The Psalms of David

The Psalms of David

Psalm 2 This is one of a handful of psalms that doesn’t have David’s name directly attached but is attributed to David elsewhere in Scripture. In Acts 4, Peter and John are imprisoned, threatened by the religious leaders in Jerusalem, and released. The saints of God prayed and said that God “by the mouth of thy servant David hast said, Why did the heathen rage, and the people imagine vain things? The kings of the earth stood up, and the rulers were gathered together against the Lord, and against his Christ” (verses 25-26).

They were quoting the first two verses of Psalm 2, which is a song exposing the wickedness and rebellion of this world against God and His representatives, as their treatment of God’s apostles exemplified. These rebels say, “Let us break their bands asunder, and cast away their cords from us” (verse 3). How this world hates God’s government!

God will not allow the rebellion to go on forever. David is writing here about a revolution in government—the end of the rule of Earth’s present human kings.

“He that sitteth in the heavens shall laugh: the Lord shall have them in derision. Then shall he speak unto them in his wrath, and vex them in his sore displeasure” (verses 4-5). God will speak out—and act decisively!

David then demonstrates extraordinary prophetic vision, depicting God the Father speaking to Jesus Christ, preparing to send Him to Earth—first as a man, then later in spiritual glory as King of kings!

“Yet have I set my king upon my holy hill of Zion. I will declare the decree: the Lord hath said unto me, Thou art my Son; this day have I begotten thee” (verses 6-7). This direct prophecy of Jesus Christ’s physical birth is quoted in Acts 13:33 and Hebrews 1:5. That is when the Family of God started! Christ is “the only begotten of the Father” (John 1:14).

But the prophecy does not end at Christ’s first coming.

What then does the Father say? “Ask of me, and I shall give thee the heathen for thine inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for thy possession. Thou shalt break them with a rod of iron; thou shalt dash them in pieces like a potter’s vessel” (Psalm 2:8-9). This did not occur at Christ’s first coming! This is a prophecy of Him returning as a Conqueror and a King! (It appears David coined the phrase “rod of iron,” which is used three times in the book of Revelation.)

Jesus Christ is going to be given the nations! And Daniel 7:18 says that “the saints of the most High shall take the kingdom, and possess the kingdom for ever ….” Very shortly, we are going to be ruling over the nations with Christ! We must be prepared. This is not just a prophecy of what God is going to do! God is developing His kings right now!

“Be wise now therefore, O ye kings: be instructed, ye judges of the earth. Serve the Lord with fear, and rejoice with trembling” (Psalm 2:10-11). David is putting this world’s rulers on notice: Your reign is about up—turn to God in humility, and trust Him, if you are to have any hope! How desperately this world needs leaders who serve God with fear and tremble at His word, striving never to violate it!

This psalm is quoted heavily in the New Testament. Why? The apostles and evangelists loved Psalm 2 because it describes the time when Christ will rule on David’s throne, and the firstfruits will be on that throne with Him! That future was real to those men—not some fantasy. They talked about it and quoted David over and again. Is it that real to us? We have to ask ourselves these questions. Is the World Tomorrow that real to us? Does it truly motivate us to want to study into it and discuss it with others?

This is a powerful psalm prophesying of the Father’s begettal of the Son and eventually giving Him world rule. That is a wonderful way to start the Psalms. It’s all about God’s rule on Earth!

Psalm 3 Whenever a psalm has a header, or a subtitle, it is included in the inspired Hebrew. This one reads, “A Psalm of David, when he fled from Absalom his son” (see 2 Samuel 15-18). Think about that: David was running from his own son, who was trying to kill him and take over the throne! This is the first psalm directly credited to David, and he was inspired to write about a trial more grievous than most of us can even imagine! Surely we would naturally want to keep our feelings private about something so deeply humiliating and painful. After all, this is family. But David wrote a psalm about it and preserved it for use in public worship. That is extraordinary. It tells you a lot about this man.

David wrote about how people were ridiculing him and saying, “There is no help for him in God” (Psalm 3:2). The Hebrew word for help here is usually translated “salvation” (see verse 8). These people gloated over how God was punishing David for his sins and saying that God had turned His back on him. It would be natural to heed such discouraging talk in those circumstances.

David, however, did not think naturally. He said in verse 3, “But thou, O Lord, art a shield for me; my glory, and the lifter up of mine head.” He looked to God as his Protector and Encourager! Verse 5 shows that his relaxed faith, even amid this trial, enabled him to enjoy peaceful sleep.

“I will not be afraid of ten thousands of people, that have set themselves against me round about” (verse 6). Thanks to his intimate relationship with God, David was fearless! He wouldn’t even be intimidated by an army 10,000 strong—because he knew God was with him. What impressive faith! We all need more of that.

Psalm 4 This too was written in a time of affliction. “Hear me when I call, O God of my righteousness: thou hast enlarged me when I was in distress; have mercy upon me, and hear my prayer” (verse 1).

At times we feel hemmed in by circumstances—trapped. When David experienced such troubles, he was in the habit of looking to God to deliver him to where he could breathe and be at peace. “He brought me forth also into a large place; he delivered me, because he delighted in me,” he wrote in Psalm 18:19.

Psalm 4:2 describes the tumult of a deceived and deceptive world. “But know that the Lord hath set apart him that is godly for himself: the Lord will hear when I call unto him” (verse 3). What confidence David had! He knew he was set apart from the world—and he knew his prayers were heard on high!

“Stand in awe, and sin not,” verse 4 begins. What wonderful advice! God must be real enough to us to keep us from sinning. We must live our lives knowing that He is right there with us in all we do.

The verse concludes, “commune with your own heart upon your bed, and be still. Selah.” Here is a wonderful description of the meditation David regularly engaged in. He shut out all distractions and set the thoughts of his heart in quiet contemplation. This isn’t about following your own heart; God is in the center of the picture: Stand in awe, and sin not. That is the backdrop of godly meditation.

David says in verse 6, “Lord, lift thou up the light of thy countenance upon us.” He wanted to see more of God in his life and the life of the nation. “Thou hast put gladness in my heart, more than in the time that their corn and their wine increased” (verse 7). The joy and gladness that comes from God far exceeds anything that can come from material prosperity or earthly pleasures!

The psalm ends with this extraordinary statement of David’s relaxed faith in trial: “I will both lay me down in peace, and sleep: for thou, Lord, only makest me dwell in safety” (verse 8).

Psalm 5 This psalm teaches us how to approach God properly. David pleaded with God to hear him. “Give ear to my words, O Lord, consider my meditation. Hearken unto the voice of my cry, my King, and my God: for unto thee will I pray” (verses 1-2).

David put fervent effort into his daily communication with his King. “My voice shalt thou hear in the morning, O Lord; in the morning will I direct my prayer unto thee, and will look up” (verse 3). This was the foremost priority in his life!

David knew that God does not hear the wicked, He will destroy liars, and He hates violent and treacherous people (verses 4-6). “But as for me, I will come into thy house in the multitude of thy mercy: and in thy fear will I worship toward thy holy temple” (verse 7). He approached God with fear and trembling, with a humble, worshipful spirit.

David witnessed a lot of rebellion against God, and he faced many problems as a result. But notice what he tells us: “But let all those that put their trust in thee rejoice: let them ever shout for joy, because thou defendest them: let them also that love thy name be joyful in thee” (verse 11). He obviously had joy: He mentioned joy and rejoice three times in one verse! He knew that God defends us. What hope he had in his life.

You may be experiencing trials and tests, but remember: God defends you, so rejoice in that! That is something to be excited about, to shout for joy and sing about! God defends us! Where would we be without God’s protection? We would have nothing. Love God’s name, and be joyful in God! Don’t overlook this wonderful hope.

Psalm 6 Here is another psalm where David is crying out fervently for God’s mercy: “O Lord, rebuke me not in thine anger, neither chasten me in thy hot displeasure. Have mercy upon me, O Lord; for I am weak: O Lord, heal me; for my bones are vexed” (verses 1-2). He feared the God of judgment, he saw God’s corrective hand in the trials he faced—and he pleaded for mercy and healing.

“I am weary with my groaning; all the night make I my bed to swim; I water my couch with my tears” (verse 6). David’s prayers were heartfelt and emotional! They were not merely an intellectual exercise. And at times, he prayed through the night!

“Mine eye is consumed because of grief; it waxeth old because of all mine enemies” (verse 7). David had a lot of enemies. And he dealt with them repeatedly by looking to God to fight his battles. “Depart from me, all ye workers of iniquity; for the Lord hath heard the voice of my weeping” (verse 8).

In verse 9, David says, “The Lord hath heard my supplication; the Lord will receive my prayer.” Supplication means earnest prayer, with added intensity. When David faced a serious problem, he solved it by intensifying his spiritual life and his prayer! He went to God, his Defender, and God intervened. That is the path to a real solution. Sometimes we must bear down and do more than we normally would. But look how it pays off!

Psalm 7 This psalm was also written in the midst of the heat of spiritual warfare—and perhaps physical warfare. The inscription indicates that he was on the run from a Benjamite named Cush, which was Saul’s father’s or family’s name. The content suggests it was written during the period he was fleeing from Saul.

Additionally, the word Shiggaion in the inscription is also used in Habakkuk’s psalm (Habakkuk 3:1). The theme of that chapter is crying aloud to God for justice, which David is clearly doing here. “O Lord my God, in thee do I put my trust: save me from all them that persecute me, and deliver me” (Psalm 7:1).

Verse 8 is extraordinary: “The Lord shall judge the people: judge me, O Lord, according to my righteousness, and according to mine integrity that is in me.” The Lord shall judge the people, he wrote. The more we judge ourselves, the less God has to judge us. But David knew he needed God to judge him. Judge me, O Lord! It isn’t natural to say that. He wanted God’s judgment and was asking God to judge him! What a powerful statement. And how remarkable that he wrote this as poetry. David really used his trials to help him grow spiritually.

Verse 9 concludes, “for the righteous God trieth the hearts and reins.” Yes, God is righteous, and He does try us! He must try us and test us to ensure we are qualified and prepared for the positions He is offering in His eternal Family.

“My defence is of God, which saveth the upright in heart” (verse 10). David really did look to God as his defense, his shield, and his Savior. He ends the psalm praising the “most high” God (verse 17).

Psalm 8 As a youth, David spent a lot of time outdoors, looking after his father’s sheep. He took that opportunity to contemplate creation—and that opened his eyes to the Creator and to God’s purposes for His creation.

“O Lord our Lord, how excellent is thy name in all the earth! who hast set thy glory above the heavens. … When I consider thy heavens, the work of thy fingers, the moon and the stars, which thou hast ordained; What is man, that thou art mindful of him? and the son of man, that thou visitest him?” (verses 1, 3-4). These are monumental questions—questions all men should be asking when we look at all that God has made!

Modern scientific instruments such as the Hubble Space Telescope and the James Webb Space Telescope are providing us views of the universe infinitely deeper and more impressive than anything David would have observed with his naked eye. Beholding these wonders, astronomers and all humanity should be in awe of God’s handiwork as never before! “For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse” (Romans 1:20). God is blessing us with these cosmic images to help us to see even His eternal power and Godhead!

David knew there was something special about mankind, whom God had placed in dominion over the physical creation (Genesis 1:26-28). “For thou hast made him a little lower than the angels, and hast crowned him with glory and honour. Thou madest him to have dominion over the works of thy hands; thou hast put all things under his feet” (Psalm 8:5-6). He marveled that God had given man this entire wonderful planet.

Yet God’s ambitions for humanity, and for God Family expansion, extend well beyond Earth, as the staggering scale of the universe shows. As verse 2 says, however, His plan is to accomplish these ambitions through “babes and sucklings.” David wrote “ordained strength” here, yet when Jesus quoted this psalm, He altered the wording: “Out of the mouth of babes and sucklings thou hast perfected praise” (Matthew 21:16).

The resplendent angels failed to fulfill their potential, and now God is enacting His plan through beings made from mud. Beyond that, our 70-to-80-year lifespan is a vapor compared to the at-least billions of years the angels have existed. Satan, “the enemy and the avenger,” has had to watch human beings qualify for positions of honor in God’s Family that he was never even offered! God is shaming the proud by exalting the weak and the base (1 Corinthians 1:26-29).

What is man, that God has given us all this honor? Psalm 8:5 in the Hebrew says man was made a little lower than, not angels, but Elohim—the name for the God Family! Look at all the glory in the cosmos, and know that we are going to inherit that as God’s sons, brought unto glory in that salvation! “O Lord our Lord, how excellent is thy name in all the earth!” (verse 9).

The phrase “upon Gittith” indicates this psalm may have been intended for the autumn season. The fall holy days are a time when we deeply contemplate God’s incredible purpose for all mankind!

Psalm 9 “I will praise thee, O Lord, with my whole heart; I will shew forth all thy marvellous works. I will be glad and rejoice in thee: I will sing praise to thy name, O thou most High” (verses 1-2). David truly rejoiced, and he expressed that joy in singing, dancing and playing instruments. In doing so, he kept even the demon-plagued King Saul happier for a while. David was a skillful man, and he used that talent to serve God. The Hebrew word translated “shew forth” connotes writing; it is often in the form meaning scribe. David wanted this recorded for all time! (see also verse 14).

In this psalm, David is praising God’s judgment and justice. It is strongly prophetic of the time when God will purge His enemies and establish His rule. “Thou hast rebuked the heathen, thou hast destroyed the wicked, thou hast put out their name for ever and ever. O thou enemy, destructions are come to a perpetual end …. But the Lord shall endure for ever: he hath prepared his throne for judgment. And he shall judge the world in righteousness …” (verses 5-8).

These are promises we can cling to! The wicked will be brought to justice. Oppression will cease. This is a wonderful prophecy we all need to have our minds on daily. Christ tells us to regularly pray, “Thy Kingdom come.” That is a prayer for God’s retribution—destroying the kingdoms of this world and replacing them with the Kingdom of God! That is zeal for God’s righteousness and for the victory of His Kingdom.

Beyond that, we can look to the God of judgment and justice for help in our lives even today. “The Lord also will be a refuge [or high place, secure height, stronghold] for the oppressed, a refuge in times of trouble” (verse 9). Do you really seek refuge in God during your times of trouble? David showed us how to do that. “And they that know thy name will put their trust in thee: for thou, Lord, hast not forsaken them that seek thee” (verse 10).

Verse 12 actually says God will avenge the blood of the oppressed, because “he does not forget the cry of the afflicted” (rsv). He is the God of judgment! He hears when people cry out in affliction, and He will go after those who afflict them!

