Category: Psalms

When was the last time you felt thirsty? Maybe it was after a long workout. Maybe it was from spending a few too many hours in the sun. When we’re thirsty, almost nothing else seems to matter. Food doesn’t sound appetizing. Our minds are less sharp. Even sitting down to rest doesn’t sound relaxing until we’re able to quench our need for water. Thirst overtakes our desires and our focus.

In verse 6, David says, “… my soul thirsts for you like a parched land.” The same word used for “thirsty” in this verse is translated as “weary” or “faint” throughout the Old Testament* (Blue Letter Bible). David knows his need for God to save him from judgment. He is desperate for God to come near and rescue him from his sinfulness. In his weakness, he turns again to the only One who can satisfy his thirst. He knows where to turn because he has seen God’s faithfulness before (Psalm 143:5). David’s thirst for God is recorded all throughout the Psalms. He knows what it is like to be thirsty, and he knows what it is like for God to satisfy him (Psalm 42:1, Psalm 63:1-5, Psalm 84:2).

Whether we recognize our need for God each day or not, it’s always there. It underlies every desire we have and every attempt to satisfy ourselves with anything other than Jesus. But in His faithfulness, that is exactly what He gives us – more of Himself. In John 4:14, Jesus says, “But whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst.” John 7:37 says, “Let anyone who is thirsty come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as Scripture has said, rivers of living water will flow from within them.” Jesus tells us again and again that He will satisfy our thirst, and He has freely given us Himself.

Maybe our thirst is God’s call to our hearts, reminding us of our need for God and drawing us into His presence. When we are thirsty and feel the weight of our weakness, let it bring us back to Him. When we are filled to overflowing, let us pour out praise to Him. In all situations, let us turn to God and let Him be glorified through us.

*H5889 – ʿāyēp̄ – Strong’s Hebrew Lexicon (kjv).” Blue Letter Bible. Web. 28 September 2021.

We know two important facts about Psalm 142 from the outset; first, it is historically attributed to King David, whom we read about in 1st and 2nd Samuel. Knowing who David is and the deep intimacy of his relationship with the Father as a “man after God’s own heart,” can help us get inside David’s head as he calls out to God. This psalm is typically associated with the period found in 1 Samuel 22 where David hides in the cave of Adullam from a disgraced Saul—up until this point in the narrative, likely the lowest point in David’s life. 

Secondly, we know that Psalm 142 is a maskil. While scholars aren’t absolutely certain what this word means in Hebrew, it’s clear based on the psalms that are labeled accordingly that it refers to a kind of contemplative or meditative psalm, often designed to impart a principle to the reader. David learned difficult lessons hiding in a cave on his knees, and in this maskil, seems to write to instruct others in how to cry out in similarly difficult situations.

This psalm is a powerful offering for the one who sits in the midst of loneliness and isolation. In a generation that is identifying more than ever before as exceedingly alone, David reminds us that we have a sure and steady comfort in the person of Jesus, a tender friend and willing lover of our souls who will “Listen to [our] cry” and “set [us] free from [our] prison.”  David’s words could not be clearer—he is lost, alone and feels as though he has no one he can rely on, so he cries out to God, begging Him to meet him in a dark, dirty cave in the wilderness. As 1 and 2 Samuel go on to tell us, God answers the prayer of David, and He wants to answer us as well when we find ourselves alone in the caves of our lives crying out to Him.

Psalm 141 is a psalm of lament, meant to express deep sorrow, grief, struggle, or regret. The psalmist (David) lays out troubling situations to the Lord and follows with a request for His divine help. 

This lament is from the heart of a faithful, humble man who is calling for protection and help, praying that he would not compromise in the face of “evildoers” (v. 4).  It’s clear he is passionate in his lament, and one can’t help but wonder if the modern Christian has lost this sense of sorrow and grief towards sin and temptation. Have we become so jaded by our own sin and so absorbed by our own pleasure, that we fail to pray with such intensity? Notice how the psalmist pleads with God to “come quickly” and hear him in his distress.  

He compares his prayers to that of incense, which was a common practice in Scripture. We read about Aaron in the book of Exodus who started his day with incense and in Revelation 5, we see the creatures surround the throne of God with “golden bowls full of incense as part of their worship.” Today, the closest we come to experiencing the aroma of incense is the vapor from our essential oils running through a diffuser. The true and better incense offered today are our heartfelt prayers rising up to God as a strong, pleasing aroma to Him. 

Like all of us today, the psalmist knew his words could cause him to fall into sin, so he asks God in verses 3-4 to guard his mouth, watch over his lips, and protect his heart from wicked deeds. And if that’s not clear enough, he asks that God would “not let me eat their (evildoers) delicacies.” This should be that moment when we follow in our own lament and mirror the psalmist’s simple, yet profound prayer. Raising up our cries to God as incense, with hands lifted as though we are reaching to the heavens. Pleading with white hot intensity that our very words and intentions lead us not into sinful delicacies offered by the world. That’s a prayer of lament not heard often in our modern age.

