Psalm 52:8 Flourishing Olive

Psalm 52:8 But I am like an olive tree flourishing in the house of God; I trust in God's unfailing love for ever and ever.

Psalm 52 is again For the director of music and A maskil of David. We are told that it is from the time When Doeg the Edomite had gone to Saul and told him: David has gone to the house of Ahimelech. This may seem like a rather unpromising circumstance but after the initial rage at Doeg (1-4 Why do you boast of evil, you mighty man? Why do you boast all day long, you who are a disgrace in the eyes of God? etc), pronouncements of doom (5 Surely God will bring you down to everlasting ruin: He will snatch you up and tear you from your tent; he will uproot you from the land of the living) and the statement (6, 7) that The righteous will see and fear; they will laugh at him, saying, Here now is the man who did not make God his stronghold but trusted in his great wealth and grew strong by destroying others! David ends the psalm with very positive words concerning his own state, in verses 8 and 9. In verse 9 David says that he will praise God forever for what he has done. In your name I will hope he adds for your name is good. I will praise you in the presence of your saints. It is verse 8 that I want to focus on, however. There, using a common but powerful picture, David says But I am like an olive tree flourishing in the house of God. He had been in God's house and no doubt he had noticed the many olive trees depicted everywhere there. Or perhaps he had even seen a real one growing in the precincts and, by God's grace, it had encouraged him as it reminded him that he too would flourish under God. Speaking more plainly, he also says I trust in God's unfailing love for ever and ever. This is the reason why he was flourishing and why anyone at all flourishes. Keep putting your faith in God and his unfailing love and there will be hope and a future.

Psalm 51:16, 17 Broken Spirits

Psalm 51:16, 17 You do not delight in sacrifice, or I would bring it; you do not take pleasure in burnt offerings. The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise.
A psalm of penitence Psalm 51 is again For the director of music but, for the first time in this second book, A psalm of David. It was written famously When the prophet Nathan came to him after David had committed adultery with Bathsheba. Most of the psalm is taken up with confession and prayers for forgiveness but towards the end David asks God to restore to him the joy of salvation and a willing spirit to sustain him (12) and promises in future to teach transgressors your ways, and sinners will turn back to you (13). At the end of the psalm (18, 19) he envisages great and widespread blessing now that the King himself is restored. Before that, in verses 16 and 17, come striking words, full of insight. He begins You do not delight in sacrifice, or I would bring it; you do not take pleasure in burnt offerings. One wonders \t first if this can really be David whose ambition was to build a Temple where thousands upon thousands of sacrifices would be made. However, his point is not that sacrifices are no longer to be made but that they, in and of themselves, count for nothing. David understood what the writer to the Hebrews did when (in 10:14) he wrote that it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins. No, David saw, even in those days, that (17) The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise. Now that there is no more sacrifice because Christ has died, New Testament believers should see even more clearly than David that our concern must be to have broken spirits, broken and contrite hearts. The world may despise such things but not God our Father.

Psalm 50:9,10 No Need

Psalm 50:9, 10 I have no need of a bull from your stall or of goats from your pens, for every animal of the forest is mine, and the cattle on a thousand hills.

Psalm 50 is the first of thirteen by Asaph. In it The Mighty One, God, the LORD, speaks and summons the earth from the rising of the sun to the place where it sets (verse 1). Asaph describes God's coming in verses 2-6 then reveals how God speaks, first to his people Israel (7-15) calling on them to make sacrifices to him not becasue he needs them but because they need him, and secondly to the wicked (16-22) rebuking them for their sins. The final verse (23) sums up Asaph's main point - He who sacrifices thank-offerings honours me, and he prepares the way so that I may show him the salvation of God. The verses we highlight here, though very much in Old Testament language, remind us that the moment we think we are doing God a favour or giving to him in any absolute sense, then we have misunderstood. The fact is that God has no need of anything from us. There is nothing that we could possibly give him that has not already been given to us by him. One often thinks of younger children buying birthday presents for their parents in this context. First, the parent gives money to the child then the child uses that money to purchase a gift for the parent. The whole exercise seems a waste of time and effort to the cynic. In fact, as Asaph would recognise, there is something to it. The person who gives to God in the right attitude honours God and even, in one sense, prepares the way for God to show him salvation, for it is as we come to God, honouring him, that his grace is seen.

Psalm 49:20 Perishing Beasts

Psalm 49:20 A man who has riches without understanding is like the beasts that perish.

The main lesson of Psalm 49 is summed up in its final verse - A man who has riches without understanding is like the beasts that perish. It is a wisdom psalm designed for all who live in this world, ... low and high, rich and poor alike. Verse 5 asks Why should I fear when evil days come, when wicked deceivers surround me? Opposition is coming chiefly from (6) those who trust in their wealth and boast of their great riches so the psalmist addresses the question of whether the rich man will win. He will not, of course, because he will not endure. No-one will live on forever and not see decay (9), that is a well known fact. All alike perish and the rich leave their wealth to others.  Verse 12 says that man, despite his riches, does not endure; he is like the beasts that perish. Of course, the rich who are in mind here are those who trust in themselves, and ... their followers, who approve their sayings. Verse 14 says that Like sheep they are destined for the grave, and death will feed on them. And so there will come a great turn around one day. The upright will rule over them as their bodies rot far from their princely mansions. The godly will be redeemed from their graves and taken to be with God. This is why we must not (16) be overawed when a man grows rich, when the splendour of his house increases. The fact is that  he will take nothing with him when he dies, his splendour will not descend with him. While alive he might have counted himself blessed but (19) he will join the generation of his fathers, who will never see the light. The psalm is not a polemic against the rich as such then but against being a man who has riches without understanding which is little different from being like the beasts that perish. Such a person has no hope and will die.

Psalm 48:9 God's Temple

Psalm 48:9 Within your temple, O God, we meditate on your unfailing love.

In Psalm 48, A song. A psalm of the Sons of Korah the psalmist, as he puts it in verse 9, meditates on God's unfailing love within God's Temple. He begins with praise to God, rejoicing in Jerusalem, where the Temple is found. He says that the LORD is Great ... and most worthy of praise, in the city of our God, his holy mountain. He then goes on to speak of how wonderful that city is, the reason being that (3) God is in her citadels; he has shown himself to be her fortress. In verses 4-7 a specific instance of God defending his people seems to be given. Though kings joined forces and advanced together nevertheless they fled in terror as God destroyed them like ships of Tarshish shattered by an east wind. He concludes (8) As we have heard, so have we seen in the city of the LORD Almighty, in the city of our God: God makes her secure for ever. It is God then that he praises but in the context of Mount Zion and Jerusalem and indeed the villages of Judah. He ends the psalm by urging us (12, 13) to Walk about Zion, go round her, count her towers, consider well her ramparts, view her citadels, that you may tell of them to the next generation. It is not the place itself that he is drawing attention to as such but the fact that (14) this God is our God for ever and ever; he will be our guide even to the end. In a similar way a study of church history and its great characters, for example, is a way of meditating on God's unfailing love and reassuring ourselves of his continued guidance.

Psalm 47:2 Most High

Psalm 47:2 How awesome is the LORD Most High, the great King over all the earth!

Psalm 47 is again For the director of music. Of the Sons of Korah. A psalm. It begins with a call to the nations to Clap your hands, and shout to God with cries of joy. The encouragement is repeated in verse 6 with more enthusiasm again - Sing praises to God, sing praises; sing praises to our King, sing praises. What prompts this call to praise is the subduing of nations under God's beloved people. From this is extrapolated the fact that God is the King of all the earth (verse 7) and so should be praised by all. At the end of the psalm (verse 9) the writer boldly envisages not "a win for Israel" but The nobles of the nations assembling as the people of the God of Abraham. If we focus on verse 2 we notice that it uses the term the LORD Most High. This is a combination of the sacred name revealed to Israel and the name for God most often used among Gentiles. This God is awesome and the great King over all the earth! It is his awesome nature that enables him to reign over all. One day all will fall down before it.

Psalm 46:1 Our Refuge

Psalm 46:1 God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble.

Psalm 46 is one of the most famous of all the psalms. The psalm has been sung and is sung to this day in various forms by Christians all over the world. Like previous psalms in this second book, it is For the director of music. Of the Sons of Korah. It is also headed According to alamoth. A song. This is some sort of musical direction. The psalm speaks of God being our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble. Even though everything appears to be going wrong all around us, therefore, there is no need to give in to fear. An inner strength will sustain God's people if they are willing to look to him. A refrain comes in verse 7 The LORD Almighty is with us; the God of Jacob is our fortress. It is followed by the invitation to see what God has done - bringing peace to his own. Then comes the great call in verse 10 to Be still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth. The refrain is repeated in the final verse of the psalm (11) The LORD Almighty is with us; the God of Jacob is our fortress. The key to peace then is not something external as such but is a matter of finding refuge in God and seeing him as our strength and as an ever-present help in trouble for that is what he is. At every moment of every day he is at hand to be our help. We need only to trust in him and although the trouble may not be removed we will be sustained and enabled to endure.

