Psalm 123 God Gives Assurance To His People

Daily Bible Study for Monday December 19, 2016

By: Hanny Lynn Stearns

Fish N Loaves Ministries, Inc.

“Multiplying God’s Word Around the Globe”

Chapter Reading for Today: Please read in your Bible before proceeding. Note that most translations are considered paraphrases. The Young’s Literal Translation provides a more accurate translation since he is the one who authored a concordance. Others are helpful for seeing a different perspective, but we cannot always depend on their wording. I trust this is helpful to you. If you are studying in another version, that is fine. I am studying from the KJV.

 ***Please note a change! We will look at everything for our basic study from the King James Version going forward. It is helpful to stay with one solid version as we study so as not to cause confusion. I may add other translations for specific scriptures as the Lord directs. 

One final note: I will put the scripture in italics to differentiate from my own writing. I am adding red to the letters when it is Jesus talking – just like the Bible. Thank you.

Bible Gateway Verse of the Day

Luke 1:76-78

And thou, child, shalt be called the prophet of the Highest: for thou shalt go before the face of the Lord to prepare his ways; To give knowledge of salvation unto his people by the remission of their sins, Through the tender mercy of our God; whereby the dayspring from on high hath visited us,

Psalm 123

God Gives Assurance to His People

I wondered as I just read this chapter how we could ever read the words in the Bible like this in just a few minutes and really get anything out of it. As I asked the Lord that question, He was quick to reply in my spirit, “You can’t.” One little chapter can be turned a thousand different ways and more by Holy Spirit. We must depend on Him to hear and see what He is trying to show us in His holy word. Today, we will learn how we can look to the Lord in the face of great trials. We will see the great mercy He has on those who fear Him. When the ungodly people around us despise us and try to put us to shame, our God is able to help us and assure us through the trials we will surely face in this life. Let’s pray…

Heavenly Father:

Thank You for the entrance of Your word today to bring us light in a very dark world. Father, without Your word and Your Spirit, we would be like fish out of the water and surely perish for lack of knowledge. We need to feed on Your word every day in order to have success in this short life. Father, I am asking You for the utterance and the anointing to give me the words to speak to Your children. Bring them from all over the world to encourage their hearts Lord. There are many who are weary in the tribulations they are facing and only You can really lift them up assure them. Cause this message to go out unhindered and unchecked by any outside force or my flesh. Open our eyes and ears in the spirit and soften our hearts to receive the good word that You have for us in this. Thank You for always watching over Your word to perform it in our lives when we do what You tell us. Change us, renew us and strengthen us today in this study. Lord, with Your help, we will be doers of Your holy word and not forgetful hearers only. Thank You in advance for the answers and comfort that this lesson will bring. We give You all the glory, honor and praise in Jesus mighty name. Amen.

We will get right into it today. We start out by looking at one who was very proud and arrogant. His name was king Herod. If we look in other translations, the wording used says that it is the self-confident and proud who are out there putting God’s people to shame, scorning them daily. King Herod certainly fell into that category. Let’s look at what happened to Peter at the king’s evil hand…

Acts 12:1-11

12 Now about that time Herod the king stretched forth his hands to vex certain of the church. ² And he killed James the brother of John with the sword. ³ And because he saw it pleased the Jews, he proceeded further to take Peter also. (Then were the days of unleavened bread.)

⁴ And when he had apprehended him, he put him in prison, and delivered him to four quaternions of soldiers to keep him; intending after Easter to bring him forth to the people. ⁵ Peter therefore was kept in prison: but prayer was made without ceasing of the church unto God for him.

⁶ And when Herod would have brought him forth, the same night Peter was sleeping between two soldiers, bound with two chains: and the keepers before the door kept the prison. ⁷ And, behold, the angel of the Lord came upon him, and a light shined in the prison: and he smote Peter on the side, and raised him up, saying, Arise up quickly. And his chains fell off from his hands.

