Psalm 130 I wait for the LORD, my soul waits, and in His word I hope… (v. 5) While reading through Psalm 119 we had a number of e-mail and face-to-face discussions on those seven or eight synonyms for God’s “word”. Those discussions have stayed with me. My favorite synonym was “His ways”, so whenever …
Author Archives: Fred
December 5 / Psalm 129
Psalm 129 A very different psalm today. It’s all about Israel’s enemies and God’s consistent deliverance of Israel from those enemies (Ps. 129:4) – from Israel’s infancy (Ps. 129:1-2) through to her growth years. Although Israel has seen the Lord’s deliverance, the enemies remain. Is that a picture of our Christian culture today in the …
December 4 / Psalm 128
Psalm 128 Not a whole lot this morning, ahead of our RTB gathering after coffee hour. Family. The psalmist specifically mentions the wife (spouse), the children, and the grandchildren. Each is his/her own blessing! He uses the vine (fruit, wine) and the olive tree (oil, food, lubricant, wood) as metaphors of the blessedness of family …
December 3 / Psalm 127
Psalm 127 The header of today’s Psalm 127 includes the addition, “…of Solomon”. And the Psalm itself truly sounds like Solomon’s writings – proverbs not unlike the book of Proverbs! Ps. 127:2 speaks of an addiction that we have seen in Freedom Road: “workaholics” are addicted to work! And to what end? Verse 2 suggests …
December 2 / Psalm 126
Psalm 126 My NASB phone Bible labeled Psalm 126, “Thanksgiving for Return from Captivity”. The most obvious reference to a return from captivity is when the Israelites were released from their Babylonian Exile, sometime around 500 BC. As they returned to Jerusalem they would find that the Temple had been destroyed, likely not one stone …
December 1 / Psalm 125
Psalm 125 Back to Psalms, to close out our reading for the year. Continuing with the “Songs of Ascents” that began with Psalm 120 – psalms that the pilgrims sang or prayed as they journeyed to Jerusalem for the annual feasts. As we think back to these earlier psalms and even in these first two …
December 2022 Readings
Date Reading(s) Verses 01-Dec Psalm 125 5 02-Dec Psalm 126 6 03-Dec Psalm 127 5 04-Dec Psalm 128 6 05-Dec Psalm 129 8 06-Dec Psalm 130 8 07-Dec Psalm 131 3 08-Dec Psalm 132:1-10 10 09-Dec Psalm 132:11-18 8 10-Dec Psalm 133-134 6 11-Dec Psalm 135:1-12 12 12-Dec Psalm 135:13-21 9 13-Dec Psalm 136:1-12 12 …
November 2022 Readings
Date Reading(s) Verses 01-Nov Ecclesiastes 1:1-11 11 02-Nov Ecclesiastes 1:12-18 7 03-Nov Ecclesiastes 2:1-11 11 04-Nov Ecclesiastes 2:12-26 15 05-Nov Ecclesiastes 3:1-8 8 06-Nov Ecclesiastes 3:9-22 14 07-Nov Ecclesiastes 4 16 08-Nov Ecclesiastes 5:1-9 9 09-Nov Ecclesiastes 5:10-20 11 10-Nov Ecclesiastes 6 12 11-Nov Ecclesiastes 7:1-13 13 12-Nov Ecclesiastes 7:14-29 16 13-Nov Ecclesiastes 8:1-9 9 …
October 31 / Psalm 124
Psalm 124 Our fifth “Song of Ascents” and the last until December 1. The title also lists “of David”, but my Study Bible suggests that it only resembles a Davidic psalm and was probably written sometime after Israel returned from exile – escaped the snare, as it were (v. 7). There are three deliverances mentioned …
October 30 / Psalm 123
Psalm 123 The fourth of the “Songs of Ascents”. Psalm 123 reads more like a lament than a song of ascents! It’s got the psalmist’s situation (contempt of the proud, v. 4), his cry for help (v. 3), and an expression of confidence in Who the Lord is (v. 1). However, the Psalm is missing …