Bible in 90 Days - Day 45 (Psalm 134-Proverbs 6)

From Psalm 139: 

Search me, O God, and know my heart;

test me and know my anxious thoughts

See if there is any offensive way in me, 

and lead me in the way everlasting.

Psalm 147:10-11 says, “His pleasure is not in the strength of the horse,

nor his delight in the legs of a man;

the Lord delights in those who fear him,

who put their hope in his unfailing love.”

I love this. It is so easy to fall into the trap of thinking that God is pleased by what seems like success. Sometimes we fall into the trap of thinking that success is a sign of God’s pleasure. Why would he be constrained to reward us with something that is not even his main delight? God delights in those who follow him.

Reading lots of proverbs all at once is also an interesting task. After reading the first few verses, I’m eager to dig in again. I read the first seven verses and say, “I want that!”

Proverbs 2:9 says, “Then you will understand what is right and just and fair—every good path.” This is the result of seeking God. Could it be that what is right and just and fair is not self-evident? Could it be that these things are not as easy to figure out on our own as we often assume?

Bible in 90 Days - Day 44 (Psalms 109-134)

A prayer from Psalm 119:

¹²     Praise be to you, O Lord;

teach me your decrees.

¹³     With my lips I recount

all the laws that come from your mouth.

¹⁴     I rejoice in following your statutes

as one rejoices in great riches.

¹⁵     I meditate on your precepts

and consider your ways.

¹⁶     I delight in your decrees;

I will not neglect your word.

Since there are actually 88 days of reading, today we are at the halfway point of our journey! Congratulations!

Satan hardly gets mentioned by name in the Old Testament. Outside of the first chapters of Job, Satan is only mentioned in 1 Chronicles 21:1 and Zechariah 3:1-2 (we see the serpent in the Garden as Satan, but Genesis only calls him the serpent). Psalm 109:6 is also a reference to Satan in the King James Version. By the context it is difficult to know if this is impersonal (an adversary) or personal (Satan), since “Satan” means “adversary.” I mention this to note that the enemy in the OT usually is flesh and blood, while the NT enemy more often is spiritual.

Is the idea of covenant becoming clearer during this 90 day project? Do you read a psalm like Psalm 111 in a different light than you used to? When I read covenant in the Psalms now, I say, “That’s me!”

Psalm 113 is divided into three sections. The first is praise to the LORD. What do you see in the second section? I see an appropriate boast and maybe even a taunt. The Psalmist says to every other nation, worldview, and religion: “You’ve got nothing on our God! Our God is way over anything you have!” And then there is testimony of how great God is in the third section. There’s no one like our God!

I mentioned a few days ago that Psalms was not among my favorite Bible books for a long time. I don’t think they were concrete enough. (of course all that has changed!) It shouldn’t surprise anyone that even when I wasn’t fond of Psalms as a “young man,” Psalm 119 stood out as my favorite. Here is something I could sink my teeth into. Psalm 119 is an acrostic poem. EVERY LINE in the first verse starts with aleph, every line in the second verse starts with beth, and on it goes through the whole Hebrew alphabet. Verses 73-80 read like a theological vocabulary list. So much is packed in that little section!

We often see the whole Church in references to Jerusalem. Read through Psalm 122 with this consideration.

Psalm 129:8 is an interesting curse.

Before I knew much about children Gail told me how not to hold a baby. She told me that when I hold a nursing baby in a nursing position, the baby will become active (thinking she will be eating). A non-weaned child with its mother is often not at rest. Psalm 131 describes a child who is at rest, not whining in some wilderness for more food. Vivid picture!

Bible in 90 Days - Day 43 (Psalms 90-108)

Teach us your way, O Lord,

and lead us on a level path.

Teach us, O Lord, to follow your decrees;

then we will keep them to the end.

Give us understanding, and we will keep your law

and obey it with all our hearts.

Through Christ, our Lord. Amen.

