Wednesday
Evening Bible Study
November 5, 2003
Psalm 41
:3 The LORD will strengthen him upon the bed of
languishing
Lesson
Think of others
Here’s the principle: If you are a person who has compassion and helps
others, then God will help you.
It doesn’t promise that others will help you, but God will help you.
David helped others, but he also experienced betrayal from those close to
him (vs. 9)
When you are going through difficult times, sometimes all you can think about
is your own self.
Sometimes we need to get our eyes off of our own selves and think about
helping those around us.
Illustration
Years ago, Dr. Karl Menninger of the Menninger Clinic was asked, “If
someone felt a nervous breakdown coming on, what would you
suggest that he do?”
“If you feel a nervous breakdown coming on, I would urge you to find
somebody else with a problem—a serious one—and get involved with that
individual, helping him solve his problem.” In helping him to solve his
problem, then in reality your own problem is going to disappear. You’re no
longer thinking internally. You’re no longer letting things gnaw at your
stomach. You’re no longer getting disturbed about yourself because you’re not
thinking about yourself. You’re thinking about others. I don’t know what your
objective in life might be, but there is something each one of us can do.
Jesus said,
(Mat 5:7 KJV) Blessed are the merciful: for they shall obtain
mercy.
Illustration
A weekend fisherman looked over the side of his boat and saw a snake with a
frog in its mouth. Feeling sorry for the frog, he reached down, gently removed
the frog from the snake’s mouth and let the frog go free. But now he felt sorry
for the hungry snake. Having no food, he took out a flask of bourbon and poured
a few drops into the snake’s mouth. The snake swam away happy, the frog was
happy and the man was happy for having performed such good deeds. He thought
all was well until a few minutes passed and he heard something knock against
the side of his boat and looked down. With stunned disbelief, the fisherman saw
the snake was back, with two frogs.
I guess you have to be careful how you show kindness to snakes.
:9 Yea, mine own familiar friend, in whom I
trusted, which did eat of my bread, hath lifted up his heel against me.
David is probably talking about a man named Ahithophel, who was one of
David’s trusted friends and advisors.
Ahithophel was such a smart man that when he spoke, people trusted his
advice as if God Himself were speaking.
(2 Sam 16:23 KJV) And the counsel of Ahithophel, which
he counseled in those days, was as if a man had inquired at the oracle of God:
so was all the counsel of Ahithophel both with David and with Absalom.
Ahithophel had close ties with David besides being one of his main advisors.
His son Eliam was one of David’s “Mighty Men”:
(2 Sam 23:34 KJV) Eliphelet the son of Ahasbai, the
son of the Maachathite, Eliam the son of Ahithophel the Gilonite,
It’s interesting to note that Bathsheba’s father was also named Eliam:
(2 Sam 11:3 KJV) And David sent and inquired after the woman. And
one said, Is not this Bathsheba, the daughter of Eliam, the wife of Uriah the
Hittite?
It’s very possible that Ahithophel was Bathsheba’s
grandfather.
When David’s son Absalom rebelled against his father, one of the first
people Absalom asked to join him was Ahithophel. Some have suggested Ahithophel
might have been carrying a grudge against David for his adulterous relationship
with Bathsheba.
After Absalom marched into Jerusalem
with his troops, he asked his advisors for counsel. Ahithophel suggested to Absalom
that he take the ten concubines that David had left
behind and have sex with them in a tent on the roof of the palace for the whole
nation to witness. Ahithophel wanted Absalom to show such incredible disrespect
to his father that everyone would know that Absalom was in complete control.
If Ahithophel was Bathsheba’s grandfather, was he justified in what he did
to David? I don’t think so. We need to learn to work things out with each other
and let God handle the revenge.
Prophetic – This became a
prophecy about Judas Iscariot. John records that Jesus Himself quoted this
verse:
(John 13:18 KJV) I speak not of you all: I know whom
I have chosen: but that the scripture may be fulfilled, He that eateth bread
with me hath lifted up his heel against me.
Lesson
Jesus understands betrayal.
