Psalm 149
I find it interesting that in the Bible’s hymnal, the next to the last song would begin, “Praise the Lord. Sing to the Lord a new song, his praise in the assembly of his faithful people.” (vs 1) The book holds 150 of the greatest praise songs of all time, yet the psalmist says we should always be looking to sing “a new song.”
Psalm 148
As I read this psalm, I was struck by the movement from “far” to “near.” The psalmist begins in his admonition of praise by describing things that are “far” from us: the heavens, angels, heavenly hosts, sun, moon, and stars. (vs 1-4) Then, he continues to ask for praise from things a little “closer” to home: the animals, the weather, nature, and people. (vs 7-12)
Psalm 145
I wrestled for a long time over the title of this blog post. I wanted to be blunt and just title it God destroys the wicked. But I was afraid that might turn some people off before they even read what I had written, so I decided to leave it as a question and, hopefully, invite investigation.
Psalm 144
As I began reading today’s psalm, I noticed something interesting in the first two verses. Let’s see if you notice it, too: “Praise be to the LORD my Rock, who trains my hands for war, my fingers for battle. He is my loving God and my fortress, my stronghold and my deliverer, my shield, in whom I take refuge, who subdues peoples under me.” (vs 1-2)
Psalm 143
Have you ever been to a whispering gallery? There’s a famous one in the U.S. Capitol Building in Washington, D.C. There’s one in the Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago. I’m sure there are many others around the world. A whispering gallery is a room built in such a way that you can stand at one end and hear another person who is only whispering, even though they are standing far away from you.
Psalm 142
David wrote this psalm while he was “in the cave,” presumably hiding away from Saul. At this point, he had already been declared the future king of Israel by God, but the fruition of that prophecy wasn’t coming very quickly. David was still spending much of his time running from his enemies and hiding out in dark places.
Psalm 141
In the Old Testament, God instituted an elaborate system of sacrifices and offerings for the Israelites to bring to Him at the temple. If you’ve been following this blog, you’ll remember that we went over those sacrifices and offerings in detail in the book of Leviticus. There are a variety of opinions about what that sanctuary system meant and how the life and death of Jesus impacted it. Obviously, we no longer sacrifice animals as a way of worshiping God. But was that what God ever really wanted in the first place? Burnt offerings? Sacrifices? Blood?
Psalm 140
Fire and brimstone. We hear quite a bit of that from the Christian pulpit these days, and we find it (or at least a request for it) in this psalm, too: “Those who surround me proudly rear their heads; may the mischief of their lips engulf them. May burning coals fall on them; may they be thrown into the fire.” (vs 9-10)
Psalm 139
And so we’ve finally come to this—my most favorite psalm in the Bible, possibly my most favorite chapter in the Bible. I just love how the picture of God in it is all-pervasive. There is nowhere we can go to outrun Him. He is everywhere—even with us in the womb, long before we are capable of perceiving Him.
Psalm 138
Have you ever felt it? That moment when it seems like nothing else in the world matters except God, and at that moment, you would go anywhere and do anything—no matter the cost—if He called you to it? What happens to those moments? They come suddenly and go just as quickly, as the world and all its glittering promises come flooding back in.
Psalm 137
This is a very sad psalm. Not only was it written when the Israelites were in Babylonian exile, but you can almost feel their despair as they are mocked by their captors: “By the rivers of Babylon we sat and wept when we remembered Zion. There on the poplars we hung our harps, for there our captors asked us for songs, our tormentors demanded songs of joy; they said, ‘Sing us one of the songs of Zion!’” (vs 1-3)
Psalm 135
After recounting some of the amazing feats of the God of Israel, the psalmist said this: “The idols of the nations are silver and gold, made by human hands. They have mouths, but cannot speak, eyes, but cannot see. They have ears, but cannot hear, nor is there breath in their mouths. Those who make them will be like them, and so will all who trust in them.” (vs 15-18)
Psalm 133
I have heard the first verse of this psalm many times in my life as a Christian: “How good and pleasant it is when God’s people live together in unity!” As far as I can recollect, I have never actually heard the remainder of the psalm. How do I know that? Because I was somewhat taken aback by similes used to describe this unity—especially the first one. Unity is like precious oil running down an old man’s beard? Huh?
Psalm 132
Just a few chapters ago, we read, “Unless the LORD builds the house, its builders labor in vain.” (Ps 127:1) And now, we get a chance to see this principle in action. God is the builder. We may be good helpers (when we aren’t trying to take over the project!), but we should never lose sight of Who is actually doing the building.
