A Prayer From David

 

 

Ps 143:1 <<A Psalm of David.>> Hear my prayer, O LORD, Give ear to my supplications! In Your faithfulness answer me, And in Your righteousness.

 

David begins this Psalm with a plea to God: It reminds me of that portion of our weekly worship service when we present our prayer petitions before the Lord, and the pastor says, “Lord in Your mercy,” and the congregation replies, “Hear our prayer.”

God delights to hear the prayers of the upright! Pr 15:8b reminds us: “the prayer of the upright is His delight.

Then, in verse 2, we read, 2 Do not enter into judgment with Your servant, For in Your sight no one living is righteous.

David acknowledges that he is not worthy of God’s delight and if his prayer is to be heard, it’s not because he deserves it, but only because of God’s great grace and mercy!

This is the right attitude of prayer, it mirrors the tax collector’s prayer found in Lu 18:13 "And the tax collector, standing afar off, would not so much as raise his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying, 'God, be merciful to me a sinner!'  14 "I tell you, this man went down to his house justified rather than the other; for everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted."

 

David continues: 3 For the enemy has persecuted my soul; He has crushed my life to the ground; He has made me dwell in darkness, Like those who have long been dead. 4 Therefore my spirit is overwhelmed within me; My heart within me is distressed.

Here we see David’s reason for prayer. He feels like the devil’s personal hacky sack

Then in verses 5 and 6 it hits David! 5 I remember the days of old; I meditate on all Your works; I muse on the work of Your hands. 6 I spread out my hands to You; My soul longs for You like a thirsty land.

 

“It wasn’t always like this, I have let my first love slip! I remember now those days when I pondered Your work in my life, and so here I am, once again lifting my hands to You, asking You to quench my spiritual thirst!

 

He concludes with the word “Selah.” It’s a musical direction and indicates a time to pause, to rest, to let what has just been said sink in. Let us do the same.

Then let us follow the direction given to church at Ephesus found in Re 2:4 "Nevertheless I have this against you, that you have left your first love. 5 "Remember therefore from where you have fallen; repent and do the first works, or else I will come to you quickly and remove your lampstand from its place--unless you repent.

 

“God, rekindle that first love in our hearts, when Your Holy Spirit first showed us how great Your love toward us has been and continues to be.

For the Cave Dweller (Spiritual Spelunkers)

 

Today I want to spend a little time speaking to those who find themselves trapped. Those who feel a bit squeezed in on all sides. David wrote the 142 Psalm when he was in a cave…..trapped. Typically there is only one way out of a cave….you head for the light.

 

Ps 142:1 <<A Contemplation of David. A Prayer when he was in the cave.>> I cry out to the LORD with my voice; With my voice to the LORD I make my supplication. 2 I pour out my complaint before Him; I declare before Him my trouble. 3 When my spirit was overwhelmed within me, Then You knew my path. In the way in which I walk They have secretly set a snare for me. 4 Look on my right hand and see, For there is no one who acknowledges me; Refuge has failed me; No one cares for my soul. 5 I cried out to You, O LORD: I said, "You are my refuge, My portion in the land of the living. 6 Attend to my cry, For I am brought very low; Deliver me from my persecutors, For they are stronger than I. 7 Bring my soul out of prison, That I may praise Your name; The righteous shall surround me, For You shall deal bountifully with me."

 

Note some things that David did in his situation. He verbalized his complaint. He declared his trouble to the Lord. “Don’t just “think” your troubles and complaints, speak them out to God. He is not afraid of your honesty!

David feels alone in his dilemma, as if others wouldn’t understand, Even though there are others in the same situation, he can’t see them for the darkness that has overtaken him.

For there is no one who acknowledges me; Refuge has failed me; No one cares for my soul. Maybe you’re feeling like that as well. Take heart for God understands! Bring your situation to Him!

Ask Him as David asked Him to “attend, deliver, and bring.”

. 6 Attend to my cry,; Deliver me from my persecutors Bring my soul out of prison, That I may praise Your name And when He does, don’t forget to “praise His name.”

