Religious Journey

Dedication

Rev. Crate Jones

We knew him as Mr. Jones. Ten to fifteen teenagers gathered in his home, the pastorium in Rolesville, North Carolina, about once a month on no regular basis.

We might go to a movie, sing in a nursing home, go bowling, play putt putt, or some such. Sometimes we spent the evening in his back yard, playing badminton and horseshoes, and grilling burgers. There was one constant every time we came together. We always concluded the evening in his den on our knees in prayer. Most all of us prayed.

I had other good influences. My parents both were genuine, humble and active Christians. I recall some godly church people who taught and led children and youth. In those gatherings in Crate Jones' home however, my faith came to a focus, and other good influences were fulfilled in those experiences in his den.

I must share a chuckle. Mr. Jones went on a mission trip to Jamaica, and brought back a brightly designed shirt for his son Mark. We were gathering in his den one evening, and apparently for the first time ever, someone read the writing on the shirt: Take me to Jamaica where the rum comes from. So Mark couldn't wear his Jamaica shirt after that.

At a formative time in my life there were lots of funny times, warm times, spiritual times. I'm eternally grateful for Crate Jones.

Preface

The blending of a devotional approach with Bible study was used first with the book Revelation: When Our World is Breaking Up. Individually we read and reflected on one devotional study each day, and then each Wednesday I taught and facilitated discussion of the previous week's material.

That same approach is the basis for Psalms Devotions for Individual and Group Study. Each week contains five devotional studies for individuals, and one set of helps and suggestions for the weekly group session.

These pages reflect a deliberately chosen balance of two elements: (1) actual scripture texts and other inspirational thoughts, and (2) some most basic commentary/explanation at a level meaningful to the average person. The intent is to give the psalms an inspiring voice about our daily lives.

Thirteen themes, one for each week, form the skeleton or outline of the book. While it's an attractive idea to proceed verse by verse from Psalm 1:1 to 150:6, the 13 themes approach serves our purpose more effectively.

Most often each devotional study focuses on one idea that is prominent in the psalm for that day. Most psalms mention numerous ideas, and summarizing each of those psalms or identifying one key idea that encompasses an entire psalm is nearly impossible. So the result in most of the devotions is a concentration on just one among several helpful thoughts.

How to Use This Book

This work can be helpful in either or both of two ways: (1) daily devotions for the individual, and (2) group Bible study.

Those who are looking for a devotional encounter with the Lord through the Bible each morning or evening will find these pages uplifting. Each devotional study has one or more scripture texts from the psalms, some understandable commentary and relevant thoughts, and a printed prayer.

The book also will serve well those who want to participate in a weekly Bible study that involves some individual preparation, some very basic commentary, and opportunity to share thoughts with others who are reading and reflecting on the same materials.

Always when we look for the Bible's meaning for us today, first we must place ourselves in the sandals and robes of those who lived and wrote for us thousands of years ago. We may not readily identify with their ways of expressing joy, sorrow, worship, etc. When we make the effort to think like they thought however, we immediately see practical and relevant truth for us today.

For many it's a good idea to jot down some special thought or inspiration from each days devotion.

Each week's five devotional studies are followed by some prompts for reflecting on the personal truths discovered during the week. These same reflections will provide excellent bases for a weekly group sharing time. The Concluding Readings can be used to close the weekly group sessions in a fitting way by all reading in unison, two halves of the class reading responsively, the leader and the class reading responsively, or otherwise.

Most devotions have only a portion of the psalm printed. Having the entire psalm in view in a Bible or perhaps on a computer screen will enhance both the individual's devotion and also the group discussion.

A facilitator may find some useful guidelines in Appendix A, Facilitator Guidelines.

Many words and phrases used in the Psalms are explained in the text of the devotional material, and are referenced in the Index of Words and Phrases, beginning on page 169. Some others are defined in Definitions, beginning on page 163.

One strong hope and prayer for this book is that it will inspire readers to deeper Bible study in general, and study of the Psalms in particular.

