Bible Unmolested – During the American Civil War, one of the Baptist church buildings in northeast Tennessee, Mossy Creek, was “irreparably damaged. Troops were quartered near this church at different times during the war. A soldier in the Eleventh New Hampshire Regiment, who was at Mossy Creek during February, 1864, recorded the treatment that had been given the church’s facilities by the invading armies.
The work on the temple has stopped because of opposition. However, even when the opposition has died down, the people do not get back to God’s house. They are concerned about building their own houses, working their own fields, taking care of their own stomachs. But things are not going well. It seems that no one can get ahead. Now comes two prophets of God: Haggai and Zechariah. They point out the real problem: they left the work of the Lord to feed themselves. Therefore, God has not blessed them. The answer is to return to the original work to which they were called: the rebuilding of the temple. The people hear the words of the prophets and they respond. The work on the temple resumes.
This is a psalm of David. David determines to build God a house—the temple. God does not allow David to build the house but passes this honor to David’s son. However, God promises a house—a dynastic reigning line—to David.
One of our most precious commodities is time. We struggle with the proper use of time. This psalm begins with the eternity of God, powerfully expresses the brevity of man’s years, and closes with help on how to number our days.
An outline that deals with Genesis 1:1 in great detail.
