I hope your Christmas felt blessed and special. For non-believers, Christmas is just a time to spend with family and give gifts to each other. As Christians, though, Christmas is so much more. Christmas IS all about Jesus. It's the hope we have in our Redeemer for when he returns. It's the promise that we've been saved for eternity. It's the ability to really know God, in a personal way. Christmas is Christ's mass, the remembrance and commemoration of the day that God came to Earth as man. Celebrating Christmas is so much more than presents and family. We are so blessed.
Have a lovely weekend,
Lili
Psalm 109
1For the choir director: A psalm of David. O God, whom I praise, don't stand silent and aloof2while the wicked slander me and tell lies about me.3They are all around me with their hateful words, and they fight against me for no reason.4I love them, but they try to destroy me -- even as I am praying for them!5They return evil for good, and hatred for my love.6Arrange for an evil person to turn on him. Send an accuser to bring him to trial.7When his case is called for judgment, let him be pronounced guilty. Count his prayers as sins.8Let his years be few; let his position be given to someone else.9May his children become fatherless, and may his wife become a widow.10May his children wander as beggars; may they be evicted from their ruined homes.11May creditors seize his entire estate, and strangers take all he has earned.12Let no one be kind to him; let no one pity his fatherless children.13May all his offspring die. May his family name be blotted out in a single generation.14May the LORD never forget the sins of his ancestors; may his mother's sins never be erased from the record.15May these sins always remain before the LORD, but may his name be cut off from human memory.16For he refused all kindness to others; he persecuted the poor and needy, and he hounded the brokenhearted to death.17He loved to curse others; now you curse him. He never blessed others; now don't you bless him.18Cursing is as much a part of him as his clothing, or as the water he drinks, or the rich food he eats.19Now may his curses return and cling to him like clothing; may they be tied around him like a belt.20May those curses become the LORD's punishment for my accusers who are plotting against my life.21But deal well with me, O Sovereign LORD, for the sake of your own reputation! Rescue me because you are so faithful and good.22For I am poor and needy, and my heart is full of pain.23I am fading like a shadow at dusk; I am falling like a grasshopper that is brushed aside.24My knees are weak from fasting, and I am skin and bones.25I am an object of mockery to people everywhere; when they see me, they shake their heads.26Help me, O LORD my God! Save me because of your unfailing love.27Let them see that this is your doing, that you yourself have done it, LORD.28Then let them curse me if they like, but you will bless me! When they attack me, they will be disgraced! But I, your servant, will go right on rejoicing!29Make their humiliation obvious to all; clothe my accusers with disgrace.30But I will give repeated thanks to the LORD, praising him to everyone.31For he stands beside the needy, ready to save them from those who condemn them.
(the following is from Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary -- www.christnotes.org)
"Chapter Contents
David complains of his enemies. (1-5) He prophesies their destruction. (6-20) Prayers and praises. (21-31)
Commentary on Psalm 109:1-5
It is the unspeakable comfort of all believers, that whoever is against them, God is for them; and to him they may apply as to one pleased to concern himself for them. David's enemies laughed at him for his devotion, but they could not laugh him out of it.
Commentary on Psalm 109:6-20
The Lord Jesus may speak here as a Judge, denouncing sentence on some of his enemies, to warn others. When men reject the salvation of Christ, even their prayers are numbered among their sins. See what hurries some to shameful deaths, and brings the families and estates of others to ruin; makes them and theirs despicable and hateful, and brings poverty, shame, and misery upon their posterity: it is sin, that mischievous, destructive thing. And what will be the effect of the sentence, "Go, ye cursed," upon the bodies and souls of the wicked! How it will affect the senses of the body, and the powers of the soul, with pain, anguish, horror, and despair! Think on these things, sinners, tremble and repent.
Commentary on Psalm 109:21-31
The psalmist takes God's comforts to himself, but in a very humble manner. He was troubled in mind. His body was wasted, and almost worn away. But it is better to have leanness in the body, while the soul prospers and is in health, than to have leanness in the soul, while the body is feasted. He was ridiculed and reproached by his enemies. But if God bless us, we need not care who curses us; for how can they curse whom God has not cursed; nay, whom he has blessed? He pleads God's glory, and the honour of his name. Save me, not according to my merit, for I pretend to none, but according to thy-mercy. He concludes with the joy of faith, in assurance that his present conflicts would end in triumphs. Let all that suffer according to the will of God, commit the keeping of their souls to him. Jesus, unjustly put to death, and now risen again, is an Advocate and Intercessor for his people, ever ready to appear on their behalf against a corrupt world, and the great accuser."
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