David routinely called on that judgment. “Have mercy upon me, O Lord; consider my trouble which I suffer of them that hate me, thou that liftest me up from the gates of death: That I may shew forth all thy praise in the gates of the daughter of Zion: I will rejoice in thy salvation” (verses 13-14). What perspective: David wanted to be delivered so he could continue to praise God. Even when people were trying to kill him, he rejoiced in God’s salvation! In a tough time, we really can rejoice in God’s salvation—in fact, we must. Those fiery trials are more precious than gold.

Verses 15-16 show that when people suffer, they have brought that suffering on themselves: “[T]he wicked is snared in the work of his own hands.” You see this everywhere in the world. God is about to open their eyes and teach them a way of life where they can avoid all that suffering!

Notice: There is not a lot of difference between suffering the natural consequences of sin and receiving God’s judgment (verse 16). Sin brings curses—sometimes naturally; other times supernaturally, direct from God; and at times a combination of the two. “The wicked shall be turned into hell [the grave], and all the nations that forget God” (verse 17). David is simply stating a fact here—a true prophecy. This is worth remembering, praying, even celebrating! Because it advances God’s ultimate purposes, even for those wicked people who will later be resurrected.

Verse 18 is a wonderful promise that God will not forget the needy, and then comes another request for judgment: “Arise, O Lord; let not man prevail: let the heathen be judged in thy sight. Put them in fear, O Lord: that the nations may know themselves to be but men. Selah” (verses 19-20). What an invaluable lesson human beings must learn! They need to be put in fear and to know that they are just men! That is a wonderful thing to pray.

Psalm 11 “In the Lord put I my trust,” David boldly begins. He is resolute even in the face of clear dangers.

He then describes how a faithless person reacts to those dangers: Run to the hills! The wicked are attacking the righteous! If the foundations are destroyed, what can the righteous do? (verses 1-3).

Can you maintain resolute faith when “the foundations are destroyed”? The Laodiceans had a wonderful foundation: Herbert W. Armstrong restored all things—the whole foundation! Then evil men came along and destroyed it, and what did the people do? So many just let it happen, and they turned their backs on God! Now they have no foundation, and their spiritual lives are despicable! Fifty percent of them are going to lose everything. “If the foundations be destroyed, what can the righteous do?” When people allow their foundation to be ruined, it’s all over.

Remember how the state of California attacked the Church, and Mr. Armstrong fought the state and won! They tried to destroy the Church at its foundation, and Mr. Armstrong called on God’s power to stop that. But he had to fight! That was foundational kind of work. He really laid us a wonderful foundation. If we get away from that, where does that leave us?

Look how David clung to his faith by keeping God in the picture: “The Lord is in his holy temple, the Lord’s throne is in heaven …. Upon the wicked he shall rain snares, fire and brimstone, and an horrible tempest …. For the righteous Lord loveth righteousness; his countenance doth behold the upright” (verses 4, 6-7).

Nothing could shake David’s faith! And he simply wouldn’t listen to those who were rattled and intimidated by threats from enemies. He kept his focus fixed on the God who rules over all and who will correct the wicked and protect and uphold the righteous.

Psalm 12 This psalm contrasts the vain, flattering, lying words of man with the truthful, pure words of God.

“Help, Lord; for the godly man ceaseth; for the faithful fail from among the children of men. They speak vanity every one with his neighbour: with flattering lips and with a double [insincere and deceptive] heart do they speak” (verses 1-2). Such duplicity dominates this sick world! It seems you can hardly find an honest person: Godly men are gone; the faithful have vanished. And as verse 8 says, when vile people are exalted, the wicked strut around boldly and freely! No wonder David begins this psalm, Help, Lord!

Thankfully, God will help. “The Lord shall cut off all flattering lips, and the tongue that speaketh proud things: Who have said, With our tongue will we prevail; our lips are our own: who is lord over us?” (verses 3-4).

So many smooth-tongued people ooze with arrogance, convinced that they can talk their way out of any dilemma, however bold their lies. They feel no accountability, they recognize no higher power. God says their confidence is unfounded, their security an illusion! He will cut off flattering lips and proud tongues.

“‘Because the poor are despoiled, because the needy groan, I will now arise,’ says the Lord; ‘I will place him in the safety for which he longs’” (verse 5; rsv). God’s promise to bring justice was so tangible to David that he imagined God Himself saying these powerful, beautiful words: I will now arise—I will deliver and protect.

David then wrote, “The words of the Lord are pure words: as silver tried in a furnace of earth, purified seven times” (verse 6). How wonderful! Every word of God is absolutely pure, true, trustworthy, reliable. However grim current conditions may be, you can stake your life on God’s words. David did.

What a contrast to the slippery words of man! We must strive to purge vanity, flattery, deceit, insincerity and pride from our speech, which issues from the abundance of the heart (Matthew 12:34). Develop a heart after God’s own like David did, and your words too will be truthful and pure.

Psalm 13 Have you ever felt God wasn’t helping you? That He had turned His back on you? David did. “How long wilt thou forget me, O Lord? for ever? how long wilt thou hide thy face from me?” (verse 1). It seems you’ve forgotten me for a long time, he said. Will it be forever? Obviously the great God does not forget His people! But David was struggling.

“How long shall I take counsel in my soul, having sorrow in my heart daily? how long shall mine enemy be exalted over me?” (verse 2). Four times David asked “How long?” He really lets us see his anguish here! Bible poetry expert Robert Alter says this gives the poem “the note of desperate urgency pitched slightly higher with each repetition” (The Art of Biblical Poetry).

David pleads for relief: “Consider and hear me, O Lord my God: lighten mine eyes, lest I sleep the sleep of death” (verse 3). He was in profound trouble—on the verge of death!—and wasn’t receiving the help he needed.

How did he handle this crisis? “But I have trusted in thy mercy; my heart shall rejoice in thy salvation” (verse 5). Once again, this man after God’s own heart cast his cares on God, trusted Him completely—and even rejoiced, confident that God would save him!

How could the man who had been so troubled a moment before speak with such faith? He directed his thoughts: He remembered past times when he trusted in God’s mercy, and he anticipated God’s deliverance and salvation. He exercised faith, “the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen” (Hebrews 11:1).

“The speaker … finds himself plunged into a fierce reality where things seem to go from bad to worse to the worst of all,” Alter writes. “There is no ‘logical’ way out of this predicament … as there is no discursive means in verse to imagine anything but its ominous intensification, except for the sudden, unaccountable, paradoxical swing of faith that enables the speaker at the nadir of terror to affirm that God will sustain him, indeed has sustained him. Generically, the supplication has been transformed in a single stroke into a psalm of thanksgiving” (ibid).

And here is the result: “I will sing unto the Lord, because he hath dealt bountifully with me” (Psalm 13:6). David broke through to God, and God answered his prayer! He came to David’s rescue and provided his refuge, and David really rejoiced!

Psalm 14 When he was out taking care of his father’s sheep in the night watches, David meditated on God. We all need to learn to meditate like David did. Thinking as he did led him to this plain conclusion: “The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God” (verse 1).

David wrote these condemning words “to the chief Musician,” to be sung by the whole nation! He couldn’t have been more blunt: Anybody who says there is no God is a fool! Think of the superabundant evidence one must willfully ignore to believe God doesn’t exist. How foolish—to even say this in one’s heart, let alone to broadcast it openly! Yet look at the parade of fools who influence and dominate every aspect of this modern materialistic, rationalistic society. “They are corrupt, they have done abominable works, there is none that doeth good,” verse 1 concludes.

Verse 2 says God looked down on mankind to find whether anyone was seeking Him—yet sadly, “They are all gone aside, they are all together become filthy: there is none that doeth good, no, not one” (verse 3). The Apostle Paul quoted these verses to describe the universal evil of human nature (Romans 3:10-12). We are all guilty of sin. This whole world is immersed in wickedness! Not a single person is doing right—unless he or she is submitting wholly to the true God.

God condemns the sinners and those who don’t look to Him (Psalm 14:4). David looked forward to the time when God will reveal Himself and put them in fear (verse 5). This is a vivid prophecy we need to set our minds on as David did: that of Christ delivering His people and causing them to rejoice when He rules the Earth! (verse 7).

This psalm is repeated in Book ii of the Psalms with some intriguing differences that we will explore when we study Psalm 53.

Psalm 15 “Lord, who shall abide in thy tabernacle? who shall dwell in thy holy hill?” David asked (verse 1). He yearned to be with God, to dwell with God. He knew that to do so, he had to ensure he was right with God. He also wanted to discern those truly with God and those merely pretending—those in the inner court and those outside it.

If you listed the qualities and actions that delight God and inspire Him to invite us and welcome us into His presence, what would you write? David thought deeply on this question, and under God’s inspiration thought of 11 characteristics we ought to pursue. Each is worth meditating on.

Here was God’s inspired answer to David’s question: “He that [1] walketh uprightly, and [2] worketh righteousness, and [3] speaketh the truth in his heart” (verse 2). God looks on the heart. He wants to know what you are speaking in your heart, not just with your mouth. So many people talk about truth and are lying! We must speak the truth in our heart! What you say is the same as in your mind and your heart, or your attitude.

The passage continues: “He that [4] backbiteth not with his tongue, [5] nor doeth evil to his neighbour, [6] nor taketh up a reproach [carries scorn] against his neighbour. [7] In whose eyes a vile person is contemned [despised]; but he [8] honoureth them that fear the Lord. He that [9] sweareth to his own hurt [keeps an oath even when it hurts], and changeth not. [10] He that putteth not out his money to usury, [11] nor taketh reward against the innocent. …” (verses 3-5).

Whether you will dwell with God depends on the life you live. Build strong, upright spiritual posture—not cringing, fawning, stooping. Be a doer of right works, not a forgetful hearer. Speak truth not only with the lips but within the heart, in absolute sincerity. Avoid slandering others, aligning yourself with the Accuser (Revelation 12:10) rather than with God. Love your neighbor as yourself, protecting rather than attacking him. Don’t even listen to gossip and reproach. Exercise discernment and view vile men with contempt and scorn. Be a respecter not of persons but of character, honoring those who fear God. Keep your word at all costs. Earn wealth honestly, never through deceit or oppression. Love and pursue justice more than personal comfort or gain.

Allow God to build His very character within you, and He will happily keep you close to Himself. You will dwell with Him on His holy hill. David concludes, “He that doeth these things shall never be moved.”

Psalm 16 This is a Michtam of David. The margin reads, “A golden Psalm.” The root of the word Michtam means to carve or inscribe indelibly, to engrave on your mind. Indelible means it cannot be erased. That is what we want to do with God’s truth. As you listen to a sermon, for example, you take notes. But that is not enough. What do you do with those notes? Are you carving them into your mind? Are they changing your thoughts and actions? We need these psalms engraved in our mind. That takes some study! Look what it did for David! He set a magnificent example. Etching truth into our thinking every day will deliver us into the Kingdom! That is essentially what David says here.

One Bible translation adds this subhead to Psalm 16: “David, in Distrust of Merits, and Hatred of Idolatry.” Here David pleads to God for preservation, and he shows the hope of his calling.

“Preserve me, O God, for in You I put my trust. O my soul, you have said to the Lord, ‘You are my Lord, My goodness is nothing apart from You.’ As for the saints who are on the earth, ‘They are the excellent ones, in whom is all my delight’” (verses 1-3; nkjv). David trusted in God, and he delighted in the saints of God. We all need to do this, especially God’s leaders: Delight in God’s people, love them, and show them that we are God’s Family! Do you delight in God’s people and love serving them in any way you possibly can? Do they know you love them? It is critical that they see and understand that you do.

David was so strong in faith. “I have set the Lord always before me: because he is at my right hand, I shall not be moved” (verse 8). He did not fear adversity. He simply said, I shall not be moved—period—because I have set the Eternal always before me! That is a deep statement. This man after God’s own heart wouldn’t even think about being moved.

“Therefore my heart is glad, and my glory rejoiceth: my flesh also shall rest in hope” (verse 9). This resolve gave David genuine hope in his life.

God’s awesome master plan is to re-create Himself in men! We must do all we can to engrave this in our minds. Do that, and we will stand up to anybody and say, like David, I will never be moved! That is the vision we all need. Just look at the Laodiceans today and you see what will happen if we lose that vision.

“For thou wilt not leave my soul in hell [the grave]; neither wilt thou suffer thine Holy One to see corruption” (verse 10). Here is another prophetic statement from David about Jesus Christ. He knew that God the Father would resurrect Christ from the grave before the body decayed.

“Thou wilt shew me the path of life: in thy presence is fulness of joy; at thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore” (verse 11). David looked forward to real life, being in God’s presence and full of joy! That is coming—shortly. In many ways, we see the outcome already!

Psalm 17 This is the prayer of an innocent man. “Thou hast proved mine heart; thou hast visited me in the night; thou hast tried me, and shalt find nothing …” (verse 3). Listen to what David is saying: You have tried me and shall find nothing! What a confident statement! Surely God loved hearing that and inspired David to write that down in a powerful poetic style. These psalms may be the best poetry ever written!

“… I am purposed that my mouth shall not transgress” (verse 3). You won’t hear me discussing people, putting people down, ruining reputations. The tongue can set the world on fire, and David knew that (James 3:5-6).

“Keep me as the apple of the eye, hide me under the shadow of thy wings” (Psalm 17:8). God’s people are the pupil, or center, of God’s eye! What beautiful, poetic imagery! This is the way God views us. He really delights in His Family! God delights in the Work we are doing.

“As for me, I will behold thy face in righteousness: I shall be satisfied, when I awake, with thy likeness” (verse 15). We will be sons of God! That word likeness is temunah; elsewhere it is used to directly represent God Himself! He is talking about becoming God! Having God’s own character! The Hebrew makes that clear. What a vision! David had his mind on that glory and wouldn’t let anything stop him from attaining that goal!

Jeremiah wanted to teach this to Ireland. He exalted David’s psalms, and David’s throne, to really showcase what David did. That is what his commission was all about! That throne is going to unite the whole world! The stone of destiny will unite the world—and we have it!

Psalm 18 This is a psalm of a mighty spiritual warrior, a man who knew how to let God lead him in battle.

The subhead says, “A Psalm of David, the servant of the Lord, who spake unto the Lord the words of this song in the day that the Lord delivered him from the hand of all his enemies, and from the hand of Saul ….” David would not let all those dramatic events pass and not write a song about it! We sing this psalm even today, and in that way, God is engraving these wonderful lessons on our minds.

This psalm is also found in 2 Samuel 22, with some minor differences. That was probably the earlier version, and David made some edits and revisions when including it in the book of Psalms. Perhaps Jeremiah made some adjustments as well for his collection.

