Psalm 149

Yesterday’s Psalm 148 was all about praise. I didn’t see that I could add much to what the psalmist had already said. I expected today to be more of the same, since we were now at the penultimate psalm in the five closing “Hallelujah” psalms. And sure enough, the psalmist does not disappoint – it’s all of Israel praising the Lord, highlighted by verse 6a: Let the high praises of God be in their throats… Then, surprisingly to me, the psalmist calls forth revenge, retribution, punishment on Israel’s neighbors, beginning with the very next half-verse: …and two-edged swords in their hands, to execute vengeance on the nations and punishments on the peoples, to bind their kings with chains and their nobles with fetters of iron, to execute on them the judgment written! (vv. 6b-10a) What a shock to go from Israel’s praise to God to her vengeance on her enemies!! Put half-verses 6a and 6b together and capture the full flavor of the change in tone: Let the high praises of God be in their throats and two-edged swords in their hands, (v. 6) Quite a change, eh?!!

Might this describe you or me in any way, large or small? In the midst of some success in our lives, do we look back on those who had earlier stood in the way of a raise or a promotion or some other “victory”? Do we then gloat over our success and cast aspersions back to those “enemies”. I’ve had two major occasions for that, major “defeats” in my life where a small number of people stood in the way of “success” in my future. And yes, there were a few people to blame and I was certainly bitter for a time. Even today a tiny edge of that bitterness remains for a few of those people. Thankfully, however, as God has redeemed those “defeats” and I’ve been able to move forward, I’ve looked back and felt sorry for those people who (I feel) were unjustified in creating those hardships in my life. It’s their problem, not mine. My call is to praise God, not to seek evil on what happened years before. And that’s how the psalmist ends today’s reading: Praise the LORD! (v. 10b) We (I) would do well to echo that call.

Psalm 148

Praise. Nothing more to say…

Psalm 147:12-20

Psalm 147, Day 2. He declares His word to Jacob, His statutes and rules to Israel. He has not dealt thus with any other nation; they do not know His rules. (vv. 19-20) “He has not dealt thus with any other nation…”. When the psalmist wrote these words, he was looking only at his nearby nations. He did not foresee Jesus’ ministry, or the apostles and Paul reaching out to the rest of the Mediterranean world, or the growth of Christianity over the next hundreds of years. We, too, now have His word … His statutes and rules …, and the entire world is better as a result of that growth in the distribution of God’s Law!

An aside on that verse: word, statutes and rules in verse 19 above, plus ordinances in the NASB. My main takeaway from the Psalms this year has been the synonyms in Psalm 119. And those various synonyms appear throughout the Psalms and even in the historical and prophetic writings. While there are certainly nuances in the original languages, if I translate them all as “His ways”, I know that I’m not too far off! 😊!

Psalm 147:1-11

Psalm 147, Day 1, the second of the five closing “Hallelujah” psalms.

The LORD lifts up the humble … His delight is not in the strength of the horse, nor His pleasure in the legs of a man, but the LORD takes pleasure in those who fear Him, in those who hope in His steadfast love. (vv. 6a, 10-11) It was sometime in years past that I first heard a “theology” that it’s not us doing anything, but it’s the Lord working through us – or some words to that effect. It’s not a theology that troubles me at all, but it’s one that I have a hard time fully embracing. I understand God’s grace, His care for us, His provision for our needs. And I understand that He has gifted each of us in special ways and that He delights in our use of those gifts to His glory. But then – is it us using those gifts, or Him working those gifts inside us bringing outcomes that glorify Him? I remain confused.

Beyond all that, I have some understanding of humility and I find myself less prideful of past accomplishments than I used to be. I am thankful to the Lord for giving me the ability to do whatever I do or whatever I’ve done in the past. And again I ask, was I doing anything or was it God at work inside me doing those things? The answer to that question doesn’t matter; it’s more an intellectual issue than a theological barrier. But I continue to wonder…!

Psalm 146

Yesterday’s Psalm 145 ended that strong set of ten psalms “of David”; today begins the Psalter closing with five “Hallelujah” psalms as we close out our own wondrous year.

It took me no time to choose a verse today: … a son of man … When his breath departs, he returns to the earth; on that very day his plans perish. (vv. 3-4) My younger brother, Dickie died sometime in the past few days. When he didn’t show up for Christmas dinner, another of my brothers went looking for him and found him in bed, unresponsive. He had dealt with prostate cancer and liver failure, so his death was not totally unexpected. Still, death comes harshly to those of us on this side of life.

Dickie was, by his own admission, an atheist. Carol and I talked extensively with him about God, about Jesus, about our own changed lives. Still, his forever question was, “Prove to me that God exists.” Sometime in the last few days he met Jesus, face-to-face. He now knows that God exists. We pray that he found need in his last few hours to ask the Lord to reveal Himself, to show him as He showed Moses, “I am Who I am” (Exodus 3:14). We can only hope that Jesus saw more faith in Dickie than we did, and that He had mercy on him.

If you have loved ones who don’t believe, don’t let up. The eternal cost is too great!