Psalm 45:11 King enthralled

Psalm 45:11 The king is enthralled by your beauty; honour him, for he is your lord.

The most important note in the heading to Psalm 45 is that it is A wedding song (as well as being again For the director of music. Of the Sons of Korah. A maskil and this time To the tune of Lilies). The psalm begins with the statement by the writer My heart is stirred by a noble theme as I recite my verses for the king; my tongue is the pen of a skilful writer. The next 16 verses then divide evenly between what he has to say to and with regard to the King and then to and with regard to his Queen. The King is the most excellent of men ... his lips ... anointed with grace, since God has blessed him for ever, etc. She is told to Forget your people and your father's house. The king is enthralled by your beauty; honour him, etc. This could be David, though one assumes it is Solomon. Most importantly, this is Messiah of whom it is most true that his throne lasts for ever and ever with a sceptre of justice being the sceptre of his kingdom. Who more than he loves righteousness and hates wickedness and has been by God set above his companions by being anointed with the oil of joy? If the King is Messiah then his Bride must be the church. Given that premise, the first part of verse 11 is quite striking. We rarely think of Christ being enthralled by the beauty of the church. We wonder what beauty there is. Yet he himself is making the church beautiful as he adds daily to it and as he matures the graces of those who are his. His enthralment with our beauty is a thing to keep in the back of our minds then. Meanwhile at the forefront is this most reasonable command to honour him, for he is your lord.

Psalm 44:26 Help Lord

Psalm 44:26 Rise up and help us; redeem us because of your unfailing love

Another psalm For the director of music and Of the Sons of Korah, Psalm 44 is also A maskil. It was written at a time when things were not going well for Israel, when (9) they felt rejected and humbled and God was no longer going out with their armies. The psalmist acknowledges help in the far (1-3) and the near (4-8) past but now, and for some time, it has not been like that at all. The obvious explanation would be that there was some sin in Israel but he protests (17-22) that Our hearts had not turned back; our feet had not strayed from your path (18). And so the prayer is (23-26) Awake, O Lord! Why do you sleep? ... Do not reject us ... Why do you hide your face and forget our misery and oppression? We are brought down to the dust ... Rise up and help us; redeem us because of your unfailing love. That last line is one we could use in prayer today. One fears that a lot of our problems do stem from our having been false to the covenant in some way, our having strayed to some extent and we certainly must examine our hearts as he knows the secrets of the heart. But, having done that, it may be that there is no obvious explanation for our failures. In such a case we must pray - pray that the Lord will rise up and help us, that he will redeem us, as it were. Our best argument is because of your unfailing love. If his right hand brought victory for Joshua and he gave victories to David and others, even though things may seem to be against us at present, we can be sure that he will not reject his people forever. Pray then for him to rise up and help us.

Psalm 43:3 Guide me

Psalm 43:3 Send forth your light and your truth, let them guide me; let them bring me to your holy mountain, to the place where you dwell.

Having made a number of background remarks with regard to the previous psalm, remarks that probably apply here too, we just concentrate now on the content of the psalm, and especially on verse 3. The psalmist begins by seeking vindication against the ungodly, pleading to be rescued from deceitful and wicked men. God is his stronghold and yet the writer feels that he has been rejected. He is inwardly depressed and outwardly oppressed. Therefore he decides to call on God to act. Once God has acted then he will go to the altar of God, to God, my joy and my delight. I will praise you with the harp, O God, my God presumably with new psalms that he has written (and presumably that do exist). By the end of the psalm we have not reached that point, however, and so the refrain from the last psalm is repeated. The specific prayer that he prays at this time is that God will send forth your light and your truth. He asks God to let them guide me. He wants to know the way forward in this situation he finds himself in. He adds let them bring me to your holy mountain, to the place where you dwell. The verse is steeped in Old Testament ideas. Under the new covenant this is a desire to be in church, to be playing a full part and eventually to be in heaven. Even on the worst days of our lives we must seek God in this way and trust him to lead us safely home.

Psalm 42:11 Have hope

Psalm 42:11 Why are you downcast, O my soul? Why so disturbed within me? Put your hope in God, for I will yet praise him, my Saviour and my God. 

The opening psalm of the second book in the corpus, Psalm 42, is again for the director of music and so designed for public singing but this time it is not by David. Rather, it is A maskil of the Sons of Korah. Various Levites were Korahites and some were involved in the Temple music programme, including Asaph and Heman who are, presumably, the ones in mind here. An 11 verse long psalm, its two halves are punctuated by a refrain (5, 6a; 11) - Why are you downcast, O my soul? Why so disturbed within me? Put your hope in God, for I will yet praise him, my Saviour and my God. The same refrain occurs at the end of the following short psalm leading to suggestions that Psalm 42 and 43 are really one. Both psalms are about panting after and longing for God when he seems far away for whatever reason (or lack of it). Although there once was a time when this writer used to go with the multitude, leading the procession to the house of God, with shouts of joy and thanksgiving among the festive throng his soul is now downcast and that is the last thing he can bring himself to do. However, he can hope for better times. He remembers too (8) that even now By day the LORD directs his love, at night his song is with me. But he wants more than that. The refrain itself then urges us to talk to ourselves, to our souls, and to urge ourselves to hope in God. If we really are his, the time will come when we will yet praise him and say with gladness my Saviour and my God. It is towards these times we must head.

Psalm 41:1 Deliverers delivered

Psalm 41:1 Blessed is he who has regard for the weak; the LORD delivers him in times of trouble
The pattern in the psalms does vary even when familiar themes are in mind. The final Psalm in the first of the five books (headed For the director of music. A psalm of David) begins objectively with a beatitude (1-3) Blessed is he who has regard for the weak; the LORD delivers him in times of trouble, etc before the personal testimony (4-9) I said, O LORD, have mercy on me; heal me, for I have sinned against you, etc. This section includes a pointer forward to Judas Iscariot with verse 9's Even my close friend, whom I trusted, he who shared my bread, has lifted up his heel against me. Finally, there is prayer (10-12) But you, O LORD, have mercy on me; raise me up, that I may repay them, etc and concluding praise (13) Praise be to the LORD, the God of Israel, from everlasting to everlasting. Amen and Amen. If we stick with the early beatitude we see that blessing is for he who has regard for the weak. Many think only of themselves and if they have any interest in others it is only in the strong. What God wants, however, is for us to care about the weak and defenceless - unborn babies, the elderly and frail, the sick, those with mental health issues, widows and orphans, refugees, strangers, the low paid, the ignorant, the disabled, the unevangelised, etc. The blessing is a reciprocal one - the LORD delivers him in times of trouble. Given that we are all weak in some way and all face trouble at some time or another, the wise policy is clear for all to see.

Psalm 40:3 New Song

Psalm 40:3 He put a new song in my mouth, a hymn of praise to our God. Many will see and fear and put their trust in the LORD.

In Psalm 40 we have A psalm that is very much Of David and yet is For the director of music as what David relates here of his experience is something that many can identify with. David can testify of how the LORD lifted him out of the slimy pit, out of the mud and mire but he also prays at the end (17) I am poor and needy; may the Lord think of me. You are my help and my deliverer; O my God, do not delay. The messianic nature of the psalm is undeniable as the writer to the Hebrews specifically quotes from verses 6 and 7. This has to be pressed with care, however, as in verse 12 David says not only that troubles without number surround him but also that my sins have overtaken me, and I cannot see. To focus on verse 3 for now, which is pretty typical of the psalm, David declares first his own experience and then the hope that what he has known may be a help and a blessing to others. His own experience is that God has put a new song in my mouth, a hymn of praise to our God. This is the result of God hearing his cry and lifting him out of the slimy pit and setting his feet on a rock. Who would not rejoice at such a blessing? What David had done was to trust in the LORD and that had resulted in blessing. His hope is that Many will see this and so be caused to fear God and to put their trust in the LORD. For, as he has said (4) Blessed is the man who makes the LORD his trust, who does not look to the proud, to those who turn aside to false gods. He is determined not to hide God's righteousness but to speak of your faithfulness and salvation to all (10). He wishes God's judgement on his enemies but he wants (16) all who seek you to rejoice and be glad in you. He says may those who love your salvation always say, The LORD be exalted! Let's fear God and trust in him always.

Psalm 39:4 Life's brevity

Psalm 39:4 Show me, O LORD, my life's end and the number of my days; let me know how fleeting is my life.

