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.