Psalm 90 "Return Address"

Photo by Niclas Dehmel on Unsplash

Psalm for Today = 90:3-4, 12

       “You return man to dust
and say, “Return, O children of man!”
For a thousand years in your sight
are but as yesterday when it is past,
              or as a watch in the night…

So teach us to number our days
   that we may get a heart of wisdom."

Comments: 
This is one of the earliest of the psalms as it was written by Moses. (As a side note, don’t skip over the contextual clues the writer gives you even in the ascription before the first verse of a psalm).

Have you ever been so caught up in something that you don't seem to notice the passage of time? Well God is eternal and our lives are but a moment, a moment that is best spent in fellowship with the eternal God!

Moses was in a unique place to watch an entire generation die off before his eyes while in the wilderness, “You return man to dust." 

I am challenged by Moses' dedication that even there in the hopelessness of unchanging circumstances he called on the people to return to the Lord and learn wisdom. 

Our days like theirs, are limited, so we need to use our days wisely… being full of the Spirit of God who gives wisdom.

Will we return to the Lord in the moments that we have been given, or stubbornly insist on being returned to the dust?

Psalm 89 "The Festal Shout"

Psalm 89:14-18

"Righteousness and justice are the foundation of your throne;

    steadfast love and faithfulness go before you.

Blessed are the people who know the festal shout,

    who walk, O Lord, in the light of your face,

who exult in your name all the day

    and in your righteousness are exalted.

For you are the glory of their strength;

    by your favor our horn is exalted.

For our shield belongs to the Lord,

    our king to the Holy One of Israel."

Photo by William White on Unsplash

Comment: 
The psalmist is almost leading a group cheer for what God has done in the past, and for who God is, in relation to his people. I sense a rising crescendo in this passage. 

At the end of this long psalm, we learn that the psalmist was currently in difficult circumstances and was asking when the Lord would intervene. 

I love how enthusiastic he gets talking about what God has done…even way back in the history of his country. 

He lived out his phrase, "Blessed are the people who know the festal shout"! 

I hope I can be as stoked about God’s faithfulness…past, present, and future!

Psalm 88 "Seeing Through Dim Eyes"

Photo by Kat J on Unsplash

Psalm for Today = 88:8-9

You have caused my companions to shun me;
    you have made me a horror to them.
I am shut in so that I cannot escape;
    my eye grows dim through sorrow.
Every day I call upon you, O Lord;

    I spread out my hands to you.

Comments:

One thing to remember in reading the Old Testament is the progressive revelation that was occurring. This means that as the Old Testament plays out, their understanding of God increased as more and more about him was prophetically revealed. Earlier in Israel’s history, they didn't have a clear understanding of life after death…as we can see in this psalm. Even as overwhelmed as the author was…he poured his heart out honestly to the Lord! 

One other note is that the relational trauma he experienced sounds much like Job 19:13-14 where Job talked about how his family shunned him in his suffering faith. But I wonder if the psalmist is actually alluding to this passage in Job which ends in these familiar words that hint at the resurrection:

“For I know that my Redeemer lives,
    and at the last he will stand upon the earth.
And after my skin has been thus destroyed,
    yet in my flesh I shall see God,
whom I shall see for myself,
    and my eyes shall behold, and not another. (Job 19:25-27)

Psalm 86 "What is God like?"

Psalm for Today = 86:9-10, 15

“All the nations you have made shall come

    and worship before you, O Lord,

    and shall glorify your name.

For you are great and do wondrous things;

    you alone are God…

But you, O Lord, are a God merciful and gracious,

    slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness.

 

Comment:

Photo by Nathan Dumlao
on Unsplash

Which nations? (v.9)  [All] God made all the nations, not just one. We should beware of elevating one over all the others. In addition, the church is comprised of believers from all nations, not just one.

Why? (v.10)  [You are great, You do wondrous things, You alone are God...] We serve a God who is outward-focused, giving of himself to his people.

What is the God of the Old Testament like? (v.15) This saying is repeated often in the Old Testament and I can’t ever pass it up. I need to be reminded of the relational character of God for several reasons: 

• The devil would have us believe that God is “keeping us down” (Gen. 3) with his commands because he doesn't want us to be all that we can be; 
• The world would have us believe that God is an angry arbitrary anachronistic authority (whoa, my pastoral alliteration button got stuck); and 
• I might begin to think that I can relate to others in a grouchy, judgmental way unless I am reminded of how God relates to us. 

