Psalms 86 - 88 (with 4 topics)
Psalm 86 A prayer. Said to: address being tired/weak; deal with troubles; provide forgiveness:
Hear, O LORD, & answer Me, for I am poor & needy. Guard My life, for I am devoted to YOU. YOU are My GOD; save YOUR Servant who trusts in YOU. Have mercy on Me, O LORD, for I call to YOU all day long. Bring joy to YOUR Servant, for to YOU, O LORD, I lift up My soul. YOU are forgiving & good, O LORD, abounding in love to all who call on YOU. Hear My prayer, O LORD; listen to My cry for mercy. In the day of My trouble I will call to YOU, for YOU will answer Me. Among the gods there is none like YOU, O LORD; no deeds can compare with YOURS.
Far Distant prophecy All the nations YOU have made will come & worship before YOU, O LORD: they will bring glory to YOUR Name. EOP
For YOU are great & do marvelous deeds; YOU Alone are GOD. Teach Me YOUR Way, O LORD, & I will walk in YOUR Truth; give Me an undivided heart, that I may fear YOUR Name. I will praise YOU, O LORD My GOD, with all My heart; I will glorify YOUR Name forever. For great is YOUR Love toward Me; YOU have delivered Me from the depths of the grave (Sheol). The arrogant are attacking Me, O GOD; a band of ruthless men seek My life-- men without regard for YOU. But YOU, O LORD, are a Compassionate & Gracious GOD, slow to anger, abounding in love & faithfulness. Turn to Me & have mercy on Me; grant YOUR Strength to YOUR Servant, & save the son of YOUR Maidservant (YOUR Faithful Son).
Give Me a sign of YOUR Goodness, that My enemies might see it & be put to shame, for YOU, O LORD, have helped Me & comforted Me.
1. Transition #3 Revisited
We saw some O.T. to N.T. transitions in:
- Psalms 36 - 41 Psalm 38 1. Transition #1 from the O.T. love Your neighbor, hate Your enemy to the N.T. love Your enemy;
- Psalms 84 - 85 Psalm 84 3. Transition #2 from the O.T. physical taking up of the shield to the N.T. spiritual taking up of the shield; &
- Psalms 84 - 85 Psalm 85 1. Transition #3 from the O.T. put all instantly to the sword if any are led astray by those in a Canaanite town to the N.T. only deliver him (the bad-example, immoral person) to Satan for the destruction of the flesh.
Now we see 2 more sides to Transition #3 (O.T. to N.T.). In the O.T., not only were the neighbors of the guilty destroyed, but the descendants of the guilty were punished-- though only for several generations. But don't miss the bigger picture-- Moses ascending vs. Jesus descending!
- Deu 34:6-7 has: HE passed in front of Moses (Moses having chiseled 2 stone tablets, carrying them up as he ascended Mt. Sinai the 2nd time-- God then descending from the cloud & standing with him), proclaiming about himself, The LORD, the LORD, the Compassionate & Gracious GOD, slow to anger, abounding in love & faithfulness, maintaining love to thousands & forgiving wickedness, rebellion & sin. Yet HE does not leave the guilty unpunished; HE punishes the children & their children for the sin of the fathers to the 3rd & 4th generation. Now not to say in this life there won't be repurcussions for what someone did before ABCing, but God is totally forgiving-- see, the blood of Jesus washes away all past sin (but I would be remiss to not point out the eternal consequences of even remotely preventing/corrupting someone else's spirituality (whether that be new or abundant life-- I believe it's called losing your treasure in Heaven).
2. O.T. re-directions
- Rending Seemingly man-instituted was the ritual for remorse/repentance, the tearing (rending) of the garments 1 was wearing. This ritual was accepted by God, but partway into the O.T., in 1stSa 16:7, concerning his rejection of Eliab (Jesse's eldest son-- the eventual choice was David, Jesse's youngest), we find: Do not consider His (Eliab's) appearance or His height, for I have rejected Him. The LORD does not look at things man looks at. Man looks at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart. This man-instituted ritual was redirected by God & to be applied from within the O.T. through to the end of time-- In Joe 2:13, concerning returning to God before the judgment day: Rend your heart & not your garments.