Abbreviated Table of Contents

Page

vii       Dedication

viii      Preface

ix        How to Use this Book

xii       Contents

1         Introduction

Week 1: God

Page    Day   Psalm     Title

4          1       Psa 18    Like Hinds' Feet

6         2       Psa 19    What the Bible Says About the Bible

8          3       Psa 89    God's Faithfulness

10        4       Psa 31    Acknowledging Our Sin

12       5       Psa 114 When the River Turns Back

14        Week 1 Group Session, Psa 118

Week 2: Mankind

Page    Day   Psalm     Title

16        6       Psa 115 Our Help and Shield

18        7       Psa 73    Take Me into Glory

20        8       Psa 51    Our Sense of Sin

22        9       Psa 20    Give Victory to the King

24       10      Psa 34    Delivered from Fear

26      Week 2 Group Session, Psa 1

28        Week 3 Nations: Devotions 11–15

40        Week 4 God's People: Devotions 16-20

52        Week 5 God's Requirements: Devotions 21-25

64        Week 6 Messiah: Devotions 26–0

76        Week 7 Confidence: Devotions 31–35

88        Week 8 Affliction: Devotions 36–40

100      Week 9 Trust: Devotions 41–45

112      Week 10 Prayer: Devotions 46–50

124      Week 11 Penitence: Devotions 51–55

136      Week 12 Praise: Devotions 56–60

148      Week 13 Thanksgiving: Devotions 61–65

Appendices

Page   

160      A      Facilitators' Guidelines

163      B      Definitions

165      C      Index of Texts

169      D      Index of Words and Phrases

Introduction

The word psalm means praise or song of praise. The 150 psalms have inspired millions for three millennia. Penned by over a dozen authors over more than a thousand years BC, the psalms were a manual for private and public devotions by many Jews and also by some in the early Christian church. Many have surmised that the great majority of the psalms were written to be used in temple worship services, or were collected for that purpose. Even some that were written as private and personal reflections, we believe were gathered for use in public worship.

Seventy–three psalms are attributed to David; 12 to Asaph; 11 to the Sons of Korah; and one or two each to Ethan, Ezra, Haggai, Heman, Hezekiah, Solomon, Moses, and Zechariah. The remaining 40 or 45 psalms are anonymous. We believe that all the psalms were written before 200 BC.

We may appreciate psalms more by taking note of four kinds of structure in Hebrew writing: acrostic, parallelism, rhythm, and stanzas. Psalm 119 is the most outstanding example of acrostic structure: beginning each line with another letter of the Hebrew alphabet.

Psalm 1:2 says essentially the same thing in two different ways: parallelism.

Rhythm in writing was an almost musical cadence, words arranged so that a natural emphasis fell on each second word, or on each third word, etc. Of course we lose a great deal of the Hebrew rhythm in English translation.

Some of the psalmists, though not all, wrote in stanzas such as we see in Psalm 116: a similar number of lines in each of several stanzas.

More so than other Bible books, the psalms are the words of humans directed toward God. Other books are the words of people to people, or God's words to people.

In any given psalm the author was likely to move freely among several themes:thanksgiving, repentance, petition, praise, etc. Each of the meditations in this book focuses on a single theme drawn from the printed verses of the psalm for the day.

Numerous students of the psalms divide them into five books: 1–41; 42–72; 73–89; 90–106; and 107–150. These divisions are convenient, but hardly anyone sees any significance in this structure. Various types of psalms are scattered here and there throughout, seemingly at random.

The prevailing viewpoint in the psalms is that God is the God of Israel, and that he eventually will exalt Israel above all other nations. There are glimpses however, of a wider understanding that God chose them not for earthly honor, but to be conduits of his grace to all nations. In these pages we will read through the eyes of that wider New Testament understanding.

Some psalms are similar in intent and substance with other Old Testament texts: Genesis 49:2–27; Exodus 15:1–18; Deuteronomy 32:1–43; Judges 5; 1 Samuel 2:1–10; Habakkuk 3. Some psalms remind us of Jeremiah's prayers (Jer 11:18–20; 12:1–4; 15:15-18).

Scripture quotes in this work are italicized and are from the New International Version (NIV) unless otherwise noted.

The New Testament quotes 93 passages from the Psalms.

There are duplications: Psalm 14=Psalm 53; 40:13-17=70; 57:7-11 and 60:5-12=108:6-13.

