Wednesday
Evening Bible Study
May 12, 2004
Introduction
We are now in a group of fifteen songs (Ps. 120-134), all of which have
this “song of degrees” or “song of ascents” in the title. We believe these are the songs of the Jewish
pilgrims as they made their way up the hill from Jericho
to Jerusalem during the annual
feasts.
Psalm 128
:1 Blessed is every one that feareth the LORD; that walketh in his ways.
The people are walking together as families on their way to Jerusalem
Blessings are contingent upon fearing the Lord and walking in his ways.
:2 For thou shalt eat the labour of thine hands
The blessing of hard work.
:3 Thy wife shall be as a fruitful vine by the sides of thine house: thy
children like olive plants round about thy table.
(Ps 128:3 The Message) {3} Your wife will bear children as a vine
bears grapes, your household lush as a vineyard, The children around your table
as fresh and promising as young olive shoots.
about thy table –
The family meal –
Today fast food, busy lives, TV, have made families fracture. We can find ourselves not spending enough
time together each week.
Dr. Dobson says that we need to make sure we have at least five meals
together as a family each week if we want to keep our families healthy.
Lesson
Family is a blessing
Sometimes we can fall into the trap of thinking that our spouse and kids
are nothing but a lot of hassle and bother.
Yet they are one of God’s chief ways to bring blessing to His people.
(Psa 127:3 KJV) Lo, children
are an heritage of the LORD: and the fruit of the womb is his reward.
Illustration
ACRES OF DIAMONDS
There once lived not far from the River Indus an ancient Persian by the
name of Ali Hafed. He said that Ali Hafed owned a very large farm, that he had orchards,
grain-fields, and gardens; that he had money at interest, and was a wealthy and
contented man. He was contented because he was wealthy, and wealthy because he
was contented. One day there visited that old Persian farmer one of these
ancient Buddhist priests, one of the wise men of the East. He sat down by the
fire and told the old farmer how this world of ours was made. He said that this
world was once a mere bank of fog, and that the Almighty thrust His finger into
this bank of fog, and began slowly to move His finger around, increasing the
speed until at last He whirled this bank of fog into a solid ball of fire. Then
it went rolling through the universe, burning its way through other banks of
fog, and condensed the moisture without, until it fell in floods of rain upon
its hot surface, and cooled the outward crust. Then the internal fires bursting
outward through the crust threw up the mountains and hills, the valleys, the
plains and prairies of this wonderful world of ours. If this internal molten
mass came bursting out and cooled very quickly it became granite; less quickly
copper, less quickly silver, less quickly gold, and, after gold, diamonds were
made. Said the old priest, “A diamond is a congealed drop of sunlight.” Now
that is literally scientifically true, that a diamond is an actual deposit of
carbon from the sun. The old priest told Ali Hafed
that if he had one diamond the size of his thumb he could purchase the county,
and if he had a mine of diamonds he could place his children upon thrones
through the influence of their great wealth. Ali Hafed
heard all about diamonds, how much they were worth, and went to his bed that
night a poor man. He had not lost anything, but he was poor because he was
discontented, and discontented because he feared he was poor. He said, “I want
a mine of diamonds,” and he lay awake all night. Early in the morning he sought
out the priest. When he shook that old priest out of his dreams, Ali Hafed said to him: “Will you tell me where I can find
diamonds?” “Diamonds! What do you want with diamonds?” “Why, I wish to be
immensely rich.” “Well, then, go along and find them. That is all you have to
do; go and find them, and then you have them.” “But I don’t know where to go.”
“Well, if you will find a river that runs through white sands, between high
mountains, in those white sands you will always find diamonds.” “I don’t
believe there is any such river.” “Oh yes, there are plenty of them. All you
have to do is to go and find them, and then you have them.” Said Ali Hafed, “I will go.” So he sold his farm, collected his
money, left his family in charge of a neighbor, and away he went in search of
diamonds. He began his search at the Mountains of the Moon. Afterward he came
around into Palestine, then wandered on into Europe, and at last when his money
was all spent and he was in rags, wretchedness, and poverty, he stood on the
shore of that bay at Barcelona, in Spain, when a great tidal wave came rolling
in between the pillars of Hercules, and the poor, afflicted, suffering, dying
man could not resist the awful temptation to cast himself into that incoming
tide, and he sank beneath its foaming crest, never to rise in this life again.
