Why Have You Forsaken Me?

                                      Psalm 22:1-18

Find a quiet place, alone and apart from distractions. Be comfortably alert, still, and at peace. Recite the Lord’s Prayer. Sing or cant the Jesus Prayer. Pray for family, friends, neighbors, and yourself. Slowly and carefully read the passage of Scripture.

1.         This is one of the Psalms described as a lament, here David speaks of the treatment he received during his reign as king, with enemies coming at him from many sides.

2.         He begins by shouting out to God, wanting to know why he has been forsaken, even leaving him to the mercy of his enemies.

3.         At the same time David knows that his God is holy and has delivered His people before.

4.         Then David reverts to the distress he is under going. Even his own people attack him with words of mockery and contempt.

5.         Still, God is his God, and who has cared for him even from his birth. He pleads that God not leave him alone at the time of his trouble.

6.         Back again to those who would destroy him and he is under siege, suffering so incredibly that it seems as though his heart is being melted within him.

7.         The onslaught is so terrible it seems like he is dying, and only his fierce enemies are with him in his death throes.

8.         He is as good as dead as those who hate him are dividing up his clothes.

9.         The rest of the Psalm David speaks of vindication and victory, here the focus is on the suffering Messiah of Israel.

10.       The Gospel writers, in Matthew 27, Mark 15, Luke 23, and John 19, all recognize that the sufferings of Jesus on the cross have been revealed a thousand years previously in this very Psalm. They are aware that so much of the Psalm applies not to King David but to Jesus and His crucifixion.

Psalm 16: You Will Not Abandon My Soul

Find a quiet place, alone and apart from distractions. Be comfortably alert, still, and at peace. Recite the Lord’s Prayer. Sing or cant the Jesus Prayer. Pray for family, friends, neighbors, and yourself. Slowly and carefully read the passage of Scripture.

1.         A “mitkam” of David, and the word has a musical connotation but unknown to us now. But King David is the author of this incredible piece of poetry.

2.         It seems David is under considerable pressure, and this might be at the time when he had to flee from Saul and escape to the Philistines on the Mediterranean coast—former and present enemies of Israel.

3.         His first words, “preserve me” indicates the trouble he is in. And he knows who is His LORD, and that he is safe.

4.         David is aware of the great contrast between those who are the saints or holy ones and those who run after other gods. Though hounded, the “excellent ones” belong to the LORD, and the “sorrows” of the pagans multiply.

5.         Despite it all, David knows he has a “beautiful inheritance” and he receives good counsel and that at night, his heart, or his conscience, instructs him.

6.         Thus David knows he will not be shaken since the LORD is always with him. He will not be shaken.

7.         David had every reason to be down and discouraged, but in his inner being, his heart, he rejoices and does so out loud as the phrase “whole being” is best rendered “tongue.”

8.         Whatever happens to him, even death from his enemies, he will not be abandoned to Sheol, or the Pit. This is a way of speaking of life eternal away from the Creator God.

9.         Right in the midst of this comes a prophetic word about the resurrection of Jesus, “or let you holy one see corruption.”

10.       Indeed, for David, and for all of us who trust in our LORD, there is fullness of joy and pleasures forevermore.”

The Fool Says, There is no God Psalm 14

Find a quiet place, alone and apart from distractions. Be comfortably alert, still, and at peace. Recite the Lord’s Prayer. Sing or cant the Jesus Prayer. Pray for family, friends, neighbors, and yourself. Slowly and carefully read the passage of Scripture.

           1.              This Psalm is referred to as a “community lament” and we find this description: “To the Choirmaster. Of David.” The Psalm would be sung in the Temple in Jerusalem, and led by a choir of Levities.

2.              “The Fool says in his heart, ‘There is no God.’” The word fool means someone who has no knowledge, has received no revelation, and is therefore corrupt and in the worst way.

3.              This is the universal condition of all people, which God is completely aware of. Sin blinds the heart and mind and the result is a rejection of all good and a seeking after corruption.

4.              Not that there is no religion, but this is a seeking after supposed freedom and self-care.

5.              The Psalmist is addressing both Jew and Gentile, evildoers who persecute and destroy God’s people. And they “are in great terror.” They are desperate, restless, and have no peace, and blindly hate those who worship Yahweh.

6.              These who hate God and those who worship Him attempt to “shame” the plans of the poor, that is, those who are unable to defend themselves. However, the LORD is still the refuge of those who call upon Him.

7.              Verse 7 is the cry of the Psalmist that the salvation of Israel would appear. This is the forward looking for the arrival of the Messiah.

8.              The promise is that the LORD will redeem and save His people Israel, and here Israel is seen in two ways, both the nation and all those who receive salvation, including the Gentiles.

9.              The Psalmist, seeing in the distant future, the working of God’s salvation, declares rejoicing and gladness.           

Psalm 1

The Way of the Righteous and the Wicked

 Find a quiet place, alone and apart from distractions. Be comfortably alert, still, and at peace. Recite the Lord’s Prayer. Sing or cant the Jesus Prayer. Pray for family, friends, neighbors, and yourself. Slowly and carefully read the passage of Scripture.

1.       The first song, Psalm 1, for that is the meaning of “psalm,”is essentially a hymn, a poem, or a song of praise to God. The author of the first two Psalms is unknown. This psalm leads off Book One and in this book there are 40 more songs of Praise. In all, there are Five books of songs.

2.       There are 73 songs of David, 11 by the Sons of Korah, 12 by Asaph, 2 by Solomon, 1 by Moses, and for the other 50, no author is stated.

3.       The Hebrew for Psalms is Tehillim, which means “praises.”

4.       Psalms is the best known book of the Wisdom Books, which are Job, Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, and Song of Solomon.

5.       The first word in verse one is translated “Blessed” and it translates something like, “Oh how happy.”

5.       In this Psalm we find a series of contrasts. In verse one we find that the blessed one “walks not in the counsel of the wicked, nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of scoffers.” Then the contrast of verse is that the blessed man (read person) delights in the law of the Lord upon which he and she meditates, or thinks about and focuses on daily.

6.       The next contrast shows the blessed one prospering greatly just like a well watered plant.

7.       However, “the wicked are not so.” These are scattered to the wind.”

8.       The greatest of the contrasts we find in the last two verses. At a time of judgment, the wicked are condemned. Those who merely pretended to be righteous within the congregation will be found out and rejected.

9.         God knows those who belong to Him, those who follow righteousness, but “the way of the wicked will perish.”