Here are five relational aspects of God found in v. 15, that we can memorize on the five fingers of one hand. God is...

1. Merciful, 
2. Gracious, 
3. Slow to anger, 
4. Abounding in steadfast love, 
5. Abounding in faithfulness.

Is this how we think of him? It should be. 

Psalm 85 "Near to those who fear him."

Photo by Larry George II
 on Unsplash

Psalm for Today = 85:8-9

“Let me hear what God the Lord will speak,

    for he will speak peace to his people, to his saints;

    but let them not turn back to folly.

 Surely his salvation is near to those who fear him,

    that glory may dwell in our land.”

Comment: In the first few verses of this psalm the writer remembers God’s showing of salvation in the past (thankful remembrance), asks God for help (petition), and then questions how long until God will save his people again (honest doubt, concern, lament), then he seems to quiet himself here in verses 8-9 to listen to what God will say in response to this rather frenetic outpouring of his heart. 

Last night was one of those times for me when I had to open the Bible and sit and listen quietly for what the Lord would speak.

 

The psalmist might not know the timing of God’s deliverance but he is sure of its location (v.9)! "Near to those who fear him."

 

The rest of the psalm concludes in a beautiful poetic dance of confidence that God, as always, will do what is right and that God’s people will respond to love with faithfulness and peace. 

Make it so Lord, Amen!

Psalm 84 "Even the Sparrow"

Psalm for Today = 84:3-4

Photo by Benjamin LECOMTE on Unsplash

"Even the sparrow finds a home,

    and the swallow a nest for herself,

    where she may lay her young,

at your altars, O Lord of hosts,

    my King and my God.

Blessed are those who dwell in your house,

    ever singing your praise! Selah"

Comment: 
In this psalm, a Song of Zion, we see the longing of the psalmist for the courts of the Lord. It was written by the Sons of Korah who were gatekeepers at the Temple and their psalms show a great affinity for being in the presence of the Lord.

“Even the sparrow”…in Old Testament imagery, often the birds of the air represented the Gentile nations. Is it possible that the psalmist, observing the simple nesting of birds in the temple precinct, is capturing the longing of the nations and the availability of God to meet them at the temple of the Lord? I suppose I may be reading more into these two verses than was intended, but it seems to foreshadow a conversation between Jesus and a gentile woman in Matthew 15:27-28 where with a different metaphor we hear a phrase similar in meaning, “...even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their masters' table.” 

No matter who we are (sparrows or dogs), where we are from, or what our need is, mercy and grace are available to us all in the presence of the Lord. 
Blessed indeed!

Psalm 83 "Fire of the Spirit"

Psalm for Today = 83:13-15

“O my God, make them like whirling dust, like chaff before the wind.

As fire consumes the forest, as the flame sets the mountains ablaze,

so may you pursue them with your tempest and terrify them with your hurricane!”

Comment: 
These authentically raw verses are part of an imprecatory lament psalm. 

God’s people were crying out for the Lord's intervention against those nearby nations who were historically committed to their destruction. They legitimately processed their honest anger at injustice and wickedness by committing it to the character of God. 

This process keeps God's people from taking vengeance into their own hands and lets God do what is best, in his perfect timing. 

As I read these verses this morning, I thought of neither the fires of apocalyptic judgment nor those after a military victory, but rather of the fire of the Holy Spirit and the hurricane of God’s love.

How does Jesus pursue people? 

Tenderly...

Patiently...

Lovingly...

Relentlessly...

Understandingly... 

He doesn't convert us at the point of the sword wielded by man. He pursues us by his Holy Spirit, speaking through the words of the Bible (that like a sword can pierce even to our spirit and separate our inner thoughts and intentions, Heb. 4:12), and through the selfless love of his people…even for their enemies.

Will we be a part of God’s plans in Christ this week? 

Psalm 82 "What do you want to do?"

Psalm for Today = 82:3-4

"Give justice to the weak and the fatherless;

maintain the right of the afflicted and the destitute.

Rescue the weak and the needy;

deliver them from the hand of the wicked.”

Comment: 
The words spoken by God in this psalm are to those who sit in judgment. 
These verses describe the God-ordained work of those in authority. 

Why is it that so often when people have some degree of authority and power they use it to advance themselves and to keep others down? Could there be better, more systemic, evidence for the Fall of man? I doubt it.

