Psalms 70:3-5 “But I am poor and needy: make haste unto me” – Part 2:

Psa 70:3 Let them be turned back for a reward of their shame that say, Aha, aha.
Psa 70:4 Let all those that seek thee rejoice and be glad in thee: and let such as love thy salvation say continually, Let God be magnified.
Psa 70:5 But I am poor and needy: make haste unto me, O God: thou art my help and my deliverer; O LORD, make no tarrying.

What we are learning about our “poor and needy” condition in this study is that the Lord is the one who has created it and done so, so that we have reason to lean on one another and grow together as a family. Our love and care for one another is how the Lord can “make haste unto me”.

In the second part of our study tonight, we will look at the last three verses of Psalm 70, which concludes as it starts, twice (witness) saying “Make haste,” and if this were not enough, adds: “make no tarrying”.

Last week we talked about some of the positive uses of salt and pointed to the real example of how sodium chloride was the breakthrough chemistry that brought healing to the nation’s water along with the proper sewer systems (which came about by raising the city of Chicago’s buildings with jackscrews so that the infrastructure could be developed for the sewers). Not every building was raised, but many were and enough that the sewage could be expelled from the city. The waters became contaminated at first because, although the sewage was being removed, it was not being treated with chlorine yet. It took massive amounts of chlorine added to the water along with quarries that had to be trenched out so all the dirty water that was being treated had a reservoir to go to.

Raising of Chicago

An interesting parallel to this experience with Chicago, that was eventually the model for all major cities who followed suit until we see what we have today (clean water, for the most part, with treatment plants and proper sewage disposal and treatment), is Israel.

Israel was a model nation in type and shadow just as Chicago was for our modern world, but in very different ways. The cleanliness of our citie’s water has only improved for the most part with better chemistry and filtration plants, but of course no matter how clean we make our cities and how pristine our environment become (i.e. Adam and Eve in the garden), God sees the deceitful and desperately wicked heart that is a whitened sepulchre on the outside but full of dead man’s bones on the inside (Mat 23:27). This contrast is hidden from mankind as we equate cleanliness to be next to godliness (or keeping the law for the lawless next to godliness 1Ti 1:9). We easily lose sight of what it is that God is cleansing and how it is He who has taken away the pure living waters of his word (Isa 3:1) and has been sanctifying only a very few in this age since Pentecost; as opposed to Israel of old who had the infrastructure of the law, giving them the appearance of a whitened sepulchre or favoured nation of the Lord, but we know that the law does not convert or purify anyone, just as the sewer systems were not enough until the added element of chlorine was added. That added element to the life of the elect is the law of Christ which cleanses us of all our transgressions and gives us his holy spirit (Act 2:17, 2Co 1:22).

I’m sure we can think of many analogies and parables in regard to this subject, but I’m hoping to focus on how our prayers and concern and kindness toward one another as the body of Christ is the means by which we are being purified and sanctified.

Here are some verses that we discussed that center around this process of prayer and communion that God has given the elect. We are a sacrifice that needs to be salted with fire (Mar 9:49), or chlorinated if you will, if it is going to be an accepted sacrifice. We are accepted in the Christ, and you are the Christ who therefore plays that incredible role of helping purify the living waters that we have become by the grace and faith of Christ working in His body (Eph 1:6).

Paul asks the question in (1Co 12:17) “is everyone the eye, or the ear”, to which we say “no”, but remember that there is one event (Ecc 9:2) — so I am the ear when I need to be, and I am the eye when I need to be, and I am the kidney purifying the blood when I need to be, but even more importantly when I am not those things, you are those things for me and I for you (1Co 12:12). God has blessed us to believe this singleness that is in Christ (2Co 11:3) and we are witnessed to this over and over by each joint supplying to make increase to the one body of Christ (Eph 4:16). We cannot preclude by what I have just said that there are no distinct functions within the body of Christ, because this is true also as witnessed by these verses (Eph 4:4-12).

God will “make no tarrying” yet we are blessed to tarry and wait in Jerusalem above (Gal 4:26) where we are raised in heavenly places, just like those cities were raised so that the physical water could be purified by properly disposing of waste.

One other point that was very instructive this week about salt was the saline solution that Gale took when we were admitted to ER. It immediately took her fever down (10 minutes roughly) to a normal range, the Lord once again showing me how when others supply what we need through prayer, we directly affect the spiritual wellbeing of our other body parts. Thank you Father, and thank you for those precious members that You have used to supply our need.

