I just finished my four chapters for Wednesday (it's still Wednesday on my body clock, because I hadn't slept yet. Woke up late again. :D), and I thought to share once more.
I believe that Psalms 72 is David's prayer for his heir Solomon, and the future glory of Israel. And yet, since David is also one of God's prophets, and the patriarch from which our Lord Jesus descended, he sometimes blurts out waaaaaaaaaay future prophecies. Like things related to the Lord.
So enjoy the Psalm, and my annotations of my understanding of it.
Psalms 72
1 O God, give the king your justice and the king's son your righteousness 2 so that he may judge your people with righteousness and your oppressed [people] with justice. 3 May the mountains bring peace to the people and the hills bring righteousness. 4 May he grant justice to the people who are oppressed. May he save the children of needy people and crush their oppressor. 5 May they fear you as long as the sun and moon [shine]-- throughout every generation. 6 May he be like rain that falls on [freshly] cut grass, like showers that water the land. 7 May righteous people blossom in his day. May there be unlimited peace until the moon no longer [shines]. 8 May he rule from sea to sea, from the Euphrates River to the ends of the earth. 9 May the people of the desert kneel in front of him. May his enemies lick the dust. 10 May the kings from Tarshish and the islands bring presents. May the kings from Sheba and Seba bring gifts.
11 May all kings worship him. May all nations serve him.
(This could be interpreted as one of King David's blurt-outs about his "Descendant," our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.
)12 He will rescue the needy person who cries for help and the oppressed person who has no one's help. 13 He will have pity on the poor and needy and will save the lives of the needy.
14 He will rescue them from oppression and violence. Their blood will be precious in his sight.
When we are oppressed and pulled from all sides by people or circumstances, take heart, Jesus sees our travails. He sees our pain, and these are precious to Him. Whatever we may have lost, these are not in vain, these will not go to waste. These are learnings that we can use to help others, or even profit from, in the future.
15 May he live long. May the gold from Sheba be given to him. May [the people] pray for him continually. May [they] praise him all day long. 16 May there be plenty of grain in the land. May it wave [in the breeze] on the mountaintops, its fruit like [the treetops of] Lebanon. May those from the city flourish like the grass on the ground. 17 May his name endure forever. May his name continue as long as the sun [shines]. May all nations be blessed through him and call him blessed.
18 Thank the LORD God, the God of Israel, who alone does miracles. 19 Thanks be to his glorious name forever. May the whole earth be filled with his glory. Amen and amen!
Oh yes. He alone does miracles. I pray that we would stop looking to other people, to systems, to traditions, to practices that we think would save us. Even healing from doctors, He alone will decide the final outcome. Even deaths are not in vain to Him; He decides, in His wisdom, who lives and dies. The keys of Death and Hades are already in His hands (Revelation 1:18). He decides whether you live or die.
We don't need to "fear" the Lord in the terrified-oh-He-iz-God-He-must-want-to-kill-me-for-my-sins kind of way. He has already paid for our sins on the cross. But we must abhor sin, not for the fact that it is sin so we must abhor it, period. We abhor sin because it tramples the depth of what He did for us. It tramples the precious sacrifice He made on the cross.
It was not just Mary of Bethany's perfume in an alabaster jar that was spilled in Jesus' time.
Jesus' body was broken, much like the alabaster jar, and His blood, much like the perfumed oil, was poured out to cover our sins. We had been paid for. We take care of ourselves, because we revere the sacrifice He did for us.
I love Jesus. :) He never fails to make me smile. :)
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