Introduction: The book of Psalms is the Bible's hymnbook. The psalmists are bone of our bones and flesh of our flesh. We sympathize with their struggles and feel they are akin to us in ours. Of this magnificent book of the Bible, John Calvin once wrote: "I may truly call this book an anatomy of all parts of the soul, for no one can feel a movement of the spirit which is not reflected in this mirror. All the sorrows, troubles, fears, doubts, hopes, pains, perplexities and stormy outbreaks by which the hearts of men are tossed have been depicted here to the very life." Calvin’s sentiment about Psalms, the Bible’s songbook, is shared by many, which explains why so many pick Psalms as their favorite book of the Bible.

Psalm 1:1-2 — The blessed or happy man is one who distances himself from sinners and delights in Scripture.

To truly meditate continually on God’s Word one must constantly repudiate the counsel, customs, and camaraderie of this world.

Psalm 1:3-4 — Whereas the godly are like a flourishing and fruitful tree planted by rivers of life-giving water, the ungodly are like chaff swiftly swept away by the sweeping wind.

 

Here, the godly are promised the eternal prosperity of the soul, not temporal prosperity in this world. Likewise, the ungodly are warned of swift destruction in the hereafter, not necessarily in the here and now. 

 

God’s blessings are often concealed in the Christian’s crosses, which are means employed by our Heavenly Husbandman to prune us for greater fruitfulness. On the other hand, God’s curses are often concealed in the nonChristian’s consolations, which merely serve to shroud the nonChristian’s dire and desperate straits and precarious condition. 

 

Psalm 1:5 — The ungodly can neither stand confidently before God in judgment nor sit comfortably among the righteous in church.

 

If the ungodly are comfortable in your church, then, there is something critically wrong with your church!

 

Psalm 1:6 — While the Lord at all times watches over the way of the righteous, He will wipeout for all time the way of the wicked.

 

It is not just the wayward who will forever perish, but their ways as well.

 

Psalm 2:1-4 —The coming rule of Christ on earth enrages the nations. Their preposterous plotting to prevent it and ridiculous resolve to resist it is not just ridiculed by the Almighty, but the only thing mentioned in the Bible that makes God laugh.

 

The vanity of humanity in deifying divinity is pure hilarity to the Deity!

 

Psalm 2:5-6 — God’s anointed is already appointed, making His eternal coronation an eternal vexation to all His would-be usurpers.

 

Nothing incites God’s wrath like the attempted usurpation of His throne, which was the original sin of both fallen angels and fallen man. It was what got Lucifer thrown out of Heaven and Adam and Eve thrown out of the Garden of Eden.

 

Psalm 2:7 — When did the Father say to the Son, “This day have I begotten thee”? According to the Apostle Paul, it was on the day of Christ’s resurrection. (Acts 13:13)

 

As the “first born from the dead”; that is, the first to be born again—made alive to God after having being dead to Him in trespasses and sins, our sins not His own—Christ was begotten by the Father on the day of His resurrection, so that the worst sinner in the world today can also be born again and made alive to God by faith in the resurrected Christ. (Colossians 1:18)

 

THE FOLLOWING EXCERPT FROM CHAPTER 5: THE SALVATION OF MAN'S SOUL FROM OUR BOOK THE KING OF HEARTS: THE SIMPLICITY OF LIVING IN THE SPIRIT PROVIDES A DEEPER DIVE INTO THE DEEP AND PROFOUND TRUTH OF PSALM 2:7.

 

According to the Apostle Paul, the whole of our Christian faith hinges on the resurrection of Jesus Christ. “If Christ be not risen,” Paul writes, “then is our preaching vain, and our faith is also vain. Yea, and we are found to be false witnesses of God; because we have testified of God that he raised up Christ: whom he raised not up” (1 Corinthians 15:14-15). Paul goes on to add that without Christ’s resurrection we are still “in our sins,” our loved ones who have “fallen asleep in Christ are perished” and “we are of all men most miserable” (1 Corinthians 15:17-19).

 

When Christ died on the cross He did more than just die for our sins; according to the Scripture, He actually became our sin (2 Corinthians 5:21). When Christ became our sin on the cross of Calvary God the Father poured out the full fury of His wrath on Christ for every sin that has been or ever will be committed. On the cross, Christ suffered the full punishment for all the sins of all time. This explains why Christ, already kneeling under the shadow of the cross, suffered such agony in the Garden of Gethsemane (Matthew 26:36-45, Luke 22:39-46). It was not, as is commonly believed, the physical pain and suffering of the cross that caused Christ to shrink back and His sweat to become like “great drops of blood” in the garden. Instead, it was the fact that Christ was about to become the sin of the world and suffer the full brunt of His Father’s wrath. Although the physical death Christ died on the cross would be more than enough to cause most men to sweat blood, it was the spiritual death that He was facing that caused Christ’s anguish in Gethsemane.

 

The fact that Christ experienced spiritual death—separation from God the Father—is made abundantly clear by Christ’s bloodcurdling cry from the cross, “My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me” (Matthew 27:46). When Christ died on the cross, becoming the sin of the world, God the Father turned His back on His Son. Since God cannot look upon sin (Habakkuk 1:13), He turned away from His Son as soon as His Son took upon Himself the sin of the world.

 

With “the Father of lights” (James 1:17) turning away and “the light of the world” (John 8:12; 9:5) doused out by the sin of the world, is there any wonder that the Scripture says the earth was suddenly shrouded in an inexplicable darkness (Matthew 27:45)? Suspended between heaven and earth and forsaken by both, Christ hung that dark day on the cruel cross of Calvary. Alone and abandoned Christ died for you and me.

 

Following His death, Christ’s body was taken down from the cross and buried in a borrowed tomb. From the time of Christ’s interment until He arose on that first Easter Sunday morning the drama of all the ages was played out. Could Christ, ensepulchered in the stead of all the sinners of the world, ever come alive to God again? This question for the ages, posed by Christ’s occupied tomb, was resoundingly answered in the affirmative by His empty one!

 

In spite of being as spiritually dead to God the Father as all the sins of all time could make Him, Christ came back alive to the Father when He arose from the dead on that first Easter Sunday morning. This is why the Bible teaches that Christ was spiritually justified and made alive in the spirit when He arose from the dead (1 Timothy 3:16; 1 Peter 3:18). If Christ, who was as spiritually dead as the trespasses and sins of all time could make Him, rose from the dead and came back alive spiritually, then so can the vilest sinner in all of the world who will “believe in his heart that God has raised [Christ] from the dead" (Romans 10:9). No matter how spiritually dead you are in your trespasses and sins, you too can rise from the dead and come alive to God through faith in the resurrected Christ. This hope of spiritual life is at the very heart of the gospel and the reason it all hinges upon Christ’s resurrection.

 

In Psalm 2:7, God the Father says to Christ, “Thou art my Son; this day have I begotten thee.” Being eternal and without beginning or end, when was Christ ever begotten by the Father? According to the Apostle Paul, Christ was begotten by the Father when He was raised from the dead. In Acts 13:33, Paul says, “God hath fulfilled the same unto us their children, in that he hath raised up Jesus again; as it is also written in the second psalm, Thou art my Son, this day have I begotten thee.”

 

Did you know that Jesus Christ was the first person to ever be born again? He was the first person to come back alive to God after being spiritually dead in trespasses and sin. However, Christ’s spiritual death was not the result of His sin, but of Him becoming ours. When Christ arose, coming back alive to God the Father, the Father said to Him, “Thou art my Son, this day have I begotten thee.” 

 

As “the first born from the dead”; that is, as the first person to ever come back alive to God after being spiritually dead to Him, Christ has become “the head of the body, the church” (Colossians 1:18). What is the church? It is simply all of those, like Christ, who have been born again. The church is made up of those who were once dead to God in their trespasses and sins, but now have come alive to God through faith in the resurrected Christ.

 

According to the Apostle Paul, everyone in the church has been foreknown and predestined by God “to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren” (Romans 8:29). God wants many more children like His firstborn Son, Jesus Christ. Born again children to whom God can say, on the day they place their faith in His firstborn Son, “Thou art my [child], this day have I begotten thee.” All of those begotten by the Father through faith in His risen Son become Christ’s “brethren” and members of Christ’s body, “the church of the firstborn” (Hebrews 12:23).

 

READ THE KING OF HEARTS: THE SIMPLICITY OF LIVING IN THE SPIRIT

 

Psalm 2:8-9 — Those who spurn the nail-scarred hand of the saving Christ will be smashed to smithereens when the sovereign Christ returns to wield in His pierced hand the scepter of power.

 

The futility of the heathens’ hostility toward Christ is found in the fact that they are foredoomed to be handed over to Christ as part of His inheritance of all of the earth. 

 

Psalm 2:10-12 — You can kiss the Son now or yourself goodbye later. The choice is yours.

 

It is wise to freely bow to Christ for salvation in the here-and-now rather than to wait to be forced to bow to Him in condemnation in the hereafter.

 

Psalm 3 — It is believed that David wrote this Psalm when he was forced to flee for his life from his own son Absalom, who not only revolted against his father, but usurped his father’s God-given throne as well. 

 

Like our Lord, David too crossed over the brook Kedron in the darkness of night, with a feeble band of a few followers, when a life-threatening plot was hatched against him by his own people. (2 Samuel 15:23; John 18:1)

 

Psalm 3:1-2 — Even more distressful than being attacked by an increasing number of adversaries, is their intolerable assertion that their antagonism against us proves that God has abandoned us.

 

The Christian can withstand any number of adversaries arrayed against him, as long as he is assured that the Almighty is with him.

 

The word “Selah” appears to be derived from two root words. One, “salah,” which means “to pause,” and the other “salal,” which means to “lift up.” Although commonly believed to be some sort of musical notation or instruction, the word may be better understood as a term of subject-matter rather than music, or of truth rather than tunes. It calls for the singer or reader to pause and reflect on what has just been sung or read, as well as to lift up their heart over the psalm’s preceding precious truth.

 

The word appears 74 times in the Bible. It first appears here in Psalm 3:2. Afterward, it appears 70 other times in Psalms, as well as 3 times in Habakkuk. In the book of Psalms, the term appears in 39 of the book’s 150 psalms, once in Psalms 7, 20, 21, 44, 47, 48, 50, 54, 60, 61, 75, 81, 82, 83, 85, and 143, twice in Psalms 4, 9, 24, 39, 49, 52, 55, 57, 59, 62, 67, 76, 84, 87, and 88, three times in Psalms 3, 32, 46, 66, 68, 77, and 140, and four times in Psalm 89.

 

Psalm 3:3-4 — Amidst the hanging of our heads in shame, we can be assured of lifting up our heads in glory, if we glory in God as our all-around Guardian. 

 

What peace is possessed in this perilous world by those who know the one and only prayer-answering God. 

 

Psalm 3:5-6 — Men may muster enough courage to stand when surrounded by insurmountable odds, but the calmness to sleep when encircled by hostile hordes is truly miraculous.

 

It is Yahweh alone who can enable us to yawn at an amassing and adversarial army. 

 

Psalm 3:7 — When God arises, both the jaws and teeth of our adversaries are broken, so that they can no longer bark nor bite.

 

God saves His elect and silences their enemies.

 

Psalm 3:8 — Salvation belongs to the Lord, who bestows it upon His elect.

 

Salvation is not a mere matter of the free will of man, to be had whenever man chooses, but a matter of the sovereign will of God, miraculously bestowed upon God’s chosen! (John 15:16)

 

Psalm 4:1a — This is the only place in Scripture where the expression “O God of my righteousness” is found. It speaks to us of the impossibility of either being righteousness before God or right with God apart from God. 

 

Jesus Christ is our righteousness, which means our righteousness or right relationship with God has nothing to do with who we are and what we’ve done, but everything to do with who Jesus is and what He has done for us, which we could have never done for ourselves. (1 Corinthians 1:30)

 

Psalm 4:1b — A sovereign God can use our distress to enlarge our lives. 

 

Joseph was a prisoner before a prince and wore a iron chain on his ankle before a gold chain around his neck. 

 

Psalm 4:2-5 — The great men of our world are often found glorying in their shame and shaming the godly, as well as loving the world’s litter and living for its lies.

 

All the sons of men should tremble over their sin, as well as turn from their sin, in order to turn to God and trust Him for their salvation.

 

Psalm 4:6 — As the Pharisees ask to see a miracle of Christ in the midst of a multitude of His miracles, many people ask to see the mercies of God in the midst of a multitude of His mercies.

 

Christians should pray for the light of God’s countenance to shine on them, in hopes that it will convince others of God’s goodness. 

 

Psalm 4:7 — To have God without nothing in this world is far more gladdening to the heart than to have everything in this world without God.

 

“I'd rather have Jesus than silver or gold.

I'd rather be His than have riches untold.

I'd rather have Jesus than houses or land.

I'd rather be led by His nail-pierced hand,

Than to be the king of a vast domain

And be held in sin's dread sway.

Yes, I'd rather have Jesus than anything

This world affords today. (Rhea Miller)

 

Psalm 4:8 — We may sleep just as soundly in God’s safety on a battlefield as in a feather bed.

 

“My religious belief teaches me to feel as safe in battle as in bed. God has fixed the time for my death. I do not concern myself about that, but to always be ready, no matter when it may overtake me.” (Stonewall Jackson)

 

This verse is the Scriptural source for this children’s bedtime prayer:

 

Now I lay me down to sleep,

I pray the Lord my Soul to keep;

If I should die before I wake,

I pray the Lord my Soul to take.

 

Psalm 5:1-3 —Prayers should be offered in thoughtful meditation and with hopeful expectation if they are to receive divine consideration.

 

I MET GOD IN THE MORNING (Ralph Spaulding Cushman)

I met God in the morning,
When my day was at its best
And His presence came like sunrise,
Like a glory in my breast.

All day long the Presence lingered;
All day long He stayed with me;
And we sailed in perfect calmness
O’er a very troubled sea.

Other ships were blown and battered,
Other ships were sore distressed,
But the winds that seemed to drive them
Brought to us a peace and rest.

Then I thought of other mornings,
With a keen remorse of mind. 
When I too had loosed the moorings
With the Presence left behind.

So, I think I know the secret,
Learned from many a troubled way;
You must seek Him in the morning
If you want Him through the day. 

 

Psalm 5:4-6 — It is not just utter evil that God hates, but unrepentant evildoers as well. God cannot abide either and neither will be allowed to abide with God.

 

“Oh how foolish are we if we attempt to entertain two guests so hostile to one another as Christ Jesus and the devil! Rest assured, Christ will not live in the parlor of our hearts if we entertain the devil in the cellar of our thoughts.” (Charles Spurgeon)

 

Psalm 5:7 — Our entrance into God’s house is through the multitude of His mercy, not by the means of our own merit.

 

We must worship God in the fear of God, not in the feelings and fervency of our flesh. 

 

Psalm 5:8 — We should pray for God to make the right way plain to us, so that by pursuing it we can prove God’s righteousness even to our enemies.

 

Only by doing what God clearly shows us to be right can we clearly show to others the righteousness of God. 

 

Psalm 5:9 — The opened mouth of a sinner exposes the rotten character within just as surely as an open sepulcher exposes the rotten corpse within. 

 

Death can be found just as much in a flattering tongue as it can in a finely fashioned tomb. 

 

Psalm 5:10 — To pray for the foes of God to fall prey to their own counsel and crimes, is a fitting prayer to pray, especially when prayed to protect others from falling victim to their wiles and wrongdoing.

 

This is the first instance of an imprecatory prayer in the book of Psalms. An imprecatory prayer is one that imprecates (invokes) damnation, judgment, calamity, or curses upon the enemies of God and God’s people.

 

TO LEARN MORE ABOUT IMPRECATORY PRAYERS READ OUR BOOKLET: THE IMPRECATORY PSALMS

 

Psalm 5:11-12 — All who trust in the Lord will forever shout for joy and be shielded by His favor.

 

God’s favor is a fortress to all who put their faith in Him, so that they need never have the jitters, but can have everlasting joy.

 

Psalm 6 — This psalm is the first of the seven Penitential Psalms. These Psalms—6, 32, 38, 51, 102, 130 and 143—contain the three unmistakable marks of a penitent sinner; namely, one’s sorrowful heartbreak and shameful humiliation over sin, and one’s subsequent hatred of sin.

 

It is only under the heavy hand of the Spirit’s conviction that true contrition is ever conceived in the broken heart of a penitent sinner.

 

“Genuine, spiritual mourning for sin is the work of the Spirit of God. Repentance is too choice a flower to grow in nature’s garden. Pearls grow naturally in oysters, but penitence never shows itself in sinners except divine grace works it in them. If thou hast one particle of real hatred of sin, God must have given it thee, for human nature’s thorns never produced a single fig.” (Charles Spurgeon) 

 

What hope is there in the world today of true repentance when the troubling conviction of the Holy Spirit is condemned by bothered sinners as the intolerance of Bible-believing saints? 

 

Psalm 6:1-2a — We should pray under the Spirit’s conviction that God will not be mad at us and condemn us, but be merciful to us and just chasten and correct us.

 

We cannot appeal to God for mercy on the basis of our worthiness, but only on the basis of our weakness. 

 

Psalm 6:2b-3 — To be shaken by our sin to the bone is one thing, but to be shaken to the soul is quite another. It requires more than merciful remission; it requires a miraculous remedy! 

 

John Calvin’s favorite exclamation was, “O Lord, how long?” This same exclamation has been echoed through the ages by many a saint, including the martyred saints under Heaven’s altar. (Revelation 6:9-10)

 

Psalm 6:4-7 — Here is the moving voice of the weeping penitent sinner in a time of perceived divine desertion, when the soul’s greatest anguish is not its shrinking from divine anger, but its inescapable sense of divine abandonment. 

 

The unbelieving sinner is not eventually to be cut off from God and condemned in the hereafter, but is already cut off from God and condemned in the here-and-now. (John 3:18)

 

Psalm 6:8-9 — Once persuaded that our penitent prayer has been heard, we will promptly part company with all of our previous profane pals.

 

Just as the repentant can no longer run with the unrepentant, the unrepentant can longer relate to the repentant. (1 Peter 1:4)

 

Psalm 6:10 — The adversaries of God’s people will eventually and suddenly be abased and ashamed.

 

This is another of the imprecatory prayers found in the book of Psalms. An imprecatory prayer is one that imprecates (invokes) damnation, judgment, calamity, or curses upon the enemies of God and God’s people. 

 

TO LEARN MORE ABOUT IMPRECATORY PRAYERS READ OUR BOOKLET: THE IMPRECATORY PSALMS

 

Psalm 7 — This is the first of the Imprecatory Psalms, which are in and of themselves imprecatory prayers. It was written by David in response to Cush the Benjaminite, who had apparently slandered David before Saul as a traitor to the crown.

 

TO LEARN MORE ABOUT IMPRECATORY PRAYERS READ OUR BOOKLET: THE IMPRECATORY PSALMS

 

Psalm 7:1-2 — Like David, we too should pray for God to acquit us from the accusations of our accuser, lest he rip our souls to shreds like a lion. 

 

Unlike David, our accuser is not Cush the Benjamite, but Satan, the accuser of the brethren, who walks about like a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour. (Revelation 12:10; 1 Peter 5:8)

 

Psalm 7:3-5 — It is only with a clear conscience and a clean heart that we can confidently call on God to clear our name when we are falsely condemned  by character assassins.

 

We have nothing to fear as long as our slanderers are shooting blanks at us, but much to fear if we ever load our persecutors’ pistols with live ammunition. 

 

Psalm 7:6-9 — When the Heavenly court is convened, when the Judge of all the earth is seated, all the people will assemble, and He who tries men’s hearts will vindicate the upright in heart and vanquish all the wicked.

 

Someday a raging God will rise in retribution against all who have raged against His redeemed. 

 

Psalm 7:10 — On the day of judgment, Christ will either save you as your Advocate or sentence you as your Judge. What He does for you then will be determined by what you do with Him now.

 

Christ does not advocate for our acquittal on the basis of our perfection, but on the basis of His propitiation. (1 John 2:1-2)

 

Psalm 7:11 (NKJV New King James Version)— God’s judgment is always just and the wicked are always under His wrath. 

 

Sinners are already rightfully judged by God, all that remains is the carrying out of God’s judgment.

 

Psalm 7:12-13 (HCSB Holman Christian Standard Bible)— God’s sword is sharpened and unsheathed, His bow is strung and bent, and His arrows are tipped with fire toward the unrepentant. 

 

The life of the unrepentant sinner may appear serendipitous, but it is not safe, for he or she constantly lives in the crosshairs of divine condemnation.

 

Psalm 7:14 (NKJV New King James Version)— The wicked conceive the diabolical and then endeavor to bring forth its desolation and deception.

 

The soul that conceives evil cannot give birth to good.

 

Psalm 7:15-16 —All the wicked, like Haman, who scheme to hang the righteous, will sooner or later end up swinging on their own gallows. (Esther 9:24-25)

 

The schemes of sinners to stamp out the saints are all Sisyphean.

 

Sisyphus was a legendary king in Greek mythology condemned eternally to repeatedly rolling a heavy rock up a hill in Hades only to have it roll down again as it nears the top. Therefore, a Sisyphean task is an exercise in futility that can never be accomplished or completed.

 

Psalm 7:17 — David ends this imprecatory prayer, prayed in the midst of his persecution, not on a low note of woe, but on a high note of praise and worship!

 

To bless God for mercies is the way to increase them; to bless Him for miseries is the way to remove them.

 

“We would worry less if we praised more. Thanksgiving is the enemy of discontent and dissatisfaction.” (Harry Ironside)

 

Psalm 8:1a — It is one thing to say, “O Lord,” but another thing altogether to say, “Our Lord.”

 

There is no name so excellent in all the earth as the name that is above every name. (Philippians 2:9-11)

 

There is no name so excellent in all the earth than the one name under Heaven whereby we must be saved. (Acts 4:12)

 

Psalm 8:1b — Not only does God’s name far excel every name on earth, but His glory is far exalted above all the stars of heaven.

 

God’s Son has been forever exalted far above the starry heavens, so that all things can be put under His feet and so that He can be put over all things. (Ephesians 1:19-23; 4:10)

 

Psalm 8:2 — God ordains praise for Himself from the mouths of the lowly rather than from the mouths of the lofty, for it is the praise of humble children, not of the haughty and conceited, which is perfectly presentable to Him. (Matthew 21:15-16)

 

The power of praise both silences and stills our enemies, for nothing is more intolerable to the devil—Heaven’s former praise leader—and to his demons—Heaven’s former praise chorus—than to be painfully reminded, by our praise, of how deep they have sunk from the sublime heights they once occupied as Heaven’s anointed cherub and morning stars, who sang and shouted together the praises of God. (Ezekiel 28:14; Job 38:7)

 

Psalm 8:3-8 — Here is the most quizzical of all questions: What is man that he should be given God’s universe as a residence, God’s Son for his redemption, and rule over all the works of God’s hands? 

 

It is profoundly perplexing to ponder why God should pay any more attention to man than a man should pay to a sand flea on a single grain of sand in the midst of the Sahara Desert? 

 

Psalm 8:9 — God’s name far excels every name on earth, as the most excellent name on all the earth. 

 

Whether you call upon “our Lord” or only cry out “O Lord” while you’re here upon this earth in the here and now, will determine whether or not you’ll be granted entrance into Heaven in the hereafter.

 

Psalm 9 — One possible interpretation of the enigmatic title of this psalm is: “Concerning the death of the Champion who went out between the camps.” If so, this psalm is a later recollection of David of his God-given conquest over Goliath, the champion of the Philistines, as well as Israel’s subsequent victory over the whole Philistine army. (1 Samuel 17:1-58)

 

Psalm 9:1 — The true praise of God is always wholehearted. There is no such thing as halfhearted praise!

 

We should testify to others of all of God’s wonderful works for us. Although others may argue with our theology, they can’t argue with our testimony, since we are the only expert on the subject.

 

Psalm 9:2 — One can be glad and rejoice all the time if his gladness and joy are dependent upon his unchanging God rather than his ever-changing circumstances.

 

One can sing at all times if his song is about his unchanging God rather than his constantly changing situation.

 

Psalm 9:3-4 — The enemies of God’s people will be vanquished from His presence and the people of God will be vindicated and validated at His throne.

 

From His throne, God will judge us to be wrong if we see ourselves as righteous, but to be right if we see Christ as our righteousness. (1 Corinthians 1:30; Philippians 3:9)

 

Psalm 9:5-6 — Before God extinguishes men and erases their memory, He rebukes them, because He wants them to repent and not to perish. (2 Peter 3:9)

 

The unrepentant have to climb over many a roadblock on the road to Hell, such as their own conscience, the Holy Spirit’s conviction, the Holy Scriptures, and the prayers and preaching of Christians.

 

Psalm 9:7-8 — The Lord’s throne will endure forever, for He has eternally established it. It is the Lord, and the Lord alone, who is the ultimate, unerring, and unimpeachable Judge of everything and everyone.

 

On Mars Hill, the Apostle Paul urged the Athenians to turn from their inexcusable ignorant idolatry to faith in the resurrected Christ. In stressing the urgency with which they needed to do so, in order to prepare themselves for the definitely approaching and divinely appointed day of Judgment, Paul quoted these words of the psalmist, “He will judge the world in righteousness.” (Acts 17:31)

 

Psalm 9:9 — As ships swiftly sail to the harbor for safety during terrible tempests, the saints should scurry to the steep stronghold of their God for safety during times of trouble. 

 

It is in the safety of our divine stronghold that we are safeguarded from succumbing to demonic oppression. 

 

Psalm 9:10 — To know God’s name is to know His nature, and to know His nature is to know He should never be doubted, but always trusted.

 

To seek God with all your heart not only assures you of finding Him, but also of Him never forsaking you. (Jeremiah 28:13)

 

Psalm 9:11 — Praises should be sung about who God is and sermons should be preached about what God has done.

 

“I’m use to singing in churches where nobody would dare stop me until the Lord arrived!” (Mahalia Jackson)

 

Psalm 9:12 — For every drop of innocent blood ever shed, which cries out to God from either the murdered or the martyred, God will make an intensive inquisition.

 

What a solemn verse of Scripture this verse is to all abortionists and abortion advocates. 

 

Psalm 9:13-14 — Notice, it is when we find ourselves at “the gates of death” that we drop to our knees to pray, and when we find ourselves at “the…gates of Zion” that we lift up our hands in praise.

 

Our prayers for God’s rescue from all of our haters and hardships must rely upon God’s mercy and result in God’s praise. 

 

Psalm 9:15-16 — God is known to justly judge evildoers by sentencing them to serve as their own executioners.

 

What possible judgment of the wicked could be more just than for the work of their own hands to eventually prove to be their own undoing?

 

An excellent example of this Scriptural certainty is found in the fact that the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor only to have two atomic bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

 

Psalm 9:17 — There is no surer way for a nation to assure itself of hell on earth than for it to forget the God of Heaven!

 

“Without God, there is no virtue, because there is no prompting of the conscience. Without God, we’re mired in the material, that flat world that tells us only what the senses perceive. And without God, democracy will not and cannot long endure. If we ever forget that we’re one nation under God, then we will be a nation gone under.” (Ronald Reagan)

 

Psalm 9:18-20 — Although the oppressors of the poor and needy may appear to prevail, they will inevitably be put in their place and made to tremble with fear when God rises to judge the nations.

 

Whether we wear a crown or sackcloth, sit on a throne or a trash heap, live in a mansion or a lean-to, or hold a scepter or a beggar’s cup, we should never forget that we are “but men.”

