Tag Archives: Psalms 98-104

Daily Bible Study

July 2, 2023 Bible Study — For Those Who Fear the Lord, His Judgement Is Cause for Joy

Today, I am reading and commenting on  Psalms 98-104.

The psalmist calls on us to sing to the Lord because of the marvelous things He has done.  In fact, he calls on all creation to sing and praise the Lord because He comes in judgement.  Now here’s an interesting thing.  Reading other parts of the Old Testament we see them prophesying God’s terrible, and terrifying, judgement upon our society for its many sins.  Yet, the psalmist writes that we, and all the earth, should joyfully praise God because His judgement is coming.  The psalmist sings of God’s love and His justice.  God is good and His love for those who fear Him endures forever.  God reigns and He has established equity.

This was not the first time the psalmist referred to God establishing equity, and since that word is used a lot in today’s world I wanted to look at what the psalmist means.  Most people today who use the word equity mean “equality of outcomes” when they use the word, but that is not what it means.  Equity means things being just and fair.  Which makes it hard to see how God has established equity, because the world around us often seems unfair.  So, let us look at some of the other things the psalmist says in today’s psalms.  He said that he would conduct the affairs of his house with a blameless heart, and would not look with approval on anything vile.  How many of us can truly say that we have lived up to that standard?  Do we even aspire to doing so?  He also said that he would have no part in what faithless people do, and have nothing to do with what is evil.  Do we do business with people we know do evil because they offer us the cheapest product?  Do we follow the psalmist’s advice to look for the faithful in the land and spend our time, and money, with them?  God will respond to the prayer of the destitute, and will bring about equity.  If we strive to do the things which I just pointed out, then we too will rejoice to see God’s judgement coming.

 

I use the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Daily Bible Study

July 2, 2022 Bible Study — Sing And Meditate On What God Has Done

Today, I am reading and commenting on  Psalms 98-104.

Well today is relatively easy, the psalms in today’s passage have pretty much all the same theme: sing praises to God.  Our joy in the Lord should be such that we cannot help but sing a new song about the marvelous things He has done.  I am not much of a singer, but I can make a joyful noise.  God judges the world in righteousness and people with equity.  God has made the world so that rulers who love justice and establish equity will be mighty.  Let those who have called on the Lord sing His praises because He has answered them.

God made us, so we belong to Him, let us live accordingly.  I will strive to live a blameless life, but I know that I will fail. Which make me glad that God does not treat us as our sin deserves.  His love for us is from everlasting to everlasting so that He will forgive all of our sins and cure our diseases if we truly fear Him.   Because of all of this, I will have no part in what faithless people do, and will have nothing to do with what is evil.

I feel bad about paraphrasing the psalmist this way.  So, I will end with this.

I will sing to the Lord all my life;
    I will sing praise to my God as long as I live.
 May my meditation be pleasing to him,
    as I rejoice in the Lord.
 But may sinners vanish from the earth
    and the wicked be no more.

Praise the Lord, my soul.

Praise the Lord.

I use the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Daily Bible Study

July 2, 2021 Bible Study — Praise God And Imitate The Faithful

Today, I am reading and commenting on  Psalms 98-104.

The psalmist calls on the whole earth, everything and everyone in it, to praise God.  Everything that is was created by Him.  Let us sing of God’s love and justice, of the marvelous things He has done.  The psalmist tells us to praise God by telling others what He has done and by singing His praises.  However, the psalmist tells us that praising God involves more than just speaking and singing.  If we wish to truly praise God we will not give our approval to anything vile, nor will we have anything to do with that which is evil.  We will not tolerate those who are haughty and proud, we will confront those who slander others in secret.  Instead, we will focus our eyes upon the faithful and blameless, seeking to imitate them.

I use the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Daily Bible Study

July 2, 2020 Bible Study Make a Joyful Noise to the Lord

I am using the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on Psalms 98-104.

The psalmist calls on us to sing to the Lord, to joyfully praise Him.  The New Living Translation translates verse 6 of Psalms 98 as saying, “Make a joyful symphony before the Lord, the King!”  I much prefer the way the King James Version translates it, “make a joyful noise before the Lord, the King.”  I prefer the latter because that is much closer to what others hear when I sing.  The psalmist is inclusive in his call to praise.  He calls for everyone and every nation to praise God.  He calls for everyone on earth to praise the Lord with gladness because of God’s justice.