⁸ And the angel said unto him, Gird thyself, and bind on thy sandals. And so he did. And he saith unto him, Cast thy garment about thee, and follow me. ⁹ And he went out, and followed him; and wist not that it was true which was done by the angel; but thought he saw a vision. ¹⁰ When they were past the first and the second ward, they came unto the iron gate that leadeth unto the city; which opened to them of his own accord: and they went out, and passed on through one street; and forthwith the angel departed from him.

¹¹ And when Peter was come to himself, he said, Now I know of a surety, that the Lord hath sent his angel, and hath delivered me out of the hand of Herod, and from all the expectation of the people of the Jews.

At first glance, one might think that Peter was in the wrong place at the wrong time, but nothing could be further from the truth. In God’s kingdom reality, people who love Him will be placed in many situations where things can look downright ugly – ask me how I know! We can be “smack dab” in the center of God’s will and still be facing tremendous persecution and contempt from the ungodly. The word “contempt” means to cause shame, disgrace and to be despised. Yes, we can face quite the challenge when we are doing the work of the Lord. Any Christian who does not understand this is not going to be a fit soldier for the Lord’s army. He needs brave and courageous soldiers to do His work; fully trusting in Him in spite of what the circumstances may look like.

In this study, I believe the Lord wants to give us the encouragement that we need. Sometimes we need it more than at others, but all of us in the body of Christ need assurance from the Lord so we can know that He will protect us from the worst of enemy attacks as long as we walk it out by faith in Him. While Peter got tossed into Herod’s prison, the church on the outside was “supplicating” for him. This reminds us how important it is to pray for those in the body that are facing persecutions far greater than most of us can imagine. We need to go to the Lord and look up to Him just like the chapter shows us today. We must ask Him for His mercy in a given situation. He set it up such that we have to ask. When Peter was inside the prison walls, his faithful co-laborers were on the outside seeking the Lord to have mercy on Peter.

This is a great selection of verses and I give God all the glory for revealing this to us today. It is yet another reminder of how we can rest and fully trust Him no matter how dire the circumstances may look – praise His name forever. Was Peter in there sitting awake and crying or begging God to deliver him? No, he was sleeping. To top it off, he was shackled between two soldiers in what we can imagine to have been anything but a comfortable position. The prison itself had to be smelly and filthy. But what was Peter doing? He was sleeping! This reminds us of Jesus sleeping in the boat when the terrible storm arose causing the disciples to tremble with great fear. When we are really trusting God, it can be plainly seen in our actions – amen.

In no time at all, the Lord came to Peter’s aid. While he was sleeping, God sent forth the angel to wake him and lead him to step outside of those prison walls in a supernatural way. He would be free so quickly that it made him think he was having a dream! Hallelujah! God is so good. The writer in today’s Psalm is crying out for God’s mercy. Peter was a benefactor of His great mercy and the church that was over in another place praying was shocked when they saw him show up at the door alive and doing fine. Glory to God.

Friends, I believe that the Lord chose very specifically the things that He wanted to reveal in the Bible so that anyone who would choose to focus on it would see how loving, merciful and powerful He really is. He knew all along that His people were going to be engaged in trials and tribulations. The Lord is showing us His great mercy by giving us real life examples of how He helped people in the past in supernatural ways. The thing we have to remember is that these are not just stories from the past. 

These are spiritual truths that can be applied to you and me right here, right now in our everyday lives. The supernatural is alive and well in the kingdom of God – it has not been diminished in any way. Just like electricity, the power is always available, but a person has to plug into it in order to experience its benefit. The same is true with the Lord’s mighty power. And how do we tap into that power? Through faith in Him.

Isn’t it great at the end of the verses here in Acts that we see Peter has been set free? He says, “ Now I know of a surety, that the Lord hath sent his angel, and hath delivered me out of the hand of Herod, and from all the expectation of the people of the Jews.” At that point there wouldn’t be a person on the planet who could try to tell Peter that God didn’t exist or help His people. Of course, we know that Peter was a believer before that, but what he had just experienced only served to deepen his faith in the Lord. 