These verses comes to mind, of both what Christ and The Christ do for each other:

Luk 22:32 But I have prayed for thee, that thy faith fail not: and when thou art converted, strengthen thy brethren.

Eph 6:12 For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.
Eph 6:13 Wherefore take unto you the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand.
Eph 6:16 Above all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked.

Joh 13:35 By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another.

Our first verse tonight:

Psa 70:3 Let them be turned back for a reward [H6118 end result] of their shame that say, Aha, aha.

Sin is embarrassing, and yet God lets it reside in our members sometimes for a long time until it is brought into the light of day by the mercy of God who uses that sin as a sword (“Aha, aha”) that is destroying our flesh.

Rom 2:4 Or despisest thou the riches of his goodness and forbearance and longsuffering; not knowing that the goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance?

Psa 17:13 Arise, O LORD, disappoint him, cast him down: deliver my soul from the wicked, which is thy sword:

We know more and more intimately that God is seeking an occasion against all flesh, starting with the physical first which is natural and then moving toward the spiritual lessons that those physical events represent in our life (i.e. Israel at war with the nations around them).

1Co 15:46 Howbeit that was not first which is spiritual, but that which is natural; and afterward that which is spiritual.

For God’s elect today, this is the day of the Lord and the day that we judge matters within the body of Christ (the Israel of God of Gal 6:16) and let the dead bury the dead who are operating in the law and are therefore in the natural shadow that points to the reality of Christ (Luk 9:60).

Gal 6:16 And as many as walk according to this rule, peace be on them, and mercy, and upon the Israel of God.

1Co 5:12 For what have I to do to judge them also that are without? do not ye judge them that are within?

1Pe 4:17 For the time is come that judgment must begin at the house of God: and if it first begin at us, what shall the end be of them that obey not the gospel of God?

You can also think of how a tare works, as it represents sin in our members that resides only long enough to do what it is meant to do and then when God deems it time, the weeds are pulled out of us without detriment to the body of Christ.

Mat 13:30 Let both grow together until the harvest: and in the time of harvest I will say to the reapers, Gather ye together first the tares, and bind them in bundles to burn them: but gather the wheat into my barn.

We are called to look well to ourselves (2Jn 1:7-9 in its positive application), and when God brings to our attention that something has to be addressed before we go to the altar of His grace, we must go and ask forgiveness of whomever we have offended, lest that weed turn into a root of bitterness.

2Jn 1:7 For many deceivers are entered into the world, who confess not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh. This is a deceiver and an antichrist.
2Jn 1:8 Look to yourselves, that we lose not those things which we have wrought, but that we receive a full reward.
2Jn 1:9 Whosoever transgresseth, and abideth not in the doctrine of Christ, hath not God. He that abideth in the doctrine of Christ, he hath both the Father and the Son.

Mat 5:24 Leave there thy gift before the altar, and go thy way; first be reconciled to thy brother, and then come and offer thy gift.

Heb 12:15 Looking diligently lest any man fail of the grace of God; lest any root of bitterness springing up trouble you, and thereby many be defiled;

Eph 4:31 Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamour, and evil speaking, be put away from you, with all malice:

To say “Aha, aha” does not sound like someone who is on a mission to be reconciled with his brother or who understands that we are all guilty of all. It is not the brother who goes to that brother alone to gain his brother – this, rather, is a talebearer.

Mat 6:33 But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.

Jas 2:10 For whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all.

Mat 18:15 Moreover if thy brother shall trespass against thee, go and tell him his fault between thee and him alone: if he shall hear thee, thou hast gained thy brother.

Pro 11:13 A talebearer revealeth secrets: but he that is of a faithful spirit concealeth the matter.

So we thank God today that He has blessed us to see that we do not see and are constantly in need of His mercy and forgiveness which we ought to be showing to one another as we discussed in the parable of (Mat 18:33). It is that mercy that we show to one another that gives us vision and helps us see collectively through a glass darkly. We are being blessed to look through that glass as the body of Christ who will narrowly escape and become a sea of glass that the world will look through to come to understand God.

Joh 9:41 Jesus said unto them, If ye were blind, ye should have no sin: but now ye say, We see; therefore your sin remaineth.

Mat 18:33 Shouldest not thou also have had compassion on thy fellowservant, even as I had pity on thee?

1Co 13:12 For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known.

