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Wednesday 01/15/25
Thru the Bible: Psalm Book IV: Chapters 90-93
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Psalms Book IV
Alright well tonight we are moving into the 4th division of the book of Psalms – affectionately referred to as Book IV.
You know for a book of poetry, songs, prayer and praises to the God of all creation, you’d think each Book within this collection of Psalms would bear a title worthy of the God being addressed and worshipped. But as it is, this is just Book IV of the greater book of Psalms.
Book IV contains 17 Psalms spanning chapters 90-106.
It opens up with the one and only known Psalm of Moses.
Later it has two written by David (101 & 103). The remaining 14 Psalms in Book IV are anonymous.
Book IV contains prayers, praises and songs all largely focused upon 3 themes…
- A call for God to teach Israel wisdom
- For Israel to learn from their failings
- For God to return His favor to them.
The progression of the book begins with the failures of Israel and continues gradually to elevate our gaze towards the Lord being Israel’s king.
Both in this book and Book 5 there are still problems, adversities and trouble but they also acknowledge the presence of the Lord as worthy of praise and gratitude.
These books move the reads towards a greater focus on the Sovereign rule of God.
So we begin with Moses’ Psalm – Psalm 90 which is actually a prayer praising God for His protection in the face of Israel’s unfaithfulness.
It begins with a reverent nod towards the powerful nature of God and His being a fortress of safety for the nation of Israel. Throughout the Psalm is a primary focus on God’s eternal nature and sovereignty over our lives.
All of this is focused upon a humble cry to God to return His favor to His people after a time of enduring His hot displeasure.
Since this was composed by Moses it HAD to be during the wilderness wanderings and is most likely during one of the major times of God’s judgment during those 40 years.
Among the more likely possibilities are:
- The incident of the golden cafe
- When Israel complained at the lack of meat
- When they refused to believe the testimony of Joshua and Caleb regarding the promised land
- When they rebelled and God sent poisonous snakes among them.
- When God sent a plague among Israel which was stayed by the intercession and decisiveness of Phinehas.
These are just the low points though there were MANY.
You remember that At the end of their journey through the wilderness God said,
Hebrews 3:7-19,
“(7) Therefore, as the Holy Spirit says:
“Today, if you hear His voice, (8) do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion, on the day of testing in the desert, (9) where your fathers tested Me, tried Me, and saw My works (10) for 40 years. Therefore I was provoked with this generation and said, “They always go astray in their hearts, and they have not known My ways.” (11) So I swore in My anger, “They will not enter My rest.”
(12) Watch out, brothers, so that there won’t be in any of you an evil, unbelieving heart that departs from the living God. (13) But encourage each other daily, while it is still called today, so that none of you is hardened by sin’s deception.
(14) For we have become companions of the Messiah if we hold firmly until the end the reality that we had at the start.
(15) As it is said:
Today, if you hear His voice, do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion. (16) For who heard and rebelled?
Wasn’t it really all who came out of Egypt under Moses?
(17) And with whom was He “provoked for 40 years“?
Was it not with those who sinned, whose bodies fell in the desert?
(18) And to whom did He “swear that they would not enter His rest,” if not those who disobeyed?
(19) So we see that they were unable to enter because of unbelief.”
Part of this is taken from Numbers 14:20-24 where Israel cried out in disbelief that God would give them the Promised Land believing He had led them there to kill them. Moses interceded for them for God to pardon them to which God said…
“(20) The LORD responded,
“I have pardoned them as you requested. (21) Yet as surely as I live and as the whole earth is filled with the LORD’s glory, (22) none of the men who have seen My glory and the signs I performed in Egypt and in the wilderness, and have tested Me these 10 times and did not obey Me, (23) will ever see the land I swore to give their fathers.
None of those who have despised Me will see it.
(24) But since My servant Caleb has a different spirit and has followed Me completely, I will bring him into the land where he has gone, and his descendants will inherit it.”
So with this backdrop providing some connective tissue between Moses’ words and our identifying with it and understanding of it, let’s read Psalm 90…
Psalm 90:1-17,
“(1) A prayer of Moses the man of God.
Lord, You have been our refuge in every generation.
(2) Before the mountains were born, before You gave birth to the earth and the world, from eternity to eternity, You are God.
(3) You return mankind to the dust, saying, “Return, descendants of Adam.”
