When’s the best time to sing? Anytime!
Psalm 11 was written when David was in fear for his life – trying to avoid being killed by King Saul (cf. 1 Samuel 18-20). It’s simultaneously a lament and a song of trust – an expression of grief and a declaration of confidence in God.
Read More trust in God, refuge, redeemerWhen I lived in Africa my dogs were big, fierce, and attack trained. Day and night, they would have free reign of the yard. Woe betide anyone who might try to break in.
King Saul had a pack of “dogs” – hit men who were constantly on the prowl.
Read More danger, deliverance, hopeHow’s your faith? Are you trembling in the lowlands or triumphing on the highlands? In Psalm 27, David’s faith goes from the mountaintop to the valley, and beyond. His faith isn’t static and neither is ours. Sometimes it soars (v.1-6), sometimes it sinks (v.7-10), and sometimes it’s satisfied (v.11-14).
Read More faithWhen my children were younger they used to sing this chorus; “Life is made of ups and downs. Some days we smile, some days we frown. But every day we wear a crown – because we’re kids of the King …”
Psalm 31 is about the ups and downs of life – how David moves from anguish to assurance.
Read More ups and downs of life, prayer
Psalm 34 is a wonderful salvation sermon song. In the original Hebrew text it’s arranged as an acrostic with all but the last verse beginning with successive letters of the Hebrew alphabet.
Song (v.1-3). David wrote this psalm shortly after feigning insanity before Achish the Philistine king of Gath (cf. 1 Samuel 21).
Read More salvationA poisoned tongue can cause terrible damage. In 1 Samuel 22 (the context for Psalm 52) the venomous tongue of Doeg resulted in the murder of 85 priests; as well as the men, women, children and animals in Nob.
Psalm 52, a maskil (psalm of instruction), deals with the inexorable justice of God.
Read More justice, wickedness, the tongueOn the run from King Saul who was hell-bent on taking his life, David seeks shelter in the one place he doubts Saul would look, the Philistine city of Gath. He must have been out of his mind. Goliath, the giant champion of the Philistine army, had come from Gath! It was like jumping from the frying pan of Saul’s wrath into the fire of Philistine revenge.
Read More fear, faith, circumstances
Read Reflect When we substitute anything or anyone for Christ, we supplant Christ. There’s no wriggle room in God’s story for any other perspective. Christ is all sufficient. To be a Christian is to believe that Christ, and Christ alone, is the substance and essence of our faith. He is our sole source of salvation, […]
Read More Spirit, sufficiency of Christ, faithRead Reflect Sin controls everyone (v 22), and obeying religious laws, rituals or rites does not put us in right standing with God. How so? If it were possible for us as sinners, through our own efforts, to attain the perfection required by God, then law-keeping would have been a means of salvation. Then it […]
Read More law-keeping, salvation, freedom, gift