September 7 - 13 Daily Meditations in the Psalms
September 7
Psalms 88:13-18
13. But unto thee have I cried, O LORD; and in the morning shall my prayer prevent thee.
14. LORD, why castest thou off my soul? why hidest thou thy face from me?
15. I am afflicted and ready to die from my youth up: while I suffer thy terrors I am distracted.
16. Thy fierce wrath goeth over me; thy terrors have cut me off.
17. They came round about me daily like water; they compassed me about together.
18. Lover and friend hast thou put far from me, and mine acquaintance into darkness.
More than once, we find this question in the Psalms: “Why hidest Thou Thy face from me?” Has it ever been answered? The Christian life is not a mind game or an escape from reality. We pray because we are faced with matters of life and death, eternal loss and gain and titanic strength against disheartening weakness. There is no pleasure in being an abomination to friends and to have eyes weary with mourning. However, when we are separated from all else, He becomes our only source and early “in the morning shall my prayer prevent thee” (come to meet you).
This is a song of the cross. Every child of God will sing this song at one time or another. It is a song of weakness, a song of abandonment, a song of death. Jesus Himself sang it. However, resurrection springs out of this song. We are brought low that He might arise and be exalted in us.
September 8
Psalms 89:1-9
1. I will sing of the mercies of the LORD for ever: with my mouth will I make known thy faithfulness to all generations.
2. For I have said, Mercy shall be built up for ever: thy faithfulness shalt thou establish in the very heavens.
3. I have made a covenant with my chosen, I have sworn unto David my servant,
4. Thy seed will I establish for ever, and build up thy throne to all generations. Selah.
5. And the heavens shall praise thy wonders, O LORD: thy faithfulness also in the congregation of the saints.
6. For who in the heaven can be compared unto the LORD? who among the sons of the mighty can be likened unto the LORD?
7. God is greatly to be feared in the assembly of the saints, and to be had in reverence of all them that are about him.
8. O LORD God of hosts, who is a strong LORD like unto thee? or to thy faithfulness round about thee?
9. Thou rulest the raging of the sea: when the waves thereof arise, thou stillest them.
The Psalmist was aware that he had stepped into eternity. He desired to declare God’s faithfulness to all generations and here, many generations later, we read it. “Holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost.” He gave the eternal word of God, settled in heaven before the foundation of the earth and enduring throughout endless ages. “He that doeth the will of God abideth forever” and the Psalmist knew that his song and voice would be heard unendingly. Mercy and faithfulness are blessings from eternity. It is wonderful to consider that by the Spirit we have become part of enduring praise and proclamation for an immortal God.
There is no doubt that the Holy Spirit was looking past the covenant of David towards Christ and His kingdom. David was part of a greater plan, higher than the temporal throne of Israel. He was a man used of God to bring forth a seed, which would endure forever. Heaven and earth meet in this portion of scripture and the assembly of saints on the earth, conscious of the reality of heaven, worship in reverence.