“I will love thee, O Lord, my strength” (Psalm 18:1). After that deliverance from trial, David truly wanted God to know how much he loved Him! When God gave us victory after our six-year court battle with the Worldwide Church of God, we really thanked God for it. But after studying David’s words here, I think we could have done better.

David deeply loved God for what He did! “The Lord is my rock, and my fortress, and my deliverer; my God, my strength, in whom I will trust; my buckler, and the horn of my salvation, and my high tower” (verse 2).

That does not mean David never struggled emotionally. “The sorrows of death compassed me, and the floods of ungodly men made me afraid” (verse 4). He was human; he had sorrows and fears. But what did he do with those emotions? “In my distress I called upon the Lord, and cried unto my God …” (verse 6). He refused to allow those negative emotions to dominate him. He took them to God.

David was acutely aware of God’s intervention and His answers to prayer. In this psalm, he describes these in most dramatic imagery (verses 7-15). “The Lord also thundered in the heavens, and the Highest gave his voice; hail stones and coals of fire. Yea, he sent out his arrows, and scattered them; and he shot out lightnings, and discomfited them” (verses 13-14). Nothing in the historical account of God’s deliverance of David from Saul includes hailstones, fire, arrows and lightning descending from heaven. Yet David knew that it was the Almighty God who had fought his battles! Do we so clearly recognize Him helping us through our trials?

“He brought me forth also into a large place; he delivered me, because he delighted in me” (verse 19). Is that vanity? Not at all. David spoke frankly; he knew this was the truth. “The Lord rewarded me according to my righteousness; according to the cleanness of my hands hath he recompensed me” (verse 20). That is deep understanding: God rewards us according to our righteousness; He blesses us for our spiritual cleanness.

David develops this theme in verses 22-26. “With the merciful thou wilt shew thyself merciful; with an upright man thou wilt shew thyself upright; With the pure thou wilt shew thyself pure …” (verses 25-26). Whatever godly qualities we exhibit, God shows the same toward us very generously—but “with the froward thou wilt shew thyself froward.” When men oppose God, He will oppose them and turn their actions against them.

So much of this psalm describes what God did to deliver David. That doesn’t mean David did nothing. Several verses describe how God empowered David’s actions in handling his enemies.

“It is God that girdeth me with strength, and maketh my way perfect” (verse 32). It is God that does these things—God in us! We can of our own selves do nothing. David was empowered by the Holy Spirit in fighting his battles. He was deeply aware of that and so thankful. “He maketh my feet like hinds’ feet, and setteth me upon my high places” (verse 33). David was bouncing around like a newborn calf when it experiences new life! It wants to live and enjoy life.

“He teacheth my hands to war, so that a bow of steel is broken by mine arms” (verse 34). David was a real warrior, and God was his Trainer and Commander. We too must become mighty spiritual warriors; we need God to teach us to war!

“I have pursued mine enemies, and overtaken them: neither did I turn again till they were consumed. … For thou hast girded me with strength unto the battle …” (verses 37, 39). When your cause is righteous and God is fighting for you, you will have all the spiritual strength you need to gain transcendent victories!

Think deeply on the audacious, offensive-minded spirit of this psalm! To win battles, we cannot be back-pedaling, timid and cowed. We need the spirit of the Lion of Judah! (Proverbs 28:1). We must harness God’s power, attack our weaknesses, take the fight to the enemy, press every advantage!

Study the verses that follow to see just how bold and confident David was, knowing God was behind him. This is the same man who courageously conquered Goliath with a slingshot. We all need this valiant, faith-filled spirit of David in our spiritual warfare—and this spirit of praise and thanks to God for the triumphs He gives us. “Therefore will I give thanks unto thee, O Lord, among the heathen, and sing praises unto thy name. Great deliverance giveth he to his king; and sheweth mercy to his anointed, to David, and to his seed for evermore” (Psalm 18:49-50).

Psalm 19 When David looked into the night sky, he was awestruck by what those lights reveal about the Creator. “The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament sheweth his handywork” (verse 1). He celebrated the fact that God has revealed Himself in designing, creating and sustaining the universe. God’s glory and handiwork are out there for everybody to see—and all the more so with powerful modern space telescopes! The heavens truly do reveal God! The more science discovers, the more obvious this becomes. The atheist truly is without excuse (Psalm 14:1).

The “firmament” includes stars, galaxies and the brightness of the universe—awesome beauty and light. Cyclopædia of Biblical, Theological and Ecclesiastical Literature says, “[I]n Ezekiel 1:22-26, the ‘firmament’ is the floor on which the throne of the Most High is placed.” It also says that biblically the firmament “was to support the heavenly bodies, sun, moon and stars (Genesis 1:14).” God says we will forever shine as the brightness of the firmament (Daniel 12:3).

“Day unto day uttereth speech, and night unto night sheweth knowledge” (Psalm 19:2). This uses a poetic technique known as merism, where two opposites (day and night) are given to show the totality of something. This stupendous knowledge is proclaimed at all times! The Hebrew for “uttereth” is naba, which means to pour out or send forth. One translation says, “Day after day it prophesies.” The heavens are constantly pouring forth prophecy! What are they saying? This is very spiritual.

“There is no speech nor language, where their voice is not heard. Their line is gone out through all the earth, and their words to the end of the world” (verses 3-4). Each verse uses different terms for speaking or proclaiming. The heavens are delivering their message, and it extends to the end of the world! The whole world should hear it.

The King James margin says “their line” could read “their rule or direction.” God expresses it that way for a good reason: The heavens declare the glory of God because their rule, or their direction, is from God! It wouldn’t declare the glory of God unless God directed it. You can give glory to God only if He rules and directs you. We need to learn that deeply.

Gesenius’ Hebrew-Chaldee Lexicon says the word line is “a measuring cord.” Strong’s Concordance describes it as a musical string or accord, meaning harmony. Both interpretations are correct—because if you are under God’s rule and direction, then you have accord, or harmony.

There is harmony in the universe, and it is produced by the law and the direction of God. The precision with which it runs is proof that the orchestra is under the baton of a master conductor. The whole universe moves, sounds and plays like a great orchestra with God as the conductor! We can look up into the skies and see that and be stirred and motivated by it.

The hidden part of these verses is man himself. This is about man’s place in the universe. God wants us to get our minds on our future and on Him, the Creator.

“… In them hath he set a tabernacle for the sun, Which is as a bridegroom coming out of his chamber, and rejoiceth as a strong man to run a race. His going forth is from the end of the heaven, and his circuit unto the ends of it: and there is nothing hid from the heat thereof” (verses 4-6). The sun is the most prominent body or symbol here illustrating God’s eminence. This is a prophecy—a picture of how Jesus Christ is about to bring light and growth to all the world. Righteousness will fill the Earth. Everybody will be touched, just like they are by the light of the physical sun. You can step outside on a sunny day and feel the sun’s heat. The “Sun of righteousness” (Malachi 4:2) is about to fill this Earth! That is a prophecy you can see in the heavens every day! The whole world is about to see that prophecy fulfilled.

Why do you suppose God inspired the word “bridegroom” in Psalm 19:5? If there is a bridegroom, then there must be a bride! There is a group of people submitting to the law of God and submitting to their Husband and to His rule and direction in their lives.

Note the connection between the first half of this psalm and the second half: “The law of the Lord is perfect, converting the soul: the testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple. The statutes of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart: the commandment of the Lord is pure, enlightening the eyes” (verses 7-8). This is a prophecy about what the law will do in your life. The law of God is more perfect than the universe. It converts people and brings joy and happiness into their life! That makes that law “[m]ore to be desired … than gold, yea, than much fine gold: sweeter also than honey and the honeycomb” (verse 10). How precious all this is!

David’s description of God’s law in these verses was clearly the inspiration for Psalm 119, a song of praise for the law. As I explained earlier in this book, Psalm 119 was authored by Jeremiah and supplies powerful evidence of how deeply he was influenced by David.

God says His universe is in harmony. The only area not in harmony is Earth. Sadly, on Earth today you see a lot of disharmony! If you find true harmony anywhere, it is never an accident. And wherever you find disharmony, you always find a breaking of God’s law. There’s no fine, classical, beautiful music like there should be.

The Earth doesn’t declare God’s glory—because God doesn’t rule it yet! But He certainly will. If you understand the mind of God—who is behind all that harmony in the universe—you know that He is yearning to bring that harmony here as well. In fact, this is all a prophecy of what will happen on Earth in the near future! The universe is prophesying that God is going to rule Earth and all its inhabitants just like He does the universe! If you know God, you know that He’s a God of law and that it’s just a matter of time until He corrects the problem. He’s never going to stop until everything is in harmony.

Is your life making beautiful music for God? Are you declaring God’s glory by the way your life works? That is our purpose: to declare God’s glory! If we are not doing that, then we are out of harmony with the law of the Creator and Ruler of the universe!

Thinking on these themes, David yearned to harmonize his life completely with God. “[C]leanse thou me from secret faults,” he prayed. “Let the words of my mouth, and the meditation of my heart, be acceptable in thy sight, O Lord, my strength, and my redeemer” (verses 12, 14). What a marvelous prayer from a man after God’s own heart.

The heavens are pouring forth a prophecy of glory and harmony! They are telling us that, very soon, the whole heavens and the whole Earth will declare God’s glory!

Psalm 20 This is a prayer for victory in a time of distress. “The Lord hear thee in the day of trouble; the name of the God of Jacob defend thee” (verse 1). David was accustomed to crying out to God for deliverance from his own trials; here he extends his prayer to the afflictions of the nation. We can all offer such intercessions on behalf of God’s leader as well. David may have written this psalm with that purpose in mind: for the people to sing it in support of the king before battle (e.g. verse 9).

“Send thee help from the sanctuary, and strengthen thee out of Zion …. We will rejoice in thy salvation, and in the name of our God we will set up our banners: the Lord fulfil all thy petitions” (verses 2, 5). When God’s people are calling upon Him, when His armies are raising their standards in His name, they are an unstoppable force!

“Now know I that the Lord saveth his anointed; he will hear him from his holy heaven with the saving strength of his right hand” (verse 6). Again you see this faith-filled confidence: I know that the Eternal saves His anointed. God’s anointed today include His ministers. God does save us and hear us, and He always will if we have the attitude of David. In fact, all of God’s Spirit-begotten people have received an anointing from God (1 John 2:27).

“Some trust in chariots, and some in horses: but we will remember the name of the Lord our God” (Psalm 20:7). All worldly protection will fail. Trust in God. “They are brought down and fallen: but we are risen, and stand upright” (verse 8).

Psalm 21 The previous psalm is a petition for the king. Here is the song for when that prayer is answered: a triumphant psalm of praise for victory, a celebration of the blessings God gives to His king.

“The king shall joy in thy strength, O Lord; and in thy salvation how greatly shall he rejoice!” (verse 1). He not only rejoices, but greatly rejoices! What glorious themes David meditated on, set his heart on, spoke to God about, and shared with the people!

“Thou hast given him his heart’s desire …. [T]hou settest a crown of pure gold on his head. He asked life of thee, and thou gavest it him, even length of days for ever and ever” (verses 2-4). As much as these words apply to David, they foreshadow and ultimately pertain to the King of kings, who will reign eternally. “[H]onour and majesty hast thou laid upon him. For thou hast made him most blessed for ever …” (verses 5-6).

“For the king trusteth in the Lord, and through the mercy of the most High he shall not be moved” (verse 7). How wonderful when “the king trusts in the Eternal”! The people can truly rejoice under such righteous rulership (Proverbs 29:2).

God is about to install such rule over all the Earth. To do that, Christ will uproot this world’s wicked rulers. Psalm 21:8-12 are a picture of the fierce war He will wage when He returns in power and glory. All who have fought against God and His way will be removed so that Christ can govern in their stead.

“Be thou exalted, Lord, in thine own strength: so will we sing and praise thy power” (verse 13). Is there any more inspiring vision to set our hearts on? David loved the government of God. He worked hard to use his office to implement it in Israel. And he yearned for the time when the King Himself would be governing in strength! This vision was so real to him that he was inspired to sing about it! And Jeremiah wanted to share this with the people of Ireland.

Psalm 22 The Jamieson, Fausset & Brown Commentary makes a fascinating statement: Psalms 22, 23 and 24 form a trilogy; these psalms are linked. I agree. As we study these three psalms, we will see how they work together to etch a powerful vision into our minds.

King David was a prophet. The Apostle Peter referred to how David’s psalms prophesied of Christ, including details of His life and death (Acts 2:29-35). Matthew wrote, “And they crucified him, and parted his garments, casting lots: that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet, They parted my garments among them, and upon my vesture did they cast lots” (Matthew 27:35). That is an explicit reference to David’s Psalm 22 as a prophecy of the beating and crucifixion of Jesus Christ. Yet Matthew doesn’t give his name; he simply assumes we know David to be “the prophet.”

This is one of the most quoted psalms in the New Testament. It is an extraordinary prophetic vision. There is no way it could have applied to King David. It is filled with Passover imagery: directly prophesying of the scourging that ripped Christ’s flesh off and exposed His bones; the angry mob mocking Him for trusting in God; the crucifixion, with the Roman soldiers piercing Christ’s hands and feet, parting His garments, and casting lots on them (verses 1, 6-8, 14, 16, 18). Under God’s inspiration, David prophesied exactly what would happen to Christ about a thousand years later, and it happened precisely that way. He sought to understand deeply how precious this is. Nothing else in the Old Testament gives such extraordinary detail about the crucifixion. God revealed this vision to David for a great purpose.

Consider how much Jesus Christ knew, well in advance, about what He would have to endure! It is remarkable that He was willing to proceed with that excruciating plan.

The message of this psalm is not just for Passover: We need this carved in our minds so we are aware of it all the time. It contains a big lesson, a great message, we must understand.

Psalm 22 gives us profound insight into Christ’s thinking during that ghastly ordeal. Just before dying, Christ cried out: “My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? why art thou so far from helping me, and from the words of my roaring?” (verse 1; Matthew 27:46; Mark 15:34). Christ spoke of “the words of my roaring”! He was like a wild animal in agony, struggling with everything in His being to keep from sinning—so He could pay for our sins and make it possible for us to be in the Family of God. His constitution was shaken. He was suffering the greatest physical trial a man could ever suffer.

Yet remarkably, that was not His greatest concern. The most grievous aspect of this trial was that He became sin (2 Corinthians 5:21) and was momentarily cut off from God! In all His eternal life, He had never experienced even a moment of separation from the Most High God! He had been at one with God, who became His Father, for all eternity. Now, suddenly, He was cut off from Him. This was horrendous in His mind! And the Father was so committed to His law and His plan that He turned His back on His Son in His worst trial! This was the biggest test ever for the Father and the Son. They did this for you and me.

