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!!

Psalm 89:1-18

We will be reading Psalm 89 for the next four days. The break for each day is intentional, although the third and fourth day could have been combined. Actually though, as you read the entire psalm you can see that Ps 89:1-18 and Ps 89:19-37 almost stand alone as their own psalms. Then in Ps 89:38 the other shoe drops. But that’s for Saturday’s reading.

But today’s reading is full of joy and praise – God, the Creator, the life sustainer, the unsurpassed wonder-worker from the beginning of time (vv. 5-14), Who made David his servant-king and established his offspring forever (vv. 3-4). The psalmist closes today’s reading with a recognition of the life that he and his fellow Israelites have in serving that great God (vv. 15-18): Blessed are the people … who walk, O LORD, in the light of Your face… (v. 15). For You are the glory of their strength… (v. 17a) We are those people, folks, David’s grafted descendants. Rejoice!!

Psalm 88

A lament – frankly, as lamentable as any lament that we have read. There’s not a shred of hope in any of what the psalmist writes. He calls out to God for help (vv. 1, 2, 9, 13), yet he blames God for his condition (vv. 6-8, 14-16). And unlike any other lament that we have read (that I can recall) there is no closing praise, no expression of confidence in the Lord’s deliverance. His words remind me of Job – but of Job at his worst. Sad.

I am not a person who has known much depression in my life. Misfortune, yes. Difficulties, yes. Setbacks, yes. But I always had hope, always believing that these difficulties would be short-lived. I find it hard to relate to someone living in deep depression. But as I read this lament, my heart goes out to the writer. His malady has been with him “from his youth on” (v. 15). I know that I need more compassion in my life. This psalm helps me to think about that, to try to see what others are (or might be) going through. Something of a wake-up call…

Psalm 87

To me there’s not a lot to reflect on in today’s psalm. The psalmist is extolling the glory of Jerusalem and Mount Zion, established/ordained by God Himself. The psalmist pays particular attention to the special “citizenship” of those who were born there – in contrast to those who were born in the other countries listed in verse 4.

So birthright comes to mind, specifically birthplace. Carol and I share unusual birthplace items. Carol was born in Washington, DC (not many people can say that!), but her parents were living in Maryland. I was born in Indiana, but my parents lived across the river in Illinois (no nearby hospitals on that side of the river). Our Slovak friends, Vlado and Maria have returned to Kentucky. Their son, Oliver was born here when they first arrived, so he is by birthright an American citizen. Likewise, I have heard or read stories about pregnant Hispanic women who take their chances with the dangers and the US authorities to have their children born in the USA – forever American citizens. Finally, wherever we travel Carol and I have our very special blue passports, proof to border agents everywhere that we are American citizens.

With it all, frankly, none of those birthrights matter, not compared to our eternal birthright: But our citizenship is in heaven, and from it we await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ… (Philippians 3:20). That is a birthright to grasp onto – and to share!

Psalm 86

All the nations You have made shall come and worship before You, O Lord, and shall glorify Your name. (v. 9)

Therefore God has highly exalted Him and bestowed on Him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. (Philippians 2:9-11)