Praying the Pilgrim Songs: Psalm 121:3-4

Posted on May 10, 2014 by Stephen Nielsen

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Psalm 121:3-4

He will not allow your foot to slip;

He who keeps you will not slumber.

4 Behold, He who keeps Israel

Will neither slumber nor sleep.

 

Lord, who is it that you protect and help? Who is it that you keep from trouble? You have said to me, it is those who Love me and trust in me; it is those who come under my shelter, under my wings —Ps. 91. Yes, it is those who cry out to me for help. You will not allow his foot to slip into trouble. You will keep him from the harm of temptation. You will keep him from the enemy’s grasp. You will surround him with truth and love and peace.

But Lord, what if the enemy is too strong for me? What if all I see from him overtakes me? Will your love still surround me and conquer the enemy? Will you fight the enemy when I am not able to fight, when I give into him?

Lord strike down my enemy when I am weak! Show yourself strong in me! And when I am even too weak to cry out to you, you give me strength to cry out.  Lord, help me in all my weakness, you who do not slumber nor sleep.

Lord, you will keep your faithful ones in Israel.  Yes, you will keep your covenant with them.  You will fulfill your will according to the purpose you have for them.  Lord, we see this even now and we are pleased.

 

Gill’s Exposition of Psalm 121:3-4

Psalm 121:3

He will not suffer thy foot to be moved: he that keepeth thee will not slumber.

He wilt not suffer thy foot to be moved,…. This is either an address of the psalmist to his own soul; or to any other good man, his friend and acquaintance, assuring of stability, and of final perseverance in grace to glory. The Lord keeps the feet of his saints from falling: he will not suffer them to be moved out of the spiritual estate in which they stand; nor off of the Foundation and Rock of ages, on which their feet are set, and their goings established; nor out of the house of God, where they are as pillars; nor out of his ways, where he upholds their goings; moved in some sense they may be, yet not “greatly moved”; their feet may be “almost” gone, and their steps “well nigh” slipped, and yet shall not fall finally and totally, or so as to perish; see Psalm 62:2; he that keepeth thee will not slumber; neither angels nor men are the keepers of the saints, but the Lord himself; he is the keeper of every individual saint, of every regenerate person, of everyone of his sheep, of every member of his church; he keeps them by his power, he preserves them by his grace, he holds them with his right hand; guides them by his counsel, keeps their feet from falling, and brings them safe to glory: and a watchful keeper he is, he does not so much as slumber; he keeps them night and day, lest any harm them, Isaiah 27:3. Gussetius reads the whole as a prayer, “let him not suffer thy foot”, &c. “let not thy keeper slumber” (i); to which the answer follows.

(i) “ne permittat–ne dormitet”, Junius & Tremellius, Piscator; so Ainsworth.

Psalm 121:4

Behold, he that keepeth Israel shall neither slumber nor sleep.

Behold, he that keepeth Israel shall neither slumber nor sleep. He that kept Israel or Jacob, when asleep, and appeared to him in a dream, and promised to keep him in all places, and did; who found his posterity in the wilderness, and kept them as the apple of his eye: he keeps his spiritual Israel, whom he has chosen, redeemed, and calls; and he that is in general their keeper, is the keeper of every particular believer, who may promise themselves the utmost safety under his care; since, though he may sometimes seem to sleep, when he withdraws his gracious presence, defers help, and does not arise so soon to the assistance of his people as they wish for and expect; yet does not in reality sleep, nor is any ways negligent of them; no, not so much as slumber, nor is in the least indifferent about them, and careless of them; see Genesis 28:15. So Homer (k) represents Jupiter as not held by sleep, while other gods and men slept all night; and hence Milton (l) has the phrase of “the unsleeping eyes of God”: but the Phrygians had a notion that their god slept in winter, and was awake in summer (m).

(k) Iliad. 2. v. 1, 2.((l) Paradise Lost, B. 5. v. 647. (m) Plutarch. de Iside & Osir. prope finem.