 

Psalm 10 — This psalm is a lament over the apparent aloofness of God and affluence of the ungodly.The great Protestant Reformer Martin Luther said of this psalm: "There is not, in my judgment, a psalm which describes the mind, the manners, the works, the words, the feelings, and the fate of the ungodly with so much propriety, fullness, and light, as this psalm." Some believe this psalm is a continuation of Psalm 9, since it continues the same acrostic pattern, starting each stanza with a successive letter of the Hebrew alphabet.

 

Psalm 10:1 — Whether we overcome trouble or it overcomes us is determined by whether we succumb to our perception that God is far off and hidden in times of trouble or stand on God’s promise that He is our refuge and a very present help in times of trouble. (Psalm 9:9; 46:1)

 

Nothing is more troubling than the thought that God is truant in times of trouble. 

 

Psalm 10:2 — Persecution is produced by pride, for to put others under your heel you must first put your nose in the air.

 

God will pitch the foes of His Daniels into their own lion’s den and hang the haters of His Mordecais upon their own gallows. (Daniel 6:3-24; Esther 7:10)

 

Psalm 10:3 — The wicked do not just boast of their bad deeds, but also of their bad desires. Furthermore, they admire the covetous, especially if they are affluent, despite God’s abhorrence of covetousness.

 

Is there any sin that flies more successfully under the radar of the contemporary church than covetousness?

 

What better example of boasting in one’s bad deeds and desires is there than present-day Gay Pride Parades? 

 

Psalm 10:4 — The proud, who believe they have no need of God, never seek God. Instead, they turn their nose up at God. 

 

The only place an omnipresent God cannot be found is in the thoughts of the wicked.

 

Psalm 10:5-6 — The sinner is puffed up and puffs at all adversaries and adversities, unmindful of the fact that God could snuff out his life like a puff of smoke at any second.

 

The judgment of Heaven hangs unnoticeably over the heads of every earthling whose downturned eyes are fixated on this fallen world.

 

Psalm 10:7 — Many people’s minds are poisoned by others’ poisonous mouths.

 

As we need to keep ourselves beyond the striking distance of poisonous vipers, we also need to keep ourselves beyond the earshot of poisonous voices. 

 

Psalm 10:8-10 — Though conceited, the wicked are cowardly in their cruelty, always committing their crimes covertly against those most easily captured and crushed.

 

The reason the wicked pick on the weak is because the weak are vulnerable prey and the wicked villainous poltroons.

 

Psalm 10:11 — The sinner is foolishly figuring on the forgetfulness of an all-knowing God and brazenly banking on the blindness of an all-seeing God.

 

There is scarcely a greater barrier to sin than one’s belief in an omniscience and omnipresent God.

 

Psalm 10:12 — The psalmist, having prosecuted his case against the wicked, now proceeds to appeal to God to arise in judgment on behalf of the afflicted.

 

When God lifts up His hand to punish the wicked, those preyed upon by the wicked will lift up their hands in praise to God. 

 

Psalm 10:13 — It is only those who dismiss the possibility of the judgment of God who dare to be contemptuous toward God.

 

It is those who are convinced that they’re unaccountable to God who are most irreverent toward God and unrestrained in their sin against God. 

 

Psalm 10:14-15 — God will not only eventually breakout against the wicked, but also break the arms of the wicked, bringing an end to all their wickedness.

 

It’s not just one’s confidence that increases, the more one walks out on the thin ice of a frozen pond, but also one’s peril. Likewise, the sinner does not understand that the more complacent he gets in his sin against God the closer he gets to the judgment of his sin by God. 

 

Psalm 10:16-18 — This psalm ends in an eruption of praise over God’s eternal throne and eventual tranquility on earth, when all sinners will have perished and all the prayers of the saints will have been answered.

 

Remember, God is always in control, no matter how out of control things may appear to be.

 

Psalm 11 — This psalm may be called the “Song of the Steadfast.” It is faith’s answer—the answer of David—to fear’s advice—the appeal of David’s friends for him to flee for his life from those who were threatening it. Rather than being terrified and taking flight, David resolved to trust God and take his stand, both upright and steadfast.

 

Psalm 11:1 — In every danger, the enemy tries to frighten us into a display of personal cowardice rather than a demonstration of courageous and unconquerable confidence in God. If he succeeds in scaring us into hiding, our faith in the Most High will seem spurious to others.

 

This verse reminds us of the devilish designs of Sandballat and Tobiah against Nehemiah, when they tried to trick him into hiding in the temple, so they could taunt him for being terrified for his life rather than trusting in his Lord. Their treachery was thwarted, however, by the faithful Nehemiah’s fearless declaration: “Shall such a man as I flee?” (Nehemiah 6:10-14)

 

Psalm 11:2 — From the shadows, the wicked, with their strung bows and shot arrows, target the hearts of the upright.

 

Every heart that truly belongs to God has a bullseye drawn around it by the devil, as a target for his devilish archers to take aim at. 

 

Psalm 11:3 — Once the foundations are destroyed, there is nothing the righteous can do, for the structure is beyond repair and its inevitable collapse assured.

 

America, which was founded upon our government’s acknowledgment of God, has now outlawed our government’s acknowledgment of God. Therefore, with our foundation destroyed, there is nothing we can do, for our country is beyond repair and its inevitable collapse assured.

 

READ AMERICA'S DESTROYED FOUNDATIONS

 

Psalm 11:4 — Assurance of the divine presence—knowing “the Lord is in his holy temple”—and of divine providence—knowing “the Lord’s throne is in heaven”—is all we ever need to know, in order to know that we never need to panic.

 

The Lord squints His all-seeing eyes to sees us all so intricately that He even has the hairs on our heads number. (Matthew 10:30)

 

Psalm 11:5-7 — Though a righteous Lord tries the righteous, who He loves and smiles upon, the righteous are never caught, like the wicked, whose wickedness the Lord hates, in the horrible tempest of the Lord’s wrath. (1 Thessalonians 5:9)

 

Whereas it is under the smile of God that the righteous are tried, it is under the frown of God that the wicked are tempest-tossed.

 

Psalm 12:1 — “Help, Lord” is both an adequate and appropriate prayer when the godly are almost all gone and the faithful are almost all finished off.

 

A pastor called upon an old prayer warrior to lead the church in a “word of prayer.” As the congregation bowed their heads, the old prayer warrior bellowed out, “Help!”

 

Psalm 12:2 — It’s more dangerous to find oneself in a pack of liars than in a pride of lions, for flattering lips and double hearts are more perilous to the soul than predatory beasts of prey.

 

It makes no sense to loosen your tongue to speak nonsense to your neighbors nor to lend your ear to listen to your neighbors speak nonsense to you. 

 

Psalm 12:3 — Flattering lips—buttering up others—and a proud tongue—boasting about oneself—are both self-serving. The flatterer feeds others’ egos for his own ends and the boaster brags about himself for his own exaltation.

 

Both the cajoler and the conceited will be cut off by the Lord. 

 

Psalm 12:4 — Many mistakingly believe that they can prevail and triumphant in life by the power of their tongue. In other words, they trust themselves to be able to talk their way into or out of anything.

 

A slick tongue is a slippery slope that sooner or later slides one into trouble rather than triumphant.

 

Psalm 12:5 — To God, the slightest sigh of His abused saints is a stirring scream for Him to arise.

 

The people of God need neither be perturbed nor petrified when puffed at by puffed up persecutors. 

 

Psalm 12:6-7 — The Word of the Lord is pure from error and will be preserved forever. 

 

“This is the Word of God. Come, search, ye critics, and find a flaw; examine it from its Genesis to its Revelation and find error. This is a vein of pure gold, unalloyed by quartz or any earthly substance. This is a star without a speck; a sun without a blot; a light without darkness; a moon without paleness; a glory without dimness. O Bible! It cannot be said of any other book, that it is perfect and pure; but of [the Bible] we can declare all wisdom is gathered up in you, without a particle of folly. This is the judge that ends the strife, where wit and reason fail. This is the Book untainted by error, pure, unalloyed, and perfect truth.” (Charles Spurgeon)

 

Psalm 12:8 (HCSB Holman Christian Standard Bible) — To worship vain things is to vainly wander through life. In the end, you will have lived your life for nothing and have nothing to show for the life you’ve lived.

 

Those who lift up worthless things wander through life witlessly.

 

Psalm 13:1-2 — This song is called the “How Long Psalm,” for four times in its opening two verses David asks the question we are all prone to ask in life’s prolonged times of trouble—“How long?” 

 

It is not only when we fear God has forgotten us and hidden His face from us, but also when we fear anguish is overwhelming us and our adversary overcoming us, that we holler to Heaven, “How long?” 

 

Psalm 13:3 — In the dark and fear of death, we must pray for God to lighten the eyes of our faith.

 

Overcoming faith is always easily discernible in the dark by its shining face and sparkling eyes.  

 

Psalm 13:4 — The saints should not only pray to be spared from a shameful death, but also from a Satan straddled and spit on grave.

 

The graves of the godly should glorify God, not be gloated over by the god of this world. (2 Corinthians 4:4)

 

Psalm 13:5-6 — Our sighing is turned into singing when we stop our moaning and mumbling and seek the Lord’s mercy. 

 

In the joy of our salvation, our heavy burdens are eclipsed by Heaven’s bounty.

 

 

Psalm 15:1 — The question asked by this psalm is not who may approach God’s tabernacle, but who may abide in it; it’s not who may climb up God’s holy hill, but who may dwell on it.

 

It’s one thing to come into God’s presence, but another thing altogether to continue in it. 

 

Psalm 15:2 — To inhabit God’s holy hill one must be holy in their walk, work and word.

 

To stay on God’s holy hill you must continuously speak the truth to your heart, for the instant you entertained a lie in your heart, you will be ejected from God’s holy hill.

 

Psalm 15:3 — Evicted from God's tabernacle and ejected from God's holy hill are all backbiters, backstabbers, and busybodies.

 

It is not the sharp point of the backbiter’s tongue to your face that wounds, but the long blade of the backbiter’s tongue behind your back.

 

Psalm 15:4a — Those who abide in God's tabernacle and atop God’s holy hill give all men their dues—contempt to whom contempt is due and honor to whom honor is due.

 

In God’s tabernacle and on God's holy hill the God-forsaking are appalling and the God-fearing are appealing.

 

Psalm 15:4b — Those who abide in God's tabernacle and atop God's holy hill must be as good as their word, even if keeping it is more hurtful than helpful.

 

“Among the things you can give and still keep is your word.” (Zig Ziglar)

 

Psalm 15:5 — To never be moved out of God's tabernacle or off God’s holy hill one must put away both usury and bribery.

 

Charity reverts to chiseling when benevolent largesse is replaced with interest bearing loans.

 

Psalm 16 — According to the Apostle Peter, in his sermon on the Day of Pentecost (Acts 2:25-31), and the Apostle Paul, in his sermon in Antioch of Pisidia (Acts 13:35-38), David is speaking about Christ in Psalm 16, which has been called both a "Jewell of the Psalms" and a "Golden Psalm." 

The best commentary on the Bible is the Bible. What the Bible says in one place it explains in other places. 

Psalm 16:1 — In his mortal body, Jesus had to trust His Heavenly Father to protect His life and preserve Him until He could carry out and achieve our salvation by His atoning death upon the cross.

Although the Father did not spare His Son from the cross, but delivered Him up for our salvation (Romans 8:32), He did preserve Him until then, by sparing Him from premature death at the hands of His enemies (Matthew 2:13-22; 12:14-15; Mark 12:12; Luke 4:28-30; 19:45-48; John 5:16-18; 8:59; 10:31-39; 11:47-54).

 

Psalm 16:2-5 — During His earthly sojourn, our Lord lived under the Lordship of His Father, even to the point of drinking the full cup of His Father’s wrath upon all the sins of all the sinners of all time. Yet, He did not do so for His or His Father’s good, but for ours.

Christ's obedience to His Father, even to the point of death on the cross, was so that He could gain an inheritance, not one comprised of sinners, who hasten to other gods for their salvation, but one comprised of saints, who hasten only to Him for their salvation. 

Like their Lord, in His earthly sojourn, the true saints of God are those who say “Lord, Lord” with their lives and in their souls, not just with their lips and in their speech. (Matthew 7:21)

Psalm 16:6 — Despite being a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief, Christ gladly lived His earthly life in “pleasant places”; that is, always where He most delighted to be—smack dab in the center of His Father’s will. (Psalm 40:7; Hebrews 10:5-7)

If I may be permitted to paraphrase Jesus’ words in John 4:32-34 with a phrase from our present-day vernacular, Jesus is telling His disciples here that He would rather do the will of His Father than eat. 
 

The true disciple of Christ should know no discontentment in the will of God, regardless of whether he or she is in a prison or a palace.

Psalm 16:7 — Christ lived out His earthly life in complete conformity to the counsel of His Father, as all Christians should live out their earthly lives in complete conformity to the counsel of Christ.

If we handover the reins of our lives to Christ, our Counselor, we will be safely steered through all of life’s night seasons.

 

Psalm 16:8-11 — Christ lived unmoved by the cross, thanks to His Father being ever before and beside Him, undaunted by the cross, thanks to the hope of His glorious resurrection to gladden Him, and undeterred from the cross, thanks to the eternal joys and pleasures awaiting Him.

 

Christ, who endured the cross and its shame to forever sit down at His Father’s right hand, is—through His death, burial, and resurrection—our Trailblazer, who has blazed the path of eternal life for us all. 

Since Jesus is mine, I’ll not fear undressing,
But gladly put off these garments of clay;
For to die in the Lord is actually a blessing,
Since Jesus to glory through death has led for me the way!

 

Psalm 17 — This psalm is simply entitled: A Prayer of David. According to Charles Spurgeon, “David would not have been a man after God’s own heart, if he had not been a man of prayer…[and] a master in the sacred art of supplication.”  

 

Psalm 17:1 — God hears and heeds the scrupulous and sincere prayers of His saints. (Psalm 17:1)

 

To pray incorrectly or insincerely is to pray ineffectively, if not inauthentically. 

 

Psalm 17:2 — It is before the divine bar that all men will be justly and equitably sentenced. 

 

The saints can confidently await the day of judgment, because they will appear before the heavenly bar in the righteousness of Christ and with Christ as their Advocate. On the other hand, sinners have every reason to anticipate the day of judgment with great trepidation, because they will be forced to appear before the heavenly bar as their own advocate and in the filthy rags of their own righteousness. (1 John 4:17; 1 Corinthians 1:30; Philippians 3:9; 1 John 2:1; Isaiah 64:6)

 

Psalm 17:3a — It takes the confidence of a clean conscience to call upon an omniscient God to search your heart and an omnipresent God to search your home. (1 John 3:21)

 

Every saint should not only be able to pray, like David, “Lord, prove my heart,” but also to proclaim, like Peter, “Lord, you know that I love you.” (John 21:15-17)

 

Psalm 17:3b — To resolve to bridle your tongue is a far more formidable task than to take up lion-taming or snake-charming. 

 

If we could keep our tongue from transgressing, we would eliminate the lion’s share of our sins and transgressions. 

 

Psalm 17:4-5 — It is the Word of God that keeps us on the paths of God and off the paths of the destroyer, which are all paved with the works of men. 

 

It is taking a sure stand on Scripture that keeps our steps from slipping.

 

Psalm 17:6 — God’s hearing of past prayers proves God hears present prayers. 

 

We’re not just heard because we pray, but we pray because we’re heard. 

 

Psalm 17:7 — In His marvelous lovingkindness toward all who trust Him to save them, God backhands with His mighty right hand all who lift up their hand against Him or His. 

 

Lovingkindness is an Old Testament word for grace. However, it not only speaks of God’s unmerited favor, but also of His unconditional love, which not only explains why David calls it “marvelous,” but also why some modern translations translate it “steadfast love.” 

 

Psalm 17:8-9 — God protects the apples of His eye under the shadow of His wings from all who oppress and compass them. 

 

The apples of God’s eye are always guarded against their adversaries in the arms of the Almighty. 

 

Psalm 17:10 — The wicked imprison themselves in their own prosperity and pomposity.

 

You don’t really have things, but things have you, since you have to live your life protecting and preserving them. 

 

Psalm 17:11-12 — The persecutors of God’s people not only block us and put their heads down, like a bull, to charge us, but they also lurk, like a lion, to pounce from their secret places on our every step.

 

It just takes a single misstep for the saint to be maligned by malicious sinners. 

 

Psalm 17:13-14a — The Psalmist prays for God to rise up and deliver him, by casting down and disappointing his enemies. 

 

Although most modern translations translate David’s prayer to be for God to deliver him from the wicked by both God’s sword and hand, I find the King James translation of the prayer, as being for David’s deliverance from the wicked who are God’s sword and hand, most illuminating. After all, the wicked cannot do anything outside the parameters of Divine Providence. God uses them, just like He does everyone and everything, to bring to pass His divine plans and purposes. For instance, as the Bible clearly teaches, the hand of God wields the wicked like a sword to both chasten and judge His people. 

 

Psalm 17:14b — Worldly people not only live for this world’s momentary pleasures, but also for its temporary possessions, all of which are transferred at their passing into the possession of their posterity. 

 

Like Passion in Bunyan’s Pilgrim’s Progress, the worldly demand their goods now and revel in their brief earthly moment. 

 

Psalm 17:15 — The saints, unlike sinners, who are satisfied with fleeting worldly things, will never be satisfied until they finally look into their Lord’s face and are forever formed and fashioned into His likeness. 

 

The Christian’s blessed hope is the Second Coming of Jesus Christ, when we shall at long last behold Him and become like Him! (Titus 2:13; 1 John 3:2)

 

Psalm 18 — This is a long psalm, only three psalms are longer, Psalms 78, 89, and 119. It also has a long title; only the title of Psalm 60 is longer. Its length is understandable, however, as well as its divinely inspired duplication in Scripture, if one takes to heart its lengthy title. According to its title, this Davidic psalm is both a declaration of love for God and a song of praise to God, for God’s lifelong deliverance of David from all of his enemies. David did not just sing this love song to God early in his life (2 Samuel 22), but throughout his life, and right up till the end of his life, as is attested to by his singing of it here in Scripture’s songbook.

 

Psalm 18:1 — Like David, the supreme love of our life should be for Him who is the strength of our life.

 

If the greatest commandment is to love the Lord thy God with all your heart, soul, and mind, is disobeying this commandment not the greatest sin? (Matthew 22:35-38)

 

Although absent from 2 Samuel 22, this verse serves as the pinnacle and apex of Psalm 18.

 

Psalm 18:2 — To trust God for your safety and salvation is to triumphant in God’s strength. 

 

It’s not the measure of our faith, but the might of its object, which determines the strength of our faith.

 

Psalm 18:3 — It is praying to God and the praising of God that enables the people of God to prevail over their enemies.

 

There are no better ways to battle the devil than to bow in prayer and to breakout in praise.

Psalm 18:4-6 — In the scariest and most worrisome perils the saint can resort to the wings and song of prayer

 

“Be like the bird who, pausing in her flight awhile on boughs too slight, feels them give way beneath her, and yet sings, knowing she hath wings.” (Victor Hugo)

 

Psalm 18:6-7 — Prayer has earthshaking power.

 

Whenever you’re shaken up, remember you can pray to an earthshaking God.

 

Prayer is the means by which ordinary people tap into extraordinary power. 

 

Psalm 18:8 — When God is beseeched by His persecuted people, He breaths fire against their persecutors.  

 

“Smoke from His heated nostrils came,

And from his mouth devouring flame;

Hot burning coals announced His ire,

And flashes of careering fire.” (Richard Mant)

 

Psalm 18:9-10 — God’s persecuted people can pray up a storm against their persecutors.

 

“I fear the prayers of John Knox more than all the assembled armies of Europe.” (Mary, Queen of Scott’s)

 

Psalm 18:11 — Though sometimes shrouded in darkness, God is never at a distance.

 

The eyes of faith, unlike the eyes of doubt, which loose sight of God in the dark, can see God as clearly at dusk as at dawn. 

 

Psalm 18:12-14 — At the prayers of His people, God storms out against their persecutors. 

 

To tangle with those whose Defender throws thunderbolts is to take on those you can never triumphant over. 

 

Psalm 18:15 — If the blast of the breath from God’s nostrils shakes the earth to its very foundations and exposes the floor of the sea beneath its fathomless depths, what will the full brunt of His furious wrath be like on the forthcoming day of the Lord? (Zephaniah 1:14-18)

 

If we waste life, which God breathed into our nostrils, God’s nostrils will breathe out His wrath upon us. (Genesis 2:7) 

 

Psalm 18:16-19 — Heaven not only reached down and rescued David from Saul, his strong enemy, but also sustained David in the cave of Adullam and finally seated David on the throne of Israel. (1 Samuel 22:1)

 

Although the children of God may presently find themselves in earthly caves, they may rest assured that it’s just Heaven’s way of getting them an eternal crown. (2 Timothy 2:12; Revelation 5:10; 20:4)

 

Psalm 18:20-22 — It is repeatedly keeping God’s Word that keeps us right with God. 

 

Dusty Bibles are never found in clean hands.

 

Psalm 18:23 — To keep yourself upright with God you must keep yourself outright from sin.

 

It is on “mine iniquity,” the besetting sin of your life (Hebrews 12:1), that the biggest “Keep Out” sign you have should be hung.

 

Psalm 18:24 — God does not recompense those who see themselves righteous in their own eyes, but only those who He sees as righteous in His eyes.

 

It takes the clear sight of an all-seeing God to see if your hands are truly clean and sanitized from sin. 

 

The only hope you have of clean hands is to put your hands in the nail-scarred hands. 

 

Psalm 18:25-26 — God shows His mercy to the merciful, His uprightness to the upright, and His purity to the pure, but God shows His canniness to the crooked.

 

The more godly you are the more clearly you’ll see God.

 

Psalm 18:27 — The Lord lifts up the downtrodden and brings down the highfalutin.  

 

What right do lowly humans have to “high looks”?

 

Psalm 18:28 — The Lord is our Lamplighter, who enlightens our way through encroaching and enveloping darkness.

 

A lone lamp can light the safest way through sheer darkness.

 

Psalm 18:29 — David did not credit his military victories to himself nor to his army, but to the glory of His God. 

 

“I tremble for my country when I hear of confidence expressed in me. I know too well my weakness, that our only hope is in God.” (General Robert E. Lee)

 

Psalm 18:30 — It is within the safe parameters of God’s perfect Word and will that the people of God find perfect and impregnable protection. 

 

God is a Buckler to all who believe and obey the Bible. 

 

Psalm 18:31 — The only existent God is the Lord; all other gods are imaginary and nonexistent. 

 

The Lord is a “nonesuch”; that is, there is none such as He, perfect, incomparable, and without equal. 

 

Psalm 18:32 — It is God who girds the garments of His army, so they are arrayed for abrupt and appropriate action. 

 

“So let it be in God’s own might that we are girded for the coming fight.” (John Greenleaf Whittier) 

 

Psalm 18:33 — The feet of God’s army are shod with Scripture, to provide sure footing for scaling the steepest summits. (Ephesians 6:15)

 

To stand its ground, God’s army must take its stand on the sure footing of Scripture. 

 

Psalm 18:34 — The army of God should always attribute its prevailing strategy, military prowess, and strength in battle to its Almighty Commander-in-Chief.

 

David never signed his name G.G.K.—Great Giant Killer—but always attributed his great military victories to the glory of his great God. 

 

Psalm 18:35a (HCSB - Holman Christian Standard Bible) — We are eternally safe and secure beneath the shield of God’s salvation. 

 

The Lord always upholds His own in all of life's upheavals. 

 

Psalm 18:35b (HCSB - Holman Christian Standard Bible) — God must lower Himself to reach down to raise and lift us up; therefore, for God to honor us He must humble Himself. 

 

Thanks to God’s amazing grace, Jesus became poor so that we could become rich; that is, the Son of God became a man so that men could become sons of God. (2 Corinthians 8:9)

 

Psalm 18:36 — Confident in Christ, the Christian need not cower in cubbyholes, but may take a courageous stand in wide-open spaces. 

 

The Christian soldier should always be found courageously holding the battle line, never cowardly hiding in a bunker. 

 

Psalm 18:37 — The army of God should never be hunkering down against the enemy in defense, but always heroically charging the enemy on offense. 

 

It’s not the gates of Hell that attack Christ’s prevailing church, but Christ’s prevailing church that attacks the gates of Hell. (Matthew 16:17)

 

Psalm 18:38-40 — The soldier of God is to put his foot on his enemy’s neck, never to permit his own back to be turned into a smooth highway by his enemy.

 

Why should we ever be treaded on by the devil, who our Lord has forever trodden down and trodden under? (Hebrews 2:13; 1 John 3:8)

 

Psalm 18:41 — The prayers of the enemies of God’s people are neither heard nor heeded.

 

Prayer is the privileged possession of the people of God alone. The only exception is the sinner’s prayer for salvation, which God always attends to and answers. (Psalm 66:18; Isaiah 59:2; Romans 10:13)

 

Psalm 18:42 — The enemies of God’s people are destined and doomed to be like dust swept away in the wind and like dirt trampled on in the street. 

 

All quarrelers with God and His people will be shown no quarter. 

 

Psalm 18:43-45 — As those who strived with David eventually became subservient to David, a fallen world that joust with the saints shall someday be judged by the saints. (1 Corinthians 6:2)

 

As Jesus told His twelve apostles that they would someday judge the twelve tribes of Israel (Matthew 19:28), the Apostle Paul tells the saints that someday we will judge angels and the world (1 Corinthians 6:2-3). 

 

Psalm 18:46 — The God of our salvation, who is both immortal and invincible, is to be ever extolled and exalted.

 

“A firm faith in the universal providence of [an imperishable] God is the solution of all earthly troubles.” (B. B. Warfield)

 

Psalm 18:47 — God will avenge His people if they will leave all vengeance to Him. (Romans 12:19) 

 

Living for revenge is a good way to ruin your life.

 

Psalm 18:48 — God rescues His people and raises them up over their enemies.

 

The “violent man” David refers to in this verse was undoubtedly Saul, whose threats God spared David from and whose throne God seated David on.

 

Psalm 18:49 — That David is to be seen in this psalm as a type-of-Christ and that our Savior is to be seen in this song of David is proven by Paul’s depiction of David’s singing here to the heathen as a foreshadowing of Christ bringing salvation to the Gentiles. (Romans 15:9)

 

"The Bible is a hologram and Jesus is on every page." (R. A. Delmonico)

 

Psalm 18:50 — This magnificent psalm concludes as it commenced, with loving praise to our and King David’s merciful and mighty Deliverer.

 

Thomas Playfere, an English theologian, once wrote that he admired David more in the choir than in the camp, more as a singer than as a soldier, for when David soldiered he overcame his enemies, but when he sang he overcame himself.

 

Psalm 19 — According to C. S. Lewis, "This psalm reflects, more than any other, the beauty and splendor of the Hebrew Psalter." William VanGemeren also praised this psalm as "the greatest poem in the Psalter and one of the greatest lyrics in the world."

 

Psalm 19:1-4a (HCSB - Holman Christian Standard Bible) — The sky, without saying a word, speaks, to everyone under its worldwide expanse, both day in and day out, as well as night after night, of the Creator’s wondrous work and great glory.

 

“I cannot imagine anyone looking at the sky and denying God.” (Abraham Lincoln)

"An undevout astronomer is mad." (Edward Young)

Psalm 19:4b-6 (NKJV - New King James Version) — The divinely inspired Scripture declared the sun to be the tabernacle (center) of our solar system centuries before human discovery ever detected it. Contrary to popular opinion, true science never contradicts the truth of Scripture, but always confirms it.

