Psalm 62

Psalm 62:10

Do not trust in oppression
And do not vainly hope in robbery;
If riches increase, do not set your heart upon them.

This should be the verse of dictators and criminals.  Oppression can not keep people in line forever.  It may work for a time, perhaps even a long time.  However, the day will come when someone will challenge you.  No one stays on top forever.

Similarly, robbery can not make one rich enough.  You will always want more, if you are focused on possessions.  There will always be something else to get, something else to help you keep score.  If your heart is on money or things, you will crumble when they do.

Psalm 61

Psalm 61:8

So I will sing praise to Your name forever,
That I may pay my vows day by day.

What vows did David make?  It appears his praise is related to them.  Are they vows of praise, then?  A promise to praise God daily for all He has done?  Perhaps they are a promise to God that he remembers God's faithfulness every day.

Another possibility is that they are recompense for something.  Perhaps one of the times that God intervened, David took a vow to praise him daily.  If this is the case, was the vow made before or after His intervention?  God isn't one who bargains normally, so did David's vow matter to God in whether He intervened?

Psalm 60

Psalm 60:12

Through God we shall do valiantly,
And it is He who will tread down our adversaries.

The word in this verse that caught my attention is "through."  God will probably not act in a vacuum.  He is perfectly capable of doing whatever He wants, of course.  However, when He is going to act in the earth, He is most likely to do so through someone.

However, at the same time, those who are used by God should not look at themselves as somehow better.  Pride can impede God's ability to use someone.  God may work through someone, but that doesn't mean he's the only one He can work through in a situation.  God could choose someone else.  We must never forget that we are an instrument for God, not the instrument.

Psalm 59

Psalm 59:11

Do not slay them, or my people will forget;
Scatter them by Your power, and bring them down,
O Lord, our shield.

Many people, myself probably among them, have a simple solution for dealing with those we think are evil:  kill them all and let God sort them out.  I once saw a picture of a billboard for either the Army or Marines, that said "It's God's job to judge.  It's our job to arrange the meeting."  This goes with my mostly-black-and-white view of the world fairly well.

However, here David isn't asking for that.  He feels that if they die, the people will forget.  And that does make sense.  Bin Laden and Saddam Hussein are already becoming memories and textbook notes.  Instead, he wants them brought low, where people who see them will remember how far they have fallen, and hopefully take warning.

Psalm 58

Psalm 58:3

The wicked are estranged from the womb;
These who speak lies go astray from birth.

Since man is fallen, all have sinned.  We all have gone astray.  We have all spoken lies.  Therefore, we are all estranged from God.  But at what point does this happen?  Are we separated from Him at birth?  Or are merely some, those God knows will not accept Him?

There is a belief among many Christians that children below a certain age are not sinful.  It is said that below this age, if they die, God will accept them.  I can't recall the Biblical basis for his belief.  Honestly, I've always been skeptical of that belief.  I think it's a nice thing to believe, but I'm not certain it's true, and the root of my skepticism is things like this verse, where people are deemed to be sinful from before they're even born.  I realize this is poetry, but the underlying theme comes up elsewhere.

Psalm 57

Psalm 57:5

Be exalted above the heavens, O God;
Let Your glory be above all the earth.

This exact phrase is repeated in the Psalm.  That gives it significance.  Obviously, what was said here is important to David.  He uses it as a chorus, in a sense, for the song.

So, why do we need to proclaim that God be exalted?  I think it's because we need to put things in proper perspective.  Many, even today, think the cosmos are the most amazing thing, and can explain everything if we study them enough.  However, they can't explain God.  He created the heavens and the earth, and therefore is automatically superior to them.  Therefore, His glory is also superior to creation, since without Him there would be no creation.  This is something that we need to keep in mind, to have a small inkling of what is truly important.

Psalm 56

Psalm 56:4

In God, whose word I praise,
In God I have put my trust;
I shall not be afraid.
What can mere man do to me?