Psalm 145:8-21

Psalm 145, Day 2. The LORD is near to all who call on Him … He fulfills the desire of those who fear him; He also hears their cry and saves them. (vv. 18-19) When David wrote these words thousands of years ago, he had no idea that hundreds of years down the road the Lord would come very near to those who had called for Him those many years, that He would come in person, incarnate as that Baby in a manger Whom we celebrate this Christmas Day. Not knowing of this Jesus Incarnate, David would also not have known how this Baby would, in fact, fulfill desires, hear cries, and save His people. He would do all that in ways no one expected, all the while fulfilling prophecies thousands of years old. That Baby that we celebrate today, that Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace (Isaiah 9:6), that Baby is alive today, living in the hearts of those who know Him: The LORD is near to all who call on Him. That’s us!!

Psalm 145:1-7

Psalm 145, Day 1. The title says “A Psalm of Praise.” My Study Bible notes that this Psalm has the only occurrence of “praise” in the title, and that the name of the entire Book of Psalms, the “Psalter” gets its name as the plural of “praise”. My Study Bible has helped me quite a bit in reading through and understanding the Psalms. Again, here, the authors noted that all of Psalm 145 speaks praise to the Lord and tells of His acts and His virtues, His goodness and His greatness. That’s a better descriptor than I could have ever come up with!

What intrigues me today as I read through the entire Psalm is how the writer (David?) goes from 2^nd person to 3^rd person and back, again and again. All of today’s verses are 2^nd person, except for verse 3 in the 3^rd person. Then tomorrow verses 8 and 9 go back to 3^rd person, then again in 13b-14 before closing out this psalm in verses 17-21 in the 3^rd person. Then verses 10-12 and 15-16 are 2^nd person. Interesting.

One generation shall commend Your works to another, and shall declare Your mighty acts. (v. 4) It had been our plan (now possibly undone by the weather) to have all our children here together on Christmas afternoon and overnight, four kids and their spouses, together with our five grandkids. And it’s been interesting to watch the parents and Carol and me teaching about Jesus’ birth – with a real focus on Christmas being about the “Baby Jesus”, God’s great gift to the world. Truly playing out One generation shall commend Your works to another … and another … and another …!!

Psalm 144

Blessed are the people whose God is the LORD! (v. 15b) Although I cannot identify the source, I have heard it said that the USA has been particularly blessed by God because we have a history of being a Christian nation. I can’t say that I disagree with that statement and verse 15b supports that idea, but it can easily be argued that we have an awesome natural endowment for agriculture and for industry, in addition to being separated from other mighty nations by oceans on our east and on our west. Still we have been blessed. Which brings me to my main point – as we see our country more and more turning away from God, becoming a whole lot less “Christian”, what happens to that blessing for people whose God is NOT! the Lord. Whose god is wealth, money, power, … Are we looking at hard times ahead? I’d love to see an e-mail discussion on this verse and on our nation’s challenges ahead.

Psalm 143

Although I might have referred to today’s Psalm as another lament, my Study Bible notes that this Psalm is the last of seven penitential psalms in the early Christian liturgy, along with Psalms 6, 32, 38, 51, 102, 130. So we’ll go with that.

Hear my prayer, O LORD … In Your faithfulness answer me… Enter not into judgment with your servant, for no one living is righteous before You. (vv. 1-2) Clearly, as we read these verses, we call to mind Paul’s admonishment that “There is none righteous, not even one.” (Romans 3:10, NASB 1995) But what struck me was David’s two-fold plea, (1) that the Lord hear his prayer and (2) that he not be judged. That is, David is lifting his prayer to God in spite of what he knows are his own shortcomings. He doesn’t want God to ignore his prayer because of those shortcomings. David’s prayer for help is joined with his own general confession, his acknowledgement of his inability to stand before a just God.

Do we do that? No doubt, we are regularly seeking God’s intervention in our lives and for those we love. But do we begin those prayers with the knowledge that we are not worthy (except through Jesus) to even approach this most holy God? That has certainly not been my life pattern in the past. Maybe it’s time to begin anew?

Psalm 142

Today’s psalm reads very much like a lament. From back on March 24 when we were doing Psalm 31, one of my Study Bibles had listed all the elements of a lament. Here they are for Psalm 142:

• A cry for help (vv. 1-2)
• The psalmist’s situation (the title and vv. 3-4, 6b)
• Expression of confidence (v. 7)
• Protestation of innocence or prayer for vindication (vv. 6-7a)
• Grateful recognition for God’s help (v. 7b)

Naturally you might see those various elements in different verses than how I’ve listed them, but clearly all the elements are there.

So, to David’s lament – and to our own laments. David finds himself in a cave, hiding from Saul (see I Samuel 22:1; 24:3, 8), no doubt despairing of his own life (v. 6b), but all the while trusting in the Lord for his deliverance (v. 7). I doubt that many (or even any) of us have similar “cave” experiences, despairing of our own lives. If so, I’d love to hear about them. But what dawned on me this morning was Jesus’ time in a cave – for three days before He rose from the dead. He had not despaired for His own life; He gave it up willingly, in obedience to the Father’s will: “Not My will, but Yours be done.” Let that be our prayer, in all things, for every near-cave we may encounter!