"My experience with science led me to God. They challenge science to prove the existence of God, but must we really light a candle to see the sun?" (Wernher von Braun)

Psalm 19:7-10 — God’s Word is infallible, soul-saving, life-giving, trustworthy, enlightening, inerrant, gratifying, unadulterated, illuminating, eye-opening, immaculate, eternal, immutable, and irrefutable. Therefore, it is to be more prized than gold and found more palatable than honey.

 

"This book contains the mind of God, the state of man, the way of salvation, the doom of sinners and the happiness of believers. Its doctrines are holy, its precepts are binding, its histories are true, and its decisions are immutable. Read it to be wise, believe it to be safe, and practice it to be holy.

 

It contains light to direct you, food to support you, and comfort to cheer you. It is the traveler’s map, the pilgrim’s staff, the pilot’s compass, the soldier’s sword, and the Christian’s character. Here paradise is restored, Heaven opened, and the gates of hell disclosed. Christ is its grand object, our good is its design, and the glory of God its end.

 

It should fill the memory, rule the heart, and guide the feet. Read it slowly, frequently, and prayerfully. It is given you in life and will be opened in the judgement and will be remembered forever. It involves the highest responsibility, will reward the greatest labour, and will condemn all who trifle with its sacred contents."

 

Psalm 19:11 — God’s Word warns us not to flout it, but promises great rewards to all who follow it.

Many who foolishly brush aside God’s commands falsely blame God for their bad circumstances.

Psalm 19:12 — On fallen feet of clay we all daily stumble short of God's glory, in both conscious and unconscious ways. Still, we can be sure that our sins will be pointed out by God's Spirit and pardoned by God's Son.

Thanks to the searchlight of the Holy Spirit, the Spirit indwelled saint need not fear secret faults, as David did, for the Holy Spirit will catch out and convict us of our every sin.

Psalm 19:12-13 — Unperceived and presumptuous sins, wrongs presumed to be right, are neither guiltless nor innocuous. If committed, whether moronically or mistakenly, they will inevitably lead to greater iniquity.

Being ignorant of God’s law is no excuse for the infringement of God’s law, but a sure path to even greater infractions of God's law.

 

Psalm 19:13 — To presume that the grace and mercy of God grants you a license to sin is to grant sin lordship over yourself and to guarantee that you will become a most loathsome sinner. 

 

If you give sin an inch it will take a mile and the least little sin can lead to the most loathsome of sins.

Psalm 19:14 — We should daily pray that the words of our mouth and the meditation of our heart are both acceptable to our God.

The meditation of our heart, what we contemplate, controls the words of our mouth, what we articulate; therefore, we must never deviate in what we deliberate from any divine mandate.

Psalm 20:1a — Neither the drumbeat of the approaching day of trouble nor the drumroll on the actual day of trouble can drown out our prayers to our Lord. 

 

Neither his crown from God nor consecration to God kept David from days of trouble in his turbulent time.

 

Psalm 20:1b — The people of God, unlike the Athenians on Mars Hill (Acts 17:22-23), do not depend upon a false and unknown god for their deliverance, but upon the one and only true God, who they personally know by name.

 

It’s good to know that you need to call upon the name of God for deliverance, but even better when you know the name of the one and only true God upon whom you call. 

 

Psalm 20:2-3 — It is those who have offered themselves as a living sacrifice at God’s earthly sanctuary who may be sure of help and strength from God’s heavenly sanctuary. (Romans 12:1) 

 

We cannot be sure of God’s helping hand in our life until we’ve handed over our life to God. 

 

Psalm 20:4 — Prerequisites to answered prayer are to pray for God to have His heart’s desire, not for you to have yours, and to pray according to God’s counsel, not according to your own.

 

Prayer is not bringing God over to your side—persuading Him to do what you want and what you think—but you going over to God’s side—partnering with Him in what He wants and in what He thinks.

 

Psalm 20:5-6 — We know we shall prevail before the battle begins and that our prayers shall be answered before we bow our heads.

 

In faith and without fear, the army of God not only unfurls its banners in the name of God, but also in the face of its foes. 

 

Psalm 20:7 — Sinners trust in their numbered legions, such as a political movement or a parading military, but the saints trust in the name of their Lord.

 

The most impressive assembly or intimidating army is no match for the invisible Almighty.

 

Psalm 20:8 — The fighting forces of this world will one day be forever vanquished, but those who fight for the faith will one day be forever victorious. (Jude 1:3)

 

“The first thing I have to say is this: True Christianity is a fight.” (J. C. Ryle)

 

Psalm 20:9 — This psalm, like the British national anthem, is a song for God to save the King. Though sung by Israel for King David, it will be sung forever by the New Israel of God for the King of Kings. (Galatians 6:16; Revelation 17:14) 

 

During the coronation service of the King or Queen of England, when the crown is placed on the sovereign’s head, the Archbishop of Canterbury stipulates that it is his or hers to wear until He, to whom it rightfully and eternally belongs, comes back to claim it.

 

Psalm 21:1 — The greatest of all genuine joy is found in the Lord’s salvation and strengthening of our immortal souls.

 

There is no strengthening of the soul apart from the salvation of the soul, and there is the possibility of neither apart from the Lord, who is our soul’s sole Savior. (Isaiah 43:11)

 

Psalm 21:2 — God literally gives us the desires of our hearts; that is, the desires themselves, so that we will desire what He desires and He can answer our prayers, because they are in perfect accordance with His will. (1 John 5:14-15)

 

Selfish prayers—praying for our own heart’s desires rather than God's—are prayers that are prayed amiss and never answered. (James 4:3)

 

Psalm 21:3 — God’s preordained blessings both precede us and go before us, thanks to His grace and mercy, not to our goodness and merit. 

 

When others saw David as a shepherd boy with a crook, God already saw Him as a king wearing a crown.

 

Psalm 21:4 — Here is the consummate example of God giving more than one asks for or imagines; David asked for long life, but was given eternal life. (Ephesians 3:20)

 

King David, like ourselves, could have never possessed the jewel of eternal life, if the stone that covered it had not been rolled away, when the King of Kings rose from the dead to live forevermore. 

 

Psalm 21:5-6 — David’s gladness and glory were great, thanks to God’s salvation of him and grinning upon him, not because of David’s own exploits and exemplariness. 

 

Although God’s gracious salvation of David brought him great gladness and glory, God’s gracious salvation of humanity has brought far greater glory to Jesus Christ, the heir to David’s throne, as well as far greater gladness to Christians, those, like David, who have also been saved and smiled upon by God.

 

Psalm 21:7 — It is those who trust in the mercy of the Most High, not in their own might nor in the might of other men, who shall not be moved. 

 

Like David’s unmovable throne, our Lord’s mediatorial throne is also forever established on the eternal mercy of God. (Hebrews 7:25)

 

Psalm 21:8-10 — All the foes of our Lord shall not only be found out, but they and theirs shall also be devoured in His fiery wrath.

 

Although not as popular a subject as the mercy of God, the wrath of God is every bit as prevalent, if not more so, in Scripture. 

 

Psalm 21:11 — Malice aforethought toward the Almighty is a madcap absurdity that leads to the ultimate exercise in utter futility. 

 

How can impotent men destroy the indestructible Christ? If they try to drown Him, He’ll just walk on the water. If they try to burn Him, He’ll just walk around in the fire. And even if they could kill Him, He’ll just rise from the dead.

 

Psalm 21:12 — The sacrilegious will stop their scoffing and be scared to death as soon as God strings His bow in their faces and the shafts of His wrath begin to fly.

 

“Stay with me, for God’s sake; I cannot bear to be left alone , O Lord, help me! O God, what have I done to suffer so much? What will become of me hereafter? I would give worlds if I had them, that The Age of Reason had never been published. O Lord, help me! Christ, help me! No, don’t leave; stay with me! Send even a child to stay with me; for I am on the edge of hell here alone. If ever the Devil had an agent, I have been that one.” (The dying words of Thomas Payne, the famous atheist and author of The Age of Reason)

 

Psalm 21:13 — When God exalts Himself in His own power, we cannot help but employ ourselves in the singing and praising of His power. 

 

This psalm, Psalm 21, has taken us to the steps of Christ’s throne, the next, Psalm 22, will take us to the foot of Christ’s cross.

 

Psalm 22 — This psalm has been fittingly entitled, The Psalm of the Cross. It is truly phenomenal in that it reads like an eyewitness account of Christ’s crucifixion, despite the fact that David, its divinely inspired penman, wrote it a thousand years before Christ was crucified. Before we proceed, we should pause to slip off our shoes, for we are stepping here onto some of Scripture's most sacred holy ground.

 

Psalm 22:1a — The depths of these words, especially when they were cried out by Christ on the cross of Calvary, are as profound and fathomless as any found in all of Scripture. (Matthew 27:46; Mark 15:34)

 

The “why” of this bloodcurdlingly cry of Christ on the cross of Calvary is you and I, for it was for our forgiveness that Christ was forsaken; indeed, if He had not been forsaken, you and I could have never been forgiven! 

 

THE FOLLOWING EXCERPT FROM CHAPTER 5: THE SALVATION OF MAN'S SOUL FROM OUR BOOK THE KING OF HEARTS: THE SIMPLICITY OF LIVING IN THE SPIRIT PROVIDES A DEEPER DIVE INTO THE DEEP AND PROFOUND TRUTH OF PSALM 22:1. 

 

Before our sins against God can be forgiven our sin debt must be paid. God, being just, can never wink at our sins or just simply overlook them. He must demand payment in full, lest He cease to be just. His justice demands that our sin debt be paid off before any pardon can be offered.

 

What is the debt of sin? According to the Bible, “The wages of sin is death” (Romans 6:23). Wages are something you earn. Every sinner in the world is sentenced to death, because we’ve earned it. It is not just physical death that is our just deserts; it is spiritual death as well. Our rebellion against God has not only earned us an end to our earthly life, but also the forfeiture of eternal life. Our sins against God have earned us an eternal separation from Him.

 

For every sin that has ever been committed someone must surely die. Not one sin can go unpunished; all must be paid for. This is why Hebrews 9:22 says, “And almost all things are by the law purged with blood; and without the shedding of blood is no remission.” Since “life is in the blood” (see Leviticus 17:11), blood must be shed and life poured out before any sin can be forgiven. In other words, the only hope we have of being forgiven of our sins and escaping death is if someone should shed their blood in place of ours and dare to die in our place.

 

Since you and I cannot pay the sin debt we owe God, Christ came into the world to pay it for us on the cross. By shedding His blood in place of ours and dying in our place Christ has made it possible for you and I to be forgiven of our sins and reconciled to God. That Christ paid our sin debt, as well as that of the whole world (1 John 2:2), is proven by His triumphant shout from the cross, “It is finished!” (John 19:30). This Greek word, “telelestai,” literally means “paid in full.” Papyri receipts from the time of Christ have been recovered with the word “telelestai” written across them. Before Christ “bowed His head [on the cross], and gave up the ghost,” He shouted, “Paid in full!” across the sin debt of the world.

 

Since “Jesus paid it all,” as the title of a beloved old hymn attests, all we need to do to be forgiven of our sins and reconciled to God is accept by faith Christ’s substitutionary death upon the cross. When we do, our sin is forever pardoned and our sin debt paid in full. It is as though Christ gives us from His own nail-scarred hand a receipt for our sin debt signed in His own blood “Paid in full!”

 

When Christ died on the cross He did more than just die for our sins; according to the Scripture, He actually became our sin (2 Corinthians 5:21). When Christ became our sin on the cross of Calvary God the Father poured out the full fury of His wrath on Christ for every sin that has been or ever will be committed. On the cross, Christ suffered the full punishment for all the sins of all time. This explains why Christ, already kneeling under the shadow of the cross, suffered such agony in the Garden of Gethsemane (Matthew 26:36-45, Luke 22:39-46). It was not, as is commonly believed, the physical pain and suffering of the cross that caused Christ to shrink back and His sweat to become like “great drops of blood” in the garden. Instead, it was the fact that Christ was about to become the sin of the world and suffer the full brunt of His Father’s wrath. Although the physical death Christ died on the cross would be more than enough to cause most men to sweat blood, it was the spiritual death that He was facing that caused Christ’s anguish in Gethsemane.

 

The fact that Christ experienced spiritual death—separation from God the Father—is made abundantly clear by Christ’s bloodcurdling cry from the cross, “My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me” (Matthew 27:46). When Christ died on the cross, becoming the sin of the world, God the Father turned His back on His Son. Since God cannot look upon sin (Habakkuk 1:13), He turned away from His Son as soon as His Son took upon Himself the sin of the world.

 

With “the Father of lights” (James 1:17) turning away and “the light of the world” (John 8:12; 9:5) doused out by the sin of the world, is there any wonder that the Scripture says the earth was suddenly shrouded in an inexplicable darkness (Matthew 27:45)? Suspended between heaven and earth and forsaken by both, Christ hung that dark day on the cruel cross of Calvary. Alone and abandoned Christ died for you and me.

 

Psalm 22:1b — The reason God the Father was “far from helping” God the Son on the cross of Calvary was so that He could help sinners. If the Father had saved His Son from death on the tree, He could have never saved you and me from our death in trespasses and sins. 

 

We owe our salvation and redemption to God’s refusal to spare or rescue His own Son from the cross. (Romans 8:32)

 

Psalm 22:2 — Christ practiced what He preached, for He neither fainted in prayer in the night of His crying in Gethsemane nor on the day of His crucifixion on Golgotha. (Luke 18:1)

 

No night is too dark nor day too nightmarish to pray in.

 

Psalm 22:3 — Since God inhabits the praise of His people, there’s no better way to assure yourself of His presence than your adoration of His person. 

 

To praise God sincerely in hardship and heartache we must see Him as holy, in spite of all of life’s hard to understand and horrendous hornets’ nests. 

 

Psalm 22:4-5 — Ours is the triumphant heritage of the saints, who have always trusted the Lord for deliverance through all the difficult trials of their lives.

 

Those who trust the Lord for their deliverance will never be stumped or shamed.

 

Psalm 22:6 — In this startling and stunning verse of Scripture, we see how Christ emptied Himself of His glory on the cross to the last granule, in that the great “I AM” groans, “I am a worm, and no man,” but “a reproach of men.”

 

As Christ died for sinners, sinners despised the dying Christ. Truly, sin has never reared its ugly head more contemptibly than it did at Calvary!

 

Psalm 22:7-8 — At the cross, the creature held his Creator in contempt, the sinner scoffed at his Savior, and lowly men mocked their Lord and Master. 

 

Irony of all ironies, if Christ had come down from the cross, as foul sinners taunted Him to do (Mark 15:29-32) and as He could have easily done (Matthew 26:53), it would have been the forever undoing of every sinner. 

 

He could have called ten thousand angels,

To destroy the world and set Him free.

He could have called ten thousand angels,

But He died alone for you and me. (Ray Overholt)

 

Psalm 22:9-10 — During His mutilation on the cross, Christ thought of His miraculous Incarnation, for He was born to die and given a mortal body so that He could do so, by offering it on the cross as a sacrifice for the salvation of the world. (Hebrews 10:5)

 

If God takes us from the womb into His arms at our birth, how monstrous of a sin is abortion, which rips the unborn from the hands and arms of God?

 

Psalm 22:11 — Never is the need for God’s presence, who is our present help in time of trouble, more needed than when trouble is near. (Psalm 46:1)

 

When we read the woeful words “there is none to help,” how can we help but not think of our Lord being forsaken on the cross, by both Heaven—even by His Father—and earth—even by His followers?

 

Psalm 22:12-13 — Like the powerful bulls of Bashan, it was the powerful men of Christ’s day, both the civil rulers and religious leaders, who beset and belittled Him on the cross. 

 

Our adversary, who walketh about like a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour, often uses the gaping mouths of the mighty, his secondhand lions, to gobble up the godly. (1 Peter 5:8)

 

Psalm 22:14-17 — The physical suffering Christ endured for us during His crucifixion, which is the most cruel means of execution ever dreamed up in the demented mind of fallen man, is vividly described for us here in these most disturbing verses. 

 

To not only see here the bloody, bruised, and battered figure of Christ dying on the cross, but also His disjointed and protruding bones, His trembling and feverish body, His dried and parched lips, His surrounding scoffers, and His pierced hands and feet, should surely tear at every heart and tear up every eye.

 

Psalm 22:16b — These words of David clearly speak of the crucified Christ, whose hands and feet were not only pierced for our pardon, but to make propitiation for the sins of our whole world. (1 John 2:2)

 

The only manmade things in Heaven are the nail prints in the hands and feet of Jesus and the spear mark in His side. (Luke 24:39; John 20:27)

 

Psalm 22:18 — Once again, this phenomenal psalm proves itself to be prewritten history, by precisely predicting the soldiers’ casting of lots at the foot of the cross for the seamless robe of our sinless Redeemer. (John 19:23-24)

 

Unfortunately, many gamble with their souls at the foot of the cross today, by wagering on whether or not to wrap themselves in the seamless robe of Christ’s perfect righteousness, which alone can make them pleasing and acceptable to God. 

 

Psalm 22:19 — In times of distress, we can ill afford any distance between ourselves and our God, or any sinful hindrances that hinder Him from swiftly hastening to us.

 

The best way to be close to God and strengthened by Him in trying times is to commune with Him and be strong in Him all the time. 

 

Psalm 22:20 — This is a prayer for the soul’s salvation from the hound of Hell and his hellish pack of curs, both human and demonic, such as those who circled the cross of Christ.

 

Tragically, most people call their mortal body rather than their immortal soul “my darling” today, a fact proven by the inordinate time they spend focused on their healthcare, while totally forsaking their soul-care. 

 

Psalm 22:21 — This verse, like the previous one, is a prayer for deliverance from the devil, the roaring lion, who walks about seeking whom he may devour, and his beastly band, both human and demonic, who do his bidding by goring the godly.

 

The Hebrew word translated “unicorn” by the King James translators is translated “wild oxen” by modern-day translators. The archaic word is obviously enigmatic and the creature to which it once referred extinct. 

 

Psalm 22:22 — In this verse, we step away from the cross and into the church of the Firstborn with Christ, the Firstborn from the Dead, so that all of His born again brethren can bless His name and breakout in His praise. (Hebrews 12:23; Colossians 1:18; Romans 8:29)

 

Christ no longer occupies the cross or the tomb, but His church, where He is no longer impaled nor entombed, but exalted and extolled.

 

Psalm 22:23 — Both the chosen and elect children of God—the physical and spiritual seed of Israel—are to fear, praise, and glorify the Lord.

 

God has united both His chosen people—Jews—and His elect people—Christians—together in His church for the glory and praise of His Son, Jesus Christ.

 

Psalm 22:24 — The earthly afflictions of God’s children should never be misunderstood by God's children as their Heavenly Father’s abhorrence of them. 

 

Although the prayers of the afflicted are not immediately answered, the afflicted should not impetuously assume that God has turned His face from them or a deaf ear to them.

 

Psalm 22:25 — Unfortunately, many a churchgoer today praises the “great congregation,” his or her megachurch, rather than his or her great Lord and Master. 

 

If people leave your church saying, “What a building,” “What a crowd,” “What a preacher,” “What a choir,” or “What a service,” instead of “What a Savior,” your church is a failure, if not a fraud.

 

Psalm 22:26 — The meek, who come to church seeking Christ; that is, to eat the Bread of Life and to drink the Living Water, will leave with their souls satisfied and their hearts forever alive. 

 

Christians should come to church with the words of the Greeks ringing in their ears and resounding in their hearts, “We would see Jesus!” (John 12:20-21)

 

Psalm 22:27 — The cross of Christ not only cleaved time in two—B.C. and A.D.—but will be remembered throughout time to the ends of the earth. 

 

From every nation and nationality, men will remember the cross, repent and turn to Christ, and revere and worship Him. 

 

Psalm 22:28 — Christ came the first time for a cross, in order to be crucified, but He is coming the second time for a crown, in order to be coronated. 

 

When Christ returns He will reign and rule over the nations with a rod of iron. There will be no democracy—the rule of the majority—but a theocracy—the rule of Christ. (Revelation 12:5; 19:15)

 

Psalm 22:29 — All men, both the prosperous and the poor, the powerful and the powerless, the dead and the living, as well as saved and lost souls, will bow before Christ and worship Him.

 

The only question is when and how you will bow before Christ, now, voluntarily for salvation, or later, mandatorily in condemnation.

 

Psalm 22:30-31 — Here, we see the born again seed—the church—of the Promised Seed of Abraham and the First Born from the Dead—Jesus Christ—not only dedicated to His service, but also declaring and dressed in His righteousness.

 

Of the miracle and mystery of the church, which is the eternal purpose of God, we can definitely say, “He [Christ] hath done this.” Thus, in these final words of “The Psalm of the Cross,” we are reminded of Christ’s words on the cross, “It is finished” or “It is done.”

 

THE ETERNAL PURPOSE OF GOD

 

 

The church is the eternal purpose of God. It is what God has been up to all along and why He has done all He has done. For instance, God created the universe so that He would have space to hang the world in. He created the world so that He would have a place to put man. He created man so that He could choose for Himself a chosen people. He chose for Himself a chosen people so that through them His Son could come into the world. And His Son came into the world to secure for Himself a bride, an eternal companion and forever lover—the church. (Ephesians 3:2-13)

 

Psalm 23 — This psalm is the most famous of all the psalms, not only the favorite of most people, but to many the most beloved passage in all of the Bible. It is “The Shepherd’s Psalm,” in which David lovingly likens his former life as a shepherd, as well as his care for his flock, to the love and care given by the Good Shepherd to His beloved sheep (John 10:1-18). 

 

Charles Spurgeon calls this psalm “a surpassing ode, which none of the daughters of music can excel,” as well as “the pearl of psalms.” He likens it to a nightingale, because, like this nocturnal songbird, it has been gloriously sung by many a saint in the darkest of nights. 

 

John Bunyan, in his Christian classic, The Pilgrim’s Progress, pictures the shepherd-boy David sitting by himself in the Valley of Humiliation, where he is found in very mean clothes, but of a well-favored countenance. According to Bunyan, “this boy lives a merrier life and [has] more of…hearts-ease in his bosom, than he that is clad in silk and velvet.” Step now into this pastural song and listen to the melodious tune of impregnable peace stirringly played on the shepherd-boy’s pipe.

 

Psalm 23:1 — The most important word in Psalm 23 is the little word “my”—“The Lord is my Shepherd.”

 

While it is important for you to know the Shepherd's Psalm, it is imperative for you to know the Shepherd!

 

THE LORD IS MY SHEPHERD

 

The story is told of a world-famous orator who visited a small country church. When asked to say a few words, the orator arose and quoted the 23rd Psalm. His diction was perfect and his eloquence fully displayed. The little congregation rose to its feet and gave him a standing ovation. Never before had they heard the famous Psalm so fluently and flawlessly recited.

 

After the world-renowned rhetorician returned to his seat, the church's old country pastor rose to the pulpit and proceeded to quote the 23rd Psalm himself. However, his diction was anything but perfect and his eloquence sorely lacking. Yet, when he had finished, with the lone exception of the famous orator, there was not a dry eye in the house.

 

The orator rose in protest, asking why the congregation, which had obviously been profoundly impacted by their pastor's imperfect quoting of the Shepherd's Psalm, merely applauded his perfect reciting of it. "What was the reason for the different responses to the different recitations," the famous speaker quizzically queired. In response to the question, a church member rose to his feet and answered, "The difference is that you know the psalm, but our pastor knows the Shepherd." It's knowing the Shepherd that makes all of the difference! Do you know Him?

 

All things, having originated with the Lord, are owned by the Lord. Being His creation, makes everything and everyone His possession.

Psalm 24:2 — It is the Lord’s founding and establishing of the earth that serve as the two affixed legal seals on His title deed to the earth. 

 

As the earth’s sole Creator and Sustainer, the Lord alone is its Owner. 

 

Psalm 24:3 — The question is not only who can come—“ascend”—into God’s presence—“the hill of the Lord”—but who can continue—“stand”—in God's presence.

 

Notice, it is definitely a lofty ascent to enter the presence of the high and lofty One who dwells in the high and holy place (Isaiah 57:15). Therefore, no spiritual acrophobe need attempt to scale this steep slope. 

 

Psalm 24:4a — To be able not only to have access to the presence of the Lord, but to also abide in the Lord’s presence, you must live for the Lord. 

 

To come into and to continue in God’s presence you must do the right things—have “clean hands”—and do the right things for the right reasons—have “a pure heart.” 

 

Psalm 24:4b — To be able not only to have access to the presence of the Lord, but to also abide in the Lord’s presence, you must look to the Lord.

 

To come into and continue in God’s presence you must seek God and the things of God, not the world and the vain things of the world. 

 

Psalm 24:4c — To be able not only to have access to the presence of the Lord, but to also abide in the Lord’s presence, you must lean upon the Lord.

 

To come into and continue in God’s presence you must not depend on deceitful things, such as false idols or man-made gods, but only on the one and only true God.

 

Psalm 24:5a — In the presence of the Lord there is satisfaction. 

 

The word “blessing” in Scripture always carries with it the meaning of happiness. All over the world today mankind is seeking happiness; however, true and timeless happiness is only found in the presence of the Lord, who alone can satisfy man’s longing soul. (Psalm 107:9)

 

Psalm 24:5b — In the presence of the Lord there is not only satisfaction, but also standing. 

 

Righteousness is not just right living before God and doing the right things for God, but also a right standing and relationship with God. 

 

Psalm 24:5c — In the presence of the Lord there is not only satisfaction and standing, but also salvation. 

 

God is not just our Savior, but our salvation. We’re not saved by consenting and cleaving to the plan of salvation, but by confessing and coming to the man of salvation—Jesus Christ. (Acts 4:12)

 

Psalm 24:6 — It is regeneration that makes generations of seekers of God, for there are none among the ranks of the unregenerate who seek God, though God does seek them. (Romans 3:11; Luke 19:10)

 

Notice, the true seeker of God seeks His face, not just His favors, wanting His presence more than His presents.

 

Psalm 24:7-10 — These verses draw for us one of the most spectacular scenes in all of Scripture; namely, the glorious reception of the ascended Christ upon His triumphant return to the heavenly Jerusalem!

 

It is believed that David wrote this psalm when he ascended the hill of Zion and brought the Ark of the Covenant, which represented the presence of God, to Jerusalem. In ancient cities, like Jerusalem, city gates did not just open inwardly, but also had an upper part that lifted up as well. Anytime something grand or glorious entered a city, such as a king, the gates were not just opened, but the upper part lifted up as well, so as to open the gates to their widest, in order to make room for the entrance of royalty. Obviously, the entrance of the “King of glory”—the Ark of the Covenant and the Shekinah glory of God—warranted the widest opening of the gates of ancient Jerusalem. How much more so, however, did the triumphant return of the ascended Christ—“the King of glory”—warrant the widest opening of the pearly gates of the heavenly Jerusalem? Can you imagine the cry coming from Heaven’s jasper walls at the first sight of the ascended and returning Christ, “Lift up your heads, O ye gates” and be lifted up “ye everlasting doors,” for the “King of glory” has come home. Then, in response to the question, “Who is this King of glory,” Christ’s entourage, the souls led to Heaven in His triumphant train (Ephesians 4:8), victoriously shouts out, “It is the Lord of hosts, strong and mighty, the Lord mighty in battle, He is the King of glory!” We are certainly hard pressed to find a more soul stirring scene in all of Scripture than the one foreshadowed here by these prophetic words of King David, Israel’s beloved psalmist. 

