this one really is a short one... so let me include it: 1 Save me, O God, by your name; vindicate me by your might. 2 Hear my prayer, O God; listen to the words of my mouth. 3 Arrogant foes are attacking me; ruthless people are trying to kill me— people without regard for God. 4 Surely God is my help; the Lord is the one who sustains me. 5 Let evil recoil on those who slander me; in your faithfulness destroy [...]
i think the first very interesting thing to note with this psalm is the intro: 'For the director of music. A maskil of David. When Doeg the Edomite had gone to Saul and told him: “David has gone to the house of Ahimelek.”' if you read the first seven verses you see David's response to basically 'being told on' and he is not amused. should we learn from that example of David and go to ourselves, 'ah cool, [...]
'For the director of music. A psalm of David. When the prophet Nathan came to him after David had committed adultery with Bathsheba.' i mean, that's quite an intro already, right? and possibly carries a profoundly deep message in terms of really getting our minds around the fact that David, altho he had messed up horribly, still ends up at the feet of God, rather than simply trying to hide or run the other way... [...]
Wow! This is a hectic psalm so grab your Bible or google the passage and read the whole thing. This is God claiming His position in the Universe ['The Mighty One, God, the Lord, speaks and summons the earth from the rising of the sun to where it sets' verse 1] and as the Lord of peoples lives ['“Listen, my people, and I will speak; I will testify against you, Israel: I am God, your [...]
this psalm is like a shout out to the world - to those who are rich and those who are poor - with the major theme being the question of where you put your trust. the psalmist suggests that putting your truth in your wealth is not a sign of wisdom: 'Why should I fear when evil days come, when wicked deceivers surround me — those who trust in their wealth and boast of their [...]
Wow, this is a great little psalm - just a delightful praise-filled mantra, but there were one or two lines which really jumped out at me: verse 9 reads, 'Within your temple, O God, we meditate on your unfailing love.' if you read the second half of the Bible carefully, you quickly find out that God's temple is us - the Holy Spirit of Jesus resides in us, guiding and nudging and pointing us back towards God... [...]
this is a short psalm with a big focus on praising God: 'Clap your hands, all you nations; shout to God with cries of joy. For the Lord Most High is awesome, the great King over all the earth.' [verse 1-2] which is a great thing to be reminded of. especially when times are tough and we feel more at home reading how God is with us even when we are walking through the valley [...]
ah, Psalm 46 - if you come for a visit to the Simple Way, chances are good you will be faced by it in some form or other, and particularly verse 10 [a great one to set to memory] which says: He says, “Be still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth.” So give yourself a minute now if you have time... [...]
'My heart is stirred by a noble theme as I recite my verses for the king; my tongue is the pen of a skillful writer.' (verse 1) this psalm is billed as a wedding song and so that poetic opening feels like a suitable way to get things started - and a good reminder to those of us who get caught up in the lifeness of life to be reminded that we serve a stunningly [...]
'We have heard with our ears, O God; our fathers have told us what You did in their days, in days long ago...' [verse 1] i found this a difficult psalm to grab a lot from, but one thing that jumped out at me was that line at the beginning which is such a powerful line. it reminds me of a contradictionary line found in Judges which says: 'After that whole generation had been gathered [...]