And when your prayer of lament finds it’s ending, conclude with verse 8 which declares that; “my eyes are fixed on you, Sovereign Lord; in you I take refuge—do not give me over to death.” Amen.

David’s self-awareness of the true enemy stands out in this passage. His plea with God is clear in his desperate language, “deliver me, preserve me, guard me [from evil, wicked, and violent men].” Our culture today minimizes the idea of a true enemy while maximizing the small offenses. We often act as if we are on a playground rather than a battlefield. This passage reminds us that the enemy of our souls is after us. He has hidden traps for us, spread out nets, and set out snares all in hopes to bait us into sin. These traps, nets, and snares look different in each of our lives. These are the things we hold onto white knuckled , that we idolize, and look to to tell us our worth.

David’s response to this stress is prayer and communication with God. David isn’t seeking to be right, he is seeking righteousness. He is striving for the enemy to be defeated, not for his own gain or self-preservation, but for the Kingdom of God to be advanced. In verse 9 and 10 we see how seriously he takes his opponent and how desperately David desires for evil to be demolished. In today’s world we often tolerate or minimize the work of the evil one. Our prayer should be the same as David- that evil would be defeated and that justice would prevail. David was confident that the Lord would defend His people who were being afflicted. 

We try to manipulate God into aligning Him with our political party or supporting our social justice agenda, when, in reality, the battle belongs to God and justice is His. He is righteous, and  just, and we’d be wise to align our hearts with His rather than trying to manipulate Him into our small offenses and entitlements. 

Imagine what our world would look like if our posture was the same as David’s. Our hearts would be surrendered to the only One who sits on a throne of righteousness and justice (Psalm 89:14). Our minds would be committed to memorizing His words (Psalm 119:110). Our wills would be submitted to His agenda and plan (Romans 12:2).

David celebrates and finds comfort in knowing we have a God who knows us and is with us. The overall message is a reminder of God’s character and why we can praise Him.

“You have searched my thoughts and know me” (v. 1) clearly states God understands us on a deep level. He knows our thoughts, actions, past and future. He knows the good and the bad. He knows our shame and our success. There are no secrets between us and God. There is not a detail too small. Matthew 10:30 tells us He even knows how many hairs we have on our head! His omniscience combined with love lets us know there is a level of intimacy in our relationship with Christ. His love comes from a place of deep, personal caring that goes beyond any love we have on this earth. How beautiful is our God who fully understands everything about us and loves us anyway. 

His amazing love for us is so much more than knowing us, though. He is also omnipresent.  His ever-presence means He is never far from us and nothing can ever separate us from Him. Romans 8:38-39 offers a similar message, “For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” It is comforting to know that in every moment God is with us. Since He has always been with us, He has known us since before we were born and has always had a plan for our future (v. 16). 

What are we supposed to do in response? David tells us in verse 14. “I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful.” We are called to worship God and celebrate Him. We praise Him for loving us, knowing us and being with us. Whether it is through worship, prayer, or sharing God with others, we have been invited to celebrate God and ask, “search me, God, and know my heart.”

Scholars aren’t completely sure of the exact occasion that inspired David to write Psalm 138, but knowing the incredible goodness of the God we serve, maybe he didn’t need a momentous event to praise the Lord. David simply seizes the moment and shares his love and gratitude to God. He looks back on God’s past faithfulness (v. 2-3) and looks ahead in great hope that his peers will follow his lead in praising the name of the one true God (v. 4-5). Humbly, he asks God to continue to lavish his life with goodness (v. 6-8). 

In a moment where he appears to be overwhelmed by gratitude to God, David interjects a prayer for his peers—fellow kings of the earth. His gratitude fuels his faith in God’s saving power for all people. His prayer for the salvation of others is also part praise. David rejoices in that no one is beyond the reach of God’s almighty hand. 

What an example for us to follow! 

David’s life had many ups and downs. It started in a field surrounded by sheep and in battles against lions and bears. It progressed to being chosen and anointed as king and eventually running for his life. Often he behaved in ways that honored the Lord, and at other times, he chose the path of sin. However, one constant of David’s life is his acknowledgment of the character and trustworthiness of the Lord. David continually refocuses and redirects his attention (and ours) to the One who is steadfast: the one true God. 

Life will never run out of distractions. There is no shortage of ways for our hearts to stray. David’s life is a reminder to us that even the best of us miss the mark. He is also a great reminder to us of what it looks like to keep refocusing when we get distracted, to get up again when we fall, and to keep our eyes and hearts on Jesus. Like David, we can continue to point the people around us to God, too. 

