'The LORD is my shepherd, I lack nothing. He makes me lie down in green pastures, He leads me beside quiet waters, He refreshes my soul. He guides me along the right paths for His name’s sake. Even though I walk through the darkest valley, I will fear no evil, for You are with me; Your rod and your staff, they comfort me. You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies. [...]
continuing with some further thorts from psalm 22 'I will declare Your name to my people; in the assembly I will praise You. You who fear the LORD, praise Him! All you descendants of Jacob, honor Him! Revere Him, all you descendants of Israel! For He has not despised or scorned the suffering of the afflicted one; He has not hidden His face from him but has listened to his cry for help.' [verse 22-24] [...]
this is a long psalm, so may just do it in two parts... starts off with a very familiar statement: 'My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?' [verse 1] Jesus groaning from the cross... or me, sitting and chatting with my wife on my bed last nite... i seem to be able to relate to a lot of the groany [whiny?] stuff of this psalm which i appreciate for its raw and rough [...]
there are some lines in this psalm that are not as easy to digest as they used to be and i am not going to focus on that, because i am clearly not exegiting the psalms, but simply pulling out lines and ideas that strike me... and with psalm 20, it is verse 6 and 7: 'Surely You have granted him unending blessings and made him glad with the joy of Your presence.' [verse 6] [...]
there seem to be a lot of 'i' and 'me' psalms leading up to psalm 20 and then some that focus on God but from an 'i' or 'me' perspective... and so this one has a very different feel to it: 'May the LORD answer you when you are in distress; may the name of the God of Jacob protect you. May he send you help from the sanctuary and grant you support from Zion. [...]
psalm 19 is a tough one. because there is just so much in it. it is a beautiful, beautiful psalm. make sure you read the whole thing. It starts so powerfully with a declaration of who God is: 'The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands.' [Psalm 19.1] This makes me think of Jesus calming the storm in the boat ['The disciples went and woke him, saying, “Master, [...]
my housemate Monkman [aka Aaron Condon] and i are trying to set aside a meal to fast and pray together every week and this week on Thursday we sat on the floor in the office and read through psalm 17 which was the next one i was going to look at. and when we finished we read through psalm 18. and then 19. and it was so refreshing just reading a bunch of psalms together [...]
this psalm is filled with a number of deep thoughts worth reflecting on, but i will just pick a few: 'I keep my eyes always on the LORD. With him at my right hand, I will not be shaken.' [vs.8] this is the first verse that really caught my attention and really just spoke to me about living a life close to God - john 15 shares the picture of the vine and the branches [...]
psalm 15 is a short and schweet psalm and the message i got from it is to live well. the psalmist gives some examples of what living well looks like - 'speaks the truth from their heart', 'utters no slander', 'does no wrong to a neighbor', 'casts no slur on others', 'keeps an oath even when it hurts', 'lends money to the poor without interest', and 'does not accept a bribe against the innocent' with [...]
and on to psalm 14: 'The fool says in his heart, "There is no God!" [vs.1] as Mr T's B.A. Baracus from the A-Team would say, "I pity the fool!" and that's an apt combination of thoughts. and 'pity' has such strongly negative connotations where what i feel when i look at friends lives who do not know God and are going through stuff and trying to carry it all by themselves is totally a [...]