Psalm 39 seems to follow on in much the same vein as the previous psalm. Like many other psalms it is For the director of music. It is also A psalm of David. Between those phrases, however comes the almost unique For Jeduthun (see also Psalm 77). There was more than one Jeduthun but each of them appears to have been involved in the Temple worship. There are several things to consider in this psalm but if we focus just on verse 4 there is plenty to consider there. It is the first of three verses in the psalm that consider the brevity of life (see also verses 5 and 6). The words themselves are prompted by the situation David finds himself in - he is in deep anguish because of his enemies but eager not to say anything rash or unhelpful let alone blasphemous. He uses several metaphors to describe the brevity of life - it is a mere hand breadth in length, it is but a breath and in verse 6a he says Man is a mere phantom as he goes to and fro. Nevertheless, David's hope is in the Lord and he waits for deliverance from him. What he wants the Lord to do first, however, is to impress upon him the threefold fact that he will soon die, that his earthly life is limited and that life passes by very quickly. We should be praying such prayers too. It is too easy, especially when things are going well for us, to forget about death, to assume that life on earth goes on forever and to forget just how quickly it is all over. We must pray that the Lord will keep us from acting so foolishly and always give us a sense of the nearness and certainty of death, the brevity of life and how soon it will be over.

Psalm 38:31, 32 Come! Help!

Psalm 38: 21, 22 O LORD, do not forsake me; be not far from me, O my God. Come quickly to help me, O Lord my Saviour.

The threefold petition of the closing two verses of Psalm 38 sum up what we find in this psalm. It is A psalm of David and like only one other Psalm (the much briefer Psalm 70, which itself is based on the close of Psalm 40) it is labelled in the NIV A petition. Both Psalm 70 and 38 have similar content and tone that could be summed up as petition. The opening verse of Psalm 38 is the same as the first verse of Psalm 6 (O LORD, do not rebuke me in your anger or discipline me in your wrath). David is fearful of God's wrath and complains of God's hand having come down on him. The sickness he complains of may be physical, psychosomatic or metaphorical. Certainly a sense of guilt overwhelms him and he puts down his sufferings to his own sins. At the same time (12) Those who seek my life set their traps, those who would harm me talk of my ruin; all day long they plot deception. He is slandered too. He will not rise to it, however. He is like a deaf mute so far from retaliating is he (13, 14). No, he says (15) I wait for you, O LORD; you will answer, O Lord my God. And so it is to the LORD that he is looking throughout this psalm. He prays that the LORD will not forsake him. Be not far from me, O my God he prays. He asks that God will come to him and help him as his Saviour. This is what we must all do when we are in any sort of trouble, whether we have brought it on ourselves or the fault lies with others. Pray earnestly for God's presence and help not to be removed but to become ever more real.

Psalm 37:10, 11 Future Peace

Psalm 37:10, 11 A little while, and the wicked will be no more; though you look for them, they will not be found. But the meek will inherit the land and enjoy great peace.

Psalm 37 is a longer psalm than usual. Of David, it is a meditation on the need for the righteous not to fret but to patiently trust in the LORD until the wicked die away and the righteous are vindicated. The righteous and the wicked are contrasted. The former are generous, the latter borrow but do not repay. In verses 10 and 11 we have an epitomising couple of verses. Similar examples are found in verses 9, 17 and 22 - evil men will be cut off, but those who hope in the LORD will inherit the land ... the power of the wicked will be broken, but the LORD upholds the righteous ... those the LORD blesses will inherit the land, but those he curses will be cut off. In verses 10 and 11 David asserts that a big change is coming in a little while (compare the soon in verses 2 and 36). At that time the wicked will be no more. To emphasise this he says though you look for them, they will not be found. This same point is made many times in the psalm - like the grass they will soon wither ... die away (2) ... be cut off (9) their day is coming (13) their swords will pierce their own hearts ... their bows ... broken (15) power ... broken (17) ... will perish: ... like the beauty of the fields, they will vanish ... like smoke (20) those he curses will be cut off (22) offspring ... will be cut off (28) ... the wicked ... cut off ... (34) ... destroyed; ... future ... cut off (38). As for the promise, that is of a piece with other great promises here for God's people - he will give you the desires of your heart (4) ... make your righteousness shine like the dawn ... (6) The days of the blameless are known to the LORD ... their inheritance will endure ... they will not wither ... will enjoy plenty (18, 19) though he stumble, he will not fall ... the LORD upholds him ... (24) their children will be blessed (26) ... you will dwell in the land for ever ... the LORD loves the just and will not forsake his faithful ones. They will be protected ... (27, 28) the righteous will inherit the land and dwell in it for ever (29) the LORD will not leave them ... or let them be condemned ... (33) He will exalt you to inherit the land (34) there is a future ... (37) The LORD helps ... delivers them ... from the wicked ... saves ... (40). Let's heed the warning and believe the promise.

Psalm 36:9 Seeing Light

Psalm 36:9 For with you is the fountain of life; in your light we see light.

Headed (like Psalm 18) For the director of music. Of David the servant of the LORD, Psalm 36 begins with David announcing that An oracle is within his heart concerning the sinfulness of the wicked. He then proceeds to anatomise the wicked, noting his eyes (no fear of God before them For in his own eyes he flatters himself too much to detect or hate his sin) mouth (the words of which are wicked and deceitful; he has ceased to be wise and to do good) and the fact that Even on his bed he plots evil; he commits himself to a sinful course and does not reject what is wrong. In contrast, he speaks to God as one whose love reaches to the heavens, and whose faithfulness reaches to the skies. God's righteousness is like the mighty mountains and his justice like the great deep. He preserves and loves and provides refuge. What fullness people know For with you is the fountain of life; in your light we see light. The psalm closes with a prayer that the LORD will continue his love to those who know you, your righteousness to the upright in heart and that the foot of the proud will not come against me, nor the hand of the wicked drive me away. He concludes triumphantly See how the evildoers lie fallen - thrown down, not able to rise. Verse 9 is a little cryptic. To say For with you is the fountain of life is to confess that the source of all life is in God. It all flows from him. The second part is a reminder that we only understand anything in this world in him. Unless God casts light on it we cannot see that light. Light itself is seen only because he opens our eyes to it. Even to see the truth, therefore, we need him. We are entirely in his hands.

Psalm 35:18 Future Praise

Psalm 35:18 I will give you thanks in the great assembly; among throngs of people I will praise you

 

David's story is marked by opposition from a number of enemies. Once again, in Psalm 35, he is very much aware of these enemies and prays that God will help him and deal with them. No doubt his being a type of Christ necessitated a life where enemies often opposed him. The psalm comes in three waves of complaint and prayer followed by the promise of future praise. He begins (1) Contend, O LORD, with those who contend with me and this leads to the future hope (9, 10) Then my soul will rejoice in the LORD and delight in his salvation. My whole being will exclaim, Who is like you, O LORD? You rescue the poor from those too strong for them, the poor and needy from those who rob them. In verse 11 he describes how Ruthless witnesses come forward; they question me on things I know nothing about, etc and this leads to the prayer (17) O Lord, how long will you look on? Rescue my life from their ravages, my precious life from these lions and the promise (18) I will give you thanks in the great assembly; among throngs of people I will praise you. Finally, we begin again (19) Let not those gloat over me who are my enemies without cause closing with (28) My tongue will speak of your righteousness and of your praises all day long. We focus here on verse 18, which is a promise but also an anticipation of something that was certain for David and for Christ and just as certain for us who believe. A great day is coming when all God's people will be gathered from the four winds to take their places in heaven and our hope is to be in that great assembly, among the throngs then, and to give thanks to God and praise him for all his goodness and kindness and the way he has rescued us from all our enemies.

Psalm 34:7 God's Angel

Psalm 34:7 The angel of the LORD encamps around those who fear him, and he delivers them.

We can read about the background to Psalm 34 in 1 Samuel 21 as this next Psalm Of David is specifically said to have been written When he pretended to be insane before Abimelech, who drove him away, and he left. David, having decided to seek refuge in the Philistine court then thought better of it but could only get out by faining madness. Having said that, there is no obvious connection except the opening line I will extol the LORD at all times; his praise will always be on my lips and the statements about God having delivered David. David seeks through his experience to encourage praise, faith and obedience in others. There are many verses that we could profitably take up to meditate on but to light just on verse 7 - here we are told that God does two things for those who fear him. Those who fear him are those (see verses 11-14) who, it is explained, keep their tongues from evil, do good and pursue peace. First, the angel of the LORD, which must refer ultimately to the Christ encamps around them. Just as an army encamps so does God's Angel or Messenger, his Christ. He is there to defend at any moment. More than that, he actually delivers. What a comfort there is in such a thought. We cannot see the angel of the LORD, of course, but we can know that he is there and we can be sure that he will deliver us at all times whatever the trouble. His way may not cover us in honour but we will escape nevertheless. Evil will slay the wicked; the foes of the righteous will be condemned but The LORD redeems his servants; no-one will be condemned who takes refuge in him.

Psalm 33:10, 11 God's Plans

Psalm 33:10, 11 The LORD foils the plans of the nations; he thwarts the purposes of the peoples. But the plans of the LORD stand firm for ever, the purposes of his heart through all generations.