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What Do You Yield To As A Christian? Obedience or Disobedience — Romans 6:16

Posted on May 9, 2014 by Stephen Nielsen

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As a Christian, it should always be our aim to yield ourselves to God.  But if we don’t yield ourselves to God then we will yield ourselves to Satan, the devil (Rom. 6:13, 16, 19).  There are no other options.  In my next five blog posts I will show you some of the ways we yield—either to God or Satan.

Option #1, we will say, is to God; and Option #2 is to Satan.  Notice that in each of the five ways, the second option under each point is an opposite or a rebellion against the first option.  And that’s how it is in life; Satan will always show us another way to keep us from God’s way.

 

Obedience or Disobedience

 

Option #1 – We yield ourselves to obey God in everything.  At the heart of yielding is obedience.  When we yield ourselves to God we are humbling ourselves before Him with the full intent to obey His every word, His every desire (Rom. 6:16).  His words to us—words of doctrine, reproof, correction, and instruction (2 Tim. 3:16)—are found written in the Holy Bible, and are brought to us by His Holy Spirit.  We must obey both the Bible and the Spirit as one; for they work together to bring us to righteousness and peace.

God tells us in the Bible that we must also yield to and obey those in authority over us—our spiritual leaders (Heb. 13:17), government leaders (Rom. 13:1-7), our employers (Eph. 6:5), and, if we are still living at home, our parents (Eph. 6:1); for they are appointed by God to lead us to holiness and righteousness.

 

Option #2 – We yield ourselves to the voice of rebellion and disobedience.  When we yield to Satan we choose to either disobey the Bible, saying to ourselves, “I don’t believe in it,” or we try to block it out of our mind.  If we are Christians this is what we probably do, because, since we believe the Bible, and we know it’s true, there is nothing else to do except just try to block it out.  And so, we pretend that God’s commands to us, both by the written Word and by the Holy Spirit, don’t exist.

 

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Eternal Rewards: Four Questions Answered from the Bible

Posted on May 7, 2014 by Stephen Nielsen

Stephen Nielsen's avatarStudying Bible Prophecy

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Here are four questions you may have regarding this subject of eternal rewards—with the answers attached.  J. Dwight Pentecost’s book Things To Come was a great help to me in this study.

1. When are we rewarded?

In Revelation 22:10 Jesus says to us, “Behold, I am coming quickly, and My reward is with Me, to render to every man according to what he has done.” From this verse we believe believers will be rewarded shortly after His coming for the church (the rapture) at the judgment seat (or the bema) of Christ.

2. What will we be rewarded for and what will be our rewards?

Each believer will be rewarded for works that are proven to endure God’s testing.  In the New Testament five categories of works are mentioned that have rewards attached to them.

(1) For those who exercise self-controlover the flesh, they will receive an imperishable…

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Praying the Pilgrim Songs: Psalm 121:1-2

Posted on May 5, 2014 by Stephen Nielsen

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Psalm 121:1-2
I will lift up my eyes to the mountains;
From whence shall my help come?
2 My help comes from the Lord,
Who made heaven and earth?
 
 
Lord, it seems that I am always in need of help,
And I often look for help in the wrong places.
I look to find immediate comfort and satisfaction—
But it doesn’t last long.
Lord show me  how to look for you.
Give me a growing desire to find you
And show me where you are.
And after I find you
Let me not look for you in any other place.
 
 
 
Lord, I look to you for all my needs,
For all my help.
My help comes from you alone.
Who else can satisfy the needs of my soul?
Who else can give me the help I long for?
Lord, you dwell in the heavens
And in the mountains—
And you are in my heart.

 

Comments on Psalm 121 by By Martin Girard

This is often referred to as “The Traveler’s Psalm.” The words “keep” and “keeper” appear six times, confirming the theme of the song. As we read it, we can picture the Israelites traveling to Jerusalem. They look expectantly to the Lord for protection and will not be disappointed. He preserves His people by night and by day, and will bring them safely to their destination. We, too, can be assured that He will keep us “from this time forth, and even for evermore” (v. 8).

