as i read the first four lines of this psalm it felt like i was part of a liturgical choir speaking them out:

1 Praise awaits You, our God, in Zion;
    to You our vows will be fulfilled.
2 You who answer prayer,
    to You all people will come.

the psalm is subtitled as being a song of David and so maybe that is why it conveys that fullness of message and delivery. i can imagine a congregation speaking this out together.

the rest of the psalm is pretty much a ‘God you rock’ anthem, but some parts in particular stood out for me:

3 When we were overwhelmed by sins,
You forgave our transgressions.

i mean that bit is quite magic as well. the contrast between the idea of being ‘overwhelmed by sins’ and ‘you forgave’ – the first one seems to impossibly huge and the second comes across as this quite effortless motion.

4 Blessed are those you choose
and bring near to live in Your courts!
We are filled with the good things of Your house,
of Your holy temple.

not going to get caught up in the predestination trap in that verse – i think the bible is very clear that everyone is chosen but not everyone chooses to be chosen. but what is eye-catching is the whole notion of being ‘filled with the good things of Your house, of Your holy temple.’ 

i think we miss out on so much of that sometimes. talk as if we are a King’s kid but live like a pauper. i love [and don’t necessarily fully understand] these verses in 2 Peter 1 that say:

3 His divine power has given us everything we need for a godly life through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness. 4 Through these he has given us his very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature, having escaped the corruption in the world caused by evil desires.

Galatians 5 starts with this verse:

1 It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery.

before heading on to:

22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law. 24 Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. 

and so many more places and times where God reveals to us the extent of our inheritance and birthright as His children but this last one from 2 Timothy says it clearly when it shows three resources that we should theoretically never be short of and yet…

7 For the Spirit God gave us does not make us timid, but gives us power, love and self-discipline.

the rest of the psalm is David gushing about God and His awesomeness and the last verse i want to pull from there [but go read the whole thing and take time on it] is this one:

9 You care for the land and water it;
you enrich it abundantly.
The streams of God are filled with water
to provide the people with grain,
for so you have ordained it.

the principle that ‘we have enough’ or at least that ‘there is enough’ or should be… until you start taking notice of the fact that a very small percentage of the ‘we’ are holding on to or controlling most of the stuff and how that somehow leads to truckloads of oranges being dumped in the desert or young children dying in Africa because they can’t get access to clean water and more…

but never forget that ‘the streams of God are filled’ or as i like to say, ‘God is bigGER!’

 [To return to the Intro page and be connected to any of the other Psalms i have walked through before now, click here]