- Circumcision Unlike the ritual of rending the garments, circumcision-of-flesh was instituted by God (see Gen 17), But again in the O.T., in Deu 10:16 we find Moses saying: 'Circumcise Your hearts; do not be stiff-necked any longer.' S.a., Jer 4:3-4; 9:25-26 (concerning Near prophecy & returning to the Lord). This God-instituted law was redirected by God & to be applied in the O.T. through to the end of time; in Roma 2:28-29, concerning being a Jew inwardly (as in grafted unto the olive tree; as in I am the vine on the olive tree, you are the branches of the olive tree): A man is not spiritually a Jew if he is only 1 outwardly, nor is circumcision merely outward & physical. No, a man is spiritually a Jew if he is 1 inwardly; & circumcision is circumcision of the heart, by the Spirit, not by the written code. Such a man's praise is not from men, but from God. BTW, Jesus being the vine & us being the branches does not mean we are the branches of the vine. No, we are the branches of the trees of the orchard-- the trees we plant as we minister, whereby the saved have access to the Fruit of the Vine, & the lost can choose to.
3. Transition #4 Time & place! Neither of these were abandoned, but rather transitioned in not-so-obvious ways-- but note, all tithing goes to your home church (not to multiple charities):
- The tithe: Per the Mosaic law (Deu 14:22-23,26-29), the tithe was done in 3-yr. cycles-- every year all the Israelites were to set aside a tithe (tenth) of their various produces, but the 3rd year was different: set aside for 2 yrs. on your property a tenth of all that Your fields produce each year. For these 2 yrs. eat the tithe in the Presence of the LORD Your GOD at the special place where HE will choose as a dwelling for HIS Name (which eventually was Jerusalem) & rejoice. And do not neglect (include) the Levites (priests) living in Your various towns, for They have no allotment or inheritance of Their own. But at the end of every 3rd yr. (the "year of the tithe"-- see Deu 26:12), bring all the tithes of that year's produce & store it in Your towns, so that the Levites & the aliens, the fatherless & the widows who live in Your towns may come & eat. Ephe 5:20-21 says, Always give thanks to GOD the FATHER for everything. Submit to 1 another out of reverence for Christ. 1stCor 10:31 says, So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do all for the Glory of GOD. Colo 3:17,23 says, And whatsoever you do, whether in word or deed, do all in the Name of the LORD Jesus Christ, giving thanks to GOD the FATHER through HIM. Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the LORD, not for men. So what was the transition to in the N.T.? Only 2 out 3 yrs. did the tithe go to the place of Presence, for the Israelites in general & for the priests (the 3rd year it went to the towns for the priests, aliens, fatherless & widows)-- now it goes to the church perpetually. And as we are a kingdom of priests, we receive a double portion-- all church members & visitors alike perpetually benefit.
- The tithe of the tithe-- Ref. the tithe that the priests gave: God said to Moses in Num 18:26,28, Speak to the Levites & say to Them: 'When You receive from the Israelites every year the tithe I give You as Your inheritance, You must present a 10th of that tithe as (& call it) The LORD'S Offering. From these tithes You must give the LORD'S Portion to Aaron the priest, the best & holiest part of everything given to You.' The transition? From Aaron-representing-God to Christianity-representing-God. Even in olden-times it was said (in Deu 32:9),The LORD'S Portion is HIS People. We saw above, in O.T. Re-directions Circumcision, that we are to radically redirect, to become Jews inwardly, being circumcised in the heart. In Mal 3:10 (Mal. significantly being the last book of the O.T.), we have this Far Distant prophecy (which speaks to both transitions): Bring the whole tithe into the singular storehouse, that there may be food in MY House. Test ME in this & see if I will not throw open the floodgates of Heaven.
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Psalm 87 A psalm by the sons (descendants-- temple assistants) of Korah; a song:
HE has set HIS Foundation on the holy mountain; the LORD loves even the gates of Zion more than all the dwellings of Jacob. Glorious things are said of you, O City of GOD: Selah
Far Distant prophecy I will now record Rahab (Egypt, poetically called Rahab-- see Psa 89:10; Job 9:13; Isa 30:7; 51:9) & Babylon among those who acknowledge ME-- Phylistia too, & Tyre, along with Cush --& will say, 'This 1 person was born in Zion.' Together they will be branches of the LORD. Recall Jesus saying, I am the vine, You are the branches. Indeed, of Zion it will be said, 'This grafted 1 & that re-grafted 1 were both born in her, & the Most High will establish her.' But: The LORD will simply write in the register of the peoples (note peoples-- all those born of these nations): 'This 1 was born in Zion.' I.e., He will not note their nationality-- later we will see names being blotted out! Selah As they make music together they will sing to the Lord, All My fountains are in YOU. EOP
Now be careful not to mix time periods & conclude that because Jesus said, I am the vine, You are the branches, that therefore He was not a branch-- indeed HE was the Branch of the LORD. He spoke this parable to underscore the future value of our support of the Vine from HEAVEN, via the Holy Spirit in our hearts: in loving/caring for 1 another, in remaining obedient while going about our lives & in reaching out to the world. See, always when God used people to reach people, HE referred to them as branches. Well before even the capture of Judah by Babylon, God said (in Jer 23:5), The days are coming... I will raise up to David a righteous Branch, a king who will reign wisely. Years later, after the return of the exiles, God spoke to Josiah son of Zephaniah about the High Priest Joshua son of Jehozadak, & said, Here is the man whose name is the Branch, & He will branch out from His place & build the Temple of the LORD. But back to Jesus-- that carnate Branch ascended, & now reaches down as the Vine from HEAVEN, & communes with the Holy Spirit in our hearts.