The providence of God is a great theme. It is touched on here in verses 10 and 11 of Psalm 33. The psalm is a song of joyful and exuberant praise to God. Several reasons are given for praise to him. There is his character (verses 4 and 5 - true, faithful, just, loving), his creation (verses 6-9) and his universal providence (verses 10 and 11) which we will focus on in a moment. After this, God's people, the people he chose, are declared blessed (verse 12) and there is an assertion of his omniscience (verses 13-15) and omnipotence (verses 16 and 17), on behalf of his those who fear him and hope in him (verses 18 and 19). Finally, the psalmist expresses joy and hope in the LORD by faith (verses 20 and 21) and there is a final prayer for blessing (verse 22). As for verses 10 and 11, one verse is negative and the other one positive. On the one hand, The LORD foils the plans of the nations; he thwarts the purposes of the peoples. On the other, his own plans stand firm for ever, the purposes of his heart through all generations. There is great comfort in this for God's people, knowing as they do that many are against them and that many devise plans intended to defeat them. Such plans are all thwarted and foiled by the LORD. At the same time, he has his own plans that cannot possibly be thwarted or foiled. They are firm forever and cannot fail. There is every reason then to wait in hope for the LORD who is our help and our shield. Such people say In him our hearts rejoice, for we trust in his holy name.

Psalm 32:1, 2 Blessed Justification

Psalm 32:1, 2 Blessed is he whose transgressions are forgiven, whose sins are covered. Blessed is the man whose sin the LORD does not count against him and in whose spirit is no deceit.

 

Psalm 32 is A maskil, the first of 13 such in the book and the only one Of David. No biographical reference is given but it has been suggested that David may have written this psalm after repenting from his sin with Bathsheba. The opening two verses, parallel beatitudes, are quoted by Paul in Romans 4:6-8. They act as a sort of heading, the rest of the psalm first describing how David groaned under a sense of conviction for sin until (5) he confessed his sin and was forgiven. Then in verse 6 he exhorts all who are godly to seek God while he may be found. He then commits himself to the Lord again. It must be God who speaks in verses 8 and 9 saying I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go; I will counsel you and watch over you. Do not be like the horse or the mule, which have no understanding but must be controlled by bit and bridle or they will not come to you. Finally, there is a brief summary statement in verse 10 (Many are the woes of the wicked, but the LORD's unfailing love surrounds the man who trusts in him) and an exhortation to the righteous to sing and rejoice. The opening verses, then, state that the blessed man is not the man who has no transgressions or sins but the man whose transgressions and sins are forgiven or covered, whose sin the LORD does not count against him. Such a person is not without guilt but he has to be without guile - open about the fact that he is a sinner and willing to come to God. Paul rightly sees this as a declaration of justification by faith. It certainly does not teach justification by works, which is so widely believed. The way to blessing is by means of the open confession we see here from David. How God can justify sinners (through Christ's atonement) is explained elsewhere in the Bible.

Psalm 31:7, 8 You saw

Psalm 31:7, 8 I will be glad and rejoice in your love, for you saw my affliction and knew the anguish of my soul. You have not handed me over to the enemy but have set my feet in a spacious place.

Psalm 31 is again A psalm of David and is the fifteenth headed For the director of music. Hence about half the psalms so far have this heading. The last one was Psalm 22. Yet again David is praying to be rescued from his enemies and thanking God for that rescue. Verse 5a is quoted by Christ on the cross (Into your hands I commit my spirit). Several other verses are redolent of Messiah's experience. Although what David says is specific to his own circumstances he clearly saw that others could sing these words and they would have meaning for them too. One can identify with many of the verses. We focus on verses 7 and 8. Here David expresses his determination to be glad and rejoice and that in the love of God. As he explains, God saw his affliction and knew the anguish of my soul. The LORD was able to sympathise. Then he says You have not handed me over to the enemy but have set my feet in a spacious place. This is something every true believer can identify with. We were afflicted, we were in anguish of soul because of our sins. In his love, God saw us and knew what trouble we were in (even if at times we did not). Instead of handing us over to our enemy, the Devil, who demanded to have us, he set our feet in the spacious place that is the Christian walk. What freedom, what ease we know becuse of him. Again and again he does such things for us and he will eventually set our feet in heaven itself. How thankful we should always be for the love of God.

Psalm 30:11,12 Eternal Thankfulness

Psalm 30:11,12 You turned my wailing into dancing; you removed my sackcloth and clothed me with joy, that my heart may sing to you and not be silent. O LORD my God, I will give you thanks for ever.

Unusually, the heading of Psalm 30 reveals not only that it is A psalm, A song and Of David but also that it was composed with a specific occasion in mind. It is For the dedication of the temple. Having said that, it is not entirely clear when that might have been and the psalm itself does not seem to relate particularly to that subject. In the psalm itself, David reflects on his personal experience, full of thankfulness to God and extolling his mercy. Verse 3 is particularly messianic (O LORD, you brought me up from the grave; you spared me from going down into the pit). The closing two verses of the psalm neatly sum up what David chiefly has to say. He has been wailing, as it were, and has been mourning clothed in sackcloth. However, God has turned his wailing into dancing and he has removed David's sackcloth and clothed him with joy. God has done this so that David's heart may sing to God and not be silent. O LORD my God says David I will give you thanks for ever. That is the way we should all see it. By nature we are in mourning. We wail and we are clothed in sackcloth or at least we ought to be. But God changes our situation. Through Christ, he gives us joy and makes us dance. He intends that we should sing from our hearts and not be silent about what he has done. We should say with the same determination as David did O LORD my God, I will give you thanks for ever. It is undoubtedly how Christ himself speaks.

Psalm 29:3 God's Voice

Psalm 29:3 The voice of the LORD is over the waters; the God of glory thunders, the LORD thunders over the mighty waters.

 

Psalm 29, A psalm of David, must have been written during a tremendous thunder storm or reflecting on one anyway. David speaks six times in the psalm about The voice of the LORD (interestingly the LORD is named in almost every verse of the psalm, often twice in one verse - 18 references altogether in just 11 verses!). This voice of the LORD is clearly thunder as it is over the waters and is described as the God of glory thundering, the LORD thundering over the mighty waters. It is a powerful voice, a majestic voice. It breaks the cedars and makes mountains skip. It also strikes with flashes of lightning, shakes the desert and twists the oaks and strips the forests bare. It causes all in God's temple, the priests and Levites, to cry, Glory! So when children ask the question about thunder "Is that God?" we need to be very careful how we answer. Our instinct may be to say "No" but that is only a partial answer. The real answer is "yes and no" for although we know that the actual sound comes from rapid air expansion around a thunderbolt, it is in fact God who is behind the phenomenon and so thunder is, in a sense, his voice. We should not be afraid of thunder but recognise it as God speaking to us. In a thunder storm he shows that he is ruling over the waters even the mighty waters and so we must give him the glory due to his name. When we do so, the Lord will strengthen us and bless us with peace whatever storms may come upon us.

Psalm 28:7 Helped, Thankful

Psalm 28:7 The LORD is my strength and my shield; my heart trusts in him, and I am helped. My heart leaps for joy and I will give thanks to him in song.

 

Psalm 28 appears to divide between David's prayer for mercy (To you I call, O LORD my Rock; do not turn a deaf ear to me. For if you remain silent, I shall be like those who have gone down to the pit, etc. See verses 1-5) and his joyful praise that God has heard him (Praise be to the LORD, for he has heard my cry for mercy, etc. See verses 6-8) with a final prayer (verse 9) Save your people and bless your inheritance; be their shepherd and carry them for ever. Here we focus on verse 7, from the praise part of the psalm. David says three main things. First, he declares that The LORD is my strength and my shield - God is the one who gives him the power to go on and who protects him from his enemies. Then, for his part, David trusts with his heart in this Divine Strengthener and Protector and he is helped. In reaction to this help received from God, finally, David says his believing heart leaps for joy and he is determined to give thanks to him in song as a response to such help. There are three phases then. First, there is God strengthening and protecting, then there is David trusting in him and so finding help. Finally, David responds to this with joy and with a song of thanksgiving. This pattern ought to be regularly and repeatedly lived out in the lives of believers - first the Lord at work, then us trusting in him and responding to his help with joyful praise. God always strengthens and protects but too often we fail to trust or having trusted and been helped we fail to give thanks as we should.

Psalm 27:4 One thing

Psalm 27:4 One thing I ask of the LORD, this is what I seek: that I may dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life, to gaze upon the beauty of the LORD and to seek him in his temple.

In Psalm 27 David is again under attack from his enemies but he is again confident in the LORD, his salvation and stronghold, and so he refuses to be afraid. Even in the face of a whole army, even though forsaken by those nearest to him, he is confident that the LORD will show him goodness and so he looks to the LORD and he waits patiently. What David does is what we all ought to do. In verse 4 he says that his desire can really be summed up as wanting only one thing. What is it? That I may dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life, to gaze upon the beauty of the LORD and to seek him in his temple. This is a very Old Testament way of putting it, of course. Presumably David does not have access to the Tabernacle at this point and so the desire is greater. He longs, however, to be there and to gaze on the LORD's beauty and to seek his face. The new covenant believer has a similar desire - to dwell in God's presence all the days of his life, to gaze upon the beauty of the LORD as seen in the Word of God and to seek Christ in heaven. It is the only wise course. There is no other way to victory. Something in David prompts him to seek God, as it does in all of us who believe, and so we must be determined to seek him. Pray that God will not turn you away. Patiently learn of him and wait upon him to act when he chooses.