Being betrayed by someone close to you is one of the deepest wounds. Sometimes
we know what it is to be hurt by others, and so we put up little walls of
protection around us to keep us from being hurt. We try not to get too close to
some individuals because they look like they might hurt us. But when we find a
friend, someone who looks safe, and we put our defenses down, it hurts when
that friend turns and hurts us.
Jesus understands what that is all about.
(John 13:21-30 KJV) When
Jesus had thus said, he was troubled in spirit, and testified, and said,
Verily, verily, I say unto you, that one of you shall betray me. {22} Then the
disciples looked one on another, doubting of whom he spake. {23} Now there was
leaning on Jesus' bosom one of his disciples, whom Jesus loved. {24} Simon
Peter therefore beckoned to him, that he should ask who it should be of whom he
spake. {25} He then lying on Jesus' breast saith unto him, Lord, who is it?
{26} Jesus answered, He it is, to whom I shall give a sop, when I have dipped
it. And when he had dipped the sop, he gave it to Judas Iscariot, the son of
Simon. {27} And after the sop Satan entered into him. Then said Jesus unto him,
That thou doest, do quickly. {28} Now no man at the table
knew for what intent he spake this unto him. {29} For some of them
thought, because Judas had the bag, that Jesus had said unto him, Buy those
things that we have need of against the feast; or, that he should give
something to the poor. {30} He then having received the sop went immediately
out: and it was night.
Don’t think that because Jesus knew that Judas would betray Him that He
didn’t love Judas. He continued to show Judas love right up to the end. The
giving of the “sop” (bread dipped in sauce) was a sign of love and friendship.
Jesus treated Judas with the same kind of love He treated the other
fellows, so much that none of them had a clue that it was Judas who would
betray Jesus.
:10 But thou, O LORD, be merciful unto me, and
raise me up, that I may requite them.
requite – shalam – (Piel) to complete, finish; to make
safe; to make whole or good, restore, make compensation; to make good, pay; to
requite, recompense, reward
(Psa 41:10 NLT) …Make me well again, so I can pay them back!
(Psa 41:10 NKJV) …That I may repay them.
:13 Blessed be the LORD God of Israel
from everlasting, and to everlasting. Amen, and Amen.
This type of phrase is called a “doxology”, meaning a “word of praise”.
This doxology marks the end of the first “book” of the Psalms, each book
ends with a similar doxology.
Book 2: Ps. 42-72
Book 3: Ps. 73-89
Book 4: Ps. 90-106
Book 5: Ps. 107-150
The entire last Psalm, 150, is a doxology, a praise
to God.
Psalm 42
:1 To the chief Musician, Maschil, for the sons of
Korah.
Maschil. Probably means a contemplative or
didactic poem, like Ps. 32
sons of Korah – Korah was one of the men in Moses’ day who led a
rebellion against Moses’ leadership (Num. 16). Even though God killed Korah and
those who followed him, he was of the tribe of Levi and his sons would
eventually be some of the main worship leaders in the Temple.
Quite a picture of God’s grace.
Psalm 42-43 are considered two parts of the same song.
:2 My soul thirsteth for God, for the living God
Lesson
Thirst for God
Illustration
There is an ancient tale from India
about a young man who was seeking God. He went to a wise old sage for help. “How
can I find God?” he asked the old man. The old man took him to a nearby river.
Out they waded into the deep water. Soon the water was up just under their
chins. Suddenly the old man seized the young man by the neck and pushed him
under the water. He held the young man down until the young man was flailing
the water in desperation. Another minute and he may well have drowned. Up out
of the water the two of them came. The young man was coughing water from his
lungs and still gasping for air. Reaching the bank he asked the man
indignantly, “What did that have to do with my finding God?” The old man asked
him quietly, “While you were under the water, what did you want more than
anything else?” The young man thought for a minute and then answered, “I wanted
air. I wanted air more than anything else?” The old man replied, “When you want
God as much as you wanted air, you will find him.”
