Psalm 139

-----it just doesn't get much better than Psalm 139..........

O Lord, you have searched me and known me!
You know when I sit down and when I rise up;
you discern my thoughts from afar.
You search out my path and my lying down
and are acquainted with all my ways.
Even before a word is on my tongue,
behold, O Lord, you know it altogether.
You hem me in, behind and before,
and lay your hand upon me.
Such knowledge is too wonderful for me;
it is high; I cannot attain it. ---read the whole psalm

Joy is the spin-off of Bible exploring*

...the Christian tastes God in all his pleasures, and this increases them, whereas for other men pleasure brings with it a sense of hollowness which reduces it. Also, I maintain that every encounter between the sincere Christian and God’s Word, the law of thy mouth (Psalm 119:72), however harrowing or humbling its import, brings joy as its spin-off... --JI Packer

*the word explore takes us further into the way we should relate to Scripture than the familiar words read and study do. Exploring is not, of course, less than reading and studying, but it is more. You can read books mechanically, without interest, and study facts mechanically, without focus, but exploring territory is a process of search, thought and correlation that demands both interest and focus. Exploring Scripture is more than a routine for gathering data. It has to do with memorization, meditation and interrogation. In exploring you poke and dig and ask questions and make and test guesses and try to see how everything ties in with everything else. Exploration is exciting! --JI Packer

(FYI: This little book by Packer--TRUTH & POWER-- that has sat on my shelf for years has turned out to be absolutely golden in providing excellent thoughts on the role of Scripture in the life of a Christ-follower)

Psalm 119 continues...

What Scripture says, God says; for, in a manner comparable only to the deeper mystery of the Incarnation, the Bible is both fully human and fully divine. So all its manifold contents—histories, prophecies, poems, songs, wisdom writings, sermons, statistics, letters, and whatever else—should be received as from God, and all that Bible writers teach should be revered as God’s authoritative instruction. Christians should be grateful to God for the gift of his written Word, and conscientious in basing their faith and life entirely and exclusively upon it. Otherwise, we cannot ever honor or please him as he calls us to do. --JI Packer.... whole article

Psalm 119

Augustine's idea that the Psalms are essentially prayers of Jesus Christ is surely in place here. What this psalm shows us is the perfection of the perfect heart in its unwavering openness to all that God teaches in the Scriptures, and the Gospels show that our Master was mastered completely by what came to him from his Bible.

Psalm 108

With God we shall do valiantly;
it is he who will tread down our foes.

Ps108 is made up of portions of 2 earlier psalms (60 & 57)... but it is much more than a mindless cut&paste. The psalmist takes earlier prayers and suits them for his current situation.

Psalm 108 is here

I always cheat

Started book 5 of Psalms last night at the dinner table.... invite you to "Finish Strong" with our Summer Psalm Reading journey...

so read Psalm 107 today, which is the first psalm of Book 5 .... what stands out in Psalm 107... people in need who cry out "LORD, HELP!" and God helps those who call on Him. That is the message of the Bible and can be the message of your day today, and mine.

Today's Psalms are 92 & 93

It is good to give thanks to the Lord,
to sing praises to your name, O Most High;
to declare your steadfast love in the morning,
and your faithfulness by night,
to the music of the lute and the harp,
to the melody of the lyre.
For you, O Lord, have made me glad by your work;
at the works of your hands I sing for joy.

Psalm 91 and God's Protection

You who sit down in the High God's presence, spend the night in Shaddai's shadow,
Say this: "God, you're my refuge.
I trust in you and I'm safe!"
That's right—he rescues you from hidden traps,
shields you from deadly hazards.
His huge outstretched arms protect you—
under them you're perfectly safe;
his arms fend off all harm.
Fear nothing.... ---taken from The Message translation

Frank Matthews will be preaching this Sunday on Psalm 91!

Psalm 86

Some helps:
1. A suggested outline
86:1-6 The Master & His Servant
86:7-13 The Master & His Power
86:14-21 The Master & His Enemies

Part of our memory verse reads:
Teach me your way, O Lord, that I may walk in your truth;
unite my heart to fear your name.

"The prayer is about God giving us grace to form the right habits rather than making the right moves. It has to do with the development of a whole mindset whose decisions will increasingly be in line with God's." --Michael Wilcock

Haven't we found this to be true this summer?

The Psalms keep us honest. Biblical faith is not presented as being neat and easy. Rather, the closer you get to really understanding the shocking honesty of the Psalms, the more you see how messy, chaotic, and question riddled the life of faith actually is. In our world, things happen that we don't understand. God regularly confuses us, and sin blinds us. The Psalms speak into this world with a gorgeous balance of honesty and hope. --Paul Tripp

Psalm 73 this Sunday

Psalm 73 has much to say about desire. We ought not to conclude that all this psalm says is:
that it is right to desire heavenly things
and wrong to desire earthly things.

It doesn't.... To desire blessings from God is not wrong, and many earthly desires are legitimate and godly--in their place. Psalm 73 (along with many other discussions of heavenly and earthly desires) draws attention to matters of emphasis, priority, control, and authority. What functionally rules the heart? Has desire become your demand and chief good? Does demand shape how you related to God and man, and how interpret your situation? Envy, anger, frustration, disappointment, fear--even happiness!--all reveal what rules the heart. The contrast is not simply between heavenly and earthly objects of desire or between good and bad desires, but between a heart ruled by God and a heart ruled by desire for the created thing. --Paul Tripp

Psalm 68, help for today's reading

PSALM 68 IS ONE OF THE MOST exuberant and boisterous psalms in the Psalter....68:11: “The Lord announced the word, and great was the company of those who proclaimed it.” ... the only right response to the word of the glorious victory of God in the cross of Jesus Christ is that there be a great company to proclaim it. --DA Carson

Hoping for a Broken Heart

I am too satisfied
with the things I say
the things I do
the attitudes
of heart
that shape my reactions
day
after
day
after day.... *

So I am hoping
for
wise eyes
that are able
to see through
the cloud of
self-righteousness
and see myself
as I actually
am.
I am praying
for
wise ears
that are able
to hear through
the background noise of
well used platitudes
and hear myself
with clarity.
And I am longing
for
a humble spirit
that is willing
to
accept and confess
what You reveal
as You break through
my defenses
and show me
to me.
I am hoping
for
a broken heart.