We need to deeply ponder these words of Christ just before He died. Clearly see the price that had to be paid for your sins. A God had to die! He is our Creator. He was beaten for our healing. He was crucified so our spiritual sins against God can be forgiven—so we can prosper and partake of salvation. We must not take sin lightly! How horrified are you when you have sin in your life and are not dealing with it as you should? The sins we have committed should bring us to our knees with tears flowing down our cheeks! In writing this psalm, David recognized and thought deeply on this truth.

Christ continues: “O my God, I cry in the daytime, but thou hearest not; and in the night season, and am not silent. But thou art holy, O thou that inhabitest the praises of Israel” (Psalm 22:2-3). He was crying out in pain, roaring at being cut off from God. Yet Jesus never said, This is unfair—why should I be treated like this? He said, My Father is holy. Even amid the most scorching of fiery trials, Christ proclaimed God’s holiness and praised His greatness. That is character par excellence! Can you imagine experiencing such suffering—and still exalting God for His holiness? Surely we need to praise God more! When you understand this psalm, how could you not praise God and love the God who did this?

“Our fathers trusted in thee: they trusted, and thou didst deliver them. They cried unto thee, and were delivered: they trusted in thee, and were not confounded” (verse 4-5). Behold what Jesus, nailed to a stake, focused on: past deliverance. What a marvelous attitude. Always remember: If you trust God, He will deliver you. That is a promise to all of us! Jesus trusted in His Father, and so must we.

In verse 6, Christ said, “But I am a worm, and no man ….” What perspective. That is what we all are, physically speaking, if we are cut off from God—if we fail to live by the power of God. We lack spiritual understanding and vision, and we have no future. God called unconverted Jacob a worm (Isaiah 41:14). We live a little while then die, and that’s it—unless we have God living in us. That is what will happen to 50 percent of the Laodiceans: They will die like worms, and then it is over! What a sad story. We must learn to act like God and like David—and if we know we are just worms, that motivates us. If that is all we are, then we had better get busy. We can of our own selves do nothing. If we produce anything of value, we must know where that comes from.

Psalm 22:6 continues, “a reproach of men, and despised of the people.” “Reproach of men” means the whole human race. We have all despised Christ!

“All they that see me laugh me to scorn: they shoot out the lip, they shake the head, saying, He trusted on the Lord that he would deliver him: let him deliver him, seeing he delighted in him” (verses 7-8). People were mocking Christ and His pitiable state. Compare these verses to Matthew 27:39-43: They said, If you be the Son of God, come down from the stake. That is satanic language. Read Matthew 4:3 and 6 to hear the devil himself making this ugly accusation, as if he didn’t know that Christ was the Son of God!

These people were motivated by the devil. They thought it great entertainment when Christ was crucified for their own sins! They made every evil statement you could think of. That is the way this world thinks about Christ. If they loved the real Jesus Christ, they would be in God’s true Church! They would be keeping the biblical Passover and holy days.

People mocked Christ for trusting God—which is exactly what He did. The margin shows that “trusted” in Psalm 22:8 literally means that Christ “rolled Himself on the Lord.” Barnes’ Notes explains, “The margin expresses the true sense of the Hebrew word. The idea is that of being under the pressure of a heavy burden, and of rolling it off, or casting it on another. Hence, the word is often used in the sense of committing to another; entrusting anything to another; confiding in another.” Christ has total trust in God. He trusts His Father’s every word—even when He was cut off from Him! He is utterly confident that God knows what He is doing, and He put His case completely in the Father’s hands. That was the faith He was trying to achieve all the time, and look what it produced in His life. Even in the face of crushing adversity, Christ never lost faith. He knew this was the only way that salvation could be opened to billions of people!

Christ maintained total trust in His Father even when the Father forsook Him! When He became sin, still He said, My Father knows what He is doing. It is in His hands. I know what He said, and I totally trust Him. He had to maintain that mindset to avoid sinning.

David had to study and think deeply on this to be able to fulfill that himself. He saw this extraordinary quality of God and wanted to share that understanding—the result is this very moving psalm. And I believe Jeremiah recognized his own inadequacy and wanted to learn more from David. I think he studied Psalm 22 and other psalms where David revealed how he learned to totally trust God. For example, in Psalm 55:22-23, David wrote, “Cast thy burden upon the Lord, and he shall sustain thee: he shall never suffer the righteous to be moved. But thou, O God, shalt bring them down into the pit of destruction: bloody and deceitful men shall not live out half their days; but I will trust in thee.”

God wants that same total trust from us. When we are in a trial—especially in pain or in a trial that lasts a long time—we can tend to focus on that rather than on the all-powerful God! Always remember Christ’s example: He rolled Himself on God and gave that burden completely over to His Father.

Psalm 22:9-10 show that Jesus had the Holy Spirit from birth, as I understand this.

“Be not far from me; for trouble is near; for there is none to help. Many bulls have compassed me: strong bulls of Bashan have beset me round” (verses 11-12). Who was there to help Christ when He was crucified? Even the disciples ran. They wanted no part of this. And those “bulls of Bashan” were doing terrible things.

“They gaped upon me with their mouths, as a ravening and a roaring lion. I am poured out like water, and all my bones are out of joint …” (verses 13-14). We need to fully grasp what Jesus Christ and God the Father did for us! How deeply do we understand this? David had tremendous spiritual depth here. He had his eyes on the Kingdom and on the Father and Christ. He understood the sacrifice God would make. And he was exhorting us to see our trials in this context.

This is a mind-shattering event that we must get in our minds as never before. God is love, and He wants a Family. That is why Jesus Christ was brought to the “dust of death” (verse 15). That is why dogs, or soldiers, compassed Him and pierced His hands and feet (verse 16). That is why He was marred to the point that He could count the bones protruding from His beaten body (verse 17). There has never been anything like this sacrifice! What is this love that God has that He would risk losing His Son forever? Shouldn’t we have this engraved in our minds deeply enough that we will think about it, at least, weekly?

Even in the dust of death, Christ had the Father with Him. Sometimes we may have to reach that point: to “the dust of death.” But as long as we are alive, God is right with us. We must understand that as Christ did.

Study the rest of Psalm 22 and you will receive an inspiring picture of how selfless, how worshipful, how faith-filled, how perfect Christ’s attitude remained throughout that shocking, satanic ordeal. From verse 22 onward, this psalm is all praise! Christ’s attitude is absolutely perfect! Imagine Jesus saying these words to Himself as He bled to death: “I will declare thy name unto my brethren: in the midst of the congregation will I praise thee” (verse 22). That is the purest expression of love and praise for the Father!

Christ kept His mind focused on the spectacular good news of what that sacrifice would lead to: “All the ends of the world shall remember and turn unto the Lord: and all the kindreds of the nations shall worship before thee” (verse 27). That sacrifice opened up salvation to “all the kindreds of the nations”—all humanity! And the whole world will come to understand this truth shortly. What a wonderful blessing that will be!

We must think globally. God’s purpose for us is to rule the world, and we must keep raising our standard and striving to build God’s character to be ready for that.

“For the kingdom is the Lord’s: and he is the governor among the nations” (verse 28). The whole world will soon acknowledge this. “They shall come, and shall declare his righteousness unto a people that shall be born, that he hath done this” (verse 31). This spiritual victory is going to be proclaimed for all time—for untold generations yet to be born. This really gives the grand overview. This is a beautiful picture of the God Family. Why did the Father and the Son do this? Because they intend to bring many sons into glory!

What a marvelous outcome of that magnificent sacrifice that God and Christ made. Like David, we need to fix our minds on what they did and recognize that it is our sins that made that necessary! And we must be motivated to drive sin out of our life and overcome it totally—to conquer as Christ did.

This is the big lesson God wants us to get out of Psalm 22: We must see what our sins did to Christ, and that must cut us to the heart! We must repent, and say, like Job, “I abhor myself, and repent in dust and ashes” (Job 42:6). After God got through to him, he didn’t just say, I repent of what I did—he said, I repent of what I am! As Jeremiah says, the human heart is “deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked” (Jeremiah 17:9). That is what man is! We have to repent not just of what we have done but also of what we are.

How David loved God the Father and Jesus Christ for what they did—even before they did it! Why do you suppose David received such understanding from God? He had profound faith, as did Jeremiah. Imagine what Jeremiah thought of Psalm 22 and how it motivated him. He wanted to publish this in a book and share it! These men were moved and stirred by this vision. How deeply David and Jeremiah got into this!

The Father gave rich inspiration to these two men so they could help the saints. These men delighted in God’s people and wanted to be helpers of their joy (2 Corinthians 1:24). They wanted to help people understand the depth of God. They wanted them to realize how—even in trial—if you have this kind of depth, you will rejoice and be filled with joy!

Psalm 23 This is the second psalm in this trilogy. An evangelist in the Worldwide Church of God (wcg) related how he had been taught the 23rd Psalm in Sunday school and the sickly way the Protestants teach it. When he came into the wcg, he studied hard and marked all kinds of scriptures in his Bible, but he was so sickened by Psalm 23 that he ignored it. His perspective changed dramatically after he heard a powerful sermonette explaining that the psalm was actually Christ’s words as He hung on the stake. The revelation caused chills in his body and brought tears to his eyes.

This psalm comes after Psalm 22—and it too is about Jesus Christ’s crucifixion! The Jamieson, Fausset and Brown Commentary says that where Psalm 22 speaks of “Christ on the cross,” Psalm 23 is about “God the Father’s Shepherd-like care of Him, even in dying.” This is the only commentary I know of that says this. Nevertheless, it is correct, and this is why Psalm 23 is positioned here within the psalter. These psalms show how deeply David had the sacrifice of Christ in his mind. These are two of the most moving psalms in the book, and they are about the price that had to be paid for our sins.

This is a stunning prophecy of Jesus’s words on the stake. This man was wracked with pain, at the brink of death, and He said, “The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want” (verse 1). I shall not want—the Hebrew is emphatic: I lack nothing. What perfection of character it required, under such horrific duress, to focus on the fact that God provides all His needs!

“He maketh me to lie down in green pastures: he leadeth me beside the still waters” (verse 2). Think of the maelstrom of pain and agony Christ experienced. Think of the turmoil around Him—the mockery, insults, the spitting and hate—then think of the calmness of mind, the “still waters,” within Christ. What extraordinary spiritual focus! His mind was on the God Family and how this sacrifice would open up the opportunity for billions upon billions of sons of glory!

We have not experienced anything like Christ did, but we do have trials. How much can we follow His example? With His mind in us—even in the desert and drought of fierce trial—we too can enjoy lush pastures of God’s truth, living waters of God’s Spirit and beautiful spiritual growth.

“He restoreth my soul: he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name’s sake” (verse 3). The syrupy interpretations from worldly churches show how they have polluted and corrupted these words. These are not saccharine sentiments: They are faithful declarations of an embattled warrior in the throes of conflict.

“Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me” (verse 4). “‘The valley of the shadow of death’ [is] the Hebrew idiom for the blackest darkness; hence, a position surrounded by great perils and deaths” (ibid). It is not just a shadow. Christ was surrounded by the blackest darkness and about to die! Yet even in those circumstances, He knew God would provide all His needs. My Father will look after me, no matter what happens here.

This is how you can overcome problems and difficulties! God gives us safe guidance through the darkest trials, even death. What can darken your life if you know that God says the death of a saint is precious? (Psalm 116:15).

“Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies: thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over. Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life: and I will dwell in the house of the Lord for ever” (verses 5-6). What powerful insight! You couldn’t have a happier ending than this.

The Jamieson, Fausset and Brown Commentary says that “surely” really means “only,” as in, “nothing but goodness shall follow me.” “As my enemies, like wild beasts, follow me with evil intent, so God follows me with good.” Christ knew that—and so should we! We have trials, but they are more precious than gold because God works everything for good.

Psalms 22 and 23 really show how deeply David had the sacrifice of Christ in his mind all the time! David wanted the whole world to see what it was like on the stake for Jesus Christ! And how loyal He was to His Father, and how consumed He was by the desire to please His Father, not thinking even one selfish thought—and He didn’t deserve any of this! Yet He did it for you and me.

These men wanted to magnify Christ’s beating and crucifixion. When you consider that, you have to believe we need this truth more in our minds! We need to be thinking like David and Jeremiah did. If Christ is willing to give all that for us, can’t we give our lives to Him?

How blessed we are to know and understand Psalm 23! This ought to move and motivate you so you never, ever turn away from God. Once you get this engraved in your mind, you will talk like David: I will never be moved! Nothing will ever move me! He said that repeatedly because he knew these wonderful truths so deeply. And Jeremiah thought, I need to write a book about this. People must understand this! They must realize what God the Father and Jesus Christ are doing for every one of us!

Psalm 24 The third psalm in this trilogy about Jesus Christ truly makes the trilogy, I believe. The vision in this psalm makes Psalms 22 and 23 more powerful and inspiring. This psalm shows the end result of that magnificent sacrifice of Jesus Christ! And it shows us what our reward is when we follow Christ’s example in our trials.

God’s plan for man includes all men. “The earth is the Lord’s, and the fulness thereof; the world, and they that dwell therein” (Psalm 24:1). God is not just the God of the Jews or of His Church. He wants to bring all who dwell on Earth, and all who ever have, into His eternal Family!

However, His is not a “come as you are” religion. “Who shall ascend into the hill of the Lord? or who shall stand in his holy place?” David asks (verse 3). This is very much like Psalm 15. You could view “the hill of the Lord” as God’s faithful Church today, which leads to dwelling with God forever! We have access to God the Father, even today! And God wants us to stand in His holy place, immovable.

Note: We have to ascend to meet God. It takes work. Before God will bring someone into His “holy place,” that individual must repent, reject Satan’s way, and embrace God’s way of continual upward striving.

David describes the repentant, righteous individual: “He that hath clean hands, and a pure heart; who hath not lifted up his soul unto vanity, nor sworn deceitfully. He shall receive the blessing from the Lord, and righteousness from the God of his salvation” (Psalm 24:4-5). God does not reward according to race or birth, but deeds. Only righteousness impresses Him. Notice, though: God gives us righteousness as we seek Him. The spiritual character we need comes only from Him.

“This is the generation of them that seek him, that seek thy face, O Jacob. Selah” (verse 6). Stop and think about this. Luke 1:33 says that Christ “shall reign over the house of Jacob for ever; and of his kingdom there shall be no end.” I have speculated that this prophecy uses Israel’s unconverted name Jacob because God’s Spirit-born eternal Family will keep expanding, converting physical human beings, forever! This verse in Psalm 24 may be saying the same thing.