Like Hinds' Feet

Psalm 18:1–3, 6, 16, 18, 28, 33, 36

Week 1: God

Monday, Day 1

For the director of music. Of David the servant of the LORD.

He sang to the LORD the words of this song when the LORD delivered him

from the hand of all his enemies and from the hand of Saul. He said:

1      I love you, LORD, my strength.
2     The LORD is my rock, my fortress and my deliverer;
        my God is my rock, in whom I take refuge,
        my shield and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold.
3     I called to the LORD, who is worthy of praise,
        and I have been saved from my enemies.
6     In my distress I called to the LORD;
        I cried to my God for help.
        From his temple he heard my voice;
        my cry came before him, into his ears.
16    He reached down from on high and took hold of me;
        he drew me out of deep waters.
28    You, LORD, keep my lamp burning;
        my God turns my darkness into light.
33    He makes my feet like the feet of a deer;
        he causes me to stand on the heights.
36    You provide a broad path for my feet,
        so that my ankles do not give way.

We admire and envy the ability to land on our feet. Some friends or relatives always seem to be able to keep their balance regardless of storms and strong winds of difficulty.

David wrote this psalm about how the Lord gave him the ability to be sure footed in dangerous circumstances. He gave us the mental picture of a deer: an icon of balance and stability.

In numerous countries certain types of deer have adapted to walk and run in dangerously steep and rocky territory. Their hooves are designed to grip rocks that carnivores such as panthers and lions cannot move safely on. Thereby these deer dwell in high places, and can look down on their enemies. That's the feeling David celebrates in this psalm.

When others are lost in darkness, the Lord lights our way. When faithless people cannot find the way through trouble, the Lord makes a wide path for the faithful. He lifts us above troubled waters and sets our feet not on shifting sand, but on solid rock.

For indeed he is our Rock, our refuge, and he plants our feet safely above trouble. In the psalms we note frequently that the Lord's light and deliverance for us are spiritual, seldom earthly. And it is by faith that we commit ourselves to this kind of light and deliverance.

Prayer    Lord of all good days and bad days, we praise you for the difference that Christian faith makes in this world of mountains, valleys and steep and dangerous places. Set our feet today, we pray thee, on the solid Rock, Jesus. In whose name we pray, amen.

Weekly Group Session 1

God, Days 1–5

Complete the following statements as you reflect on the previous week's devotions.

1     One day this week, the following text was just right on target for my day: 2      The text that speaks most to me from this week's texts is:

3      The inspiration or truth that I discovered this week is:

4      The question that this week's meditations raised in my mind is:

5      Other Bible texts that came to mind this week are:

6      The text that seems to me to speak most clearly to our contemporary daily life is

Psalms 105, 106, and 114 also recall the wonders that God did in Israel's history. Note especially Look to the LORD and his strength; seek his face always. Remember the wonders he has done (Psa 114:4–5a).
Psalms 18, 19, 29, 62, 66, 93, 97, 99, 118, and 147 praise God's wisdom, majesty, and power.

Week 1

Concluding Reading

Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good;

his love endures forever.

Let us all agree together:

His love endures forever.

Let the whole congregation say:

His love endures forever.

Let those who fear the LORD say:

His love endures forever.

When hard pressed, we cry to the LORD;

he brings us into a spacious place.

The LORD is with us; we will not be afraid.

The LORD is with us; he is our helper.

It is better to take refuge in the LORD

than to trust in humans.

It is better to take refuge in the LORD

than to trust in princes.

The LORD is our strength and our defense;

he has become our salvation.

Open for us the gates of the righteous;

We will enter and give thanks to the LORD.

You are our God, and we will praise you;

you are our God, and we will exalt you.

Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good;

his love endures forever.

adapted from Psalm 118

Majestic Name

Psalm 8:1, 3–9

Week 6: Messiah

Thursday, Day 29

For the director of music.