 

It is believed that this psalm was later used as a processional psalm at the Temple of God in Jerusalem. According to the Bible, believers in the Lord Jesus—“the King of glory”—are the temple of God today (1 Corinthians 3:16). In order to become God’s temple, believers must open wide the door of their hearts for “the King of glory” to come in (Revelation 3:20).

 

Psalm 24:10 — JEHOVAH-SABAOTH means “the Lord of the hosts.” Heaven’s host are under the command of Him who holds them in the palm of His nail-scarred hand. (Revelation 1:16, 20)

 

For still our ancient foe

Doth seek to work us woe;

His craft and power are great,

And, armed with cruel hate,

On earth is not his equal.

Did we in our own strength confide,

Our striving would be losing;

Were not the right man on our side,

The man of God’s own choosing:

Dost ask who that might be?

Christ Jesus, it is He;

Lord Sabaoth His name,

From age to age the same,

And He must win the battle. (Martin Luther)

 

Psalm 25:1 — Supplication without soul to Heaven never goes. 

 

Prayer is more than lifting up your voice. It is the lifting up of your soul. Indeed, if your soul isn’t in it, there is really nothing to it nor will anything come of it. 

 

Psalm 25:2 — It is only those who can say “my God,” because they “trust in [God],” who can pray to God. 

 

All who trust in God should not only pray that their faith in God be proven by God, but also that they themselves will never be an embarrassment to God or an encumbrance to others coming to God. 

 

Psalm 25:3 — There is no shame in waiting on God, for which there is good cause, but great shame in wronging God, for which there is no cause at all.

 

Since sin is inexcusable all sinners are ignominious.

 

Psalm 25:4 — Too many pray for God to make their own way smooth rather than for God to show them His way instead. 

 

We not only need God to tell us the right paths, but also to teach us how to walk them in the right way. 

 

Psalm 25:5 — The right way is always the way of truth; therefore, to live our lives in it we must spend our lives learning of it. 

 

Until clearly shown the truth by God, we should stand still and wait on God, never guess and go.

 

Psalm 25:6 — As human judges are bound by their precedents, so is Divine Providence. Thus, it behooves us to beseech our unchanging God to deal with us according to His tender mercies and loving-kindness, which are from of old. 

 

In loving-kindness Jesus came

My soul in mercy to reclaim,

And from the depths of sin and shame

Through grace He lifted me.

From sinking sand He lifted me,

With tender hand He lifted me,

From shades of night to plains of light,

Oh, praise His name, He lifted me! (Chas H. Gabriel)

 

Psalm 25:7 — God’s mercy not only allows Him to forgive our sins for good, as well as for our sakes, but also to forget our sins for the sake of His own goodness. 

 

Old age is often poisoned by the presumptuous sins of youth, for though they may be long forgiven, their consequences can still be lingering.

 

Psalm 25:8 — Since God is good and upright, He teaches sinners to do what is good and right. 

 

Unfortunately, in the school of Christ, the student body is small, truancy is widespread, expulsions are frequent, and dropouts common among the school’s ragged enrollment. 

 

Psalm 25:9 — It is the humble confessed kindergartener, not the haughty conceited know-it-all, who is both teachable and savable.

 

On the day of judgment, all who feel they’ve figured it all out, will be finally found out. 

 

Psalm 25:10 — To keep God’s covenant and testimonies is to be kept true to God by the mercy of God.

 

It is by God’s mercy, not by our own might, that we are kept true to God. Therefore, we must never tout ourselves, but always thank our God for our faithfulness to Him. 

 

Psalm 25:11 — Since God has magnified His Word above His own name (Psalm 138:2), and since His Word promises He will forgive our sins if we will confess our sins (1 John 1:9), He must keep His Word and forgive our sins for His own name’s sake. 

 

Our sins are forgiven us for Jesus’ name’s sake; that is, not because of who we are or because of anything we’ve done, but only because of who Jesus is and all He has done for us, which we could have never done for ourselves. (1 John 2:12)

 

Psalm 25:12-13 — Those who fear the Lord put their souls at ease, ridding themselves of all other fears, such as the fear of choosing the wrong way or of their children ever being in want. 

 

“The remarkable thing about God is that when you fear God, you fear nothing else, whereas if you do not fear God, you fear everything else.” (Oswald Chambers)

 

Psalm 25:14 — The reverential fear of the Lord opens the door to relational intimacy with the Lord, so the Lord can share with you His secret and show you His covenant. 

 

To gain God’s confidence you must communion with God, the closer your relationship gets to Him the more He’ll reveal Himself to you. 

 

Psalm 25:15 — Notice, the best way to escape worldly entanglements is to keep your eyes on the God of Heaven.

 

There is no better way to firm footing on earth than to keep your focus fixed on Heaven. 

 

Psalm 25:16 — We often mistake our trials as God’s turning away from us and withholding of His mercy from us, when they are often God’s turning mercifully to us, in order to make something more of us.

 

“I have learned to kiss the wave that throws me against the Rock of Ages.” (Charles Spurgeon)

 

Psalm 25:17 — When the heart is troubled trouble is truly enlarged, for any trouble of life is mightily magnified when it makes its way to the heart.

 

To be delivered from the distress of a troubled heart, you need to pray for divine help. 

 

Psalm 25:18 — Rather than being compelled to advise God about our affliction, we should be contend to know that God is aware of our affliction. 

 

To know our sins are pardoned and our pain is seen by God, should be enough for us to have peace in our perils. 

 

Psalm 25:19 — We should pray for our enemies, both human and demonic, who are not only many, but also malicious and malignant, to ever be kept under divine surveillance. 

 

We should call upon God to keep His all-seeing eye on our enemies at all times, because they, in their cruel hatred of us and hostility toward us, are always crouching to hop on us. 

 

Psalm 25:20 — David prays, as Christ taught us to pray, to be delivered from evil, lest his trust in God be discredited and God dishonored over evil’s apparent defeat of him. (Matthew 6:13)

 

Many a non-Christian, like Mahatma Gandhi, have confessed not to be a Christian, because of confessed Christians. 

 

Psalm 25:21 — Only by being preserved by a clear conscience, which requires both integrity and uprightness, can we patiently and positively wait for the Lord. 

 

If you don’t have a clear conscience, how can you be certain Christ will come through for you in a crisis?

 

Psalm 25:22 — As David did not just pray for himself, but also for all of Israel, Christians should not just pray for themselves personally, but also for the whole church corporately. 

 

What we pray for ourselves should be no less fervently prayed for our fellows, if we truly love them as we love ourselves. (Matthew 22:39)

 

Psalm 26:1 — For those who truly trust in the Lord, integrity is not just a principle, but a practice. It is steady and sturdy shoe leather that keeps them from slipping and sliding.

 

It’s impossible to slide into sin whenever you’re trusting in the Lord, for all disobedience is simply disbelief in action. For instance, why would anyone steal unless they doubt that God can supply and satisfy?

 

Psalm 26:2 — Only the clearest conscience, one genuinely guiltless, can courageously call for the searchlight of such divine scrutiny. 

 

To live confidently in Christ, which is critical for every Christian, especially in these chaotic times, we must live with an uncondemning  heart. (1 John 3:21)

 

Psalm 26:3 — To keep God’s lovingkindness ever before our eyes is to keep ourselves ever walking in His truth. 

 

It is God’s unfailing love for us that keeps us from being unfaithful to Him, since we’ll never wish to let down someone who loves us so much. 

 

Psalm 26:4-5 — We, like David, should be circumspect in choosing our company, being careful to never chum with worldlings, hypocrites, heretics, or the heinous. 

 

To heartedly love good is to so intensely hate evil that you will part company with all of its practitioners. 

 

Psalm 26:6 — It is not just the priests of God who are required to have clean hands at the altar of God, but the praisers of God as well.

 

It is holy hands that are to be lifted up in your praise of God and in your prayers to God. (1 Timothy 2:8)

 

Psalm 26:7 — No saint of God should ever be tongue-tied when it comes to their thanksgiving to God or their testimony for God.

 

How can God’s people help but publish God’s wondrous works to the people of this world? (Acts 4:20)

 

Psalm 26:8 — If it is not inhabited by God nor honoring to God, it is no house of God.

 

“The less Holy Spirit we have, the more cake and coffee we need to keep the church going.” (Reinhard Bonnke)

 

Psalm 26:9-10 — Those who gather with sinners in the here-and-now will be gathered up with them by God in the hereafter.

 

What a contrast is found here between the Koran and the Bible. Whereas the Koran teaches its adherents to be bloody men, the Bible not only bans its adherents from being bloody men, but also from having anything to do with them.

 

Psalm 26:11 — Not only must we vow to be saints among men, but we must at the same time bow as sinners before God.

 

Although we must be resolved to walk in integrity, we must also realize that our integrity is a result of our redemption and made possible by God’s mercy. 

 

Psalm 26:12 — The song in our hearts is made possible by the sure footing of Scripture’s promises and sound doctrine. 

 

It is on the solid ground of Scripture that the saints stand and sing their songs of praise to God.

 

Psalm 27:1 — If I can say, the Lord is “my” light, I need never fear darkness; if I can say, the Lord is “my” salvation, I need never fear damnation, and if I can say, the Lord is “my” strength, I need never fear debilitation.

 

Notice, the Lord does not just give us light, but is our light; He does not just give us salvation, but is our salvation; and He does not just give us strength, but is our strength. Therefore, if we have Him, we not only have everything we will ever need, but no need to ever fear anything or anybody.

 

Psalm 27:2 — As David’s adversaries stumbled and fell, so did our Lord’s when He rose from His knees in Gethsemane. (John 18:6)

 

The army of God is the only army that advances on its knees. 

 

Psalm 27:3 — The army of God can always be confident, even when surrounded by the most fearsome and formidable of foes. 

 

To the timorous, the thought of trouble is often more terrifying than the trouble itself. As it has been astutely observed, many “feel a thousand deaths in fearing one.”

 

Psalm 27:4 — The Christian should share David's sole desire, to daily dwell in God’s presence. Instead of wanting things from God, we should just want to be with God!

 

A man after God’s own heart daily lives leering at the beauty of God and longing for intimacy with God. He refuses to be distracted from the sacred—the beauty of the Lord—by the profane—the base things of this life. (Acts 13:22)

 

MORE ABOUT JESUS (Eliza Edmunds Hewitt)

 

More about Jesus would I know,

More of His grace to others show;

More of His saving fulness see,

More of His love who died for me. 

 

More about Jesus let me learn,

More of His holy will discern;

Spirit of God my teacher be,

Showing the things of Christ to me.

 

More about Jesus; in His Word,

Holding communion with my Lord;

Hearing His voice in every line,

Making each faithful saying mine.

 

More about Jesus; on His throne,

Riches in glory all His own;

More of His kingdom’s sure increase;

More of His coming, Prince of Peace.

 

More, more about Jesus,

More, more about Jesus;

More of His saving fulness see,

More of His love who died for me.

 

Psalm 27:5a — He who lives in intimacy with God will be protected in the pavilion of God.

 

In the royal pavilion, which was located in the center of the camp, as well as surrounded and safeguarded by the mighty host, the king and His confidants were kept safe and secure.

 

Psalm 27:5b — He who lives in intimacy with God will be safe in the secret place of the tabernacle of God.

 

No one dared to enter, at the risk of their own life, the tabernacle’s Holy of Holies. Therefore, no enemy of God’s saints would ever dare to venture into His Shekinah to molest His intimates. 

 

Psalm 27:5c — He who lives in intimacy with God is refuged upon the rock of God.

 

God is an unscalable and impregnable rock that no enemy of His intimates can ever scale nor storm. 

 

Psalm 27:6 — David is confident that he shall live to lift up his head over his encircling enemies, as well as to praise God once again in His tabernacle, with sacrifices and in song.

 

Even in the scariest fight day, the army of God can be sure of V-Day. 

 

Psalm 27:7 — Like the prayers of the Pharisees, many a present-day prayer is prayed to be heard by men (Matthew 6:5), but true prayer is always prayed to be heard by God. 

 

It is only by appealing to God’s mercy, never by praying on the basis of our merits, that we can ask God to answer our prayers.

 

Psalm 27:8 — Prayer is not about seeking God’s favors, but His face. It’s more about being with God than getting things from God. To approach prayer with an earthly wish list in hand rather than in hopes of a Heavenly welcome mat being rolled out is to surely pray amiss. (James 4:3)

 

It is only those who seek God's face and not His favors who will ever know the power of prayer or the fullness of God!

 

Psalm 27:9 — We may anger God, but God will not abandon us, for those God saves He never forsakes. (Hebrews 13:5)

 

God’s former help is always a harbinger of His future help.

 

Psalm 27:10 — When the upright are let down, even by their earthly father and mother, God, their Heavenly Father, will lift them up.   

 

It is when all men abandon us that we’ll be most aware of God standing with us and strengthening us. (2 Timothy 4:16-18)

 

Psalm 27:11-12 — We need to pray that God will truly teach us His way and plainly point out to us His path, so that no adversary can snatch us nor any accusation stick to us.

 

It is only when we choose our way over God’s way and the wrong path over the right path that our adversaries can exploit us and our accusers can shoot bullets rather than blanks at us.

 

Psalm 27:13 — Unless you believe you'll behold the Lord's good favor in the future, you'll be utterly undone by the gathering misfortunes of the present.

 

Unless I had believed,

I had fainted long ago

So buffeted by whelming seas,

With treacherous undertow,

I dare not think, what might have been,

Unless I had believed.

 

Unless I had believed,

I could not have won the fight,

Too many and too fierce my foes,

To have withstood their might:

They would have torn me limb from limb,

Unless I had believed. 

 

Now that I believed,

Are my feet upon the rock.

My soul is established, strong, secure,

To brave the earthquake shock,

What tragic loss, what black despair—

Unless I had believed.

 

Psalm 27:14 — Waiting on the Lord requires the courage of one's convictions and results in the cementing of one’s constitution.

 

One never loses heart, neither time nor opportunity by waiting on the Lord.

 

Psalm 28:1-2 — The supplications of the saints should always be for God to speak, for when the still small voice of the Spirit is quiet, the saints are left in a quandary.

 

If the voice of God is hushed to the saints on earth, are they not, at least in this regard, like souls in Hell, where the voice of God is never heard?

 

Psalm 28:3-5 — David prays to be built up by God and not bundled up by God with the wicked to receive their just deserts. 

 

To deceive others with your words and to disregard the works of God is to doom yourself to well-deserved destruction. 

 

Psalm 28:6 — Answered prayer should elicit ardent praise.

 

Praise is not just how we enter God’s presence to ask our prayers (Psalm 100:2, 4), but also how we extol God afterwards for answering our prayers.

 

Psalm 28:7 — To have a heart that trust in God is to be helped by God. 

 

In the strength of the Lord and under the shield of the Lord the soul gleefully sings praise to the Lord and the heart greatly rejoices in the Lord.

 

Psalm 28:8 — God’s strengthening is not just needed for the individual saint personally, but for all the saints corporately. For just like Christ—“the anointed One”—Christians—“the anointed ones”—are strengthened for God’s service by God’s Spirit.

 

God’s omnipotent power is not in the least diminished nor our personal needed portion the least depleted by its overall distribution.

 

Psalm 28:9 — Here we find a concise, but comprehensive prayer for the church, that God’s elect, who are the inheritance of Christ, be saved, sustained, supplied, supported and shepherded forever. 

 

From his or her personal prayer closet, the Christian should pray for the whole church, for all Christians in all the world.

 

Psalm 29:1-2 — All men, even great men, should keep their nose out of the air and their head bowed to the glory of God. 

 

Just as the most brilliant earthly light dissipates in the brightness of the sun, the glittering greatness of men dissipates in the glowing glory of God! 

 

Psalm 29:3-10  — Just as man’s greatness evaporates in God’s glory, earthly tempests are but tiny examples of the terror of the Lord. (2 Corinthians 5:11)

 

When God storms out, "Glory" is shouted out, by men who quickly find out how swiftly they're shut up by God's rising up.  

 

Psalm 29:11 — This psalm is to be sung by the saints in a storm, for the power displayed in a storm is but an inkling of the power that strengthens and safeguards the saints.

 

The saints, unlike sinners, who are petrified by a storm, may weather a storm in peace, since they know that they are in the care of Him who controls the storm. (Matthew 8:27)

 

Psalm 30 — This psalm, at first glance, appears to have been written by David for the dedication of his own house (2 Samuel 5:11; 7:1-2). That it was the custom of the Jews to dedicate their houses to God is seen in Deuteronomy 20:5. Just as a house of God is to be dedicated as a habitation of God, every Christian’s house should be dedicated as a habitation of Christ. Furthermore, just as it was known that Jesus was in the house in Capernaum (Mark 2:1), so it should be known that Jesus is in the house of every Christian. 

 

Most scholars believe, because of the content of this psalm, that David actually wrote it to consecrate the ground at the threshing-floor of Araunah the Jebusite, which would prove to be the future site of the temple, God’s house, not David’s. It was on this sacred ground, where Abraham offered Isaac and where Solomon would later build the temple, that David refused to offer God a costless sacrifice to stay a deadly plague in Israel (2 Samuel 24; 1 Chronicles 21). 

 

Psalm 30:1 — David extolled the Lord, because the Lord had exalted him and elevated him over all of his enemies.

 

Christians should extol the Lord, because the Lord has exalted us and elevated us over all of our enemies. (Ephesians 1:19-23; 2:6)

 

Psalm 30:2-3 — David praises the Lord his God because He “hast” saved him from the plague, the pyre, and the pit.  

 

The salvation of God is a surety, whether it is from sickness or from sin. In the end, it’s know-so salvation, not hope-so, think-so, or even believe-so. 

 

Psalm 30:4 —  In nothing is our inadequacy more pronounced than in our personal praise of God. Therefore, though it is still insufficient, we must solicit the help of all of God’s saints. 

 

Interestingly, by calling upon the saints to remember God’s holiness, David appears not only to be soliciting the help of all of the saints in his praise of God, but also of the mighty seraphim, who constantly circle the throne of God day and night singing, “Holy, holy, holy!” (Isaiah 6:1-3; Revelation 4:6-8)

 

Psalm 30:5 — God’s anger with those who have His favor for life is only momentary, since they are not eternally condemned, but only temporarily chastened. 

 

Christians may weep in the night of their chastening, but they will joyfully arise corrected and more Christlike in the morning.

 

Psalm 30:6 — We are never nearer trouble than when tempted by terrestrial tranquility. 

 

Many a man falls from the pinnacle of prosperity when he attempts to plant the flag of pride upon it. 

 

Psalm 30:7 — We can be quickly brought down from the mountaintop of God’s favor to the deep valley of trouble by the hidden face of God.

 

How strong a stand can any man take atop the world without God?

 

Psalm 30:8-10 — To pray to God to preserve our life, we must propose to live our life for the praise of God.

 

The Christian who fails to inspire others to praise God is no more profitable to God than a corpse. 

 

Psalm 30:11-12 — God turns mourning into dancing, sackcloth into gladness, and silence into singing, so that He might be eternally glorified by the forever grateful. 

 

"God gave you a gift of 86,400 seconds today. Have you used one to say, 'Thank you'?" (William Arthur Ward)

 

Psalm 31:1 — Those who depend on the Lord will be delivered and never disgraced.

It is Christ’s imputed righteousness, which is ours through faith in Christ alone, not our individual righteousness, which a righteous God sees as filthy rags, that guarantees us God’s deliverance. (Isaiah 64:6)

 

Psalm 31:2 — God bows down to them who bow down to Him, to be their speedy Rescuer, their strong Rock, and their saving Refuge!

 

The Most High leans down low to hear the lowly prayers of those low in spirit.

 

Psalm 31:3 — God can be trusted to guard and guide us, since, as a tenacious guardian of His own glory (name), He will not allow it to be tarnished by failing to deliver on His promise to defend and direct us.

 

Since we are not deserving of God’s guidance on the basis of our own goodness, we should ask God to graciously grant it in defense of His own glory. We should not just pray for God to meet our need, but also for God to protect His name, by proving to us His promise.

 

Psalm 31:4 — Those God strengthens He snatches from secret schemes hatched against them by hostile schemers.

God turned the plotters’ lions into the prophet’s watchdogs to thwart the plot of the Persian presidents and princes to throw the Prophet Daniel into the lion’s den. (Daniel 6:1-24)

 

Psalm 31:5 — These divinely inspired words of David, as well as dying words of our Master, Jesus Christ, and of the first Christian martyr, Stephen, should be spoken in daily prayer by every living Christian. (Luke 23:46, Acts 7:59)

 

The repose of our spirits is a result of the redemption of our souls.

 

Christians who have committed the care of their spirits to their Lord in Heaven can calmly depart from this life on earth.

 

Psalm 31:6 — All who trust in the one true God are ticked off by all that is untrustworthy and untrue.

 

Far from respecting other religions, those who worship the one true God hate the worship of all false gods.

 

Psalm 31:7 — In our troubles, we must not think God to be unaware or uncaring, but must trust God to be merciful and magnanimous. 

 

Even in the midst of life's messes we can be merry, because God is merciful.

 

Psalm 31:8 — Christ’s saints are never in Satan’s clutches. Even in the direst of straits their souls can range in roomy and unrestrained realms.

 

The saints can never be cornered by Satan, because Christ protects them from so precarious a pickle.

Psalm 31:9-14 — The psalmist was the first and foremost singer of the blues, nullifying the popular notion that every praise song must be a giddy ditty.

 

Christians are not to see life through rose-colored glasses nor to suggest to others that the Christian life is a bed full of roses. Instead, Christians are to be honest about it and to trust the Lord to mercifully see them through it.

 

Don't be a fair-weather believer, but one whose confession of God and confidence in God is as constant in the storm as in the sunshine.

Psalm 31:15 — The realization that our lives are in God’s hands, not in the hands of others, especially not in the hands of our opponents or oppressors, turns Divine Providence into a soft pillow for anxious heads.

“Ignorance of providence is the greatest of all miseries, and the knowledge of it the highest happiness.” (John Calvin)

 

Psalm 31:16 — For the sake of His mercy, not their merits, God saves those who live by faith under the shining face of His favor. 

 

God proves His mercy by maintaining His people.

 

Psalm 31:17 — The prayer closet of the Christian, unlike the cemetery plot of the wicked, should never be a place of silence and shame.

 

We should pray that God “put not [our] prayers to the blush!” (Charles Spurgeon)

 

Psalm 31:18 — Although short-lived slanderers may temporarily wound the reputation of saints, the saints can be assured that all libelous lips shall eventually be silenced for all eternity.

 

The great indignity of the wicked contemptuously indicting the righteous is certainly infuriating to the Almighty.

 

Psalm 31:19 — To trust in God amidst fallen humanity is to lay up inestimable and irrevocable treasure in Heaven.

 

What better proof can we offer to fallen humanity of the sincerity and surety of our Christian faith than to live our earthly lives heavenly minded?

 

Psalm 31:20 — In the secret pavilion of God’s presence, pride cannot step foot nor can a slanderous tongue get in a word.

 

We are delivered from both the disdainful and the defamer by ducking behind the Divine.

 

Psalm 31:21 — God’s stedfast love is a shelter to the saint under siege in this sin-cursed world. 

 

Christians can be calm under the cover of Christ’s compassion even when their country is confronted with calamity.

 

Psalm 31:22 — In our haste we may feel that God has shut His eyes to our plight, but in time we will find that He has opened His ears to our prayers.

 

No matter how deep down we sink beneath our load, we are never out of sight of our Lord.

 

Psalm 31:23 — The faithful, who love the Lord, are protected by Him, but the prideful, who love and look to themselves, will be punished by Him.

 

There will be no strutting down Heaven’s streets of gold.

 

Psalm 31:24 — The heart sinks in the cowardice of despair, but is strengthened by the courage of hope.  

 

Those who hope in the Lord will be helped by the Lord to be both Herculean and heroic.

 

Psalm 32:1a — This psalm begins with the beatitudes of a blessed or happy man. The first beatitude of a blessed or happy man is that his transgression is forgiven.

 

Notice, the psalmist does not say, “Happy is the perfect and sinless man.” Instead, he says, “Happy is the imperfect pardoned sinner.” Otherwise, there would be no possibility of happiness for the imperfect and sinful inhabitants of this fallen planet.

 

Psalm 32:1b — The second beatitude of a blessed or happy man is that along with him being acquitted and his sin remitted, his sin has also been atoned for and removed.

 

Men can try to cover their own sin by concealing or condoning it, or they can confess their sin and trust Christ to take it away. (Proverbs 28:13; John 1:29)

 

Psalm 32:2a — The third beatitude of a blessed or happy man is that his sin is not only acquitted and atoned for, but no longer even accredited to his account. 

 

When God justifies the sinner in Christ, the sinner is seen afterward by God just as if he had never sinned!

 

Psalm 32:2b — The fourth and final beatitude of a blessed or happy man is that he is not only a sinner free from guilt, but also a sinner free from guile. 

 

To be truly happy with God you must always be honest with God, there can be no hypocrisy, only transparency.

 

Psalm 32:3-4 — Unlike the blessed or happy man, the unhappy man is a tormented soul, because he resists the Spirit’s conviction of sin by refusing to confess his sin. 

 

There is no greater misery on earth than that of an unconfessed sinner under the conviction of the Holy Spirit. Yet, there is no other way to Heaven but through the Spirit’s conviction and by the sinner’s confession. 

 

Psalm 32:5 — The pangs of the Spirit’s conviction are instantaneously gone and a pardon for the sinner’s crimes against God is instantaneously given, the instant the sinner confesses his or her sins to God. 

 

The only sin God will not forgive is the one you will not confess. (1 John 1:9)

 

Psalm 32:6 — Confession of sin must take place under the Spirit’s conviction of sin, for it is then alone that God can be found and sin forgiven.

 

This explains why Scripture teaches us not to harden our hearts to the Spirit’s conviction, but to immediately call upon God for our salvation the instant God calls upon us to be saved (Psalm 95:7-8; Hebrews 3:7-8, 15). Contrary to popular opinion, you cannot be saved whenever you say so, but only when God says so! 

 

Psalm 32:7 — God becomes a safe refuge to the repentant sinner, in spite of the sinner’s former rebellion against God and resistance to God. 

 

No longer troubled under God’s conviction, the forgiven sinner is now preserved from trouble under God’s protection. No longer sighing at the approaching damnation of God, the forgiven sinner goes to singing all around about the deliverance of God.

 

Psalm 32:8-9 — As pupils under the tutelage of the Holy Scripture and the Holy Spirit, God’s people should never need a bit and bridle to make them obey divine directions, but only a wink and a nod from God. 

 

As students in the school of Christ, the saints should always learn the easy way, willingly, never the hard way, the woodshed. Granted, we will learn either way, but the easier way is always preferable and a lot less painful. 

 

Psalm 32:10 — To trust in God is to be encompassed by His mercy, but to fail to do so is to be surrounded by many sorrows.

 

This is a magnificent verse to be marked, for it teaches us a tremendous truth. Even amidst the miseries of this woe-filled fallen world, those who trust in God are always in the midst of His mercy. 

 

Psalm 32:11 — True and forever gladness is found in God, all other is fleeting and transitory. 

 

What real reason to rejoice does any man have who is not right with Jesus?

 

Psalm 33:1— The righteous are most comely clad with the garment of praise, but praise becomes nothing but ugly garb when worn by the wicked. 

 

“To rejoice in self is foolish, to rejoice in sin is fatal, but to rejoice in God is heavenly.” (Charles Spurgeon) 

 

Psalm 33:2-3 — Although true worship may be accompanied on harp strings, it actually occurs on heartstrings! 