The road we are traveling to glory was first traveled by Jesus Christ. From verse 7, we have a picture of Christ Himself ascending to God’s throne room.

Verse 7 begins, “Lift up your heads, O ye gates ….” When you experience a rough trial, you need to lift up your head. When you handle that trial the right way, you grow tremendously. Look at the splendid victory Christ achieved through the crucifixion! Behold how He is exalted!

This verse continues, “and be ye lift up, ye everlasting doors; and the King of glory shall come in.” Lift up the doors and let Him in! “Who is this King of glory?” (verse 8). What a marvelous question! Who is this King of glory? What do you know of His power, His character, His office?

The psalm answers: “The Lord strong and mighty, the Lord mighty in battle.” Christ has conquered sin; He has overcome Satan; He will triumph in the battle of Armageddon, put down rebellion in this world, and rule as King of kings! This mighty warrior will fight your battles for you!

“Lift up your heads, O ye gates; even lift them up, ye everlasting doors; and the King of glory shall come in. Who is this King of glory? The Lord of hosts, he is the King of glory. Selah” (verses 9-10). Christ “is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead; that in all things he might have the preeminence” (Colossians 1:18). He is the Lord of hosts, great armies that will follow Him! His saints will join Him in glory, and work to bring salvation to the whole world!

Selah—stop and think about that! Isn’t that a marvelous conclusion to this trilogy of psalms? I believe it is perfect! There is a lot of suffering—but look at the fruits of that suffering!

Keep this glorious Passover vision in your mind—remember that sacrificial Lamb, and the glory that He attained, and it is truly inspiring. Lift up your heads! Even in your worst trial. If you ponder this, it will dazzle you. You open a door, and the King of glory comes in! He is strong and mighty—a truly awe-inspiring Warrior. And He tells you, Stand! Lift up your head! We truly do have cause to lift up our heads: The King of glory is coming into our lives!

Psalm 25 This psalm has 22 verses, the first letter of nearly every verse following the 22 letters of the Hebrew alphabet. Acrostic organization is one of the most formal poetic devices David used in any of his psalms. It was probably what inspired Jeremiah in writing Psalm 119 (and the book of Lamentations), which uses the same acrostic technique but with eight verses for each letter. Also like Psalm 119, Psalm 25 sometimes abruptly changes in thought from verse to verse. It alternates between prayer (verses 1-7, 11, 16-22) and meditation (verses 8-10, 12-15). The overall theme is repentance and gratitude for God’s mercy.

“Unto thee, O Lord, do I lift up my soul,” David began (verse 1). He offered himself completely to God. “[O]n thee do I wait all the day” (verse 5).

“O my God,” verse 2 says. David was so personal in addressing God. “I trust in thee: let me not be ashamed, let not mine enemies triumph over me. Yea, let none that wait on thee be ashamed: let them be ashamed which transgress without cause” (verses 2-3). He prayed first for God to safeguard his honor in spite of his enemies, then quickly turned to intercession on behalf of all who wait on God. You see a similar turn in verse 22: After asking for deliverance from his own troubles, he intercedes for all Israel. If we are praying in the spirit (Ephesians 6:18), we will move toward empathetic intercessions for others.

“Shew me thy ways, O Lord; teach me thy paths. Lead me in thy truth, and teach me …” (Psalm 25:4-5). David is just pleading with God, Teach me! Teach me your paths and your ways! I want to know all of them exactly. He wanted God to teach him everything He could. What an attitude that man had! Like Christ, he said, Not my will, but yours, be done. This attitude is a considerable part of what made David a man after God’s own heart. He had a number of weaknesses too, but look how he overcame and grew! God was impressed.

The acrostic form of this psalm lends itself to being an instructional poem too. Elaine T. James points out in An Invitation to Biblical Poetry, “There is a pronounced emphasis on instruction—the verbs ‘learn,’ ‘lead’ and ‘teach’ occur with some frequency” (see verses 4, 5, 8 and 12).

“Remember, O Lord, thy tender mercies and thy lovingkindnesses; for they have been ever of old [Hebrew: from eternity]. Remember not the sins of my youth, nor my transgressions: according to thy mercy remember thou me for thy goodness’ sake, O Lord” (verses 6-7). David was older when he wrote this, reflecting back on youthful sins and wanting to be rid of them completely. He knew he had received so much mercy from God and that he needed it desperately! (see verse 11). He also knew that God’s mercy and love have existed from eternity.

The next several verses reveal the importance of humility, meekness and fear if we are to receive God’s favor. We are all sinners, and verse 8 says God will “teach sinners in the way”—but our attitude is all-important. “The meek will he guide in judgment: and the meek will he teach his way” (verse 9). We must learn how to make judgments, and God will teach you how if you are meek. That is a promise! He will teach you all these things because you are His sons and daughters; you are His Family.

“What man is he that feareth the Lord? him shall he teach in the way that he shall choose” (verse 12). Build godly fear, and God will teach you. But note: He will teach “in the way that he shall choose,” not the way of your choosing. And that way will be best for you because He loves you deeply. “The secret of the Lord is with them that fear him …” (verse 14). Fearing God brings you all kinds of benefits! Look at the blessings God has given His faithful Church today—most importantly His “secret,” His revelation. That is all God’s doing as we exercise proper fear. Learn to fear Him, and the opportunities will flow into your life!

“Mine eyes are ever toward the Lord; for he shall pluck my feet out of the net” (verse 15). We do sometimes get caught in a net, and God brings us out of it.

David again pleads for merciful deliverance from affliction, distress and pain, and for forgiveness (verses 16-18). “Let integrity and uprightness preserve me; for I wait on thee” (verse 21).

Psalm 26 David may well have written this at a time when he was being falsely accused of some crime. Rather than justifying himself before men, he took his case to God. “Judge me, O Lord,” David says, “for I have walked in mine integrity: I have trusted also in the Lord; therefore I shall not slide” (verse 1). He was grateful to be in the hands of the righteous Judge. He wanted God to judge him. He asked God to measure him according to His law. Judge me, O God! That is a beautiful attitude.

“Examine me, O Lord, and prove me; try my reins and my heart” (verse 2). Examine, prove, try: With these three words David is saying, Thoroughly scrutinize me—test me—smelt and refine me! He wasn’t trying to hide from any judgment God could make against him. He was willing to endure the full battery of trial and judgment to ensure that he was righteous. Test my love for your law and your government. See if I will submit to it. That is what he was seeking. He certainly did love that law and government!

“For thy lovingkindness is before mine eyes: and I have walked in thy truth” (verse 3). David kept God’s goodness always in his mind. That is a wonderful thing to meditate on always: God’s lovingkindness, His goodness, His mercy. So vivid was this to David that it motivated his action. He saw God’s example, he knew what God wanted of him, and he pursued it. He could then say with clear conscience, God, I am walking in your truth. He wasn’t boasting; he was simply telling God the truth.

Not only did he actively follow God’s law, he separated himself from those who did the opposite. “I have not sat with vain persons, neither will I go in with dissemblers [hypocrites]. I have hated the congregation of evil doers; and will not sit with the wicked” (verses 4-5). This is a controversial doctrine in a world that is fascinated with evil, that accommodates and negotiates with evil. A godly man, as much as he seeks to love what God loves, also hates what God hates. He obeys God’s command to come out of this cursed world and to have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness.

“I will wash mine hands in innocency: so will I compass thine altar, O Lord” (verse 6). This evokes the work of the priests at the tabernacle. Before burning an offering on the altar or entering the sanctuary, they washed their hands in the laver (Exodus 30:18-20). The water represented the cleansing of the Holy Spirit, a washing that we need daily (e.g. Titus 3:5-6) so we can remain in close contact with God and carry out His Work.

“That I may publish with the voice of thanksgiving, and tell of all thy wondrous works” (Psalm 26:7). How wonderful that we can publish God’s Work to this world! We should be sincerely thankful to be a part of this, thankful to see God’s plan and know exactly what is about to happen in this world—and to publish it! If we are thinking like David, we want to declare God’s wondrous works. He loved God’s works so much, he wanted to share them with the world! What an attitude.

“Lord, I have loved the habitation of thy house, and the place where thine honour dwelleth” (verse 8). David loved to be with God, yearned to be in God’s house. That house is in God’s Church today, where His honor dwells.

“But as for me, I will walk in mine integrity [which came from God]: redeem me, and be merciful unto me” (verse 11). As much confidence and boldness as David expressed in this psalm, note how he ends: Redeem me, and have mercy on me. He maintained a beautifully humble and repentant spirit before God. These are the kinds of words that reveal the attitude that was so pleasing to God.

Psalm 27 This is a prayer of praise. “The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? the Lord is the strength of my life; of whom shall I be afraid?” (verse 1). Why should I fear men? Why should I be afraid? That is a good way to live: to be free of fear of human beings because you know God is your Defender!

In verse 2, David remembered past deliverances from his enemies. In verse 3, he stated his resolve not to allow himself to become fearful regardless of the threat.

Clearly David was facing severe trouble—stresses and strains that would overwhelm most men! But where was David’s mind? Amid these storms, what was the one thing he desired most from God and that he most sought after? “One thing have I desired of the Lord, that will I seek after; that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the Lord …” (verse 4).

Again and again we witness the passionate love for God flowing from this man’s heart, which was after God’s own heart! This man genuinely adored God and everything about Him! He was enamored with the beauty of God. Considering the severity of the trials he endured, David could have easily thrown up his hands and said, I am a cursed man! But he never allowed the trials to crush him. He fixed his mind on God and God’s goodness and kept working to build greater intimacy with God. Oh, how we need to build that exceptional attitude!

“For in the time of trouble he shall hide me in his pavilion: in the secret of his tabernacle shall he hide me; he shall set me up upon a rock” (verse 5). That is stability. That is the rock-solid stability we need in our families. We need husbands and wives who are a rock for their children. That helps them become stable in this terrible world, and do they ever need that!

“And now shall mine head be lifted up above mine enemies round about me: therefore will I offer in his tabernacle sacrifices of joy; I will sing, yea, I will sing praises unto the Lord” (verse 6). David really had some tough trials, yet he gave sacrifices of joy. When you have an attitude such as his, even grievous trial is manageable.

“When my father and my mother forsake me, then the Lord will take me up” (verse 10). Was that happening to David at the time? I would think so. The Hebrew reads, “As my father and my mother forsake me.” And in Psalm 69:8, David wrote that he had become a stranger to “my mother’s children”—his own brothers! His own family had turned against him. But David decided not to let that bother him. He would just stand up for God and make God his close companion.

“Deliver me not over unto the will of mine enemies: for false witnesses are risen up against me, and such as breathe out cruelty” (Psalm 27:12). How often he faced fierce opposition and called on God’s help!

“I believe that I shall see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living!” (verse 13; rsv). Amid those storms, David’s heart was set on God’s goodness. He believed in that hope. He loved it, and he wanted God’s rule in his life and in this world. He looked forward to that. It motivated him and kept him going.

God allows quite difficult trials at times. And there are instances where, though He may not take the trial away, He will change our perspective. He will get us focused on the wonderful World Tomorrow. That is what happened with David: He was able to direct his mind on this vision of God’s goodness “in the land of the living”—real life!

“Wait on the Lord: be of good courage, and he shall strengthen thine heart: wait, I say, on the Lord” (verse 14). That is powerful! How many times do we hear this in the psalms? God knows how weak we are; He knows what we can take. But if we wait on Him, He will strengthen us.

We must have “good courage” to wait on God. The Eternal is building deeper courage in each of us! The Apostle Peter said that our fiery trials are more precious than gold! (1 Peter 1:7).

Psalm 28 We can easily underestimate the anguish David was in at times. But think on the statements he made in some of these psalms. “Unto thee will I cry, O Lord my rock; be not silent to me: lest, if thou be silent to me, I become like them that go down into the pit” (verse 1). Without God’s help, David would have been in complete despair! But God was his Rock.

Note that David was deeply concerned about God being silent. He needed and expected answers to his prayers. “Hear the voice of my supplications, when I cry unto thee, when I lift up my hands toward thy holy oracle” (verse 2). He was entering the holy of holies in the third heaven! If we are not getting through to God, we need to follow David’s example: Stick with our supplications and really break through to God’s throne room.

In verses 3-5, David asks God to judge the wicked. He denounces their deceit and two-facedness. He condemns their refusal to acknowledge God’s authority and His works. How common are these sins in today’s world! God will destroy those who commit them, David concludes.

This psalm begins with a plea to be heard—then verses 6-8 are praise for God answering. “Blessed be the Lord, because he hath heard the voice of my supplications” (verse 6). How important it is, when our prayers are answered, that we always thank God!

“The Lord is my strength and my shield; my heart trusted in him, and I am helped: therefore my heart greatly rejoiceth; and with my song will I praise him” (verse 7). In an extremely trying time, David said, “My heart greatly rejoices”! That shows a deep submission to God’s government. When someone is challenging God’s rule in his life, you will find the opposite attitude.

David concludes with intercession for all of God’s people: “Save thy people, and bless thine inheritance: feed them also, and lift them up for ever” (verse 9).

Psalm 29 Here David extols the voice of God!

He begins with a general admonition, even for the mighty of this world: “Give unto the Lord, O ye mighty, give unto the Lord glory and strength. Give unto the Lord the glory due unto his name; worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness” (verses 1-2). How beautiful is holiness!

“The voice of the Lord is upon the waters: the God of glory thundereth …” (verse 3). Many scriptures describe thunder emanating from God’s presence (2 Samuel 22:14; Psalm 93:3-4; Revelation 4:5; 11:19). He appeared to the Israelites at Mount Sinai with thunders and lightnings and a voice like a trumpet, and the whole mountain quaked greatly (Exodus 19:16, 18-19). Elihu compared His voice to thunder, and then God spoke to Job out of a whirlwind (Job 37:2-5; 38:1).

Do you truly hear God when He speaks? “The voice of the Lord is powerful; the voice of the Lord is full of majesty” (Psalm 29:4). Is God’s voice powerful and majestic to you?

God’s voice is everywhere! And what a voice it is: “The voice of the Lord breaketh the cedars; yea, the Lord breaketh the cedars of Lebanon. … The voice of the Lord divideth the flames of fire. The voice of the Lord shaketh the wilderness …” (verses 5, 7-8). Do you recognize God’s power as clearly as David did? Do you tremble at the word of God?

