Psalm 31 - Be strong and take heart

Psalm 31

Dacid takes refuge in the Lord, seeking to never be put to shame. There are many references to  not being put to shame in the psalms.. Being put to shame is something we fear, it is only by sticking with the Lord that we are secure in every way.

David wants the Lord to turn to him quickly, to be his “rock of refuge”. David knows there are traps set for him. “Into your hands I commit my spirit. Jesus uttered these words on the cross just before he died (Lk 23:46).

We have a choice, either cling to worthless idol, or trust in the Lord. Note the word “cling” we can clink with increasing vigour to idols, with a vain hope that it will help us, but it will not, trusting in the Lord is the only effective thing to do.

I am in distress. David often prayed out of distress, and he felt very weak and in anguish. The situation seemed hopeless but he put his trust in the Lord. “My times are in your hands”, our lives are in the Lord’s hands. The Lord has good things in store for those who fear Him.The psalm ends with praise for the Lord and urges all His faithful people to love the Lord. 

“Be strong and take heart” trusting in the Lord is the most effective thing we can do.

Psalm 30 - I will exalt you, Lord

Psalm 30

The preamble tells us that this psalm was for the dedication of the temple.

David exalts the Lord because He lifted him out of the depths and did not let his enemies gloat over him. We praise the Lord for a reason. David called on the Lord for help and the Lord healed him.\he saved his life. David then calls on the people to praise the Lord. The favour of the Lord outweighs the anger of the Lord.

\david’s well being and security depends upon the Lord. With the Lord we are strong and secure, without Him we are weak and vulnerable.

The Lord turned his wailing into dancing, God can transform our lives.

Psalm 29 - Ascribe to the Lord glory and strength

Psalm 29

Another of what seem to me to be David’s reflective psalms The start of the psalm is addressed to “heavenly beings”. Heavenly beings can include angels ans demons. Whatever the case they are to ascribe glory and strength to the Lord. And we should do the same. We can feel overwhelmed or threatened, but the Lord has all glory and strength, he is able.

Nor is the Lord silent, His voice is over the waters, His voice reaches all parts of the world. And His voice is powerful. The cedars of Lebanon were a strong wood, but the voice of the Lord could break them. Sirion is Mount Hermon. The Lord is might in power, and He gives strength to His people and blesses them with peace. We should never forget this, which Israel often did.

Psalm 28 - I call upon the Lord

Psalm 28

It seems to me that in some of the psalms, such as this one, David is reflecting on how life with God works. We should maybe do the same some times. The start is that David call upon the Lord, for the Lord is his rock. The Lord is our only sure foundation. If God does not help him he is done for, we are utterly dependent upon him. David calls on the Lord for mercy, he does not want to be treated along with the wicked.The wicked are described as those who do evil, and speak deceitfully. David wants the wicked to be judged by the Lord, to receive what they deserve. These people have no regard for the Lord, the Lord is against such people. Part of the truth of the Bible is that the Lord will bring justice. Righteousness is part of His nature. He has heard David’s cry for mercy. Remember that Jesus commended the tax collector who asked God to have mercy upon him. (Luke 18:9-13). We are dependent upon the Lord’s mercy, this is a surer foundation than relying on our righteousness. The psalm finishes with David calling on God to save His people. And to be their shepher

Psalm 27 - The Lord is the stronghold of my life!

Psalm 27

In this psalm David reflects on how God influences his life. The Lord is his light and his salvation. He shows him the way to live, and He rescues him from his foes. He is the stronghold of his life, so David has no need to be afraid of anyone or anything. We can say the same. God is our source of strength and security. We may encounter difficult times, but nothing can completely overwhelm us, for the Lord is our stronghold.

Enemies did come against David, seeking to devour him. Even so David would not fear, for it was his enemy who would stumble and fall.

The one thing that David sought was to dwell in the house of the Lord forever, and to gaze on the beauty of the Lord. The Lord was his strength and his delight. God said to Abraham “I am your shield, your very great reward” (Gen 15:1). The Lord will help us in our day of trouble. As with the parable of building on the rock, the promise is not that trouble will never come, but when it does it will not defeat us, for the Lord will keep us safe in His dwelling. More than that the Lord will exalt our head above the enemies who oppose us. We will sacrifice with shouts of joy.

David’s heart called upon him to seek the face of the Lord.

David was confident that he would see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living.

Psalm 26 - Vindicate me Lord !

Psalm 26

In this psalm David seems to rely on his uprightness. This presents something of a problem, for we know that David was far from perfect, and that we certainly are far from perfect. So how are we to read this psalm? Part of the answer is that it is all true of Jesus, and He is our righteousness, and while we are always dependent upon God’s grace and mercy, it is better to live rightly than not.

