PSALM 87

Psalm 87 is among the psalms often called Psalms of Zion: Psalms that describe the importance and the glory of Jerusalem, the city of God. And while the psalms of Zion encourage us to look back and remember the historic city of Jerusalem – the city where God dwelt among His people – there’s often

PSALM 86 – PART 2

David’s Praise: An Expression of Trust and Confidence in God’s Character (86:8-10) If we read verses 8-10 in isolation from the rest of the psalm it sounds like it would be part of a psalm of praise. It’s remarkable to remember that this is included in a prayer for salvation as David is running for

PSALM 86 – PART 1

When People are Big and God is Small. It’s the title of a book, The premise of the book is that we are prone to giving more weight to what other people say rather than to what God says. In our thoughts we make people big and God small. In a similar way many of

PSALM 85 – PART 2

Pray for restoration : This leads us to the third stanza in this psalm. It is how I prepare for revival. I have to wait upon God. “I will listen to what God will say; surely the Lord will declare peace to His people, His godly ones, and not let them go back to foolish ways. His

PSALM 85 – PART 1

We know neither the author nor the background for this Psalm. Most scholars believe that it was written just after Israel returned from captivity in Babylon. Israel had been sent to Babylon for seventy years as punishment for their sins against the Lord. Now, they have been restored to their land, but their hearts are

PSALM 84

This psalm was written by the sons of Korah and centers around describing a love for being in the presence of God. The psalmist begins by desiring to be where God dwells. He perceives the dwelling place of the Lord as lovely. His spirit desires to be in the courts of the Lord. In fact,

PSALM 83

Psalm 83 is the last of the Asaphian psalms, which began in Psalm 50. God is silent, and this is distressing because His enemies are not silent. They are in a tumult and so it is time for God to act (vv. 1-2). They have plotted against Israel in a crafty way (v. 3). The

PSALM 82

Humans have been capable of feats which stagger the imagination, making us seem almost godlike. Psalm 8 says that God has made humans a little lower than God, or Elohim. The implications of this are staggering. Through the development of the internet, humans appear to have created new worlds, but we saw that the underground

PSALM 81

Psalm 81 is another psalm of Asaph. In Psalms 79-80 we saw Asaph describing God’s wrath against Jerusalem and his plea for the “son of man” (the Messiah) to deliver the people. Psalm 81 begins with a call to worship. The first three verses call for Israel to sing aloud to God and to shout

PSALM 80

The theology of the Psalm is about God’s character. And here we meet a God unconstrained by the bonds of niceness. Here is a God of love who cares passionately how people respond to that love. Since God wants to be in relationship with Israel, it matters how Israel responds. Although God’s love (and not