Psalm 78

Psalm 78:4

We will not conceal them from their children,
But tell to the generation to come the praises of the LORD,
And His strength and His wondrous works that He has done.

Teaching children about God is very important.  As a kid, you're captivated by all the amazing things that God did, all the miracles and stuff your little mind can't wrap itself around.  It makes believing in God as a kid fairly easy.

However, I've become concerned about this focus on children for a couple reasons.  First, I wonder if we're putting too much emphasis on the miracles, and not enough on the relationship.  I fear we're setting these kids up to expect God to do miracles in their lives, and they'll become disillusioned when that doesn't happen.  Second, I worry that in the focus on kids, we're leaving the non-believing adults behind.  Kids are easy pickings, the statistics say; they are much more likely to come to faith at that age.  But are we as a result giving up on those cynical adults?

Psalm 77

Psalm 77:11

I shall remember the deeds of the LORD;
Surely I will remember Your wonders of old.

I've read/studied the Bible for my entire life, essentially.  I don't think it would be incorrect to say that I probably have better knowledge of the Bible than the average Christian.  I've been learning about all of God's miracles and blessings for us as far back as my memory goes.

And yet, with all that, I still can easily fall in to the trap of "and what have you done for me lately?"  I know all He has done, but still feel much of the time like He's ignoring me now.  I feel I deserve for Him to do something amazing for me now, to prove He cares, when I really know better.

Psalm 76

Psalm 76:10

For the wrath of man shall praise You;
With a remnant of wrath You will gird Yourself.

I'll admit, I'm confused.  How does the wrath of man praise God?  Wrath is generally considered a bad thing.  Man's wrath is usually misdirected, and causes pain and grief.  God's wrath is pure and proper, ours rarely is.  So how would wrath be praise to God?

Also, why would God gird himself with our wrath?  Why use our wrath as a belt?  He definitely doesn't need it.  And again, most of the time our wrath is sin, so why would He use sin to gird himself?  Is that what the remnant of wrath is, the little wrath that is proper?  This one, I have no clue on.

Psalm 75

Psalm 75:6

For not from the east, nor from the west,
Nor from the desert comes exaltation;

You can't play to a crowd for true judgment.  Some think that if they just make the right people happy, they get praised.  But true praise doesn't come from Babylon, or Egypt, or Edom.  It comes from God alone, and only He can exalt someone.

Today, we might say that praise doesn't come form Washington politicians, or San Francisco activists.  It doesn't come from foreign governments, or even from our bosses and co-workers.  It can only come from God, because all other exaltation is fleeting and miniscule, compared to what He can do when we follow Him.

Psalm 74

Psalm 74:9

We do not see our signs;
There is no longer any prophet,
Nor is there any among us who knows how long.

The Israelites were given many signs from God, which represented his promises to them.  When God was going to do something miraculous later, He would sometimes give them a specific sign beforehand, so they would know His promise was coming.

However, at this point those signs seem to have vanished.  God has not provided notification of His coming intervention.  He hasn't sent a prophet to speak His word or portend anything coming.  Therefore, the people claim they don't have any guidance, no idea how long until they are saved from their current plight (whatever it was).  It sounds like they were running out of patience, or hope.

Psalm 73

Psalm 73:2

But as for me, my feet came close to stumbling,
My steps had almost slipped.

I feel this way quite a bit.  In fact, I probably feel worse; it seems a lot of times like I didn't come close, I actually did slip and stumble.  The wording makes me think of Pilgrim's Progress, and how often the path was left.

I often feel like, for me to still even know where the path is, it must somehow be glued to my feet.  I mess up so often, how is it I'm still going in the right direction?  Only by God's grace have I not forgotten that the path is even there, or given up on finding it again.

Psalm 72

Psalm 72:15

So may he live, and may the gold of Sheba be given to him;
And let them pray for him continually;
Let them bless him all day long.

At first, I thought that this was another psalm praising God.  Then I realized that none of the "he"s are capitalized.  That's when I realized that this is Solomon, essentially praising himself.  I don't know when in his rule this was written, but it's either what he hopes will happen in the future (much of which does), or retelling of how he sees what did happen.

Either way, it's both arrogant, and somewhat vain.  Solomon is basically tooting his own horn.  He actually was, true, very wealthy and respected by other rulers.  But he also wasn't looked upon well by his own people.  He could be cruel and hard, but what king ever recounts their failings?

Psalm 71

Psalm 71:14

But as for me, I will hope continually,
And will praise You yet more and more.

This is what we, as believers, are called to do.  We are told to hope.  I'm currently working on teaching 1 Peter in my Sunday school class, and one of the predominant themes of 1 Peter is hope.  Without hope, we have no reason for faith.  And hope is something that can't run out.  There is always more to hope about, even as some things are determined.


We are also to praise.  In fact, I could argue that hope can be a type of praise.  Praise, like hope, never runs out.  It can always get bigger and larger.  As we progress through our Christian walk, as we become more like Jesus, we have even more reason to praise Him.

Psalm 70

Psalm 70:4

Let all who seek You rejoice and be glad in You;
And let those who love Your salvation say continually,
"Let God be magnified."

What would happen if Christians today took this verse to heart?  What if we all did rejoice and were glad, because of God?  What would that look like?  How would we live our lives differently?  Would the cares of everyday life get us down?  Or would they lose significance?

What would happen if we did constantly say, at least in our minds, "Let God be magnified"?  How would that change our disposition?  How much would what we think is important diminish?  How much more would we consider carefully every little thing we do, to check if it was glorifying of God?  How would that change how Christians are viewed?

Psalm 69

Psalm 69:6

May those who wait for You not be ashamed through me, O Lord GOD of hosts;
May those who seek You not be dishonored through me, O God of Israel.

It's interesting how timing works out.  I'm in the middle of studying/teaching on 1 Peter.  Right now, the passage I'm working on is about submission to authorities.  One of the repeating reasons that we're taught to submit is so that others, seeing our good works, will recognize the reason we do them and honor God.

Here, we see the other side of the coin.  If we fail, we cause damage to God's name.  People see us messing up, and can say that we're no different from non-believers.  If we're not any different, why should they follow Him?  If they're already followers, we can shake their faith with our misdeeds.

Psalm 68

Psalm 68:19

Blessed be the Lord, who daily bears our burden,
The God who is our salvation.  Selah.

Part of this is very easy to understand.  God is, of course, our salvation.  He is the only way we can ever hope to be made perfect, or even improved.  Without Him, we are doomed, and it is amazing that He has given us the opportunity to know Him through Jesus.  Think on that a moment.

However, we have trouble with the idea that God bears our burden.  First, I find it interesting that it's a plural linked to a singular.  It's not our burdens, or my burden, it's our burden.  We all have one burden together, and I don't know exactly what that's supposed to be.  I suppose it might be Israel's protection against its enemies, for which God definitely protected them.  But it might also be our sin, and what Christ would eventually take upon Himself.  I can't say I'm confident in my answer here, though.