The man who purchased Ali Hafed’s farm one day
led his camel into the garden to drink, and as that camel put its nose into the
shallow water of that garden brook, Ali Hafed’s
successor noticed a curious flash of light from the white sands of the stream.
He pulled out a black stone having an eye of light reflecting all the hues of
the rainbow. He took the pebble into the house and put it on the mantel which
covers the central fires, and forgot all about it.
A few days later this same old priest came in to visit Ali Hafed’s successor, and the moment he opened that
drawing-room door he saw that flash of light on the mantel, and he rushed up to
it, and shouted: “Here is a diamond! Has Ali Hafed
returned?” “Oh no, Ali Hafed has not returned, and
that is not a diamond. That is nothing but a stone we found right out here in
our own garden.” “But,” said the priest, “I tell you I know a diamond when I
see it. I know positively that is a diamond.” Then together they rushed out
into that old garden and stirred up the white sands with their fingers, and lo!
there came up other more beautiful and valuable gems than the first.
Sometimes we can get to thinking that the treasures we want are out in the
world. It may be that they’re in the
garden at home. Your family.
:4 Behold, that thus shall the man be blessed that feareth the LORD.
Lesson
God’s ways are best
When you fear the Lord, you will do things the way He wants them to be
done.
God’s ways are really best.
When you do things the way God wants, you tend to not get sexually
transmitted diseases. You will not
you’re your family’s wealth by spending it on drugs.
Illustration
Study finds churchgoers live longer
The reward of going to church might be a longer wait for
heaven. Regular worshipers live 10% longer than those who never attend
services, says a national study to be published next month. Life expectancy for
weekly churchgoers is 82, and 83 for those who attend more than once a week. Nonchurchgoers, the survey finds, live an average of 75
years. When researchers adjusted the data for lifestyle factors such as weight
and tobacco use, nonworshipers still had the highest
risk of early death.
USA Today - April 26, 1999
Illustration
STUDY SHOWS PRAYER IS POWERFUL
MEDICINE
A leading lipid researcher based at Kansas City's
Mid-America Heart Institute (MAHI), St. Luke's Hospital, has replicated the
most celebrated prayer study of the century. Published in the October 24, 1999, issue of The
Archive of Internal Medicine, research by William S. Harris, PhD, and
colleagues shows statistically significant beneficial effects for cardiology
patients who received intercessory prayer (IP), similar to the famous 1988
study by Randolph Byrd, MD).
"We wanted to see whether praying for the sick makes a
difference," Dr Harris told Alternative Therapies in Health and Medicine.
"The study was done as rigorously as possible to remove as much bias as
possible." Dr Harris hopes his work will encourage people who already
believe in prayer and provide a stimulus for more studies on prayer.
Entitled, "A Randomized, Controlled Trial of the Effects of Remote
Intercessory Prayer on Outcomes in Patients Admitted to the Coronary Care
Unit," the 50 week study involving 990 patients confronts the question of
distant healing influences in the form of IP and is conducted in a
double-blind, controlled environment. It
overcomes the Usual complaints about prayer studies such as the perennial
"positive thinking" and placebo effects, differing from the Byrd
study - conducted at San Francisco General
Hospital - in that patients and
physicians did not know a study was taking place…
(the result? those that received IP
had a rate of healing 11% higher than those without IP)
Source: Alternative Therapies, January 2000, Vol.6;
No. 1; pg.28
It’s healthy to follow the Lord.
Psalm 129
A Song of degrees.
The afflictions of the nation of Israel.
:1 Many a time have they afflicted me from my youth, may Israel
now say:
Israel’s
“youth” was in Egypt. Israel
was afflicted in Egypt.
(Exo 1:8-14 KJV) Now there arose up a new king over Egypt,
which knew not Joseph. {9} And he said unto his people, Behold, the people of
the children of Israel are more and mightier than we: {10} Come on, let us deal
wisely with them; lest they multiply, and it come to pass, that, when there
falleth out any war, they join also unto our enemies, and fight against us, and
so get them up out of the land. {11} Therefore they did set over them
taskmasters to afflict them with their burdens. And they built for Pharaoh
treasure cities, Pithom and Raamses.
{12} But the more they afflicted them, the more they multiplied and grew. And
they were grieved because of the children of Israel.