Jesus met a woman at a well of water and had a conversation with her about
thirst:
(John 4:13-14 KJV) Jesus
answered and said unto her, Whosoever drinketh of this water shall thirst
again: {14} But whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall
never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of
water springing up into everlasting life.
We all know about the deep inner thirst. The problem is
that we so often try to fill it with all sorts of things, things that can’t
satisfy.
Jesus also said,
(John 7:37-39 KJV) In
the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried, saying, If
any man thirst, let him come unto me, and drink. {38} He that believeth on me,
as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water.
{39} (But this spake he of the Spirit, which they that believe on him should
receive: for the Holy Ghost was not yet given; because that Jesus was not yet
glorified.)
It’s this work of the Holy Spirit in our lives that brings
that deep satisfaction. So much that it can be within us a well of water that
soaks those around us as well.
If we have this thirst for God, and we come to Jesus and
trust in Him and receive, He will fill us with His Spirit.
But it all starts with a thirst.
:4 I went with them to the house of God
It is actually healthy to be going to church.
In this week’s Newsweek (Nov. 10,
2003) –
The average age of the non-attender was 75 years
old, while church attenders averaged a life span of
80 years old.
:5 Why art thou cast down, O my soul?
The psalmist is talking to himself, talking to his “soul”.
:6 therefore will I remember thee from the land
of Jordan, and of the Hermonites,
from the hill Mizar.
This song was apparently written in a distant land, as the writer longed to
be in Jerusalem.
the Hermonites – Mount Hermon is about 40
miles northeast of the Sea of Galilee.
Mizar – location is unknown, the word means “petty” or “small”.
:7 Deep calleth unto deep at the noise of thy
waterspouts: all thy waves and thy billows are gone over me.
deep – t@howm – deep, depths, deep places, abyss, the
deep, sea
waterspouts – tsinnuwr – pipe, spout, conduit, water conduit
waves – mishbar – breaker, breaking (of sea)
billows – gal – heap,
spring, wave, billow
The idea is that one trouble after another keep coming in and hitting the
psalmist like waves at the beach.
(Psa 42:7 ICB) Troubles have come again and again. They sound like
waterfalls. Your waves are crashing all around me.
Lesson
Great despair
Spurgeon writes,
“Atlantic rollers sweeping in ceaseless succession over one’s head,
waterspouts coming nearer and nearer, and all the
ocean in uproar around the weary swimmer; most of the heirs of heaven can realize
the description, for they have experienced the like. This is a deep experience
unknown to babes in grace, but common enough to such as do business on great
waters of affliction”
The Psalmist is describing despair.
Illustration
As the Lone Ranger and Tonto were riding along towards the
north, they spotted a war party of about 50 Apaches coming at them. They turned
south, but another war party appeared. They turned east and met another party
of 100 braves. They turned west as their last remaining hope and saw a party of
500. The Lone Ranger turned to his friend and said, “Well, faithful friend,
this is the end, there’s not much we can do.” Tonto looked back at the Lone
Ranger. “What you mean WE, white man?”
Ever felt like that?
:8 in the
night his song shall be with me
The nightingale is a small brown bird about 6 inches long, known for it’s
beautiful song sung by the male birds both night and day during the breeding
season.
Illustration
British preacher Charles Spurgeon once vacationed at an isolated spot in England
because he had been told that many nightingales lived there. To his great disappointment, however, it
started to rain just as he arrived at the hotel. The weather turned unseasonably cold and Spurgeon
feared that the primary purpose of his trip had been spoiled. But as he sat by
his open window, he suddenly heard a delightful melody—a nightingale perched on
a branch outside. The only light was a
dim lamp burning at the entrance to the hotel.
The nightingale, oblivious to the rain and cold, was exulting in that
tiny bit of light. Spurgeon wrote of his
experience, “I do not expect to listen to anything so sweet and thrilling again
until I hear the angels sing in glory.
The God of that nightingale is the same loving Savior I serve. In spite of darkness, storm, or thorns, He
always provides some ray of light and gives a song in the night.”
When we turn to God and ask for help, we will find Him giving us a song in
the night.
:11 Why art thou cast down, O my soul?
