The reason for this blog is to help read & discuss Biblical Scriptures.
As a church we started reading daily, chapter by chapter. we share songs of worship, overviews & various other posts that help us study and understand the Word of God better.
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may those who long for your saving help always say,
‘The Lord is great!’
5
But as for me, I am poor and needy;
come quickly to me, O God.
You are my help and my deliverer;
Lord, do not delay.
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Word by Word Meditations
by Fred Ursell
Psalm 70 : “aha!” (v.3)
David is praying for God’s urgent help – “hasten … come quickly … do not delay” (vv.1 & 5). His plea isn’t trivial; he says there are “those who seek my life” (v.2). What is his enemies’ attitude in saying “aha!” (v.3)? It isn’t clear.
Is it
[A]mocking? Are they deriding his god-centred lifestyle? Or is it per-haps
[B] threatening? Are they implying that, wherever he ran and hid, he wouldn’t be able to elude them? Or is it perhaps
[C] gloating? Are they delighted that hardship had already overtaken him?
It gets doubly hard to cope if your plight is intensified by people’s enjoyment of it. Do a David – pray!
and the insults of those who insult you fall on me.
10
When I weep and fast,
I must endure scorn;
11
when I put on sackcloth,
people make sport of me.
12
Those who sit at the gate mock me,
and I am the song of the drunkards.
13
But I pray to you, Lord,
in the time of your favour;
in your great love, O God,
answer me with your sure salvation.
14
Rescue me from the mire,
do not let me sink;
deliver me from those who hate me,
from the deep waters.
15
Do not let the floodwaters engulf me
or the depths swallow me up
or the pit close its mouth over me.
16
Answer me, Lord, out of the goodness of your love;
in your great mercy turn to me.
17
Do not hide your face from your servant;
answer me quickly, for I am in trouble.
18
Come near and rescue me;
deliver me because of my foes.
19
You know how I am scorned, disgraced and shamed;
all my enemies are before you.
20
Scorn has broken my heart
and has left me helpless;
I looked for sympathy, but there was none,
for comforters, but I found none.
21
They put gall in my food
and gave me vinegar for my thirst.
22
May the table set before them become a snare;
may it become retribution and a trap.
23
May their eyes be darkened so that they cannot see,
and their backs be bent for ever.
24
Pour out your wrath on them;
let your fierce anger overtake them.
25
May their place be deserted;
let there be no one to dwell in their tents.
26
For they persecute those you wound
and talk about the pain of those you hurt.
27
Charge them with crime upon crime;
do not let them share in your salvation.
28
May they be blotted out of the book of life
and not be listed with the righteous.
29
But as for me, afflicted and in pain –
may your salvation, God, protect me.
30
I will praise God’s name in song
and glorify him with thanksgiving.
31
This will please the Lord more than an ox,
more than a bull with its horns and hooves.
32
The poor will see and be glad –
you who seek God, may your hearts live!
33
The Lord hears the needy
and does not despise his captive people.
34
Let heaven and earth praise him,
the seas and all that move in them,
35
for God will save Zion
and rebuild the cities of Judah.
Then people will settle there and possess it;
36
the children of his servants will inherit it,
and those who love his name will dwell there.
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Word by Word Meditations
by Fred Ursell
Psalm 69 : “vinegar” (v.21)
King David takes his struggles to God, admitting his imperfections: “you know my folly, O God; my guilt is not hidden from you” (v.7). Yet in the midst of his prayer about his own life come flashes of revelation. When he writes “zeal for your house consumes me” (v.9), the New Testament clarifies that this phrase refers to Jesus clearing the money-makers out of the temple (see John 2 v.17).
We read “they gave mevinegar for my thirst” (v.21), which was precisely what happened on Calvary at the crucifixion (Luke 23 v.36). Be real as you pray, and the Lord will reveal things to you as well!
and from your bounty, God, you provided for the poor.
11
The Lord announces the word,
and the women who proclaim it are a mighty throng:
12
‘Kings and armies flee in haste;
the women at home divide the plunder.
13
Even while you sleep among the sheepfolds,
the wings of my dove are sheathed with silver,
its feathers with shining gold.’
14
When the Almighty scattered the kings in the land,
it was like snow fallen on Mount Zalmon.
15
Mount Bashan, majestic mountain,
Mount Bashan, rugged mountain,
16
why gaze in envy, you rugged mountain,
at the mountain where God chooses to reign,
where the Lord himself will dwell for ever?
17
The chariots of God are tens of thousands
and thousands of thousands;
the Lord has come from Sinai into his sanctuary.
18
When you ascended on high,
you took many captives;
you received gifts from people,
even from the rebellious –
that you, Lord God, might dwell there.
19
Praise be to the Lord, to God our Saviour,
who daily bears our burdens.
20
Our God is a God who saves;
from the Sovereign Lord comes escape from death.
21
Surely God will crush the heads of his enemies,
the hairy crowns of those who go on in their sins.
22
The Lord says, ‘I will bring them from Bashan;
I will bring them from the depths of the sea,
23
that your feet may wade in the blood of your foes,
while the tongues of your dogs have their share.’
24
Your procession, God, has come into view,
the procession of my God and King into the sanctuary.
25
In front are the singers, after them the musicians;
with them are the young women playing the tambourines.
26
Praise God in the great congregation;
praise the Lord in the assembly of Israel.
27
There is the little tribe of Benjamin, leading them,
there the great throng of Judah’s princes,
and there the princes of Zebulun and of Naphtali.
28
Summon your power, God;
show us your strength, our God, as you have done before.
29
Because of your temple at Jerusalem
kings will bring you gifts.
30
Rebuke the beast among the reeds,
the herd of bulls among the calves of the nations.
Humbled, may the beast bring bars of silver.
Scatter the nations who delight in war.
31
Envoys will come from Egypt;
Cush will submit herself to God.
32
Sing to God, you kingdoms of the earth,
sing praise to the Lord,
33
to him who rides across the highest heavens, the ancient heavens,
who thunders with mighty voice.
34
Proclaim the power of God,
whose majesty is over Israel,
whose power is in the heavens.
35
You, God, are awesome in your sanctuary;
the God of Israel gives power and strength to his people.
Praise be to God!
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Word by Word Meditations
by Fred Ursell
Psalm 68 : “defender” (v.5)
David’s appreciation of God’s true sensitive nature stands out in this beautiful verse: “a father to the fatherless, a defender of widows, is God in his holy dwelling” (v.5).
All too many children have never known a loving father, either because he died or left when they were little, or he was an evil brute. What’s perhaps even more poignant is husbands dying young, leaving behind their widows who are left struggling financially and emotionally for the best years of their lives, perhaps with children to raise alone.
If you have tasted such emptiness, know God the Father is your “defender” and friend.