Jesus could honestly say that He has led a blameless life. We should trust in the Lord without faltering, no matter how difficult it gets. In v2 he asks the Lord to examine his heart and mind. So what are the signs of a blameless heart and mind? It is one that is always mindful of God’s unfailing love and we rely on His faithfulness. THings can happen that make us doubt His love, but He never stops loving us.

Then we do not sit with the deceitful and the hypocrites, we are careful of the company  that we keep. We proclaim the faithfulness of the lord and tell of His wonderful deeds, we feed the spirit rather than the flesh.

On the contrary we love to be with those who love the Lord. If keep our trust in the Lord we stand on level ground and will praise the Lord.

Psalm 25 - Teach me your ways, O Lord

Psalm 25

David seems to be in trouble again, but explains his approach to life. The most fundamental point is that he puts his trust in the Lord. He then calls on the Lord to not let him be put to shame, nor to let his enemies triumph over him. We can fear being made to look foolish and David declares that this will not happen to those whose hope is in the Lord. On the contrary it is those who are treacherous who will be put to shame.

David then asks the Lord to teach him His ways. Sometimes the solution is God doing something, God intervening, at others it is God teaching us how to handle the situation. He calls on God to remember His great mercy, and not to remember his sins. I am sure that we can all identify with that.

The Lord is good and upright, and it is in hHis nature to instruct sinners in His ways. He guides the humble. So when we ask God to teach us we are not asking God for something that He is reluctant to give, but something that it is in His nature to do. David also admits that his iniquity is great.

Fearing the Lord puts us in prime position to receive instruction from the Lord. God likes those who fear Him and confides in them. So David’s eyes are ever on the Lord, knowing that it is the Lord who will set him free.

In v16-19 David relates how his troubles are affecting him. Just as David looks for deliverance for himself, he also wants salvation for Israel.

Psalm 24 - He is the King of Glory

Psalm 24

This is a psalm of praise. The whole earth belongs to the Lord for He is the one who created everything. We do well to remember this when we see pretensions setting themselves up against the knowledge of God (2 Cor 10:4,5).

So who can ascend the mountain of the Lord, only the one who has clean hands and a pure heart. So the atheists etc have no chance. Those who trust in the Lord will receive blessing from the Lord, and vindication from God our saviour. He is God and He is our saviour.

David calls upon Israel to let the Lord come in. We should all do this, we may face many problems, but the Lord is strong and mighty in battle, He is the king of Glory. 

Psalm 23 - The Lord is my shepherd

Psalm 23

The shepherd motif occurs several times in the Bible. Jesus described himself as the good shepherd (John 10:11) and the prophets talk about God himself shepherding the flock, in contrast to the bad shepherd of Israel. In this psalm David describes how the Lord is his shepherd, i.e. He is the one who guides and protects David. The Lord is the perfect shepherd for David who lacks nothing, the Lord guides him to green pastures (i.e. times of plenty) and still waters (times of peace), and He refreshes his soul. He guides him along the right paths.But he is not just a shepherd for the good times.Even when david walks through the darkest valley the Lord is with him, and His rod and staff comfort him, protecting and guiding him.

Psalm 22 spoke of God being with him in the darkest times, He prepares a table for us in the presence of our enemies. The goodness and love of the Lord will follow us all the days of our life and we will dwell in His house forever. We should trust in our shepherd! What a privelege to have such a good shepherd.

Psalm 22 - From despair to praise

Psalm 22

Jesus famously quoted from Psalm 22 when He was on the cross (Matt 27:46). The beginning of the psalm is rather desolate, but the tone changes by the end. At the start the psalmist is in anguish. Jesus’ death and suffering were very real, and He was fully human, so He felt everything.

Despite his state of anguish he still knew that God was the Holy One of Israel. He still believed that calling on God was the way of salvation. There can be times when we experience deep anguish, and all seems lost, yet there is still something within us that trusts in the Lord.

In those times we do not feel great, and we may be scorned by all, and our faith may be mocked.

The psalmist then reminds himself of some basic truths. It was God who formed him in the womb, and taught him to trust in the Lord. He calls upon God to help him quickly.

David was surrounded by many foes. David really felt the suffering. We can sometimes feel guilty about the fact that we are struggling, but we should not do so. David felt the suffering, Jesus felt the suffering, so we should not expect to be any different.

In v19 David again cries out for deliverance, and in  v22 his attitude begins to change. He will declare the name of the Lord to the people, and calls on those who fear the Lord to praise Him. And he declares that God has not abandoned him.

So Davoid has moved from a place of utter despair to one of declaring the faithfulness of God, and His salvation.