David praises God's word, as he well should.  He knows what God has said, and the promises God has made for those who obey Him.  He praises God for those promises, and for providing the opportunity to reach those goals.  Therefore, he is not afraid of anything.

He asks what man can do.  Man could kill him, but that would merely allow him to see God all the sooner.  Man could cause pain and suffering, but compared to eternity any pain would be so short as to be unnoticed, and possibly garner him greater reward from God.  So what can man do that should cause David to fear them, when he has God on his side?

Psalm 55

Psalm 55:13

But it is you, a man my equal,
My companion and my familiar friend;

Who is David referring to here?  It seems, from the surrounding verses, that it is someone who has either criticized David, or outright betrayed him.  There's not much detail given, besides that he is an equal, and they have been in the Tabernacle together.

So, who could this mysterious person be?  There are two possibilities that come to mind for me.  First, it might be Absalom, his son who rebelled against him.  As his son, and a potential heir, he could be considered to be David's equal.  The other option I can think of is Joab, who disobeyed several of David's commands.  I don't know if either of these is actually who's being thought of, but they're the only candidates that come to mind.

Psalm 54

Psalm 54:4

Behold, God is my helper;
The Lord is the sustainer of my soul.

What does it mean to be a sustainer?  The dictionary says the word means to support or strengthen.  I guess that ties in with helper.  But is God a helper?  When I think of the term helper, I think of a someone of a "lower" status, like a servant or an apprentice.  I tend to be a helper on construction projects; I hand someone the tools, or hold something while it's worked on.  But God can't be that kind of helper, for He is not below us in any way.

Instead, He is more like a doctor.  He is one who improves people, makes them better.  He keeps the soul alive, and heals it.  He patches up its wounds, covers up the bruises, dulls the pain of the hurts.  He gives us the strength to keep going, until He is finished with us.  Until that day comes for each of us, we are to trust that He will hold us together, especially when we can't hold ourselves.

Psalm 53

Psalm 53:6

Oh, that the salvation of Israel would come out of Zion!
When God restores His captive people,
Let Jacob rejoice, let Israel be glad.

I wonder which salvation is being talked about here?  This was written by David, so it can't be just a normal, physical salvation.  There were no occupying forces in Israel at the time.  So, what is in/on Zion that David is looking for?

Is he speaking to future peoples and times, when they would be enslaved?  Or is he speaking of the spiritual, and the salvation of people's souls by Jesus?  If so, why does he only refer to Israel, rather than all peoples?  Does he too have an incomplete view of who Jesus would come to save?

Psalm 52

Psalm 52:9

I will give You thanks forever, because You have done it,
And I will wait on Your name, for it is good, in the presence of Your godly ones.

God deserves our thanks, because He gives us everything.  Whatever He does for others, He has given us what is ours, and we should be grateful to Him just for that.  He will supply our needs, not our wants.  And if our need is to go home to Him, He will supply that, as well.

But until that day, we are to be with Him here.  We are to wait on His direction, and do what He tells us.  We do this because He does know what will happen, and He knows how He wants to use us best.  He has the vision that we do not, and the only way we can know what we should be doing is to stay close to Him and others He commands.

Psalm 51

Psalm 51:17

The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit;
A broken and a contrite heart, O God, You will not despise.

First and foremost, God looks at the heart.  If the heart is not right, nothing else matters.  It's easy to fall into the position of being proud at your faithfulness.  I've been there too often.  I'm a very "do-good" type of person.  I'm at church often; if there's a service or a group I'm involved in, they can depend on me to show up.

Then I see friends whose attendance if iffy, or will get up and wander around in sight of everyone, and it really bugs me that they're being so disrespectful to God.  But the issue is probably in my heart, at judging theirs.  If I'm willing to put my personal feeling aside and simply be available for God, to do as He wishes though them and me, I think things would go better.

Psalm 50

Psalm 50:12

"If I were hungry I would not tell you,
For the world is Mine, and all it contains.