(4) For in Your sight a thousand years are like yesterday that passes by, like a few hours of the night. (5) You end their life; they sleep. They are like grass that grows in the morning– (6) in the morning it sprouts and grows; by evening it withers and dries up.
(7) For we are consumed by Your anger; we are terrified by Your wrath. (8)
You have set our unjust ways before You, our secret sins in the light of Your presence.
(9) For all our days ebb away under Your wrath; we end our years like a sigh.
(10) Our lives last seventy years or, if we are strong, eighty years. Even the best of them are struggle and sorrow; indeed, they pass quickly and we fly away.
(11) Who understands the power of Your anger? Your wrath matches the fear that is due You.
(12) Teach us to number our days carefully so that we may develop wisdom in our hearts.
(13) LORD–how long? Turn and have compassion on Your servants. (14) Satisfy us in the morning with Your faithful love so that we may shout with joy and be glad all our days. (15) Make us rejoice for as many days as You have humbled us, for as many years as we have seen adversity.
(16) Let Your work be seen by Your servants, and Your splendor by their children.
(17) Let the favor of the Lord our God be on us; establish for us the work of our hands–establish the work of our hands!”
Psalm 91:1-16,
“(1) The one who lives under the protection of the Most High dwells in the shadow of the Almighty.”
The word shadow here has the implication of the power of protection. It quite possibly contributed to the development of the concept of “casting a long shadow” which means that a person or entity carries a large amount of influence and power over others.
The word translated “Almighty” here by the Holman is Shaddai without the prefix El.
It represents God Whose power carries out His sovereign judgment over all creation by granting blessings and life or destruction and death.
“(2) I will say to the LORD,
“My refuge and my fortress, my God, in Whom I trust.”
(3) HE HIMSELF will deliver you from the hunter’s net, from the destructive plague.
(4) He will cover you with His feathers; you will take refuge under His wings. His faithfulness will be a protective shield.”
This phrase is well known especially among Jews and Christians and is a poetic form of parallelism where God’s provision of protection is conceptualized as the wings of a bird over its young or the shield of a warrior in battle.
“(5) You will not fear the terror of the night, the arrow that flies by day, (6) the plague that stalks in darkness, or the pestilence that ravages at noon.
(7) Though a thousand fall at your side and ten thousand at your right hand, the pestilence will not reach you. (8) You will only see it with your eyes and witness the punishment of the wicked.”
“(9) Because you have made the LORD–my refuge, the Most High–your dwelling place, (10) no harm will come to you; no plague will come near your tent. (11) For He will give His angels orders concerning you, to protect you in all your ways. (12) They will support you with their hands so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.
“(13) You will tread on the lion and the cobra; you will trample the young lion and the serpent.”
This is an Old Covenant promise, but it does have application under the New except where temptation, suffering, tribulation and persecution are concerned.
No doubt you remember the promise associated with our response to the great commission in Mark 16 that
“(17) These signs will accompany those who believe: In my name they will drive out demons; they will speak in new languages; (18) they will pick up snakes with their hands, and whatever poison they drink will not harm them; they will place their hands on the sick and they will be well (or recover).” – Mark 16:17-18
What this all means is that as God’s covenant people and children He watches over us.
We have to remember however, that we are living within enemy occupied territory and are therefore open to attack from both spiritual and natural forces. It was Jesus Himself who warned us of the opposition and persecutions we will endure for our association with Him as bearing His name before the world.
The enemy has limited and temporary freedom to tempt, accuse, oppress and stir up persecution and tribulation against us, but unless it be for the sake of the Kingdom, our lives and well being are protected.
We may very well have to endure hunger, lack, prison or even death due to our testimony of Christ and the furtherance of the kingdom, but in many cases in the greatest portion of our lives we are protected.
Now this next portion has God speaking directly…
“(14) Because he is lovingly devoted to Me, I will deliver him; I will exalt him because he knows My name.
(15) When he calls out to Me, I will answer him; I will be with him in trouble. I will rescue him and give him honor. (16) I will satisfy him with a long life and show him My salvation.”
Not to focus too much on the negative but notice God says He will be WITH us in trouble, not keep us from having any.
You know back in my Word of Faith days I greatly disliked the song by Natalie Grant “Held” because I thought it was a lame excuse for people who had no answers for the troubles in our lives. But now that I have matured some, how much is up for debate, but now that I have more maturity I see it as more consistent with scripture and the promises of God then I had ever previously believed.
