The
Apple of His Eye ... commentary of Psalm 74
The Apple of His Eye
… A commentary of Psalm
74
Psalm 74:1-23
“Maschil of Asaph. O
God, why hast thou cast us off for ever?
why doth thine anger smoke against the sheep of
thy pasture?
Remember thy
congregation, which thou hast purchased of
old; the rod of thine inheritance, which thou
hast redeemed; this mount Zion, wherein thou hast
dwelt.
Lift up thy feet unto
the perpetual desolations; even all that
the enemy hath done wickedly in the sanctuary.
Thine enemies roar in
the midst of thy congregations; they set up their
ensigns for signs.
A man
was famous according as he had lifted up axes upon
the thick trees.
But now they break
down the carved work thereof at once with axes and
hammers.
They have cast fire
into thy sanctuary, they have defiled by casting
down the dwelling place of thy name to the
ground.
They said in their
hearts, Let us destroy them together: they have
burned up all the synagogues of God in the land.
We see not our signs:
there is no more any prophet: neither is
there among us any that knoweth how long.
O God, how long shall
the adversary reproach? shall the enemy blaspheme
thy name for ever?
Why withdrawest thou
thy hand, even thy right hand? pluck it out
of thy bosom.
For God is my
King of old, working salvation in the midst of the
earth.
Thou didst divide the
sea by thy strength: thou brakest the heads of the
dragons in the waters.
Thou brakest the heads
of leviathan in pieces, and gavest him to
be meat to the people inhabiting the wilderness.
Thou didst cleave the
fountain and the flood: thou driedst up mighty
rivers.
The day is
thine, the night also is thine: thou hast
prepared the light and the sun.
Thou hast set all the
borders of the earth: thou hast made summer and
winter.
Remember this, that
the enemy hath reproached, O LORD, and that
the foolish people have blasphemed thy name.
O deliver not the soul
of thy turtledove unto the multitude of the
wicked: forget not the congregation of thy poor
for ever.
Have respect unto the
covenant: for the dark places of the earth are full
of the habitations of cruelty.
O let not the
oppressed return ashamed: let the poor and needy
praise thy name.
Arise, O God, plead
thine own cause: remember how the foolish man
reproacheth thee daily.
Forget not the voice
of thine enemies: the tumult of those that rise up
against thee increaseth continually.”
“Now all these things
happened unto them for ensamples: and they are
written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of
the world are come.” [1 Corinthians
10:11]
In the year A.D. 1973, in
the fall of that year, while sitting at a desk all
by myself on the 08 level, far above the flight deck
of the U.S.S. Enterprise, I bowed my head,
and I believed on the Lord Jesus Christ.
I asked Jesus Christ to save me.
Romans 10:13: “For
whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall
be saved.”
I jumped up from the
desk in that room! I knew I needed to find
George. All of a sudden I realized where he
was. Down the ladders [or stairs for
you land folk] I went to the hanger bay.
George Williamson was standing an industrial brow
watch that night. He was in his dress blues on
the brow inside the shack.
I felt like I was
floating in joy as I walked up to him. I had a
burning in my heart to ask George just one
question. When he saw me, he had the look on
his face of understanding. He knew something
happened to me.
I asked George this.
“I just received Jesus Christ as my Lord and
Savior. How can I know for sure?”
I will forever remember the gleam in eyes, while he
was reaching for his pocket New Testament and
opening in excitement to 1 John 5:11-13. He
said, "Rick: read this out loud.”
After reading those
verses, George said; “These are written that you
may know! Rick, it is God's Own RECORD.
He states it! Just believe it!”
That was it! that is how
I got saved! I have never, never
doubted what God has done concerning my salvation!
I am sealed by His Holy Spirit. I am
born again! A sinner saved by
grace! Amen! Amen! Amen!
The Record
It’s all about a
record!
Now,
did God leave a record for us?
1 John 5:7: “For
there are three that bear record in heaven, the
Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost: and these
three are one.”
1 John 5:10-13: “He
that believeth on the Son of God hath the witness in
himself: he that believeth not God hath made him a
liar; because he believeth not the record that God
gave of his Son.
And this is the
record, that God hath given to us eternal life, and
this life is in his Son.
He that hath the Son
hath life; and he that hath not the Son of
God hath not life.
These things have I
written unto you that believe on the name of the Son
of God; that ye may know that ye have eternal life,
and that ye may believe on the name of the Son of
God.”