Again the Psalmist is talking to himself. He’s counseling himself.
Psalm 43
Again, this seems to be a continuation of Psalm 42 (you’ll see the
similarity in verse 5).
:2 For thou art the God of my strength: why dost
thou cast me off?
It’s not that God has cast off the Psalmist, but it feels that way some
times. Be honest with God.
:3 O send out thy light and thy truth: let them
lead me; let them bring me unto thy holy hill, and to thy tabernacles.
thy holy hill – Jerusalem
Lesson
Led by truth
Light and truth are synonymous here.
When we are discouraged, we can be tempted to fall for some of Satan’s lies
like, “This God-thing isn’t working”.
Illustration
Grandma and the Cake
A little boy is telling his Grandma how “everything” is going wrong.
School, family problems, severe health problems, etc..
Meanwhile, Grandma is baking a cake. She asks her grandson if he would like a
snack, which of course he does. “Here, have some cooking oil.” “Yuck” says the
boy. “How about a couple raw eggs? “ “Gross, Grandma!”
“Would you like some flour then? Or maybe baking soda?” “Grandma, those are all
yucky!” To which Grandma replies: “Yes, all those things seem bad all by themselves. But when they are put together in the right way,
they make a wonderfully delicious cake! God works the same way. Many times we
wonder why he would let us go through such bad and difficult times. But God
knows that when He puts these things all in His order, they always work for
good! We just have to trust Him and, eventually, they will all make something
wonderful!”
Hold on to the truth. Give the cake
time to bake. See what God is going to
do, don’t shortcut the process by bailing.
Illustration
The way the old ship captains used to navigate the
Norwegian fiords at night was by sailing towards the lights. Once they entered into a fiord, they would
head towards a certain light that was stationed to direct the ships. Then they got to a point where they came
around a corner, and could see the next light, and they’d turn the ship and
head toward the next light. You can’t
get through the fiords in a straight line, you have to
keep changing course as you see the next light.
Let God’s truths continue to be your guide in the night.
:5 Why art thou cast down, O my soul? and why art
thou disquieted within me? hope in God: for I shall yet praise him, who is the
health of my countenance, and my God.
This is now the third time the Psalmist has repeated this phrase (42:5;
42:11; 43:5).
cast down – shachach – (Hithpolel)
to be cast down, be despairing
disquieted – hamah – to murmur, growl, roar, cry aloud,
mourn, rage, sound, make noise, tumult, be clamorous, be disquieted, be loud,
be moved, be troubled, be in an uproar
hope – yachal – (Hiphil) to wait, tarry, wait for,
hope for
health – y@shuw‘ah – salvation, deliverance; welfare,
prosperity; victory
countenance – paniym – face; presence, person
Lesson
Hope
We need to keep going and let God work things out. We need to keep taking those steps of faith,
keep doing the things we know we ought to be doing.
God will work things out.
Illustration
Hope Delivers
Hope delivers us from the despair that nothing we do matters, and enables
us to tackle even the most menial job with vigor. Elmer Bendiner
tells the remarkable story of a B-17 bomber that flew a bombing mission over Germany
in the latter days of World War II. The plane was hit several times by shells
and flak, with some of the hits directly in the fuel tank. Miraculously, the
bomber did not explode. When it landed, eleven unexploded twenty-millimeter
shells were taken out of the fuel tank! The shells were dismantled, and to the
amazement of everyone, all were empty of explosives. Inside of one shell was a
note written in Czech.
Translated, it read, “This is all we can do for you now.” A member of the Czech
underground, working in a German munitions factory, had omitted the explosives
in at least eleven of the twenty-millimeter shells on his assembly line.
That worker must have wondered often if the quiet work he was doing to
subvert the Nazi war effort was going to make any difference whatsoever to the
outcome of the war.
- Ben Patterson, The
Grand Essentials
Psalm 44
:1-3 God’s deliverance in the past
:1 To the chief Musician for the sons of Korah,
Maschil.