Do we use what authority and influence that we have been given to do what it is supposed to do?

Psalm 81 "Open your mouth wide, and I will fill it"

Psalm for Today = 81:6-10
“I relieved your shoulder of the burden; 
   your hands were freed from the basket.
In distress you called, and I delivered you;
   I answered you in the secret place of thunder;
   I tested you at the waters of Meribah.
Hear, O my people, while I admonish you! 
   O Israel, if you would but listen to me!
There shall be no strange god among you; 
    you shall not bow down to a foreign god.
I am the Lord your God, 
   who brought you up out of the land of Egypt.
   Open your mouth wide, and I will fill it."

Comment: 
In this psalm, we see the heart of God for his people. 

Baby Swallows in the nest waiting to be fed.
Photo: Paula Garrett

He delivered them from the burdens of slavery, brought them out of Egypt, and provided food in the wilderness. They were helpless like birds in a nest waiting for their parents to stuff good things into their open mouths. God met their needs and cared for them miraculously, yet they stubbornly went their own way and missed out on God's loving best for them. With all the 10 Commandments summed up in the first... "no strange god among you" he reminds them of their covenant with him. 

I have to ask...are there ways that we have given false gods a place in our lives? 

Has God been put in a position of letting us go our own way? That is a terrifying thought!

"Open your mouth wide, and I will fill it" is God's promise to his people. But are we willing to eat what he is serving? Will we be content with what he knows is best for us? Too often we are not.

Today I am responding to his loving care for me. I really don't want to follow my own counsel, my own cooking...his way is better! 

Psalm 80 "Angry with Their Prayers?"

Psalm for Today = 80:4-8

“O LORD God of hosts, 
          how long will you be angry with your people's prayers?

You have fed them with the bread of tears 
     and given them tears to drink in full measure. 
You make us an object of contention for our neighbors, 
                                                         and our enemies laugh among themselves.

Restore us, O God of hosts; 
           let your face shine, that we may be saved!”

Comment: 

Photo by Kat J on Unsplash

The psalmist honestly voices his lament to God. 

In verse 4 he asks a question I wonder whether we should consider—“how long will you be angry with your people's prayers?”

To the psalmist, it seemed that God was angry at their prayers. Whether or not he was accurate about God's feelings at that moment, his phrase begs an interesting question... "Is there a prayer that angers God?"

If the answer to that question is affirmative, then I have tougher questions to face.

If it is possible to pray in a way that displeases or angers God, I have to wonder if we might be praying the wrong things or praying for the wrong reasons. Now the box of questions opens before me...

• Are our prayers filled with self-righteousness or unfeigned trust in God alone for our salvation?
• Are we placing blame, gaslighting, and making excuses in our prayers, or are we confessing our sins and seeking God's mercy for all involved?
• Are we merely asking God to bless our plans or are we eager to participate in God’s plan?
• Do our prayers for blessing bring a curse on someone else? For us to "win" must someone else "lose"?
• Do we think God will honor our requests for our own comfort while we are oppressing others, or are we interceding in his name for his people (including the ones who don't know him yet)?
• If our kids asked us things the same way we present our requests to God, how would we feel?

In any event, the psalmist gets it right in the chorus, in verses 3, 7, and 19, we should look to God and the relational goodness of his presence for our restoration and salvation! May he turn us back to him, now and always!

Psalm 79 "Former Iniquities"

Psalm for Today = 79:8-9 

"Do not remember against us our former iniquities; 
let your compassion come speedily to meet us, for we are brought very low. 
   Help us, O God of our salvation, for the glory of your name; 
deliver us, and atone for our sins,  for your name's sake!"

Comment: 
Verse 9 is a perfect example of what is called "Synonymous Parallelism" where the two lines poetically say the same thing using different words. There are three parallel parts to each line.

   Help us,    O God of our salvation,    for the glory of your name; 
          A                            B                                   C
deliver us,   and atone for our sins,     for          your name's sake!"
         A'                            B'                                  C'

When we see this kind of parallelism we are to look for what it says as a complete thought rather than emphasizing differences between the two lines.

As the psalmist continues with the theme of lament over the destruction of Jerusalem there comes a corporate confession of the sins of their nation. It is always good when approaching God to confess your need... after all, He is God and we are not. He is righteous and we are not. 