September 9
Psalms 89:9-18
9. Thou rulest the raging of the sea: when the waves thereof arise, thou stillest them.
10. Thou hast broken Rahab in pieces, as one that is slain; thou hast scattered thine enemies with thy strong arm.
11. The heavens are thine, the earth also is thine: as for the world and the fulness thereof, thou hast founded them.
12. The north and the south thou hast created them: Tabor and Hermon shall rejoice in thy name.
13. Thou hast a mighty arm: strong is thy hand, and high is thy right hand.
14. Justice and judgment are the habitation of thy throne: mercy and truth shall go before thy face.
15. Blessed is the people that know the joyful sound: they shall walk, O LORD, in the light of thy countenance.
16. In thy name shall they rejoice all the day: and in thy righteousness shall they be exalted.
17. For thou art the glory of their strength: and in thy favour our horn shall be exalted.
18. For the LORD is our defence; and the Holy One of Israel is our king.
Notice the obvious reference to Jesus in verse nine. No wonder the disciples asked, “What manner of man is this, that even the winds and the sea obey Him?” He is the Lord God of hosts, the victor of Revelation 19, who scatters His enemies. He is heir of heaven and earth. He has a four-fold scepter of: 1) Justice – absolute, perfect rectitude in dealing with all people, conforming to eternal principles of righteousness. 2) Judgment – rightly interpreting divine law and dealing out just sentences. 3) Mercy – rich in undeserving compassion towards those who fear and trust Him, characteristic of a good God who is pleased to show favor to His creation. 4) Truth – everything in God’s kingdom is based on this attribute. He is bound to truth - He cannot lie - and no deception proceeds from His throne.
September 10
Psalms 89:19-37
19. Then thou spakest in vision to thy holy one, and saidst, I have laid help upon one that is mighty; I have exalted one chosen out of the people.
20. I have found David my servant; with my holy oil have I anointed him:
21. With whom my hand shall be established: mine arm also shall strengthen him.
22. The enemy shall not exact upon him; nor the son of wickedness afflict him.
23. And I will beat down his foes before his face, and plague them that hate him.
24. But my faithfulness and my mercy shall be with him: and in my name shall his horn be exalted.
25. I will set his hand also in the sea, and his right hand in the rivers.
26. He shall cry unto me, Thou art my father, my God, and the rock of my salvation.
27. Also I will make him my firstborn, higher than the kings of the earth.
28. My mercy will I keep for him for evermore, and my covenant shall stand fast with him.
29. His seed also will I make to endure for ever, and his throne as the days of heaven.
30. If his children forsake my law, and walk not in my judgments;
31. If they break my statutes, and keep not my commandments;
32. Then will I visit their transgression with the rod, and their iniquity with stripes.
33. Nevertheless my lovingkindness will I not utterly take from him, nor suffer my faithfulness to fail.
34. My covenant will I not break, nor alter the thing that is gone out of my lips.
35. Once have I sworn by my holiness that I will not lie unto David.
36. His seed shall endure for ever, and his throne as the sun before me.
37. It shall be established for ever as the moon, and as a faithful witness in heaven. Selah
God anointed David, not only with oil, but with the Holy Spirit, as a forefather to the Anointed One, who is Christ. Jesus is the fountain of heavenly oil, the baptizer with the Holy Spirit, that through many brethren there might be a great manifestation of God in human flesh. Out of His people Israel, comes a forerunner, John the Baptist, followed by the Messiah, and now an anointed race shows the good grace of God to the world.
An outline of a covenant follows. It provides strengthening with divine power, promises ultimate victory, unfailing faithfulness, mercy and glory. It gives authority over the sea and the rivers. It establishes a Father/Son relationship. The covenant belongs to Jesus, in the first place, as the firstborn, but it pertains to His seed as well. They are co-heirs with Him. It states that their transgressions will not be ignored, but that corrective discipline will be applied, so that they will be made holy. He will not compromise His holiness, in maintaining His covenant. Nevertheless, it is unbreakable and its seal is the oath of God. This covenant is sure to David, his seed, the Christ, and His seed.