Maschil. Probably means a contemplative or
didactic poem, like Ps. 32, 42-43
:3 For they got not the land in possession by
their own sword
Joshua and the Israelites were able to conquer the land, but in all reality
it wasn’t because they were such a great military power. It was because God
helped them. At first the Israelites conquered a few isolated cities such as Jericho
and Ai. But as news of the Israelite invasion began to get out, the rest of the
cities joined together and tried to wipe out the Israelites.
(Josh 10:10-14 KJV) And
the LORD discomfited them before Israel,
and slew them with a great slaughter at Gibeon, and chased them along
the way that goeth up to Bethhoron, and smote them to
Azekah, and unto Makkedah.
{11} And it came to pass, as they fled from before Israel, and were in the
going down to Bethhoron, that the LORD cast down
great stones from heaven upon them unto Azekah, and
they died: they were more which died with hailstones than they whom the
children of Israel slew with the sword. {12} Then spake Joshua to the LORD in
the day when the LORD delivered up the Amorites before the children of Israel,
and he said in the sight of Israel, Sun, stand thou still upon Gibeon; and thou, Moon, in the valley of Ajalon. {13} And the sun stood still, and the moon stayed,
until the people had avenged themselves upon their enemies. Is not this written
in the book of Jasher? So the sun stood still in the
midst of heaven, and hasted not to go down about a whole day. {14} And there
was no day like that before it or after it, that the LORD hearkened unto the
voice of a man: for the LORD fought for Israel.
Lesson
Read your Bible
Read about God’s great deliverances in the past. It will help you remember that God is able to
deliver you as well.
You will be reminded that you are not the only person who has gone through
a difficult time.
And if God has delivered others, we ought to take hope that God will
deliver us as well.
:4-8 Ask for God’s help now
:8 In God we boast all the day long, and praise
thy name for ever. Selah.
Lesson
Pray from Scripture
The Psalmist is expecting God to help based on God’s help in the past.
As you read through your Bible, let the truths in the Scripture affect the
way you pray.
When you read of God’s deliverances, ask God for His deliverance – “give me
some of that”!
:9-16 Our current situation, rejected
:11 Thou hast given us like sheep appointed for
meat
Their current situation is a place of defeat. They are like sheep that are
headed off to be butchered.
:17-26 Prayer for deliverance
:18 Our heart is not turned back, neither have our
steps declined from thy way;
They are not about to stop trusting in the Lord, even though they don’t
understand their current circumstances.
:19 Though thou hast sore broken us in the place
of dragons, and covered us with the shadow of death.
dragons – tanniyn – dragon, serpent, sea monster.
Though some translations have “jackals”, “wild dogs”, or “desert” here, I
don’t think “dragons” is that bad of a translation. We find ourselves in places that seem to be
demonic at times.
:22-26 Yea, for thy sake are we killed all the day
long; we are counted as sheep for the slaughter.
Lesson
God’s presence in
the dark.
Because of our relationship with God, we will find ourselves in difficult
times. Yet this doesn’t have to mean the
end of the world.
Paul quotes this in:
(Rom 8:35-39 KJV) Who
shall separate us from the love of Christ? shall tribulation, or distress, or
persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? {36} As it is
written, For thy sake we are killed all the day long; we are accounted as sheep
for the slaughter. {37} Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors
through him that loved us. {38} For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor
life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor
things to come, {39} Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be
able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Sometimes it is under the harshest conditions that we will flourish:
Illustration
Where in the world will you function best for God? The story is told of a distinguished botanist
who was exiled from his native land and obtained a job as a gardener in the United
States.
One cold winter day his employer received a valuable plant. Unfamiliar with the plant and its needs, he
placed it in the greenhouse under the glare of the sun. When the plant began to die, the man asked
the gardener to look at it. Quickly
identifying its origin, he explained, “This is a plant which thrives in cold
weather.” He immediately took it outside
and exposed it to the frost, heaping pieces of ice around the flowerpot. Before long the plant became healthy and
flourished again.
Could it be that your difficulties might actually be used by the Lord to
remind you of His unfailing love, even in the tough times?
Psalm 45
We’ll look at this on Sunday morning.