According to gittith. A psalm of David

1     LORD, our Lord,
        how majestic is your name in all the earth!
        You have set your glory
        in the heavens.
3     When I consider your heavens,
        the work of your fingers,
        the moon and the stars,
        which you have set in place,
4     what is mankind that you are mindful of them,
        human beings that you care for them?
5     You have made them a little lower than the angels
        and crowned them with glory and honor.
6     You made them rulers over the works of your hands;
        you put everything under their feet:
7     all flocks and herds,
        and the animals of the wild,
8     the birds in the sky,
        and the fish in the sea,
        all that swim the paths of the seas.
9     LORD, our Lord,
        how majestic is your name in all the earth!

Imagine a clear, calm night, no street lights. A dark blue sky crowded with a million points of light. A light breeze rustling leaves and swirling your hair. A very few birds chirping softly, barely noticeable. Awesome.

Looking up into the unending heavens, your thoughts turn to the Architect of the night: God who made all that you see and infinitely more. He made you: so small, so insignificant, less than a drop in God's ocean, smaller than the smallest dot of light in the immeasurable sky. You're a dandelion tuft tumbling through the air.

It seems that all the night points your soul to the Lord: the sights, the sounds, the smells. It is as if you are frozen in eternity. You take a few halting steps, and nothing changes. It's still all about a majestic Lord God.

Gradually, warmly, a powerful thought sprouts in your mind. This engineer God made you! He placed you over all that you see and hear. You were and are on his mind. You ponder. The wonder grows. The domesticated creatures and the wild ones, those that fly and those that swim: they all are under your hand. Awesome. Profoundly humbling.

Without a word, you worship as you have never worshipped in the past, and likely will never worship in the future. And you will never be the same again.

This is deemed to be a messianic psalm because in Matthew 21:16 Jesus quotes Psalm 8:2 as being about himself, and also because according to 1 Corinthians 15:25–28 and Hebrews 2:5–10, Psalm 8:4–6 is about Jesus.

Prayer     Creator God, I worship you now, lost in awe and wonder that you are mindful of me.

The Boundary Lines

Psalm 16:1-11

Week 9: Trust

Friday, Day 45

A miktam of David.

1     Keep me safe, my God,
        for in you I take refuge.
2     I say to the LORD, You are my Lord;
        apart from you I have no good thing.
3     I say of the holy people who are in the land,
        They are the noble ones in whom is all my delight.
4     Those who run after other gods will suffer more and more.
     I will not pour out libations of blood to such gods
        or  take up their names on my lips.
5     LORD, you alone are my portion and my cup;
        you make my lot secure.
6     The boundary lines have fallen for me in pleasant places;
     surely I have a delightful inheritance.
8     I keep my eyes always on the LORD.
        With him at my right hand, I will not be shaken.
9     Therefore my heart is glad and my tongue rejoices;
        my body also will rest secure.
11    You make known to me the path of life;
        you will fill me with joy in your presence,
        with eternal pleasures at your right hand.

See the picture in mind. It's a rooftop porch kind of area. David is there pondering as the first light of day breaks to the east over the Mount of Olives. Below him Jerusalem is just waking up. A few shop keepers are unlocking their doors; most are still at home having breakfast. A shepherd is leading a sheep and three lambs to market. Ten or twenty steps behind him a farmer leads a donkey loaded with cucumbers, potatoes, and melons. The birds are up and hunting for their breakfast.

The stars are fading. There's nothing else quite like the still of the dawn. David has loved this time of day since he was 15 years old keeping his father's sheep outside Bethlehem. Later in the morning people will bring him questions, problems, decisions to make and issues to resolve. But for now he is alone with his thoughts and the expanding orange on the horizon.

He just feels so blessed. If he had Facebook he might have posted what we have seen: feeling blessed.

On other occasions, on other mornings, he has poured out his heart to the Lord: enemies, friends who can't get along, petty squabbles demanding the king's undivided attention, threats to his family, threats to David himself.

But now, feeling so blessed, he writes Psalm 16.

A golden sun is above the Mount of Olives now. Shops are open. Streets are noisy. Maybe two to five people wait downstairs for an audience with the king. After a wonderful beginning, it's time to get the day moving.

Prayer    Prayer Lord of every good and perfect blessing, thank you that our cups run over with good things. Guide us in this day, we pray in Jesus' name, amen.

Psalms: A Devotional Study

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