an underlying warning in this for the
people of Israel. The covenant shares the blessings of obedience, but it also
stipulates the curses of disobedience (see Duet. 27 – 28).
But we
are also God’s inheritance. We who have called upon the Lord Jesus to save us
from eternal destruction and believe that He died for our sins and rose again
for our justification (Romans 4:25).
We do not inherit a temporal blessing but an eternal one!
Heb 9:15
For this reason Christ is the mediator of a new covenant, that those who are called may receive the promised eternal inheritance — now that he has died as a ransom to set them free from the sins committed under the first covenant.NIV
But
along with this promise comes warning to those who profess to be Christians but
fail to continue in belief. False professors who fail to persevere because they
are not really partakers of the New Covenant.
Heb 12:22-27
22 But you have come to Mount Zion, to the heavenly Jerusalem, the city of the living God. You have come to thousands upon thousands of angels in joyful assembly, 23 to the church of the firstborn, whose names are written in heaven. You have come to God, the judge of all men, to the spirits of righteous men made perfect, 24 to Jesus the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel.
25 See to it that you do not refuse him who speaks. If they did not escape when they refused him who warned them on earth, how much less will we, if we turn away from him who warns us from heaven? 26 At that time his voice shook the earth, but now he has promised, "Once more I will shake not only the earth but also the heavens." 27 The words "once more" indicate the removing of what can be shaken — that is, created things — so that what cannot be shaken may remain.
NIV
And
along with the promise and the warning, comes an exhortation.
Heb 12:28-29
28 Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us be thankful, and so worship God acceptably with reverence and awe, 29 for our "God is a consuming fire."NIV
Finally,
we who are the “heritage of the Lord” are also “heirs of God and co-heirs with
Christ.”
Rom 8:17
Now if we are children, then we are heirs — heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory.
NIV
Titus 3:4-8
4 But when the kindness and love of God our Savior appeared, 5 he saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit, 6 whom he poured out on us generously through Jesus Christ our Savior, 7 so that, having been justified by his grace, we might become heirs having the hope of eternal life.
NIV
In the meantime,
until we receive our full inheritance, and because we are partakers of the New
Covenant and thus heirs, the Holy Trinity is transforming us into the image of
Christ. That is, to those who are called, justified, sanctified, and glorified.
Romans 8:28-30
28 And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. 29 For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the likeness of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. 30 And those he predestined, he also called; those he called, he also justified; those he justified, he also glorified.
NIV
Heb. 10:14 ESV
For by a single offering he has perfected for all time those who are being sanctified.
2 Cor. 3:12-18 NIV
12 Therefore, since we have such a hope, we are very bold. 13 We are not like Moses, who would put a veil over his face to keep the Israelites from gazing at it while the radiance was fading away. 14 But their minds were made dull, for to this day the same veil remains when the old covenant is read. It has not been removed, because only in Christ is it taken away. 15 Even to this day when Moses is read, a veil covers their hearts. 16 But whenever anyone turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away. 17 Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. 18 And we, who with unveiled faces all reflect the Lord's glory, are being transformed into his likeness with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.
Worship in Witness:
As you can
see, I have been sitting on this quote below from Spurgeon’s devotional – Morning
and Evening. I wanted to use it at the right time. Today as I finished
my studying, I didn’t have anything come to mind to share in this portion of my
journal. That’s when the thought came to me to share this little jewel with
whoever might read my blog. When calamity strikes, how do we respond? What kind
of disposition do we face life with? Do we have the spirit of Winnie-the- Pooh’s
friend Eeyore? Are we always looking at things negatively? Are we possessed by
the spirit of Murphy*? Or do we look at things in light of the providential
workings of our sovereign and loving God? Only people of the latter view can
pray the prayer of Psalm 28:9.
"She called his name Ben-oni (son of sorrow), but his
father called him Benjamin (son of my right hand)."
— Genesis 35:18
— Genesis 35:18
To every matter there
is a bright as well as a dark side. Rachel was overwhelmed with the sorrow of
her own travail and death; Jacob, though weeping the mother's loss, could see
the mercy of the child's birth. It is well for us if, while the flesh mourns over
trials, our faith triumphs in divine faithfulness. Samson's lion yielded honey,
and so will our adversities, if rightly considered. The stormy sea feeds
multitudes with its fishes; the wild wood blooms with beauteous flowerets; the stormy
wind sweeps away the pestilence, and the biting frost loosens the soil. Dark
clouds distil bright drops, and black earth grows gay flowers. A vein of good
is to be found in every mine of evil. Sad hearts have peculiar skill in
discovering the most disadvantageous point of view from which to gaze upon a
trial; if there were only one slough in the world, they would soon be up to
their necks in it, and if there were only one lion in the desert they would
hear it roar. About us all there is a tinge of this wretched folly, and we are
apt, at times, like Jacob, to cry, "All these things are against me."
Faith's way of walking is to cast all care upon the Lord, and then to
anticipate good results from the worst calamities. Like Gideon's men, she does
not fret over the broken pitcher, but rejoices that the lamp blazes forth the
more. Out of the rough oyster-shell of difficulty she extracts the rare pearl
of honour, and from the deep ocean-caves of distress she uplifts the priceless
coral of experience. When her flood of prosperity ebbs, she finds treasures hid
in the sands; and when her sun of delight goes down, she turns her telescope of
hope to the starry promises of heaven. When death itself appears, faith points
to the light of resurrection beyond the grave, thus making our dying Benoni to
be our living Benjamin.
* Murphy's law is an adage or epigram that is
typically stated as: "Anything that can go wrong will go wrong."
Lord,
Lead me to worship
Lead me to worship
Fill me with a song
A song about Your worth-ship
As sung by the heavenly throng
A song
about Your glory
That fills all time and space
And tells the gospel story
About Your glorious grace
- Amen
- Amen
Worship in Song: Hear it From Me by Bebo Norman
A love song, You must have heard a thousand
times
How can mine compare?
For so long, I've wondered if I'm lost behind
A thousand tongues there, a thousand tongues
there
It's all been done before, but I'll do it
again
'Cause I know that You want me to
It's all been said before, but I'll say it
again
'Cause I know that You love to hear it from me
I see all the ways I don't add up
And all that I never did
But You seek empty hands still lifted up
With nothing to give, nothing to give
It's all been done before, but I'll do it
again
'Cause I know that You want me to
It's all been said before, but I'll say it
again
'Cause I know that You love to hear it from me
More beautiful to You
Than the songs of angels and gifts of kings
More beautiful to You
Are what empty hands can bring
And what desperate tongues can sing
And when broken hearts cling to You
It's all been done before, but I'll do it
again
'Cause I know that You want, You want me to
It's all been done before, but I'll do it
again
'Cause I know that You want me to
It's all been said before, but I'll say it
again
'Cause I know that You love to hear it from me
So hear it from me, so hear it from me
So hear it from me
Written by:
Jason David Ingram; Adam Moritz; Jeffrey Stephen
Norman