—based on Psalm 27:11, Psalm 119:33-34

  

 

Psalm 90 is one of those psalms where the note on the front stirs my imagination. “A psalm of Moses.” “Lord, you have been our dwelling place through all generations.” Born in Egypt, moved to Midian, back to Egypt, 40 years in the desert. So Moses, where are you from? From the Lord – the only thing that counts. I never really thought of it in this context before, but for people who put emphasis on the actual land of Israel this phrase adds important perspective. Dwelling with God has always been more important than any particular real estate.

Although I don’t think I’ll go back to reading Psalms in rapid succession like this, it reminds me of paging through a photo album. Psalm 95 is my favorite call to worship, Psalm 103 is the classic psalm to read at the end of a communion service. Psalm 97:1 – “The LORD reigns, let the earth be glad!” There’s a gospel (“good news”) message!

One of the most important relationships for us to understand is Creator-Creature. Psalm 104 is the handbook of that relationship.

105 and 106 are histories with a purpose. I never really was struck by the details of names and places in 106 before.

Bible in 90 Days - Day 42 (Psalms 70-89)

Lord God,

help us to know your ways;

teach us your paths.

Lead us in your truth, and teach us,

for you are the God of our salvation;

for you we wait all day long.

Through Christ, our Lord. Amen.

—based on Psalm 25:4-5

Some of the psalms retell Israel’s history. Now that you have read the whole Old Testament timeline of God’s people over the last 41 days, do you read a psalm like Psalm 74 differently? The enemy cuts through the carved paneling of the Temple, “the dwelling place of [God’s] name.” No prophets are left. No one knows how long this will be. When the call for justice comes, it comes as a call for God to defend his own glory and his covenant! For me this psalm really comes to life in light of all we have just read, and it helps me remember the centrality of God’s glory for my own prayers as well.

Psalm 78 is also greatly enhanced by having just read the stories. This one psalm goes from slavery in Egypt all the way to David. The psalmist is gutsy. How comfortable would you be writing a line like verse 65?

I used to think of Psalm 84 in terms of heaven. Years ago as I was finally reading through the Bible it finally struck me that the psalmist is thinking first of the Temple itself. In light of all we’ve read, can you get the sense of urgency for being in that place where God had chosen for his special presence to dwell? Now it is appropriate for us to read this in light of God’s presence always being with us, but we should not lose the opportunity to try to read it in its original setting.

Whenever I read Psalm 87:6 now I think of baptism. I think this is what God is doing as we baptize with water. He is saying, “This one was born in Zion.” God gives us a new identity and a new citizenship.

Psalm 89 is one of the few laments that doesn’t have a clear declaration of trust or promise for praise. It is a pretty dark lament. If you re-read it, ask yourself if these words could come from a person who has no hope that God really hears and responds. Even the mournful words mirror a sense of hope and trust.

Don’t take this one in the wrong way. Sometimes people get Bible verses or words tattooed on them. I see quite a few Hebrew words and phrases as tattoos (but no Greek – funny.) If I were to pick one verse as a permanent tattoo, it would probably be Psalm 89:14 in Hebrew. Righteousness, justice, love, and faithfulness are pillars of God’s character. Here they are both the foundations of his throne and the heralds that go before him. This verse is 8 words in Hebrew – 4 words in each phrase. Just in case you’re wondering, I’m actually going to try to etch these words in my memory and on my heart rather than on my skin. But if you are looking for a tattoo...

Bible in 90 Days - Day 41 (Psalms 46-69)

Lord God,

let the words of your servant’s mouth

and the meditations of our hearts

be pleasing in your sight,

O Lord, our Rock and Redeemer.

Through Christ. Amen.

—based on Psalm 19:14

As I read through these psalms, I remember different times in my life when some of these were my expression. Maybe someday I’ll start putting notes on them like the one on Psalm 51. “When Matt was struggling through…” or “When Matt rejoiced at…”

We use the name “imprecatory psalms” for the psalms that call for God’s justice and judgment. These can be very difficult to read, especially in light of commands like, “love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you.” I don’t think these are the kinds of prayers that command is requesting. I’m not proposing an easy way to think of them, but consider that these are God’s covenant people asking God to uphold the covenant he has made. These are people asking God to act out in justice. Maybe we’ll touch on that again soon.