How about you? What has God done for you in the past that has encouraged your heart so much that you felt like you were walking on a mountain top? Friend, when we experience a trial, it would serve us all well to remember the mighty things that the Lord has done for us in the past.

Just today I had an opportunity to break down into a heap of tears over a situation in my life. They tried to come. Yes, I could feel them trying to well up. I started to speak against the fear, the worry and the doubt that was trying to get in me. I slapped it down by faith. I know that in situations like this in the past, God was right there for me. It only took a moment for Him to show up and set me free from the situation. I want to give a testimony right now that even today, already, He has given me a sign that He will provide exactly what I need. Little did my husband know when he walked into my office to announce something that it was the blessed assurance I had needed.

How awesome and merciful He truly is. I had to stay in faith even though the enemy wanted me to give him place by fretting over the circumstances. But I resisted it and replaced those thoughts with the word of God. I spoke it out loud. One verse is all it takes - spoken in faith, to cause the enemy to back off with his ugly suggestions to fear and doubt that our God will come through. It was just a few hours after I encountered the situation that I received a word of assurance that all would be well. Glory to God forever!

Let’s move on. Next, we will look at another situation where one of God’s workers was being placed in a very trying set of circumstances. The Lord knew His apostle would need assurance and He was quick to provide it before he stepped further into the trial. Let’s look…

Acts 18:9-17

⁹ Then spake the Lord to Paul in the night by a vision, Be not afraid, but speak, and hold not thy peace: ¹⁰ For I am with thee, and no man shall set on thee to hurt thee: for I have much people in this city.

¹¹ And he continued there a year and six months, teaching the word of God among them. ¹² And when Gallio was the deputy of Achaia, the Jews made insurrection with one accord against Paul, and brought him to the judgment seat, ¹³ Saying, This fellow persuadeth men to worship God contrary to the law.

¹⁴ And when Paul was now about to open his mouth, Gallio said unto the Jews, If it were a matter of wrong or wicked lewdness, O ye Jews, reason would that I should bear with you: ¹⁵ But if it be a question of words and names, and of your law, look ye to it; for I will be no judge of such matters. ¹⁶ And he drave them from the judgment seat.

¹⁷ Then all the Greeks took Sosthenes, the chief ruler of the synagogue, and beat him before the judgment seat. And Gallio cared for none of those things.

By the time of this encounter with Gallio, Paul had already been bound in chains for quite some time. The great thing we see here in Paul is that he was completely willing to suffer such things for the work of the Lord. He only wanted to preach the gospel, that is all he cared to know. He was totally dependent on his God. Look at this…

2 Corinthians 2:2

For I determined not to know any thing among you, save Jesus Christ, and him crucified.

How single minded are we in our walk with Christ? Are we, like Paul, determined not to know anything of our own intellect except the preaching of the gospel of Jesus Christ? While we are in the world, we never should be “of the world.” Paul was very heavenly minded and never depended on himself. He didn’t know what he would say when facing those leaders. He knew that Lord would give him the words. Look at this…

1 Corinthians 2:4-5

And my speech and my preaching was not with enticing words of man's wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power: ⁵ That your faith should not stand in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God.

Paul was a man of strong faith in God. This is why the Lord has chosen to use him as a great example for us all. He had heard the assuring words of his Master, and onward into the battle he went, not knowing what would be said. He only knew the One who would be doing the talking through him and that was good enough for him. Can that be said of you my friend? When our back is up against the wall and we cannot see any way of escape from a difficult situation, will we really trust God to comfort and assure us? Will we depend on Him to speak to us?

In our hour of trial, need, whatever we are going through, the Lord can and will help – if we will trust Him. If we don’t, we strip Him of the ability to help. He knows when we are depending on ourselves or others to help us. He will let us try to figure it out all day if that’s what we want to do. Remember, the Lord never forces His will or His help on anyone. It is all on a volunteer basis only. In other words, we must make a free will choice to seek His help, guidance and comfort. And once we do, we have to take it a step further by resting in peace until the answer comes. We must wait until He gives us the words to speak. We have to wait until He delivers us from the prison. Faith and patience go hand in hand. We cannot have one without the other.