1Pe 4:18 And if the righteous scarcely be saved, where shall the ungodly and the sinner appear?

Joh 17:3 And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent.

Psa 70:4 Let all those that seek thee rejoice and be glad in thee: and let such as love thy salvation say continually, Let God be magnified.

Knowing what we know, ‘what manner of people ought we to be’ is the question Peter was inspired to ask in. We ought to be sober and vigilant. We ought to be confident, we ought to be (all by the grace of God) believing that what God has promised will be accomplished. In other words ‘let the redeemed of the Lord say so’, and “Let God be magnified”, and, God willing, we will do this if it is written in our books.

2Pe 3:10 But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up.
2Pe 3:11 Seeing then that all these things shall be dissolved, what manner of persons ought ye to be in all holy conversation and godliness,

1Pe 5:8 Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour:

Heb 10:35 Cast not away therefore your confidence, which hath great recompence of reward.

Heb 12:2 Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.

Psa 107:2 Let the redeemed of the LORD say so, whom he hath redeemed from the hand of the enemy;

Jas 4:15 For that ye ought to say, If the Lord will, we shall live, and do this, or that.

Things are being ‘dissolved’ in our heavens, and that’s a good thing because that is what it is going to take for “those that seek thee [to] rejoice and be glad in thee”. Those who “love thy salvation” will cry out and “say [so] continually” because of a confidence given that what God is doing in them is for the good of all men who we know will in time be saved by being given the power of the holy spirit to drink the cup. That cup is the same cup that brings us all to give an accounting that we are beasts in need of a Deliverer.

Rom 8:38 For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come,

1Co 15:22 For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive.

Rom 8:28 And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.

Mat 20:23 And he saith unto them, Ye shall drink indeed of my cup, and be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with: but to sit on my right hand, and on my left, is not mine to give, but it shall be given to them for whom it is prepared of my Father.

Ecc 3:18 I said in mine heart concerning the estate of the sons of men, that God might manifest them, and that they might see that they themselves are beasts.

Psa 70:5 But I am poor and needy: make haste unto me, O God: thou art my help and my deliverer; O LORD, make no tarrying.

This Psalm ends off the same way that it started where David cries out again “make haste unto me”. David knows that God can deliver him physically, but what has not happened yet is his spiritual deliverance.

That precious deliverance is reserved for a few at first [first fruits] whose deliverance is typified over and over in the scriptures from Genesis to Revelation:

Exo 22:29 Thou shalt not delay to offer the first of thy ripe fruits, and of thy liquors: the firstborn of thy sons shalt thou give unto me.

Lev 23:17 Ye shall bring out of your habitations two wave loaves of two tenth deals: they shall be of fine flour; they shall be baken with leaven; they are the firstfruits unto the LORD.

Deu 26:2 That thou shalt take of the first of all the fruit of the earth, which thou shalt bring of thy land that the LORD thy God giveth thee, and shalt put it in a basket, and shalt go unto the place which the LORD thy God shall choose to place his name there.

Rom 8:23 And not only they, but ourselves also, which have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body.

1Co 15:23 But every man in his own order: Christ the firstfruits; afterward they that are Christ’s at his coming.

Jas 1:18 Of his own will begat he us with the word of truth, that we should be a kind of firstfruits of his creatures.

We pray “O LORD, make no tarrying”, and this fervent continual prayer comes back again on the heel of being given to see our need for a physician, said by David in these words “But I am poor and needy: make haste unto me”.

Mar 2:17 When Jesus heard it, he saith unto them, They that are whole have no need of the physician, but they that are sick: I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.

Through the trials and tribulations, through the persecutions and separation and judgment that is on us “today”, we are blessed to be persuaded of the things of which we once could not be convinced: “thy salvation” where the Lord is magnified – more and more continually (Rom 13:6).

Luk 16:31 And he said unto him, If they hear not Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded, though one rose from the dead.

Act 26:28 Then Agrippa said unto Paul, Almost thou persuadest me to be a Christian.

1Co 14:24 But if all prophesy, and there come in one that believeth not, or one unlearned, he is convinced of all, he is judged of all:
1Co 14:25 And thus are the secrets of his heart made manifest; and so falling down on his face he will worship God, and report that God is in you of a truth

1Ch 16:11 Seek the LORD and his strength, seek his face continually.

Heb 13:15 By him therefore let us offer the sacrifice of praise to God continually, that is, the fruit of our lips giving thanks to his name.