May 5-7, 2019
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
|
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.
|
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)
1. Preserve: Oh, save your people – ESV
2. Pour out: bless your heritage! – ESV
3. Provide: Be their shepherd – ESV
4. Protect: carry them forever – ESV
As I came to the end of this
Psalm, I realized that one can spend so much time analyzing it and miss the precious
truths, promises, and blessings found in it. This is especially true as I
meditate on this last line in the Psalm: carry them forever. Protection? Yes, but so much more. As
I contemplated what this phrase, “carry them forever” means, I saw five of those
“truths, promises, and blessings.”
1. Possession:
Held by my Shepherd, I am
astounded and humbled by the thought that He chose me, a blemished and sickly
lamb, and made me His own. Weak as I was, he made me well. As His possession, I
enjoy His...
2. Protection:
Gathered up in His arms, I am
safe. The strong arm of my Shepherd protects me from all harm. His “rod and
staff” contends with my attacking foes and calms my anxious fears. Because of
my...
3. Position:
I am raised up above my enemies. Raised to a position of...
4. Privilege:
Lifted up into His arms, I rest
in an exalted position, for my Shepherd is also King. Therefore, I am part of
His royal flock. But I am not just a faceless fleece in His flock. No, His
knowledge of me is...
5. Personal:
Embraced in my Shepherd’s arm,
I enjoy an intimacy I’ve never known here on earth. Leaning on His breast, I
hear His heartbeat, which beats with love for me.
That he would lift them up for ever,
lift them up out of their troubles and distresses, and do this, not only for
those of that age, but for his people in every age to come, even to the end.
"Lift them up into thy glorious kingdom, lift them up as high as
heaven." There, and there only, will the saints be lifted up for ever,
never more to sink or be depressed. Observe, Those, and those only, whom God
feeds and rules, who are willing to be taught, and guided, and governed, by
him, shall be saved, and blessed, and lifted up for ever.
(from Matthew Henry's Commentary on the
Whole Bible, PC Study Bible Formatted Electronic Database Copyright © 2006 by
Biblesoft, Inc. All Rights reserved.)
[Lift them up for ever.] Maintain thy
true church; let no enemy prevail against it. Preserve and magnify them
forever. Lift them up: as hell is the bottomless pit in which damned spirits
sink down forever; or, as Chaucer says, downe all downe; so heaven is an
endless height of glory, in which there is an eternal rising or exaltation.
Down, all down; up, all up; forever and ever.
(from Adam Clarke's Commentary,
Electronic Database. Copyright © 1996, 2003, 2005, 2006 by Biblesoft, Inc. All
rights reserved.)
[And lift them up for ever] The word
used here may mean "sustain" them, or "support" them; but
it more properly means "bear," and would be best expressed by a
reference to the fact that the shepherd carries the feeble, the young, and the
sickly of his flock in his arms, or that he lifts them up when unable
themselves to rise... The word "forever" here means simply
"always" - in all circumstances; at all times. In other words, the
psalmist prays that God would "always" manifest Himself as the Friend
and Helper of His people, as He had done to him. It may be added here, that
what the psalmist thus prays for God's "will" to be done. God
"will" save His people; He WILL bless His heritage; He WILL be to
them a kind and faithful shepherd; He WILL sustain, comfort, uphold, and
cherish them always—in affliction; in temptation; in death, forever. They have
only to trust in Him, and they will find Him to be more kind and faithful than
the most tender shepherd ever was to his flock.
(from Barnes' Notes, Electronic Database Copyright ©
1997-2014 by Biblesoft, Inc. All rights reserved.)
“From beds of dust and silent clay,
To realms of everlasting day;
Feed them also, and lift them up forever.”
(from Pulpit Sermons of Charles Spurgeon - 63 Volume
Collection,
Biblesoft formatted electronic database
Copyright © 2014 by Biblesoft, Inc. All rights reserved.)
Witness:
While driving to church, I was
listening to a message by John Piper. It was a message entitled, Charles Spurgeon: Preaching Through
Adversity. It was a message to encourage pastors amid the many trials
they face. However, it was a message that could encourage a believer in any
compacity, from a preacher to a parent, a teacher or even a transient. So I
listened and found great admiration for this singular saint and the life he
experienced, unique gifts he was blessed with, and the tragedies and
tribulations he faced throughout his time here on earth.
As I approached the final
intersection where I turn to get to church, a quote from Spurgeon hit me like a
two by four. And when the stars that encircled my soul disappeared, I came to, and
realized something I knew but had failed to confess and cling to, at least not
in the recent past. The pain in my life was a gift of God. Do
I not believe that all things, both the good and the “bad” come from God who is
in control of all things – Who sees, knows, and plans all that comes to pass? So
why am I wallowing in pain more often than not? I must continually turn my pain
into praise and face my trials with thanksgiving.