In the two scenarios above today we can see how the Lord sent help to His children and how He sent assurance. He continues to do this today for anyone who is really walking with Him and trusting Him. So many times we say that we are trusting Him for the benefit of whomever may be listening to us, when all the while we are fretting terribly on the inside. I had the chance to fear today. I could have allowed the worry to get in me. But I made up my mind to resist, refuse and replace it with the word of God. It is called the “three “R”s. Resist, refuse and replace. Whenever trouble or challenges come, if we will practice refusing to give place to the devil and resist him by slashing off his evil heard with the sword in our quiver – the word of God, he will surely leave us alone for the moment…

James 4:7

Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.

What does it mean to really “submit” to God? It means to really trust Him and do things His way. When we do this, the devil will cower and run in the opposite direction. And the next time he comes around roaring like a lion, we have to remember once again that we have the Lion from the tribe of Judah living on the inside of us. We have to remember this also…

Isaiah 54:17

No weapon that is formed against thee shall prosper; and every tongue that shall rise against thee in judgment thou shalt condemn. This is the heritage of the servants of the Lord, and their righteousness is of me, saith the Lord.

Oh hallelujah! If we will believe this stuff saints, we will be victorious when the trials in this life surely come. They will come, again and again. The more we take our stand of authority against the enemy and really place our trust in the Lord, by faith, the devil will just be sorry that he ever messed with us. God will assure us all along the journeys that we will travel in this life. He is the God of all comfort…

2 Corinthians 1:3-11

³ Blessed be God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies, and the God of all comfort;

⁴ Who comforteth us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort them which are in any trouble, by the comfort wherewith we ourselves are comforted of God.

⁵ For as the sufferings of Christ abound in us, so our consolation also aboundeth by Christ. ⁶ And whether we be afflicted, it is for your consolation and salvation, which is effectual in the enduring of the same sufferings which we also suffer: or whether we be comforted, it is for your consolation and salvation.

⁷ And our hope of you is stedfast, knowing, that as ye are partakers of the sufferings, so shall ye be also of the consolation. ⁸ For we would not, brethren, have you ignorant of our trouble which came to us in Asia, that we were pressed out of measure, above strength, insomuch that we despaired even of life: ⁹ But we had the sentence of death in ourselves, that we should not trust in ourselves, but in God which raiseth the dead:

¹⁰ Who delivered us from so great a death, and doth deliver: in whom we trust that he will yet deliver us; ¹¹ Ye also helping together by prayer for us, that for the gift bestowed upon us by the means of many persons thanks may be given by many on our behalf.

In this passage, we see once again how Paul was trusting in the Lord to comfort him when his circumstances were so pressing that they reached the point of despairing even of life. Now that is serious friend! Have you ever felt that way? I know I have – more than once. But just as Christ suffered in the flesh, so we are called to this same type of suffering. Jesus knew the Father would deliver Him and comfort Him. And He did. Paul knew God would comfort and deliver him, and He did. Paul died at the hand of evil men. He went all the way, trusting God while he went, no matter what he was facing. Friends, when we get to the place where we no longer fear death, then and only then are we really ready to live for Jesus.

Our God will always show tender mercy to those who love and trust Him. He will never leave us or fail us in any way. The scriptures are full of promises to this effect if we will just take the time to meditate on them rather than rolling the problem over again and again in our minds. That is what the enemy wants. He wants us to focus on the problem, not the solution – the Lord. Let’s look at another set of verses that say much of the same as what we just looked at…

Romans 8:35-39

³⁵ Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? ³⁶ As it is written, For thy sake we are killed all the day long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter.

³⁷ Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us.

