Worship in WORD
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21 Blessed be the Lord, for
he has wondrously shown his steadfast love to me when
I was in a besieged city. 22
I had said in my alarm, “I
am cut off from your sight.” But
you heard the voice of my pleas for mercy when
I cried to you for help. ESV |
Ps 31:19-22
21 Praise be to the Lord, for he
showed his wonderful love to me when I
was in a besieged city. 22 In my
alarm I said, “I am
cut off from your sight!” Yet you
heard my cry for mercy when I
called to you for help.
NIV (1984) |
|
Ps 31:18-22
21 Blessed be the LORD: for he hath shewed me his marvellous kindness in a strong city. 22
For I said in my haste, I am cut off from before thine eyes: nevertheless
thou heardest the voice of my supplications when I cried unto thee. KJV |
Ps 31:19-22 21
Praise the Lord, for he has shown me the wonders of his unfailing love. He kept me safe when my city was under attack. 22 In
panic I cried out, “I am cut off from the Lord!” But you heard my cry for mercy and answered my call for help. Holy
Bible, New Living Translation ®, copyright
© 1996, 2004 by Tyndale Charitable Trust. Used by permission of Tyndale House
Publishers. All rights reserved. |
II. Help! – vv. 9-18
III. Hail – vv. 19-22
A. God, for His Great Goodness – v. 19
B. God, for His Sheltering Presence – v. 20
C. God, for His Hesed [ds#j# ]#]
– V. 21
D. God, Who Hears and Answers His People – v. 22
IV. Heart – vv. 23-24
Ever feel surrounded? Perhaps it’s the feeling of being
surrounded by debt. Everywhere you turn, there seems to be a bill demanding
that you surrender your hard-earned money to them. Perhaps it is a work
schedule that offers no way of escape for some much-needed R & R., or maybe
it’s your children coming at you from all sides wanting your attention or help.
Whatever it is, you can definitely identify with the feelings David had who was
surrounded by enemies that sought to capture and kill him (inferred from v.21).
And perhaps you responded as David did in verse 22. The
encroaching enemy was besieging the fortress David was in. He was cut off from
escaping, and he felt as if he was cut off from God as well. And David
confesses that he rashly cried out in a state of panic: “I am cut off from Your
sight.” Have you ever responded that way?
The word in verse 22 translated “alarm” (ESV, NIV) or “haste” has both meanings at its core.
hasten, flee, fear, be terrified
(from Theological Wordbook of the Old Testament. Copyright © 1980 by The Moody Bible Institute of Chicago. All rights reserved. Used by permission.)
It seemed to David that God couldn’t see him. However, he forgot
that the LORD was El Roi – “the God
who sees” (Genesis 16:13). Forgetting this, David panicked. Notice here the wonderful
anthropomorphic wordplay on the senses. Although he thought God couldn’t “see”
him, God still “heard” him.
And God did not turn a deaf ear to David but listened to him and took action.
š¹m¹± has the basic meaning "to hear." This is extended in various ways, generally involving an effective hearing or listening
(from Theological Wordbook of the Old Testament. Copyright © 1980 by The Moody Bible Institute of Chicago. All rights reserved. Used by permission.)
We learn that the word “š¹m¹±” is not a mere hearing of David’s pleas
from this quote. This is not a mono-directional word (↑),
but bi-directional (↑ ↓). So by implication, God not only “heard” ↑ but “answered” ↓ (NLT) David’s “supplications” (KJV) for “help.”
Worship in Witness:
When we think that God doesn’t see the predicaments we find
ourselves in, remember that he does, no matter how we feel. We are never out of His
“line of sight” nor out of His “earshot.” Isn’t it is ironic then that we who
are visible sometimes feel invisible to God, who IS invisible? But the
word of God is replete with the promise that God sees us, hears us, and knows
our needs.
Here are just a few:
For a man's ways are in full view of the Lord,
and he examines all his paths.