This is a continuation of the previous verses, where God is making it clear, through Asaph, that He does not need anything from man.  Most gods of the time required man for their continuation.  They needed food, or human sacrifices, or worship, in order to keep existing.  Without that continued giving up to the god, it would die.  Not much of a god, then, if it required man to keep it going.

However, God doesn't need us.  We need Him, instead.  He doesn't eat, or thirst, or need.  Everything is His.  He merely lets us use it, should He see fit.  Also, He does not have any needs.  He doesn't eat, or drink.  That would imply that He could be deprived, and He can't.  He does not need something He created to continue; He has always existed, and always will.

Psalm 49

Psalm 49:10

For he sees that even wise men die;
The stupid and the senseless alike perish
And leave their wealth to others.

This brings back the old saw, "you can't take it with you."  A man's wealth will do him no good when he dies.  At the best, he'll be remembered for how he spent it, or designated it to be spent.  But that will help (or hurt) others, not himself.  For him, material possessions are a thing of the past.

So, why should we care about gaining wealth?  Why shouldn't we all live on the bare minimum, and give away the rest?  I see it as a management issue.  We can all do good with the money we do have, but you have to have money to get more money.  You have to invest wisely, to grow what you have, so it can do more.  You shouldn't hoard like mad; always be giving some.  But you should be working to increase what you do have, so that you can give more later.

Psalm 48

Psalm 48:3

God, in her palaces,
Has made Himself known as a stronghold.

This verse was chosen simply because it made me do a double-take.  "Her palaces?"  Whatasec...did God suddenly become female?  But then it's back to "Himself."  Is He now androgynous?  Or changing?  I thought for sure this was a typo, or something.

Then I double-checked the context.  The "her" isn't referring to God.  It's referring to Jerusalem.  The entire chapter is about how wonderful Jerusalem is, and how God has made it a city of marvel.  God has made the city great, and they refer to the city as "her" for some reason (no clue why).  Makes sense now, but had me very confused for a minute.

Psalm 47

Psalm 47:7

For God is the King of all the earth;
Sing praises with a skillful psalm.

I find it interesting that the command here is to sing with a skillful psalm.  It's not a joyful psalm.  It's not a loud psalm, or a heartfelt psalm.  It's a skillful psalm.  This suggests that skill really does matter to God.  Doing something because you want to, or because you think you should, isn't enough.  In fact, it might be detrimental.

There are times when "Christian pop" really irritates me.  A song doesn't just need a catchy tune, and use words that don't really say anything significant.  There has to be a true skill to what is written and performed.  This is a reason I go to a church that doesn't just go through the "Christian top 10" for its worship.  A song has to mean something, or it's not real praise, just exhibition.

Psalm 46

Psalm 46:9

He makes wars to cease to the end of the earth;
He breaks the bow and cuts the spear in two;
He burns the chariots with fire.

There will come a day, where God puts and end to our conflicts.  He will come in, and simply put an end to it.  He will destroy every gun, every tank, every fighter jet, every attack helicopter.  He will blunt knives, disarm grenades, disconnect mines, and stall trucks.

He may do all this simply by making them fail to work.  He might physically destroy them.  He may just come in, and be so overwhelming to us that no one dares touch a weapon.  I remember a scene in Star Trek, where an alien force made all warships' controls too hot to handle as they approached a battle; maybe he'll do something like that.  We don't know how, but on that day, our fights will end, forever.

Psalm 45

Psalm 45:6

Your throne, O God, is forever and ever;
A scepter of uprightness is the scepter of Your kingdom.

God has a kingdom.  Part of that kingdom we can see, because we live in it.  The entire universe is part of His kingdom, and while our bit of it is not quite going as He would have liked, He still has control over it all.  Also, He rules over all that which is not physical, what we would consider Heaven and Hell, or the spiritual realm.  While He has permitted Satan to rule Hell, He still has ultimate control, and will destroy it some day, as well.

