Psalm 95

Today, a very personal Psalm 95, a psalm that Carol and I treasure. A singer/songwriter/evangelist/pastor/author friend of ours put this psalm to music. He and his wife were the leaders and hosts of the Bible Study where Carol and I met. Later he sang at our wedding. Of all his music, I think we treasure Psalm 95 the most.

We continue the Kingship of our Lord that we began a few days ago. He is King of all creation (see vv. 3-5). He is also our personal King: For He is our God, and we are the people of His pasture, and the sheep of His hand. (v. 7a)

To me this Psalm is a great gathering song for our Eucharistic celebration this morning: Oh come, let us sing to the LORD … Let us come into His presence with thanksgiving; let us make a joyful noise to Him with songs of praise! (vv. 1-2) and Oh come, let us worship and bow down; let us kneel before the LORD, our Maker! (v. 6) Come. Worship. Bow down. Kneel. And SING!! Glory!!

Psalm 94:16-23

Today, the personal side of Psalm 94.

If the Lord had not been my help… (v. 17a). Finish the sentence, folks. Was there a time when you were facing a major problem, where the end result did not look promising, but you (and others) prayed and the Lord delivered you? I can think of one, in particular, in my life. How about you?

When my anxious thoughts multiply within me… (v 19a) The key word here, for me, is “multiply”. When we are troubled by one thing or two things, that’s pretty normal. But when those issues multiply, it can become a lot more fretful. I used to think of students as having three lives – academic, financial, and social/personal. When they came to me for academic help, I could often sense that they had further problems. Then if I asked and they opened up, their academic problems diminished somewhat, knowing that they had an adult authority figure who would actually listen to their problems. We have the ultimate Authority Figure, who desires that we open up to Him. He does not want our anxious thoughts to burden us.

Psalm 94:1-15

We have read most of these psalms of late in their entirety, even though they might be a bit longer than our average of thirteen verses per day. Today’s Psalm 94, however, is justifiably split, not only because of length, but also because of content. In today’s first fifteen verses the psalmist is speaking very generally, seeing evildoers acting upon individuals (the widow…, the sojourner…, the fatherless… in v. 6) and against the nation (Your people, O LORD…, Your heritage…, His people…, His heritage…, vv. 5, 14). In tomorrow’s reading (the rest of this psalm) the psalmist gets more personal, speaking in first-person words (me, I, my). Very different perspectives in these two days’ readings.

Today I see the Lord, the King as judge, specifically in verse 2 (Rise up, O Judge of the earth…) but also implied through the writer’s chastisement against the wicked (vv. 3-11) and his call to justice in verse 15. The verse that spoke to me today probably speaks to a number of you: He who planted the ear, does He not hear? He who formed the eye, does He not see? (v. 9) It’s God’s hand in creation, not simply from the beginning of time and His creation of our natural order, but also His hand in the formation and birth of every human being. He formed MY ears and MY eyes in my mother’s womb – His personal hand on MY creation! And His continual watch over all that I am and all that I do. For ME and for all of YOU! He is a mighty, all-powerful God – but let Him also be personal to you.

Verse 1: The Lord reigns. (ESV) The Lord is king. (NLT)

Psalm 93 begins a series of eight psalms extolling the Lord as king. Today He is king of all creation, eternal, from everlasting, …established from of old. (v. 2) Yet we, mere dots in this grand scheme, are loved by Him with a depth of love that we will never fathom. Ponder that.

Psalm 92

…to declare Your steadfast love in the morning, and Your faithfulness by night… (v. 2) What the psalmist is saying is such a simple thing. When we wake up in the morning, we recognize that God loves us – completely, eternally, for nothing that we have done – simple steadfast love. Then when we go to bed at night we ponder the day and look for His many acts of faithfulness; where would we be without the Lord in our lives? From the beauty in the flowers and trees and clouds around us to His work in our lives – these things that we have come to know as “glory sightings”. At St. Andrew’s our reports of glory sightings have come to be the big things that we’ve seen – healings, miracles, answers to prayer – but there is every bit as much glory in everything big and small around us. Love in the morning, faithfulness by night. It’s a good pattern to follow!

Psalm 91

God: When he calls to Me, I will answer him… (v. 15a)

Again: Call to Me and I will answer you, and will tell you great and hidden things that you have not known. (Jeremiah 33:3) I heard once that “Jeremiah333” was God’s telephone number. Now I see that “Psalm9115” also works!

Psalm 90

One of my Study Bibles calls today’s Psalm 90 a lament. I see it more as a reflection. If the psalmist is Moses as the header suggests it seems like he is reflecting on his life, possibly near the end of his life as the Israelites are nearing the Promised Land. He sees his life as but a blink in time (vv. 3-6), no more than a blade of grass to the Lord. But he also sees his life from his own perspective (vv. 9-10, 12), viewing his life as “…toil and trouble…”. But I get the sense that he also wants to make something of his days, of his earthly life: So teach us to number our days that we may get a heart of wisdom. (v. 12) His tone changes dramatically in verse 14 as he seeks joy in the life that he is living: Make us glad for as many days as You have afflicted us… (v. 15a), and he recognizes the value of whatever work he is doing – establish the work of our hands (twice repeated in verse 17).

With it all he recognizes God’s sovereignty, both His wrath (vv. 7-8) and His glory (vv. 16-17). All in all, a good reflection for us also as we move into our own advanced years, hitting my own age perfectly: The years of our life are seventy, or even by reason of strength eighty… (v. 10a). Now, on to my “work”…

Psalm 89:46-52

In today’s reading the psalmist softens his words substantially from yesterday’s diatribe. He begins very pleadingly, How long, O Lord? Will You hide Yourself forever? (v. 46a), but in the next half-verse he is back to charging God for His wrath. In verse 49 he links back to our readings from the last three days: Lord, where is Your steadfast love of old, which by Your faithfulness You swore to David? To me this is the key verse in the entire Psalm.

I’m intrigued at how the psalmist claims that he is receiving mockery and insults (vv. 50-51), seemingly because of his trust in God. At least that’s how I read it, in that he maintains that these insults come from “…Your enemies…” (v. 51a). I was trying to remember if anyone had ever scorned my faith and I can remember only three instances. Sadly, all of these came from family members. Such a sad reality…

Psalm 89:38-45

Two days ago we saw the psalmist praising God for His creation, for His power, for His righteousness and justice. Then yesterday the psalmist recounted God’s covenant with David: My faithfulness and My steadfast love shall be with him, and in My name shall his horn be exalted. (v. 24) But today the psalmist turns everything that he said earlier upside-down, leveling a host of serious charges against God for what He has done. In today’s eight verses, the psalmist uses a direct challenge, “You have…” thirteen times, each of these charging God with an abandonment of His promises to David and His descendants. It is a harsh denouncement.

I truly wonder how God receives a blast like this, when the psalmist gets angry with Him for what he imagines that God has done. Or maybe make it more personal – have we ever gotten angry with God, yelled at Him in our frustration for His failing to act on our behalf? Does He continue to look at us with that deep, deep love that we cannot measure or even imagine?

We’ll see the psalmist softening tomorrow. But for today his about-face from the previous two days is striking!!

Psalm 89:19-37

So I will establish his descendants forever and his throne as the days of heaven. (v. 29)

His descendants shall endure forever… (v. 36a)

I see these verses fulfilled in Jesus, with His church as His forever descendants. That’s us, folks!!