 

“Music is God's gift to man, the only art of Heaven given to earth, the only art of earth we take to Heaven.” (Walter Savage Landor)

 

Psalm 33:4 — Truth is declared by God’s Word and demonstrated by God’s works. 

 

The works of God and the Word of God is the divine version of show-and-tell. (Acts 1:1)

 

Psalm 33:5 — If God loves righteousness and justice, He must loath unrighteousness and injustice, since you can’t do one without the other.

 

The earth is not full of goodness because man is good, but only because God is good. Make no mistake about it; all the goodness on this globe is attributable to the goodness of its God. 

 

Psalm 33:6 — The universe did not evolve out of nothing over eons, but was instantly spoken into existence by God. 

 

Not only does God measure the universe by the span of His hand (Isaiah 40:12), but He created it with the breath of His mouth. 

 

Psalm 33:7 — It is God who halts the deluge of the earth by heaping up the depths of the sea.

 

The seas are not only cupped, but also corralled in the hollow of God’s hand. (Isaiah 40:12)

 

Psalm 33:8 — The reverential awe of Divinity should be universal to all humanity. 

 

“Those know enough who know to fear God, who are careful in everything to please Him and fearful of offending Him in anything; this is the Alpha and Omega of knowledge.” (Matthew Henry) 

 

Psalm 33:9 — Whatever God says is so and whatever is made so by what He says shall stand fast forever. 

 

Contrary to a popular saying—“God said it, I believe it, and that settles it.”—if God said it that settles it, whether you believe it or not.

 

Psalm 33:10 — The Lord causes the counsel and cunning of the heathen to be ineffectual. 

 

The preordained plans and purposes of Divine Providence cannot in anyway be impeded nor prevented by people’s designs and devices. 

 

Psalm 33:11 — Whatever God counsels or conceives is both immutable and immortal. 

 

Contrary to popular opinion, the counsel of God is never outdated, but agelessly applicable. 

 

Psalm 33:12 — The blessed nation, whose God is the Lord, is one populated by a people chosen by God.

 

How can God bless America if God is no longer the Lord of Americans? 

 

Psalm 33:13-15 — The Lord looks from Heaven upon all humanity, watching all the works of His earthly workmanship. 

 

Everyone on this earth is always under Heaven’s all-seeing eye.

 

Psalm 33:16-17 — It is Heaven, not military hosts or mighty horses that establish and ensure the thrones of Kings. 

 

How presumptuous it is for an earthly potentate, whose next breath is totally dependent upon God, to pompously pride himself in his earthy pomp and power. 

 

Psalm 33:18-19 — To fear God and to hope in His mercy is to assure yourself that God will always be looking upon you and looking out for you. 

 

There is no hope for men in their own merits, but only in God’s mercy!

 

Psalm 33:20 — The soul that can wait on the Lord must be wholeheartedly secure in the Lord. 

 

“You can save a lot of time waiting on God.” (Adrian Rogers)

 

Psalm 33:21 — It is the heart that is resolved to trust in God that can rejoice in God.

 

All who depend on God are eventually delighted with God, because in the end they’re never disappointed by God.

 

Psalm 33:22 — The more hope you have in God the more mercy you’ll have from God.

 

The measure of God’s mercy toward us is meted out to us according to how much we hope in God.

 

Psalm 34 — This psalm was written by David when he feigned insanity to escape from the Philistine King of Gath, Achish or Abimelech. You can read the story of this event, which occurred during David’s flight for his life from Israel’s jealous King Saul, in 1 Samuel 21. This psalm is also the second, Psalm 25 being the first, of the fully acrostic or alphabetical psalms, which are psalms in which each verse begins with a successive letter of the Hebrew alphabet.

 

Psalm 34:1 — Notice, the psalmist says, “I will,” not, “I might,” “bless the Lord at all times,” both in good times and in bad times. Regardless of his circumstances, David was committed to continuously praising his Lord.

 

True praise is a constant in the life of a true Christian. Since we praise God for who He is and since God is immutable, our praise of God should be invariable.

 

Psalm 34:2 — The sole boast of a saved soul is in her or his Lord and Savior! 

 

Whereas the humble are put down and grieved when they hear pompous sinners boast about themselves, they are lifted up and made glad when they hear praising saints boast in the Lord.

 

Psalm 34:3 — It is only the humble who will join together to truly magnify the Lord and exalt His name, because only those with a lowly opinion of themselves will ever so highly extol God. 

 

Those who care not to spend their time highly extolling God on earth, will certainly not care for Heaven, where the first and foremost activity is the forever praise of God.

 

Psalm 34:4 — To be delivered from your fears, you need to seek the Deliverer, not deliverance.

 

“Of all the liars in the world, sometimes the worst are our own fears.” (Rudyard Kipling)

 

Psalm 34:5 — No one will ever blush who looks to God to be brightened up!

 

All who look to the Lord will be uplifted and unashamed.

 

Psalm 34:6 — The Lord not only hears the lowly, but the lowly are most likely to be heard by the Lord. 

 

Unlike the prosperous, who tend to dig into their deep pockets to save themselves from trouble, the poor are far more likely to turn to prayer when they find themselves in trouble.

 

Psalm 34:7 — Those who fear the Almighty will be fenced all around by His angels, who will fend off all of their adversaries. 

 

“We cannot pass our guardian angel's bounds, resigned or sullen, he will hear our sighs.” (Augustine)

 

Psalm 34:8 — To trust the Lord is not only to taste and see for yourself that He is good, but also to be blessed forever. 

 

It is shut eyes and closed mouths that will never see nor savor the goodness of God.

 

Psalm 34:9-10 —  To fear and seek the Lord is to be guarded from any want of good things.

 

Those who fear and seek the Lord are not promised everything they could ever want. Instead, they are promised that they won’t want for any good thing they will ever need.

 

Psalm 34:11 — There is no way to exaggerate the importance of teaching children to fear the Lord, for if we fail to do so, our children will grow up to be forsaken by the Lord. 

 

Today’s America is God-forsaken because Americans have failed to teach their children to be God-fearing! 

 

Psalm 34:12-13 — If you hope for both quantity and quality of life, you should keep your tongue from gossip and your lips from guile. 

 

The lives of slanderers and schemers may be reduced, and their days definitely ruined, by their talebearing tongues and their lying lips. 

 

Psalm 34:12, 14a —  If you hope for both quantity and quality of life, you should depart from evil and do good.

 

True religion is not just a religion of negatives—doing no evil—but also of positives—doing good.

 

Psalm 34:12, 14b — If you hope for both quantity and quality of life, you should not only prefer peace, but passionately promote and pursue it. 

 

Peace—peace with God, peace with others, and peace of mind—is what makes a long, happy, and healthy life possible.

 

Psalm 34:15 — The eyes and ears of the Lord belong to the righteous.

 

Why should the saints care if the world is apathetic or antagonistic towards them, as long as the Lord is attentive to them?

 

Psalm 34:16 — Whereas the eyes of the Lord are trained on the righteous, and His ears tuned in to them, the Lord turns His face away from all evildoers.

 

God does not just turn away from evildoers, but will eventually wipe out all memory of them from the earth. What a frightful fate, to be forever forgotten. 

 

Psalm 34:17— The Lord is not deaf to the cry of the righteous, but hears and delivers them from all of their calamities.

 

No man is desolate, except he whom God has deserted.

 

Psalm 34:18 — Not only is God nigh to the heart under conviction, but the contrite spirit of the convicted heart is nigh unto salvation.

 

God is close to those whose hearts are crushed and whose spirits are contrite over all of their committed sins. 

 

Psalm 34:19 — Notice, the Bible does not promise the righteous “not any” afflictions, but “many” afflictions. However, it adds the blessed but—“but the Lord delivereth them out of them all.” 

 

God’s people are not promised no difficulties in life, but deliverance from life’s difficulties, both in the here-and-now and ultimately in the hereafter!

 

Psalm 34:20 — As it was with Christ’s physical body on the cross, so it is with Christ’s spiritual body the church, no bones are broken, only outward wounds suffered. (John 19:31-36)

 

Though the world’s lash may lacerate the saints’ backs, it can never stripe their souls! 

 

Psalm 34:21 — Evil is its own executioner and sin is rope enough to hang every sinner.

 

Having hated the best company on earth, the damned will be desolate of any good company in Hell. 

 

Psalm 34:22 — A blood bought soul can never be disowned nor doomed to desolation. 

 

“Redeemed, how I love to proclaim it!

Redeemed by the blood of the Lamb;

Redeemed through His infinite mercy,

His child, and forever, I am.” (Fanny Crosby)

 

Psalm 35 — This psalm is the second of the Imprecatory Psalms. These psalms—7, 35, 55, 58, 59, 69, 79, 109, 137, and 139–are psalms consisting of an imprecatory prayer, which is a prayer that imprecates or invokes damnation, judgment, calamity, or curses upon the enemies of God and God’s people.

 

TO LEARN MORE ABOUT IMPRECATORY PRAYERS READ OUR BOOKLET: THE IMPRECATORY PSALMS

 

Psalm 35:1 — We should pray for the Lord to plead our cause rather than to serve as our own public defender. 

 

As Christians, we should always leave it to our Advocate with the Father to argue our case against the accuser of the brethren. (1 John 2:1; Revelation 12:9-10)

 

Psalm 35:2 — Why should we worry about anyone getting to us, if God is standing up and warring for us?

 

The only way a combatant can get through to a Christian is to first get through Christ. 

 

Psalm 35:3, 6 — We should pray that our persecutors be held at bay at the point of God’s pike. 

 

Sinners surely step on a slippery slope the second they start persecuting the saints.

 

Psalm 35:4-5 — We should not be too squeamish to pray for the jeopardizers of men’s souls to be jettisoned away like chaff in the wind.

 

How can a winner of souls be a well-wisher of one who wars against souls? 

 

Psalm 35:7-8 — Although we should never pray for revenge, we can, as David did, pray for retributive or reciprocal justice; that is, that God will ensnare our enemies in their own snares. 

 

The law of “lex talionis,” which is Latin for “the law of exact retaliation” or “of retribution in kind,” is found in Scripture. It is declared by Moses in the Mosaic Law (Exodus 21:23-25; Deuteronomy 19:21) and demonstrated in Scripture by stories like the cutting off of Adoni-bezek’s thumbs and big toes and the hanging of Haman on his own gallows (Judges 1:5-7; Esther 7:9-10).

 

Psalm 35:9-10 — It is not over the destruction of the spoilers of men’s souls, but over the salvation of men’s souls, that we, like the angels in Heaven, should rejoice. (Luke 15:7, 10)

 

Apart from our own salvation, nothing should bring us greater joy than the salvation of others.

 

Psalm 35:11 — God’s people should not just be innocent of the charges of false witnesses, but should never have even imagined committing  such crimes. 

 

It’s not enough that accusations against the saints for being untoward are untrue, but to the saints themselves they should also be unthinkable. 

 

Psalm 35:12-14 — The true test of the saved soul is whether or not evil can be both responded to and reacted to with good. (Matthew 5:43-48)

 

Notice, prayer for one’s own enemies returns to one’s “own bosom”; that is, it may not result in your enemies being blessed by God, but it will definitely result in you being blessed by God. 

 

Psalm 35:15-16 — When bad things happen to good people, bad people hold banquets behind the goods’ backs to chew them up and spit them out. 

 

Affectless sinners gather together like buzzards around the adversities of saints. 

 

Psalm 35:17-18 — A den of liars is no less a threat to our darling soul than a den of lions, neither is our soul’s need of divine deliverance any less urgent in either of the two.

 

After patiently waiting and painstakingly winning out, we will passionately worship God, to whom we owe our vindication and victory.

 

Psalm 35:19 — We should pray that those who hate us for Christ’s sake never get the upper hand over us or are able to wink and nod at each other about us.

 

To be hated without cause is for the Christian to be hated as Christ was hated. (John 15:25)

 

Psalm 35:20 — Even the quiet in the land can be led into quarrels by the devious devises of the devilishly divisive. 

 

Many a man is not only willing to fight at the drop of a hat, but even willing to drop the hat.

 

Psalm 35:21 — One must have a gaping mouth and a goggling eye to tell great lies over others’ gnat-like sins. (Matthew 23:24)

 

“He who rejoices in another’s fall rejoices in the devil’s victory.” (Ambrose)

 

Psalm 35:22-23 — We should pray that the Lord be stirred up to stand up with us and to speak out for us in the dock of this fallen world. 

 

Christ is not just the Christian’s Advocate, but the Christian’s Judge as well (1 John 2:1; 2 Corinthians 5:10). He not only argues our case for us, but He also adjudicates it in favor of us.

 

Psalm 35:24-26 — The persecuting of God’s people will not result in the rejoicing of this fallen planet’s prejudiced prosecutors, but in their ridicule, when Christ dons His judicial robe and robes the saints in His perfect righteousness. 

 

What chance is there of the Christian’s condemnation if he or she will appear before the righteous Judge of all the earth clad in the Judge’s own seamless robe of perfect righteousness? (Genesis 18:25; John 19:23-24; Isaiah 61:10)

 

Psalm 35:27 — How fitting to pray for those who fervently pray for you!

 

To enlist on the winning side one must champion the cause of Christ, magnify the Most High, and pray for the success of God’s servants.

 

Psalm 35:28 — As it is in Heaven, so should it be on earth, praise should be perpetual.

 

We should never tire of telling others about the righteousness of our God nor ever peter out in our praising of Him.

 

Psalm 36:1 — Godly eyes clearly see the sins of the wicked as the wicked’s complete want of any faith in God or any fear of God. 

 

The practicing sinner is a practical atheist.

 

Psalm 36:2 — The self-exalting sinner, who flatters himself as his own god, can never see his own ungodliness, in spite of the fact that it will eventually and inevitably be found out.

 

To smooth over one’s conscience with one’s conceit is to make certain one’s condemnation.

 

Psalm 36:3 — If one’s lips speak what is wrong and guileful, then one’s life is void of what is wise and good. 

 

Not only does one’s actions speak louder than one’s words, but one’s words also speak loudly about one’s heart. (Matthew 12:34; Luke 6:45)

 

Psalm 36:4 — When our nights are used for plotting evil our days will be used for practicing evil.

 

To have the devil for your bed-fellow in the night is to have him as your bosom buddy during the day.

 

Psalm 36:5a — God’s mercy, like the heavens, encompasses the earth, so that all of earth’s creatures are under its canopy.

 

The expanse of the mercy of God is as great as the firmament of the earth.

 

Psalm 36:5b — The faithfulness of God is as high above the faithfulness of all others as the clouds are above the earth.

 

Whereas men may deceive or disappoint you, God never will, since He can neither fail you nor lie to you. (Deuteronomy 31:8; Hebrews 6:18; Titus 1:2)

 

Psalm 36:6a  — As Mount Everest towers above all other mountain peaks, the righteousness of God towers above the righteousness of men, so much so that it cannot be shaken by anything nor scaled by anyone.

 

The highest peak of the righteousness of God is found on Mount Calvary, where the Son of God was sacrificed to satisfy the justice of God, so that God could justly justify unjust sinners, like you and me. 

 

Psalm 36:6b — The judgments of God are as fathomless as the deepest depths of the sea, being just as unexplorable and unsearchable by mortal man.

 

While God’s infinite ways in our lives may be hidden beneath tranquil or tempest tossed seas, they are often unfathomable to our finite minds. 

 

Psalm 36:6c — All creatures great and small owe their preservation to the Providence of their Creator.

 

How debase is a man who denies the Lord upon whom the duration of his life depends?

 

Psalm 36:7 — The most precious pearl possessed by the people of God is their Lord’s lovingkindness, for it promises them His perpetual provision and protection. 

 

We know we can count on Christ to take care of us, since we know from the cross how much He cares for us.

 

Psalm 36:8 — All who put their faith in the Lord will not just be adequately, but also abundantly, provided for and pleased. 

 

The pleasures of Heavenly paradise are presently implausible to the earthbound people of God. (1 Corinthians 2:8)

 

Psalm 36:9a — God is the fountain of life, He alone is its source and its sustainer, without Him no life commences nor continues.

 

Christ is not just a philosopher explaining life, but He is life (John 14:6). He is not just the One for whom we are to live our life, but He is our life (Colossians 3:4).

 

Psalm 36:9b — Just as we do not see the sun with a light of our own, but with the sun’s own light, so it is with the Son of God. It’s only in His own light that He can ever been seen! 

 

No one ever comes to know Christ or believe in the Gospel through religious tutelage or human reasoning, but only by divine revelation (Matthew 16:16-17; Galatians 1:11-12). Neither can we ever see Christ for ourselves, unless He shows Himself to us.

 

Psalm 36:10a — The more you know God experientially the more you will experience God’s lovingkindness.

 

The more you learn of God, the more you will love God, and the more you love God, the more you will live for God.

 

Psalm 36:10b — When we’re made right with God, we’re given an upright heart, and our upright heart should lead to upright living.

 

The New Covenant does not promise us a heart torn between two natures, as is preached in today’s church, but a heart transplant, performed for us by the Great Physician, as is taught in Scripture.

 

TO LEAR MORE, READ CHAPTER ONE: THE HEART OF MAN FROM OUR BOOK THE KING OF HEARTS: THE SIMPLICITY OF LIVING IN THE SPIRIT.

 

Psalm 36:11-12 — We should pray to neither be trampled under the feet of the proud nor taken over by the hands of the wicked, lest we become a stumbling block rather than a springboard to others coming to Christ.

 

We should not pray primarily for our deliverance and our enemies’ demise for our own sake, but for Christ’s sake, not primarily for our good, but for God’s glory.

 

Psalm 37:1-2 — "Fret not" is as much a divine commandment as "sin not." 

 

We should neither be exasperated by evil-doers nor envious of them, anymore than we are of cows being fattened for the slaughter.

 

Psalm 37:3 — Faith cures fretting and is confirmed by doing good. 

 

Genuine faith fosters good works, is found in God’s will, and fares quite well. 

 

Psalm 37:4 — It's not whatever we desire, but the desires themselves, that God promises to give us if we delight in Him. In other words, God promises to make us desire what He desires.

 

If God takes no delight in it, then, those who delight in God will have no desire for it.

 

Psalm 37:5 — If we have confidence enough in God to commit our lives to God, we can always count on God coming through for us. 

 

Your life in your hands can only bring to pass what you can do, but your life in God’s hands can bring to pass what He can do!

 

Psalm 37:6 — Christians should keep their composure in calumny, knowing that God will clear them of all the charges and accusations of character assassins. 

 

If we seek God’s honor, God will see to ours!

 

Psalm 37:7 — To wait in reliance upon the Lord is to rest in the Lord. 

 

We should never prejudge the prosperity of the wicked prior to the closing curtain being brought down on the final scene of their lives by Divine Providence. 

 

Psalm 37:8 — Don’t let your anger or wrath whip up any wrongdoing in your life.

 

This verse is the Old Testament equivalent of Ephesians 4:26—“Be angry, and sin not: let not the sun go down upon your wrath.”

 

Psalm 37:9 — Wrongdoers shall be cut off from the earth, but those who wait on the Lord shall inherit the earth. 

 

To impatiently look to yourself to get all you can in the here-and-now, is to lose all you’ve got in the hereafter. On the other hand, to patiently look to God to give you all He can in the hereafter, is to have forever all that God gives.

 

Psalm 37:10 — The wicked fatefully dash through this fallen world to their forever disappearance.

 

Though the wicked may be viewed today in a vaunted place, they will vanish and their place will be vacated tomorrow. 

 

Psalm 37:11 — It is the meek of the earth, those who don’t mind being overlooked by it, rather than earth’s movers and shakers, those obsessed with receiving ovations from it, who will inherit the earth.

 

It is the abundance of peace, not the abundance of possessions, that will delight the meek inheritors of the earth.

 

Psalm 37:12-13 — The wicked, who scheme and snarl, are scoffed at and scorned by the Lord, who sees their sentencing soon coming. 

 

What could be more fool hearty than sinners in the hands of an angry God foolishly plotting against the people of God?  

 

Psalm 37:14-15 — The wicked unsheathe their swords and bend their bows against the downtrodden and upright, only to have God break their bows and stab them in the heart with their own swords.

 

Just as Saul, who sought to slay David, ended up falling on his own sword, so shall all sinners who seek to slay the downtrodden and devout. 

 

Psalm 37:16-17 — The paltry provisions of the righteous are preferable to the prolific prosperity of the wicked, because the wellbeing of the righteous is forever assured by God, but the fleeting wealth of the wicked will soon slip away.

 

It is better to be upheld by God with a little than to be an upstart in this world with a lot.

 

Psalm 37:18-19 — Nothing can ever happen to the upright that catches the Almighty unawares or that can ever leave the upright ashamed or unattended. 

 

Our great comfort is found in the fact that our lives are not governed by coincidence, but by Providence.

 

Psalm 37:20 — The wicked, having spurned the substitutionary sacrifice of the Lamb of God, shall pay for their own sins by being consumed by the fire of God’s wrath and going up in the smoke of God’s judgment.

 

As stubble will go up in flames if it dares to fight fire, so will all the enemies of Christ who dare to contend with Him.

 

Psalm 37:21-22 — The wicked borrow and do not repay, but the righteous are benevolent and want nothing in return. 

 

The generous, who donate to the disadvantaged, are blessed by the Lord and bequeathed the earth, but the greedy, who default on their debts, are cursed by God and cut off. 

 

Psalm 37:23-24 — In order to be able to delight in good men, God orders their steps, but even when good men are not kept from going down, God, who upholds them, will keep them from staying down.

 

Whatever wrong the Christian has done, he or she can never be undone, because he or she can never fall below the reach of the upholding, uplifting, and nail-scarred hand of Christ!

 

Psalm 37:25a — David is not just stating a personal observation, but also a divine promise and absolute truth, found elsewhere in Scripture, when he says he has never seen the righteous forsaken. 

 

No saint of God is ever forsaken by God, not even in the most dire and desperate straits. While it may appear to be true, it is never actually true.

 

Psalm 37:25b — When David says he has never seen the seed of the righteous begging bread, he is stating a personal observation, not a divine oracle.

 

Although it may be a rarity, and one David never saw, it is certainly not an impossibility, that the seed of the righteous may be seen begging bread.

 

Psalm 37:26 — The posterity of the righteous will be blessed by God over the mercifulness and magnanimity of their parents. 

 

Although it may be spiritual rather than tangible, the charitableness of Christians to others will be a blessing to their own children.

 

Psalm 37:27 — True repentance, which alone leads to eternal life, is turning from evil to good for good! 

 

To truly repent or to turn from evil to good is not a once in a lifetime experience, but a lifelong process.

 

Psalm 37:28-29 — The Lord loves to right wrongs, by not only preserving and compensating the righteous, but also by punishing and cutting off the wicked.

 

Make no mistake about it; God’s love of those to be judged does not negate His love of judgment.

 

Psalm 37:30-31 — Because God’s Word is in their hearts, the righteous are wise in their speech and sure in their walk.

 

There is no way for one to have loose lips or to live a loose life if he has the law of God in his heart.

 

Psalm 37:32-33 — The wicked long to lay their hands on the righteous, but the Lord will never leave the righteous in the hands of the wicked.

 

The Lord will never allow either the lies of the wicked or of the wicked one, who is the father of lies, to stand forever against the righteous, but will eternally exonerate the righteous. (Matthew 13:38; John 8:44)

 

Psalm 37:34 — Those who keep waiting on the Lord and keep themselves in the way of the Lord, will eventually and eternally be exalted by the Lord.

 

It is our blessed hope, as the heirs of Christ, that enables us to wait on Christ. (Titus 2:13; Romans 8:17)

 

Psalm 37:35-36 — Although the power of the wicked springs up and the possessions of the wicked spread out, like a well-rooted tree, the wicked themselves are soon uprooted and removed from sight. 

 

The wicked are never gone, but not forgotten, but soon forgotten once they’re gone. 

 

Psalm 37:37-38 — One must live well to die well, but to live wickedly is to definitely die wretchedly. 

 

Mark the pious man, for he shall come to a peaceful end, but not the pagan, for his end shall be precipitous. 

 

Psalm 37:39-40 — The Lord is the salvation of all who trust in Him, as well as their strength in time of trouble. 

 

If we always depend upon the Lord, we will always be delivered by the Lord!

 

Psalm 38:1 — When the children of God sin grievously, they should pray for God to chasten them gently with the rod rather than condemn them angrily with the sword. 

 

While we should pray that God will not chasten us in His wrath, we should never pray that God will not chasten us, since to be without God’s chastisement is to be an illegitimate rather than genuine child of God. (Hebrews 12:7-8)

 

Psalm 38:2 — Nothing pierces and presses the soul like the conviction of the Spirit over committed sins.

 

The Holy Spirit swiftly pierces and sorely presses the saints the instant they sin.

 

Psalm 38:3 — Soul sickness, which can cause both physical and mental illness, is contracted when we enrage God by engaging in sin.

 

To have soundness of soul, we must be assured that God is no longer angry at us, because our sin has been both admitted and quitted. 

 

Psalm 38:4 — Under the Spirit’s conviction, our guilt becomes like waves breaking over our head and like an unbearable burden weighing us down.

 

When the Hound of Heaven, the Holy Spirit of God, is hot on our heels, His conviction becomes like a swelling tide in our soul and an unbearable burden on our back. 

 

Psalm 38:5 — If we continue in our foolishness, by being stiff-necked in our sin, then, our stripes from the Spirit’s conviction will become festered and foul. 

 

The only reasonable thing for foolish sinners to do is to come to their senses, by coming to God for salvation from their sins. (Isaiah 1:18)

 

Psalm 38:6 — Under the Spirit’s conviction, unbowed sinners are bent over and brought low.

 

The convicted sinner is no longer a merrymaker, but a mourner; he is no longer made glad by his sin, but grieved over it.

 

Psalm 38:7 — The sinner’s thorough examination by the Holy Spirit, which results in the Great Physician’s diagnosis of sin, results in the sinner being faced with his fatal condition. 

 

No physician’s diagnosis of the sick should be as disturbing as the Great Physician’s diagnosis of the sinner, since the latter is not only fatal to the sinner’s mortal body, but also to his or her immortal soul. 

 

Psalm 38:8 — The true sinner’s prayer cannot be rhetorically repeated after some well-intended saint, but only desperately roared from a heart dealt with and disquieted by the Holy Spirit. 

 

No one will ever call upon the name of the Lord for their salvation who has never been convinced by the Spirit of the Lord of their condemnation.

 

Psalm 38:9 — God knows all about us, what we want, as well as what makes us wail. 

 

To maintain you can fool God is to make a fool of yourself.

 

Psalm 38:10 — In this verse, David appears to begin a second story of woe. It is more about the throes of personal affliction than the Spirit’s conviction. 

 

David deemed the defibrillation of his heart, the debilitation of his body, and the dimming of his eyes to be the dreaded doormen at death’s door. 

 

Psalm 38:11 — To be forsaken by family and friends is a most heartbreaking betrayal. 

 

“A real friend is one who walks in, when the rest of the world walks out.” (Walter Winchell) 

 

Psalm 38:12 — We should pray to sidestep the snares, slanders, and skulduggery of our nefarious nemeses. 

 

If fair means cannot be successfully employed against the people of God, then, foul ones will be resorted to by the snare-laying poachers of Apollyon. 

 

Psalm 38:13-15 We can be deaf to false accusations and dumb in giving any answer to them, if we depend upon the Almighty for our defense and deliverance. 

 

To rush to one’s own defense is to deny one’s reliance upon God for deliverance. 

 

Psalm 38:16 — We should pray for the Lord to make us sure-footed, lest we slip and give our adversaries an advantage over us.