³⁸ For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, ³⁹ Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

How is that for comfort my friend? If we really believe God and take Him at His word, we will receive all the assurance that we need in order to endure the hardships of the Christian life as good soldiers. Today I needed assurance for real. I am being honest. I really needed it. And the Lord came through and so mercifully provided it. But I had to let it go by faith and trust Him. I am not saying that this is an easy thing to do, but it is a doable thing. 

Actually, the more we really do it, the easier it will get. God loves those who are His. There is nothing to the contrary anywhere in the Bible. If we do not believe that He loves us, we make Him out to be a liar. In fact, God loves all people and desires that all would come to the knowledge of the truth. If the Bible – His word says it, we need to believe it.

What are you facing today that needs assurance from the Lord? Will you turn to Him and ask Him to help you? Will you seek His comfort rather than trusting in people or things to help you? If you will make that commitment, God will show up on the scene and show Himself strong on your behalf. I can promise you this because He has promised this to all of us in His word. He is so good. He is so merciful and He will deliver us from the hands of wicked people and monumental circumstances.

There are three main points to consider from today’s study…

We can look to God for mercy when we need it

No matter what we are facing, the Lord is able to deliver us

The Lord is the God of all comfort

Questions:

What did you see in this Psalm today that you had not ever seen before as you studied?

What are you facing right now that requires some assurance from the Lord?

Have you looked to Him to ask Him for your help? If not, why?

What will you do differently as a result of this study?

Who can you share this study with?

Who are you looking to for assurance?

Let’s pray…

Heavenly Father:

Thank You for assuring me when I am facing a battle, a storm or any trying situation in my life. Father, thank You for Your faithfulness. Thank You for Your mercy. Thank You for Your grace. I know that Your promises will never fail. Thank You for loving me so much and always being right here to help me. Forgive me for the times I have trusted in the help of a person or thing. Show me what I need to do with what I am facing right now. Lord, I am depending on Your word and Your spirit to see me through. You are the God of all comfort, all mercy and all grace. Thank You in advance for the changes You will bring in my life as a result of this prayer. I believe I receive them in Jesus name. Amen.

And God Said… You fill in the blanks.

                       

Psalm 136

136 O give thanks unto the Lord; for he is good: for his mercy endureth for ever.

² O give thanks unto the God of gods: for his mercy endureth for ever.

³ O give thanks to the Lord of lords: for his mercy endureth for ever.

⁴ To him who alone doeth great wonders: for his mercy endureth for ever.

⁵ To him that by wisdom made the heavens: for his mercy endureth for ever.

⁶ To him that stretched out the earth above the waters: for his mercy endureth for ever.

⁷ To him that made great lights: for his mercy endureth for ever:

⁸ The sun to rule by day: for his mercy endureth for ever:

⁹ The moon and stars to rule by night: for his mercy endureth for ever.

¹⁰ To him that smote Egypt in their firstborn: for his mercy endureth for ever:

¹¹ And brought out Israel from among them: for his mercy endureth for ever:

¹² With a strong hand, and with a stretched out arm: for his mercy endureth for ever.

¹³ To him which divided the Red sea into parts: for his mercy endureth for ever:

¹⁴ And made Israel to pass through the midst of it: for his mercy endureth for ever:

¹⁵ But overthrew Pharaoh and his host in the Red sea: for his mercy endureth for ever.

¹⁶ To him which led his people through the wilderness: for his mercy endureth for ever.

¹⁷ To him which smote great kings: for his mercy endureth for ever:

¹⁸ And slew famous kings: for his mercy endureth for ever:

¹⁹ Sihon king of the Amorites: for his mercy endureth for ever:

²⁰ And Og the king of Bashan: for his mercy endureth for ever:

²¹ And gave their land for an heritage: for his mercy endureth for ever:

²² Even an heritage unto Israel his servant: for his mercy endureth for ever.

²³ Who remembered us in our low estate: for his mercy endureth for ever:

²⁴ And hath redeemed us from our enemies: for his mercy endureth for ever.

²⁵ Who giveth food to all flesh: for his mercy endureth for ever.

²⁶ O give thanks unto the God of heaven: for his mercy endureth for ever.