Psalm 21 - In His Strength

Psalm 21

We have had the response of the people to the king, now we have the response of the king to the Lord, and just as the last psalm gives us some guidance on how we should treat our leaders, this one gives us guidance on how to react as leaders. First we are to rejoice in the Lord’s strength. If we are in a leadership position, or any position of responsibility, we are there not to do things in our strength, but to do things in the Lord’s strength. The Lord finds joy in the victories that He gives us.

The Lord looks after the king, and gives him his heart’s desire. He places a crown on his head. The Lord looks after hHis leaders.

The king trusts in the Lord, we are secure when we trust in the Lord. We lead on behalf of the Lord, to fulfil His purposes, not our own. The Lord will consume His enemie, and His Name will be praised.

Psalm 20 - A prayer for our leaders

Psalm 20

This psalm is a response of the people to the king. Perhaps we can learn something about how we should respond to our leaders.

“May the Lord answer you when you are in distress”. We see the weak  times of David, that at times he was in distress. We can tend to put leaders on a pedestal, but they can go through great difficulties, just like the rest of us. This can happen because of the normal trials of life, or because of the peculiar trials of leadership. The prayer is for God to protect the king, and for the help to come from the sanctuary. We need to remember that our help comes from the sanctuary of God, this is  a great privilege. The prayer is for the king’s success, we should definitely not be looking for them to fail!

Our trust is in the name of the Lord, not in human resources. We should want good leaders, but our well being is ultimately not dependent upon the leader, but upon the Lord. To trust in anything else is to set ourselves up to fail.

Psalm 19 - Trust in the word of the Lord

Psalm 19

For once, David doesn’t seem to be in trouble! Instead we have  a psalm of unalloyed praise.There are many times when we do seem to be in trouble, but God also grants us times of peace. First of all David says how creation declares the glory of God. Some use science to try and "disprove God”, or as an alternative to God. Such attempts are both futile and misguided. If we approach things aright, then we see how creation shows how great God is. In Rom 1:19 Paul says that creation makes known to all something of the greatness of God, so men are without excuse.

Creation is good, the Law of the Lord is perfect. ` It refreshes the soul. We should always look to the word of the Lord. Some claim to be clever in their disbelief in God, but the opposite is true. They are fools (see previous psalm) and if we pay attention to the Law then we become wise. Atheism brings no peace, but the word of The Lord gives joy to the heart. His commands are radiant and give light to our lives, they enable us to see clearly. The decrees of the Lord are precious, they are worth much more than gold.

We should seek His word, and trust it more than anything.

Psalm 18 - The Lord is my deliverer

Psalm 18

The preamble to this psalm tells us that David wrote this after h e had been delivered from Saul by the Lord, it is similar, though not identical, to David’s psalm of praise in 2 Samuel 22. David loves the Lord, and describes the Lord as His rock, fortress and deliverer. When in trouble David took refuge in the Lord. He turned to the Lord, called upon the Lord, and sought to do things His way.

David faced many real threats, his very life being in danger, with death seeking to have him. David called upon the Lord in his distress. We may think that we can only call upon the Lord in faith, but sometimes our feelings will overwhelm us, we can still call upon the Lord. God heard Him from His temple, and God took action. We should realise where our prayers go, not into thin air, but up to the temple of God. The Lord took action and scattered David’s enemies. He reached down and pulled David out of the depths, he rescued him from the enemies who were too powerful for David. We may face situations where the opposition is much stronger than us. 

The Lord rescued David because David trusted in Him. Christ is our righteousness, but the fact that we trust in the Lord matters, the fact that we trust Him affects our relationship with Him.  And God enables us to do things that by nature we cannot do.  And the word of the Lord is flawless. So the end result was that David triumphed over his enemies.

Psalm 17 - Vindicate me Lord

Psalm 17

David is in trouble again. He feels that he is being unjustly treated, and he calls upon the Lord asking the Lord to vindicate him. In the psalms we get a full range of emotions from David. There are times when he is overwhelmed by sin,  others when he is full of fear. In all these situations he calls upon the lord, whatever circumstances we might be in today we should call upon the Lord.

David then says that the Lord could examine his heart but would find no wrong. We may think that we can never say that, but we pray on the basis not of our righteousness, but Christ’s righteousness. At the same time David had resisted attempts to bribe him, and had avoided violent ways. We should seek to stick to the Lord’s ways, and the Holy Spirit will help us to do that.

David is confident that God would hear him, we too should be confident that the Lord will hear us, on the basis of Christ’s righteousness. We should expect to see the  wonders of His great love. So often we expect to see disaster, but the Lord actively looks after us.

The wicked are indeed full of evil plans, but David calls on the Lord to rise up against them.