 

The least little misstep of the saint will be magnified by the sinner into a malicious and scathing excoriation.

 

Psalm 38:17 — Although we may be briefly halted when hurt, we should never allow any hurt to halt us between two opinions. (1 Kings 18:21)

 

If our trials turn us to God in reliance, we shall be made strong in God’s grace, but if our trials turn us away from God in resentfulness, we shall fail the grace of God and end up profane like Esau. (2 Timothy 2:1; Hebrews 12:15-16)

 

Psalm 38:18 — Although we may repudiate the false accusations of our enemies, we must sorrowfully confess the sins we’re convicted of by the Holy Spirit and charged with by a guilty conscience.

 

We are near to the end of sorrows over our sins when we tearfully come to the end of our sins.

 

Psalm 38:19 — The enemies of God’s people are always lively and never lethargic, nether are they ever feeble and few, but always mighty and multiplying. 

 

While our enemies may be many, none are equal to or a match for our God. (Romans 8:31)

 

Psalm 38:20 — Those who repay good with evil, not only recoil at good, but are also repulsed by and resistant to all good doers. 

 

We should be happy to be hated by the haters of good, but horrified if we are not.

 

Psalm 38:21 — To pray for God not to forsake us and to never be far from us is to pray for protection from fear, for we need never fear if God is ever near and never far. 

 

If we are assured that God is with us, anxiety can never overwhelm us.

 

Psalm 38:22 — The most harrowing of hardships can prove helpful to us if they hastens us to our knees to pray for the Lord to hurry and help us. 

 

The Lord is not only our Savior, by whom we are saved, but also our salvation, in whom we are safe.

Psalm 39 — This psalm, along with Psalms 62, 77, and 89, are all entrusted by David to Jeduthun or Ethan, who, along with Asaph and Herman, as well as all three of their descendants, were special workmen appointed to the sacred service of putting God’s message to His people through His prophets to music (1 Chronicles 25:1; 2 Chronicles 5:12). In 2 Chronicles 35:15, Jeduthun is singled out from Asaph and Herman, as “the king’s seer.” Also, David left the Ark of the Covenant in the house and care of Jeduthun’s son Obed-edom (2 Samuel 6:10-12; 1 Chronicles 13:5-14; 16:38). 

 

Psalm 39:1 — To not heed one’s ways is a sure way to unholiness, and nothing makes one more susceptible to sin than an unbridled tongue. 

 

We must constantly watch our every step and carefully select our every word to ward off our every sin. 

 

Psalm 39:2 — To be silent in the face of the wicked, especially when it comes to speaking up for what is good, is to buttress the wicked and betray the good. 

 

“Silence in the face of evil is itself evil: God will not hold us guiltless. Not to speak is to speak. Not to act is to act.” (Dietrich Bonhoeffer)

 

Psalm 39:3 — Hot tempers explode into howling tongues. 

 

The mouth is the crater from which smoldering volcanic emotions eventually erupt. 

 

Psalm 39:4-6 — Men are mere mortals on a meaningless march through a momentary mirage mustering mundane things to be someday managed by somebody else. 

 

It is only when confronted with life’s brevity and human mortality that men come to consider the possibility of eternal realities, which alone give meaning to man's otherwise meaningless existence. 

 

Psalm 39:7 — Once one realizes the transience and hollowness of this life, he will put his trust and hope in the Lord, who alone gives rhyme and reason to this otherwise short and senseless existence. 

 

“The nature of Christ’s existence is mysterious; I admit, but this mystery meets the wants of man. Reject it and the world is an inexplicable riddle; believe it, and the history of our race is satisfactory explained.” (Napoleon Bonaparte)

 

Psalm 39:8 — Only God can remit our sins and rescue us from the reproach of sinners. 

 

Sin must not only be forgiven, but forsaken, if faithful saints are not to be made fun of by foolish sinners. 

 

Psalm 39:9-11 — The mouths of the stiff-necked can be swiftly hushed by the hard blow of God’s hand. 

 

Unlike the silence of a sulking flesh, the silence of submission to the Spirit is praiseworthy, not pitiable. Whereas the former is unsightly, the latter is seemly. 

 

Psalm 39:12 — When sojourners with God find themselves estranged from God, because of their sins against God, there is no surer way of reconciliation to God that to cry the tears of repentance before God. 

 

The ear of God is more attuned to the tears of a repentant sinner than to the eloquence of ten thousand tongues. 

 

Psalm 39:13 — God forbid that we should die under the frown of our Lord and without a smile on our own lips. 

 

We should pray not only to live in God’s good graces, but to die in them as well.

 

Psalm 40:1 — Patiently waiting on our knees is the key to unlocking the door of prevailing prayer.

 

It is the prayers of the patient and persevering that gain the ear of God, as well as a hearing in Heaven.

 

Psalm 40:2 — When sinking down into a deep pit or some miry clay, we can cry to the Lord to lift us up and set our feet on a solid rock, from which we can step forward sure-footed into our future. 

 

Neither pits of despair nor sloughs of despond are below the reach of our Lord’s uplifting hand.

 

Psalm 40:3 — When the saint emerges from the pit exuberantly singing praise to God, sinners are persuaded to profess both fear of God and faith in God.

 

To trust in the Lord is not just essential to salvation, but both the evidence and essence of salvation. 

 

Psalm 40:4 — True blessedness or happiness is possessed by those who look to the Lord and live by His truths, never by those who look to men and live by their lies. 

 

True happiness is not to be had by the humanist, who sees men as supreme and the source of all knowledge. 

 

Psalm 40:5 — The multitude of God’s marvelous miracles for all of mankind are innumerable and incomprehensible. 

 

Although it is truly astounding that God has done so much for us, what is even more astonishing is that He should think so much of us! 

 

Psalm 40:6-8 —According to the New Testament, this stupendous Old Testament statement was spoken by our Savior when He left the splendor of Heaven to step onto this sinful earthly sphere. (Hebrews10:5-12)

 

Knowing that the Old Covenant’s sacrifices and offerings were insufficient for the salvation of a sinful world, Jesus Christ came into this world to not only establish a New Covenant, but also to fulfill God’s Word and God’s will, by offering Himself as a sufficient and satisfactory sacrifice for the world’s salvation!

 

Psalm 40:8 — Fulfilling God's will and obeying God's law is not drudgery, but sheer delight to those within whose hearts God's law is enshrined and upon whose hearts God’s law is inscribed!

 

Those with a heart for God don’t obey God because they have to or ought to, but because they wholeheartedly want to.

 

Psalm 40:9-10 — Christ, regardless of cost and consequence to Himself, refused to refrain from publicly preaching the unadulterated truth of the Gospel—salvation by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone. (John 18:20)

 

All preachers of Christ should follow Christ’s example by fearlessly and faithfully preaching Him to a Christ-hating world, regardless of cost and consequence to themselves. 

 

Psalm 40:11 — Those who sincerely preach the tender mercies and truths of God are sure to be preserved by the truths and tender mercies of God.

 

We can forever lean upon our Lord’s unfailing lovingkindness.

 

Psalm 40:12-13 — To count all of our troubles and trespasses is to doom ourselves to being downcast and disheartened, but to cry to the Lord to hasten to help us can deliver us from the doldrums in a hurry. 

 

It is a hair-raising and head-lowering thought to think that the sins in your life outnumber the hairs on your head. 

 

Psalm 40:14-15 — As the devil ended up ashamed over his failed attempt to destroy Christ, the children of the devil will also end up ashamed over their futile attempts to destroy Christians. 

 

The “aha, ahas” of the adversaries of Christ and Christians will soon be turned by Christ into the “hoorays” of Christians!

 

Psalm 40:16 — It is only seekers of God who are satisfied with God and saved by God.

 

To truly praise God you must pursue God, for only those who’ve met Him can truly magnify Him. 

 

Psalm 40:17 — Nothing more amazing is to be found in all of the Bible than that the Lord loves us, thinks of us, and is therefore attentive to us. 

 

“Wonderful things in the Bible I see, but this is the dearest, that Jesus loves me.” (Philip Bliss)

 

Psalm 41:1 — If we are charitable to the poor in times of need, God will deliver us in times of trouble. 

 

To think of the poor is to be thought of by God.

 

Psalm 41:2 — Those who sincerely preserve the poor by being benevolent toward them, will surely be preserved and blessed by God. 

 

The doctrine of reciprocity—what you do unto others will be done unto you—is not only taught here, but elsewhere throughout Scripture.

 

Psalm 41:3 — The saint is not immune from sickness, but assured that his or her sick bed will be made by God and turned from physical affliction into spiritual advantage. 

 

Oft have I sat in secret sighs

To feel my flesh decay;

Then, groaned aloud with frightened eyes

To view the tottering clay.

But I forbid my sorrow now,

Nor dare my flesh complain:

Diseases bring their profits too—

The joy overcomes the pain. (Isaac Watts)

 

Psalm 41:4 — The first and foremost prayer for you to  pray is for the healing of your sin sick soul by a merciful God.

 

The healing of our immortal soul from sin is far more critical than the healing of our mortal body from sickness.

 

Psalm 41:5 — The lights of the world are no delight to the world, but so disdained by the world that it hopes to rid itself of them. 

 

The irony of all ironies is seen in the saints wanting to see the salvation of sinners and sinners wanting to see the elimination of saints.

 

Psalm 41:6 — Fake friends, who feign to feel for us, only come around to forage around for gossip to spread all around about us. 

 

All gossips tell things they love to tell about those they don’t love at all!

 

Psalm 41:7 — The coconspirators of hate are always whisperers, lest their hidden devices against those they despise be divulged before hatched.

 

Love for others is a child of the light, but hate always colludes and connives in the dark.

 

Psalm 41:8 — When saints are chastened by Providence, sinners are quick to champion and celebrate it as capital punishment. 

 

Before his 60th birthday, John Wycliffe suffered the first of three strokes. The friars rejoiced at the news and rushed to Wycliffe’s bedside believing he would repent of the “evil” he had done to them and the church, by violently attacking the Catholic Church’s practice of indulgences. Gathered about the supposed dying man’s bedside, the friars said to him, “You have death on your lips, be touched by your faults, and retract in our presence all that you have said to our injury.” However, motioning to his attendant to set him up in the bed, Wycliffe responded in a clear and strong voice, “I shall not die, but live; and again declare the evil deeds of the friars.” Astonished and embarrassed, the monks all hurried from the room.

 

Psalm 41:9 — There is no blow more brutal than to be backstabbed by a bosom buddy with whom we’ve often broke bread. 

 

The epitome of betrayal, by one who dips his hand in the bowl alongside us and eats bread at the table with us, only to betray us and lift up his heel against us, is Judas Iscariot, who will ever be remembered as the traitor of our Lord. (Matthew 26:23; John 13:18)

 

Psalm 41:10 — To requite our malicious enemies requires us being raised up by our merciful Redeemer. 

 

To triumph over those who mercilessly put us down we need to pray that the Lord will mercifully lift us up! 

 

Psalm 41:11 — We know we’re in God’s favor when our enemies can’t get us in their grip.

 

It’s not so much for our name’s sake, but for Christ’s name’s sake, that we should pray for our enemies to never prevail over us. 

 

Psalm 41:12-13 — We should praise God for upholding us, in spite of our iniquities, and uplifting us, in spite of our deficiencies. 

 

For mere clods of clay to become perpetual courtiers in the throne room of the universe, where they will forever find themselves before the face of God, is certainly reason enough for their eternal exultation of their eternal King!

 

Psalm 42:1 — A heart for God is not proven by a recited sinner’s prayer, but by a perpetual panting for the presence of God.

 

Those without a foremost desire for God in the here and now will not be forever dwelling with Him in the hereafter.

Psalm 42:2 — Thirst for the living God cannot be quenched at the arid altar of a false and nonexistent deity or by observing the lifeless formality of a dried up and dead religion.

 

All who truly desire God are anxious to appear before God!

 

Psalm 42:3 — The bitterest dregs of the saint’s cup of sorrow is that his free-flowing tears oftentimes trigger the skeptic’s blasphemous taunt that faith in God is futile. 

 

Where is God amidst your sorrow,

The skeptics continually say.

Where is God amidst the darkness,

Blotting out the light of day?

I must not allow my soul to languish,

Nor to be cast down and shamed,

Lest my severe anguish,

Lead to the Divine being defamed!

 

Where is God when sorrow assails me?

Oh, Lord of mercy, will you not reply?

Prove now that you are ever with me,

And that your outstretched arm is ever nigh.

Help me thus to emerge victorious, 

As the shield of faith I rise to take.

Oh, Lord, appear and show thyself glorious,

Help me now for thy own name’s sake!

 

Psalm 42:4 — When God is hidden and foes harangue, the tears of one’s presently perceived divine abandonment and human accosting precipitate heartfelt prayers, especially when one remembers past participation with the people of God in the praise of God at the house of God.

 

Remembering God's past mercies and our past praise should not compound present problems and make present miseries more miserable. Instead, it should persuade us to pour out our souls in prayer to God that He may soon have us praising Him again for His mercies to us.

 

Psalm 42:5 — The cure for a short-lived frown of despair is the hope that God will soon smile upon us. 

 

The smiling countenance of God delivers the cast down soul from all disquietude, discouragement, and despair. 

 

Psalm 42:6 — To lift up a cast down soul one should cast their mind back to previous divine interventions!

 

To lift up a cast down soul one should stop looking within himself and start looking upward to Heaven.

 

Psalm 42:7 — The depths of God are fathomed by those who’ve called out to Him beneath His deep billows, but all who’ve not sounded sovereignty’s surging swells simply splash through life in the spiritual shallows.

 

The depths of deepest prayer are fathomed in troubling and trying tempests that overwhelm the soul like a waterspout above, a whirlpool below, and billowing waves all around.

 

Psalm 42:8 — The songs and prayers of a soul overshadowed by God’s sovereign lovingkindness can neither be silenced by the toils of the day nor by the terrors of the night.

 

God’s lovingkindness is graciously commanded, not conditionally given; in other words, it’s ours because He mercifully mandates it, not because we merit or maintain it.

 

Psalm 42:9-10 — To ask for and receive God’s explanation of His apparent abandoning of us will assuredly aid us to endure our adversaries’ attacks and aspersions upon us.

 

Persecutions should prompt us to pray, especially when our soul is cut to the quick by the sword of our persecutors over the inconspicuousness of God in our lives.

 

Psalm 42:9-11 — To make God our rock does not rid our lives of rocky times, but reassures us of divine relief within them.

 

There is never any cause for a soul whose hope is in the Lord to be disquieted nor to have a down cast countenance! 

 

Psalm 43:1 — God’s vindication of us renders irrelevant the ungodly’s vilification of us.

 

We should concern ourselves with the just judgment of God, not with the unjust judgment of the ungodly.

 

I’d rather be thought more of by Christ and less of by my ungodly country and countrymen than more of by my ungodly country and countrymen and less of by Christ.

 

Psalm 43:2 — Prayer may be inquiry, but not inquisition. We may ask God why He appears at times to abandon us, as well as sometimes allows the enemy to oppress us, but we must never be an affront to God by making accusations against God. 

 

Blind unbelief is sure to err,

And scan His work in vain;

God is His own interpreter,

And He will make it plain. (William Cowper)

 

Psalm 43:3 — It is only in the light of God and by the truth of God that we are personally led into the presence of God. 

 

God’s holy hill can’t be climbed in the dark, but only in the light, and the only ticket into God’s tabernacle is the truth.

 

Psalm 43:4 — To know God in your life as your exceeding joy you must first offer yourself to God upon His altar.

 

It takes more than a harp to praise God; it also takes a heart that knows God. True praise is not sung to “O God,” but to “my God.”

 

Psalm 43:5 — As long as there is hope of soon praising God for lifting us up, no problem in the world should ever get us down.

 

No Christian should ever be downcast or disquieted over his or her difficulties or discouragements.

 

Psalm 44:1 — No one can take the role of a father in the religious education of his children. 

 

A child is more influenced by his father than by a hundred schoolmasters.

 
Psalm 44:2-3 — History is His story. It is not a record of what men have done, but a record of what God has done, not only for men, but through men.

 

Our salvation, like Israel’s, is altogether God’s doing, while we may have been active in it, we had nothing to do with the accomplishing of it!

It is God’s favor toward His elect, not the efforts of our flesh, that is to be credited for our conquest of Canaan; that is, for our possession of all of God’s promises. 

Psalm 44:4 — God commands deliverances for those who confess Him as their God and obey Him as their King.

If God is not your King, He is neither your God, for no one can say “no” to his or her Lord!

 

Psalm 44:5-6 — It is not taking up our bow and sword, but looking up to our Lord, that puts down our raised up enemy. 

 

God’s army is the only army that advances on its knees.

 

Psalm 44:7-8 — When our enemy is beaten and put to shame we should boast in and praise our Lord’s name! 

Since our daily battles are the Lord’s our boast should be in Him all day long.

Psalm 44:9-11 — An army abandoned by the Almighty is sure to be shamed, spoiled, and scattered.

 

“I want my army to be an army of the living God.” (Stonewall Jackson) 

 

Psalm 44:12-16 — Nothing is more confusing or chagrinning to the saints than to be shamefully scorned by sacrilegious sinners.

 

 The world, which put Christ on the cross, should never be expected to put crowns on Christians’ heads.

 

Psalm 44:17-19 — We must not turn away from our allegiance to the Lord amidst all the adversities of our lives.

 

No trouble or hardship should ever turn our heart from God. 

 

Psalm 44:20-21 — No strange god can be secretly enshrined in human hearts without being searched out and seen by divine omniscience. 

 

Divided loyalty is not loyalty at all. If God doesn’t have all of your heart, He doesn’t have your heart at all. 

 

Psalm 44:22 — The psalmist’s woe becomes the Apostle Paul’s wonder, when he paints up all who are counted for Christ’s sake as sheep for the slaughter as more than conquerors through Him who is inseparable from them and who unfailingly loves them. (Romans 8:35-39)

 

All people suffer in this world, but only God’s people have the privilege of suffering for His sake. 

 

Psalm 44:23-25 — Upon the presumption that they’ve been abandoned by God in their afflictions, especially those suffered at the hands of their adversaries, the people of God always pray for God to awake, arise, and avenge them.

 

A bowed down soul can sink one down into the dust of the earth. 

 

Psalm 44:26 — All appeals for God’s help and our redemption must be made to God’s mercy. 

 

“Help” is often a long enough prayer!

 

Psalm 45 — As the title of this psalm makes plain, it is a royal wedding or love song to be sung in celebration of the king’s marriage to his chosen queen. Many believe it is to be understood allegorically, as a love song between Christ, the King of Kings, and His chosen bride, the church. It is for this reason that this psalm has been called the Nuptial or Wedding Song of Christ and His Church.

 

Psalm 45:1 — The pen in the inspired prophet’s hand is moved to write by the ignited passion in the prophet’s heart!  

 

God has no heartless hymn writers or passionless penmen. 

 

Psalm 45:2 — Christ is incomparable to the children of men, in that He is not only the fairest on earth, but also the most favored of Heaven.

 

Grace, as well as truth, pours forth from the lips of our Lord, who is not only full of grace and truth, but altogether lovely. (John 1:14; Song of Solomon 5:16)

 

Psalm 45:3 — We should pray for our mighty and majestic God to gird His sword for His glory upon this earth. 

 

“I saw the crown of France laying on the ground, so I picked it up with my sword.” (Napoleon Bonaparte)

 

Psalm 45:4 — We should pray for men to tremble at the terror of our God triumphantly riding through the earth in defense of truth, meekness, and righteousness.

 

It often takes the perpetration of terrible things by the right hand of the Lord to teach the terror and fear of the Lord to the fallen human race. 

 

Psalm 45:5 — All fall and none can stand when their heart is struck with the sharp arrows of the Almighty.

 

Men will fall either under conviction or in condemnation when their heart is cut one way or the other by the two-edged sword of the Spirit. (Ephesians 6:17, Hebrews 4:12)

 

Psalm 45:6 — God, whose throne is everlasting, will never yield His sovereignty nor wield His scepter unjustly.

 

God reigns forever and is forever right!

 

Psalm 45:7 — The anointed of God both adore righteousness and abhor wickedness.

 

The Messiah—the Anointed One—was, unlike His fellows, given the Spirit without measure, for He more than anyone loved righteousness and loathed wickedness. (John 3:34)

 

Psalm 45:8-9 — Doused in the holy anointing oil, all of Christ’s garments—His prophet’s mantle, His priestly tunic, and His kingly robe—are fragrant beyond compare.

 

The King, Christ, is poetically presented here, perfumed and prepared to wed, in His ivory palaces, the mansions of Heaven, His bride, the church, who is beautifully adorned in purest gold. 

 

Psalm 45:10-12 — The church—the bride—is wholeheartedly desired by her Bridegroom—Christ—when she is wholly devoted to Him. 

 

When Christ alone has the church’s attention, allegiance, and adoration, she is not only seen as most fair to Him, but more favorably in this world as well. 

 

Psalm 45:13-15 — These verses gloriously depict the glorification of the King’s sons and daughters. Having been justified and sanctified, we will ultimately be glorified!

 

Although we are already the children of God and glorious within, our inner glory will be outwardly manifested when Christ returns in His glory, and we behold Him as He is and become like Him. (John 17:22; 2 Corinthians 4:6-7; 2 Thessalonians 2:14; 1 John 3:2)

 

READ CHAPTER 7: THE REDEMPTION OF MAN'S BODY. IN OUR BOOK⏤THE KING OF HEARTS: THE SIMPLICITY OF LIVING IN THE SPIRIT

 

Psalm 45:16-17 — Jesus, the King of Kings, will be eternally praised for His perennial progeny of royal princes and princesses upon the earth!

 

The line of God’s elect is unending upon the earth, for when the fathers pass off the scene God replaces them with their children so that the name of Jesus will be remembered in the world.

 

Psalm 46 — This psalm has been called “The Song of Holy Confidence,” as well as “Luther’s Psalm,” since the famous Protestant Reformer, Martin Luther, based his famous hymn, A Mighty Fortress Is Our God, upon it.

 

A mighty fortress is our God, 

A bulwark never failing;

Our helper he, amid the flood 

Of mortal ills prevailing.

For still our ancient foe 

Does seek to work us woe;

His craft and power are great, 

And armed with cruel hate,

On earth is not his equal.

 

Did we in our own strength confide,

Our striving would be losing,

Were not the right Man on our side,

The Man of God's own choosing.

You ask who that may be?

Christ Jesus, it is he;

Lord Sabaoth his name,

From age to age the same;

And he must win the battle.

 

And though this world, with devils filled,

Should threaten to undo us,

We will not fear, for God has willed

His truth to triumph through us.

The prince of darkness grim,

We tremble not for him;

His rage we can endure,

For lo! his doom is sure;

One little word shall fell him.

 

That Word above all earthly powers

No thanks to them abideth;

The Spirit and the gifts are ours

Through him who with us sideth.

Let goods and kindred go,

This mortal life also;

The body they may kill:

God's truth abideth still;

His kingdom is forever!

 

Psalm 46:1 — God is ever-present with us to presently help us with every pressing problem. 

 

God, who is our safeguard and strength, is not only a present help in need, but a help indeed, who is never more than a short and swift prayer away.

 

Psalm 46:2-3 — Faith in God fortifies us from fear, even in the most terrifying trials and troubling times. 

 

Faith in God supplies the saint with sure footing on solid ground even when earthquakes are shaking, mountainsides are sliding, and the swelling sea is surging!

 

Psalm 46:4-5 — The city of God is the universal church of God—all Christians collectively. God dwells in it by indwelling its tabernacles—all Christians individually. Consequently, the river of eternal life flows through it and its inhabitants are forever glad and guarded within it.

 

There is a river, a never-ending supply of life, that fills the city of God with forever rejoicing, by making it invincible and its inhabitants immortal!

 

Psalm 46:6 — When God speaks, the raging heathen are scared and silenced, worldly kingdoms are shaken and shattered, and the whole earth shudders and shivers. 

 

Like my earthly father, my Heavenly Father will soon end all objections and opposition to unquestioning obedience by uttering this ultimatum: “Because I said so!”

 

Psalm 46:7 — God’s presence is our protection. If He is with us, nothing can withstand us nor whip us!

 

Jehovah Sabaoth, the Head of Heaven’s host, is our sure Helper and safe Haven, who is forever with us!

 

Psalm 46:8-9 — The desolations of the world and the dissolution of war are the work of God. His sovereign fingerprints are on them both.

 

Nothing can be without the Almighty’s decree.

 

Psalm 46:10 — It is in stillness and silence that divine activity is sensed in our lives most keenly and that the still small voice of the Spirit is heard in our hearts most clearly.

 

We must be still for God to be exalted, lest our superfluous movements be mistakenly credited for God’s supernatural miracles.

 

To live in intimacy with God, you must live in stillness before God, for to continuously frail away in your flesh is to forfeit close fellowship with God's Spirit.

 

Psalm 46:11 — God’s presence is our protection. If He is with us, nothing can withstand or whip us!

 

Jehovah Sabaoth, the Head of Heaven’s host, is our sure Helper and safe Haven, who is forever with us!

 

Psalm 47 — This psalm, along with ten others—42, 44, 45, 46, 48, 49, 84, 85, 87, and 88—were given to the sons of Korah to be sung at the house of God. King David appointed these descendants of the infamous leader of Korah’s Rebellion (Numbers 16), who were graciously spared by God from being swallowed up or consumed in His judgment (Numbers 26:8-11), to be both singers and gatekeepers at the Tabernacle of David (1 Chronicles 6:31-33; 9:19; 26:19). Like the spared sons of the sinful gainsayer Korah, all recipients of God’s sovereign and amazing grace should serve as doorkeepers to God’s house and singers of God’s praise.

 

Psalm 47:1-2 — The throne of God causes saints to clap and shout in triumphant and sinners to cringe and shake in terror.

 

While there is no shortage of clapping and shouting by fans in stadiums and theaters, there is a scarcity of it by worshippers in churches.

 

Psalm 47:3 — You can presently choose to freely lay your life down at Christ’s feet in submission or wait to be forcefully subdued beneath Christ’s feet later. The choice is yours! 

 

Although the saints often find themselves beneath the feet of sinners in the here-and-now, sinners will soon find themselves beneath the feet of the saints in the hereafter. 

 

Psalm 47:4 — Hands grasping for their own inheritance cannot ever be employed in the service of God, but only empty hands that are glad with whatever inheritance God hands them.    

 

It’s not immaculate vessels that God uses for His glory, but empty ones!

 

Psalm 47:5 — This verse is applicable to Christ’s Ascension, when He ascended from earth back into Heaven, where He was undoubtedly greeted upon His return with shouts of triumphant and the sound of trumpets.

 

This verse is also applicable to Christ’s Second Coming, when He will descend from Heaven back to earth, returning with a shout, the voice of the archangel, and the trump of God. (1 Thessalonians 4:16)

 

Psalm 47:6-7 — All the earth should sing praise to the King of all of the earth all of the time.

 

All who have an understanding of the sovereign power of God are unending in their songs of praise to God. 

 

Psalm 47:8 — Only through the eyes of faith can we see from this fallen earth that the God of Heaven reigns over the heathen on a throne of holiness.

 

Though the heathen may rage against it, they can do nothing about it, God reigns over them and roaringly laughs at them. (Psalm 2:1-4)

 

Psalm 47:9 — All the earth will inevitably exalt the God of Heaven.

 

When the shield of God is forever lifted over the earth every earthly shield shall be forever lowered.

