Weekly Devotion ( Psalm 50-54)
Psalm 50 is a prophetic allegorical psalm. At the beginning of this psalm, three names of God are used, the Mighty One—God—The Lord, indicating that this God who made a covenant with man is the Mighty One, possesses full divinity, and is a God full of love. The Lord appears as judge, and in his majesty, fire and storm make way (v. 3). God comes to judge the people, and heaven and earth serve as witnesses to prove that God's judgment is absolutely fair (Isa. 30:18, Matt. 2:17).
God gathers those who have made a covenant with Him by sacrifice (v. 5), earnestly admonishing them, and reminding them that all things belong to God (vv. 9-13), that they should offer thanksgiving to God and fulfill their vows to God (vv. 14, 23) and call upon God in trouble (Lev. 7:12-16). The sacrifices in the Old Testament typified the great work of redemption of the Lord Jesus Christ: “how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without blemish to God, purify our conscience from dead works to serve the living God." (Heb. 9:14, 28, 10:1-29).
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The Bible reminds the Israelites many times that “obedience is better than sacrifice” and reprimands them for being close to Him with their mouths but keeping their hearts far away from Him, leaving God’s words behind and not obeying them in their lives. May God’s words in verses 16-23, which rebuked His people for their behavior not aligning with their faith also illuminate us, and let us examine our own evil behaviors of hating discipline and hypocrisy. For example, inattentiveness during worship, being late and leaving early, looking at our phones, dozing off, etc., and shutting down the screen during Zoom gatherings and "multitasking" are all displeasing to God. For example, there were 33 participants in the morning prayer meeting at 8 o’clock last Saturday, but there were only 16 participants at 9:10 AM, and half of them left early (only 2 members notified about their leave in advance). Of course, we still have to thank the brothers and sisters who came late and left early because it is better to come to morning prayer late than not to come. May the Lord help you and me to confess and repent in time, and He will discipline those He loves. Please help us not to let the Holy Spirit grieve for us (Hebrews 4:16).
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Psalm 51 should be the first psalm that Christians are familiar with after Psalm 23. It belongs to the seven Penitential Psalms (Psalms of Confession) and is the most touching psalm. This psalm is also a good response to the 50 psalms of God's rebuke (16 about sacrifice and 50:8-15). The psalmist begins with a sin-convicting prayer (vv. 1-2), followed by a confession of sin (vv. 3-5), a plea for cleansing and restoration (vv. 6-12), thanksgiving and vows (vv. 13-17), and finally a prayer for all Jerusalem because the king’s blessing and God’s holy city (Zion) are inseparable (Ps. 2:6, Gen. 18:22-33). A broken and contrite heart, God will not despise is the central verse of this psalm. The psalmist’s profound confession and repentance are shocking. Do we feel the same way? Please compare the depth of our confession and repentance in our daily prayers. Repentance is a gift of grace from the Spirit of God that humbles and subdues the sinner's heart and brings about outward change. Repentance is a spiritual pharmacy, which contains six special ingredients: 1. Conviction of sin, 2. Sorrow over sin, 3. Confession of sin, 4. Being ashamed of sin, 5. Hating sin, 6. Turning away from sin. If any one is missing, it loses its value. ("The Doctrine of Repentance", p. 22). We usually confess our sins by defending ourselves first, and then stop at the third step. This is the most important reason why church believers cannot grow today, because the value of confession and repentance is lost. Lord, what shall I do?
The psalmist expresses his desire for the forgiveness of sins using the words "blot-transgression", "wash-iniquity", and "cleanse-sin". "Transgression" is the violation of the law, "iniquity" refers to deliberate deviation from the right way (such as killing a husband and taking a wife), and "sin" is making a wrong choice and being accustomed to it. The three words have different meanings, and the psalmist uses them to emphasize the seriousness of his iniquity. David’s confession of “sinning only against God” was to emphasize his responsibility before God; he violated God’s nature revealed in the law, and promptly admitted that God’s judgment of his sin was just (v. 4). This is the beginning of knowing the truth, and it is also the beginning of God’s grace and love leading people to repentance (Rom. 2:4). From God’s judgment on the psalmist, we can better understand David’s wonderful life testimony, and he silently bears the consequences of this crime by the Lord’s grace for the rest of his life: 1. The sword shall never depart from his house. 2. His neighbor will lie with his wives in the sight of the sun. 3. The child born to Uriah's wife will die. (2 Sam. 12:10-14, 1 Pet. 3:20) These tragic consequences were fulfilled in David's life and are recorded in the Bible. However, the Bible calls David a man who pleased God; thank God for His infinite mercy and grace, for He did not treat us according to our transgressions (Ps. 116:12-13). May the Lord help us wake up to the consequences of sin, always fearing God.
