Today, I am reading and commenting on  Psalms 72-77.

The psalmist speaks of a time when he almost fell for one of Satan’s lies, when he almost gave in to the temptation to believe that there was no value in seeking God’s righteousness.  He envied the wicked and arrogant, who believe that God does not know of their wickedness.  It is an easy lie to fall for, we see that the wicked seem to have all that they desire and face no consequences for their evil, and begin to wonder if doing what is right has any benefit.  However, when we enter into God’s presence we discover that the wicked gain nothing through their wickedness that we truly desire.  Further imitating the wicked would cost us that which we value most, a relationship with God.

Then the psalmist speaks of the challenges when wicked men oppress those who seek God and troubles abound.  We sometimes face similar challenges.  We, like the psalmist, cry out to God asking how long He will allow the righteous to suffer and the wicked to prosper.  We may feel like God will not answer our prayers for justice, and will allow people to belittle Him, and those who trust Him, but God tells us in the Scripture that He chooses the appointed time.  He will judge with equity.  When times seem dark and God seems far, let us remember what God has done in the past and meditate on His power.  Then we will hear His voice and see His judgement upon the wicked.

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

Today, I am reading and commenting on  Psalms 68-71.

The psalmist calls the righteous to be glad and rejoice before, because God is the One who saves.  He defends widows and acts as a father to the fatherless.  The psalmist tells us that God provides families to the lonely, which gives us a model for how the Church should be.  Do you know someone who is alone in this world?  Be as family to them. Be there for them.

Reading today’s passage I pulled various phrases out to comment on, then I went back and re-read the passage to try and put together what I wanted to write.  In the previous passage I wrote my thoughts as inspired by one of those phrases.  The next phrase I pulled out to write about is:

Lord, the Lord Almighty,
may those who hope in you
not be disgraced because of me;

I have always read that as asking God to keep me from doing anything which will bring disgrace upon others who profess their faith and trust in God.  However, as I read it today, I saw that in the rest of Psalm 69 the psalmist speaks of those who seek to destroy him and hold him guilty of crimes he had not committed.  That, and his prayers contained here for God to deliver him from his enemies who belittle him for seeking to serve God put it in a different light.  Let us echo the psalmist and seek God’s salvation from our enemies, for our sake, and for the sake of others who seek to serve God.

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

Today, I am reading and commenting on  Psalms 60-67.

The first psalm in today’s reading seems to me to aptly apply today.  Society has been shaken and torn open because we have angered God.  We are in desperate times, but God has raised a banner to which those who fear Him may, and should rally.  Let us rally to God’s banner and He will lead us to a fortified place where we may withstand the assaults aimed at those who fear God.  In these trying times, our souls can find rest in God.  He has brought us salvation.  Though the world around us seeks to topple us, our hope comes from God and He provides us a foundation which cannot be shaken.

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

Today, I am reading and commenting on  Psalms 52-59.

First, I want to note that Psalms 53 is almost exactly the same as Psalms 14.  A translators’ note from Psalm 14 notes that the word rendered as “fool” throughout the Psalms has the implication of being morally deficient, which makes the psalm fit into this group of psalms very well.  The first of today’s psalms speaks of one who boasts of the evil deeds they have performed, contrasting them with those who trust and praise God.  The psalmist goes on praising God throughout these psalms.  He refuses to lose his faith in God, even when close friends betray him and his enemies twist his words.  If faithfully serve God, He will cause the evil our enemies intend for us to rebound upon them while He protects us.  The wicked, the morally deficient, the foolish believe that there is no God and therefore believe they can safely belittle and attack the righteous.  The wise faithfully serve God, and rely on Him for protection from those who hate them because of that.

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

Today, I am reading and commenting on  Psalms 45-51.

There is a song by Led Zeppelin titled “Thank You”.    The first verse goes:

If the sun refused to shine
I would still be loving you
When mountains crumble to the sea
There will still be you and me

Which brings to mind, for me, the beginning of Psalm 46:

Therefore we will not fear, though the earth give way
and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea,
though its waters roar and foam
and the mountains quake with their surging.

Even the music for the Led Zeppelin song fits Psalm 46 in my mind.  The Led Zeppelin song is a love song, and in a way, so is Psalm 46.  Of course, the singer of “Thank You” is merely a human being saying that the love they shared with their lover would endure the earth falling apart.  While, the psalmist is writing a song of God’s love for us, reminding us that He, and His love for us, will endure beyond the earth falling apart around us.  We need not fear being crushed as the mountains collapse into the sea around us, nor that the rise of the oceans will drown us, because God is our refuge.  Unlike in the song “Thank You” we do not depend on the love of another created being to survive, but rather on the love of the Creator.  If we put our trust in God, we will not panic when disaster strikes, instead we will be able to be still, knowing that He is indeed God.

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

Today, I am reading and commenting on  Psalms 32-37.