 

Psalm 48 — Zion is first mentioned in the Bible as a Jebusite fortress, which David captured in his conquest of Jerusalem (2 Samuel 5:6-10; 1 Chronicles 11:4-9). Afterward, Jerusalem became known as the “city of David.” The perimeters of the fortress of Zion, located atop Mount Zion, as well as within the city of Jerusalem, were extended by King Solomon to include the threshing floor of Aranauh the Jebusite (2 Samuel 18-25; 1 Chronicles 21:18-28). It was on this enlarged site that Solomon built the temple (2 Chronicles 3:1). It is of no little significance that the place of worship was built on the very site where Abraham was willing to offer God a most costly sacrifice and where David was unwilling to offer God a costless one. After the temple was built atop Mount Zion both it and the city of Jerusalem itself became known as Zion, since both the temple—the house of God—and Jerusalem—the city of God—were believed to be the habitation of Jehovah.

 

The Songs or Psalms of Zion, which the Jewish captives refused to sing by the rivers of Babylon at the request of their Chaldean captors during their Babylonian Captivity (Psalm 137:1-6), were psalms that exalted Jerusalem as the abode of Almighty Jehovah. This psalm, Psalm 48, is arguably the first and foremost of the Psalms of Zion. 

 

Psalm 48:1 — Our great God should be greatly praised, especially by His people who are in His presence.

 

The pennant of great praise can only be planted on the lofty pinnacle of God’s holy mountain.

 

Psalm 48:2 — The higher the house of God gets above the world, the more beautiful it becomes to God in the world.

 

The more the house of God is looked up to on the earth, the more it becomes the joy of the earth.  

 

Psalm 48:3-6 — The predators and plunderers of God’s people are pained to see the people of God in the palaces of God’s protection.

 

Those hostile to us will hasten away from us as soon as they realize God is with us. 

 

Psalm 48:7-8 — Many believe that “the ships of Tarshish” mentioned in verse 7 is a reference to the breaking up of King Jehoshaphat’s ill-fated fleet. (1 Kings 22:48-49; 2 Chronicles 20:36)

 

Being able to celebrate what God has done in the past, as well as what we see Him doing in the present, enables us to be forever confident about the future.

 

Psalm 48:9 — Nowhere should the people of God think more of God’s lovingkindness than when they are gathered together in the midst of His temple. 

 

It is no coincidence that the Tabernacle’s Table of Shewbread, which commemorated God’s gracious bounty, was adjacent to the Altar of Incense, which symbolized the praise of God’s people.

 

Psalm 48:10 — God’s name, which is by far the most excellent on earth, should be the most exalted and extolled to the far ends of the earth.

 

It is through Jesus Christ the righteous, who is seated at God’s right hand, that God will justly judge the world, by justifying the unjust who look to Christ for righteousness and condemning the self-righteous who refuse to do so. (1 John 2:1; Colossians 3:1; Acts 17:31, Romans 3:21-26; 4:5; 1 Corinthians 1:30)

 

Psalm 48:11 — On Mount Zion there is jubilation over God’s judgments, since there is no fear of God’s judgments by those who are under God’s favor. 

 

As Christians we’ll never be judged for our sins, since God has already judged Christ for our sins. Although we may be chastened and corrected, we’ll never be condemned, since our condemnation has already been suffered by Christ who substituted Himself for us on the cross. (Galatians 3:13)

 

Psalm 48:12-14 — Like Old Testament Zion, the more carefully and closely the New Testament church is surveyed, the more sure it will be of its earthly invulnerability and eternal security. 

 

The church has all her foes defied

And laughed to scorn their rage.

She shall forever more abide,

Secure from age to age.

 

Psalm 49:1-4 — The preface to this psalm could serve as a proper preface to all of Scripture, since all of Scripture, like this psalm, should have the ear of all the earth.

 

This psalm is an inspired and insightful parable that addresses the age-old and perplexing problem of the prosperity of the ungodly under the providence of God. 

 

Psalm 49:5-12 — Wealth cannot ransom one from death. While the poor may find themselves under the heel of the prosperous in life, the bank accounts and belongings of the prosperous will be pried from their hands in death. 

 

"You can’t take it with you. There are no pockets in a shroud." (Elsie de Wolfe)

 

Psalm 49:13-15 — The fate of self-made men and their mimickers is to move out of their earthly mansions into mausoleums, but God-made men will prevail over self-made men in the morning of the resurrection, when they move out of mausoleums into heavenly mansions. (Psalm 49:5-12; John 14:2)

 

On the resurrection morning the redeemed will rise from the grave and be received by God to reign with Him as His regents.

 

THE RESURRECTION MORN (Arthur S. Baring-Gould)

 

On the resurrection morning

Soul and body meet again;

No more sorrow, no more weeping,

No more pain.

 

Here awhile they must be parted,

And the flesh its sabbath keep,

Waiting in a holy stillness,

Wrapt in sleep.

 

For a space that tired body

Lies with feet toward the dawn;

Till there breaks the last and brightest

Easter morn.

 

But the soul in contemplation

Utters earnest prayers and strong;

Breaking at the resurrection

Into song.

 

Soul and body reunited,

Thenceforth nothing will divide,

Waking up in Christ's own likeness,

Satisfied.

 

Oh, the beauty, oh, the gladness

Of that resurrection-day!

Which shall not through endless ages,

Pass away!

 

On that happy Easter morning

All the graves their dead restore,

Father, sister, child and mother,

Meet once more.

 

To that brightest of all meetings,

Bring us, Jesus Christ, at last;

To Thy cross, through death and judgment,

Holding fast.

 

Psalm 49:16-19 — You should not be perplexed over the prosperity of the wicked. Although they exalt themselves over it and others envy them for it, it is ephemeral and ends in the grave.

 

"The boast of heraldry, the pomp of power, And all that beauty, all that wealth ever gave, Awaits alike the inevitable hour. The paths of glory lead but to the grave." (Thomas Gray)

 

Psalm 49:20 — Those who boast in their wealth are like witless beasts, impervious to their impermanence. 

 

The true measure of one’s fortune is seen in the face of one’s mortality.

 

Psalm 50 — This is the first of the twelve Psalms of Asaph. Asaph, along with his sons, were appointed by King David as chief musicians, who were to proclaim God’s Word to God’s people through psalms (1 Chronicles 25:1-2). That Asaph was the author of some psalms and the musician to which others were entrusted can be clearly gleaned from Scripture (1 Chronicles 16:7; 2 Chronicles 29:30). The Psalms of Asaph are Psalm 50 and Psalms 73-83.

 

Psalm 50:1 — All the earth, the whole world over, from where the sun has risen to where the sun has set, is called to hear El—the Mighty One—Elohim—the Three in One—and Jehovah—the Self-existent One.

 

This awe-inspiring amalgamation of numinous names is only found one other place in all of Scripture, where it is translated, “the God of gods.” (Joshua 22:22)

 

Psalm 50:2 — God’s shines in the earth through His people on the earth.

 

The resplendence of God’s redeemed relies on their reflection of God’s glory. The more God is beheld in them the more beautiful they are to God.

 

Psalm 50:3 — God will someday come as a consuming fire and raging storm to call all men to judgment.

 

Although men today may suppose that God is silent and that they are safe from judgment, they will someday see the whole world shaken, when the Judge of all the earth comes with a shout. (Genesis 18:25; 1 Thessalonians 4:16; Hebrews 12:26-27)  

 

Psalm 50:4 — Contrary to popular opinion, the people of God will not be secretly snatched into Heaven before judgment begins, but judgment will begin with the people of God. (1 Peter 4:17-18)

 

If God’s people are not spared from God’s judgment and God’s judgment begins with them, how much more sure and severe will God’s judgment be of the ungodly? 

 

Psalm 50:5 — Those received as consecrated to God are those who have a covenant relationship with God. In other words, it is their personal acceptance of the propitiatory sacrifice of God’s Son that sets them apart as one of God’s saints.

 

It’s not just the acceptance of our Lord’s substitutionary sacrifice for us, but also our offering of ourselves as a living sacrifice to Him, which allows us to be gathered together with all of God’s saints unto God. (Romans 12:1)   

 

Psalm 50:6 — God, who in the wisdom of His divine omniscience, devised a plan of salvation to solve an insoluble problem—how to justify and purify unjust and imperfect men without compromising His perfect justice—is declared the righteous Judge of the earth by all of Heaven.

 

Thanks to the shed blood of Jesus, no sin is swept under the rug of divine justice by a just God’s justifying of unjust sinners. (Romans 3:21-26)

 

Psalm 50:7 — When God speaks, His people should always listen, even when what He says is hard to hear. 

 

We should hear God as willingly and readily when He testifies against us as when He testifies for us.

 

Psalm 50:8-9 — God expects real obedience from His people, not mere religious oblations.

 

It’s not the religious habit you wear, but what’s really in your heart that matters to God.

 

Psalm 50:10-12 — Not only is God’s brand on the cattle of a thousand hills, but He holds the copyright to the birds’ songs and the title deed to the earth.

 

“He owns the cattle on a thousand hills,

The wealth in every mine;

He owns the rivers and the rocks and rills,

The sun and stars that shine.

Wonderful riches, more than tongues can tell—

He is my Father, so they’re mine as well;

He owns the cattle on a thousand hills,

I know that He will care for me.” (John W. Peterson)

 

Psalm 50:13 — It is sacrilege to suppose that our religious sacrifices or sacraments are sustenance to God. 

 

It is the height of human hubris to imagine that God is in need of religious handouts from us.

 

Psalm 50:14 — We are to offer God more than the showy outward trappings of religion; we are to offer Him the sincere inward thanksgiving of the heart.

 

We should pay our vows to God readily, not reluctantly, not just out of a sense of duty, but with heartfelt delight.

 

Psalm 50:15 — God promises us that our deliverance in the day of trouble is just a prayer away.

 

If we call upon God in the day of trouble rather than complain to God, we’ll soon be glorifying God rather grumbling and gripping to God.

 

Psalm 50:16-17 — To declare God’s Word with your lips, while discarding and disobeying it in your life, is denounced by God as most despicable. 

 

For you to profess the Christian Faith, without really possessing or practicing it, is no less wicked than for you to profane the Christian Faith, for it is no less an offense to God nor an obstacle to others.

 

Does both the profession and practice of your Christian faith pave the way for others to come to Christ or impede others from ever doing so?   

 

Psalm 50:18 — To consent to sin is as condemnable as committing sin and to partake of it is as punishable as the perpetration of it.

 

“Silence in the face of evil is itself evil: God will not hold us guiltless. Not to speak is to speak. Not to act is to act.” (Dietrich Bonhoeffer) 

 

Psalm 50:19-20 — Many supposed saints prove themselves shams by spewing and spreading slander against their fellows, as well as against members of their own families.

 

Slanderous tongues are wagged by wicked and sinful hearts.  

 

Psalm 50:21-22 — The sanctimonious sinner should never mistake God’s long-suffering as indifference toward or identification with his iniquity, for divine indignation will surely be seen someday before the eyes of every sinner.

 

Neither church attendance nor religious practices will protect Christian pretenders from being ultimately prosecuted and torn to pieces by God.

 

Psalm 50:23 — It is those whose praise is genuinely glorifying to God and whose conversation and conduct is commended by God that are the true recipients of the salvation of God.

 

Whereas true salvation is always smiled on by God, phony sanctimony is always frowned on by God.

 

Psalm 51 — This Psalm is the real sinner's prayer, the consummate example of the passionate prayer of a penitent sinner who knows the impossibility of his salvation apart from the divine intervention of a miracle-working and merciful God.

 

Salvation is not a mere human decision, but a stupendous miracle of God. It requires much more than nodding one’s head to the propositional truths of a gospel presentation and simply repeating the “sinner’s prayer” after some well-meaning soul winner. Instead, it requires God-given repentance, which alone can turn sinners from sin with broken hearts and to the Savior with all their hearts. Then, and only then, can the real sinner's prayer be prayed for the soul's salvation.

 

READ THE REAL SINNER'S PRAYER: THIRTY-ONE DAYS OF DEVOTIONS ON PSALM 51.

 

Psalm 51:1a — The plea of penitent sinners to God must begin with a plea for mercy. It’s not justice we need—our just deserts—but mercy—the undeserved pardon of a merciful God. To receive our divine pardon we must plead for it on the basis of God’s mercy, not our merit. 

 

“The Gospel is good news of mercy to the undeserving. The symbol of the religion of Jesus is the cross, not the scales.” (John Stott)

 

Psalm 51:1b — The sinner's plea for mercy must be predicated upon God's lovingkindness—His unconditional love. Unlike others who love us conditionally, according to who we are and what we do, God loves us unconditionally, in spite of who we are and what we do.

 

 

Psalm 51:1c — It is the multitude of God's inexhaustible and everlasting tender mercies that makes possible the divine pardon of every pleading professed sinner.

 

“If we refuse mercy here, we shall have justice in eternity.” (Jeremy Taylor)

 

Psalm 51:1d-2 — Sin is a corrosive stain on human nature that soils the soul. Only divine detergent, the blood of Jesus, can wash it away and cleanse us from it.

 

For us to be justified before God, by God’s blotting out of the befouling blotch of our sins, requires nothing short of a divine miracle of immeasurable proportions.

 

Psalm 51:3 — The grimness of one's sin is never confronted nor the guilt of one's sin confessed until the Spirit of God convicts.

 

Sinners are never driven to their knees to confess their sin and to cry out to God for their salvation, until the Hound of Heaven, the Holy Spirit of God, is sicced on them to dog their heels night and day.

 

Psalm 51:4a — Ultimately, all sin is committed against God alone, since sin is the transgression of God's law and the falling short of God's glory. (1 John 3:4; Romans 3:23)

 

While others may be horribly wronged by our sin, our sin is nonetheless committed against God alone, since He is the final arbiter of right and wrong, to whom we must all ultimately answer and give an account!

 

Psalm 51:4b — Make no mistake about it; sin in the sight of God is not excusable, explainable, nor exemptible, but evil and contemptible!

 

 

Psalm 51:4c — God is clearly justified to convict and condemn us for our undeniable and inexcusable sins. Yet, He has gone to extraordinary lengths to offer us a divine pardon without compromising in the least His divine justice.

 

Since Christ vicariously suffered the punishment for all of our sins, He can justly offer a pardon to all of us sinners.     

 

Psalm 51:5 — Sin is a birthmark all sinners are born with. Man is not just a sinner by choice, but by birth and by nature. He is not good, as popularly believed, but born with a natural proclivity to sin; that is, to do bad rather than good and wrong rather than right.

 

The doctrine of Original Sin has been called the first principle of our faith. If you get this wrong, you’ll get everything wrong. All spiritual deception can be traced back to the denial of this first fundamental. If man is innately good apart from God, then, he doesn’t need God. On the other hand, if man is innately sinful, then, good is impossible apart from God—who alone is good (Mark 10:18)—and man desperately needs God to come to any good end.

 

“The doctrine of original sin is the only philosophy empirically validated by thirty-five centuries of recorded human history” (Anonymous)

 

Psalm 51:5-6 — Man is not a sinner, because he sins, but he sins, because he is a sinner. Our real problem is not so much what we do, but what we are. To "know wisdom" in our lives, we must first know this unflattering "truth" about ourselves in our "inward parts" or hearts.

 

Since the truth is that our real problem is not what we do, that we sin, but what we are, that we are sinners, the Apostle Paul equates Christ saving us from our sins as synonymous with Christ saving us from ourselves; after all, we're our own worst enemy, from which we desperately need to be delivered, (2 Corinthians 5:15 NIV)

 

“We have met the enemy and he is us.” (Pogo)

 

Psalm 51:7a — David knew it would take hyssop, the strongest of cleansers to purge him from sin. Interestingly, hyssop was used to apply the blood of the Passover lambs to the doorposts of the Hebrews' homes in Egypt, so that God's judgement would pass over them. (Exodus 12:12)

 

It is no coincidence that hyssop was used to put the sponge of sour wine to the mouth of Christ, our Passover Lamb, before He cried from the cross, “It is finished,” for it is only by the blood that Christ shed on the cross that we can be purged from our sin and God’s judgment on sin can pass over us. (John 19:28-30)

 

Psalm 51:7b — The only reasonable thing a sinner can do is come to God praying for his or her sins to be washed away. (Isaiah 1:18)

 

According to Isaiah, sinners refuse to repent, despite being beaten black and blue by their sins, because sin makes sinners sick in the head (Isaiah 1:3-5). This fallen world is the victim of a spiritual insanity, which alone explains its spiritual masochism. No matter the consequences suffered, the miseries incurred, or even the toll taken on others, we continue to sin and refuse to repent.

 

Psalm 51:8 — The sinner's conversion is impossible without the preceding miseries of the Spirit's conviction. Brokenness always comes before blessedness, agony before assurance, sorrow before singing, and conviction before conversion!

 

Only under the convicting power of the Holy Spirit, not the persistent coaxing of human persuasion, will sinners be convicted of their sin, convinced of their need of a Savior, and come to Christ for salvation. 

 

Psalm 51:9 — When we pray for God's pardon, He doesn't just forgive our sins, He forgets them; He blots them out never again to behold them. (Isaiah 43:25)

 

Did you know that there is one thing God cannot remember? It is the sins of those He has forgiven!

 

Psalm 51:10a — The heart cleansing of sinners requires nothing short of a new creation. God must miraculously transform us into a new person, by transplanting within us a new heart, so that we can take up a new life. (2 Corinthians 5:17)

 

Every Christian receives a heart transplant at conversion, which is miraculously performed by the Great Physician. Our old corrupt heart, with its natural proclivity for unrighteousness, is replaced with a new clean heart, with its natural proclivity for righteousness. 

 

Psalm 51:10b — The backslider's condition is self-induced, but must be divinely remedied, for only God can renew a right spirit within the backslider and heal his or her backsliding. (Hosea 14:4)

 

Far from possessing all that is needed, the backslider is bankrupt of all that is required for reconciliation with God.

 

Psalm 51:11 — The spiritual man should mortify the flesh and daily pray to be both forgiven of sin and delivered from sin, lest his life be devoid of the presence and power of God's Holy Spirit.

 

“Do you mortify? Do you make it your daily work? Be always at it whilst you live; cease not a day from this work; be killing sin or it will be killing you.” (John Owen)

 

Psalm 51:12a — Although we can lose the "joy" of our salvation, we cannot lose our salvation, since both the miracle of it and the maintaining of it are miraculous works of God, neither of which are dependent upon our works at all.

 

If our righteousness cannot make us deserving of salvation, how can our unrighteousness deprive us of it? If it is not attained by merit, how can it be retained by merit or forfeited by demerit?  

 

Psalm 51:12a — Sin is the sole robber of the joy of our salvation. To forfeit the joy of our salvation for the jocularity and frivolity of this fallen world is to be egregiously shortchanged spiritually. Still, many a modern-day saint makes so scandalous a deal with the devil.

 

“There’s only one thing that can take the joy out of your life: it is sin, and only one kind of sin. You want to know what kind? Yours. That’s the only kind of sin, not somebody else’s sin, but your sin.” (Dr. Adrian Rogers)

 

Psalm 51:12b — Sinners need more than a change of behavior, they need a change of heart, which can only be wrought when the freely given Spirit of God transforms their desire to satisfy their sinful lusts into a desire to live in submission to God's laws.

 

The sinner needs to pray for his obstinate spirit to be transformed into an obedient spirit by the freely given Spirit of God!

 

Psalm 51:13 — You can't preach what you neither practice nor possess. The unrepentant can't preach repentance nor the unredeemed redemption, lest they impede and hinder sinners rather than induce and help them to repent and be redeemed.

 

“I would be a Christian were it not for Christians.” (Mahatma Gandhi)

 

Psalm 51:13-15 — Those who have been pardoned by Christ will be witnesses for Him and worshippers of Him, for there is no possibility that a sinner who has experienced the saving power of Christ will be mum about it or humdrum in his or her appreciation of it.

 

There is no surer sign of a false Christian profession than a confessed Christian who neither witnesses nor worships. 

 

Psalm 51:14a — All sinners are guilty of "bloodguiltiness," since it was our sins that nailed Christ to the cross of Calvary. It wasn't Judas' treachery, the Sanhedrin's condemnation, Pilate's order of execution, nor the Roman soldiers, but you and I who nailed Jesus to the tree.

 

I see the crowd in Pilate's hall,

their furious cries I hear;

their shouts of ‘Crucify!’ appall,

their curses fill my ear.

And of that shouting multitude

I feel that I am one,

and in that din of voices rude

I recognize my own.

 

I see the scourgers tear the flesh

of God's beloved Son;

and as they smite I feel afresh

that of them, I am one.

Around the Cross the throng I see

that mock the Sufferer's groan,

yet still my voice it seems to be,

as if I mocked alone.

 

Twas I that shed that sacred Blood,

I nailed him to the Tree,

I crucified the Christ of God,

I joined the mockery.

Yet not the less that Blood avails

to cleanse me from sin,

and not the less that Cross prevails

to give me peace within. (Horatius Bonar).

 

Psalm 51:14b-15 — The worship of the redeemed is irrepressible. To be raised out of the deep valley of sin to the soaring summit of salvation is a most rapturous experience. One cannot go through the exultation of salvation without the accompanying exaltation of the Savior.

 

Whereas the redeemed saint cannot help but worship, the unrepentant sinner is incapable of it.

 

Psalm 51:16 — Like David, our sins against God are so egregious that there is nothing we can offer to God nor do for God to ever merit His absolution or acceptance. All we can do, since we too can offer God nothing He desires nor delights in, is plead for a divine pardon.

 

Not the labor of my hands

Can fulfill Thy law’s demands;

Could my zeal no respite know,

Could my tears forever flow,

All for sin could not atone;

Thou must save, and Thou alone.

 

Nothing in my hand I bring,

Simply to the cross I cling;

Naked, come to Thee for dress;

Helpless look to Thee for grace;

Foul, I to the fountain fly;

Wash me, Savior, or I die. (Augustus M. Toplady)

 

Psalm 51:17 — The only sacrifices God accepts from sinners are broken hearts and penitent spirits. God does not despise, but delights in a sinner heartbroken over his or her sins and determined to wholeheartedly turn from sin to Him.

 

Only those who have been heartbroken over their sins by the conviction of the Holy Spirit will develop a detestation of sin that serves as a sure sign of their salvation from sin. 

 

Psalm 51:17 — It is only those who are brokenhearted over their sins against God whose brokenheartedness the Great Physician came into this world to heal. (Luke 4:18)

 

It is not those brokenhearted over what their sin cost them, but brokenhearted over what their sin cost Christ, whose broken hearts are healed by Christ. 

 

Psalm 51:18 — David knew he could not pray for God to take pleasure in Zion or to build the walls of Jerusalem until he had been pardoned by God. Likewise, the prayers of all unforgiven sinners are never heard by God until they first pray to God for His forgiveness. (Psalm 66:18)

 

There is no hope of revival corporately in the church until Christians are right with God individually.

 

Psalm 51:19 — The sinner can offer God no sacrifice except a broken heart, prepared for God's altar by God's Spirit. The saint, however, having been forgiven by God and made right with God can offer to God the pleasing sacrifices of those made righteous by God.

 

The saints, who have been mercifully pardoned by God, should continually offer the sacrifice of praise to their most merciful God. (Hebrews 13:15)

 

Psalm 51:19 — This magnificent psalm ends with David no longer morning over his sin, but mesmerized with his Savior, his guilt is expunged, his sin forgiven, and his salvation assured. David is off his knees and no longer pleading; his hands are uplifted and he is now praising.

 

Once the truly penitent sinner has been divinely pardoned, his guilt is no longer ever before him nor gloom all around him, but the glory of God is suddenly seen as all encompassing to him.

 

Psalm 52 — This psalm of David was written by him on the occasion of the treachery of Doeg the Edomite, who not only killed Ahimelech, along with the other priests of Nob, but also all of their families as well (1 Samuel 21-22). Abiathar, the lone survival of Doeg’s slaughter of Ahimelech’s descendants, fled afterward to inform David about it. The words of this psalm drip with David's divinely inspired vilification of Doeg, this most villainous and despicable Biblical talebearer and terminator.

 

Psalm 52:1 — Why should mighty men boast in their momentary mischief when it is the goodness of Almighty God that endures for ever?

 

Many a man, like the infamous Doeg, whose one claim to fame was the slaughter of defenseless priests, boasts and brags about what he ought to be ashamed of and embarrassed over.

 

Psalm 52:2 — Ulterior motives often lie beneath razor sharp and mischief speaking tongues. 

 

Doeg’s tongue was not just mischievous, but murderous, for the children of the devil, just like their father, are both liars and murderers. (John 8:44)

 

Psalm 52:3 — The love of evil over good, of wrong over right, and of lies over truth is the fatal problem of our fallen planet.

 

Although Saul’s Doeg is dead, Satan still has no shortage of dogs and swine who trample God’s truth and tear God’s people to pieces. (Matthew 7:6)

 

Psalm 52:4 — Deceitful tongues delight in declaring devouring words in the most deceptive ways. 

 

The Doegs of this word can trick you with their tongues into believing that the slaughter of innocent priests is proof of incredible patriotism.

 

Psalm 52:5 — God will pull down, pluck up, and sweep away forever from the land of the living those like Doeg, who plot against God’s priests.

 

What happened in Nob did not stay in Nob, but dogged the heels of Doeg plumb out of the land of the living.

 

Psalm 52:6 — The righteous cannot help but be overjoyed at the sight of the overthrow of wrongdoers.

 

The righteous will have the last laugh on the wicked, though it will be with gravity, not gaiety.

 

Psalm 52:7 — The man who trust in his ill-gotten gains rather than in God is headed for a horrible end. 

 

This verse could be the epitaph on the tombstones of all of the Doegs of the world. 

 

Psalm 52:8 — Rather than being plucked up like sinners, the saints are mercifully planted in God’s presence for His perpetual praise.

 

Our eternal security is assured by God’s enduring and eternal mercy.  

 

Psalm 52:9 — God has done it all for us for the good of His name! 

 

All other religions spell salvation DOING, but Christianity spells it DONE!

 

Psalm 53 — This psalm is a doubling down on man’s total depravity, being a duplication of Psalm 14. Although it is not a word for word replication, it is definitely a divinely inspired duplication. Far from being a vain repetition, it is a vital reemphasis of the fundamental doctrine of original sin, which has been called the first principle of the Christian Faith. 

 

All spiritual deception can be traced back to either ignorance of this first fundamental of our faith or to the downright denial of it. If man believes himself to be innately good apart from God, then, he has no need of God, at least not for the God of the Bible. On the other hand, if man is not innately good, but innately sinful, then, good is impossible apart from God, who alone is good (Mark 10:18), and man desperately needs God to come to any good end.

 

Psalm 53:1 — Atheism is not the conclusion of a clever mind, but of a corrupt heart. It is not spawned by scholarship nor science, but by sin. (Psalm 14:1; Romans 1:18-22)

 

Atheism is not born in the intelligent mind of a brilliant genius, but in the iniquitous heart of a blasphemous fool.

 

It’s iniquitous ignoramuses, not intelligent intellectuals, who say, “There is no God.”

Psalm 53:1-3 — To foolishly deny God is to be flat-out devoid of good. 

 

It is the practical atheism of fallen humanity that sinks it to the depths of total depravity. 

 

As Jesus taught, God alone is good (Mark 10:18). Therefore, apart from God, who is the only good, there is no good. This means that if God isn’t in it, there is nothing good about it. Although the saying, “There’s good in everyone,” is popular, it is not Biblical. The truth is; if Jesus isn’t in you, there is nothing good about you (Romans 7:18).

 

Psalm 53:4 — To prey upon God’s people rather than to pray to God is to prove oneself a spiritual nincompoop.

