Psalm 80

First, a few clarifications. We should have no problem following the vine metaphor that the psalmist uses in verses 8 to 16 – Israel being transplanted from Egypt to the Promised Land and taking control of that entire area during David’s and Solomon’s reigns. So within that metaphor, the sea refers to the Mediterranean and the River, most likely to the Euphrates (v. 11).

Second, the three tribes mentioned – Ephraim, Benjamin, and Manasseh (v. 2) – are all Northern Kingdom tribes. In fact, they are the Northern Kingdom tribes that are most near to Jerusalem. Where the psalmist is praying for deliverance for them (stir up Your might and come to save us…, v. 2a), it may be that they are under attack by the Assyrians, who later would defeat them and carry them away into exile.

Verse 18a stuck out for me: Then we shall not turn back from You… I noticed this verse because the RSV translates it, …we will never turn back… “Never”, like “always” is seldom a good term for us to use in our conversations with the Lord. Unfortunately, we know that both the Northern Kingdom and the Southern Kingdom tribes regularly turned their backs on the Lord. And we are no different. We may strive for “never” or “always”, but chances are, we will never get there. Only God is “never” and “always”; He is eternally so! GLORY!

Happy August, y’all!! August??!! Already?? Yeah…

Psalm 79

The temple has been destroyed and Jerusalem is in ruins. The Israelites were taken into exile to Babylon in 587 BC; this psalm could very possibly have been written from Babylon during that exile.

A couple of items to note. There are a number of verses in this psalm where the writer calls for vengeance to be delivered to Israel’s enemies (vv. 6, 10, 12), but God did not answer that request. In fact, Babylon was never defeated by Israel; instead in a major reversal, the Israelites were allowed to return home peacefully during the time of Ezra and Nehemiah. God is not a god of revenge. As I said yesterday, He will act in His time.

Another verse; Do not remember against us our former iniquities… (v. 8a, ESV). The NASB translates “former iniquities” as “the iniquities of our forefathers”. That NASB translation is what struck me. The psalmist seems to be saying that he and his contemporaries are innocent, it was their ancestors who sinned and brought on this great desolation. No doubt we can learn from both translations. We have inherited the benefits and the costs from those who have gone before us, but we are also responsible for all that we have done in our own lives. We should never blame others for our present circumstances. God knows where we are. We need to move on: Your will be done!” Wait and pray. Pray and wait.

Psalm 78:56-72

Our third and final day in Psalm 78… The psalmist continues his discussion of Israel’s rebelliousness, but brings it closer to his present time – probably sometime after Solomon’s reign as king. His primary focus in today’s reading is showing God’s favor for Judah (David, Mt. Zion in vv. 68, 70, the Southern Kingdom) while also showing God’s impatience with Israel (Ephraim, Joseph, Shiloh in vv. 60, 67, the Northern Kingdom.)

Today I was struck by verse 65a, Then the Lord awoke as from sleep… And He put His adversaries to rout… (also v. 67a). We know that the Lord never sleeps (Psalm 121:3-4); certainly the psalmist knows that also, but he uses the metaphor to reflect the Lord (finally?) taking charge of a bad situation. I can relate to the psalmist’s reflection on the Lord finally acting. I feel the same, for example, when I see Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, wondering why the Lord does not topple Putin or otherwise defeat the Russian army and send their troops back to Russia. “Good vs. evil” seems so clear here. Where are you, Lord?? But I’m not God, and I don’t know His plan. And always, in my every prayer, (almost unwillingly) I end with “Your will be done.” But my heart still asks, “Why? When?”

Psalm 78:32-55

Today we continue the retelling of Israel’s history in Psalm 78, with the psalmist focusing on Israel’s rebelliousness, even in the wilderness soon after their deliverance from Egypt, and God’s faithfulness through it all. There were a few verses that stuck out for me. First, But they flattered Him with their mouths; they lied to Him with their tongues. Their heart was not steadfast toward Him; they were not faithful to His covenant. (vv. 36-37) These verses make me consider the sincerity of my own prayer time. I wonder if or how I might be lying to God, or if my praise might simply be empty flattery. A horrible thought…!!

There was a second verse that stuck out for me, He remembered that they were but flesh…(v. 39a) This verse was initially a comfort to me, that God understood that His creation had fallen and that we were subject to the evil forces that surround us. But upon further reflection, I saw that these words only created an excuse for me to continue in my own rebellious ways. “Yeah, I’m only human…” Not true!! I have Jesus’ death on the cross as an atonement for all my wrongdoings. I have His Holy Spirit living within me. I have His promise of everlasting life. I am not merely “human”!

And with it all, the glory belongs to God: Yet He, being compassionate, atoned for their iniquity and did not destroy them; He restrained His anger often and did not stir up all His wrath. (v. 38) We have a gracious God!!