After calling on everyone and everything to praise the Lord, the psalmist makes a personal commitment.  He promises to not only praise the Lord, but to refuse to look on anything vile or vulgar.  How much better off would we all be if we did the same?  He vowed that going forward he would seek out faithful people to be his companions.  I want to note that the context makes clear that he meant faithful to the Lord, not just faithful to himself.  As we seek to praise the Lord, let us separate ourselves from those who deceive and lie.  I will choose to associate with those who will encourage me to praise and serve God with all that I am.

Daily Bible Study

July 2, 2019 Bible Study — Praise God And Live a Life of Integrity, Even In Private

I am using the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on Psalms 98-104.

Today’s psalms all share a common theme.  Some of them have other themes as well, but they all share one theme.  They call on us, and all of Creation, to praise the Lord.  All should praise the Lord because He acts with justice and righteousness.  In many ways these follow on after yesterday’s declaration that praising God brings joy.  This comes about because He made us and we belong to Him.  God is good and His love and faithfulness continue forever.  Each generation has the opportunity to experience God’s love.

I want to put special focus on Psalm 101 because it provides us a guide to what being truly righteous involves. Here are the steps which will lead us there.

  • Live a life of integrity, even in private.
  • Refuse to look at anything vile or vulgar.
    • This one can be tough. Sometimes we feel that we need to read the details about a terrible crime in order to know if the accused is actually guilty. But doesn’t it often turn out that we had no reason to actually pass judgement on the accused one way or the other?
  • Have nothing to do with those who deal crookedly.
    • Even when their crooked dealings have nothing to do with our connection to them they may be able to use us to further their crimes or we might inadvertently profit from them.
  • Reject perverse ideas and stay away from evil.
    • This one is similar to the previous. Staying away from evil makes us less likely to be tempted by it.
  • Do not tolerate those who slander others.
  • Do not endure conceit and pride, in yourself or others.
  • Do not hire those who practice deceit and do not hang around with those who routinely lie.
  • Search out faithful, righteous people with whom to spend your time.
    • They will encourage you to live a life of integrity and call you to account when you are tempted to do wrong.

This reads as such a simple formula. Yet is much harder than it looks.

Daily Bible Study

July 2, 2018 Bible Study — Let All That I Am Praise The Lord

I am using the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on Psalms 98-104.

    Yes, let us sing to the Lord! He has announced His righteousness to everyone, no one has an excuse. All of the earth will praise the Lord because He is coming to judge. When He does so He will judge with justice and righteousness. Sing, shout, clap, express your love of the Lord however you are able. Every time I read Psalm 101 I am struck by what a great guide for our lives it is. Here is the list (there is some overlap)

  • Be careful to live a blameless life.
  • Lead a life of integrity, even in private.
  • refuse to look at anything vile or vulgar.
  • Have nothing to do with those who deal crookedly
  • Reject perverse ideas and stay away from every evil.
  • Do not tolerate slander, conceit, or pride.

But that is not the whole of it, the “do nots” aren’t really the important part. No, the most important part for living a fulfilling life is seeking out faithful people to hang out with. The more time you spend with people who strive to serve the Lord, the more you will serve the Lord.

    In Psalm 102:18 the psalmist reminds us how important it is to record what God has done in our lives. But not just what He does in our lives, we need to record what God has done in the world around us and we need to make a record of the actions of God’s people which we witness. The purpose of keeping records is so that those who have not yet been born will know what God has done and praise Him for it.

    I will conclude today’s post by saying with the psalmist, “Let all that I am praise the Lord.”

Daily Bible Study

July 2, 2017 Bible Study — Sing a New Song To The Lord

I am using the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on Psalms 98-104.

    Psalms 98 starts off setting the theme for today’s scripture reading:

Sing a new song to the Lord,
for he has done wonderful deeds.