Psalm 26:8 Your House

Psalm 26:8 I love the house where you live, O LORD, the place where your glory dwells.

In Psalm 26 David makes his strongest pleas of innocence yet and in contrast to places where he confesses his sins. It can surely only be understood in the first instance in terms of innocence over a particular issue. The further messianic nature of the psalm is obvious. It is a plea then for vindication. In proclaiming his innocence, David says that he has led and leads a blameless life (1, 11) and has trusted in the LORD without wavering. God's love is ever before me, he says and I walk continually in your truth, not sitting with deceitful men or consorting with hypocrites. He abhors the assembly of evildoers and refuses to sit with the wicked. A holy man, he proclaims aloud God's praise and tells of all your wonderful deeds. In verse 8 he says, quite unaffectedly, that he loves the house where the LORD lives, the place where your glory dwells. He has in mind the Tabernacle, of course, which pointed to heaven and to the Christ who would come from there. It is a key part of his godliness not to be overlooked. On this basis, then, he prays that God will not take away his soul along with sinners, my life with bloodthirsty men. He wants to be redeemed and to know mercy and is confident he will know it. So, a blameless walk, unwavering trust, truthfulness, separation from sinners, clean hands, love for Christ, praise, witness - these are characteristic of a man walking with God. So often we fail in these things - we are blameworthy, faithless, dishonest, worldly, impure, lacking love to Christ and slow to praise and witness. We must turn from such ways and look always to Christ.

Psalm 25:14 Covenant Fear

Psalm 25:14 The LORD confides in those who fear him; he makes his covenant known to them.

 

With Psalm 25 David takes us back to some of the themes that have dominated so far. He begins by entrusting himself again to the LORD, asking that he will not be put to shame and that his enemies will not triumph over him. He is confident that hope in God is the key and that those who lack it will be judged. However, he is not complacent but wants to know God's truth and asks to be remembered. Although in previous psalms he has spoken of his own righteousness, here he clearly relies on God's mercy, saying (7) Remember not the sins of my youth and my rebellious ways; according to your love remember me, for you are good, O LORD. He sees the fear of the LORD as being a further key to success and in the remainder of the psalm he continues to express his confidence in the LORD and to pray for release. Verse 14 is a statement rather than a prayer and a striking one at that. The parallel statements say that The LORD confides in those who fear him and that he makes his covenant known to them. The latter idea of God making covenant is a great theme in Scripture. David, like Abraham and Jacob and others, were in covenant (ie a solemn and binding relationship) with God, as were the Israelites as a body. This is the position of all New Covenant believers. It can be thought of as being in God's confidence or friendship (ESV). The KJV rightly translates The secret of the LORD is with them that fear him. The fear, of course, is not and cannot contextually be cringing or servile fear but is like that of son to father, friend with friend. May we know it always.

Psalm 24:1, 2 The LORD's

Psalm 24:1, 2 The earth is the LORD's, and everything in it, the world, and all who live in it; for he founded it upon the seas and established it upon the waters.

Again Of David and A psalm, Psalm 24 begins by asserting that The earth is the LORD's, and everything in it, the world, and all who live in it; for he founded it upon the seas and established it upon the waters. First, the earth itself, then everything in it (the trees and birds and animals) and all who live in it, including we human beings, belong to God. He is the owner and the master of it all. This follows on from the fact that he founded it upon the seas and established it upon the waters. If you are the author of a work, the founder of something, the one who establishes a thing, then you are in a unique position. You have certain inalienable rights that belong to no-one else. This is one reason hy the doctrine of creation is so often and so vehementy under attack. If it can be established that God did not found the earth on the seas or establish it on the waters, if some other explanation can be given, then there is a question mark over whether the earth really is the LORD's. Clearly, if we take the Bible's view then it is just that. It is his. He is free to do with it as he wishes. This affects our attitude to God himself. It also means that with regard to the earth, we are going to enjoy it and respect it and care for it with a different attitude to the one that may exist if we deny this truth. Paul quotes from the verse (1 Corinthians 10:26) when he is talking about meat sacrificed to idols and what to do about it. It is on the basis of this statment that he says (10:25) Eat anything sold in the meat market without raising questions of conscience. Similar conclusions can be drawn with regard to music and other aspects of culture, no doubt.

Psalm 23:1 My Shepherd

Psalm 23:1 The LORD is my shepherd, I shall not be in want.

Psalm 23 is the most famous of all the psalms and the first verse of the psalm is probably one of the most famous verses in the Bible. What David says in the verse is very simple and yet, at the same time, very profound. First, he makes a statement and then he draws a conclusion from that statement. The statement is that the LORD, that is the true God who created the world and who rules over his people and who would in due time send the Messiah, is his shepherd. David was a shepherd and he knew all about the work involved. Like Jacob before him (in Genesis 48:15 he speaks of the God before whom my fathers Abraham and Isaac walked, the God who has been my shepherd all my life to this day) he saw that God was like a shepherd - one who leads and feeds and guards his sheep all the way. This Shepherd God, David says, is my shepherd. God is his Lord and he belongs to him and is committed to him. This leads to the obvious and encouraging conclusion - I shall not be in want. How could he be in want with such a shepherd as this? David's sheep were not in want and so why would he be in want with the LORD as his shepherd? We too must take the LORD for our Shepherd and take comfort in the assurance that such a fact gives. Whatever it is that we need (need not want) we can be sure that the LORD will provide it. We will not be in want.

Psalm 22:10 My God

Psalm 22:10 From birth I was cast upon you; from my mother's womb you have been my God.

Psalm 22 is a famous messianic psalm. Jesus quoted the first verse from it while dying on the cross. It is one of the seven things he said at that crucial moment in history. It is suggested that he may have recited the whole psalm. Certainly we can say that it was in his mind as he hung there atoning for the sins of his people. Some of the verses are particularly prophetic and applicable (eg 7, 8; 12-18, etc). The psalm has an alternating pattern, switching from negative to positive or rather from expressions of anguish to expressions of praise and gladness that eventually win through. There are seven sections - 1, 2; 3-5; 6-8; 9-11;12-18; 19-21; 22-31. If we focus just on verses 9-11 we see that David begins by answering his own anguish by saying to God the Father (9) Yet you brought me out of the womb; you made me trust in you even at my mother's breast and also prays (11) Do not be far from me, for trouble is near and there is no-one to help. If we narrow to verse 10, we see that it uses Hebrew parallelism. The statements From birth I was cast upon you and from my mother's womb you have been my God are virtually the same in meaning though the second statement extends the period of time in view a little and is a more personal expression. What was true of David is true of all to some extent, especially of believers and even more so in the case of those brought up in believing homes. It is supremely so of the Lord Jesus Christ who knew always God the Father's providential care and indeed trusted in him from childhood. No doubt, this thought was  a comfort to our Saviour as he hung in agony on the cross securing salvation for his people.

Psalm 21:7 Faith, Hope

Psalm 21:7 For the king trusts in the LORD; through the unfailing love of the Most High he will not be shaken.

Psalm 21 is a Psalm of thanks and praise that can roughly be divided into two. In the first half of the psalm (in verses 1-7) the author, David, is full of thankfulness for past blessings from God. In the second half (in verses 8-13) he is looking to the future and expresses the hope of further blessing from the same source. The hinge then is verse 7, which says, firstly, that the reason for past blessings on David is that he the king trusts in the LORD. It is like verse 1 - O LORD, the king rejoices in your strength. How great is his joy in the victories you give! If we trust in the LORD, rejoicing in him, then in Jesus Christ, who David anticipates, we can expect him to grant the desire of our hearts, the requests of our lips. He will certainly welcome us with rich blessings and place a crown of pure gold on our heads, as it were. He will give us long life and, in Christ, glory, splendour and majesty. Eternal blessings will be ours and the joy of his presence. All these will be ours in due time, if we live by faith. This means, secondly, that through the unfailing love of the Most High we will not be shaken. We can expect in the future victory over all our foes (the world, the flesh and the devil) and their ultimate overthrow at his hand. With such a prospect before us, we should be happy to say (13) Be exalted, O LORD, in your strength; we will sing and praise your might.

Psalm 20:7 Not chariots

Psalm 20:7 Some trust in chariots and some in horses, but we trust in the name of the LORD our God.