{13} And the Egyptians made the children of Israel
to serve with rigour: {14} And they made their lives
bitter with hard bondage, in mortar, and in brick, and in all manner of service
in the field: all their service, wherein they made them serve, was with rigour.
:2 Many a time have they afflicted me from my youth: yet they have not
prevailed against me.
Has any other ethnic group suffered as much as the Jews?
Pharaoh tried to wipe out Israel.
Throughout the history of the nation, various enemies would rise up to
destroy the Jews.
During the time of Esther, the nation was almost wiped out, but God worked
through Esther and Mordecai to save the nation.
Hitler.
There is a rise in anti-Semitism around the world. It’s getting worse, not better.
The United Nations is always quick to condemn anything Israel
does, but I don’t recall them ever condemning the Palestinian terrorists.
:3 The plowers plowed upon my back: they made long their furrows.
Perhaps a reference to being whipped, their backs being laid open with the
whips.
:5 Let them all be confounded and turned back that hate Zion.
God promised to Abraham:
(Gen 12:3 KJV) And I will
bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth
thee: and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed.
We can either bless or curse the Jews.
:6 Let them be as the grass upon the housetops, which withereth afore it
groweth up:
It was not uncommon for ancient houses to have a dirt roof. Grass would sometimes grow on top of the
house after the rains, but in the summer it would wither and die.
:7 Wherewith the mower filleth not his hand; nor he that bindeth sheaves
his bosom.
The grass was so small and withered before it could be harvested.
:8 Neither do they which go by say, The blessing of the LORD be upon you:
we bless you in the name of the LORD.
The common greeting out in the field was “The blessing of the Lord be upon
you”.
But the people who hurt Israel
won’t get the blessing.
Psalm 130
A Song of degrees.
Martin Luther was asked what his favorite Psalms were. He said the “Psalms of Paul”. He called Psalm 32, 51; 130; 143 this because
of their declaration of God’s forgiveness.
:1 Out of the depths have I cried unto thee, O LORD.
The depths of despair.
:3 If thou, LORD, shouldest mark iniquities, O Lord, who shall stand?
If God treated us the way our sins deserve, we’d all perish.
He sees everything we do, He knows everything we think.
(Psa 103:10 KJV) He hath not
dealt with us after our sins; nor rewarded us according to our iniquities.
:4 But there is forgiveness with thee, that thou mayest be feared.
Lesson
Mercy and forgiveness
(Jer 31:33-34 KJV) But this shall be the covenant that I will
make with the house of Israel;
After those days, saith the LORD, I will put my law in their inward parts, and
write it in their hearts; and will be their God, and they shall be my people.
{34} And they shall teach no more every man his neighbour, and every man his
brother, saying, Know the LORD: for they shall all know me, from the least of
them unto the greatest of them, saith the LORD: for I will forgive their
iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.
(1 John 1:9 KJV) If we
confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to
cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
(Psa 103:12 KJV) As far as
the east is from the west, so far hath he removed our transgressions from us.
:5 I wait for the LORD, my soul doth wait, and in his word do I hope.
Sounds like a song.
:6 My soul waiteth for the Lord more than they that watch for the morning
The long night of tossing and turning.
:7 Let Israel
hope in the LORD
Hope in God.
Psalm 131
:1 LORD, my heart is not haughty, nor mine eyes lofty: neither do I
exercise myself in great matters, or in things too high for me.
Sometimes it’s okay not to know everything.
:2 my soul is even as a weaned
child.
A weaned child doesn’t demand so much from mommy. It doesn’t pull on mommy’s shirt. It’s a metaphor of peace and rest.
(Ps 131:1-3 The Message) {1} God,
I’m not trying to rule the roost, I don’t want to be king of the mountain. I
haven’t meddled where I have no business or fantasized grandiose plans. {2}
I’ve kept my feet on the ground, I’ve cultivated a quiet heart. Like a baby
content in its mother’s arms, my soul is a baby content. {3} Wait, Israel,
for God. Wait with hope. Hope
now; hope always!
:3 Let Israel
hope in the LORD from henceforth and for ever.
Lesson
Power, humility, and peace.
It would be interesting to know when David wrote this, especially if he
wrote this after having become king.
Power corrupts.
The things that men need to watch out for: Sex, money, power.
David had seen Saul corrupted with power.
Before Saul was king, he was humble, not even thinking he deserved to be
king.
Yet after becoming king, Saul became arrogant, pushy, and demanding.
