Title Psalm 83 (2010.9.4)
Contents
Title: Now is the time to pray
Text: (Psalm 83:1~18)
Hymns: 550. The morning when the glory of Zion shines
Date: September 4, 2010 (Sat) 5 am
Venue: Jeonju Yebut Church Small Worship Room
Enemies surrounded by Jerusalem are now targeting Israel and Judah. Among the enemies, as shown in (verse 6 and below), ten nations are allied to besiege Israel. Even today, Israel is surrounded, threatened, and besieged by 300 million Arab countries around it. This Israel is a nation of suffering. There was never a time when I was comfortable. So, in today's text, Asaph prays and appeals to God, "Judge these enemies."
Asaph is a true patriot of his time. Now Asaph is weeping and worrying as he sees the declining state of the country, pleading with God and pleading in prayer. The text tells us what we are going to do here. What are we going to do today?
If you look at (verses 1 and 2 of the text), God continues to be silent and silent. So, the enemies were talking, raising their heads and attacking them. So I urgently appealed.
Everyone, have you ever prayed urgently? I prayed in urgency, but there was no answer. So I prayed all night, fasted and prayed with tears, but there was no answer. How would you feel then? It's really close to death. When David was being pursued by Saul and the enemies around him were rioting, he prayed urgently, but God was still silent. So they complained, “Lord, how long?”
So (see verses 3-4), Asaph makes this accusation.
“They conspire against the people of the Lord, they conspire against those whom the Lord loves, and they say, 'Let's go, destroy them, and let us not become a nation. Let us never again remember the name of Israel.
In a nutshell, this is what it means when ten nations allied themselves against Israel, trampling them underfoot and eradicating them from the land. Throughout history, there have been several attempts to trample Israel like that. Babylon did. So Babylon attacked Jerusalem whenever it had a chance, captured it, set it on fire, and trampled it. Assyria did the same. So did Rome. Hitler did too. And today, around 300 million Arabs are besieging Jerusalem.
Today is the time to pray with the heart of Asaph. We must pray, “God protect this country and make the spirit of the people of this country upright.” And we need to pray, “Let the leaders of this political land come to their senses and run the country.” If you just pray and it doesn't work, you should pray with tears and if that doesn't work, you should pray with fasting. We must all become the Asaphs of this age today. I must be Asaph first. And everyone should pray with tears of Asaph's heart. At that time, God will hear our prayers and give us answers on this earth.