Fulfilled Prophecy: Let It Strengthen Your Faith In the Sovereignty of God

 

    

Isa 7:14 "Therefore the Lord Himself will give you a sign: Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a Son, and shall call His name Immanuel.  15 "Curds and honey He shall eat, that He may know to refuse the evil and choose the good. 16 "For before the Child shall know to refuse the evil and choose the good, the land that you dread will be forsaken by both her kings.

 

This is where prophecy at times seems to be muddled, as the line between distant future events and immediate future events gets a little blurry. It’s easy to see how this prophecy concerns the distant arrival of Jesus the Messiah, but then in verse 16 we see a more immediate prophecy in the offing.

 

It is helpful here to know that Isaiah had brought his son along with him to this meeting with Ahaz, and the son’s presence serves as an object lesson for the king.

 

We read about it in Isa 7:3 Then the LORD said to Isaiah, "Go out now to meet Ahaz, you and Shear-Jashub your son, at the end of the aqueduct from the upper pool, on the highway to the Fuller's Field,

 

Shear-Jashub in the Hebrew language means, “a remnant shall return..” So here’s Isaiah with his son. I can imagine the introduction. “Hi King Ahaz I’d like you to meet my son, “a remnant shall return.” (ahem…hint, hint) The very name of the boy, (whom God had instructed Isaiah to bring along speaks of consolation to King Ahaz.) it reminds him that it’s not necessary to get outside help to deal with these two kings.

 

God has placed the object lesson (Shear-Jeshub) before the king and says before this kid reaches adolescence, these two kings will be history. And history tells us, it was so.”

 

Fulfilled prophecies! Too many to mention in this short devotion, but allow these prophecies to speak to you concerning the Sovereignty of God, and thereby strengthen your faith. Bow your knee to the one who holds history in His hand. We don’t call it His-story for nothing.

Fully God, Fully Man

 

Isa 7:14 "Therefore the Lord Himself will give you a sign: Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a Son, and shall call His name Immanuel. 15 "Curds and honey He shall eat, that He may know to refuse the evil and choose the good.

 

You know what? These prophecies are above my pay grade. One minute we are talking about the virgin birth of Immanuel, (and I get that) but what has a diet of curds and honey got to do with Him and since when does a diet develop a gift of discernment? I mean c’mon, this is Immanuel, God with us! He has known to refuse evil and choose good from eternity! He’s the One who set the standards of right and wrong before there was anything. What’s going on here?

 

Let me say first of all, say that whereas the virgin birth and name of Immanuel speak of the deity of this prophesied child, verse 15 speaks of His humanity! He will eat the diet of all children, but even as an infant and preadolescent He will be sinless. “Refusing evil and choosing good in all circumstance!

 

Jesus is fully God and fully man and He was without sin! We need to know this and believe it! 2Co 5:21 For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.

 

So these two verses in Isaiah help strengthen our faith in Jesus as the One whom God sent to save us from our sins! He was promised to us in the garden of Eden and that promise is reaffirmed here in Isaiah. Believe it! And believe the words in Joh 3:16,17 "For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. 17 "For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved.

Let This Strengthen Your Faith

 

Isa 7:13 Then he said, "Hear now, O house of David! Is it a small thing for you to weary men, but will you weary my God also? 14 "Therefore the Lord Himself will give you a sign: Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a Son, and shall call His name Immanuel.

 

Isaiah shifts gears here. Ahaz and his contemporaries will not listen to God and the shoe of God’s judgment is about to fall on them. It will be a crushing judgment and in light of God’s promise to the house of David, the remnant are going to have to be reassured.

Remember God’s promise to David? Nathan told David in 2Sa 7:12,13,  "When your days are fulfilled and you rest with your fathers, I will set up your seed after you, who will come from your body, and I will establish his kingdom.  13 "He shall build a house for My name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever.

 Here, Isaiah reassures the remnant in the house of David that He has not forgotten! He has prepared a sign for them, something to watch for as a reminder that God has not reneged on His promise.

 

A miracle of a virgin birth will occur and the child will be called Immanuel (God with us!) That sign would come to pass in full realization some 700 years later when Jesus was born! Mt 1:22 So all this was done that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the Lord through the prophet, saying: 23 "Behold, the virgin shall be with child, and bear a Son, and they shall call His name Immanuel," which is translated, "God with us."