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Psalm 88 A psalm, a maskil (giving of instructions) by Heman the Ezrahite (a descendant of Korah-- poss. the same person mentioned in 1stCh 15:19; 16:41; 25:4-5 as a musician & the king's seer); a song for the director of music (chief musician); mahalath leannoth (as a mournful chant; see 1stKi 4:31; 1stCh 2:6-- poss. to the tune of "The Suffering of Affliction"). Said to address being depressed & trapped-- the difference between charging GOD foolishly (coming to the conclusion that something is God's fault, & proceeding to blame Him while yet experiencing it, or while discussing it with others, or in declaring it to God's face); as opposed to discussing it with God in prayer for the purpose of determining what's the truth from your perspective). See Commentary #3 below ref. the types of prayer.
O LORD, the GOD who saves Me, day & night I cry out before YOU; may My prayer come before YOU; turn YOUR Ear to My cry. For My soul is full of trouble & My life draws near the grave. I am counted among those who go down to the pit; I am like a man without strength. I am set apart with the dead, like the slain who lie in the grave. whom YOU remember no more, who are cut off from YOUR Care. YOU have put Me in the lowest pit, in the darkest depths. YOUR Wrath lies heavily upon Me; YOU have overwhelmed Me with all YOUR waves. Selah
YOU have taken Me from My closest friends & made Me repulsive to them. I am confined & cannot escape; My eyes are dim with grief. I call to YOU, O LORD, every day; I spread out My hands to YOU. Do YOU show YOUR Wonders to the dead? Do those who are dead rise up & praise YOU? Selah
Is YOUR Love declared in the grave, YOUR Faithfulness in destruction (abaddon)? Are YOUR Wonders known in the place of darkness, or YOUR Righteous Deeds in the land of oblivion? But I cry to YOU for help, O LORD; in the morning My prayer comes before YOU-- even an entire night of experiencing does not negate a morning of remembrance. Why, O LORD, do YOU reject Me & hide YOUR Face from Me? And it's not been just a night & morning!
From My youth I have been afflicted & close to death-- nightly I've had near-death experiences; I have suffered YOUR Terrors & am in despair. YOUR Wrath has swept over Me like a flood; YOUR Terrors have destroyed Me. Even all day long they (the terrors) surround Me-- daily I have to deal with the attitude that the terrors are pay-back because of what my fathers did. They have completely engulfed Me. YOU have taken My companions & loved ones from Me-- and now I am alone, with no one to even-so-much as superficially love me; the darkness is My closest friend.
1. Commentary #3 Types of prayer 1st, there is a preclusion in order here: formerly I said that some of the psalms were possibly done without-the-radar (not in recognition of God's authority). Well, 1st let it be said that absolutely nothing is said or done where God is not aware of it. But anything always done on the 2-way highway-to-Heaven (whether a song, prayer or service) is done "within-the-radar"-- it means that there is no doubt there is a continuous connection between the sayer/doer & God. But there are instances when entire songs/prayers are done where God is always referred to in the 3rd person-- that might indeed perhaps be a bad case of no highway ("without the radar"). But when my pastor preached on that subject, I hardly think he meant every time someone says/does something where there is a appears to be a momentary 1-way street, it is a bad case of no valid highway-- at least that's how I took it. But specifically about prayer: there's another reason why I don't think always praying on a 2-way street is necessary-- why occasionally praying on a 1-way street is good/acceptable (especially in the case of intercessive prayer, as described below). And that is because I've been doing that all my life-- & I've not 1x heard-from-God that its unacceptable. I occassionally pause to think how to express myself-- particularly in the hearing of others. Besides, always reciting a prayer reminds me of brainwashing-- & you perhaps know how I feel about that!