I'm thinking that our country has a few things that we all ought to confess because we have enjoyed the present benefits of past unjust acts and unjust structures. 

Any takers?

Psalm 78 "Not Like Their Fathers"

Psalm for Today = 78:4, 8 
“We will not hide them from their children, 
         but tell to the coming generation the glorious deeds of the LORD, 
                                and his might, and the wonders that he has done… 
 that they should not be like their fathers, 
a stubborn and rebellious generation, 
                                      a generation whose heart was not steadfast, 
                                                           whose spirit was not faithful to God.”

Comment: 

Photo by Yannis H on Unsplash

The psalmist exhorts the worshiper to tell the next generation about the wondrous works which God had done for them…so that they would not be stubborn and rebellious like the previous generations.

I wonder, do we take enough time to tell our stories where we point consistently to God as the hero, or do we tend to regale others with our own cleverness? Jesus is the one who redeems and transforms us. It is certainly not a result of our tugging at our own bootstraps!

The next generation needs to hear of the pain that was caused by our sins and the peace that comes with the presence of Jesus Christ. 

It will take patient vulnerability on our part.

Psalm 77 "Memories"

Psalm for Today = 77:11-15 

“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. 

Your way, O God, is holy. What god is great like our God?

You are the God who works wonders;

you have made known your might among the peoples. 

You with your arm redeemed your people, the children of Jacob and Joseph.”

Comment: 

Photo by Julia Joppien on Unsplash

In the midst of a psalm of lament, one where the psalmist honestly longs for the" good old days" and wonders whether God is through working in his life, he chooses to remember the wonders that God had worked in the past. 

It is in his remembrance of Yahweh’s relational redemption of his people (specifically in the Red Sea crossing), that Asaph came to make this request and silently stated his trust in the Lord in his present circumstances. 

When we long for the "good old days" who is the hero of our story? 

I want to side with Asaph's choice in this.

Because we tend to remember bad things more easily than good things, I find it helpful to keep a spiritual journal of biblical devotions, breakthroughs, lessons, insights, and observations of God at work in the world, as well as my prayers and answers to prayer. Looking back, things I wrote down long ago can still encourage me in difficult times.

Psalm 76 "Unable to use their hands"

Psalm for Today = 76:5-6 
   "The stouthearted were stripped of their spoil; they sank into sleep; 
        all the men of war were unable to use their hands. 
   At your rebuke, O God of Jacob, both rider and horse lay stunned."

Comment: 

Photo by Adi Goldstein on Unsplash

I was prompted to use these verses from Psalm 76 today as I took a little Father's Day nap and woke up with both arms asleep. It was a very uncomfortable feeling to not be able to use my hands effectively. It reminded me of how feeble our efforts are when we choose to stand against God. At some point, we may find ourselves "stunned".

There comes a time when even the boldest, strongest, most well-trained, and even the most self-sufficient people will come to the end of themselves in their war against God and his people.

This psalm describes a time past (and may hint at a time still in the future) when Yahweh delivered his people from the attack of an enemy army. Since there are no specific event details in this song, scholars are divided as to which event it refers. However, it should be noted that it would be natural for the "rider and horse" terminology to allude to the deliverance from the Egyptian army in the waters of the Red Sea. In Exodus 15, Moses (v.1) and Miriam (v. 21) praise God for throwing down the mounted soldiers of the enemy,
   “Sing to the Lord, for he has triumphed gloriously;
    the horse and his rider he has thrown into the sea.”

In verses 8-9, when God arises to "establish judgment" it should be noted that this judgment is really a blessing, a mercy, and an expression of covenant-keeping love for his people, as the Lord comes "to save all the humble of the earth."

Ironically, the Lord will even turn the wrath of his enemies into praise and wear it like a belt.
   "Surely the wrath of man shall praise you;
       the remnant of wrath you will put on like a belt." (v.10)

Sometimes the bad things people say about you are actually a compliment! For many years I purchased books for a growing library. As I read reviews of any given book, sometimes it was the haters, the 1-star or 2-star reviews that made the sale. The many 5-star reviews are subject to the author's confirmation bias, their in-group. I would read the 1-star reviews because I really wanted to know why someone didn't like it. Depending on the reason, sometimes that means it was just what I was looking for!

If it is the wicked and unjust oppressors that are mad, then that is a good thing. The Lord always topples our petty idolatries before the onslaught of his loving kindness. So let's take time to notice the victorious goodness of God, together!