7 Reasons To Bless God As We Face Death Series

BIG IDEA:

DEATH OPENS THE DOOR TO THE RICHES OF OUR SPIRITUAL

INHERITANCE SECURED BY THE RESURRECTION OF JESUS CHRIST

INTRODUCTION:

Remember that this is a Messianic Psalm -- Acts 2:25-28; Acts 13:34-35; True of David in his own experience, but ultimately speaking of the Resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead

Note:

There is debate as to whether David is asking for deliverance from death or deliverance out of death via the resurrection;

cf. http://www.bible.org/docs/nt/books/act/act2.htm

Certainly much more is intended here than what David understood himself when he wrote this

1) (:1) GOD IS MY PROTECTOR

RESPONSE: Bless God; Seek Refuge in Him

"Preserve me"

"I take refuge in Thee"

2) (:2-4) GOD IS MY DELIGHT

RESPONSE: Bless God; Boast in Him and in His people

contrasted with the sorrows of those who have rejected loyalty to the true God;

we take no delight in them

3) (:5-6) GOD IS MY INHERITANCE

RESPONSE: Bless God; Appreciate the Beauty of His Inheritance

"The Lord is the portion of my inheritance and my cup"

"Thou dost support my lot"

"The lines have fallen to me in pleasant places"

"Indeed, my heritage is beautiful to me"

4) (:7) GOD IS MY COUNSELOR

RESPONSE: Bless God; Draw comfort from His instruction

"who has counseled me"

"my mind instructs me in the night".

5) (:8-9) GOD IS MY ROCK

RESPONSE: Bless God; Stand firm

"I will not be shaken"

"My flesh also will dwell securely"

6) (:10) GOD IS MY RESURRECTION

RESPONSE: Bless God; Don’t Despair

"Thou wilt not abandon my soul to Sheol"

"Neither wilt Thou allow Thy Holy One to undergo decay"

Wever:

"leave" means to abandon

"sheol" -- hades, the unseen world, the world of departed spirits of men (not graves, but where the spirits of men go)

"suffer" = permit

"holy one" = beloved one; true of Christ in the absolute

"corruption" = for the body to dissolve

1) God won’t allow the body and the spirit to remain separated in death

2) the body won’t see corruption before this occurs

3) the united soul and body come into the presence of the living God

7) (:11) GOD IS MY LIFE

RESPONSE: Bless God; Enjoy Him forever

"the path of life"

"fulness of joy"

"pleasures forever"

* * * * * * * * * *

DEVOTIONAL QUESTIONS:

1) Can others tell that our delight is in the Lord? Do we enjoy talking about the Lord?

Do we make it a priority to spend time alone with Him? Do we consider the Lord to be our ultimate good and our fullness of joy? What hinders us from fully delighting in the Lord?

2) Do we delight in fellowshipping with the saints or do we find them annoying and hard to get along with?

3) Is our testimony that both our present and our future is a work of beauty that the Lord has worked out for our good in His providence?.

4) Are we encouraged as we are privileged to look back in time and enjoy the perspective of fulfilled prophecy with respect to God’s Holy One not seeing decay, but rising from the dead to offer us eternal life and fulness of joy?

Download the entire Psalms commentary in pdf format

(including notes on each psalm from other commentators)

from:

http://www.bibleoutlines.com