Psalm 148

Psalm 148:6

He has also established them forever and ever;
He has made a decree which will not pass away.

He's just finished listing off all the things that should be praising God:  the heavens, angels, sun, moon, stars, etc.  Now he's saying they've been established forever, and that they will not pass away.  Is this real or poetical?

If it's real, then it means that somehow the universe will still exist, even after the New Jerusalem.  But that would mean that our interpretation of Revelation is wrong.  If it's poetical, then I have to wonder if he's putting words in God's mouth?  Or was that end occurrence just not something he could comprehend?

Psalm 147

Psalm 147:1

Praise the LORD!
For it is good to sing praises to our God;
For it is pleasant and praise is becoming.

This feels a little like a parent's answers to a small kid, who keeps asking "why?"  First come the command.  We are to praise God.  Why should we praise God?  Because it's a good thing to praise God.

Why is it good?  Two reasons.  First, because it's pleasant.  Who doesn't like to sing?  I know many people who are virtually tone deaf and still like to sing.  Second, because it's becoming.  We are the created, He is the Creator.  We are therefore supposed to give Him praise; that's the proper thing to do.

Psalm 146

Psalm 146:3

Do not trust in princes,
In mortal man, in whom there is no salvation.

How many of us do this?  I know I've put my trust in teachers, leaders, even preachers.  They all have shown me new facets of truth, which I'd previously not seen.  Sometimes they were life-changing.  Sometimes I later realized they were kind of ridiculous.

However, none of them had salvation.  They may have had new ways for me to look at salvation, but that didn't mean they were the source.  I think for a few of them, I tried to make them the source, until something changed.  But God never changes, and He is the true source of salvation.

Psalm 145

Psalm 145:18

The LORD is near to all who call upon Him,
To all who call upon Him in truth.

It's an interesting distinction here, between the two lines.  It's not just enough to call upon God.  You have to call upon Him in truth.  What does that phrase mean, "in truth?"  Is it that you truly have to be calling upon Him?  Or is it that you have to be calling upon Him truthfully, not just for show?  Or something else?

Whichever it is, the promise is a powerful one.  We (including me) often think of God as out there, somewhere.  He knows what's happening, but I'm not important enough for Him to bother with.  But this says that's a lie, that He does care, and He will be there with us when we need Him.

Psalm 144

Psalm 144:4

Man is like a mere breath;
His days are like a passing shadow.

This once again ties nicely into our lesson in Sunday School today.  We're still in Ecclesiastes, and today we were talking about what we should do.  The previous chapters have kind of pounded home the idea that, like in this verse, your life is relatively short, and you can't take anything from here with you.

So, what are you supposed to do?  The chapter we were looking at today essentially says you should do what's right, because what you do will be what's left behind.  The legacy you leave will be how you're remembered, and you should leave one that you can be proud of in eternity, as well as here on earth.

Psalm 143

Psalm 143:10

Teach me to do Your will,
For You are my God;
Let Your good Spirit lead me on level ground.

I think most true Christians want to do God's will.  This may well be the thing that separates those who say they believe, and maybe said some words once, from those who actually do believe, and trust in Christ.

Having said that, why do we need the Spirit to lead us on level ground?  Don't we need Him more when the ground is rough, and uneven, and you can't see where you're going?  Or is that really easier once we look past the distractions, and we need Him when everything is smooth, and without trouble, and we don't really have any markers to guide us in which way we should go?

Psalm 142

Psalm 142:5

I cried out to You, O LORD;
I said, "You are my refuge,
My portion in the land of the living.

David is in bad straights here.  He's hiding in a cave, with Saul hot on his tracks.  He fears for his life, and feels there is no one to assist.  However, he still proclaims that he trusts God, and considers Him the place of safety he's needing.

This takes the feel of being a plea to God.  He's not just proclaiming that God's his refuge, he's asking God to be his refuge.  He's turned to God, because he has nowhere else left to go.  This may not be rock bottom for David, but it's close, and he's pointed the right direction:  towards God.