Here are the quotes that
arrested my attention and led me to confession and praise and commitment
(though if my past is any indicator, this truth and my submission to it will be
repeated again and again all through my brief earthly residency).
It would be a very sharp and trying experience to me to think that I have an affliction which God never sent me, that the bitter cup was never filled by his hand, that my trials were never measured out by him, nor sent to me by his arrangement of their weight and quantity.” (“The Anguish and Agonies of Charles Spurgeon,” 25).
I dare say the greatest earthly blessing that God can give to any of us is health, with the exception of sickness . . . If some men, that I know of could only be favoured with a month of rheumatism, it would, by God’s grace mellow them marvelously.” (An All Round Ministry, 384)
I am afraid that all the grace that I have got of my comfortable and easy times and happy hours, might almost lie on a penny. But the good that I have received from my sorrows, and pains, and griefs, is altogether incalculable ... Affliction is the best bit of furniture in my house. It is the best book in a minister’s library. (“The Anguish and Agonies of Charles Spurgeon,” 25)
Here is the link to the
complete message. You can listen to it or read it – or both 😊)
https://www.desiringgod.org/messages/charles-spurgeon-preaching-through-adversity
Some will say these are merely
coping mechanisms to deal with circumstances beyond our control. I say, NO!
These are confidences we have who believe and know the One who sovereignly
holds our life and living in His hands.
8 So do not be ashamed to testify about our Lord, or ashamed of me his prisoner. But join with me in suffering for the gospel, by the power of God, 9 who has saved us and called us to a holy life — not because of anything we have done but because of his own purpose and grace. This grace was given us in Christ Jesus before the beginning of time, 10 but it has now been revealed through the appearing of our Savior, Christ Jesus, who has destroyed death and has brought life and immortality to light through the gospel. 11 And of this gospel I was appointed a herald and an apostle and a teacher. 12 That is why I am suffering as I am. Yet I am not ashamed, because I know whom I have believed, and am convinced that he is able to guard what I have entrusted to him for that day.
2 Tim 1:8-12 NIV
10 And the God of all grace, who called you to his eternal glory in Christ, after you have suffered a little while, will himself restore you and make you strong, firm and steadfast. 11 To him be the power for ever and ever. Amen.
1 Peter 5:10-11 NIV
7 Though I walk in the midst of trouble,
you preserve my life;you stretch out your hand against the anger of my foes,with your right hand you save me.8 The Lord will fulfill [his purpose] for me;your love, O Lord, endures forever —do not abandon the works of your hands.Ps 138:7-8 NIV
17 For this slight momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, 18 as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal.
2 Cor 4:17-18 ESV
The quotes from Spurgeon made
me recall an incident that happened years ago when my firstborn was a child. He
had a long sticker stuck in his foot. We did not know that at the time, but we
knew something was causing an infection and pain in the foot. When the doctor
tried to remove it, my son reacted by pulling his foot away and sitting up. I
had to hold him down as he screamed in pain as the doctor removed what turned
out to be a sticker almost an inch long. I still can remember the look in my
son’s eyes. He looked at me in agony with a looked that said, “Daddy, don’t you
love me? Why are you letting the doctor do this to me?” I did love my son, and
it caused much grief in my own soul to see him suffering, but I knew it was
what he needed at the moment. I realize that this incident does not precisely
fit with the message of the quotes from Spurgeon. After all, I did not put the
sticker in my son’s foot. However, I realized that my response to the Lord’s veiled
blessings was much the same as my son’s response:
“Daddy, don’t You love me? Why are You allowing this pain in
my life?”
That reminds me of the cry of
another Son:
"MY GOD, MY GOD, WHY HAVE YOU FORSAKEN ME?"
Matt 27:46 NASU
Let my response be as Your Son’s
was on the cross. May I daily trust You and commit my life into Your hands:
"Father, INTO YOUR HANDS I COMMIT MY SPIRIT”
Luke 23:45 NASU
Worship in Song:
There is no problem too big God cannot solve it.
There is no mountain too tall He cannot move it.
There is no storm too dark God cannot calm it.
There is no sorrow too deep, God cannot soothe it.
If He carried the weight of the world upon His shoulders.
I know, my brother, that He will carry you.
If He carried the weight of the world upon His shoulders.
I know, my sister, that He will carry you.
(Bridge)
He said, Come unto Me all who are weary,
and I will give you rest.
There is no problem too big God cannot solve it.
There is no mountain too tall He cannot move it.
There is no storm too dark God cannot calm it.
There is no sorrow too deep, God cannot soothe it.
If He carried the weight of the world upon His shoulders.
I know, my brother, that He will carry you.
If He carried the weight of the world upon His shoulders.
I know, my sister, that He will carry you.
He will carry you
He will carry
You
Video: https://youtu.be/00pseSjOzOo
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