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Psalm 52. The four psalms from Psalm 52 to Psalm 55 are all from David's psalms to the choirmaster. It can be said that each psalm has deep spiritual lessons, and needs to be sung in the temple. The background of Psalm 52 is 1 Samuel 22:6-23, which was written by King David when he was in distress. It discusses the arrogance in the heart of the wicked, and the dependence on God in the heart of the righteous. The mighty men here refer to the enemies who persecuted David, as well as the villains who oppose God (Gen. 10:9). Some Bible commentators believe that the since mighty men here love evil and lie, it may be referring to the Antichrist. His end is to be broken down by God forever (v. 5). The deceitful tongue is like a razor: very sharp. It is a metaphor for the destructive power of the tongue, and it is their weapon of evil. They also have an abundance of money. In verse 7, "[seeking] refuge in … destruction" can be understood as "protected by one's own vanity", which can only bring destruction. Many times Christians also fall into verbal sins. I really ask the Lord to have mercy and forgive our sins (Jer. 17:9). How should believers manage our money and time? Reflect on the practice of tithing: the one-tenth and the nine-tenth of our money all belong to God; have you entrusted the sovereignty of the management of your money sovereignty to the Lord? The psalmist contrasts himself with the wicked man. He is not uprooted from the land of the living, but is always green all year round, as the olive tree does not shed its leaves, which is an expression of abundant life (Ps. 1:3, Jer. 17:7-8).
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Psalm 53 is almost identical to Psalm 14, except for verse 5, and Psalm 14 refers to God as The Lord in verses 2, 4, 6, and 7, and Psalm 53 uses God completely. The Lord is the title of God used by the Israelites, which means the God of love and faithfulness, which means the God of their own country and people. God is Elohim in Hebrew, which can mean that He is the God of all nations and peoples, the God of righteous judgment. From this, it can be inferred that this Psalm is the second revelation of the Spirit of God to Israel when they were in captivity. Some Bible scholars believe that when Israel was among the Gentiles, they used God more and less "Jehovah" because they wanted to testify to the Gentiles that the God they worshiped was the God of all nations. In Book One of the Psalms (1-42), The Lord is used a total of 172 times. However, there are only 26 times in the second volume. From this, we can also see the progressive nature of God's revelation, and salvation will come to all nations. Mahalth refers to a tune and the original text has the meaning of "suffering" or "illness". This psalm can be called a lamentation of lamentation, lamenting the sickness of mankind’s ignorance of God. Since the Holy Spirit put these chapters twice in the Bible, He wants people to know that these words are important. Paul quotes this psalm in Romans 1:10-12. At a time when atheism is prevalent today, this passage is especially important. "A fool" is the same word in Hebrew as "Nabal" in 1 Samuel 25. What Nabal did was same as the fool mentioned in this passage. A fool is a person who belongs to the world, is evil, does not know God, does not fear God, and is rejected by God. The greatest foolishness of man is to deny the existence of the Most High (Is. 32:6), and to underestimate the Lord's discipline. "The fear of the Lord, that is wisdom, and to turn away from evil is understanding" (Job 28:28). In the difficult situation of the world being hostile to God, the psalmist believes that God will save His people and the people will rejoice (v. 6). In the Old Testament period, God’s people looked to Jesus in faith—the coming Messiah. And we, God’s people in the New Testament, because of the great work of redemption of Jesus Christ and God’s revelation, believe in Jesus to gain eternal life, and live in the hope of eternal life. Ask the Holy Spirit to help us examine our daily foolishness and sins.
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Psalm 54 is a short but extremely powerful personal plea written by David from his own experience (1 Sam. 23:4-5, 19-24, 26:1-4), mentioning the name of God twice. Persecuted by his enemies and likely to be falsely accused, the psalmist asks God to vindicate for him (v. 1). He cries out to God in His power and name and finds comfort and peace in his heart, trusting that God will hear his prayer and deliver him. Every name of God is an indication of His divinity and authority (Phil. 2:5-10), and it is through the name of the Lord that we, like the psalmist, experience God's presence and care in all our hardships and tribulations. May the prayer of the psalmist also be the prayer of every child of God to trust God, practicing to give great thanksgiving to the Lord in prayer and devotional sharing in written words, and bearing witness to the glory of the Lord's name.
