Tehillim / Psalms 55, Part 1, The Spirit checks what the heart desires

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This week’s study is from Tehillim / Psalms 55:1-23, the psalm opens saying, א  לַמְנַצֵּחַ בִּנְגִינֹת מַשְֹכִּיל לְדָוִד:  For the choir director; on stringed instruments. A Maskil of David. (NASB)  David says, ב  הַאֲזִינָה אֱלֹהִים תְּפִלָּתִי וְאַל-תִּתְעַלַּם מִתְּחִנָּתִי: ג  הַקְשִׁיבָה לִּי וַעֲנֵנִי אָרִיד בְּשִֹיחִי וְאָהִימָה: ד  מִקּוֹל אוֹיֵב מִפְּנֵי עָקַת רָשָׁע כִּי-יָמִיטוּ עָלַי אָוֶן וּבְאַף יִשְֹטְמוּנִי: 55:1 Give ear to my prayer, O God; And do not hide Yourself from my supplication. 55:2 Give heed to me and answer me; I am restless in my complaint and am surely distracted, 55:3 Because of the voice of the enemy, Because of the pressure of the wicked; For they bring down trouble upon me And in anger they bear a grudge against me. (NASB)  He seeks the Lord to hear his prayer because he seeks a speedy answer due to the pressure of the enemy.  David says that his heart is in anguish (55:4), he has been put in fear because of the enemy (55:5), he wishes that he had wings to fly away and be at rest (55:6), so that he could goto the wilderness (55:7) to be at rest.  He asks the Lord to confuse the tongue of the wicked drawing a parallel to the Torah and Migdal Bavel (55:9).  He says that day and night mischief is in their midst (55:10) which might be paralleled to the Lord being in the midst of the righteous.  David says that it is not an enemy who reproaches him (55:12), who is it that is causing him such anguish?  He appears to be speaking to someone who is an equal to himself (55:13), someone who walked in the house of God with him (55:14).  There appears to be a certain level of deceit in this person, David calls for death and the grave (55:15), whereupon he will call upon the Lord God Almighty to save (55:16).  David speaks of continually coming before the Lord to make his petition known (55:17) and believes the Lord will redeem his soul (55:18). Read more here: Tehillim 55-Part1

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Dr. Duane D. Miller received his Ph.D., M.S., and B.S. Degree in Chemical Engineering from The University of Akron Ohio. He is currently a Chemical Engineering Researcher. Duane’s research expertise has focused upon functional materials development for the control, conversion, and release of process gases in Energy production technologies. His R&D interests include computational chemistry, developing novel technologies for converting biomass to fuels and studying their fundamental interactions during the chemical conversion process. His past experience includes sorbent development for pre- and post-combustion CO2 and SO2 capture, selective absorption of H2S from methane streams, O2 capture for oxy-fuel combustion, photocatalytic reduction of alcohols, NOx reduction catalysis, the development of oxygen carriers to combust fossil fuels (CH4 and coal) for the chemical looping combustion processes, and the extraction of rare earth elements using patent pending sorbents. His research expertise has focused on operando-characterization using Infrared, Raman, and UV-Vis spectroscopy to observe the nature of the catalytic active sites and reaction intermediates under realistic reaction conditions, allowing direct correlation of molecular/electronic structures with catalyst performance during Gas-Solid / Liquid-Solid Adsorption and Photocatalytic Processes with real time online analysis of reaction products using ICP-MS and mass spectrometry. His current work involves a multi-disciplinary approach to developing, understanding, and improving the catalytic gasification of coal and methane, high temperature chemical looping combustion, and the catalytic decomposition and gasification of biomass and coal using novel microwave reactor.​ He has been studying the Hebrew Scriptures and the Torah for 20+ years and sharing what he has learned. The studies developed for MATSATI.COM are freely to be used by everyone, to God be the Glory!