 

This was the great hope of “the House of David,” (the Old Testament church) We in the NT church have been blessed in the fulfillment of this prophecy which we commemorate every Christmas season.

 

Let the fulfillment of this prophecy  strengthen your faith as we await the fulfillment of still another….the return of Jesus on Judgment Day.

Joh 14:1 "Let not your heart be troubled; you believe in God, believe also in Me. 2 "In My Father's house are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. 3 "And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also.

 

Jesus is coming again! 2Pe 3:9 The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness, but is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance.

 

Embrace this truth and live in the hope of His return!

 

Make A Joyful Noise

 

 

For me, there is nothing like the Psalms to hear the voice of the Lord. As I mentioned last time, I have gotten lackadaisical in my personal prayer time and when that has happened in the past, I have learned to return to the Psalms to restart my personal conversations with the Lord.  “The heavens are never bronzed, when I spend time in the Psalms.”

 

Ps 137:1 By the rivers of Babylon, There we sat down, yea, we wept When we remembered Zion.

 2 We hung our harps Upon the willows in the midst of it.

 3 For there those who carried us away captive asked of us a song, And those who plundered us requested mirth, Saying, "Sing us one of the songs of Zion!"

 4 How shall we sing the LORD'S song In a foreign land?

 5 If I forget you, O Jerusalem, Let my right hand forget its skill!

 6 If I do not remember you, Let my tongue cling to the roof of my mouth-If I do not exalt Jerusalem Above my chief joy.

As I read this Psalm this morning, I was struck by the importance of “joy in the Lord.” Nehemiah reminded the people that “the joy of the Lord is their strength,”

 

In this Psalm the Israelites are about to cross the river into captivity, and they are ready to hang up their harps! As they prepare for what appears to be the joyless drudgery of captivity.

Note that their captives ask a song of “mirth” (v3) from them. This tells me that songs of mirth were something the Israelites were known for, and it ought to be a trademark of Christians as well!

Ps 100:1 encourages us to: “Make a joyful shout to the LORD, all you lands!”

What a wake up call for God’s people as they ask the rhetorical question, “How can we sing the Lord’s song in a foreign land? And they answer themselves with “ How can we not?”

If we don’t desire to praise the Lord, may I forget how to play the guitar! (v5)

If we don’t desire to sing the Lord’s song, may my voice go on lock down! (v6)

Let my songs of praise to You O Lord, trump any and all joys of this world! (v6)

 

Maybe you are being roughed up a little today by the Babylonians (the devil and the world) Break out the praise songs! Open up the hymnal! Belt out a song or two praising our God!

In light of what Jesus has done for us, how can we not?

God's Overriding Mercy

 

 

I’m going to step away from Isaiah today, and I would ask that you take the time to read the 136^th Psalm with me. It’s too lengthy to include in what is meant to be a short devotion, so I’ll trust that you’ll give it a read on your own.

 

First of all, I have a confession to make. I have been so intent on writing devotions and preparing sermons and Bible studies that I have allowed my personal prayer life to go south. This is never a good thing as we read in Pr 24:33,34, “A little sleep, a little slumber, A little folding of the hands to rest;  34 So shall your poverty come like a prowler, And your need like an armed man.

Anyway, I was reading the 136^th Psalm today and in it, the Psalmist recounts the great deeds of God in creation and in delivering His people. But the biggest distinguishing mark of this Psalm is the repetition of the phrase, “For His mercy endures forever.” This phrase is repeated 26 times!

 

This was a spiritual jolt for me today! Let me never forget this overriding character trait of the God of gods, and Lord of lords!  Let me never dismiss the times that God’s overriding mercy has shown up in my life. (I don’t know the half of

 

I had to ask myself, “What have I been able to accomplish in my life? What have I enjoyed in my life? What have I been able to endure in my life, were it not for the overriding mercy of the Lord!  The answer is nothing! And so, I say, and I invite you to say  with the Psalmist: Ps 136:1 Oh, give thanks to the LORD, for He is good! For His mercy endures forever.