Psalm 109:1-20

I wonder if David had a particular person in mind in today’s Psalm, for whom he has nothing good to say. He goes back and forth between “he” and “they”. However, strangely, as he is attacking this person (or these people), most of today’s verses have to do with the evil that David wishes to be put upon them. But what have they actually done? Only three things: …speaking against me with lying tongues… (v. 2); he did not remember to show kindness, but pursued the poor and needy and the brokenhearted, to put them to death… (v. 16); and he loved to curse [and] did not delight in blessing…(v. 17). Now granted, putting people to death (v. 16) is evil, but what struck me most in today’s reading was the vengeance that David wished upon his enemies.

Looking ahead to the New Testament we see Jesus with a different perspective: But I say to you, “Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you.” (Matthew 5:44) We can’t have it both ways. Although “love” may be too much for us, let’s try to pray for our enemies – or for those for whom we harbor bad will. That would be a good beginning.

Psalm 108

For the first time in almost two weeks we are reading a short Psalm in its entirety instead of having the Psalm broken down into readings over a few days. Surprisingly, however, today’s Psalm could easily be split into two parts, 1-5 and 6-13. Those first few verses, in particular, constitute a song well known to some of us. It’s almost impossible to read those verses as text without singing the lyrics! An online search said that this song in the Anglican Hymnal 1982, but we don’t have that book here and I could not find it online to verify that claim. Carol and I know these verses as sung by Maranatha Music.

Give us help against the enemy, for deliverance by man is worthless. (v. 12, NASB) Here David is writing about Israel’s battles against foreign foes, but we can easily apply these words to our everyday lives. All too often we strive in our own efforts, using our own guidance, our own resources to solve a difficult problem or to work out a difficult situation. Our mantra seems to be, “When all else fails, pray!” God is ever at hand waiting to guide us. We have but to ask.

Psalm 107:33-43

Continuing in Psalm 107… Whatever the Lord wills to do, He does. Rivers into desert (v. 33) and desert into pools of water (v. 35); fruitful land into a salty waste (v. 34) and parched land into springs of water (v. 35) – He is the Creator of the Universe, all has come into being through Him; He simply spoke and His will appeared in solid form. If He can create everything out of nothing, if He can undo anything that He has done and can re-do whatever He has undone, if He can do all things by simply speaking that they be done, then who are we to deny His work in our lives??!! How can we imagine ourselves to have the wisdom to do anything without His guidance? How can He not be Lord of our lives? How can we not seek Him daily, by the hour, by the minute in all that we do? Seek Him, folks!!

Psalm 107:17-32

Continuing in Psalm 107… The psalmist continues his narrative of people in various situations living in terror, distress, difficulties, then reaching out to the Lord and His delivering them. Yesterday we had desert wanderers and prisoners. Today we have sailors on ships and “fools through their sinful ways” (v. 17).

I’ve never sailed much nor spent much desert time nor been in prison, but I can relate to those fools in their sinful ways – suffering affliction and crying out to the Lord in my distress. And I can surely relate to the Lord’s deliverance. How could I be where I am today without His deliverance, His forgiveness, His guidance, His love?! All the psalmist asks is that we …thank the LORD for His steadfast love… and that we …offer sacrifices of thanksgiving… (vv. 21, 22). That’s not much to ask!

Psalm 107:1-16

The calendar has turned over into a new month, which means that I am back to “first comments”. Thank you, John, for your efforts on our behalf – in opening the Psalms to us the past few days, shedding light on verses and passages that we had not considered. Well done!

So now, October – I daresay my favorite month of the year. And as we begin a new month, you may have noticed at the beginning of today’s reading that we also begin a new “Book” in the Psalter, “Book Five”, the last “Book” in the Psalter. What’s that all about? For reasons unknown to us and to Biblical scholars throughout the ages the Psalms were broken down years ago into five “Books”. The first “Book” ended at Psalm 41, the second at Psalm 72, the third at Psalm 89, and the fourth at Psalm 106. There is no pure and simple accounting for how the Psalms are organized or how the “Books” were decided, but it’s what we have today. As we begin Book Five it’s interesting to note that Book 5 contains the longest Psalm in the Psalter, Psalm 119 at 176 verses, and the shortest Psalm, Psalm 117 two Psalms earlier at only two verses. Interesting. So today we begin Book Five.

Then they cried to the LORD in their trouble, and He delivered them from their distress. He led them by a straight way till they reached a city to dwell in. (vv. 6-7) As we have seen before, some Psalms are straightforward in their application to particular events or times in Israel’s history, while others are intentionally general, possibly written for all time, or lost to us in their historical context. So it is with today’s Psalm 107 and these verses in particular. It could easily be read in the context of Israel returning to Jerusalem from its Babylonian exile. Or it could be read as one sinner repenting and turning back to God, possibly returning to the Temple to ask God’s mercy and to offer sacrifices through the Levitical priests.

