Life-Study of Psalms, by Witness Lee

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IV. GOD’S INTENTION BEING
TO GET THE EARTH FOR CHRIST’S INHERITANCE
AND SATAN’S PLOT BEING
TO TAKE GOD’S HABITATION IN POSSESSION

God’s intention is to get the earth for Christ’s inheritance, and Satan’s plot is to take God’s habitation in possession. These matters are covered in Psalms 81—83.

A. Israel Charged to Shout Joyfully to God

Israel should shout joyfully to God and sing pleasantly to Him at their feasts (81:1-4). According to God’s ordination, Israel, God’s elect, should live a joyful life. The annual feasts, as well as the Sabbatical year and the year of Jubilee, are times of rejoicing, singing, and shouting. "That is a statute of Israel,/An ordinance of the God of Jacob" (v. 4).

B. Israel Listening to God and Walking in His Ways,
and God Subduing Their Enemies

If Israel will listen to God and walk in His ways, God will subdue their enemies (the nations) and feed Israel with the finest of wheat and satisfy them with honey from the rock (vv. 5-16). Verse 10 says, "I am Jehovah your God,/Who brought you up out of the land of Egypt;/Open your mouth wide, and I will fill it." We may apply this verse to the matter of praising God in the meetings of the church. If we open our mouth by praising God and shouting, He will fill it.

C. God Judging in the Midst
of the Judges because of Their Unjust Judgment
over the Poor and the Orphan

Psalm 82:1-7 reveals that God judges in the midst of the judges (Exo. 21:6) because of their unjust judgment over the poor and the orphan. In Old Testament times, the judges were the priests, who knew God’s law and who represented God to judge God’s people. Psalm 82:6 is quoted by the Lord Jesus in John 10:34 and 35.

(Life-Study of Psalms, Chapter 31, by Witness Lee)