 

Gill’s Exposition of Psalm 121:1-2

Psalm 121:1

A Song of degrees. I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills, from whence cometh my help.

I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills,…. Not to the hills and mountains in Judea, looking about to see if the inhabitants of them, or any bodies of men, appeared upon them to his help in distress; rather to the hills of Moriah and Zion, where the ark of God, the symbol of his presence, was, and to whom he looked for assistance and deliverance: or to heaven, the holy hill of the Lord, and to him that dwelleth there; see Psalm 3:2. The lifting up of the eyes is a prayer gesture, John 11:41; and is expressive of boldness and confidence in prayer, and of hope and expectation of help and salvation, Job 11:15; when, on the contrary, persons abashed and ashamed, hopeless and helpless, cannot look up, or lift up their eyes or face to God, Ezra 9:6. Some read the words, “I will lift up mine eyes upon the hills” (f); standing there and looking up to the heavens, and God in the heavens; who is the most High over all the earth, higher than the highest, and above all gods. Others render them interrogatively, “shall I lift up mine eyes to the hills?” (g) to the idols worshipped on hills and mountains, and pray unto them, and expect help from them? No, I will not; salvation is not to be had from them, Jeremiah 3:23; or to the kings of the nations, as R. Obadiah interprets it; and to powerful kingdoms and states he was in alliance with, comparable to mountains and hills, Psalm 46:2? No, I will not; “it is better to trust in the Lord than to put confidence in princes”, Psalm 118:9. And so the following clause may be read, from whence shall my help come? (h) not from hills and mountains; not from men, for vain is the help of man; not from kings and princes, the great men of the earth, nor from the most powerful nations; but from the Lord, as in Psalm 121:2, which may be an answer to this.

(f) “super montes”, Vatablus, Amama; so Kimchi. (g) “attollerem oculos meos ad illos montes?” Junius & Tremellius; “attollamne”, &c. Piscator; so Gejerus and Ainsworth. (h) So Musculus, Cocceius, Gejerus, Junius & Tremellius, Piscator, Michaelis.

 

Psalm 121:2

My help cometh from the LORD, which made heaven and earth.

My help cometh from the Lord, which made heaven and earth. Who helps his people out of the hands of all their enemies, and out of all their troubles and afflictions; he helps them in the performance of duty, in the exercise of grace, in bearing the cross, in fighting the Lord’s battles, and on in their journey; he helps them to all blessings, temporal and spiritual; to all needful supplies of grace here, and glory hereafter; and this help he gives is quick and present, suitable and seasonable, is sufficient, and sometimes with, and sometimes without means; and they have great encouragement to expect it from him, since he is able to give it, being the Maker of heaven and earth; for what is it that he cannot do, who has made both them? And besides, he has promised to help them, and he is faithful that has promised; he has laid help on Christ for them, and set up a throne of grace, where they may hope to find grace and mercy, to help them in time of need; and they have had past experiences of his help and salvation. Arama connects this with the preceding psalm, and interprets this help of help from an evil tongue.

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Praying the Pilgrim Songs: Psalm 120:5-7

Posted on April 30, 2014 by Stephen Nielsen

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Psalm 120:5-7
Woe is me, for I sojourn in Meshech,  
For I dwell among the tents of Kedar!
6 Too long has my soul had its dwelling
With those who hate peace.
7 I am for peace, but when I speak,
They are for war.

 

Gill’s Commentary on verse 5

Woe is me, that I sojourn in Mesech, that I dwell in the tents of Kedar!