When David became king, one of the first things he did was to bring the Ark
to his new capitol in Jerusalem.
(2 Sam 6:14-22 KJV) And David danced before the LORD with all his
might; and David was girded with a linen ephod. {15} So David and all the house
of Israel
brought up the ark of the LORD with shouting, and with the sound of the
trumpet. {16} And as the ark of the LORD came into the city of David, Michal Saul's daughter looked through a window, and saw king
David leaping and dancing before the LORD; and she despised him in her heart.
{17} And they brought in the ark of the LORD, and set it in his place, in the
midst of the tabernacle that David had pitched for it: and David offered burnt
offerings and peace offerings before the LORD. {18} And as soon as David had
made an end of offering burnt offerings and peace offerings, he blessed the
people in the name of the LORD of hosts. {19} And he dealt among all the
people, even among the whole multitude of Israel, as well to the women as men,
to every one a cake of bread, and a good piece of flesh, and a flagon of wine.
So all the people departed every one to his house. {20} Then David returned to
bless his household. And Michal the daughter of Saul
came out to meet David, and said, How glorious was the king of Israel
to day, who uncovered himself to day in the eyes of the handmaids of his
servants, as one of the vain fellows shamelessly uncovereth
himself! {21} And David said unto Michal, It was
before the LORD, which chose me before thy father, and before all his house, to
appoint me ruler over the people of the LORD, over Israel:
therefore will I play before the LORD. {22} And I will yet be more vile than
thus, and will be base in mine own sight: and of the maidservants which thou
hast spoken of, of them shall I be had in honour.
Michal didn’t think David ought
to be acting so child-like. Yet David
had it right – he acted this way to impress the Lord, to show worship to the
Lord and not to impress people.
The disciples were at a place where they began to think of the future and
of power.
(Mark 9:33-37 KJV) And he
came to Capernaum:
and being in the house he asked them, What was it that ye disputed among
yourselves by the way? {34} But they held their peace: for by the way they had
disputed among themselves, who should be the greatest. {35} And he sat down,
and called the twelve, and saith unto them, If any man desire to be first, the
same shall be last of all, and servant of all. {36} And he took a child, and
set him in the midst of them: and when he had taken him in his arms, he said
unto them, {37} Whosoever shall receive one of such children in my name,
receiveth me: and whosoever shall receive me, receiveth not me, but him that
sent me.
(Mark 10:13-16 KJV) And they
brought young children to him, that he should touch them: and his disciples
rebuked those that brought them. {14} But when Jesus saw it, he was much
displeased, and said unto them, Suffer the little children to come unto me, and
forbid them not: for of such is the kingdom of God. {15} Verily I
say unto you, Whosoever shall not receive the kingdom of God as a little
child, he shall not enter therein. {16} And he took them up in his arms, put
his hands upon them, and blessed them.
(Mark 10:35-45 KJV) And
James and John, the sons of Zebedee, come unto him,
saying, Master, we would that thou shouldest do for us whatsoever we shall
desire. {36} And he said unto them, What would ye that I should do for you?
{37} They said unto him, Grant unto us that we may sit, one on thy right hand,
and the other on thy left hand, in thy glory. {38} But Jesus said unto them, Ye
know not what ye ask: can ye drink of the cup that I drink of? and be baptized
with the baptism that I am baptized with? {39} And they said unto him, We can.
And Jesus said unto them, Ye shall indeed drink of the cup that I drink of; and
with the baptism that I am baptized withal shall ye be baptized: {40} But to
sit on my right hand and on my left hand is not mine to give; but it shall be
given to them for whom it is prepared. {41} And when the ten heard it, they
began to be much displeased with James and John. {42} But Jesus called them to
him, and saith unto them, Ye know that they which are accounted to rule over
the Gentiles exercise lordship over them; and their great ones exercise
authority upon them. {43} But so shall it not be among you: but whosoever will
be great among you, shall be your minister: {44} And whosoever of you will be
the chiefest, shall be servant of all. {45} For even
the Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give his
life a ransom for many.
God’s heart is that we learn to have a simple, child-like trust in
Him. It’s learning to be humble, serving
others. Greatness doesn’t come from
bossing people around, it comes from serving them.
Sometimes pressures cause us to want to rise up and be pushy and bossy.
Peace comes when we learn to walk in humility and learn to put our trust in
the Lord.