Psalm 20 is just a wonderful psalm full of prayers for the godly. Like other psalms in this part of the first book it is For the director of music. A psalm of David. It begins with a series of some six requests in verses 1-5 that follow the pattern in the NIV May the LORD .... or something similar. What he asks for is answers in distress; protection; help from the sanctuary and support from Zion; the rememberance and acceptance of all their sacrifices and burnt offerings and then, by way of summary, he says (4, 5) May he give you the desire of your heart and make all your plans succeed. We will shout for joy when you are victorious and will lift up our banners in the name of our God. May the LORD grant all your requests. He concludes the Psalm by saying that he is confident the LORD saves his anointed and answers him. This is the source of his assurance of answered prayer, which he expresses again before the final prayer - O LORD, save the king! Answer us when we call. Verse 7 is quite striking - Some trust in chariots and some in horses, but we trust in the name of the LORD our God. The context is going out to battle as David often had to. It was natural for kings then to put their confidence in the number of chariots or horses at their command just as men do now with tanks or assault helicopters. David contrasts that attitude with the attitude that says we trust in the name of the LORD our God. The clear implication is that this is the way forward and the only way that these patern prayers will be answered for us as for him.

Psalm 19:7 Revival, Wisdom

Psalm 19:7 The law of the LORD is perfect, reviving the soul; The statutes of the LORD are trustworthy, making wise the simple.

Psalm 19 (headed again For the director of music. A psalm of David.) is one of the best known of the psalms and understandably so. It divides easily into three or four parts. 1-6 - God's general revealion of himself, seen chiefly in creation (The heavens declare the glory of God, etc); 7-11 - God's special revelation, seen chiefly in Scripture (The law of the LORD is perfect, reviving the soul, and May the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart, etc.) Verse 7 introduces the first two of six patterned references to special revelation (The _____ of the LORD is ...). Law here is instruction and statutes reminds us of the binding nature of God's Word. David, says, firstly, that God's Law is perfect. There is a wholeness to it, a sufficiency. It is enough. Secondly, he draws attention to its trustworthiness. You can depend on the Word. It is, after all, from God himself. It is reliable. On the basis of this, David speaks of the power of the Word to revive the soul and to make the wise simple. We are often weak and weary at heart. We need spiritual refreshment. Such refreshment is found only in God and his Word. Similalrly, we lack spiritual wisdom. What spiritual simpletons we are at times. How can we be wise? Again, it is only God and his Word that can do it. Clearly, we need to be often in the Word seeking strength and wisdom and every other blessing from him.

Psalm 18:28 Sustainer, Transformer

Psalm 18:28 You, LORD, keep my lamp burning; my God turns my darkness into light.
Some of the psalms are quite lengthy meditations. Psalm 18 is the first of these. It comes after a series of psalms talking about struggles with enemies. The heading tells us it is for singing in the Temple (For the director of music) and Of David the servant of the LORD. It also gives the original context - He sang to the LORD the words of this song when the LORD delivered him from the hand of all his enemies and from the hand of Saul. That very statement gave hope that God's anointed would be delivered as he was and today gives hope that all God's servants will be delivered in due time. These themes are reflected in the psalm which is very messianic, speaking about Christ's righteousness and resurrection very clearly. There are many verses to meditate on. If we simply focus on verse 28 we see two things at least. First, God is the Sustainer of his anointed ones. You, LORD, keep my lamp burning. The reference is very ordinary in one sense, as when a lamp is lit no-one wants it to go out of its own accord. Further, in the Temple great care was taken that the lamps should never go out. Using that picture, David declares that the LORD has sustained him through all his troubles as he would Messiah and as he does all faithful servants. Altering the picture, secondly, David speaks of the LORD's power to transform situations. Looked at from another perspective, David has known much darkness and it is God who has turned that very dark period of his life into the light that followed. We can think even of Christ's sojourn on earth as darkness compared with the burning light of his subsequent resurrection and ascension. We too know times of relative darkness. It is God who transforms such times so that we virtually live again by his power.

Psalm 17:9 Safety, protection

Psalm 17:8, 9 Keep me as the apple of your eye; hide me in the shadow of your wings from the wicked who are out to destroy me, from my mortal enemies who surround me.

Psalm 17 is another prayer of David. Here David seeks God's face in the light of strong opposition from his enemies. Christ-like he pleads his righteousness and expresses strong confidence in the resurrection at the end (verse 15) As for me, I will be vindicated and will see your face; when I awake, I will be satisfied with seeing your likeness. If we focus just on verses 8 and 9 for the moment we can say a number of things. David prays that God will keep him as the apple of your eye. The idiom is different in Hebrew but the reference is to the delicate and sensitive centre of the eye, which we instinctively protect. The prayer is for a similar protection from harm for his soul. David asks to be hidden in the shadow of your wings - a favourite Old Testament picture - from the wicked who are out to destroy me, from my mortal enemies who surround me. Like Christ himself there are enemies on every hand for David but he runs to the Lord like a chick running to the mother hen. He knows he will be safe there. We are opposed by the Devil and the world and indeed our own sinful nature these days. We must seek to escape such assaults when we are surrounded, by praying to the Lord to keep us at the centre of his attention and to protect us from all harm. We can be sure that he will hear and in due time will show us his face so that when we awake, we will be satisfied with seeing his likeness. So let's commit ourselves to the Lord in prayer at all times.

Psalm 16:2 Master, Provider

Psalm 16:2 I say to the LORD, You are my Lord; apart from you I have no good thing.

Twice as long as the previous psalm but relatively short, Psalm 16 is the first headed A miktam of David. There are six miktams in the psalter altogether. We do not know the meaning of the word. Full of striking prayers and observations Psalm 16 is bursting with good things. It ends with verses (8-11) that are associated in the New Testament with Christ's resurrection. David says that he has set the LORD always before him. Because God is at his right hand, he shall not be shaken (see the end of Psalm 15). Therefore David's heart is glad and his tongue rejoices. He adds that his body also will rest secure, because you will not abandon me to the realm of the dead, nor will you let your faithful one see decay. You have made known to me the path of life; you will fill me with joy in your presence, with eternal pleasures at your right hand. Here we focus just on verse 2 - I said to the LORD, You are my Lord; apart from you I have no good thing. David, and ultimately Christ, says to the LORD two things. First, You are my Lord. The LORD is his Master, his head and king. God rules over him. His aim is to do only what the LORD commands. Then he says Apart from you I have no good thing. This is an acknowledgement of God's kindness and provision. The LORD is his Saviour and Provider, the source of all good. If we would only make the LORD our Lord and Saviour, our King and our Shepherd, our Master and Friend then how blessed we would be.

Psalm 15:5b Not moved

Psalm 15:5b Whoever  does these things will never be shaken.

Psalm 15, A psalm of David, is a very short psalm. It raises the vital question of who may dwell in the LORD's sanctuary or Temple, who is acceptable to God. The answer is (verse 2a) the one whose walk is blameless, who does what is righteous ,,,. That is defined more closely in the following verses, using some nine phrases, as someone who speaks the truth from their heart ... whose tongue utters no slander ... does a neighbour no wrong and casts no slur on others, who despises a vile man but honours those who fear the LORD, who keeps an oath even when it hurts, who lends money to the poor without interest, who does not accept a bribe against the innocent. It is the one who does these things who will never be shaken. Some four of the nine phrases have to do with speaking and remind us how important that aspect of holiness is. All of us have failed with our tongues, giving way to lies, slander, defamation and promise breaking to varying extents. We have also failed to love our neighbour as ourselves and to have the right attitude to sinners and saints. We may not have literally charged interest on a loan to a friend or accepted bribes but we have shown the same money pinching attitude to those near us and in need. We have no right then to enter God's presence and deserve to be shaken in the judgement. The only hope for us is to be in Christ, the one who kept the Law perfectly and spoke not a sinful word in all his life on earth. He alone can justify us before God the Father and take away our guilt. Look to him and seek to emulate his holiness from day to day.

Psalm 14:1 Incipient Atheism

Psalm 14:1 The fool says in his heart, There is no God. They are corrupt, their deeds are vile; there is no-one who does good.

For the director of music. Of David. Psalm 14 is the famous psalm about the fool that is more or less repeated in Psalm 53 (though with a little difference towards the end). It begins The fool says in his heart, There is no God. They are corrupt, their deeds are vile; there is no-one who does good. It goes on to describe the LORD looking down from heaven on people to see if any understand or seek God. But no, all are totally depraved. Such evil doers oppose God's people but the psalm ends on a positive note - but the LORD is their refuge. David then prays (verse 7) Oh, that salvation for Israel would come out of Zion! As he says When the LORD restores the fortunes of his people, God's people have reason to rejoice. The fool in Scripture is not someone who is of deficient mental capacity but someone who is morally reprehensible. He may say all sorts of things outwardly but in his heart, out of which comes the issues of life, he is denying God. That is why such people are corrupt, do vile things and are incapable of doing anything truly good. This is seen more obviously in some than others but is true of all in fact. Although all know that there is a God, they seek to suppress that truth, saying in their hearts that there is no God. This is at the root of his inward corruption that in turn leads to vile deeds and to being incapable of doing anything truly good. It is only when the gift of faith is given to a man so that he trusts in God and is renewed within that he is able to stop doing what is vile and is able to begin to do what is truly good and pleasing to God.