There is no greater blessing than to have our sins forgiven, however we cannot experience forgiveness until we acknowledge our sins.  We will continue to suffer for our sins until we admit to ourselves and to God that we did wrong, when we confess our sins, when we admit that they were indeed sins, God will forgive us and give us healing.  Then He will instruct us in how we should behave and direct our way to bring glory to Him and thus happiness to ourselves.  As we learn to do His will joy will fall upon us and we will rejoice in Him.  I read these psalms and I try to communicate the message they speak to me, but I find myself falling short of doing so.  Then I come to this phrase in Psalm 34, “Taste and see that the Lord is good:”.  Reading that I realize that no matter how eloquently I speak of Him, you will not understand the message until you experience it for yourself.  So, I strive to convince those I know to take that leap of faith to put their trust in God.  Sometimes I lose hope of those for whom I care deeply ever accepting His love, but this psalm contains a message of hope there as well:

For he spoke, and it came to be;
he commanded, and it stood firm.

This reminds me that I came to Him because His Spirit called me, when His Spirit calls them, they will also answer.  I know that I will never bring my friends to the Lord, but perhaps His Spirit will move through me to bring them to Himself.

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

Today, I am reading and commenting on  Psalms 23-31.

These psalms have several related themes which appear in different forms in each of them.  In Psalm 23, the psalmist writes “I will fear no evil, for You are with me.”  Then in Psalm 27, he writes, “whom shall I fear?” and “of whom shall I be afraid?”  He also writes about how we get to that place where we do not fear; we get there by following God’s leading.  In Psalm 23, the psalmist tells us to follow God’s guidance on the path we should follow.  In Psalm, he tells us to allow God to teach us.  Throughout these psalms the psalmist tells us to put our trust in God, to rely on Him, and on nothing else.  He writes that there can be no greater joy than to live in the presence of the Lord.  If we seek the Lord, He will answer when we call and He will protect us.

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

Today, I am reading and commenting on  Psalms 18-22.

I love the imagery the psalmist uses in Psalm 18 to show God’s power and magnificence of His action when He moves to deliver.  However, I want to write about verses 25 and 26:

To the faithful you show yourself faithful,
to the blameless you show yourself blameless,
to the pure you show yourself pure,
but to the devious you show yourself shrewd.

Here, the psalmist reminds us that God responds honestly to those with good motives, but will not be tricked by those who think they have found a loophole in His instructions.  From there the psalmist reminds us that our skills, in whatever area they lie, come from God.  Therefore let us use those skills to bring glory to His name.

The Lord lives! Praise be to my Rock!
Exalted be God my Savior!

For those who wish to justify their rebellion against God by claiming He does not exist, the psalmist states that the Universe declares that God exists; its splendor reflects God’s glory, and its very existence demonstrates His power and knowledge.  Finally, this collection of psalms reminds me why I wish to read the Bible regularly;

The law of the Lord is perfect,
    refreshing the soul.
The statutes of the Lord are trustworthy,
    making wise the simple.
The precepts of the Lord are right,
    giving joy to the heart.

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

Today, I am reading and commenting on  Psalms 10-17.

The psalmist who wrote today’s psalms might have been writing about our society now.  The wicked hunt down the weak and devise plans to catch up those who cannot fight back.  They act as if no one will ever hold them to account, and it seems like perhaps they are correct.  Everywhere we look around us we see those who are not faithful or loyal; we see those whose deeds are vile and corrupt.   They declare that there is no God.  This leads some to declare that those who wish to obey the Lord need to flee to remote places in order to live because the wicked are destroying the foundations of law.  But the psalmist tells us that we should take refuge in the Lord, those who believe that there is no God are fools.  God will rise up and put the wicked to flight, then those who put their trust in Him will be able to march forth with Him.  God loves righteousness and justice, those who put their trust in Him do not need to flee from the assaults of the wicked.

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

Today, I am reading and commenting on  Psalms 1-9.

When I read the Book of Job, I struggle because it makes many of the same points over and over again.  That is not a bad thing, sometimes we need the same point made over and over again(and the main point of the Book of Job is definitely one of those points which need to be made over and over again).  In the Psalms I run into the opposite problem: often the passage contains so many things that I don’t know what to leave out.

So, I love the way in which the Psalms begin.  If we desire God’s blessing we must not allow the wicked to shape our thoughts and actions.  Instead, we must delight in God’s commands and spend our time thinking about how we can follow them in our everyday lives.  This stands in contrast to those who band together thinking that the path to their best life is to cast off the constraints of God’s laws.  They regard our faith as a weakness which provides no benefit, and are convinced that God will not deliver us from the troubles which come upon us.  However, let us follow the psalmist’s example by beginning our day communing with God, laying before Him that which troubles us.  Strive to do that while both requesting that He deal with those issues and show us what we should do in order to serve Him.  Take time each day to consider the marvelous things which God has made, whether it be your cat, the plants growing around you, or the stars in the sky, and realize that the God who created all of these things has time to listen to you and to address your problems.  That should make you humble, cause you to thank Him for all that He has done for you, and inspire you to tell others about how wonderful He is.

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