"The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and a contrite heart, O God, you will not despise." (Psalm 51: 17) * read the whole thing

When the Darkness Will Not Lift

Perhaps our recent look at Psalms 42-43 which raised the topic of spiritual dryness has you thinking, or wrestling. Here is an excellent 83page resource by John Piper... buy it or read it online here.

Impreccatory Psalms

At some point during the summer Psalms series we will meditate upon the glory and goodness of God expressed in the imprecations of the Psalms. A brief John Frame article is helpful for those of you who can't wait until I preach upon it. Also, Tremper Lngman's God is a Warrior

Helps for Psalm 60 & Psalm 61

From Spurgeon's "Treasury of David":
Psalm 60
DIVISION. Properly the song may be said to consist of three parts: the complaining verses, Ps 60:1-3; the happy, Ps 60:4-8; the prayerful, Ps 60:9-12. We have divided it as the sense appeared to change.

Psalm 61
TITLE. To the Chief Musician upon Neginah, a Psalm of David. The original indicates that both the hymn and the musical instrument were David's. He wrote the verses and himself sang them to the stringed instrument whose sound he loved so well. We have left the Psalms entitled Michtam, but we shall still find much precious meaning though the golden name be wanting. We have met with the title of this Psalm before, in Psalms 4, 6, 54, and 55, but with this difference, that in the present case the word is in the singular number: the Psalm itself is very personal, and well adapted for the private devotion of a single individual.

SUBJECT AND DIVISION. This Psalm is a pearl. It is little, but precious. To many a mourner it has furnished utterance when the mind could not have devised a speech for itself. It was evidently composed by David after he had come to the throne,—see Ps 61:6. The second verse leads us to believe that it was written during the psalmist's enforced exile from the tabernacle, which was the visible abode of God: if so, the period of Absalom's rebellion has been most suitably suggested as the date of its authorship, and Delitzsch is correct in entitling it, "Prayer and thanksgiving of an expelled King on his way back to his throne." We might divide the verses according to the sense, but it is preferable to follow the author's own arrangement, and make a break at each SELAH.

Psalms 57 & 58 are today's readings

You can read them online here:

Outline of Ps57. We have here prayer, Ps 57:1-6, and praise, Ps 57:7-11. David takes in a long breath of prayer, and when he is fully inspired, he breathes out his soul in jubilant song. --Spurgeon

Outline of Ps58:The ungodly enemy is accused, Ps 58:1-5; judgment is sought from the judge, Ps 58:6-8; and seen in prophetic vision as already executed, Ps 58:9-11. --Spurgeon

Godward thoughts as we prepare for Corporate Worship

Tomorrow promises to be a great day in God's presence together. We will:
--sing His praises
--confess our sin
--be reminded of the finished work of Christ in our behalf!
--partake of the Sacrament of Baptism, the promise of God's cleansing grace in visible form
--say our memory verse together (I know it this week!)
--continue our meditation on Psalm 42-43 and the topic of "Spiritual Dryness"
--and more

"He who knows God, who, with faith's eye, has discovered some of His glory, and by the power of the spirit has felt something of His love, will not be at a loss to distinguish between God's sensible presence and absence in the soul." --Octavius Winslow

Psalm 51 and Colin Farrell

Today is Psalm 51.... you could honestly spend a month on it... or longer. Paul Tripp has been writing truly helpful thoughts on it for weeks.

Now this.... Quotes from a meditation on the Gospel of Grace, confession of sin, joyful intimacy, and the movie--Phone Booth:

A NYC promoter, Stu (Colin Farrell), is held captive in a phone booth at the whim of a sniper with a rifle, a laser scope and a telephone. Unless the promoter confesses his hidden sins to his wife, mistress, and colleagues the sniper will kill him.

So Stu confesses....

The Church, as a corporate body, is to do daily life like this movie scene of confession. Why? Because the Church is filled with people who are, in Luther’s words, simul iustus et peccador. In English, this means simultaneously sinning and justified. If we regularly enacted this scene from Phone Booth, we would honestly and brokenly proclaim our peccador-ness. If we confessed our sinfulness to our spouses, children, parents, friends, colleagues, neighbors, then others around us wouldn’t feel the pressure to display only their iustus-ness.

We are scared to death to boast in our weakness because it violates culture (best foot forward, turn your good side to the camera), but if all of us in the Church would boast in our weakness together, we would become a Gospel-suffused community of honesty, brokenness, repentance, grace, forgiveness and restoration. In short, we would be a community of joyful intimacy.

Read the entire post here

Psalm 50

Outline. The Lord is represented as summoning the whole earth to hear his declaration, Ps 50:1-6; he then declares the nature of the worship which he accepts, Ps 50:7-15, accuses the ungodly of breaches of the precepts of the second table, Ps 50:16-21, and closes the court with a word of threatening, Ps 50:22, and a direction of grace, Ps 50:23.