The Prophet Jeremiah wrote, “Is not my word like as a fire? saith the Lord; and like a hammer that breaketh the rock in pieces?” (Jeremiah 23:29). When God speaks, is He able to burn away the chaff in your life and break the strongholds of sin? “For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart” (Hebrews 4:12). We must allow God’s Word to pierce us and cut away anything that doesn’t belong in our heart!

What a wonderful blessing it is to know God, to hear His voice, and truly understand His Word! This world knows so little; its people lack purpose and hope in their lives. Christ said that His sheep hear His voice and follow Him (John 10:27). God says to His Church in this Laodicean era, “Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me” (Revelation 3:20). What a blessing to hear that voice!

“[I]n his temple doth every one speak of his glory. The Lord sitteth upon the flood; yea, the Lord sitteth King for ever” (Psalm 29:9-10). In God’s Church today, we should all be regularly speaking of God’s glory! He is our King and will be King forever!

David concludes this psalm, “The Lord will give strength unto his people; the Lord will bless his people with peace” (verse 11). All because we hear the powerful, majestic, fiery, corrective voice of God!

Psalm 30 The title suggests that David wrote this psalm when dedicating his own palace (see Deuteronomy 20:5; 2 Samuel 5:11). It also reflects gratitude for deliverance from profound affliction and for mercy after some serious correction.

“Sing unto the Lord, O ye saints of his, and give thanks at the remembrance of his holiness. For his anger endureth but a moment …” (verses 4-5). God does get angry with us for our sins, but if we are moving ahead and repenting like David did, that anger only lasts for a moment. Verse 5 concludes, “… in his favour is life: weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning.” What wonderful perspective in a trial! David knew the tears would be brief and that joy would soon follow.

“[T]hou didst hide thy face, and I was troubled. I cried to thee, O Lord; and unto the Lord I made supplication. What profit is there in my blood, when I go down to the pit? Shall the dust praise thee? shall it declare thy truth?” (verses 7-9). God, don’t let me die, David said. What can I do if I don’t have life? I can’t serve you, I can’t praise you, I can’t declare you to this world if I’m dust.

“Thou hast turned for me my mourning into dancing …” (verse 11). David loved to dance! He really had that spirit of dancing. He threw himself into what he truly enjoyed and did everything “with all his might.” He had a vibrant personality; he expressed his joy unabashedly—it was a way of life with him. Look what God can do with a person who gives himself to God’s Work and God’s way of life! David was a great leader, and God knew he had tremendous potential.

When he brought the ark into Jerusalem, “David danced before the Lord with all his might”! (2 Samuel 6:14). The people played harps and all kinds of music, and David was dancing, playing and singing (1 Chronicles 15:27-29). When his wife Michal witnessed it, she despised him; she didn’t like David’s lifestyle. She couldn’t recognize the beauty in David’s attitude toward God. And God cursed her for her negative attitude.

We need David’s attitude—not Michal’s. We have certainly seen that spirit of David in Celtic Throne. We want all our young people to live in that spirit, and we are helping them do that in every way we possibly can. A lot of them are really showing that spirit and are serving God’s Work in amazing ways. We also see that spirit and that attitude in the whole Church!

God’s Church has the spiritual ark today. We need to express our love for God and for the ark being brought back into Israel’s presence. That ark contains the two tablets of stone, representing the law of God, and the rod of Aaron, representing the government that teaches the law. It also holds manna, symbolic of spiritual food—God’s revelation. What a wonderful feast we have if we love the law and love the government! God will truly feed us!

Psalm 30 concludes, “To the end that my glory may sing praise to thee, and not be silent. O Lord my God, I will give thanks unto thee for ever” (verse 12). This is God’s way of life forever!

Psalm 31 Here is another psalm written amid terrible trial. David speaks of his enemies catching him in a net (verse 4). “I am a reproach among all my enemies, But especially among my neighbors, And am repulsive to my acquaintances; Those who see me outside flee from me” (verse 11; nkjv). “[F]ear was on every side: while they took counsel together against me, they devised to take away my life” (verse 13).

With all this tumult around him, David was “in trouble” and “consumed with grief” (verse 9). “For my life is spent with grief, and my years with sighing: my strength faileth because of mine iniquity, and my bones are consumed” (verse 10). David lost his strength because he had sinned. That is a bad situation. He had some serious sins, and God had to correct him.

Yet in these troubles, David looked to God. “In thee, O Lord, do I put my trust,” this psalm begins; “let me never be ashamed: deliver me in thy righteousness” (verse 1). That is a wonderful prayer. We all need God to show us such favor. “Bow down thine ear to me; deliver me speedily: be thou my strong rock …” (verses 1-2). What vision David had. The Hebrew means, “Be to me for a rock of strength.” David says in verse 4, “[T]hou art my strength.” We all make mistakes, but we all can have strength and keep moving forward and producing works for God. We need that strength from God!

“Into thine hand I commit my spirit …” (verse 5). These were Jesus Christ’s final words on the stake (Luke 23:46). Here again David shows the spirit of prophecy. His thoughts in the midst of persecution foreshadowed Christ’s in crucifixion. However dire our condition, we need to commit ourselves totally into God’s hands. That is the best place we can be!

Throughout this psalm, David expressed his confidence in God, his gratitude for God’s mercy and help, and his determination to trust only in God. “[T]hey devised to take away my life. But I trusted in thee, O Lord: I said, Thou art my God” (Psalm 31:13-14). His life was often in danger, but he survived it all. The more he cried out to God, the greater his strength and the more confident his praise.

Here you also see an element that recurs throughout the Psalms: prayers not only for deliverance but also for God’s judgment against enemies. “[L]et the wicked be ashamed, and let them be silent in the grave. Let the lying lips be put to silence …” (verses 17-18). Those people who were fighting God and God’s man deserved to die! A lot of them are going to receive God’s vengeance.

We will discuss this important theme more in later psalms. Herbert W. Armstrong said many times that he prayed for his enemies. He loved his enemies, but he hated what they did and prayed that God would stop their evil deeds. He understood human nature, but he didn’t hate his enemies. He did say that is awfully hard sometimes—especially when people are literally trying to kill you! It is difficult to love them, but that is God’s standard.

“Oh how great is thy goodness, which thou hast laid up for them that fear thee; which thou hast wrought for them that trust in thee before the sons of men!” (verse 19). We must fear God! That is the foundation of proper living. What blessings that fear brings us. Failing to fear God leads to catastrophe. The world is in crisis for lack of that fear.

“For I said in my haste, I am cut off from before thine eyes: nevertheless thou heardest the voice of my supplications when I cried unto thee” (verse 22). Do you feel cut off from God at times? David did! But he continued to cry out to God until he knew he was heard. Supplications are earnest, intense prayers—bearing down in a trial and going to God for more strength and power. That strength is available, and David took advantage of it!

“O love the Lord, all ye his saints: for the Lord preserveth the faithful …” (verse 23). God preserves us when we are faithful, and He always will. How shameful that most of God’s people today have not remained faithful! They will not be preserved when tribulation comes.

“Be of good courage, and he shall strengthen your heart, all ye that hope in the Lord” (verse 24). What a wonderful promise! Be of good courage and you have more strength! You may be fearful, but exhibit that courage and God will strengthen you. We need strength!

Psalm 32 “A psalm of David, Maschil,” the subtitle says. The Apostle Paul verified David’s authorship in Romans 4:6-8. Maschil means to look at or scrutinize; deep searching out. It is a song or poem of contemplation. This is a psalm following deep repentance.

“Blessed [happy] is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered” (Psalm 32:1). Yes, we can be forgiven! Sinners can become innocent when God covers our sins! Those transgressions are removed as far from us as east is from west (Psalm 103:12). The Hebrew word for “blessed” means a blessing of happiness. What unparalleled joy! When we truly repent, God blesses that—so we can move on.

“Blessed [happy] is the man unto whom the Lord imputeth not iniquity, and in whose spirit there is no guile” (Psalm 32:2). Spurgeon wrote, “The word [for] blessed is in the plural, oh, the blessednesses! the double joys, the bundles of happiness, the mountains of delight!” (The Treasury of David; emphasis mine). What a blessing, and what a joyous way to live: no guile, no deceit or falsity in your mind. This means not being two-faced and sitting around gossiping about people—having none of that. This is a high standard of conduct that we must strive for and build that character in our lives.

“For day and night thy hand was heavy upon me …” (verse 4). He traced his trial right back to God. That is important. We could blame it on some person or circumstance—but David’s mind went straight to God, and he said, Your hand was heavy upon me. You were correcting me, and I know it—and I want to be corrected! But that correction was heavy! Don’t we need that at times? Of course we do!

Verse 4 shows that God directs our trials, and He corrects us. If our attitude is right, most of the time we can see how that correction was just what we needed! If our thinking is right, God will show us in time, and we will be thanking God for correcting us, because we needed it. If we fail to recognize that, that is a problem! We must have a contrite spirit and tremble at God’s word (Isaiah 66:2).

“I acknowledged my sin unto thee, and mine iniquity have I not hid. I said, I will confess my transgressions unto the Lord; and thou forgavest the iniquity of my sin. Selah” (Psalm 32:5). That is a verse worth pausing and thinking about! Never try to hide your sins from God. Lay them all before Him. Be utterly transparent and open. We all need that spirit of repentance.

Having sin in your life is dangerous. This repentant approach toward God provides real protection (verse 6). “Thou art my hiding place; thou shalt preserve me from trouble; thou shalt compass me about with songs of deliverance. Selah” (verse 7). Again—stop and think about this.

It is remarkable how often David wrote songs during times of trial. He didn’t consider it a burden or even a diversion from his woes. “You shall compass me about with songs of deliverance” suggests that these songs were themselves a kind of rocky fortress!

Starting in verse 8, it is God speaking: “I will instruct thee and teach thee in the way which thou shalt go: I will guide thee with mine eye.” Think on that statement. We must have daily in-depth Bible study and prayer. The Almighty God Himself is instructing us, teaching us, guiding us!

“Be ye not as the horse, or as the mule, which have no understanding: whose mouth must be held in with bit and bridle …” (verse 9). Don’t be stubborn like these animals that must be led about forcibly to be of any use. That is the tendency of our human nature, if we aren’t battling it. We need to be broken before we can be useful to God.

“Many sorrows shall be to the wicked: but he that trusteth in the Lord, mercy shall compass him about” (verse 10). What sorrows we avoid when we approach God the way David did. Trust in God, and mercy surrounds you!

“Be glad in the Lord, and rejoice, ye righteous: and shout for joy, all ye that are upright in heart” (verse 11). Are you shouting for joy? David was! God did certainly try and test him, but he was shouting for joy! What a powerful example David set for all of us. He was glad in the Eternal and really strove to be righteous and upright in heart—so he had a lot to shout about!

Psalm 34 The subtitle says David wrote this psalm after the incident recorded in 1 Samuel 21:10-15 (Abimelech was the name used for the king, who in this case was Achish). David was at a truly low point—fleeing from Saul, unable to find needed refuge in Gath. Yet this shows how thankful he was for God’s protection in a dangerous situation. And he records this in another acrostic psalm.

“I will bless the Lord at all times,” he begins. All times! David did not allow himself to get into a bad attitude, where he would not bless God. “[H]is praise shall continually be in my mouth” (Psalm 34:1). I will praise Him always! David determined. What a wonderful attitude. We need to love God and praise God even in our fiery trials.

“O magnify the Lord with me, and let us exalt his name together” (verse 3). This is why David shared these songs and had the nation singing them: He wanted to spread his love for God and bring others into a culture of magnifying and exalting God. That shows the depth and sincerity of his love.

“I sought the Lord, and he heard me, and delivered me from all my fears” (verse 4). We all have fears that can creep into our mind and haunt us. We need to build the habit of taking them to God so He can deliver us from them.

“The angel of the Lord encampeth round about them that fear him, and delivereth them” (verse 7). Is that true? Do angels really encircle God’s people? That is what David says! If you fear God, those protective angels will routinely encamp around you, surrounding you, watching over you and helping you! How many people deeply believe this?

Do we think, speak and act as David did?

We need more protection from Satan and his demons than we realize. To defeat him, you need a lot of power from God! Before Jesus Christ took him on, He fasted 40 days and nights! (Matthew 4:1-2). He would not enter that titanic battle without serious fasting and praying. That shows how challenging it is to conquer the devil and qualify to replace him.

Christ trusted in God, and so must we. “O taste and see that the Lord is good! Happy is the man who takes refuge in him! O fear the Lord, you his saints, for those who fear him have no want! The young lions suffer want and hunger; but those who seek the Lord lack no good thing” (verses 8-10; rsv). Fear God, and you won’t lack anything good. God will ensure you receive the good things you need.

“Come, ye children, hearken unto me: I will teach you the fear of the Lord” (verse 11). Proper fear of God does not come naturally! But God is eager to teach us to fear Him. He commands that we do so (e.g. Leviticus 19:32; Deuteronomy 6:13; 10:12, 20; Ecclesiastes 12:13; 1 Peter 2:17). He brings us to the Feast of Tabernacles each year to learn that fear (Deuteronomy 14:23). We should always finish the Feast with considerably more fear. That is why we attend!

Psalm 34:12 begins talking about how to flourish in life. “Keep thy tongue from evil, and thy lips from speaking guile. Depart from evil, and do good; seek peace, and pursue it” (verses 13-14). Control that tongue! Don’t chip away at people’s reputation; eliminate guile; actively flee evil; do good; follow peace. These are wonderfully practical admonitions.

When we are pursuing righteousness like this, we can expect answers to our prayers. “The eyes of the Lord are upon the righteous, and his ears are open unto their cry. … The righteous cry, and the Lord heareth, and delivereth them out of all their troubles” (verses 15, 17). That is a guarantee, David says: All our troubles will go away! The opposite is true if we are doing wickedly (verse 16).

“The Lord is nigh unto them that are of a broken heart; and saveth such as be of a contrite spirit” (verse 18). We must approach God with a broken spirit and childlike attitude, sincerely wanting to be taught.

“Many are the afflictions of the righteous: but the Lord delivereth him out of them all” (verse 19). We must face our battles, but “God delivers him out of them all.” All of them! That is a wonderful truth!

Psalm 35 This is a prime example of what you could call a psalm of cursing. A great many of the Bible’s psalms include requests that God curse enemies, even commit violence against them. This psalm includes requests like, “Let them be confounded and put to shame …. Let their way be dark and slippery: and let the angel of the Lord persecute them. … Let destruction come upon him at unawares [unexpectedly]; and let his net that he hath hid catch himself: into that very destruction let him fall” (verses 4, 6, 8).