September 11
Psalms 89:38-52
38. But thou hast cast off and abhorred, thou hast been wroth with thine anointed.
39. Thou hast made void the covenant of thy servant: thou hast profaned his crown by casting it to the ground.
40. Thou hast broken down all his hedges; thou hast brought his strong holds to ruin.
41. All that pass by the way spoil him: he is a reproach to his neighbours.
42. Thou hast set up the right hand of his adversaries; thou hast made all his enemies to rejoice.
43. Thou hast also turned the edge of his sword, and hast not made him to stand in the battle.
44. Thou hast made his glory to cease, and cast his throne down to the ground.
45. The days of his youth hast thou shortened: thou hast covered him with shame. Selah.
46. How long, LORD? wilt thou hide thyself for ever? shall thy wrath burn like fire?
47. Remember how short my time is: wherefore hast thou made all men in vain?
48. What man is he that liveth, and shall not see death? shall he deliver his soul from the hand of the grave? Selah.
49. Lord, where are thy former lovingkindnesss, which thou swarest unto David in thy truth?
50. Remember, Lord, the reproach of thy servants; how I do bear in my bosom the reproach of all the mighty people;
51. Wherewith thine enemies have reproached, O LORD; wherewith they have reproached the footsteps of thine anointed.
52. Blessed be the LORD for evermore. Amen, and Amen.
Meditate upon the Psalms and learn to pray in the Spirit. The foundation of prayer is the covenant, which is unbreakable and eternal. All who enter into prayer, beginning with David and continuing to every individual in the church, must be established in the covenant. There is an apparent contradiction between what is said up to verse 38 and that, which follows. Many stop at this point and walk no more with Him. They become confused, because what they thought to have heard Him say is one thing, but their actual experience seems to be another. These are the great struggles of the soul that should end with a simple statement of trust, “Blessed be the Lord forevermore.”
In prayer, we remind ourselves of God’s covenant. We might ask questions concerning it, such as, “How long before we see it fulfilled in our generation?” That is part of honest, desperate striving with God. We need the commitment of Jacob: “I will not let You go until you bless me,” The Lord is interested in a determined honesty, more than in prayers born of positive thinking and human optimism. His word tried Joseph in prison, David in the cave, Christ on the cross and the church in a world of opposition. Blessed are those who endure without fainting, until they see the covenant fulfilled. Blessed are the ones, whose hope is the person of Jesus Christ, who delivers us from the body of this death. Jesus has the sure mercies of David. We bless the Lord, who is unchangeable and all-wise, knowing the end from the beginning. Amen and amen.
September 12
Psalms 90:1
A prayer of Moses, the man of God
1. LORD, thou hast been our dwelling place in all generations.
The child of God has no continuing city on this earth and no one was more conscious of that than Moses. He forsook Egypt and wandered in the wilderness forty years before any other Israelite joined him. Then, he wandered with them for forty more years. For 400 years, God’s people were strangers in a foreign land and before that Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob dwelt in tents. This point must be forcefully made. The Psalms are the eternal word of God and apply to future generations as well as the past. “All generations” include this one.
September 13
Psalms 90:1-8
1. LORD, thou hast been our dwelling place in all generations.
2. Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever thou hadst formed the earth and the world, even from everlasting to everlasting, thou art God.
3. Thou turnest man to destruction; and sayest, Return, ye children of men.
4. For a thousand years in thy sight are but as yesterday when it is past, and as a watch in the night.
5. Thou carriest them away as with a flood; they are as a sleep: in the morning they are like grass which groweth up.
6. In the morning it flourisheth, and groweth up; in the evening it is cut down, and withereth.
7. For we are consumed by thine anger, and by thy wrath are we troubled.
8. Thou hast set our iniquities before thee, our secret sins in the light of thy countenance.
God was Abraham’s reward and He is the Psalmist’s dwelling place. He, who is the Source of all things, is our sufficiency. In heaven, there is no sun or moon, for He is the light. This Psalm and the next teach us, who are strangers and pilgrims on the earth, that the Lord Himself is our home. The most appealing element in revival is the manifest presence of the person of the Holy Spirit, who makes Christ real to us. It is not the happenings of revival that we seek, but the God of revival. He gives Himself to us, first in His Son, then in the gift of the Holy Spirit. The Spirit is with us to the end of the age. Could God give more or better? Is there a greater benefit in the gospel? God gave Himself to us to possess and use us in the unfolding of His eternal plan.
The Psalms teach us to return to the everlasting God. Man struggles to exist 70 or 80 years, but we go to Him, to whom 1000 years is as yesterday. To awaken us to the source of eternal things, he may bring calamity. He spoils our finite plans that we might partake of the infinite.
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