Psalm 67 has a universal note of blessing. We might miss that as gentiles who have been brought in through Jesus. Consider how Israel felt as God’s chosen people in the face of the other nations, and now read Psalm 67 as a call for that special blessing to go out to all the world. Amazing!

Bible in 90 Days - Day 40 (Psalms 25-45)

God our helper,

show us your holy ways and teach us your paths.

By your Holy Spirit

open our minds

that we may be led in your truth

and taught your will.

Then may we praise you

by listening to your Word

and by obeying it.

Through Christ, our Lord. Amen.

Reading Psalms in big bunches like this is still not my favorite way to read Psalms, but there is blessing in this journey as well. Each Psalm could have a book of notes for it. Do you find yourself singing a variety of lines from different songs? I do (I was singing three fairly contemporary songs just reading Psalm 42).

Many of the Psalms seem to come from a group setting, and it is interesting to picture Israel using them in worship. Psalm 28, for example, is a cry out to God with a lot of “me” and “my,” but then in verse 5 the Psalmist makes a subtle switch from calling God “you” to calling him “he.” The leader is reporting God's answer to the group, so the Psalm now shifts from hurt to joy. You can almost picture the call and response, much like we do with our time of confession and assurance of God’s grace every Sunday.

Psalm 38 is another strong lament. It ends with two verses crying out for deliverance. In those 2 verses the Psalmist uses 4 different names for God. This is a good example of how “LORD” (the covenant name for God focusing on the relationship and promise) is distinguished from “Lord” (a title of the true God with a focus on the authority and majesty of a ruler). Both are used in these two verses.

Bible in 90 Days - Day 39 (Psalms 1-24)

Open our eyes, O God:

that we may behold wondrous things out of your law.

Open our ears, O God:

that we may hear what you will speak

to those who turn to you in their hearts.

Open our minds, O God:

that we may understand what it means

to revere you and to learn of your ways.

Open our hearts, O God:

that we may grasp the treasures of wisdom and knowledge

hidden in Christ.

Open our mouths, O God:

that we may proclaim the mystery of the gospel

and speak of it boldly.

The Psalms are the songbook of God’s people. Here’s a little history for you. Many Reformed churches, ours included, trace many of their important traditions back to the Synod of Dort in 1618-1619. It was made official there that only Psalms should be sung in worship. That was true in the Christian Reformed Church until 1934, when hymns were added. Until then we only had a Psalter (a Psalm book), and since then we have had a Psalter Hymnal. One advantage in only having 150 songs for generation after generation is that you really know those songs by heart! (I’m not advocating for a return, though.) Some churches in the Reformed tradition still hold to that.

When I was younger the Psalms were not my favorite part of the Bible. I think they were too poetic for me. That changed for me when I began to pray the Psalms (recognizing that not all of them are prayers). The Psalms are words we can put on our tongues for prayer, worship and instruction.

Some of the Psalms are laments. They cry out in the face of suffering or injustice. When you read these Psalms, hear the anguish. But after you hear the anguish, look for a note of trust and a promise to praise. The laments are powerful because they cry out to a covenant-keeping God. Psalm 12, for example, starts on what seems like a hopeless note, but by verse 7 there is a declaration of trust. Psalm 13 is another great example. It begins with a cry out, and it ends with a claim of trust in verse 5 and a promise to praise in verse 6. This is not an effort to rush through the pain; rather it gives pain a meaningful context.

There is a school of thought that says when Jewish teachers quoted the beginning of a passage, they expected that their hearers would recall the entire passage. In light of that, consider what it would mean for Jesus to pray the entire Psalm 22 from the cross. Lament begins with a sense of forsakenness, but it doesn’t end there.