Psalm 13:6 Resolution, Recognition

Psalm 13:6 I will sing to the LORD, for he has been good to me.

Again in Psalm 13 we have a brief prayer (only six verses) For the director of music that is A psalm of David. Once again too David is in trouble from others and cries out to the Lord for help. The very existence of such psalms suggests that the LORD expects us often to be in such situations as believers. It is an encouragement to at least know the Lord knows. David's fear is that the LORD has forgotten him. How long must I wrestle with my thoughts and every day have sorrow in my heart? he asks (verse 2) How long will my enemy triumph over me? He longs for relief. However, he can still say that he trusts in God's unfailing love. Even in the midst of opposition his heart rejoices in his salvation. And so the How long? of the first four verses gives way to the concluding verse of resolution and recognition I will sing to the LORD, for he has been good to me. At all times, even in trouble, this must be the attitude of the believer, as it was no doubt the attitude of the Lord Jesus himself. There is resolution and recognition. Firstly, we must be resolved to sing and not merely to sing but to sing praise to the LORD. Secondly, we must recognise how very good he has been to us. It is the interaction of this twofold approach that will sustain us. If we forget God's goodness or fail to stir ourselves to sing his praise, we will be in danger of sinking. If, however, we show the resolution and recognition shown here, there is hope.  

Psalm 12:6 Flawless words

Psalm 12:6 And the words of the LORD are flawless, like silver refined in a furnace of clay, purified seven times.

Psalm 12 is again brief and For the director of music and not just "of David" but A psalm of David. Between those latter statements is the phrase According to sheminith which must be some sort of musical direction. David is again praying for help from God in the face of attacks from his enemies at a time when the godly are no more and the faithful have vanished from among men. There is much lying and boasting and rebellion but David prays that the LORD will cut off such lips. He pictures the LORD reacting and coming to protect the weak and needy. In verse 7 he says confidently that the LORD will keep us safe and protect us from such people for ever. This confidence is tempered by the observation (8) that The wicked freely strut about when what is vile is honoured among men. Nevertheless, he is sure that the LORD is faithful. When the LORD says he will arise, he will arise. The root of this confidence is revealed in verse 6. It is to do with the quality of the Word of God. When the LORD says he will do something, he really will because his words are indeed flawless and totally reliable. David uses a picture to reinforce how confident he is in the Word of God. It is like silver, very precious, and the very best silver. The silver has been refined in a furnace of clay. It has been purified seven times over, seven being the number of completeness. Do we have a similar confidence in God's Word? We really can trust it without a doubt. That means that we can be confident about the future, therefore. The LORD will keep us and protect us and all his promises can be trusted. Success is a matter only of trusting what God says despite the opposition from the world, the flesh and the devil.

Psalm 11:4 Omnipotent, Omniscient

Psalm 11:4 The LORD is in his holy temple; the LORD is on his heavenly throne. He observes the sons of men; his eyes examine them.

With Psalm 11 we are back to shorter psalms as at the begnning of the psalter. Psalm 11 is For the director of music and is Of David. David is again under pressure from his enemies who mock him. It appears to be these enemies who mock him and ask (3) When the foundations are being destroyed, what can the righteous do? In other words, in times of trouble what is the point in being righteous? What advantage is there in that? David's answer comes in verse 4, which tells us at least two things about God. Firstly, it says that The LORD is in his holy temple; the LORD is on his heavenly throne. That is to say that God is sovereign or omnipotent. He rules. He is Lord over all things. Nothing happens except by his will. The second thing is that He observes the sons of men; his eyes examine them. This reminds us that God is also omniscient or all knowing. The implication is that the righteous will not be forgotten and the wicked will be judged. God has both the power to judge and the knowledge to do so. Sometimes we forget this and either panic because the foundations appear to be disappearing or we try and live as though God does not see or know or cannot deal with us. Rather, we should always remember that he is on the throne and that he is watching us, seeing all that we do and all that is done to us. Our lives are in God's hands and he is watching over us.

Psalm 10:17, 18 God Hears

Psalm 10:17, 18 You hear, O LORD, the desire of the afflicted; you encourage them, and you listen to their cry, defending the fatherless and the oppressed, in order that man, who is of the earth, may terrify no more.

Psalm 10 follows on from Psalm 9 and could possibly have been part of the same psalm at one time. In the psalm there is a description of the wicked - their arrogance, their boasting, their blessing of the greedy and reviling of the LORD, etc, etc. The wicked think to themselves that God has forgotten; he covers his face and never sees but the psalmist is praying for justice. What gives him confidence about this is the final consideration at the end of the psalm concerning the afflicted - people like himself. He is sure (and being inspired he must be right) that the LORD hears the desire of such people and encourages them. He listens to their cry. Indeed, one of his characteristics is to defend the fatherless and the oppressed. In other words, the very things that we instinctively think are to our disadvantage do actually serve to put us in an advantageous position. Such people know the LORD's encouragement and protection. He hears their cries. All this is in order that man, who is of the earth, may terrify no more. God is not willing to leave the needy to the mercy of the strongest and most influential of the earth who so often take advantage of their position and power to oppress the weak. These verses are an encouragement then to all who are in trouble and need and a warning to those who rely on themselves instead of on him. As it is sometimes put, one plus God is a majority.

Psalm 9:17, 18 Destroyed, Remembered

Psalm 9:17, 18 The wicked return to the grave, all the nations that forget God. But the needy will not always be forgotten, nor the hope of the afflicted ever perish.

Psalm 9 is the longest psalm thus far. It is headed For the director of music. To the tune of The Death of the Son. A psalm of David. It is a psalm of praise for deliverance and looks to further judgements from God on the wicked. Verses 17 and 18 begin a four verse coda that culminates in a prayer for the LORD to arise and judge the nations, not letting man triumph. Strike them with terror, O LORD he says (verse 20) let the nations know they are but men. Those first two verses (17, 18) encapsulate to some extent the psalm's theme. Again it is in two parts, negative and positive. Verse 17 declares that The wicked return to the grave, not just individuals but all the nations that forget God. This is the destiny of those who break God's law and who seek to live their lives without him. Death and destruction marks their way, whatever advantage they may now seem to have. In contrast, David says in verse 18, But the needy will not always be forgotten, nor the hope of the afflicted ever perish. There is no suggestion that the godly poor and afflicted will always have it easy, as some today suggest is the case. However, they will not be ultimately forgotten. They will always have a hope that can never die, one that will be fulfilled. There is a double encouragement here then for the oppressed who make God their refuge and stronghold in times of trouble (see verse 9). Their enemies will eventually die and they themselves will be redeemed forever. God will remember them and fulfil their hope.

Psalm 8:5 Lowered, Crowned

Psalm 8:5 You made him a little lower than the heavenly beings and crowned him with glory and honour.

Psalm 8 is headed For the director of music. According to gittith. A psalm of David. It is a well known psalm quoted in the New Testament (in Hebrews 2) as a messianic psalm, presumably on the basis that Messiah is the archetypal man who restores mankind to its original role and status. On this basis verse 5 refers very clearly not only to man's creation and blessing but also to Christ's two main states. On the one hand there is his state of humiliation - You made him a little lower than the heavenly beings. On the other, there is his state of exaltation - and crowned him with glory and honour. Those who are in Christ share in his humiliation and exaltation. Now in this present age they are like all men a little lower than the heavenly beings but one day in him they too will be crowned with glory and honour. This is the privilege of all who put their faith in Jesus Christ. In the New Testament the writer to the Hebrews says that we do not yet see everything under his feet (as in verse 6) which is true. We will see it one day, however. Although this was the purpose of the original creation, we do not see everything under our feet in this creation but just as his exaltation is certain and his dominion increasing so in him the future is certain for all his own too.

Psalm 7:9 Righteous God

Psalm 7:9 O righteous God, who searches minds and hearts, bring to an end the violence of the wicked and make the righteous secure.

With Psalm 7 we again get some pointers to context as the psalm is A shiggaion (whatever that may be) of David, which he sang to the LORD concerning Cush, a Benjamite. However, it is not possible to link it definitely to any known event in the life of David recorded in Scripture. The psalm is a plea for justice in the face of slander and speaks much of God's justice and judgement. Its messianic element is quite clear. Verse 9 is very much an epitomising verse. David addresses the righteous God, the God who is just and holy. He refers to him as the one who searches minds and hearts - mere outward righteous will never be enough for him. (All this comes after the prayer in the original). The prayer to this God is that he will do two things, one negative and one positive. First, that he will bring to an end the violence of the wicked. We can think of that violence, by way of application, on many fronts - international wars, civil wars, crime on the streets, persecution of Christians, strife in families and churches, personal injuries. Only God can bring such violence to an end - temporarily now and then ultimately forever. The second prayer is that God will establish or make the righteous secure. May they not be ruined but may they prosper. This should be the bent of our prayers too - praying for the establishment of the righteous and the bringing down of the wicked. God is righteous and will hear such prayers.

Psalm 6:1 Be merciful

Psalm 6:1 O LORD, do not rebuke me in your anger or discipline me in your wrath.