This language bothers many people who believe it contradicts Jesus’s statement: “But I say unto you which hear, Love your enemies, do good to them which hate you, Bless them that curse you, and pray for them which despitefully use you. And unto him that smiteth thee on the one cheek offer also the other; and him that taketh away thy cloke forbid not to take thy coat also” (Luke 6:27-29).

Remember, though, that “All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness” (2 Timothy 3:16). Strong statements of cursing in the Psalms were quoted in the New Testament by the Apostle Peter, the Apostle John, the Apostle Paul, even Jesus Christ Himself! These men did not view David’s words as sinful but as inspired. God had them recorded and preserved for us to emulate. But we need to consider how and make sure we do it in a way that squares with Christ’s command to love our enemies.

“Plead my cause, O Lord, with them that strive with me: fight against them that fight against me” (Psalm 35:1). Consider: David was God’s representative on Earth. Attacking David was attacking God. The same is true of God’s Work today. When the state of California attacked the Worldwide Church of God in 1979, Mr. Armstrong was bold! He took out full-page newspaper ads headlined “Mr. Attorney General, how are you justifying the surprise massive armed attack against the Church of the living God?” That is the way David thought. The Philistines were attacking the armies of the living God! (1 Samuel 17:26, 36).

“Let them be as chaff before the wind: and let the angel of the Lord chase them” (Psalm 35:5). David knew all about angels; he asked God to let an angel chase those people! God canonized this, so He must have liked that. David prayed that God would take care of the problem. That is a crucial point: We must look to God to deal with our enemies rather than taking matters into our own hands.

Realize how converted and spiritual David’s attitude was here: “They requite me evil for good; my soul is forlorn. But I, when they were sick—I wore sackcloth, I afflicted myself with fasting. I prayed with head bowed on my bosom” (verses 12-13; rsv). Enemies were doing him wrong, but when they were sick, he prayed and fasted for them! “I humbled my soul,” the King James Version says; the word “humbled” in Hebrew means to afflict, abase, beat down, chasten. David was teachable; he asked God for the right attitude so God could teach him.

“I behaved myself as though he had been my friend or brother: I bowed down heavily, as one that mourneth for his mother” (verse 14). That is remarkable love for God’s enemies! He treated them as friends and brothers! He mourned for them as he would for his own close family! This is not natural. When we see somebody who needs help from God, we should do what we can to help him. You even love your enemies like this and do some wonderful things to try to get God to straighten them out.

What an attitude David had. He had the God Family vision in mind; he knew that God wants all men to be saved and to know the truth, that He wants all to come to repentance! He did pray some strong prayers of cursing, but David also loved his enemies! He did good to them that hated him! He blessed them that cursed him and prayed for them that despitefully used him. To those who smote him on one cheek, he offered the other.

“Lord, how long wilt thou look on?” (verse 17). Have you ever asked that question? How long will this continue? We wondered and prayed that at times during our six-year court case. But we see clearly now that it was one of the greatest blessings the Church has ever received! God wanted to see if our standard was high and if we would fight for His truth like the Lion of the tribe of Judah! He wanted to know that we love His wonderful truth enough to risk it all! And look at the blessings God gave us.

“Judge me, O Lord my God, according to thy righteousness …” (verse 24). David knew that God was his Judge. That enabled him to endure a lot of abuse from his enemies. They’re not my judge! God is my Judge—and He’ll judge according to His righteousness.

“[D]o not let them gloat over me. Do not let them think, ‘Aha, just what we wanted!’ or say, ‘We have swallowed him up’” (verses 24-25; niv). “Let them be ashamed and brought to confusion together that rejoice at mine hurt: let them be clothed with shame and dishonour that magnify themselves against me” (verse 26). There is more cursing.

However, notice the big picture David had: “Let them shout for joy, and be glad, that favour my righteous cause: yea, let them say continually, Let the Lord be magnified, which hath pleasure in the prosperity of his servant. And my tongue shall speak of thy righteousness and of thy praise all the day long” (verses 27-28). This is why David prayed so fervently in this way: He wanted God to prevail! He wanted God to be magnified and His praise to fill the Earth! That will only happen when all His enemies are put down, humbled and converted.

Psalm 36 What a jarring contrast there is between vain man and the great God!

In the first four verses of this psalm, David describes the wicked man: He has no fear of God; he flatters himself; he speaks deceits; he plots mischief. Then David describes the opposite, with this marvelous devotional: “Thy mercy, O Lord, is in the heavens; and thy faithfulness reacheth unto the clouds. Thy righteousness is like the great mountains; thy judgments are a great deep: O Lord, thou preservest man and beast” (verses 5-6).

Ponder these four majestic analogies! The heavens, the clouds, the great mountains, a great deep—God fashioned these vast elements to humble us as we contemplate our smallness next to our Creator, our frailty next to His majesty.

God’s mercy—His kindness, lovingkindness or goodness—is in the heavens. There is no end to His mercy: It is limitless, as infinite as a night sky glittering with stars! And think of the heavens: The entire universe shows just how merciful and loving God is: He formed it to be inhabited, and He plans to use sinners like us to help Him plant the heavens! (Isaiah 45:18; 51:16).

God’s faithfulness and steadfastness reach to the clouds. Those clouds shield us from the sun and bring life-giving rain, an example of how God cares for His entire creation. “For as the rain cometh down, and the snow from heaven, and returneth not thither, but watereth the earth, and maketh it bring forth and bud, that it may give seed to the sower, and bread to the eater: So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth: it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it” (Isaiah 55:10-11). Look at the clouds and think on how He sustains us and how He follows through precisely on His every promise.

God’s righteousness is like the great mountains—immovable, firm, an awe-inspiring fixture in the landscape. It is a lofty goal to be attained. We must seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness (Matthew 6:33). We climb to attain God’s righteousness, ascending through great effort. As we do, our perspective widens, our view of the world grows more expansive.

God’s judgments are a great deep. There is so much in them we cannot comprehend. Ponder the vast mysterious oceans to better see how limited is our perception, how shallow our understanding. “O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! how unsearchable are his judgments, and his ways past finding out!” (Romans 11:33). Yet God invites exploration, and through His Spirit we can begin to understand “the deep things of God” (1 Corinthians 2:10). There is always more to learn, but He shares a remarkable understanding of the depths of His judgments with His Family, “[e]ven the mystery which hath been hid from ages and from generations, but now is made manifest to his saints” (Colossians 1:26).

David was really digging in and seeing what God was trying to teach him. Because of God’s excellent lovingkindness, we, like David, can “put [our] trust under the shadow of [His] wings” (Psalm 36:7).

Oh, how blessed we are to know this great God! David says here that God’s saints “shall be abundantly satisfied with the fatness [fullness, abundance] of thy house [God’s Family]; and thou shalt make them drink of the river of thy pleasures. For with thee is the fountain of life: in thy light shall we see light” (verses 8-9). What abundant blessings! We can be abundantly satisfied in God and drink of the river of His pleasures! We have the fountain of life—real life, not just a chemical existence. And amid a world in gross darkness, our lives can be bathed in the very light of God!

Psalm 37 We need godly perspective on this sinful world. It can be discouraging to see evil spreading, and the wicked prospering, and just people suffering. This psalm is a powerful corrective, filled with comfort, reassurance and encouragement.

It begins, “Fret not thyself because of evildoers …” (verse 1). Evildoers are everywhere, but don’t worry: God will deal with them. “For they shall soon be cut down like the grass, and wither as the green herb” (verse 2). Wow! That is about to happen!

This psalm abounds in such reminders: “evildoers shall be cut off,” “For yet a little while, and the wicked shall not be,” “Their sword shall enter into their own heart, and their bows shall be broken,” “the arms of the wicked shall be broken,” “the wicked shall perish, and the enemies of the Lord shall be as the fat of lambs: they shall consume,” “they that be cursed of him shall be cut off,” “the seed of the wicked shall be cut off,” “the transgressors shall be destroyed together” (verses 9, 10, 15, 17, 20, 22, 28, 38). We should have no doubt of this. Satan’s rule is almost over, and God will bring all this world’s evildoers to justice!

Today, the wicked oppress the righteous. This too is about to end (verses 12-15, 32-33, 39-40).

And for every promise God makes to punish the wicked, there is another to bless the righteous: “those that wait upon the Lord, they shall inherit the earth,” “the meek shall inherit the earth; and shall delight themselves in the abundance of peace,” “the Lord upholdeth the righteous,” “their inheritance shall be for ever,” “in the days of famine they shall be satisfied,” “such as be blessed of him shall inherit the earth,” “his seed is blessed,” “the righteous shall inherit the land, and dwell therein for ever,” “none of his steps shall slide” (verses 9, 11, 17, 18, 19, 22, 26, 29, 31).

This is the big picture we must remember as we look at this upside-down, evil-is-good, black-is-white world: Consider the end. Get your mind on how God will ultimately set everything right!

This psalm also has wonderful instruction on how to secure those blessings. “Trust in the Lord, and do good; so shalt thou dwell in the land, and verily thou shalt be fed” (verse 3). Trust God and do good, and He will take care of you and feed you. Seek first the Kingdom and all these things will be added.

“Delight thyself also in the Lord; and he shall give thee the desires of thine heart” (verse 4). This is probably my favorite verse in the Bible. What a phenomenal promise! I have been putting Him to the test on this promise for virtually all my adult life.

The Philadelphia Church of God started with 12 members and $80. Now, we have a marvelous $25 million auditorium, two beautiful college campuses, a corporate jet and many other blessings. God has blessed us beyond words to describe. Because we have obeyed Him, He has given us all “the desires of thine heart.” It is powerful, prophetic proof that God is alive and doing a great Work today. If we learn the lesson from this verse, we will produce great fruit.

God will give you the desires of your heart, but you have to do things according to His schedule and not your own. We oftentimes have a schedule very different from the one God has for us. Even when your human desires differ from God’s, you must choose to do God’s will. Learning to see things the way God sees them is key. Always ask God to help you delight in Him and think as He thinks, and then He will give you the desires of your heart! Life can and should be the most exciting, thrilling journey.

Realize, too, that for God to give you the desires of your heart, He is going to have to try you and test you. We must realize why He is doing it and learn to rejoice in those trials! He can correct you and shape you and prepare you to be a king and a priest! If you are serving God before Christ’s Second Coming, He says you are already a king and a priest in embryo, and you have a royal calling to become a king and priest forever (Revelation 1:6; 5:10).

God shall give you the desires of your heart. I’ve written an article on this subject, “The Desires of Your Heart” (request a free reprint).

“Commit thy way unto the Lord; trust also in him; and he shall bring it to pass” (Psalm 37:5). Forsake your own way and commit yourself to God, and if you are really seeking something right and good, He will bring it to pass! He really wants you to develop your potential and your strengths—those we need for this Work and even those you simply enjoy. He wants you to have those things, and He will give them to you. When you are fighting to overcome the self and looking to God and asking for those desires, how often He fills them! We have experienced the wonderful blessings He gives us many times in our lives.

“Commit” comes from the same Hebrew word as in Psalm 22:8, where it says Christ “trusted” in God, or rolled Himself on God—cast His burden on Him. If you totally trust in God as Christ did, He will take care of you completely.

In the face of all the world’s evildoers, David says, “Rest in the Lord, and wait patiently for him: fret not thyself because of him who prospereth in his way …” (Psalm 37:7). This is walking by faith, not by sight. We all need patience and perspective to remain faithful to God and to not be shaken.

“Cease from anger, and forsake wrath; Do not fret—it only causes harm. … Depart from evil, and do good …. Wait on the Lord, And keep His way, And He shall exalt you to inherit the land …” (verses 8, 27, 34; nkjv). This is wonderfully practical instruction on how to receive these blessings from God.

This psalm includes more encouraging promises. “The steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord: and he delighteth in his way. Though he fall, he shall not be utterly cast down: for the Lord upholdeth him with his hand” (verses 23-24). The great God wants to order your steps—what a blessing! Yes, we do stumble at times. But God will always pick you up and keep you moving forward.

Here is another reassuring observation: “I have been young, and now am old; yet have I not seen the righteous forsaken, nor his seed begging bread” (verse 25). Here is an older David reflecting on real-life examples of God taking care of the righteous.

This is an acrostic psalm—but with a twist: Almost every other verse in Psalm 37 begins with the next letter of the Hebrew alphabet. However, verse 29 upsets the predictability by not following that sequence. That verse reads: “The righteous shall inherit the land, and dwell therein for ever.” This concept appears five times in this psalm: “those that wait upon the Lord, they shall inherit the earth” (verse 9); “the meek shall inherit the earth” (verse 11); “such as be blessed of him shall inherit the earth” (verse 22). “he shall exalt thee to inherit the land [same Hebrew word]” (verse 34). Verse 18 also discusses the “inheritance” of the upright; the Hebrew literally means possessing. What incredible possessions await the righteous!

“The law of his God is in his heart; none of his steps shall slide” (verse 31). If you can get this loving law of God in your heart, it dominates your mind and your thoughts—and you will not slide! Your life will stay off the slippery slope, and you will stand secure.

“Mark the perfect man, and behold the upright: for the end of that man is peace” (verse 37). Do you want peace? Study this psalm, apply its instruction, meditate on its promises—and even amid trial and the apparent flourishing of the wicked, you will maintain your spiritual composure and enjoy many other blessings from God!

Psalm 38 Do you ever feel weighed down by sin? Depressed because you feel God is angry with you? Sick because of wickedness in your life? David certainly did.

Psalm 38 describes despair far more intense than we would tend to think from such a spiritual giant as David. This psalm gives a profound sense of the spiritual and even physical sickness that sin causes. It also shows how we can repent even from such a state.

David says his health is failing “because of my sin. For mine iniquities are gone over mine head …” (verses 3-4). How sin overwhelms us! “My wounds stink and are corrupt because of my foolishness”—or “my sinful folly” (verse 5; niv). How foolish is sin! And what infirmity it causes. You see similar imagery in verses 7-8 and 10. The Prophet Isaiah also vividly likened spiritual sin to physical sickness (Isaiah 1:5-6).

Psalm 38 also speaks of the weight of sins and the sorrow they cause. Verse 4 says, “as an heavy burden they are too heavy for me.” “I am troubled; I am bowed down greatly; I go mourning all the day long. … [M]y groaning is not hid from thee. … [M]y sorrow is continually before me” (verses 6, 9, 17). It also describes the alienation David felt from his friends and family and the mistreatment he suffered from his enemies (verses 11-12, 16, 19-20).

In this emotional tumult, David cries out to God for mercy. The psalm begins: “O Lord, rebuke me not in thy wrath: neither chasten me in thy hot displeasure. For thine arrows stick fast in me, and thy hand presseth me sore” (verses 1-2). He feels God’s corrective hand and even His anger, but he blames nobody but himself. It is all “because of my sin,” “because of my foolishness” (verses 3, 5). “For I will declare mine iniquity; I will be sorry for my sin” (verse 18). He knew that God’s correction was right and just.

