Tag: psalms

Psalm 23

On By Tim EhrhardtIn Daily Bible Reading Blog, Year CLeave a comment


            This is one of those days where sacred time needs to break into secular time and transform it.  April 15, as all Americans are quite aware, is tax day.  Those procrastinating souls who have hoped for the return of the Lord before this date are now faced with the reality of secular time.  But in this sacred season of Eastertide, a focus on new life can bring a transformation from fear to faith, from fretting to resting.  Psalm 23 is just the right message for this time.  Yet, because of its familiarity, we might only associate it with funerals and miss its relevance for now.  So, the following is my contemporized version of this most famous of psalms:
Jesus is my pastor, and I lack absolutely nothing because of it.
My merciful overseer is watching me while I rest secure on a nice soft bed of grace;
             he leads me into an unhurried life; he is thawing out my cold anxious soul.
He leads me in all the right ways for the sake of his great name.
Even though I get lost and find myself in a dark alley,
             I really have no fear of evil;
for I know God is with me,
             his Word and Sacrament – they are sufficient to comfort me.
I have a big ol’ appetite and hunger for you, God,
             and you satisfy it,
             even though I have enemies within arm’s length;
you encourage my mind with joyous thoughts,
             so that my heart overflows with hope.
I am quite sure that goodness and mercy will follow me for a lifetime,
             and I will live in peace despite any adverse circumstances my whole life long.

Psalm 121

On By Tim EhrhardtIn Daily Bible Reading Blog, Year CLeave a comment
            This is one of my favorites in the entire psalter.  It is a beautiful majestic psalm which can be used for any and every occasion.  So, I often use it when making hospital visits, counseling a wide array of situations, and for my own personal edification.  It seems to me that one cannot possibly overuse this psalm.  The psalm was originally one used for ascending the hill into Jerusalem.  In other words, it anticipates meeting with God.  Just like a lover who looks forward to meeting his beloved and thinking about how wonderful she is, so the psalmist looks with adoring affection on the God he is about to encounter.
 
            The psalm is rich with a theology of grace, watch care, and loving attention.  This is a God who is powerful and merciful, a God able to help and desiring to do so.  In a world that seems so often distant and unaffected by the divine, this is a psalm to repeat over and over again in every situation of life so that the truth of the Lord is engrafted deep into the soul.  In each unwanted circumstance the psalm can be spontaneously used as an immediate prayer, and with every anticipated event it can provide the words to address the most pressing of needs.  Let the words resonate within you as people created in the image of God, connecting with him on both the cerebral and visceral levels of your life:
 
“I lift up my eyes to the hills.
From where does my help come?
2 My help comes from the Lord,
who made heaven and earth.
3 He will not let your foot be moved;
he who keeps you will not slumber.
4 Behold, he who keeps Israel
will neither slumber nor sleep.
5 The Lord is your keeper;
the Lord is your shade on your right hand.
6 The sun shall not strike you by day,
nor the moon by night.

 

7 The Lord will keep you from all evil;
he will keep your life.
8 The Lord will keep
your going out and your coming in
from this time forth and forevermore.” (ESV)

Psalm 122

On By Tim EhrhardtIn Daily Bible Reading Blog, Year CLeave a comment
            This is a psalm of ascents, meaning that the faithful pilgrims living outside of Jerusalem would enter the city, literally walking uphill and continuing up to the temple mount.  There they would worship God at the holy place.  As they would spend the hours and/or days walking and anticipating the worship, the people would quote the several psalms of ascent together.
 
            Within this psalm we are told that part of Israel’s decree in approaching the Lord is to give thanks.  The Jews were to have an attitude of gratitude when they came to Jerusalem and the house of God.  Each pilgrimage to Jerusalem was to have a marked expression of thanksgiving to God for giving them a place to worship and a land to dwell within.
 
            I cannot help wondering if our current situation of attending church services would be much more appreciated and impactful if we took the mental and emotional posture of gratitude when approaching worship.  Within my own church building there is a flight of stairs to ascend in reaching the sanctuary.  Slowly up the stairs I can give thanks for one thing in each step.  Even if you attend a church with a zero entry, you could still give thanks to God while walking from the parking lot to the building.  The point is that worship of God is not to be approached idly without thought or intent.  Just showing up and flopping down in a seat almost daring that the worship leaders and pastor bless them is very far from the imagination of the psalmist for approaching the sovereign God.
 

 

            Mighty God, you have given me a place to live and to worship.  I give thanks to you this day for your grace and saving actions through Jesus Christ, my Lord.  Amen.

Psalm 31:9-16

On By Tim EhrhardtIn Daily Bible Reading Blog, Year CLeave a comment


            David of old knew first-hand about suffering through hard circumstances.  There were times when he felt completely overwhelmed by evil people who were trying to take his life.  If we could put ourselves in David’s sandals we might totally understand why he was worn-out to the point of not sleeping, not eating well, even with a hint of paranoia.  David entrusted himself to God, and truly believed he was in the Lord’s hands – and that fact was his go-to truth.
             There are times when we all struggle with why afflictions happen to us, in whatever form they might take in us.  Yet, it is in the times of being forgotten by others that we are most remembered by God; it is in the situations of trouble that God is the expert in deliverance; it is when people revile us, say terrible things about us, and talk behind our backs that God comes alongside and whispers his grace and steadfast love to us.  In other words, it is only when life is downright hard that we can see a soft-hearted God standing to help us and hold us.
             So, the psalms are the consummate place to run when we are most in need.  They provide the means to lift up heartfelt prayers when our own words fail us.  The psalms give us structure and meaning when the world around us makes no sense.  The psalms do not always give us answers to our most vexing questions, but they do point us to the God who can do something about the sin of this fallen world – Jesus Christ, our Savior and Lord.
             Sovereign God, life can often treat me poorly, yet you are always good to me.  Work in me a heart of faith and devotion to the point where my anxieties melt away, and trust takes over through the power of the Spirit.  Amen.