November 9, 2019
Worship in WORD
A psalm. A song. For the dedication of the temple. Of David.
30 I will exalt you, O Lord,
for you lifted me out of the depths
and did not let my enemies gloat over me.
2 O Lord my God, I called to you for help
and you healed me.
3 O Lord, you brought me up from the grave;b
you spared me from going down into the pit.
NIV ('84)
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A psalm of David. A song for the dedication of the Temple.
30 1 I will exalt you, Lord, for you rescued me.
You refused to let my enemies triumph over me.
2 O Lord my God, I cried to you for help,
and you restored my health.
3 You brought me up from the grave,* O Lord.
You kept me from falling into the pit of death.
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 30:1-11
A Psalm and Song at the dedication of the house of David.
30 I will extol thee, O LORD; for thou hast lifted me up, and hast not made my foes to rejoice over me.
2 O LORD my God, I cried unto thee, and thou hast healed me.
3 O LORD, thou hast brought up my soul from the grave: thou hast kept me alive, that I should not go down to the pit.
KJV
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Joy Comes with the Morning
A Psalm of David. A song at the dedication of the temple.
30 I will extol you, O Lord, for you have drawn me up and have not let my foes rejoice over me.
2 O Lord my God, I cried to you for help, and you have healed me.
3 O Lord, you have brought up my soul from Sheol; you restored me to life from among those who go down to the pit.
ESV
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I. Personal/Public Purpose
II. Personal Praise: vs. 1- 3
III. Public Exhortation: vs. 4
- 5
IV. Personal Plea: vs. 6 - 10
V. Personal/Public Praise: vs.
11 – 12
II. Personal Praise: 30:1-3
Notice the tenses of the verbs
used (I realize I am referring to the English here – acknowledgedly imprecisely
– and also that Hebrew “tenses” must be interpreted by the context they are set
in, but I believe the translations above all agree and capture the proper tense
that needs to be used):
30 I will [future] extol you, O LORD, for you have drawn [past] me upand have not let [past] my foes rejoice over me.2 O Lord my God, I cried to[past] you for help,and you have healed [past – but future to David’s plea] me.
3 O LORD, you have brought [past] up my soul from Sheol;you restored [past] me to life from among those who go down to the pit.ESV
Because of the past, his future
is full of praise. David has an “I will/ because You have” relationship with
the LORD. This is plain from these verses and throughout the Psalm. This shames
me as I observe that David meditates on the blessings of God in his life. It is
said we should keep a short account of our sins (another convicting statement).
When we sin, we should confess it immediately, as we are made aware of our
transgressions. And when the day ends, we should think back and examine how we
walked throughout the day. Did we bring God glory, or are there sins we need to
confess and repent of? But should we not also “count our blessings as well?”
David did, and he expressed it in praise and thanksgiving. We need to cultivate
this attitude and practice David demonstrates in what I have called the “I will/
because You have relationship.”
However, we must guard
ourselves against any misapplications or misunderstandings of what I am saying.
We must not make this a crass conditional response. That is, we will not pronounce
or practice, “I will - because You have,
but I won’t - if You don’t.” This should
never be in our vocabulary, thoughts, or response to life’s circumstances (but sadly
often are). This is a mercenary and self-serving faith and not a grateful faith
that recognizes that any blessing is an unmerited and undeserved kindness from
the LORD.
Another danger we must be wary
of is our capacity to forget what God has done in our lives. My memory is
short. I forget God’s blessings and benefits too quickly. I must be continuously
reminded of them. David may also have failed to remember sometimes; however, I
believe because he was a man of meditation, praise was often upon his lips and penned
on parchment (papyrus?). Like our sins, which we should confess quickly, we
should also express our appreciation immediately for a blessing received.
However, unlike our sins, which need to be cast into the sea of forgetfulness,
we need to record our benefits in a book of remembrance upon our hearts and
minds and even in a journal. David did.
And one final note: we need to
return to this book often, and a seed of gratefulness will be planted which
will grow into... you guessed it, a praise tree!
Worship in
Witness:
Though I speak of
praise as being “future,” I am speaking in relation to its antecedent, God’s
blessings. Praise should be a present reality in our lives. But what about the
future? Do we praise the LORD for the “not yet?” These are the promises of God
yet to be fulfilled. This is where the value of remembering His “benefits”
comes in. Of meditating and remembering the past, and praising in the present.
When we practice this, we will find it easier to believe and praise Him for the
future fulfillment of promises not yet realized in our lives.
Providentially, I
read this devotional thought when I opened my Bible Study program tonight.