David expects the Lord to vindicate him, and that he will see the Lord.

Psalm 16 - Trust in the Lord

Psalm 16

David calls upon the Lord to keep him safe. Whatever the situation we should always take refuge in the Lord. David knows that all his hope is in the Lord, and he delights in God’s people. The company we keep is important, if we choose the wrong crowd we can be dragged away from the Lord, conversely if we mix with godly people it can help us in following the Lord.running after other gods is not a wise thing to do, it will lead only to trouble.

The Lord is our portion, He is our provider, and \He is good to us. He instructs us. We are secure only when we keep the Lord at our right hand.

When we put our trust in the Lord we will be glad and will rest secure. The Lord’s will is to look after us and to fill us with joy in His presence.

Psalm 15 - Who may ascend the hill of the Lord?

Psalm 15

For once David is not in trouble., this time he is musing on “who may dwell in the Lord’s sacred tent”. He has known God’s help, but who can ascend the hill of the Lord? The answers he gives sets a very high standard, and not one that we can reach, that is why we need Jesus. Yet it is still worth pondering them, for the Holy Spirit works in us to produce more of the character of Jesus within us. First his walk is blameless, he speaks the truth and is righteous. \he tells no lies, and does no wrong to his neighbour, he does not cast slurs. Notice how much of politics is casting slurs on others. He despises a vile person, rather than honouring him. Instead he honours those who fear the Lord. His word is reliable. He lends freely to the poor, not seeking to exploit them. Such  a person has the approval of God, and so his life is built upon a solid foundation.

Psalm 14 - when society rejects God

Psalm 14

In previous psalms Daavid has been dealing with fairly personal matters, in this one he takes a more general look at society. Those who say “There is no God”are fools. They might claim to be wise, but quite the opposite is true. Their deeds are evil, and they do no good. Our society that rejects God is a poorer society.

While they deny the existence of God , the Lord does exist and He sees all people. He looks to see if there are any who seek God., but all have turned away and have become corrupt. This is the general condition of mankind. A society that rejects God is a less caring society But God does exist and is active. He is present in the company of the righteous, so even if society as a whole turns away from God, we do well to continue to look to Him, and to put our trust in Him. 

Psalm 13 - When it is very difficult

Psalm 13

David is in trouble again. In this psalm we see how he is feeling and how he responds.. It starts with David feeling as if the Lord has forgotten him, and is paying him no attention. He is wrestling with all sorts of troubling thoughts, probably imagining all that could go wrong. Sorrow fills his  heart and it seems as if the enemy is triumphing over him. He does not want the enemy to be able to gloat in triumph over him. His response is to call on the Lord, he still trusts in God and reminds himself that God has been good to him. 

We can feel guilty when we experience difficult and negative thoughts and feelings, this is normal, and we see how David responds to the situation.

Psalm 12 - When all seem to neglect the Lord

Psalm 12

In the previous two psalms David had been praying in response to personal circumstances, in this one David is concerned about the overall state of the nation. We too can be concerned about the nation’s general state. So let's see how David responded. It can seem that there is no one who is faithful, people “flatter with their lips but harbour deception in their hearts”.

David calls on the Lord to silence all flattering lips and boastful tongues”. We should be bold in our prayers. When evil triumphs it is the poor who suffer most. The Lord rises in response. The words of the wicked tell lies, and are not fruitful, but God’s words are flawless. The Lord looks after the needy. He takes action against the wicked.

Psalm 11 - When all seems lost

Psalm 11

David was under pressure. In fact he spent most of his life under pressure of various sorts. Sometimes it was his own fault, as after the Bathsheba incident, at others it was because of others such as Saul. At such times we can think that retreating into “safety”, it can seem as if we are defeated. David is reacting to such a situation. Circumstances tell us to “Flee like a bird to our mountain”, “what can the righteous do?” Then David reminds himself of who the Lord is. The Lord is in His temple, He observes everything, He is not unaware of our situation, and HE hates the violent and the wicked. The Lord will take action. We need to listen to the Lord, not to the voices (even from within ourselves) telling us we are defeated and that our situation is hopeless.

Psalm 10 - When the Lord seems far off

Psalm 10

There are times when God seems to be far off, to be oblivious to our situation, and doing nothing about it. David wrote this psalm in one of those times The wicked seemed to be abounding,  hunting down the weak. The wicked were doing well having no regard for the Lord, boastful in his success.

He was full of lies, waiting for more people to trap. He thinks he cannot be seen by God.

David calls upon the Lord to rise up and do something about the situation. He is convinced that God does see the afflicted, and that “the Lord is king for ever and ever”. Even when things seem dark and God seems to be far off we should still call upon the Lord and trust in Him.