I'm not quite sure what the scepter part here is about.  My only guess would be that a king's scepter signified his rule.  Maybe it was something benevolent, or relatively unthreatening.  Maybe it was richly ornate, showing his wealth.  Or maybe it was fierce and intimidating, showing his strength.  But God's is upright, showing His purity and how He is the source of all good and true.

Psalm 44

Psalm 44:21

Would not God find this out?
For He knows the secrets of the heart.

There is someone who knows what you did last summer.  And last year, and last decade, and when you were three years old.  In fact, he knows what you'll do next summer, too.  Nothing can be hidden from God, no matter how hard we try, and how well we hide it from man.  Every secret thought is known to Him.

So why do we keep trying?  Why do we think there are things that don't matter to Him?  Why do we think there are things we can't talk to Him about?  He knows them all anyway.  The only person we're hiding from when we refuse to confess our sins to God is ourselves, for we rob ourselves of His forgiving us.  As believers in Christ, the sins won't count against us in the end, but how much will they damage our walk before then?

Psalm 43

Psalm 43:3

O send out Your light and Your truth, let them lead me;
Let them bring me to Your holy hill
And to Your dwelling places.

How often do we ask God for His guidance?  How often do we want to know what His plan is, and where we fit into it?  How often do we want to have that experience of open-hearted worship, where there is nothing separating us from Him?

Sorry, but the author isn't really looking for that.  He's in trouble, and is seeking God for the peace that He can bring.  He wants to go to God's place because he knows he'll be safe there.  He's wanting a guide to flee from persecution, to the place where everything will be all right.

Psalm 42

Psalm 42:2

My soul thirsts for God, for the living God;
When shall I come and appear before God?

I know the first verse of this Psalm from a song we sang all the time while I was growing up.  I always took it as a Psalm of praise, of longing to worship before God.  However, reading it now, I think I had the wrong idea.

This is a Psalm for a time of oppression.  This is someone who isn't looking so much to worship before God, but to either be rescued from his affliction, or to be relieved of his life.  He is hurting and being ridiculed, because God is not there.  He wants God to change his circumstances, or else to die and be relieved of the burdens of his life.

Psalm 41

Psalm 41:1

How blessed is he who considers the helpless;
The LORD will deliver him in a day of trouble.

I'll admit, I'm not one whose heart goes out to the helpless.  I think a lot of that is because I can't tell, most of the time, who is truly helpless, and who is lazy.  There are people who I help in small, who I know could be doing better, but are just too lazy to put in the effort.  This I consider the height of sloth.  I realize that I am not the world's most driven person.  However, I get my work done, and I'll do what is necessary to keep my commitments, if at all possible.  I'm a firm believer in that verse in Thessalonians that if someone will not work, they shouldn't eat.

However, I do understand that there are some who are not able to provide, those who truly are helpless.  I feel sorry for these people, but am uncomfortable around them as well.  I'm not a people person, and just don't know how to relate to them.  I can financially support those who do tend to them, but am never certain whether they're being duped by another con man.  I know there are those caught in sexual slavery, but don't really know how to help, given I'm in one of the worst demographics to directly assist (single white adult male).  I'm not good with kids, and don't have a clue how to assist them to make something better of their lives.  However, this verse reminds me that I need to look for more ways to do so anyhow.

Psalm 40

Psalm 40:5

Many, O LORD my God, are the wonders which You have done,
And Your thoughts toward us;
There is none to compare with You.
If I would declare and speak of them,
They would be too numerous to count.

God created the entire universe, out of nothing.  That in itself is a miraculous occurrence.  He also created the physical laws that control how the universe works, which are so delicately balanced that if one of them were a percent different, we could not exist in our present form.  Then He shaped the universe, just so we could be here, and see it.

He created every star, every planet, every moon.  Every nebula, every pulsar, every black hole, every galaxy was made for us to observe and see His greatness.  He made it all from a single thought.  No one else could possibly have done anything even remotely close to it, because no one else existed to make it all.