Psalm 78:1-31

We have three days in Psalm 78, much of it a retelling of Israel’s history. The psalmist wants to impress upon the people two things – their history and God’s commandments given to them at Sinai. So much of Psalm 78 is history, from Exodus and Numbers, fully interspersed with calls to obedience to God’s commandments and Israel’s constant failures in that regard.

With this in mind, I read through today’s verses (1-31), a retelling of Exodus and Numbers events. When I got to the end I read ahead a bit to see where the psalmist was headed next. Sure enough, the “other shoe dropped”: In spite of all this they still sinned and did not believe in His wonderful works. (v. 32) This verse called to mind a New Testament verse: …a sow, after washing , returns to wallowing in the mire. (II Peter 2:22b) A picture of the essence of Israel’s history! Or maybe – our own histories…??!!

Psalm 77

Coffee. Bible. The quiet of the morning. Can’t beat it!!

So, Psalm 77… One of my Study Bibles introduces today’s first few verses as “The psalmist’s miserable situation.” And when you consider the first four verses, then again verses 7-9, it certainly looks like a real down-time for the psalmist: My soul refused to be comforted… (v. 2b). He wonders if God has forsaken him, refusing to answer his prayers: Will the Lord reject forever? And will He never be favorable again? (v. 7) The psalmist is so troubled that he can’t even sleep: You have held my eyelids open… (v. 4a) Can any of us relate? Troubles. Can’t sleep. Where’s God in my situation? Why doesn’t He act??!!

So what does the psalmist do? He goes back in time, reminding us of what we need to do. I consider the days of old, the years long ago… I will remember the deeds of the LORD; yes, I will remember Your wonders of old. I will ponder all Your work, and meditate on Your mighty deeds. (vv. 5, 11-12)

We can be so easily troubled, fretting about this or that, even to the point of losing sleep while our minds race on. But God is God. He has acted in the past and He will act in the present and in the future – but He will act in His own time. Our duty is to wait on Him. Wait and pray. Pray and wait.

Psalm 76

Today we move again from Proverbs back to the Psalms. And in so doing we move from John’s leading, back to my leading. I have thoroughly enjoyed John’s comments on Proverbs (and on Psalms beginning back on June 23 when I was first laid up) and we considered his staying with Psalms. But as I reflected I realized how much I missed the discipline in my life that leading RTB has given me. My goal is always to get comments out to the rest of you before 9:00 am – which makes RTB the first thing on my plate every morning. Actually, second to that cup of coffee sitting beside me…! But you get the point. So beginning tomorrow, early morning!

Today’s Psalm 76 tells of battles between the Lord and His enemies. It’s easy to read this Psalm with the end times in mind, that final battle between God and all the forces of evil. But we can also read Psalm 76 with another battle in mind, with Assyria besieging the Israelites and threatening Jerusalem. That incident is covered in II Kings 18:13-19:37. Assyria has just taken Israel, the Northern Kingdom into exile and King Sennacherib now has his eyes on Judah, the Southern Kingdom and its stronghold, Jerusalem. I would encourage you to read the full story, but the key verse for Psalm 76 is the victory at the Lord’s hand, as told in II Kings 19:35-36a: “Then it happened that night that the angel of the LORD went out and struck 185,000 in the camp of the Assyrians; and when the rest got up early in the morning, behold, all of the 185,000 were dead. So Sennacherib the king of Assyria departed and returned home…” Now we read the Psalmist’s summation of the Lord’s deliverance: At Your rebuke, O God of Jacob, both rider and horse were cast into a dead sleep. (v. 6) There’s more to these Psalms, the deeper we dig! Glory!

Proverbs 22:17-29

Today marks a bit of a transition in Proverbs. Thus far, all of the internal clues have pointed to Solomon as the author, but today’s first verse, Proverbs 22:17, mentions “the words of the wise” — potentially an indication of a new author. In addition, Proverbs 22:17-21 acts as a fresh introduction to a new section.

Incline your ear, and hear the words of the wise…
That your trust may be in the LORD,
I have made them known to you today, even to you.

Proverbs 22:17a,19

And here we have the whole purpose of Proverbs: that your trust may be in the LORD. Let’s just sit with that thought today.

Proverbs 22:1-16

A good name is to be chosen rather than great riches,
and favor is better than silver or gold.

Proverbs 22:1

Our culture says that Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos, Bill Gates, and Warren Buffett epitomize success. Why? Because they are rich — wildly rich. But material wealth is not a proper measure of success. True success is found in living honorably and with integrity, following the Lord, not in accumulating material wealth. How do these men stack up on the true success scale? I really don’t know, as I do not know their hearts, nor do I keep up with billionaire gossip, but my guess is that there are millions of people more successful than they.

But what about us? Just because our bank accounts don’t put us on the Bloomberg Billionaires Index doesn’t mean that we aren’t tempted to sacrifice our good name for the sake of material gain. This proverb applies to us as much as to the super-rich. If anything, it is even more applicable because if a good name is to be chosen rather than great riches, how much more so is it than small riches?!