Woe is me, that I sojourn in Mesech,…. Meshech was a son of Japheth, Genesis 10:2; whose posterity are thought by some to be the Muscovites (z) and Scythians, a barbarous sort of people: Mesech is frequently mentioned with Tubal and his brother, and with Gog and Magog, Ezekiel 38:2; the Targum here calls them Asiatics. Rather the Cappadocians, according to Josephus (a); and Strabo (b) makes mention of a city of theirs, called Mazaca: and the rather, since they are mentioned with the Kedarenes, or Arabian Scenites, and were nearer to the land of Judea than the former; that I dwell in the tents of Kedar; Kedar was a son of Ishmael, Genesis 25:13; whose posterity were Arabians, as the Targum here renders it; and Suidas (c) says, they dwelt not far from Babylon, when he wrote; they lived a pastoral life, and dwelt in tents: Pliny (d) makes mention of Arabs, called Cedrei; and also of Scenite Arabs, from the tents they dwelt in, which they could remove from place to place for the sake of pasturage. And among these David dwelt, when in the wilderness of Paran, 1 Samuel 25:1; though some think David never dwelt among any of those people, but among such who were like unto them for ignorance, idolatry, and barbarity. Some render the words, “woe is me, that I sojourn so long, dwelling as in the tents of Kedar” (e); as when he was among the Philistines and Moabites; nay, even he may compare his own people to those, many of whom it was as disagreeable dwelling with as with these: and we find Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Ezekiel, speaking of them in their times in like manner, and making the same complaints, Isaiah 6:5. And very grieving and distressing it is to good men to have their abode among wicked men; as well as it is infectious and dangerous: to hear their profane and blasphemous talk, to see their wicked and filthy actions, and to observe their abominable conversation, is very vexatious, and gives great uneasiness, as it did to righteous Lot, 2 Peter 2:7.

 

My Prayer

Lord, there are too many in this world who hate peace and hate you. They align themselves with the devil; they are wicked and vile; their language is terrible. I long to be free of them, to be rid of them. I long to be in a land where there is all love and joy and peace. But I am here now I will make the best of it. I will do all I can to make peace with those around me. I pray for them to be free of their wickedness; I pray that they will find peace with you as I have, that they will be rid of their foul tongue and impure thoughts and deeds. Lord that we—all of us who choose you— will soon be at home with you, our final resting place of love.

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How to Yield in Prayer — 3 Points

Posted on April 26, 2014 by Stephen Nielsen

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There are several ways we could define yielding. The following three terms—to relinquish, to submit, and to offer—I think will give us a good definition and understanding of yielding, particularly as we study it in the context of yielding to God in prayer.

 

Yielding means to relinquish. To summarize from Catherine Marshall’s book, Adventures in Prayer, when we relinquish ourselves to God we are giving up our self-will, we are giving up a “demanding spirit,” and we are seeking no more to do things our way but His way. Thus to relinquish is to accept willingly whatever He sends us, even whatever He demands of us; it is doing whatever He says, and it is going wherever He leads us. But we do not go alone. The life of relinquishment is not lonely or does not give up hope. It is full of hope! For when we relinquish all to God we put our hand in His and He leads us. Hence, the life of relinquishment is being always with Him, being comforted always at His side.

 

Yielding means to submit. To submit means to go along with, to be at peace with (Job 22:21). It means not to be stiff-necked as the children of Israel were: who, by their stubbornness, found themselves in desolation, given up by God to the slavery of their sins (2 Chron. 30:7, 8). Hence, it means to be softhearted toward the Lord, willing to serve the Lord always. Submitting to God also implies that we resist all opposing forces—thus to resist the devil and all the forces of evil (Ja. 4:7).

 

Yielding means to offer up. This term tells us that in yielding there is an offering to make, thus a price to pay, or a sacrifice to make.

In Old Testament times animals were brought to an altar and were sacrificed to atone for sins. But now, since Christ has provided Himself as a sacrifice for our sins (His blood was shed for the sins of the world for all time), animal sacrifices are no longer needed. What God requires of us now is to present to Him ourselves as a living sacrifice—a sacrifice of willing service (Rom. 12:1). Thus when we yield ourselves to Him, we bring ourselves to Him and present ourselves to be willing and faithful servants.

When we offer ourselves (or yield ourselves) to Him we are giving over to Him all the members of our body to be instruments of righteousness (Rom. 6:13). The incredible thing about this is that the more we yield the members of our body to Him to be instruments of righteousness, the more He empowers us to actually be righteous—that is, holy and acceptable (Rom. 6:19; 12:11). Yes, all we have to do is be willing to yield ourselves to Him, and then He puts His holiness into us.