The theme which ties together all of today’s psalms, and I know this is going to come as a surprise (or perhaps not if you have read the Book of Psalms before), is praising God. Before I go into the rest of these psalms I want to write about my thoughts regarding this opening line. I dislike current contemporary Christian music. Yet here we are told to sing a new song. My problem with current contemporary Christian music is not with those who produce it, but with the way the Church uses it (or, at least most of the Church). The problem I have is that we are constantly bombarded with new songs to replace the existing ones. This means that the good ones do not have time to seep down in our souls and become expressions of deep, lasting praise for God. I first became aware of the problem at funerals. The songs sung at the funerals for my parents’ generation (my mother is still alive, but my father and all of his siblings have died) were much the same as those sung at the funerals for my grandparents’ generation. Those songs are deep expressions of the faith which filled the lives of those whose life was being celebrated at these funerals. I realized that most current contemporary worship songs lacked the same depth of meaning, and those that did have it were not sung often enough for those singing them to have the same level of investment in their meaning.

    OK, rant over. I do not think the psalmist was just calling for new songs. He was calling on us to find new ways to worship and praise God. We must never allow our praise and worship for God to become stale. Interestingly, in Psalms 101 the psalmist tells us the steps necessary to accomplish this.

  1. Live a life of integrity, even in private, where only our own family (and maybe not even them) can see

    2. Our integrity should be real, not just to project an image.

  2. Refuse to look at anything vile and vulgar, not for educational value let alone for entertainment, not for any reason at all.

    3. That one is probably harder for many of us to do than it seems.

  3. Have nothing to do with those who deal dishonestly.

    4. I do not think this means never associating with such people. I think it means not entering into partnership or alliance with them.

  4. Reject perverse ideas.

    5. This is one which I think requires more emphasis than most of us place on it, and more thought about what constitutes a “perverse idea”.

  5. Stay away from every evil.

    6. Not just most evil, every evil.

  6. Do not tolerate those who slander others.

    7. This is about listening to negative gossip which leads you, and others, to think of people in a negative light. The NIV says it is about those who slander others in secret.

  7. Do not endure conceit.

    8. To me this means rooting out my own conceit and building up those who others put down in their own conceit.

  8. Associate with faithful people

    9. Now the psalmist gets to the active things we must do to successfully serve and praise God. If we spend our time with faithful people, we will not have time to hang out with wicked ones. And, the influence of faithful people will make us more faithful.

  9. Hire people who are above reproach.

    10. This is not just good for our spiritual lives, but it will make whatever business we are in more successful as well.

Every year, I think I should do a blog entry on just Psalms 101, and every year I forget until I find it taking over the post on the rest of the passages included in my reading.

Daily Bible Study

July 2, 2016 Bible Study — Let All That I Am Praise the Lord…Let All That IS Praise the Lord

I am using the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

DSCN0666

Today, I am reading and commenting on Psalms 98-104.

    These psalms fill me with joy as they call on us to sing God’s praises and exalt His name. God has revealed His righteousness to everyone. There are no excuses for not knowing that God is righteous and that He acts with justice. He made us and all that is. We did not make ourselves, nor did this Universe come into existence on its own. I will joyfully thank God as I enter into His presence. I am going to break my thread for a moment. When I first read this it inspired joy throughout my whole being. In order to find something to write, I returned to the beginning and began to write my thoughts as I read through it a second time (actually a third time). When I came to Psalm 101, I realized that it was a primer on how we can truly praise God. I think I may have done this before, but it is worth doing again.

  • Lead a life of integrity, even when no one is watching.

    • The psalmist actually says lead a life of integrity in your own home. That means don’t present one front to the outside world and a different one to your family.

  • Refuse to look at ANYTHING vile or vulgar

    • I think this one may be especially hard for us today in our society, considering what our society puts out for general consumption in movies and on TV.

  • Have nothing to do with those who deal crookedly

    • It is all too easy to look the other way when your business partner, or co-worker, does something dishonest that brings you (or me) benefit.

  • Reject perverse ideas and stay away from evil

    • This one goes with refusing to look at anything vile or vulgar.

  • Do not tolerate those who slander others

    • The key thing about slander is that it is untrue, but we should be careful to confront those who say things they do not KNOW are true (unless, of course, we KNOW they are true)

  • Seek out those who are faithful as our companions.

    • This last is probably the most important element for truly praising God. It is by associating with those who also seek to praise and serve God that we will avoid doing wrong and, more importantly, know and do what is right.

    It is by following the above instructions that we can truly praise God with all that we are, with our whole hearts. It is by seeking out godly associates and allowing them to influence our thoughts and behaviors that we can ensure that we will never forget the good things God does for us.