16 For dogs have surrounded me; a band of evildoers has encompassed me; they pierced my hands and my feet. 17 I can count all my bones. They look, they stare at me; 18 They divide my garments among them, and for my clothing they cast lots. 19 But You, O Lord, be not far off; O You my help, hasten to my assistance. 20 Deliver my soul from the sword, my only life from the power of the dog. 21 Save me from the lion’s mouth; from the horns of the wild oxen You answer me. 22 I will tell of Your name to my brethren; in the midst of the assembly I will praise You. 23 You who fear the Lord, praise Him; All you descendants of Jacob, glorify Him, and stand in awe of Him, all you descendants of Israel. 24 For He has not despised nor abhorred the affliction of the afflicted; nor has He hidden His face from him; But when he cried to Him for help, He heard. 25 From You comes my praise in the great assembly; I shall pay my vows before those who fear Him. 26 The afflicted will eat and be satisfied; Those who seek Him will praise the Lord. Let your heart live forever! 27 All the ends of the earth will remember and turn to the Lord, And all the families of the nations will worship before You.
28 For the kingdom is the Lord’s and He rules over the nations. 29 All the prosperous of the earth will eat and worship, all those who go down to the dust will bow before Him, Even he who cannot keep his soul alive. 30 Posterity will serve Him; It will be told of the Lord to the coming generation. 31 They will come and will declare His righteousness to a people who will be born, that He has performed it.
Message: The Messiah Restored
Time: The psalms were written by many different people across a period of a thousand years in Israel's history. They are thought to have been compiled and put together in their present form by some unknown editor shortly after the captivity ended about 537 B.C.
What the Lord is Saying:
Initial Observations
In my first reading of the first 15 verses, I have remarked the following: The Psalmist is not only feeling hurt, but sort of abandoned by God. He mentions that God is faithful and he knows this because of those that have come before him assure him of this; he also knows this because he was born into love; but he still hurts and he still feels pain. And being a man of faith often brings him ridicule from others as they mock his faith and trust in God.
We come to God open and honestly. In this passage, I feel alone. God is Holy. God has delivered people in the past. I feel like a worm. But I know God sees value in me. God, be not far from me.
I am surrounded by death
Verse 16 is a continuation in thought from verse 11. At this point in this passage, the Psalmist is feeling surrounded by outside sources. And these words continue through verse 18. In reading these verses it does seems to point clearly to the cross that Jesus was on later: 16 For dogs have surrounded me; a band of evildoers has encompassed me; they pierced my hands and my feet. 17 I can count all my bones. They look, they stare at me; 18 They divide my garments among them, and for my clothing they cast lots. It was a horrific scene; the dogs are waiting for a corpse to occur so they can eat the remains; evildoers are rejoicing in the prize they have brought down; his hands are pierced and his feet. He can even count his own bones because he has had so little and he his whole body is trying to just keep himself alive. He has no use to his clothing anymore so they are taking all that is his.
Response: Call on God to intervene
Again, as had been said previously, despite the condition of the Psalmist or the Savior, in this time of need, our response is to turn to God. 19 But You, O Lord, be not far off; O You my help, hasten to my assistance. 20 Deliver my soul from the sword, my only life from the power of the dog. 21 Save me from the lion’s mouth; from the horns of the wild oxen You answer me. Basically, the Lord is near. We are not abandoned by God. Lord, do not be far from you. God, you are my help in my time of need so come to my assistance. Deliver me from that which chooses to take my life and take me away from the dogs that encircle me and from the lion's mouth. You answer me God. He pleads to God; he begs not to man during this time but he begs to God.
When I am in a time of great need, I need to call on God to intervene, not man. I tend to think that the people that will rescue me will be my fellow men/women. I think of that guy in Africa that was asking me for money because in his eyes, if he is going to get money, he is going to get it from a man. Sure, it makes sense, but for him to make it, God is going to have to intervene in someone's life. So, his focus should not be on man, but on God. He should be pleading with God. This is our focus as a Christian. Our confidence and our hope is always in God, not on man. God is the one that changes lives. So take our concerns before Him. I think that is the meaning of Philippians 4:6-7 reminding us to not worry, but pray about everything.
Testify of the Lord's work in my life
The rest of the verses in this chapter, 22-31, is the Psalmist testifying of the Lord before people, before everyone. Is God really on my lips? Is He someone that I give credit to regarding life?
22 I will tell of Your name to my brethren; in the midst of the assembly I will praise You. I will speak your name to my brothers; I will praise you in the assembly. It's not, "Look what I have done" but instead "look what He has done."
23 You who fear the Lord, praise Him; All you descendants of Jacob, glorify Him, and stand in awe of Him, all you descendants of Israel. 24 For He has not despised nor abhorred the affliction of the afflicted; nor has He hidden His face from him; But when he cried to Him for help, He heard. God does not let us down. God hears. Keep reminding people of this.
25 From You comes my praise in the great assembly; I shall pay my vows before those who fear Him. 26 The afflicted will eat and be satisfied; Those who seek Him will praise the Lord. Let your heart live forever! 27 All the ends of the earth will remember and turn to the Lord, And all the families of the nations will worship before You. 28 For the kingdom is the Lord’s and He rules over the nations. 29 All the prosperous of the earth will eat and worship, all those who go down to the dust will bow before Him, Even he who cannot keep his soul alive. 30 Posterity will serve Him; It will be told of the Lord to the coming generation. 31 They will come and will declare His righteousness to a people who will be born, that He has performed it.
Promise: In those moments when all seems against us, in those times, I am to call on God to intervene and testify of His greatness.
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