Category: Psalms (Page 2 of 3)

Psalm 35 is typically referred to as an imprecatory Psalm or a cursing Psalm.² In this Psalm, King David literally curses his enemies, complains about his enemies, prays for God to annihilate his enemies, and then, he praises God for his promises of justice and judgment against wickedness and evil.³

In what ways have you experienced the goodness of God in your life? And, in what ways are you longing to experience the goodness of God? When I think about the ways that I have experienced the goodness of God, I think of how he called me to himself, revealed the work of Christ on behalf, and opened my heart to receive and believe the message of the gospel for salvation at the end of a 48mph SUV bumper.

Forgiveness is the heart of the gospel. The gospel is the good news that Jesus came to this earth to live the perfect life, to die a horrible death on a cross as the perfect substitute for filthy, rotten, rebellious, sinners just like you and me, to leave the tomb empty on the third day, and to leave us with the promise of eternity in Heaven, so that, by faith, you and I could receive full forgiveness (a full pardon) for our sins against God.

Psalm 31 is a song about being strong and waiting for God to come through in the midst of the darkest of times.² When all hell breaks loose in your life and you can’t see three feet in front of you because of the mushroom clouds of conflict and chaos, this is when David, the author of this Psalm, encourages us to be strong and wait for the Lord to show up.

When I read Psalm 30, I get the picture of someone singing a praise song to God for his deliverance, his compassion, his help, and his restoration. I get the sense that David knew deep down in his bones that he did not deserve to have God deliver him and restore him so compassionately or so helpfully. Nevertheless, this is what God does. God is in the business of taking really messy and really broken people and restoring their lives as he delivers them from their self-inflicted graves.

Psalm 29 is like watching the devastation of a raging storm from the safety of your front porch. Charles Spurgeon described Psalm 29 as a “Psalm that is meant to express the glory of God as heard in the pealing thunder, and seen in… [a] tornado…. These verses march to the tune of thunderbolts.”²

One of the commentaries I read on Psalm 24 this week grabbed ahold of the theme of the big questions we ask about God.² From the moment we are able to articulate complete sentences, we begin asking big questions about life.

The twenty-third Psalm is perhaps one of the most well-known passages in the entire Bible. It is often recited at the bedside of loved ones who are in their final days of life on this earth, it is typically recited again during the funeral and sometimes it is recited before bedtime with children or memorized during extremely difficult seasons of life.

This Psalm has been referred to by many writers as the Psalm that is beyond all others, the Psalm of the cross.² As we read it we should envision Jesus crying out for help as he is being crucified (vv. 1 – 21) and then we should envision him making a proclamation of praise to the ends of the earth immediately following his resurrection (vv. 21 – 31).³

I grew up in the 70’s, 80’s and 90’s on a farm in the country by Lincoln, NE. The only music that I was allowed to listen to was good old-fashioned country music. Real country music from the likes of Jonny Cash, Willie Nelson, Alabama, Waylon Jennings, Chris LeDoux, George Straight, Charlie Daniels, Merle Haggard, Lorretta Lynn, Dolly Parton.