When we offer our bodies to Him for service, we also, in our service, offer our talents, our time, and our prayers. And these acts of service, because we are yielded to Him, will ascend to Him as a pleasing aroma.

This post is a excerpt from Basic of Prayer.

 

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Praying the Pilgrim Songs: Psalm 120:3-4

Posted on April 22, 2014 by Stephen Nielsen

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Psalm 120:3-4
What shall be given to you, and what more shall be done to you, You deceitful tongue? 4 Sharp arrows of the warrior, With the burning coals of the broom tree.

 

burning coals

 
 

Lord, bring to my deceiver all You plan for him. Lord, You are my avenger. Punish him just as I have suffered through him.

Lord, the problem for me is that I often don’t recognize the foe or that he has lied to me. When there is a problem I often dismiss it and run from it or say that it is not there. But it is there Lord. My foe is real and the lie, though cloaked, is real and destructive. Lord, open my eyes—enough at least to pray. Let me see enough to know how to pray, so that the enemy will be taken down and I will be delivered. Lord, You deliver me. Be my avenger. Cast him out and let me be free of all deception, so that I will be free to see Your truth.

 

See explanatory note on Psalms 120, by Martin Girard, on an earlier post

 

Exposition by The Treasury of David

Verse 3. What shall be given unto thee? What is the expected guerdon of slander? It ought to be something great to make it worthwhile to work in so foul an atmosphere and to ruin one’s soul. Could a thousand worlds be bribe enough for such villainous deeds? The liar shall have no welcome recompense: he shall meet with his deserts; but what shall they be? What punishment can equal his crime? The Psalmist seems lost to suggest a fitting punishment. It is the worst of offences—this detraction, calumny, and slander. Judgment sharp and crushing would be measured out to it if men were visited for their transgressions. But what punishment could be heavy enough? What form shall the chastisement take? O liar, “what shall be given unto thee?”

Or what shall be done unto thee, thou false tongue? How shalt thou be visited? The law of retaliation can hardly meet the case, since none can slander the slanderer, he is too black to be blackened; neither would any of us blacken him if we could. Wretched being! He fights with weapons which true men cannot touch. Like the cuttlefish, he surrounds himself with an inky blackness into which honest men cannot penetrate. Like the foul skunk, he emits an odour of falsehood which cannot be endured by the true; and therefore he often escapes, unchastised by those whom he has most injured. His crime, in a certain sense, becomes his shield; men do not care to encounter so base a foe. But what will God do with lying tongues? He has uttered his most terrible threats against them, and he will terribly execute them in due time.

Verse 4. Sharp arrows of the mighty. Swift, sure, and sharp shall be the judgment. Their words were as arrows, and so shall their punishment be. God will see to it that their punishment shall be comparable to an arrow keen in itself, and driven home with all the force with which a mighty man shoots it from his bow of steel, — “sharp arrows of the mighty”. Nor shall one form of judgment suffice to avenge this complicated sin. The slanderer shall feel woes comparable to coals of juniper, which are quick in flaming, fierce in blazing, and long in burning. He shall feel sharp arrows and sharper fires. Awful doom! All liars shall have their portion in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone. Their worm dieth not, and their fire is not quenched. Juniper coals long retain their heat, but hell burneth ever, and the deceitful tongue may not deceive itself with the hope of escape from the fire which it has kindled. What a crime is this to which the All merciful allots a doom so dreadful! Let us hate it with perfect hatred. It is better to be the victim of slander than, to be the author of it. The shafts of calumny will miss the mark, but not so the arrows of God: the coals of malice will cool, but not the fire of justice. Shun slander as you would avoid hell.