Prov 5:21 NIV
The eyes of the Lord are everywhere,
keeping watch on the wicked and the good.
Prov 15:3 NIV
The righteous cry out, and the Lord hears them;
he delivers them from all their troubles.
Ps 34:17 NIV
Later, David would declare these tremendous truths in Psalm
139:
O Lord, you have searched me
and you know me.
2 You know when I sit and when I rise;
you perceive my thoughts from afar.
3 You discern my going out and my lying down;
you are familiar with all my ways.
4 Before a word is on my tongue
you know it completely, O Lord.
Ps 139:1-4 NIV
And listen to these words of
exhortation by our Lord:
6 But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you. 7 And when you pray, do not keep on babbling like pagans, for they think they will be heard because of their many words. 8 Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him.
Matt 6:6-8 NIV
We must constantly remind ourselves of these things, lest we
forget them.
Bless the Lord, O my soul,
and forget not all his benefits,
Ps 103:2 ESV
Finally (for I know this journal entry is getting long), I
recognize that we are human. And like David (who often wrote of God’s ability
to see, hear, and know), we can temporarily forget these “benefits.” But when we
do, may the Lord by His Holy Spirit convict us and call to our minds His
faithful promises. And when He does, let us cry out for mercy. Even if it is
only with the word “Help!” – Amen
Worship
in Promise, Poem, Prayer, and Praise
http://www.faiththeevidence.com/uploads/8/5/6/6/8566914/published/psa103.jpg?1563228052
He
He knows your sorrow
He feels your pain
He’s in your tomorrow
In the sunshine and the rain
He sees your falling tears
He hears your mournful cry
He’s there in all your fears
There, as the answer to the why
Hear
Me When I Cry
Hear me when I cry
Hear me when I pray
Hear me when I speak
Hear me when I say
All I want is You, Lord
All I want is You
All I want is You, Lord
All I want is You
And as I cry
and as I pray
And as I long for
You every day
And as I walk
And as I live
And as I seek for
You, my life to give
All I want is You, Lord
All I want is You
All I want is You, Lord
All I want is You
He Knows by
Jeremy Camp
All
the bitter weary ways
Endless
striving day by day
You
barely have the strength to pray
In
the valley low
And
how hard your fight has been
How
deep the pain within
Wounds
that no one else has seen
Hurts
too much to show
All
the doubt you’re standing in between
And
all the weight that brings you to your knees
[Chorus:]
He
knows, He knows
Every
hurt and every sting
He
has walked the suffering
He
knows, He knows
Let
your burdens come undone
Lift
your eyes up to the one
Who
knows, He knows
We
may faint, and we may sink
Feel
the pain and near the brink
But
the dark begins to shrink
When
you find the one who knows
The
chains of doubt that held you in between
One
by one are starting to break free
[Chorus]
Every
time that you feel forsaken
Every
time that you feel alone
He
is near to the brokenhearted
Every
tear
[Chorus]
He
knows
He
knows
Songwriters:
Jeremy Thomas Camp / Seth David Mosley
He
Knows lyrics © Capitol Christian Music Group
Lyrics:
https://www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/jeremycamp/heknows.html
Video:
https://youtu.be/OsccUg4TDd8
For
Further Thought or Study
I know this quote may seem to have nothing to do with Psalm 31. Yet, I was arrested by Spurgeon’s wording here as he comments on Matthew 6:7-8, which I quoted above in my “Worship in Witness section. And certainly, it is relevant to how I ended that section (i.e., “Help! - Amen).
Matthew
6:7-8
Repetitions
we may have, but not “vain repetitions.” Counting beads, and reckoning the time
occupied in devotion, are both idle things. Christians’ prayers are measured by
weight, and not by length. Many of the most prevailing prayers have been as short
as they were strong.
(from
Commentary on Matthew, by Charles Spurgeon. Biblesoft Formatted Electronic
Database Copyright © 2014 by Biblesoft, Inc. All rights reserved.)
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