INTRODUCTION:The child’s retort about “sticks and stones” is entirely misguided. Words really can hurt; words can be cruel, and words can be savage. One of the things we must do is learn how to guard our own tongues (in the first instance), and learn how to deal with the slanderous accusations of others. This is …
The Marrow and the Fat
INTRODUCTION: John Donne says of this psalm that it is one of the imperial psalms—suitable for every occasion, and one with universal applications. Christians can resort to it under all kinds of circumstances, and according to Chrysostom, a portion of the ancient church would not let a day pass without singing it. All the various …
Low and High Degree
INTRODUCTION:Most psalms of affliction begin with the problem and work through to the solution of faith—there is a story arc to the psalm. One of them is grim and gray from beginning to end (Ps. 88). But this psalm is all confidence, from the first words to the end of the psalm. The troubles are …
A Rock That Is Higher Than I
A SEVENTH DECADE OF PSALMS INTRODUCTION:This is a psalm of David in a time of affliction. Because he is likely king at this time (see v. 6), and because he longs to be restored to the tabernacle (v. 4), it would be safest to locate this psalm as being written during the time of Absalom’s …
The Wine of Astonishment
INTRODUCTION: This psalm begins in a disastrous period in Israel’s history, and ends with disaster for her enemies and foes. It begins with Israel drinking the wine of astonishment at her peril and impending calamity, and ends with Moab and Edom thrown down. It begins with Israel facing potential disaster, and ends with her enemies …
Deception and War
INTRODUCTION:Here is yet another psalm from yet another time when David was in trouble. The inscription says that it was the incident in which Saul’s daughter, Michal, helped David to escape when Saul’s men were watching their house. THE TEXT:To the chief Musician, Altaschith, Michtam of David; when Saul sent, and they watched the house …
Before the Pot Heats Up
INTRODUCTION:We should note again that God’s hymnbook, the psalter, is just full of enemies. Our modern hymnbooks very rarely encounter anything like that. A central part of the reason is that we have worked out a truce with the devil. We don’t have to deal with him attacking us, for we have agreed not to …
In the Shadow of Thy Wings
INTRODUCTION: We are in a stretch of the psalms which record David’s trials before coming to the promised throne. This psalm is a cry of faith from a very beleaguered and dark time. Since the reference is simply to “the cave,” this is probably the time when David and his six hundred men hid in …
I Know God Is For Me
INTRODUCTION:The troubles that David went through on the way to his promised throne were many. But this meant that before he assumed the rule of God’s people, he had seen that many answers to prayer, that many deliverances. David was not dropped on his throne from Heaven, rather he was delivered out of tribulation, as …
Mischief in the Midst of It
INTRODUCTION:In all of Scripture, David was one of God’s most favored servants. He was also one of the most tested and tried of all His servants, and there is a connection between the two conditions. It is through much tribulation that we enter the kingdom of heaven, we are told, and this does not mean …