 

 

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Easter brings Believers Great Hope

Posted on April 20, 2014 by Stephen Nielsen

Stephen Nielsen's avatarStudying Bible Prophecy

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What a great day this Easter is! Christ has been resurrected. And because of His resurrection we who are believers in Him have hope, hope that we will one day be either resurrected from our grave or be brought alive to heaven and changed—without having seen death.

Now here is something I haven’t thought of before: if we are raptured we will actually witness probably thousands of people coming out of their graves and rising up to heaven; and then we will follow them to be with them. Won’t that be a wonderful, glorious sight?

1 Corinthians 15:51-53
Behold, I tell you a mystery; we shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, 52 in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet; for the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we shall be changed.

1 Thessalonians 4:15-18
For…

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Praying the Pilgrim Songs: Psalm 120:1-2

Posted on April 19, 2014 by Stephen Nielsen

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Psalm 120:1-2

In my trouble I cried to the LORD,
And He answered me.
2 Deliver my soul, O LORD, from lying lips,
 From a deceitful tongue.
NASB

 

Lord, whomever would lie to me and cause me trouble, man or demon, I pray, please deliver me from such a one. Keep me safe and at peace with You that I may not live in turmoil and be prone to sin against You.

 

Explanatory note on Psalms 120, by Martin Girard

[This] first song of ascents is set in alien land. The writer is a distressed individual who dwells among people who are opposed to peace. He laments: “I am for peace: but when I speak, they are for war” (v. 7). He often suffered the deceitful tongue and lying lips of the wicked and prayed for deliverance from such. Falsehood is something the Lord hates (Prov. 6:17), and we need to make sure our speech is pleasing to Him. He will judge those whose words are unrestrained. Like the writer of this psalm, we may be experiencing opposition and may be longing to be somewhere better. The heavenly home should create a longing in our hearts!

 

Exposition of Psalm 120:1-2, by The Treasury of David

Verse 1. In my distress. Slander occasions distress of the most grievous kind. Those who have felt the edge of a cruel tongue know assuredly that it is sharper than the sword. Calumny rouses our indignation by a sense of injustice, and yet we find ourselves helpless to fight with the evil, or to act in our own defence. We could ward off the strokes of a cutlass, but we have no shield against a liar’s tongue. We do not know who was the father of the falsehood, nor where it was born, nor where it has gone, nor how to follow it, nor how to stay its withering influence. We are perplexed, and know not which way to turn. Like the plague of flies in Egypt, it baffles opposition, and few can stand before it. Detraction touches us in the most tender point, cuts to the quick, and leaves a venom behind which it is difficult to extract. In all ways it is a sore distress to come under the power of “slander, the foulest whelp of sin.” Even in such distress we need not hesitate to cry unto the Lord. Silence to man and prayer to God are the best cures for the evil of slander.

I cried unto the LORD (or Jehovah). The wisest course that he could follow. It is of little use to appeal to our fellows on the matter of slander, for the more we stir in it the more it spreads; it is of no avail to appeal to the honour of the slanderers, for they have none, and the most piteous demands for justice will only increase their malignity and encourage them to fresh insult. As well plead with panthers and wolves as with black hearted traducers. However, when cries to man would be our weakness, cries to God will be our strength. To whom should children cry but to their father? Does not some good come even out of that vile thing, falsehood, when it drives us to our knees and to our God? “And he heard me”. Yes, Jehovah hears. He is the living God, and hence prayer to him is reasonable and profitable. The Psalmist remembered and recorded this instance of prayer hearing, for it had evidently much affected him; and now he rehearses it for the glory of God and the good of his brethren. “The righteous cry and the Lord heareth them”. The ear of our God is not deaf, nor even heavy. He listens attentively, he catches the first accent of supplication; he makes each of his children confess, — “he heard me”. When we are slandered it is a joy that the Lord knows us, and cannot be made to doubt our uprightness: he will not hear the lie against us, but he will hear our prayer against the lie.