God is faithful and good, so may we never waiver in offering thankfulness and worship to Him. Jesus is the author and perfecter of our faith (Hebrews 12:2), the fullness of our joy (John 15:11), our great hope for the future, and the steadfast anchor for our souls (Hebrews 6:19). 

The most important thing to note while reading this psalm is that it is a psalm of exile. This chapter is written after the Hebrew people have been taken from their land and brought into captivity by the Babylonians. In the Old Testament, the exile took place after God was so exhausted by the Israelites’ sin that He handed them over to those who do not know Him. These Israelites had grown comfortable with their sin, and God used exile to wake them up to the dangers of their rebellion. 

When we think of exile, we cannot just assume the Israelites were carried off peacefully into a foreign land. What really happened was that the temple was destroyed, fellow Israelites were killed, and their homes were taken from them. This traumatic experience filled the Israelites with so much anger towards their captors that they would even say here in verse 9, “Happy is the one who seizes your infants and dashes them against the rocks.” This was likely written because this is precisely what happened to the Israelite families (Isaiah 13:16). Since they had lived through this incredibly painful experience, the people of God were without hope. While their captors mocked them and asked them to sing, they responded by saying, “How can we sing the songs of the Lord while in a foreign land?” (v. 4). In other words, “How can we sing songs of hope when our situation is hopeless?”

While we are not currently held captive by our enemies, we too, are in a state of exile. As believers, we aren’t living in our true home. We are made to be at home in heaven with our Lord as king. As we are in a state of exile while on earth, there will be much that will bring us discouragement. There will be times of pain, exhaustion, and despair. But because of Jesus, we can respond differently than the writer of this psalm. While they are driven to anger and dejection, we can be driven to peace and confidence. Our hope does not need to be in the future destruction of our enemies because we know that Christ has defeated Satan and death, our true enemies. Today, we can sing songs of hope while in exile because we have a faithful God who will one day bring us home.

Psalm 136 is a beautiful depiction of the love of God. It compels the reader to zoom out, see a glimpse into the sovereignty of God, and be led into a posture of worship as a response to His love toward us. The psalmist uses repetition as a means to demonstrate how everything that God does is an outpour of His steadfast love towards us. Even the things that we would deem “unloving” in our own eyes, like striking the first born of Egypt (v. 10) or killing mighty kings (v. 18), was still done in love by God for the sake of displaying His majesty on earth and enacting His sovereign rescue mission. The psalmist recounts many stories of the Old Testament, including the exodus of the Israelites from slavery in Egypt (v. 11) and the splitting of the Red Sea (v. 13), in order to show that the story of Scripture is one of God pursuing His people by love even in the midst of man’s sin and rebellion.

God has a perfect track record of faithfulness; it’s just who He is. Therefore, anytime we begin to judge what is loving and unloving of God, we begin to make God into our own image instead of being conformed into the image of God. We like to define what is good and evil, instead of allowing the One who created all things (v. 5) to define it for us.

This passage is an invitation for us to rest in the love of God and allow it to move us to a place of worship and obedience, for He has invited us into a love-struck relationship with Him. He has rescued us and set us free, and now we get to love and obey as a response as we fix our eyes on Love Himself. The author of love, the perfecter of love, Who has written a love letter to us in Scripture.

Reading through this psalm, there were numerous little details that stood out, not least of which were the callbacks to other Old Testament stories throughout Jewish history. To show the greatness of God, the psalmist writes of the defeat over Pharaoh of Egypt, Sihon, king of the Amorites, and Og of Bashan. While there were many other examples the psalmist could have chosen, these make the point loud and clear: God is worthy to be praised! 

Following these remembrances of Israel’s past, and of God’s faithfulness, the psalmist makes a move to contrast idols with this Mighty God, worthy of praise. In verses 15-18 we learn a lot about these idols. We learn they are made by human hands, using parts of creation that God gave us (silver and gold). We learn that they have the features of humanity, but none of the life. They cannot see, hear, or speak, even though they have been “made in the image” of those who can. This, whether inadvertent or intentional, calls back to Genesis 1, where God made humans in His image. Looking at this story alongside this psalm, we can see how the two creations absolutely do not compare. 

When God created humanity, He gave us the ability to enjoy Him and His creation. We can see the beauty of a sunrise, we can hear the birds chirping, and we can sing His praises with our voice. These are only some of the ways we can enjoy Him. The greatest difference between God’s creation of  humans and humans’ creation of  idols is this: “Then the Lord God formed a man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being” (Gen. 2:7). 

God gave His creation, humans, the breath of life, but as we read in Psalm 135:17, “…nor is there breath in their mouths.” The idols we create have no breath! If they can’t even compare to humans, how can they come close to comparing to God? Therefore, we are reminded to do as the psalm commands from beginning to end: “Praise the Lord,” serve Him, love Him, and see how He loves His creation far more than any man-made idol ever could.