Adonai Li (pt 1)
As I have said several times, I love reading the Psalms, which is something I beat most of you will agree. But there is a Psalm that has been an encouragement for me for many years. I’m referring to Psalm 118. This is indeed an amazing Psalm. In Hebrew it is called, “Adonai Li,” or, “The Lord Is For Me.”
We do not know who actually wrote this Psalm, but most scholars believe it was written after the first Exile. Martin Luther stated that it was his favorite Psalm. He wrote, “This psalm has been of special service to me. It has helped me out of many great troubles, when neither emperor nor kings nor wise men nor saints could help.”
There are some neat tidbits regarding this Psalm that may interest you. This Psalm is actually the very middle chapter of the entire Bible! Cool, huh? Not only that, before you get to Psalm 118, you passed 594 chapters, and after this Psalm, you have 594 chapters, before you reach the end of the Bible.
Now, if you were to add up all of those chapters (without Psalm 118), you come with a total of 1188 chapters. Okay, lets take that number (1188), and go into Psalm 118, and the 8th verse. Call it coincidence if you want, but Psalm 118:8 (1188) is actually, the middle verse of the entire Bible! Don’t stop there, what does Psalm 118:8 read, “It is better to depend on Yahweh than to trust in man.” Ooh, isn’t that interesting? Now call me silly, but don’t you think that the central verse of the entire should have such an important message?
So for the next few days, we are going to look some more at this Psalm:
Now read those verses again. Did you notice something there? The first verse is encouraging everyone to give thanks; then in the second verse, he encourages the people of God, to give their praise; the third verse tells the priests to proclaim their gratitude to His faithfulness; and finally, in the fourth verse, he narrows it down to anyone who “fears the Lord.” That’s getting personal. My personal belief is that the best praise in all of Creation is when it is flows freely from the heart of someone who identifies themselves with Yahweh, who is willing to lay down their lives, if need be, to honor their God.
We need to recognize and acknowledge our Father’s mercy and grace; to be continually mindful of His presence and His love. Often you find that when something special happens, People will attribute that blessing to circumstances or coincidences. However, the psalmist reminds us to realize that their God is the source of mercy and goodness. So, we have an obligation to express the gratitude in our hearts in joyful praise to God.
Just remember that when you are in some kind of crisis, prayer is the road that will lead you out. Whenever the psalmist was in any kind of trouble, he called on the Lord — and what happened? He was rescued! If you are not going to spend time in prayer, you will remain a prisoner of your vices and the wiles of your enemy. We simply cannot depend on our own resources when we are in distress. Nor can we depend on others. Often they are unwilling or unable to help. However, we can turn to the Lord who is always ready to help and has the resources and strength that will never be exhausted!
the thing that is intriguing is he must be filled with a tremendous amount of courage. He had to be! If not, how could he stand in the face of those “times of trouble?” What also seems evident is that the Lord is the source of that courage. He must be because there is no way his courage could spring from self-reliance, but from his trust in the Lord. The psalmist was fearless not because of any great strength in himself, but because he trusted the Lord. His courage allowed him to be confident in the face of opposition.
So where is your confidence? Do you really believe the Lord can rescue you? I hope so, because all of your other options will fail. Go ahead, and call to Him, and watch what he does.
I’m going to continue this study later . . .
Nickolas
We do not know who actually wrote this Psalm, but most scholars believe it was written after the first Exile. Martin Luther stated that it was his favorite Psalm. He wrote, “This psalm has been of special service to me. It has helped me out of many great troubles, when neither emperor nor kings nor wise men nor saints could help.”
There are some neat tidbits regarding this Psalm that may interest you. This Psalm is actually the very middle chapter of the entire Bible! Cool, huh? Not only that, before you get to Psalm 118, you passed 594 chapters, and after this Psalm, you have 594 chapters, before you reach the end of the Bible.
