2002-01-01
Good Morning Faithful Readers,
As I read today’s passage, the one which reveals the spiritual meaning of the nineteenth Hebrew letter, koph, it became clear to me that its historical context would make it easier to understand. First, let’s look at the words of PS 119: 145-152: “With all my heart I call to You; answer me, Lord, and I will obey Your commands! I call to You; save me, and I will keep Your laws. Before sunrise I call to You for help; I place my hope in Your promise. All night long I lie awake, to meditate on Your instructions. Because Your love is constant, hear me, O Lord; show Your mercy, and preserve my life! My cruel persecutors are coming closer, people who never keep Your law. But You are near to me, Lord, and all Your commands are permanent. Long ago I learned about Your instructions; You made them to last forever.” This plea for deliverance is also a demonstration of experiencing God through obedience to His word.
In previous devotions I have mentioned my belief that David is our Psalmist. If that is true, then his experiences would certainly support the kind the emotional desperation that his words exhibit. He served in Saul’s court, playing the harp for the king in the beginning. After Saul refused to obey God, and God made David king [1 SAM 15: 10; 16: 1, 18 ,21-23], Saul pursued David relentlessly alternating expressions of his love for him with making attempts on his life [1 SAM 18: 10-16;19: 9-10; 23: 23, 25]. The warmth of David’s friendship with Saul’s son, Jonathan, who had to betray his father to save David’s life, was only a short episode which ended with Jonathan’s death on the battlefield [1 SAM 18: 1-3; 20: 1-42; 23: 18; 1 CH 10: 2]. All the while, Israel was at war with the Philistines, rendering David and the others in constant danger from these enemies [1 SAM 23: 27-28]. More than once, David actually caught up to Saul and could have taken his pursuer’s life, but he chose not to do this [1 SAM 24:7, 10; 28: 7-9]. As if David’s problems were not more than one man could bear, he had to deal with challenges to his kingship and peace of mind from within Saul’s family and his own. David had married Saul’s daughter, Michal [1 SAM 18: 20-21], and Saul’s son, Ishbosheth, had taken her from him [2 SAM 3: 14-15]. David’s son, Absalom, killedhis half-brother, Ammon ,and all of his brothers in a controversy over his relationship to Absalom’s sister, Tamar [2 SAM 13: 1-38]. From all of this, we can see the troubled and convoluted life that David led. Understanding all of this historical background makes the sweet inner spirit of David, so brilliantly exposed in the Psalms, all that much more amazing, something that could have only been brought about by God as an act of the Deity’s love for David.
The protection that God bestowed on David has incredibly important long-range consequences that certainly impact both Israel and us. It was God’s will that Israel should once again be reunited, and it was. It was also God’s will that a Descendant of David should rule forever, a promise known as the Davidic covenant [2 SAM 7: 12-13; PS 89: 3-4]. This future King, this suffering Servant, this chosen One is described in remarkable detail in PS 2: 1-11,IS 9: 6-7, 53:1-12 & MICAH 5: 2 long before his actual ancestry is given to us in MT 1: 1-17 and LK 3L 23-38. In my humble opinion, there can be no doubt about Who our Messiah, this King Who will eventually rule forever, is. He is Jesus Christ! Since our Psalmist is writing a plea for deliverance in PS 119: 145-152, without knowing it, he is writing about Jesus Christ! Our loving Abba heard the Psalmist’s plea, and gave His only begotten Son on the cross, so that those who believe shall never perish, but have everlasting life [JN 3: 16].
God seems to ask so little of us, only that we should repent and believe that Jesus Christ is the Lord of our lives and our Savior. We examine the heart of our Psalmist and what we can’t help but see is obedience, dedication to God’s teachings, acknowledgment that God’s love is constant, recognition of God’s nearness to him, and his understanding that God’s commands are permanent-made to last forever. Can we see these same things are true? God could hardly be displeased with the heart-attitude our Psalmist shows in the face of all the trials, temptations, and persecution he had to endure. We should understand the spiritual meaning of koph and ask ourselves in the face of this example, what is the content our hearts? How does it measure up to this extraordinary, yet very human example? Are we experiencing God through obedience to Him? God gives us the examples of faith in the Scriptures, not to defeat us, but instead to lead us to determination to conform to them. He lets us know what pleases Him this way, so that we can make whatever adjustments are necessary in our lives for us to please Him too. God is surely to be praised for this!
PRAYER: O Lord, we repent of the sin in our lives and confess our faith in Jesus Christ. It is Your great sacrifice of Him that has made it possible for us to access eternal forgiveness and salvation. We understand that once we are saved, You hold us to a higher standard than that of the world, one which conforms to the principles for our lives You teach us in the Scriptures. You deemed us acceptable to You and imputed righteousness to our accounts when we were saved. In other words, we were justified. But Your process of perfecting us only begins at justification. We must commit ourselves to continually evaluating our lives against the examples of faith You have given us, so that we might make whatever changes are necessary to more closely conform to the ideal set for us by Your Son. We acknowledge that our deliverance from bondage to sin will only be completed when You deem us ready for glorification. You deserve nothing less from us than our total trust and obedience. We humbly dedicate ourselves to doing that while at the same time praising, glorifying, magnifying, worshipping, honoring, and thanking You for being the Lord of our lives. In Christ’s name, amen.
Tomorrow, we will look at the spiritual meaning of the twentieth Hebrew letter, resh, as it is revealed in PS 119: 153-160. Our God is an awesome God! He is always by our side, rooting for us to overcome the spiritual warfare that is a part of our lives. He shows us the areas within ourselves in which we must make improvements and equips us to do this successfully. We are a truly loved and blessed people! Peter and I send you our love too.
Grace Be With You Always,
Lynn