While an answer to some of the questions posed in the song we just read in both Old and New Testaments, the underlying truth is still largely valid and agrees with this last statement in Psalm 91.
The later part of the chorus goes,
“This is what it is to be loved.
And to know that the promise was
When everything fell we’d be held.”
And this next Psalm provides a verbal Yang to the Yin of the reality of the suffering of God’s children.
It calls on us to rejoice in God and not forget that the prosperity of the wicked is temporary. That even under persecution the people of God not only endure but transcend and increase. That in the end, all wrongs will be righted, God will be justified in the eyes of all creation and we will be rewarded an eternal kingdom that can never be shaken.
Psalm 92:1-15,
“(1) A psalm. A song for the Sabbath day.
It is good to praise the LORD, to sing praise to Your name, Most High, (2) to declare Your faithful love in the morning and Your faithfulness at night, (3) with a ten-stringed harp and the music of a lyre.
(4) For You have made me rejoice, LORD, by what You have done; I will shout for joy because of the works of Your hands.
(5) How magnificent are Your works, LORD, how profound Your thoughts!
(6) A stupid person does not know, a fool does not understand this:
(7) though the wicked sprout like grass and all evildoers flourish, they will be eternally destroyed.
(8) But You, LORD, are exalted forever. (9) For indeed, LORD, Your enemies–indeed, Your enemies will perish; all evildoers will be scattered.
(10) You have lifted up my horn like that of a wild ox; I have been anointed with oil. (11) My eyes look down on my enemies; my ears hear evildoers when they attack me.
(12) The righteous thrive like a palm tree and grow like a cedar tree in Lebanon. (13) Planted in the house of the LORD, they thrive in the courtyards of our God. (14) They will still bear fruit in old age, healthy and green, (15) to declare:
“The LORD is just; He is my rock, and there is no unrighteousness in Him.”
This psalm reminds me of a song from Chris Rice from his album “Past the Edges” called, “Naive”.
It goes like this,
“How long until You defend Your name and set the record right
And how far will You allow the human race to run and hide
And how much can You tolerate our weaknesses
Before You step into our sky blue and say “That’s quite enough!”
Am I naive to want a remedy for every bitter heart
Can I believe You hold an exclamation point for every question mark
And can I leave the timing of this universe in bigger hands
And may I be so bold to ask You to please hurry?
I hear that a God who’s good would never let the evil run so long
But I say it’s because You’re good You’re giving us more time, yeah
‘Cause I believe that You love to show us mercy
But when will You step into our sky blue
And say “That’s quite enough, and your time is up!”
Am I naive to want a remedy for every bitter heart
Can I believe You hold an exclamation point for every question mark
And can I leave the timing of this universe in bigger hands
And may I be so bold to ask You to please hurry?”
When I first heard the songs on this album it was at a time in my life when I had been thinking the same thoughts and had come to many of the same conclusions and it just washed like soothing water over my soul.
I encourage you to buy the album and listen to it. Thoughtful artists who address the tough questions with respect and humility should be encouraged in their work and supported. Though they may not have all the right answers they are still in the wrestling match with God and have not let go! We can deeply benefit from their musings.
We will end tonight on a high point.
Psalm 93 is a psalm of praise which simply extols and lauds the person, power and eternal nature of God.
What this psalm does in simplicity is the opposite of what the unrighteous spoken of in Romans 1 do. We read about them last Sunday.
These suppress the truth in their unrighteousness. The eternal nature of God – His power and His divinity are clearly seen in all He created and He has pressed the consciousness of this upon the hearts of those who hate Him. The result for them is like that mentioned in the previous psalm. But here in Psalm 93 we have someone who saw these things and instead of suppressing them, he wrote a psalm praising God for them.
Psalm 93:1-5,
“(1) The LORD reigns! He is robed in majesty; The LORD is robed, enveloped in strength.
The world is firmly established; it cannot be shaken.
(2) Your throne has been established from the beginning; You are from eternity.
(3) The floods have lifted up, LORD, the floods have lifted up their voice; the floods lift up their pounding waves.
(4) Greater than the roar of many waters–the mighty breakers of the sea–the LORD on high is majestic.
(5) LORD, Your testimonies are completely reliable; holiness is the beauty of Your house for all the days to come.”
Blessings!
Tri