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每周灵修 诗篇50-54
诗篇 第50篇
50 篇是一篇先知喻言詩。這首詩一開始就用神的三重名字，大能 者—神—耶和華，表明這一位與人立約的神是大能者，具有完全的 神性，是一位滿有慈愛的神。耶和華以法官的身份出現，及其威 榮，有烈火和暴風開路（3 節）。神來審判子民，天地出任陪審員 證明神的判斷絕對公平（賽 30：18，瑪 2：17）。神招聚那些曾獻 祭與神立約的（5 節）諄諄勸戒他們，並提醒他們萬物均屬於神 （9-13 節），應以感恩為祭獻與神，向神還愿（14，23 節），並要 在患難中求告神（利 7：12-16）。舊約的獻祭更是預表主耶穌基督 的救贖大工，“何況基督藉著永遠的靈，將自己無瑕無疵獻給神， 祂的血豈不是更能洗净你們的心，使你們侍奉那永生神嗎？”（來 9：14，28，10：1-29）。
聖經多次提醒以色列人“聽命勝於獻祭”，責備他們嘴裏親近祂，心 卻遠離祂，把神的話語置諸腦後，並不在生活中遵行。愿 16-23 節 神斥責祂子民行事爲人與信仰不相稱的話語同樣光照我們，省察我 們自己恨惡管教、假冒偽善的惡行。比如敬拜中的不專心，遲到早 退，看手機，打瞌睡等等，ZOOM 聚會中的閉屏“一心多用”等等都 是神所不喜悅的。如過去的周六 8 點鐘晨禱會 33 個窗口參加者， 9：10am 分組時只有 16 個窗口，一半人早退了（只有 2 位肢體提 前告假），當然還是要為遲到早退的弟兄姐妹感恩，因爲來參加晨 禱會比不來好。求主幫助你我及時認罪悔改，祂所愛的祂必管教， 求主幫助，不要讓聖靈為我們擔憂（來 4：16）。
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诗篇 第51篇
51 篇應該是基督徒繼詩篇 23 篇之後次熟悉的詩篇，屬七首“悔罪詩 （懺悔詩）”，是最感人的一首求告詩。且本詩也是對 50 篇神的責 備很好的回應（有關獻祭 16 節與 50：8-15）。詩人以誨罪禱告開 始（1-2 節），然後是認罪（3-5），懇求潔净和復興（6-12），感恩 與誓愿（13-17），最後為全耶路撒冷祈求，因爲王的禍福和神的聖 城（錫安）不可分（詩 2：6，創 18：22-33）。憂傷痛悔的心主必 不輕看是本篇的中心經節。
詩篇中詩人刻骨銘心的深度的認罪悔改讓人震撼，我們感同身受 嗎，請對比你我平日在禱告中的認罪悔改的深度。悔改是從上帝的 靈而來的恩典，叫罪人内心謙卑、降服，並帶來外在的改變。悔改 是一貼屬靈的藥房，它含有六種特別的成份：一知罪，二為罪憂 傷，三認罪，四以罪為恥，五恨罪，六離罪。缺了任何一項，都失 去了它的價值。（書籍《悔改真義》第 22 頁）。我們通常認罪大概 就是先自我辯護，然後停在第三層面就結束了，這是今天教會信徒 無法成⾧⾧大的最重要的原因，因爲失去了認罪悔改的價值。恩主，我當如何行？
而詩人用“塗抹-過犯”、“洗除-罪孽”、和“潔除-罪”來表達他渴望罪 孽得蒙赦免。“過犯”是對律例的破壞，“罪孽”是指故意偏離正道 （如殺夫奪妻），“罪”是選擇錯誤，習以爲常。三個字在含義上或許 有些不同，詩人用他們無非强調他的罪孽深重。至於大衛認罪“唯 獨得罪了神”是要強調自己在神面前的責任，他違法了 神在律法中 所表明的本性，及時承認 神審判他的罪是公正的（4 節），這是認 識真理的起頭，也是神以恩典慈愛領人悔改的開端（羅 2：4）。從 神給詩人的審判中我們更能體會大衛他美好的生命見證，餘生靠主 恩默默承擔這次犯罪的後果：1. 刀劍必永不離開他的家。2.別人在 日光之下與他的妃嬪們同寢。3. 與烏利亞的妻所得的第一個孩子必 定要死。（撒下 12：10-14，彼前 3：20）這些悲劇後果在大衛的一 生中都兌現了，且記載在聖經中。但聖經稱大衛是討神喜悅的人， 感謝神祂無限的憐憫和恩典，祂沒有照著我們的過犯待我們（詩篇 116：12-13），求主幫助我們驚醒罪的後果，時時敬畏神。