Day 9
11/09/PM
"His place
of defense shall be the munitions of rocks: bread shall be given him; his
waters shall be sure."
— Isa 33:16
— Isa 33:16
Do you
doubt, O Christian, do you doubt as to whether God will fulfill His promise?
Shall the munitions of rock be carried by storm? Shall the storehouses of
heaven fail? Do you think that your heavenly Father, though He knoweth that you
have need of food and raiment, will yet forget you? When not a sparrow falls to
the ground without your Father, and the very hairs of your head are all
numbered, will you mistrust and doubt Him? Perhaps your affliction will
continue upon you till you dare to trust your God, and then it shall end. Full
many there be who have been tried and sore vexed till at last they have been
driven in sheer desperation to exercise faith in God, and the moment of their
faith has been the instant of their deliverance; they have seen whether God
would keep His promise or not. Oh, I pray you, doubt Him no longer! Please not
Satan, and vex not yourself by indulging any more those hard thoughts of God.
Think it not a light matter to doubt Jehovah. Remember, it is a sin; and not a little sin either, but in
the highest degree criminal. The angels never doubted Him, nor the devils either:
we alone, out of all the beings that God has fashioned, dishonour Him by
unbelief, and tarnish His honour by mistrust. Shame upon us for this! Our God
does not deserve to be so basely suspected; in our past life we have proved Him
to be true and faithful to His word, and with so many instances of His love and
of His kindness as we have received, and are daily receiving, at His hands, it
is base and inexcusable that we suffer a doubt to sojourn within our heart. May
we henceforth wage constant war against doubts of our God—enemies to our peace
and to His honour; and with an unstaggering faith believe that what He has
promised He will also perform. "Lord, I believe, help Thou mine
unbelief."
Spurgeon's
Morning & Evening, Biblesoft formatted electronic database Copyright © 2014
by Biblesoft, Inc. All rights reserved.
One of the ingredients
in the antidote to doubt is remembering His blessings. Don’t let doubt devolve
into despair. Rather, remember to remember.
A Prayer to Remember
O Lord,
If I ever forget Your blessings
Or fail to recall Your grace
And deny my soul’s possessing
Of Your love’s sweet embrace
Then gently Lord remind me
Whisper it deep in my soul
‘Til I remember them joyfully
And Your Name I will extol
— Amen
Worship in Song:
Remember to Remember by Stephen Curtis
Chapman
When I typed the words “remember to remember” in the Witness
portion above, I recalled a song with those words in the title. Here is the
song. I really recommend that you watch the video I have linked to this song.
Not only will it make the words more impactful, but it also reinforces what I
have said in this journal entry. Note the “book of remembrance” Stephen is
using on the journey. Notice that he keeps picking up stones along the way. This
reminds me of the stones Joshua had collected from the middle of the Jordon to
serve as a reminder of God’s power and blessing when He parted the Jordon river
and let the Israelites cross over on their way to the Promise Land (see Joshua 4). We also read of Samuel
setting up a stone to remember the LORD’s help in the life of the nation of
Israel (see 1 Samuel 7).
[Verse 1]
Well, I've been looking back over my shoulder
Retracing every step trying to unforget
And I see the mountaintops I've journeyed over
And I see the valleys deep where I crawled on my hands and
knees
Pages and memories filled with joy and stained with tears
They call my name and if I listen, I can hear them saying
[Chorus 1]
Remember the way He led you up to the top of the highest
mountain
Remember the way He carried you through the deepest dark
Remember His promises for every step on the road ahead
Look where you've been and where you're going
And remember to remember
Remember, remember
[Verse 2]
And now I'm looking out at the road that's waiting
But my eyes can only see so far out ahead of me
As sure as the sun will shine there'll be more mountains I
will climb
And more deep dark shadowlands where desperate faith is all
I have
Until I'm home, I'm resting all my hope and trust
In the only One whose name is: God with us
[Chorus 2]
Remember the way He led us up to the top of the highest
mountain
Remember the way He carried us through the deepest dark
Remember His promises for every step on the road ahead
Look where we've been and where we're going
And remember to remember
[Bridge]
Remember the day is coming when He's going to wipe the tears
away
He'll look in our eyes and say:
Remember the way I led you off the mountain
Remember the way I carried you, ohh
[Chorus 3]
Remember the way I led you up to the top of the highest
mountain
Remember the way I carried you through the deepest dark
Remember my promises for every step on the road ahead
Look where you've been and where you're going
Look where we've been and where we're going
And remember to remember
[Outro]
Oh remember to remember
Oh remember to remember
Oh remember to remember
Video: https://youtu.be/uJz_rv5qC4s