Psalm 6 is For the director of music again and this time With stringed instruments. It is also According to sheminith, a musical direction that we do not know the exact meaning of. It is another psalm of David, context unknown, although it would fit very well as the next in a sequence all to do with the Absalom story. David is again very much aware of his enemies and is praying for God's mercy and deliverance from his situation which is going on longer than he feels he can bear. Of course, the very lack of exact reference universalises the plea to all God's servants (as David clearly intended) and no doubt gives us an insight into the suffering that Christ himself knew on earth and how he dealt with it. The opening verse is a prayer to pray in trouble. Troubles inevitably bring to mind our sins and certainly if God chooses to rebuke us for our sins or discipline us in wrath through trouble then we have an unenviable situation. We should pray therefore that he will not treat us as we deserve but forbear to be angry and show mercy. We have no argument for this but our own weakness and his great kindness. Many can testify that is how they have been treated, whether they prayed for it very earnestly or not. Christ, on the other hand, knew God's wrath even though there was no sin but the sin of his people.

Psalm 5:7 Merciful Entrance

Psalm 5:7 But I, by your great love, can come into your house; in reverence I bow down toward your holy temple. 

Slightly longer than the four psalms so far, Psalm 5 is again For the director of music but this time For flutes (perhaps those used in lamentation) and is again A psalm of David, though there is no detail of when it was written. In verse 3 he does say In the morning, LORD, you hear my voice; in the morning I lay my requests before you and wait expectantly. which brings us to another morning - the next day after the previous psalms? Like Psalm 1. Psalm 5 contrasts the blessed and the wicked but this time with much more emphasis on the wicked - who cannot dwell with God, who is not pleased with wickedness. The arrogant cannot stand in his presence; he hates all who do wrong. Their arrogance, lies and bloodthirst are their downfall and David prays that God will Declare them guilty and Let their intrigues be their downfall. Banish them for their many sins, he says for they have rebelled against you. Meanwhile, he prays God's blessing on the righteous. In verse 7 he contrasts himself with the wicked who oppose him - But I, by your great love, can come into your house; in reverence I bow down toward your holy temple.  Here in the Old Testament context, he has in mind the Temple or Tabernacle but the application to heaven itself is not difficult to see. It is important to note that although holiness is essential yet it is by your great mercy that David expects such the blessing of an encounter in the Temple. This is the great longing of the righteous then and what leads them into righteousness despite the often virulent opposition that the wicked show towards them.

Psalm 4:8 Peaceful Sleep

Psalm 4:8 In peace I will lie down and sleep, for you alone, LORD, make me dwell in safety.

Like the previous psalm, Psalm 4 also has a heading (the ratio of headings to no heading is around 116 to 34). This is the first psalm that has the heading For the director of music. There are some 55 with that heading altogether. The heading suggests that though the psalm will have been written out of personal circumstances it has been prepared for corporate singing. This one (like seven others) is With stringed instruments. It is again A psalm of David. It appears to be from the same period as Psalm 3. It again begins with prayer (verse 1). This psalm also speaks directly to men (verses 2-6a). David turns to God again at the end of the psalm (6b-8) with prayer (Let the light of your face shine on us) and with expressions of thankfulness and confidence. The final verse is very much like the one we highlighted previously from Psalm 3:5. This time, however, the focus is a future one - not I lay down and sleep but In peace I will lie down and sleep. This is what makes people think of Psalm 4 as an evening prayer. The two psalms could have been composed on the very same day - one in the morning and one in the evening. The reason for confidence, as before, is the LORD - for you alone, LORD, make me dwell in safety. The reminder to put confidence in the LORD is what we need to hear and supports what David has been saying in the psalm - Offer fhs sacrifices kf the righteous and trust in the LORD (verse 5). However tough it gets, we can be sure of safety but only if we are looking to the LORD.

Psalm 3:5 Sustained Sleep

Psalm 3:5 I lie down and sleep; I wake again, because the LORD sustains me.

Psalm 3 is the first psalm with a heading. It reveals itself to be A psalm of David as about half the psalms prove to be labelled. It was written When he fled from his son Absalom after Absalom had rebelled and taken the kingship. You can read about this in 2 Samuel 15. The psalm is brief. It is a prayer. David begins with his troubles in the first two verses but soon gives many expressions of his great faith and confidence in God. The closing two verses contain two final prayers that bracket a final general statement of confidence in God (From the LORD comes deliverance). Because of verse 5 the psalm is considered a morning prayer. What David says there was particularly appropriate to him as the rebellion was so fierce that he genuinely had no idea whether he would even make it through the night alive. However, as he says, I lie down and sleep; I wake again, because the LORD sustains me. That is what made the difference. Morning by morning countless believers can say the same thing. I write this in the early morning and I have indeed lain down and slept. I have also awoken and now I want to acknowledge that it is because the LORD sustains me. That is how I came through. Without him, there would have been no laying down, no sleep and no wakening again either. And if I am going to come through anything, then it will only be because of him. So, although I am more aware of this when I am in trouble and tend perhaps to be more prayerful at such times, the truth is that every day I sleep and wake, it is only because of him and that very fact ought to prompt a multitude of prayers from me.

Psalm 2:12 Kiss Christ

Psalm 2:12 Kiss the Son or he will be angry and your way will lead to destruction, for his wrath can flare up in a moment. Blessed are all who take refuge in him.

Psalm 2 is a psalm questioning the folly of pagan kings and nations who oppose the rule of God's chosen king, David. Its climax is an exhortation to these Gentile kings to be wise and to take warning. They are urged to Serve the LORD the true and only God with fear and celebrate his rule with trembling. They must kiss the Son. The Son has been described as the LORD's Christ or anointed one, his King on Zion, the one who is his own Son and to whom the LORD has promised that he will break them with a rod of iron and that he will dash them to pieces like pottery. There must be a kiss of fealty and loyalty now, therefore, otherwise they will be ruined. Resistance is futile. All their plotting and conspiring will indeed prove to be vain. To face his anger, which can flare up in a moment, is to certainly be destroyed. The way to blessing is rather by taking refuge in God's anointed Son. What applies to David and his enemies to some extent in the past is true of David's greater Son and all peoples ultimately and completely. There must be that kiss of commitment. We must take refuge in him. To fail to do that is to court certain disaster. His wrath is something we must avoid. That kiss we know from elsewhere in Scripture is a matter of putting faith in Jesus Christ. Only by faith can we escape the wrath of the Lamb.

Psalm 1:2 Constant Meditation

Psalm 1:2 But whose delight is in the law of the LORD, and who meditates on his law day and night.

Psalm 1 famously contrasts the blessed person who is holy and the wicked who are not blessed at all. The blessed person is likened to a tree planted by streams of water, and the wicked to the chaff that the wind blows away. Their destinies are quite different. The key to the prosperity of the blessed man is revealed in verse 2. It all begins with what delights that person - whose delight is in the law of the LORD, that is, more narrowly, God's commands and, more broadly, God's Word found in the Scriptures. It is what is in the Bible that excites him or her and stirs them and gives them joy. Further, they meditate on that law. They ruminate on the content of the Word. They let it go over and over in their minds. This they do day and night, that is all the time. At any time of the night or day, they are to be found thinking long and hard on some part or other of God's word. Perhaps that reveals what the Psalms really are - a series of meditations on the Word. Certainly they aid us in this task and are to be meditated over anyway as they are part of the Word of God. Put your roots down deep into the Word. That is the way to be godly. Avoid the random and unfocused attitude of the chaff-like wicked. It is as we think over the Word day and night that we get our roots down into good soil and so grow in grace. This is how Jesus himself became the Blessed one we read of in Psalm 1.

Psalm 150:1 Praise Everywhere

Psalm 150:1 Praise the LORD. Praise God in his sanctuary; praise him in his mighty heavens.

The whole psalter is rounded off by this famous brief and ebullient psalm of praise. The psalm not only begins with hallelujahs but speaks of praise throughout. The word praise appears some 12 times, twice in every verse. After the opening Praise the LORD the call is to Praise God both in his sanctuary and in his mighty heavens. Time is to be set aside to praise God where his people gather but praise is to extend out into the whole world. He is to be praised for his acts of power and his surpassing greatness. The psalmist calls for a variety of instruments to be used in the praise of God. He mentions the sounding of the trumpet ... the harp and lyre ... tambourine and dancing ... strings and flute ... the clash of cymbals ... resounding cymbals. Some want to bring this sort of thing back into worship today. Mostly it is strings and flutes, there is less enthusiasm for trumpets and harps and even less for dancing and loud cymbals. In fact, New Testament worship is to be of a very simple sort and what verses like this teach us today is the continuing need for variety of expression rather than dictating that we use only trumpets, harps and lyres, tambourines, strings and flutes and cymbals but not snare drums or tom toms. It would be very hard to argue for dancing as a New Testament worship practice. His final point is that everything that has breath should praise the LORD. That is how it should be and how it must be and how, one day, it will be.