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诗篇 第52篇
52 篇。從 52 篇至 55 篇這四篇詩，都是《大衛的訓誨詩交與伶 ⾧》可以說每篇詩中都有很深的屬靈教訓，需要在聖殿頌唱。
52 篇的背景是撒上 22：6-23，是大衛王在危難時寫的。論述惡人心 中狂妄，義人心中依靠神。
這裏的勇士是指迫害大衛的敵人，也指敵對神的惡人（創 10： 9），也有解經家認爲這裏的“勇士“因爲愛惡，愛說謊。可能是指著 敵基督說的。他的結局是被神毀滅直到永遠（5 節）。詭詐的舌頭 好像剃頭刀，十分快利，比喻口舌的破壞力量，是他們作惡的武 器。還有豐富的錢財，7 節在“邪惡上堅立自己”可以理解為“以自己 的虛榮為保障”，也只能帶來毀滅。
很多時候基督徒也落在口舌犯罪中，實在求主憐憫赦免我們的罪 （耶 17：9），信徒當如何管理使用我們的錢財和時間，反省十一 奉獻的操練和十分之九的財產還是神的，你有將主權交托任憑主使 用你的錢財嗎？詩人將自己與那惡人作個反比。他不是從活人之地 被拔出來，乃是一年四季時常青翠的，橄欖樹是不落葉的，這就是 豐盛生命的表現（詩 1：3，耶 17：7-8）。
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诗篇 第53篇
53 篇與 14 篇差不多完全相同，除了第 5 節，還有就是 14 篇在 2， 4，6，7 節稱神為耶和華，在 53 篇中完全用神。“耶和華”是以色列 人所用 神的稱呼，意思乃慈愛信實的 神，表示他們本國本民的 神。神在希伯來文中是“Elohim –伊羅欣”，可表示祂是萬國萬民的 神，公義審判的 神。從此可以推想本篇是 神的靈在以色列被擄的 時候向他們第二次啓示的。有聖經學者認爲當以色列在外邦人中的 時候，就多用神，少用“耶和華” 因爲要向外邦見證他們所拜的神是 萬國的神。詩篇卷一（1-42 篇）中，一共有 172 次用耶和華。但 是卷二只有 26 次，藉此也看到神啓示的漸進性，救恩要臨到萬 邦。“麻哈拉”指一種曲調，原文有“受苦”或“生病”之意。本篇可稱爲 嘆息的哀歌，嘆息人類不認識神的惡疾。
聖靈既然將這篇二次放在聖經裏，祂是要人知道這些話是重要 的 。保羅在羅馬書 1：10-12 引用這這篇詩篇的話。在今日無神主 義盛行的時候，本篇經文尤爲顯得重要。“愚頑人”在希伯來文中就 是和撒母耳上 25 章“拿八”同一個字。拿八所作所行正是這篇所提 的愚頑人。愚頑人就是屬世界的人、是邪惡、不認識不敬畏神、被 神棄絕的人。人最大的愚頑就是否認至高者的存在（賽 32：6）， 輕看主的管教。“敬畏主就是智慧，遠離惡便是聰明”（伯 28： 28）。詩人在敵對神的艱難處境中認定神必救回祂的子民，全民會 歡喜快樂（6 節），舊約時期神的子民在信心中仰望耶穌--那將要 來的彌賽亞。而我們新約的神子民因著耶穌基督救贖大工和神的啓 示已經完成，信耶穌得永生，活在永生的盼望中。求聖靈幫助我們 省察自己日常愚頑的種種罪孽。
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诗篇 第54篇
54 篇是一篇很短但極其有力量的個人求告詩，是大衛從本身經歷 中所寫的（撒上 23：4-5，19-24，26：1-4），二次提到神的名。 詩人受到敵人的追逼，很可能又受人誣陷，故要求神為他伸冤（1 節），他以神的大能和神的名向神呼求，心中得安慰，有平安，信 靠神必垂聼他的禱告，搭救他。神各樣的名都是表明祂的神性和權 柄（腓 2：5-10），靠著主的聖名我們就能像詩人一樣在一切的困 苦患難中經歷神的同在和眷顧。愿詩人的禱告也成爲我們每位神兒 女信靠神的禱告，操練常以禱告文和文字的靈修分享向主獻上大大 的感恩頌讚，見證傳揚主榮耀的名。
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