 

All iniquity is insanity, since it inevitably leads to accountability to God in eternity.

 

Psalm 53:5 — To fear God is to fear nothing else, but to not fear God is to fear everything else, even one’s own shadow.

 

It is a foolish exercise in futility to war against those whom God is with and to oppress those God oversees.

 

Psalm 53:6 — These words of King David remind us of the words of the Apostle John: “Even so, come, Lord Jesus” (Revelation 22:20). For both the psalmist and the revelator were calling for the same thing, the ending of the saints’ captivity by the coming of God’s salvation.

 

There is coming a day

When no heartaches shall come

No more clouds in the sky

No more tears to dim the eye

All is peace forevermore

On that happy golden shore

What a day, glorious day that will be

 

They’ll be no sorrow there

No more burdens to bear

No more sickness and no more pain

No more parting over there.

And forever I will be

With the One who died for me

Oh what a day, glorious day that will be

 

What a day that will be

When my Jesus I shall see

When I look upon His face

The One who saved me by His grace 

Then He’ll take me by the hand

And lead me through the Promise Land 

Oh what a day, glorious day that will be (Jim Hill)

 

Psalm 54 — The historical background of this psalm is David’s betrayal to King Saul, who was seeking David’s life, by the Ziphites, among whom David was hiding (2 Samuel 26:19-20). As the tile indicates, it was to be played on stringed instruments, which speaks of the necessity of variety in psalmody, lest congregational praise fall prey to monotony.

 

Psalm 54:1-2 — When men betray us for their own good, we can pray for God to powerfully protect us for His own glory. 

 

We can always call on God to honor His name by helping us, even when no human can be counted on to harbor us.

 

Psalm 54:3 — Those who are strangers to God’s saints still strive against them, simply because they’re also estranged from God.

 

Christians cannot count on those that Christ cannot count on.

 

Psalm 54:4-5 — Although the Lord is with His people and their friends, He is at war with all of their enemies, who He will triumphant over and trounce with His truth.  

 

Why should we be distressed over the defiance of our foe when we have the defense of our God?

 

Psalm 54:6-7 — The spontaneous praise of God is an inevitability for all who have triumphed over their troubles by trusting in God.

 

In their triumphant, the saints will not gloat over and look down on their enemies, but glorify God and look up to Him.

 

Psalm 55 — This is the third of the Imprecatory Psalms. It is believed to have been written by David during Absalom’s rebellion and Ahithophel’s betrayal.

 

TO LEARN MORE ABOUT IMPRECATORY PRAYERS READ OUR BOOKLET: THE IMPRECATORY PSALMS

 

Psalm 55:1 — It is not only an audience with God that the saints seek in their prayers, but an answer from God as well.

 

If God is hidden our supplications are hollow.

 

Psalm 55:2 — We should pray that God will attend unto our prayers even when they are not eloquent, but inarticulate.

 

Great prayers are not necessarily prayed by the saints with intelligible words; sometimes they are prayed by the Spirit with “groanings that cannot be uttered.” (Romans 8:26)

 

Psalm 55:3 — This verse tells a thrice-told story, being an accurate description not only of the enemies of David, but also of Christ, the Son of David, and of all Christians. 

 

Our adversary the devil, who loathes us and is livid with us, is always seeking to lower the boom on us. 

 

Psalm 55:4-8 — When in the throes of this world’s woes, we often find ourselves writhing, wobbling, wavering, and wishing for the wings of a dove to fly away with or for some wilderness to wander off into. 

 

Like the dove of old, our weary soul will find no rest until we return to God’s Ark of Safety—Jesus Christ. (Genesis 8:8-9; 1 Peter 3:18-22)

 

Psalm 55:9-11 — We should pray for the division and destruction of mischief makers who raise mobs in our midst. 

 

Revolt rousing rebels within are far more ruinous than resolute rivals without. 

 

Psalm 55:12-14 — The wound of betrayal is made most painful by being inflicted by a pretended friend rather than a perceived foe. 

 

We can only be treated treacherously by family, fellow-believers, or friends, since no foe should ever be trusted in the first place.

 

Psalm 55:15 — Though it is a harsh and hard truth, it is nonetheless a hands-down truth that evil cannot be utterly eradicated without the eradication of unrepentant evil-doers. 

 

Evil always flourishes when men show sympathy to evil-doers and start counting the condemnation of them as cruelty to them!

 

Psalm 55:16 — Instead of plotting revenge against those who plot our ruin, we should pray to God to rescue and redeem us.

 

Whereas our enemies’ plots to destroy us result in God’s condemnation of them, our prayers to God to deliver us result in His salvation of us. 

 

Psalm 55:17 — We should commence, continue, and conclude each day with communion with God.

 

I met God in the morning,
When my day was at its best
And His presence came like sunrise,
Like a glory in my breast.

 

All day long the Presence lingered;
All day long He stayed with me;
And we sailed in perfect calmness
O’er a very troubled sea.

 

Other ships were blown and battered,
Other ships were sore distressed,
But the winds that seemed to drive them
Brought to us a peace and rest.

 

Then I thought of other mornings,
With a keen remorse of mind. 
When I too had loosed the moorings
With the Presence left behind.

 

So, I think I know the secret,
Learned from many a troubled way;
You must seek Him in the morning
If you want Him through the day. (Ralph Spaulding Cushman)

 

Psalm 55:18 — Through the eyes of faith we can see our forthcoming deliverance and our fellow defenders. (2 Kings 6:15-17)

 

The divine promise of pending deliverance gives us indescribable peace in the midst of our most daunting battles. 

 

Psalm 55:19 — While God hears the prayers of the humble and answers their prayers, He also hears the pride of the haughty and afflicts the proud.

 

The bottom line of unrepentance is ill-reverence, for none who refuse to forsake their sin or change their ways have any fear of God. 

 

Psalm 55:20-21 — An Ahithophel or a Judas always shakes hands with a clinched fist and enters into a covenant with crossed fingers.

 

Though the treacherous feign peace, they foment war. They butter you up to batter you and smooth talk you to backstab you.

 

Psalm 55:22 — There is no sense in carrying your burdens, when you can cast them upon the Lord, who can sustain you under them, keep you stedfast through them, and secure your victory over them.

 

Psalm 89 — This psalm is known as the “Covenant Psalm,” for it celebrates God’s eternal covenant with David. It’s author, Ethan the Ezrahite, was known for his wisdom, which was only excelled by the wisdom of King Solomon, of whom Ethan appears to have been a contemporary (1 Kings 4:31). If this is the case, the psalm was probably written during the latter reign of Solomon’s son Rehoboam, when the kingdom was divided and it appeared, at least to Ethan the Ezrahite, that God had broken His covenant with David, by failing to establish a Son of David on David’s eternal throne forever. Of course, the descendant of David that God promised to eventually and eternally sit on David’s throne, to rule and reign forever over God’s chosen and elect people, was none other than God’s own beloved Son, Jesus Christ. It was this glorious New Testament truth that seems to have eluded Ethan the Ezrahite, as he peered into the future from the odious predicament of his day and his limited Old Testament perspective.

 

Psalm 89:1 — Since the mercies of God are many and the faithfulness of God is unfailing and forever, we should see ourselves as eternal songsters of God’s mercies and as choirmasters of the choruses of future generations, who will, like us, sing of God’s faithfulness.

 

Whereas our flesh sings only now and then, depending on our circumstances, our faith is an eternal songster, despite our circumstances. 

 

Psalm 89:2 — We do well to remember, especially in times of trouble, that God’s mercy and faithfulness are built of perennial materials in Heaven, not perishable materials on earth.

 

Regardless of what is shaking on earth, we can always be sure that the foundations of God’s mercy and faithfulness are unshaken in Heaven.

 

Psalm 89:3-4 — God’s unbreakable promise to David, in God’s irrevocable covenant with David, that David’s seed—Jesus Christ—will forever reign on David’s throne over God's people, should serve as a firm foundation for our faith, just as it did for the faith of Ezra the Ezrahite. 

 

That God the Father is summing up everything in God the Son, Jesus Christ, who is also the Son of David, so that He can put everything under the sovereignty of Christ, as He reigns forever on David’s throne, not only guarantees God all the glory for it all forever and ever, but also serves as the ultimate fulfillment and finale of our faith; namely, our eternal glorification! (Ephesians 1:9-10, 20-23; Matthew 1:1; Luke 1:32; 1 Corinthians 15:28; Romans 8:18-30)

 

Psalm 89:5 — With the redemption of the bodies of the saints, at the return of Christ to reign on David’s throne, all creation will be redeemed as well, resulting in the heavens and the earth erupting in praise. (Romans 8:19-23; Revelation 5:13)

 

That the heavens wonder over the wonders of God, especially over our wondrous salvation in Christ, is proven by the fact that even the angels of God long to look into it. (1 Peter 1:12)

 

Psalm 89:6 — Being God alone and God indeed, our one and only true God is alone peerless and praiseworthy!

 

According to the book of Revelation, the glory of a single angel can be as bright as the sun and illuminate the whole earth; yet, Christ holds the angels in the palm of His right hand. How then can even the mightiest of the angels be compared to Christ? (Revelation 1:16, 20; 10:1; 18:1)

 

Psalm 89:7 — If angels veil their faces in reverential awe of God, how much more should men bow before Him in reverential fear? Truly, irreverence toward God is insurrection against God.

 

The contemporary church is filled with frolicking rather than the fear of the Lord, with rock and roll rather than reverence. And we wonder why the Spirit is no more manifest in our churches than at the cinema.

 

Psalm 89:8-10 — God’s strength is proven incomparable by creation and His control over it, such as His calming of the raging sea; and God’s faithfulness is proven to always gird Him by His conquest of His enemies, such as His crushing of Rahab (Egypt). 

 

In Christ calming of the stormy sea and in Pharaoh’s conquest at the Red Sea, God’s unparalleled power and unfailing faithfulness were unmistakably manifested.

 

Psalm 89:11 — Since everything was made by God, everything belongs to God.

 

Since the heavens and the earth, as well as all that is within them, are Divine products, they are also Divine possessions. 

 

Psalm 89:12 — Opposite poles, the north and the south, as well as the east (Hermon) and the west (Tabor), were not only produced by God, but are also possessions of God that existence for the praise of God.

 

No matter where you go or in what direction you go, the wonders of creation should always cause you to worship the Creator.

 

Psalm 89:13 — For us to have the mighty arm of God to lean upon and the strong hand of God to take hold of is heartening, but to have God’s right hand lifted high to strike us is horrifying. 

 

Christ is not only God’s right hand in salvation, but also God’s right hand in condemnation, to whom God has committed all judgment. (Hebrews 1:3, 12:2; 1 Peter 3:22; Acts 7:55-56; John 5:22-27)

 

Psalm 89:14 — Though God is a merciful God, His justice demands judgment, for you can’t have true justice without just judgment. 

 

God the Father’s judgment of Christ His Son on the cross of Calvary for all the sin of the world is what enables Him to be merciful to sinners, without compromising in the least His truth or His justice. 

 

Psalm 89:15 — Blessed (happy) are the people who know, not just hear, the joyful sound of the Gospel, for they walk continuously in the light of God’s countenance.

 

We have heard the joyful sound:

Jesus saves! Jesus saves!

Spread the tidings all around:

Jesus saves! Jesus saves!

Bear the news to every land,

Climb the steeps and cross the waves;

Onward!—’tis our Lord’s command;

Jesus saves! Jesus saves! (Priscilla Jane Owen’s)

 

Psalm 89:16a — To rejoice all day long in the name of the Lord is to daily live your life doing everything you do in the Lord’s name. (Colossians 3:17)

 

It is only by rejoicing always in the Lord that you can rejoice always in your life. (Philippians 4:4)

 

Psalm 89:16b — It is by the righteousness of Christ, not by our own righteousness, that we’ve been raised up and seated with Christ in heavenly places. (Ephesians 2:4-6)

 

Until we are convicted over the nasty rags of our own righteousness, we will never be convinced of our need to be clothed in the perfect robe of Christ’s righteousness, which alone is fitting attire for heavenly places. (Isaiah 61:10; 64:6; Ephesians 2:4-6)

 

Psalm 89:17 — The people of God, who are favored and strengthened by God, glory in God, knowing that it is God alone who makes them strong.

 

If your horn is exalted by God, you should give all the honor to God, never to yourself.

 

Psalm 89:18 — If we’re under the dominion of God we’ll also be defended by God. However, if we refuse to submit to God we needn’t expect God to shield and safeguard us.

 

Many who demand God to be their Savior, deny and disobey Him  as their Sovereign.

 

Psalm 89:19-20 — King David was exalted and chosen from among God’s people to be God’s anointed servant, which made him an Old Testament type of Christ, the promised heir to David’s throne, who is destined to reign forever over God’s unbounded and unending kingdom. (Isaiah 9:6-7)

 

In David’s extraction, election, and exaltation he is the eminent type of Christ, who is the ultimate chosen, anointed, and exalted One of God. 

 

Psalm 89:21 — Like David, during his reign over Israel, Jesus, the Son of David, during His earthly sojourn, was sustained by the hand of God and strengthen by the arm of God.

 

Our redemption in Christ was wrought by the hand of God and Christ, who has now been given all power, is now seated at God’s right hand as His right arm. 

 

Psalm 89:22 — Having been established and exalted by God, David could not be exacted upon by his enemies.

 

Like David, our Lord has been exalted never to be exacted upon again. Never again will He be betrayed by a Judas Iscariot, unjustly condemned by a Sanhedrin, sentenced to the cross by a Pontius Pilate, nailed to a tree by a Roman Centurion, or mocked by a mob on Golgotha. 

 

Psalm 89:23 — David’s foes fell by the tens of thousands before his face and those who hated him were plagued, like the barren Michal, David’s own wife. (2 Samuel 18:6-7; 2 Samuel 6:16, 23)

 

As the book of Revelation forewarns us, our Christ-hating world will be plagued by God and flee before Christ’s face at His Second Coming. (Revelation 15:1; 20:11)

 

Psalm 89:24-25 — In faithfulness to His promise, God not only mercifully exalted His king, David, but also expanded David’s kingdom.

 

God will fully, faithfully, and finally fulfill His promise to David, when God ultimately exalts the Son of David, Jesus Christ, expands His kingdom the whole world over, and extends divine mercy to the ends of the earth.  

 

Psalm 89:26-27 — Although David was a prototype of Christ, the Son of David, Christ Himself, is the preeminent Firstborn of the Father, who the Father has exalted above all the kings of the earth.

 

Like our Lord, we too should be filial in our cries to our Heavenly Father, for though God has only one sinless Son, He has no prayerless ones.

 

Psalm 89:28-29 — God’s covenant with David will be forever fulfilled in Christ, whose  throne will be eternally established and whose seed will mercifully endure forever. 

 

The Davidic Covenant was not dependent upon David’s many successors keeping its provisions, but only upon God keeping His promise to finally fulfill it in Christ, David’s final successor and God’s firstborn Son.

 

Psalm 89:30-33 — God’s faithfulness to fulfill His covenant with David is not disannulled by the disobedience of David’s descendants or of Christ’s disciples.

 

Whereas God chastens His children for their disobedience, He does not condemn them or cancel His covenant with them.

 

Psalm 89:34-35 ⏤ God will not break His covenant nor go back on His Word. Since God can neither lie nor fail to fulfill His promises, God’s assurances are always unalterable and His vows irrevocable. (Numbers 23:19; Titus 1:2)

 

Regardless of whether we are faithful or unfaithful, God remains forever faithful. 

 

Psalm 89:36-37 — Christ shall reign forever on the throne of David as a testimony to the truthfulness and faithfulness of God.

 

Forever seated on David’s throne and forever shining as the sun, Christ, like the steadfast moon, shall forever show the solidity of God’s promises. 

 

Psalm 89:38-45 — Ethan erroneously concluded, from the catastrophic conditions of his day, that God had broken both His covenant with David and His promise to David. 

 

Unfortunately, we often lose faith in God when our present conditions and personal experiences appear to contradict both God’s irrevocable covenants and immutable promises.

 

Psalm 89:46-48 — Ethan the psalmist pleads here for an end to the longevity and severity of God’s lividity on the basis of life’s brevity and death’s certainty.

 

When under the chastisement of God, the children of God should cry out to God that His face be not long hidden from us, lest our fleeting lives be fretted away futilely.

 

Psalm 89:49 — It is a grand prayer to not only remind God in His displeasure with us that we are still recipients of His grace, but also that we are still relying on the truthfulness of His promises to us.

 

Even when God raps our knuckles over our trespasses we can still hold on white-knuckled to the truthfulness of God’s promises 

 

Psalm 89:50-51 — To reproach a single child of God is to reproach all the children of God, as well as God’s anointed and God Himself.

 

To persecute a Christian is to also persecute the church of Christ and Christ Himself. (Acts 9:1-5)

 

Psalm 89:52 — Ethan ends his psalm and prayer the same way he began it, blessing and praising God.

 

Psalm 91 — This psalm is one of the Book of Psalms untitled psalms. Being untitled, its author is anonymous. There is, however, a theory among Jewish scholars that an untitled psalm should be attributed to the last-named author. If this is so, then, Psalm 91 should be attributed to Moses, since he is the named author of the preceding psalm, Psalm 90.

 

Some evidence for the Mosaic authorship of Psalm 91 may be found in the similarity between expressions found in it and others used by Moses in the Book of Deuteronomy. If Moses is the inspired writer of this psalm, his contemporaries Caleb and Joshua, whom God promised would outlive their generation and enter into the Promised Land (Numbers 14:29-30), are excellent examples to us of how we may live fearlessly as this psalm prescribes. Although Caleb and Joshua lived among the dying and the graves of the dead, they were secure in God’s presence and shielded by His promises from the fear of death. Here, is the great comforting truth of this incredible psalm.

 

If we dare against all odds to believe and obey God, as Caleb and Joshua did, we may be assured of our invincibility. Now, this is not to say that we will not eventually go the way of all of the earth (1 Kings 2:2). If Jesus tarries, we will all meet our final appointment with death (Hebrews 9:27). However, it is to say that until the time of our divinely set appointment with death arrives, we need fear nothing imperiling our lives. As William Shakespeare pointedly put it: “A coward dies a thousand deaths, the brave man dies but once.”

 

READ OUR DEVOTIONS ON PSALM 91

 

Psalm 91:1a — God promises His perpetual protection to those who “dwell,” not dawdle or drop in and out of the secret place of His presence. In other words, God’s perpetual protection is promised to those who live their lives in around-the-clock communion with God.

 

It is only God’s interminable intimates who are invulnerable to intimidation in times of terrifying tribulation. Therefore, the closer you are to God and the more constant your communion with Him, the calmer you’ll be in every crisis.

 

A secret place, as Scripture teaches us, is a safe place, where one seeks shelter from his enemy (1 Samuel 19:2). When it comes to “the secret place of the Most High,” we’re not just talking about a safe place, but also a most sacred place, where we are not only sheltered by God’s hand, but given solid footing and glimpses of God’s glory (Exodus 33:21-22).

 

READ OUR DEVOTIONS ON PSALM 91

 

Psalm 91:1b — To abide under the shadow of the Almighty, one must be persistently preempted by God and perpetually in the presence of God. It is only by seeking God’s glory, not our own, and God’s face, not His favors, that we can abide under the safe shelter of the Almighty.

 

It is only those who continuously seek God’s glory, never their own, and God’s face, not His favors, who are promised God’s guardianship before life’s fearsome giants and in the midst of its stormy gales.

 

READ OUR DEVOTIONS ON PSALM 91

 

Psalm 91:2 — The most important word in Psalm 91 is the little word "my." It’s one thing to say, “The Lord is a refuge.” It’s another thing altogether to say, “The Lord is my refuge” in whom “I trust.” The former is an acknowledgment, the latter an appropriation.

 

It is only those who trust in God, relying upon Him as their refuge, who are assured of His sovereign safekeeping.

 

As it is with human fortresses, so it is with the divine fortress, only those who continuously dwell within it are assured of its perpetual protection. To leave the protective walls of a fortress is to expose oneself to external dangers. Likewise, to step outside of God’s will or the parameters of God’s Word, is to break your fellowship with God and to put yourself outside of His protection. We must therefore keep a constant vigil on our daily obedience to God so that we can assure ourselves of His daily protection of us. Of course, when we sin, we must immediately confess our sin (1 John 1:9). By doing so, we will immediately receive God’s forgiveness, be restored to our fellowship with Him, and find ourselves back safely inside His impregnable fortress.

 

READ OUR DEVOTIONS ON PSALM 91

 

Psalm 91:3 — To look to the Lord, our Great Physician, as well as our Guardian and Protector, is not just the best safeguard against fatal disease, but also the surest way to sidestep the fowler's subtle snares.

 

The fowler the Psalmist warns us about in the Old Testament is identified by the Apostle Paul in the New Testament (1 Timothy 3:7). It is the devil who seeks to craftily ensnare us in order to cunningly employ us in the execution of his will (2 Timothy 2:26).

 

READ OUR DEVOTIONS ON PSALM 91

  

Psalm 91:4 — As chicks covered with their mother's protective pinions fear neither hawks in the sky nor serpents on the ground, God's children need feel no alarm beneath the sheltering wings of the Almighty, for neither danger nor devil would dare to get at us there.

 

Are you shielding yourself from the truth or being shielded by it, by proving yourself to be both a pupil and practitioner of God’s Word?

 

UNDER HIS WINGS

 

“Under His wings, I am safely abiding,
Though the night deepens and tempests are wild;
Still I can trust Him—I know He will keep me,
He has redeemed me and I am His child.

 

Under His wings, what a refuge in sorrow!
How the heart yearningly turns to His rest!
Often when earth has no balm for my healing,
There I find comfort and there I am blest!

 

Under His wings, O what precious enjoyment!
There will I hide 'til life's trials are o'er;
Sheltered, protected, no evil can harm me,
Resting in Jesus I'm safe evermore.

 

Under His wings, under His wings,
Who from His love can sever?
Under His wings my soul shall abide,
Safely abide forever.”

 

READ OUR DEVOTIONS ON PSALM 91

 

Psalm 91:5 — The fear of nightly “terror” or trepidations and daily “arrows” or anxieties, either real or imagined, evaporate in the face of a real faith in God.

 

“Feed your faith and your fears will starve to death.” (Anonymous)

 

READ OUR DEVOTIONS ON PSALM 91 

 

Psalm 91:6 — Nothing can scare us if our security is found in our Savior’s sheltering arms rather than in the sterility of our environment or the clear skies of an unclouded day.

 

It is said that a German physician prescribed Psalm 91 as the best medicine in times of plague and pestilence. It is, after all, as this psalm prescribes, a divinely inspired vaccine that can inoculate us from fear and fear’s manifold maladies. A spoonful of this precious psalm’s promises of God’s presence and protection produces an inexplicable internal tranquility, even in the midst of the most threatening external calamities.

 

READ OUR DEVOTIONS ON PSALM 91

 

Psalm 91:7 — The children of God may have a thousand and one threats so near them as to be at their side, but still be so far out of each threat’s reach that not a single one can touch them.

 

Whereas an arrow shot at a venture by an aimless, nameless bowman can be guided by God to deliver the fatal blow of divine retribution to a wicked king (see 1 Kings 22:34), a hail of deadly arrows carefully aimed at God’s faithful children can be divinely reflected so as to miss their target and leave their intended unscathed.

 

Our God His chosen people saves

Amongst the dead, amidst the graves.

 

READ OUR DEVOTIONS ON PSALM 91

 

Psalm 91:8 — While the promise of seeing God’s judgement upon the wicked is an unnerving proposition, it is also a necessary one, for it is only in view of God’s judgment that we can truly appreciate the depths of His mercy.

 

It is God’s refusal to jeopardize His justice by letting a single sin of one unrepentant sinner slip by unpunished that shows us how eternally indebted we are to Christ, for making our pardon from sin possible by suffering in our place upon the cross the full penalty for our every single sin.

 

READ OUR DEVOTIONS ON PSALM 91

 

Psalm 91:9-10 — It makes no difference if we live in a lean-to or a fortress, it is only by “making the Most High our habitation” that we can protect ourselves from life’s perils and plagues.

 

It’s really not great faith, but a great God that shields us from all evil. A great faith claims no merit of its own, knowing that its strength is found in its object, not in its amount. With only a little faith in the right object—the Lord Jesus Christ—you can move mountains (Matthew 17:20), but misplaced faith, regardless of its quantity, is completely powerless and impotent. It can’t move a thing!

 

READ OUR DEVOTIONS ON PSALM 91

 

Psalm 91:10 — Since a sovereign God will not allow anything in the lives of His saints that He does not intend for their good, any apparent evil which befalls us on earth should be beheld by us from a heavenly perspective as something ultimately meant for our good. (Romans 8:28)

 

“There is no circumstance, no trouble, no testing, that can ever touch me until, first of all, it has gone past God, right through to me. If it has come that far, it has come with a great purpose, which I may not understand at the moment. But I refuse to become panicky, as I lift up my eyes to Him and accept it as coming from the throne of God for some great purpose of blessing to my own heart.” (Alan Redpath)

 

READ OUR DEVOTIONS ON PSALM 91

 

Psalm 91:11-12 — It is not a guardian angel, as most Christians fondly imagine, but all of God’s angels that are given charge over God’s children to guard them from all harm.

 

Angelic care of God's children is comprehensive in that it involves the whole of the heavenly host, as well as covers the whole of our earthly lives. Nothing, not even stumping our toe, is too small to slip through the surveillance of angelic safekeeping.

 

READ OUR DEVOTIONS ON PSALM 91

 

Psalm 91:13 — The lion threatens out loud with his intimidating roar and the adder or serpent subtly lurks in silence waiting for the opportune time to strike. While both are menacing, Satan, their spiritual counterpart, is far more sinister. (1 Peter 5:8; Revelation 12:9; 20:2)

 

Those who walk in communion with God can tread upon and trample under their feet the lion and the adder; that is, they can live unintimidated by the devil’s roaring threats and undaunted by the old serpent’s hissing at their heels.

 

READ OUR DEVOTIONS ON PSALM 91

 

Psalm 91:14 — God delivers those who love Him from their lowest point and lifts them up to the highest peak.

 

To know God, life’s supreme aspiration, is to ascend life’s utmost height. 

 

READ OUR DEVOTIONS ON PSALM 91

 

Psalm 91:15a — Those who know and love God are not promised to have no need of prayer, but to have all of their prayers answered.

 

We must remember that an answer to prayer is not always an acquiescence—God granting us what we have requested—sometimes it is a refutation of our request and a revelation of God’s preferable and perfect will. 

 

READ OUR DEVOTIONS ON PSALM 91

 

Psalm 91:15b — Those who love and know God are not promised life without trouble, but nary a trouble without God. 

 

Those who know and love God are not promised a trouble-free life, but deliverance from life's troubles. 

 

Those who honor God will be honored by God.

 

READ OUR DEVOTIONS ON PSALM 91 

 

Psalm 91:16 — God’s true intimates—those with the deepest affection for Him and a deeper acquaintance with Him—are promised a satisfying end to their lives in the here-and-now and the subsequent realization of their complete salvation in their endless lives in the hereafter!

 

To preach the promises of God without specifying to who they are made is like putting a letter into the mail without an address. The content may be excellent and any included remittance most valuable, but its intended is unknown and the parcel undeliverable. The remarkable promises of this remarkable psalm are clearly addressed to its intended recipients, who are clearly identified. They are those who wholeheartedly love God, intimately know God, and constantly call upon God. Are you one of the recipients of the remarkable promises of this remarkable psalm?

 

READ OUR DEVOTIONS ON PSALM 91