If these psalms were sung at the ascent of the ark to Mount Zion, and then afterwards by the pilgrims to Jerusalem at the annual festivals and at the return from Babylon, we shall find in the life of David a reason for this being made the first of them. Did not this servant of God meet with Doeg the Edomite when he enquired of the oracle by Abiathar, and did not that wretched creature believe him and betray him to Saul? This made a very painful and permanent impression upon David’s memory, and therefore in commencing the ark journey he poured out his lament before the Lord, concerning the great and monstrous wrong of “that dog of a Doeg”, as Trapp wittily calls him. The poet, like the preacher, may find it to his advantage to “begin low,” for then he has the more room to rise: the next Psalm is a full octave above the present mournful hymn. Whenever we are abused it may console us to see that we are not alone in our misery we are traversing a road upon which David left his footprints.

Verse 2. Deliver my soul, O Lord, from lying lips. It will need divine power to save a man from these deadly instruments. Lips are soft: but when they are lying lips they suck away the life of character and are as murderous as razors. Lips should never be red with the blood of honest men’s reputes, nor salved with malicious falsehoods. David says, “Deliver my soul”: the soul, the life of the man, is endangered by lying lips; cobras are not more venomous, nor devils themselves more pitiless. Some seem to lie for lying sake, it is their sport and spirit: their lips deserve to be kissed with a hot iron; but it is not for the friends of Jesus to render to men according to their deserts. Oh for a dumb generation rather than a lying one! The faculty of speech becomes a curse when it is degraded into a mean weapon for smiting men behind their backs. We need to be delivered from slander by the Lord’s restraint upon wicked tongues, or else to be delivered out of it by having our good name cleared from the liar’s calumny.

And from a deceitful tongue This is rather worse than downright falsehood. Those who fawn and flatter, and all the while have enmity in their hearts, are horrible beings; they are the seed of the devil, and he worketh in them after his own deceptive nature. Better to meet wild beasts and serpents than deceivers: these are a kind of monster whose birth is from beneath, and whose end lies far below. It should be a warning to liars and deceivers when they see that all good men pray against them, and that even bad men are afraid of them. Here is to the believer good cause for prayer. “Deliver us from evil”, may be used with emphasis concerning this business. From gossips, talebearers, writers of anonymous letters, forgers of newspaper paragraphs, and all sorts of liars, good Lord deliver us!

 

 

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Jewish Pilgrimages: How We May Benefit From Them

Posted on April 15, 2014 by Stephen Nielsen

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In the Old Testament times the Jews would pilgrimage to Jerusalem 3 times a year on their feast days (Deut. 16:16-17):

On the Feast of Unleavened Bread — this year on April 15

On the Feast of Weeks — this year on June 4

On the Feast of Tabernacles — this year on Oct 9

I can imagine that for many the trip was long and treacherous. But as they walked they sang songs. We have recorded for us in Psalms 120-135 the songs they sang. They are called Psalms of Ascents or Pilgrim Songs.

I have recently been quite captivated by this subject. As Martin Girard wrote in his article, Songs For Pilgrims Psalms Of Ascents, “In one sense we are like the Israelites of Old Testament times, for we are pilgrims. This earth is not our permanent home. We are “strangers and pilgrims” (1 Pet. 2:11) as we journey home to heaven, seeking “a city whose builder and maker is God” (Heb. 11:10).”

Since we are indeed pilgrims on this earth I think it would do us good to sing the Pilgrim songs as the Jews use to do. I don’t know if I will put Psalms 120-134 to song, but I am planning to memorize them. The chapters are all quite short so it shouldn’t be too hard. I invite you to do it along with me. Here is the first Song—in NASB.

Psalm 120:1

Prayer for Deliverance from the Treacherous

In my trouble I cried to the Lord, And He answered me. 2 Deliver my soul, O Lord, from lying lips, From a deceitful tongue. 3 What shall be given to you, and what more shall be done to you, You deceitful tongue? 4 Sharp arrows of the warrior, With the burning coals of the broom tree.

5 Woe is me, for I sojourn in Meshech, For I dwell among the tents of Kedar! 6 Too long has my soul had its dwelling With those who hate peace. 7 I am for peace, but when I speak, They are for war.

 

 

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