But I saw a very different application – in the very founding of St. Andrew’s. We are all blessed from those 80 or so people who had the courage to leave St. John’s and call David Brannen as their Rector. But also in those early days of St. Andrew’s founding people were coming from “everywhere” to worship at this new “faithful” church. They came from Shelbyville in the west, from Frankfort and Georgetown in the north, from Winchester and Richmond in the east, and from Danville and Harrodsburg in the south. For seven years Carol and I traveled 45 minutes to get here, until we finally moved 18 minutes away in 2015. We were all crying to the Lord, seeking to worship Him in fellowship with His faithful people. And we are still doing that today – people continue to make the journey from many miles distant to worship at St. Andrew’s. As we move forward as a St. Andrew’s body, seeking a new vision for our church, for this new time in which we find ourselves, let’s remember to pray regularly for our leadership – for Ben and the staff and vestry – and for all of us as we seek the Lord’s will for St. Andrew’s. He brought them out of darkness and the shadow of death… Let them thank the LORD for His steadfast love… (vv. 14a, 15a)

Psalm 106:34-48

Today we see one of the most consequential mistakes of ancient Israel: their disobedience in not completely driving out the Canaanites from the Promised Land. As with the incident at Peor, which we saw yesterday, the result was cultic syncretism with its attendant idolatry and abhorrent practices. I won’t bother giving specific references here, because the problem runs throughout the Old Testament. Time and again the people stray from the LORD, and time and again He both warns them and rescues them, but their continued disobedience leads to exile — the Northern Kingdom to Assyria (never to return), and the Southern Kingdom to Babylon.

As we have seen, we tend to be very much like ancient Israel in our own faithlessness, and we, too, may struggle to stand against the ways of the world. But unlike ancient Israel, we are here now, and in the power of the Holy Spirit we can choose to repent and follow the Lord today.

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One more thing…

They sacrificed their sons
and their daughters to the demons;
they poured out innocent blood,
the blood of their sons and daughters,
whom they sacrificed to the idols of Canaan,
and the land was polluted with blood.
Thus they became unclean by their acts,
and played the whore in their deeds.

Psalm 106:37-39

Tell me, what significant difference is there between the child sacrifice described here and modern-day abortion?

With the recent “Dobbs” Supreme Court decision and with the upcoming midterm elections, we stand at an extremely important cusp of our nation’s history. We can join with the world around us, or we can stand up for righteousness. We can vote for life, or — like ancient Israel — we can vote for death. Which will it be for you?

Save us, O LORD our God! (v. 47)

Psalm 106:24-33

Today we have three more instances of Israel’s failure to follow the LORD, three different scenarios representing three different temptations or challenges:

• Ps. 106:24-27: The refusal to enter the Promised Land (See Num. 13-14.)
  • The people choose fear over faith, seeing “giants in the land” rather than the Lord of Hosts, and not believing that God could or would deliver on His promise
• Ps. 106:28-31: Baal worship at Peor (See Num. 25.)
  • The people choose compromise with the world, mingling with and mimicking the people around them, tying themselves to false gods rather than walking in obedience
• Ps. 106:32-33: The waters of Meribah (See Ex. 17:1-7; Num. 20:2-13.)
  • The people quarrel and complain, not trusting God for the provision of water, and Moses is so provoked that he ends up drawing more attention to himself than to God

Which of these three scenarios strikes closest to home for you? Are you prone to fear and anxiety and therefore reluctant to do what the Lord asks of you, thinking that maybe He’ll let you down? Or are you swayed by whatever the world seems to be offering, compromising your relationship with God for the sake of “getting along” with the world? Or are you prone to provocation and self-assertion?

Psalm 106:13-23

The psalmist cites a few instances of Israel’s faithlessness and rebellion. For details on these incidents see Exodus 16:2,3,9-13; Numbers 11:1-4,18-23,31-35; 16:1-35; Exodus 32; and Deuteronomy 9:16-21.

So how about us? How have we forgotten God’s works? How have we failed to wait for His counsel? How have we indulged our cravings rather than trusting the Lord’s provision? How, in particular, have we engaged in any kind of idolatry? (And bear in mind that one need not actually forge a golden calf to engage in idolatry. For example, do you covet? According to Col. 3:5, that’s idolatry…)

I do not know your particular weaknesses, but I think I’m reasonably familiar with the general condition of humankind, so I think it is safe to say that we can all relate, at some level, to Israel’s failings, and it is good to acknowledge that — and then, with a grateful heart, give glory and praise to God for showing us mercy and loving us anyway.

Psalm 106:1-12

Whereas Psalm 105 celebrates the LORD’s faithfulness in dealing with Israel, Psalm 106 confesses Israel’s faithlessness in dealing with the LORD. Yet despite that faithlessness, the LORD remains faithful and delivers Israel time and again.

Whenever I review the history of Israel, I am appalled at their faithlessness. The people see the great works of God — the plagues of Egypt, the parting of the Red Sea — and yet very quickly turn aside. And we are right to be appalled, as God’s actions on their behalf deserve a better response. But then I go further and think that if I were in their shoes, I would do better. I would give God the praise He is due, and I would trust and obey.

Uh-huh. Right.

The truth is that I have seen even greater works of God — I know of the Resurrection — and yet I whine and complain and prove myself just as faithless as Israel on a daily basis. As we walk through Psalm 106, let’s join in the confession, recognizing that we, too, have sinned; we have committed iniquity; we have done wickedness. (Ps. 106:6) And let’s recognize the LORD’s ongoing steadfast love and faithfulness, despite our failings.