Daily Devotional Monday 24th July 2023
by William MoodyPsalms 83–84
O God, Do Not Keep Silence
A Song. A Psalm of Asaph.
83:1 O God, do not keep silence;
do not hold your peace or be still, O God!
2 For behold, your enemies make an uproar;
those who hate you have raised their heads.
3 They lay crafty plans against your people;
they consult together against your treasured ones.
4 They say, “Come, let us wipe them out as a nation;
let the name of Israel be remembered no more!”
5 For they conspire with one accord;
against you they make a covenant—
6 the tents of Edom and the Ishmaelites,
Moab and the Hagrites,
7 Gebal and Ammon and Amalek,
Philistia with the inhabitants of Tyre;
8 Asshur also has joined them;
they are the strong arm of the children of Lot. Selah
9 Do to them as you did to Midian,
as to Sisera and Jabin at the river Kishon,
10 who were destroyed at En-dor,
who became dung for the ground.
11 Make their nobles like Oreb and Zeeb,
all their princes like Zebah and Zalmunna,
12 who said, “Let us take possession for ourselves
of the pastures of God.”
13 O my God, make them like whirling dust,1
like chaff before the wind.
14 As fire consumes the forest,
as the flame sets the mountains ablaze,
15 so may you pursue them with your tempest
and terrify them with your hurricane!
16 Fill their faces with shame,
that they may seek your name, O LORD.
17 Let them be put to shame and dismayed forever;
let them perish in disgrace,
18 that they may know that you alone,
whose name is the LORD,
are the Most High over all the earth.
My Soul Longs for the Courts of the Lord
To the choirmaster: according to The Gittith.2 A Psalm of the Sons of Korah.
84:1 How lovely is your dwelling place,
O LORD of hosts!
2 My soul longs, yes, faints
for the courts of the LORD;
my heart and flesh sing for joy
to the living God.
3 Even the sparrow finds a home,
and the swallow a nest for herself,
where she may lay her young,
at your altars, O LORD of hosts,
my King and my God.
4 Blessed are those who dwell in your house,
ever singing your praise! Selah
5 Blessed are those whose strength is in you,
in whose heart are the highways to Zion.3
6 As they go through the Valley of Baca
they make it a place of springs;
the early rain also covers it with pools.
7 They go from strength to strength;
each one appears before God in Zion.
8 O LORD God of hosts, hear my prayer;
give ear, O God of Jacob! Selah
9 Behold our shield, O God;
look on the face of your anointed!
10 For a day in your courts is better
than a thousand elsewhere.
I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God
than dwell in the tents of wickedness.
11 For the LORD God is a sun and shield;
the LORD bestows favor and honor.
No good thing does he withhold
from those who walk uprightly.
12 O LORD of hosts,
blessed is the one who trusts in you!Footnotes
[1] 83:13
Or like a tumbleweed
[2] 84:1Probably a musical or liturgical term
[3] 84:5Hebrew lacks to Zion (ESV)
Psalm 83 is a call for the Lord to arise and deal with His enemies. The words of this Psalm may seem strange words for praise, but they come from an understanding that the people are in a real war. We need to accept that God’s people today are in the midst of fierce spiritual warfare and we have in Satan an enemy who wants to destroy us.
Asaph speaks of an enemy with crafty tactics (v3) and a clear but vicious goal (v4). The enemies of God’s people are organised (v5-8). As love for God unites His people so too does hatred of God unite His enemies.
We must never underestimate the destructive power of evil including the evil that lurks in our own hearts as sin. We must flee all that is evil.
Asap calls for God to arise and to encourage the people he recounts previous great victories in the days of Deborah (v9-10; Judges 4-5) and Gideon (v11-12; Judges 7-8). Reminding ourselves of God’s past great deeds for His people, encourages us to pray in faith for God to move today.
Asaph calls for the destruction of God’s enemies (v13-18) is for God to be revealed and glorified (v18). The final judgment will declare God’s greatness to all. We though must approach such passages about judgment with solemnity and through an understanding of grace. We once were God’s enemies who deserved such condemnation, and the only way we were delivered was the grace that came through Christ our substitute.
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