This is the record
left unto us. They are the same things
which God has revealed to us, and these things
also, belong to us. [See Deuteronomy 29:29]
Our Assumption:
It is assumed that the
reader of this commentary believes God
record, and that God has put HIS record into
a BOOK!
This BOOK today
[in the English language] is the Authorized Version
of 1611, or any of its editions (1613, 1644,
1676, 1680, 1701, or 1769), and is God's pure word,
preserved for us who are alive today on
this earth.
Preface: The Top Step:
[The Top Step is taken from the message: the Moral Gravitation of Music [2015].
The book of Psalms is where a person can
turn to in the time of their trouble and get help
from God.
There are one hundred and fifty psalms in
the Bible and these psalms are music for the soul of
man.
Now, in the last psalm, and in the last
verse of this psalm, we have the purpose given by
God for all men: MEN ARE TO PRAISE GOD!
“Let every thing that hath breath praise
the LORD. Praise ye the LORD.”
[Psalm 150:6]
This is the TOP STEP for Man. Praise ye
the LORD!
Now, at this top step, we have the God of
the Bible commanding the believers in Jesus Christ
to speak to ourselves “in psalms and
hymns and spiritual songs”.
“Speaking to
yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs,
singing and making melody in your heart to the
Lord;” [Ephesians 5:19]
The King James Bible of
1611 is a self-defining BOOK. The
Law of the First Mention of a word provides
us the means to determine the meaning of
the word.
The means is
determined by the context of the passage. The
context determines the meaning of the first
instance of a word [or its variants] in
the BIBLE.
The words “song”, “sang”, and “sing” first
show up in the book of Exodus, chapter fifteen,
verses one and two: “Then sang Moses and the
children of Israel this song unto the Lord, and
spake, saying, I will sing unto the Lord, for he
hath triumphed gloriously: the horse and his rider
hath he thrown into the sea. The Lord is my
strength and song, and he is become my salvation: he
is my God, and I will prepare him an habitation; my
father's God, and I will exalt him.” [Exodus
15:1-2]
The context of
this passage of Scripture where these words are first found
is where the people of Israel [man] are rendering thanks and praise for
their salvation to God, with uplifted voices. Israel
uttered with musical modulations of the voice, in
unison, a poem or ballad to the GOD of Heaven
to extol His greatness.
Therefore, this was the first
recorded song sung by man upward to
God on planet Earth. It was from man to God, and
not for man himself [mankind].
Therefore, the first song
was spiritual and not for the benefit of the
self [or the flesh].
It was the modulation of
the people’s voices to the worship of God.
The word: song appears
74 times in the King James Bible.
The word: sing appears
102 times in the King James Bible.
The word: sang appears
12 times in the King James Bible.
It will behoove us
to see the importance of these words: sing, sang,
song.
The “hymns” are songs in praise of
God. To sing a hymn is to sing to
God.
A Psalm is a hymn, and
in the singular the word appears 156 times, while
the plural form: Psalms appears nine
times in the King James Bible.
Consider the psalms!
Can ever a man or a
woman or a child aim any higher?
Then shoot for it!
Psalm 150:5: “Praise
him upon the loud cymbals: praise him upon the high
sounding cymbals.”
Psalm 33:2: “Praise
the Lord with harp: sing unto him with the psaltery
and an instrument of ten strings.”
Psalm 92:3: “Upon an
instrument of ten strings, and upon the psaltery;
upon the harp with a solemn sound.”
Psalm 144:9: “I will
sing a new song unto thee, O God: upon a psaltery
and an instrument of ten strings will I sing praises
unto thee.”
Psalm 95:2: “Let us
come before his presence with thanksgiving, and make
a joyful noise unto him with psalms.”
Psalm 105:2: “Sing
unto him, sing psalms unto him: talk ye of all his
wondrous works.”
Psalm 105:3: “Glory ye
in his holy name: let the heart of them rejoice that
seek the Lord.”
Now, the psalm of thankfulness rendered
to God brings praise to God.
“Then on that day
David delivered first this psalm to thank the Lord
into the hand of Asaph and his brethren.” [1
Chronicles 16:7]
God is sick of
the songs of those who say they are
for praise to God. Amos 5:23: “Take thou away
from me the noise of thy songs; for I will not hear
the melody of thy viols.”
Now a top-step song, hymn, or psalm always
has as its goal to extol the greatness, the power,
the glory, the victory, and the majesty of
God. [1 Chronicles 29:10-13]
We are ready to proceed
into this commentary of Psalm 74.