Psalm 141

Psalm 141:4

Do not incline my heart to any evil thing,
To practice deeds of wickedness
With men who do iniquity;
And do not let me eat of their delicacies.

I spent most of the night lying awake, fighting with my own wicked thoughts.  It's the first time in years that I've had a struggle so bad, and I can't say that I fared as well in the end as I should have.  In some ways, it was the culmination of the issues I've been fighting all week.

I wish I had seen this verse yesterday.  Already before reading it today, I was starting to struggle in the same direction.  Now, while I can't say those struggles have gone away, they have diminished for the moment.  I hope to keep this verse in mind, to fight more.

Psalm 140

Psalm 140:4

Keep me, O LORD, from the hands of the wicked;
Preserve me from violent men
Who have purposed to trip up my feet.

Recently, I've felt that I've been under particular attack spiritually.  I'm not sure what brought about this attack, but it hit me in a place I'm particularly vulnerable.  It's as if some mental snares were set all around me, and I stepped right into them.

Now that I realize how big a mistake I made, and am trying to get back on the right path, prayer to God is particularly important.  I need to be not just asking, but begging for his protection and guidance, if I'm to avoid similar mistakes in the future.

Psalm 139

Psalm 139:24

And see if there be any hurtful way in me,
And lead me in the everlasting way.

Unfortunately, I easily know the answer to the first part of this.  There are definitely hurtful ways in me.  Being ADD, I know all too well what kind of thoughts go through my head, and what could happen if I acted upon them.

However, I also know that there is a better path, and that I do have a guide to walking upon that path.  Like in Pilgrim's Progress, all I really have to do is stick to that path and not deviate or stop, and I will be going toward that eternal home.  Now if only I would stick to the path properly...

Psalm 138

Psalm 138:8

The LORD will accomplish what concerns me;
Your lovingkindness, O LORD, is everlasting;
Do not forsake the works of Your hands.

I'll admit that I have trouble believing that God will accomplish what concerns me.  For the past several months, I've started having significant doubts about the path my church is going down, structurally.  Some information and events of the past couple weeks have brought those concerns back to mind, and I'm uncertain what to do.

However, I do have faith that God will work all things out according to His plan, and that I don't know the details of what that plan is.  For the moment, I need to have faith that He will guide the church in that plan, and look to what I should be doing to fulfill His plan for me.

Psalm 137

Psalm 137:4

How can we sing the LORD's song
In a foreign land?

It appears this psalm was written during the Diaspora, after Israel and Judah had been conquered and their people carried off.  This was the lowest point for Jewish hope in the Old Testament, possibly the lowest ever, except for the Holocaust.

In a time when Jews had to worship at a specific location (the Temple in Jerusalem), how can they worship elsewhere?  Personally, I see this as another indicator that the Jews didn't have their doctrine quite right, given that God had now placed them in an impossible position.  Today as Christians, we don't have that problem, as we can worship wherever and whenever we choose.

Psalm 136

Psalm 136:3

Who remembered us in our low estate,
For His lovingkindness is everlasting,

This psalm is all about praising God, because of what He's done for us.  In this verse, they're praising Him for remembering them.  But it's the last word of that line that caught my attention.  It's not "state," as in status, it's "estate."

Now, I only know this word in terms of someone's possessions or property, but that didn't sound right.  So I looked it up, and found that one of the things it can mean is "period or condition of life."  So they're not praising Him for remembering them on a bad day, they're praising Him for remembering Him through long periods of life.

Psalm 135

Psalm 135:14

For the LORD will judge His people
And will have compassion on His servants.

The sequence here is important.  First, God will judge.  Even those who are His people, still have to be judged.  Like everyone else, they have sinned, and those sins have to be known.  If judgment were skipped, then what comes after would be less impactful.

After judgment, God has compassion.  For those who are His, there is a payment for those sins already made.  The payment is so high that no person could pay it Himself.  Instead, we have to rely on Jesus' taking the punishment himself.  Since we have accepted that payment, then God can be compassionate towards us.