Now, if you were to add up all of those chapters (without Psalm 118), you come with a total of 1188 chapters. Okay, lets take that number (1188), and go into Psalm 118, and the 8th verse. Call it coincidence if you want, but Psalm 118:8 (1188) is actually, the middle verse of the entire Bible! Don’t stop there, what does Psalm 118:8 read, “It is better to depend on Yahweh than to trust in man.” Ooh, isn’t that interesting? Now call me silly, but don’t you think that the central verse of the entire should have such an important message?
So for the next few days, we are going to look some more at this Psalm:
These verses are talking about the everlasting nature of our God’s mercy. Four times the psalmist repeats the phrase, “His mercy endures forever.” I don’t know about you, but I think it is pretty good to know that our God’s mercy endures forever! I mean, the way we live? We better hope His mercy endures forever!1 Give thanks to Yahweh because he is good,
because his mercy endures forever.
2 Israel should say,
“His mercy endures forever.”
3 The descendants of Aaron should say,
“His mercy endures forever.”
4 Those who fear Yahweh should say,
“His mercy endures forever.”
Now read those verses again. Did you notice something there? The first verse is encouraging everyone to give thanks; then in the second verse, he encourages the people of God, to give their praise; the third verse tells the priests to proclaim their gratitude to His faithfulness; and finally, in the fourth verse, he narrows it down to anyone who “fears the Lord.” That’s getting personal. My personal belief is that the best praise in all of Creation is when it is flows freely from the heart of someone who identifies themselves with Yahweh, who is willing to lay down their lives, if need be, to honor their God.
We need to recognize and acknowledge our Father’s mercy and grace; to be continually mindful of His presence and His love. Often you find that when something special happens, People will attribute that blessing to circumstances or coincidences. However, the psalmist reminds us to realize that their God is the source of mercy and goodness. So, we have an obligation to express the gratitude in our hearts in joyful praise to God.
Look at that, whenever the psalmist found himself in “times of trouble” (which is something we can all relate to), he called on the Lord who answered and set him “free from all of them.” Cool! However, this deliverance also led the psalmist to some irrefutable conclusions. First, we don’t have to be afraid if “Yahweh is on our side.” Second, it is better to trust in the Lord than in any man, or philosophy, or church tradition, or government program. All of those things fail, but our God never fails. Spurgeon wrote, “The mightiest man is a puny thing when he stands in opposition to God, yea, he shrinks into utter nothingness.”5 During times of trouble I called on Yah.
Yah answered me and set me free from all of them.
6 Yahweh is on my side.
I am not afraid.
What can mortals do to me?
7 Yahweh is on my side as my helper.
I will see the defeat of those who hate me.
8 It is better to depend on Yahweh
than to trust mortals.
9 It is better to depend on Yahweh
than to trust influential people.
Just remember that when you are in some kind of crisis, prayer is the road that will lead you out. Whenever the psalmist was in any kind of trouble, he called on the Lord — and what happened? He was rescued! If you are not going to spend time in prayer, you will remain a prisoner of your vices and the wiles of your enemy. We simply cannot depend on our own resources when we are in distress. Nor can we depend on others. Often they are unwilling or unable to help. However, we can turn to the Lord who is always ready to help and has the resources and strength that will never be exhausted!
the thing that is intriguing is he must be filled with a tremendous amount of courage. He had to be! If not, how could he stand in the face of those “times of trouble?” What also seems evident is that the Lord is the source of that courage. He must be because there is no way his courage could spring from self-reliance, but from his trust in the Lord. The psalmist was fearless not because of any great strength in himself, but because he trusted the Lord. His courage allowed him to be confident in the face of opposition.
So where is your confidence? Do you really believe the Lord can rescue you? I hope so, because all of your other options will fail. Go ahead, and call to Him, and watch what he does.
I’m going to continue this study later . . .
Nickolas
(I send out messages like this each morning in emails, and if you are interested in receiving them, send me your email address and I will add you to the list)
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Just remember that it is through your faithful and continued support
that make these messages and other aspects of ministry possible.
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