I will sing and make music with all my soul.
2 Awake, harp and lyre!
I will awaken the dawn.
3 I will praise you, LORD, among the nations;
I will sing of you among the peoples.
4 For great is your love, higher than the heavens;
your faithfulness reaches to the skies.
5 Be exalted, O God, above the heavens;
let your glory be over all the earth.
6 Save us and help us with your right hand,
that those you love may be delivered.
7 God has spoken from his sanctuary:
“In triumph I will parcel out Shechem
and measure off the Valley of Sukkoth.
8 Gilead is mine, Manasseh is mine;
Ephraim is my helmet,
Judah is my scepter.
9 Moab is my washbasin,
on Edom I toss my sandal;
over Philistia I shout in triumph.”
10 Who will bring me to the fortified city?
Who will lead me to Edom?
11 Is it not you, God, you who have rejected us
and no longer go out with our armies?
12 Give us aid against the enemy,
for human help is worthless.
13 With God we will gain the victory,
and he will trample down our enemies.
Key Verse:
11 Is it not you, God, you who have rejected us
and no longer go out with our armies?
Key Observation:
McGee: “This is another psalm of David, and it is a very wonderful psalm. The first half is the same as Psalm 57, and the last is like Psalm 60.”
Memory Verse:
13 With God we will gain the victory,
and he will trample down our enemies.
or-
5 Be exalted, O God, above the heavens;
let your glory be over all the earth.
Devotion:
To have the land is everything for Israel. None of the nations around Israel will even recognize her right to exist. Most of the nations around Israel have constitutions calling for her total destruction. I understand that one of the major disagreements between Palestinians and Israel is that Palestinians do not want to recognize Israel as a sovereign state. None of the nations around Israel want peace with her. Most of the nations around Israel are actively arming themselves for the purpose of wiping Israel out. The US, under a great Democrat president (Truman), recognized Israel during her first fifteen minutes of existence, and presidents of both parties since then have united to protect her from harm. Until now. And to our current president’s credit, he has stepped in on the side of Israel in the latest fracas with the Palestinians. Yet, for the first time, Israel is very nervous about the support of the president. According to polling in Israel, our president ranks as the most unpopular US president ever. They simply do not know if they can trust their longtime ally anymore.
They are pressed on every side, but not beaten. They are routinely discriminated against, but they still rise up and fight. For the most part they have forgotten their God, but their God has not forgotten them. For many years now he has prospered them. but still the world seeks to destroy them. Not all the world, at least not yet. It has been a long time since The Balfour Declaration, when Jews in smaller numbers began to regather, and Chafer began to note that world events seemed to be moving toward the end times. How much more now! Jesus said, “When you see Jerusalem surrounded by her enemies, you know its desolation is near.” (Luke 21) I know that the destruction of Israel, and its scattering to all the nations is being talked about here. But I believe the verse to mean more. Why else would the Lord continue: “Jerusalem will be trampled on by the Gentiles until the times of the Gentiles is fulfilled.”?
Expect to see Israel to stay in the top of the headlines. Expect to see her enemies express its ill-acts often and the problem to get only worse and worse. I personally do not see the US continuing in the role of Israel’s protector. I believe something will happen to divide Israel from her protector shortly. Could we be on the edge of something happening now? If we are, soon the world will see a large segment of Christians simply vanish in answer to the Lord’s prayer: “Be always on the watch, and pray that you may be able to escape all that is about to happen, and that you may be able to stand before the Son of Man.” This is a two part prayer of Jesus: 1) That we may escape—our being taken up to heaven will be a signal that the time of the Gentiles is coming to a close, and that the judgment of the willful world is about to take place, and 2) That we may be able to stand before the Son of Man. On day soon we will stand before our Lord, and by our Lord shall we remain for eternity.
Notice that this psalm is talking about dividing up the land. The land will be parceled out in Shechem (v. 7) and various areas will be measured out. McGee feels that this psalm is looking forward to that time when the time of the gentiles comes to a close, when the Lord will be handing out Israel in measured parcels to the Israelites. It will be their possession. Right now, as I mentioned in the first sentence, to have the land is everything for Israel. But when that day comes, they will find something more is needed. So let me amend the sentence: To have the Lord and the land is everything to Israel.
From the Cross to the Crown
1. Look away from the cross to the glittering crown,
From your cares weary one look away;
There's a home for the soul, where no sorrow can come
And where pleasures will never decay.
2. Though the burdens of life may be heavy to bear,
And your crosses and trials severe;
There's a beautiful hand that is beckoning come
And no heartaches and sighings are there.
3. 'Mid the conflicts, the battles, the struggles and strife,
Bravely onward your journey pursue;
Look away from the cross to the glittering crown
That's awaiting in heaven for you.
Chorus:
Look away, look away,
From the cross to the glittering crown,
Look away, look away,
From the cross to the glittering crown.
Franklin Lycurgus Eiland
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