Remember Psalm 22:15, which says, “[T]hou hast brought me into the dust of death.” That is prophetic of Jesus Christ on the stake, speaking to the Father. Would God really do something like that? He certainly did to His Son—and we wouldn’t be here if He hadn’t! That is something to be genuinely thankful to God for.

When we are receiving correction from God, we need to be thankful and approach Him with humility. We also must be utterly open and transparent with Him about our own sins.

This truly is one of the most anguished psalms in the book. It reveals the inner struggle within a man in the throes of repentance. It also shows, again, how David dealt with his troubles by turning to God in fervent supplication. “For in thee, O Lord, do I hope: thou wilt hear, O Lord my God” (Psalm 38:15). What a spectacular example.

“Forsake me not, O Lord: O my God, be not far from me. Make haste to help me, O Lord my salvation” (verses 21-22). God will never fail to hear us when we approach Him with this attitude—if our heart is truly contrite and our spirit is truly broken.

Psalm 39 When writing this psalm, David had an important perspective that we need to learn. He was reflecting deeply on the frailty of man, the impermanence of human life, and the vanity of living apart from God. The language in this psalm echoes the book of Job, a poetic masterpiece that David undoubtedly studied deeply.

“I said, I will take heed to my ways, that I sin not with my tongue: I will keep my mouth with a bridle, while the wicked is before me” (verse 1). That is a wonderful goal. We can certainly do a lot of sinning with our tongue. An untamed tongue can set the whole world ablaze! (James 3:2-8). David was determined to bridle his mouth.

If we kept our wrong thoughts to ourselves, it would prevent many problems. Spurgeon wrote about Psalm 39:1: “If I have the fever myself, there is no reason why I should communicate it to my neighbors. If any on board the vessel of my soul are diseased, I will put my heart in quarantine and allow none to go on shore in the boat of speech till I have a clean bill of health” (The Treasury of David).

Verses 2-3 show that David, encumbered with these thoughts, reached a point when he could no longer refrain from speaking. But to whom did he speak? To God! The rest of this psalm is him unburdening himself in prayer to God.

At first his tone is grave: “Lord, make me to know mine end, and the measure of my days, what it is; that I may know how frail I am” (verse 4). Truly, we are frail, and we don’t have many days! David asks, Help me see this reality, God. I want to have vision. I need your vision. Show me what the end of this is.

“Behold, thou hast made my days as an handbreadth; and mine age is as nothing before thee: verily every man at his best state is altogether vanity. Selah. Surely every man walketh in a vain shew …” (verses 5-6). This world is mere vanity! David saw that vanity in all of mankind, and he worked very hard to rid himself of it. We must purge our vanity.

Then in verse 7, we see a shift: “And now, Lord, what wait I for? my hope is in thee.” That is the only place to put your hope. Man in his best state is vanity—but God is entirely trustworthy and faithful.

The verses that follow show David’s repentant spirit beautifully. David accentuates his focus in his poetic structure. The first six verses each have three phrases, creating a certain rhythm. Verse 7, and the three verses after it, have a punchier two-phrase construction, enhancing the psalm’s directness and pace.

“Deliver me from all my transgressions: make me not the reproach of the foolish. … Remove thy stroke [plague] away from me: I am consumed by the blow of thine hand. When thou with rebukes dost correct man for iniquity, thou makest his beauty to consume away like a moth: surely every man is vanity. Selah” (verses 8, 10-11). Selah—this is worth stopping and thinking about. Again, we really need the perspective David had here.

“Hear my prayer, O Lord, and give ear unto my cry; hold not thy peace at my tears: for I am a stranger with thee, and a sojourner, as all my fathers were” (verse 12). David thought like Abraham, knowing his time on Earth was as a stranger and a pilgrim (Hebrews 11:13; 1 Peter 2:11). He beseeched God earnestly, knowing his life lay in God alone.

He concludes: “O spare me, that I may recover strength, before I go hence, and be no more” (Psalm 39:13). Apart from God, we are nothing—but even when we are at our lowest and weakest, we can ask for God’s mercy and blessing, and truly become strong!

Psalm 40 Before studying some details of this remarkable, prophetic psalm, note the setting: David was experiencing difficult trials. In verse 12, he says, “[I]nnumerable evils have compassed me about.” In verse 14, he speaks of people who “seek after my soul to destroy it” and that “wish me evil.” He describes being overwhelmed by his own rank sin: “[M]ine iniquities have taken hold upon me, so that I am not able to look up; they are more than the hairs of mine head: therefore my heart faileth me” (verse 12).

This psalm was written in serious distress. In verse 13, David cries out, “O Lord, make haste to help me”! He is eager for speedy deliverance, immediate relief from this flood of trouble!

This context makes the positive, faithful, adulatory tone in the rest of the psalm all the more remarkable.

Consider how David begins: “I waited patiently for the Lord; and he inclined unto me, and heard my cry” (verse 1). What a beautiful statement, filled with faith and gratitude! Though he wanted and even prayed for urgent aid from God, he “waited patiently” and thought about previously answered prayers.

Amid his troubles, David reflected: “He brought me up also out of an horrible pit, out of the miry clay, and set my feet upon a rock, and established my goings [steps]” (verse 2). When you are pained and anxious, setting your mind on past deliverance is a brilliant thing to do.

God brings us out of a horrible pit and sets our feet upon a foundation of rock.

“And he hath put a new song in my mouth, even praise unto our God: many shall see it, and fear, and shall trust in the Lord” (verse 3). For solace, David turned to writing music, and he sought God’s inspiration in composing it. Beyond that, he shared it and used it to uplift others spiritually! Psalm 40 is itself an example: It is “To the chief Musician,” intended for public worship.

God puts words in our mouths—even praise to Him. Then we help declare David’s psalms to this world, helping others to fear and trust God. What a mind-staggering message we have to deliver!

It is interesting that David wrote, “many shall see it” (verse 3), when hearing would seem the more natural word for music. We can’t hear David’s song, but we can see the poetry by reading and studying it.

David set his troubled heart on counting his blessings: “Many, O Lord my God, are thy wonderful works which thou hast done, and thy thoughts which are to us-ward: they cannot be reckoned up in order unto thee: if I would declare and speak of them, they are more than can be numbered” (verse 5). David saw how many wonderful works God does for us—we cannot even count them! You are thinking of us and directing your works toward us and blessing us in endless ways! he wrote.

David thought a lot about recording this for future generations. The word declare can mean publish, and the Hebrew word for numbered comes from the same root as scribe and write.

Verses 6-8 are especially profound and directly prophetic: “Sacrifice and offering thou didst not desire; mine ears hast thou opened: burnt offering and sin offering hast thou not required. Then said I, Lo, I come: in the volume of the book it is written of me, I delight to do thy will, O my God ….” The Apostle Paul quotes these verses in Hebrews 10:5-9—and was inspired by the Holy Spirit to ascribe them to Jesus Christ! Think on how these verses apply both to David and to Christ—and to you.

David recognized that the Old Testament sacrifices were only a foreshadowing of a far more majestic sacrifice. He wrote in the spirit of prophecy! When Paul quoted this, he wrote, “When he [Christ] said above, ‘Thou hast neither desired nor taken pleasure in sacrifices and offerings and burnt offerings and sin offerings’ (these are offered according to the law), then he added, ‘Lo, I have come to do thy will.’ He abolishes the first in order to establish the second” (verses 8-9; rsv). When Christ came, there was a magnificent change!

After “Sacrifice and offering thou didst not desire,” David wrote, “mine ears hast thou opened” (Psalm 40:6). He credited God with opening his ears to spiritual instruction, enabling him to offer the true sacrifices of attention and obedience. He may well have directly received this idea from Samuel, who years before had told the disobedient King Saul, “Has the Lord as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the Lord? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to listen than the fat of rams” (1 Samuel 15:22; esv). God has no interest in dead animals, compared to obedient hearts and attentive ears. David and Christ offered those to God, and so should we.

The Septuagint, from which Paul quoted, translated that phrase “burnt offering and sin offering hast thou not required” as “a body hast thou prepared me.” That is quite a different reading, but Paul accepted it as inspired (see Hebrews 10:5). Certainly Christ served God with the physical body God had given Him, and its literal sacrifice superseded the Mosaic offerings.

David also viewed his songs and psalms as offerings to God (Psalm 69:30-31). Johann Gottfried Herder wrote in his book The Spirit of Hebrew Poetry: “It is a remarkable circumstance in regard to David, that he so often promises his songs as offerings to God, and considers them, instead of sacrifices and burnt offerings, of the greatest worth, and as vows of the sanctuary, best pleasing to God. … With David the most appropriate and best offering which he could make to God was his songs of praise. … To offer bullocks from the stall would be far easier for a king, but he disdained to present these cheaper offerings, and chose to honor God with the finest effusions of his poetical powers.”

Psalm 40:8 concludes, “[Y]ea, thy law is within my heart.” David truly did love God’s law, and he loved His government! Both were in his thinking all the time. How precious is that attitude.

“I have preached righteousness in the great congregation: lo, I have not refrained my lips, O Lord, thou knowest. I have not hid thy righteousness within my heart; I have declared thy faithfulness and thy salvation: I have not concealed thy lovingkindness and thy truth from the great congregation” (verses 9-10). David saw it as his spiritual duty to spread the truth of God, and he fulfilled it with fervor. You know that is true! he told God. What spiritual confidence comes from giving God such wholehearted service!

He was bold, then, to ask for mercy and lovingkindness (verse 11). It is in this context that he confesses “mine iniquities”—plural—in fact, “more than the hairs of mine head” (verse 12). That is a lot of iniquities! But he knew where to go to have them dealt with. He really needed God’s help. And God certainly provided that.

Verses 13 to 17 are the same as Psalm 70, which we will look at in more detail later. But note verse 16: “Let all those that seek thee rejoice and be glad in thee: let such as love thy salvation say continually, The Lord be magnified.” God really wants you to be bold in your prayer and to praise and thank Him for all these wonderful blessings. He shows you how to pray, how to study, how to build vision and other wonderful characteristics. We need to respond and ensure we keep growing in them.

Psalm 41 This psalm begins with a promise: “Blessed [happy] is he that considereth the poor: the Lord will deliver him in time of trouble” (verse 1). How often in His Word does God emphasize this Christian duty and the joy, rewards and blessings that come from fulfilling it (e.g. Deuteronomy 15:7-11; Psalm 112:9; Proverbs 14:21; 19:17; Isaiah 58:7-11; Luke 14:13-14).

The promised blessings continue in Psalm 41:2: “The Lord will preserve him, and keep him alive; and he shall be blessed upon the earth: and thou wilt not deliver him unto the will [appetite] of his enemies.” What tremendous benefits! People would hardly think such prosperity in health and wealth, such protection from foes, would flow from attending to the poor, but God’s miraculous power is at work. We may have strife in the short run, but ultimately we can be confident in every word of these promises.

“The Lord will strengthen him upon the bed of languishing: thou wilt make [or turn, margin] all his bed in his sickness” (verse 3). When this person in a trial of sickness is suffering with illness or affliction, even when God doesn’t immediately give full healing He is there to turn him on the bed and make it more tranquil for him. The rsv reads, “The Lord sustains him on his sickbed; in his illness thou healest all his infirmities.”

These three verses are a meditation on the mercies promised to those who “considereth the poor,” meaning to understand and give attention to them. God wants us to learn compassion and empathy. When we put ourselves in their shoes and treat them as we would like to be treated, then we can expect similar consideration and lovingkindness from God in our own needs.

That is exactly what David prays for in the rest of this psalm, beginning in verse 4: “I said, Lord, be merciful unto me: heal my soul; for I have sinned against thee.” This is a song of repentance. He knew it was God whom he had most offended with his sin and God alone from whom he needed forgiveness.

David may have been focused on God’s promise of healing in verses 2-3 because he was suffering some kind of physical affliction (verse 8).

Sometimes it is when we are in trial that we learn who our true friends are. David’s enemies were exulting in his trouble and wishing for his death (verses 5, 7-8). Some who visited him were only pretending to care for him (verse 6). The climax of the passage is verse 9: “Yea, mine own familiar friend, in whom I trusted, which did eat of my bread, hath lifted up his heel against me.” Jesus Christ quoted this verse the night before His crucifixion, referring to the betrayal of Judas Iscariot (John 13:18). Sadly, many of us in this end-of-the-end-time remnant Work of God in the Laodicean era have experienced betrayal at the hands of close friends and family.

In these troubles, David, as we see so often in these psalms, turned to God: “But thou, O Lord, be merciful unto me, and raise me up, that I may requite them. … And as for me, thou upholdest me in mine integrity, and settest me before thy face for ever” (verses 10, 12). What a vision to keep in mind in the midst of a grave trial and serious persecution! This psalm begins and ends very positively, showing how well David maintained his spiritual focus.

The first of the five sections, or books, in Psalms concludes in verse 13: “Blessed be the Lord God of Israel from everlasting, and to everlasting. Amen, and Amen.”

Psalm 51 David did some terrible things at times, but did he ever repent! This psalm is the foremost display of repentance in Scripture. You could say it is the preeminent lesson in the Bible! It is worthy of deep study. It has much to teach all of us.

The subtitle is, “To the chief Musician, A Psalm of David, when Nathan the prophet came unto him, after he had gone in to Bathsheba.” Psalms 49, 50 and 51 all deal with this event, with Psalm 51 directly authored by David.

I believe Jeremiah would have added some history of what happened with David into The Psalter of Tara. That history is recorded in 2 Samuel 11 and 12.

What happened to David? He tarried in Jerusalem when the army was going out to battle (2 Samuel 11:1). That is a key detail. Why did David tarry in Jerusalem?

Remember the reaction of the teenage boy when Israel was taunted by Goliath? (1 Samuel 17). He said, “Who is this uncircumcised Philistine that he would dare defy the armies of the living God?” He wanted to take him on himself, and he did—when nobody else would! That wasn’t the same David who stayed behind in Jerusalem.

I think he remained behind because he was already lusting for Bathsheba. God records that expression here for good reason. I take it to mean he said he would probably be a little delayed—and he was. But at that time in David’s life, it didn’t bother him to take another man’s wife. It didn’t even bother him to murder her husband! I suppose he thought everything was OK as long as nobody really noticed—although at that point, he didn’t seem to care about that either. The truth is, David committed adultery long before the act. The problem had begun months earlier. He lusted for another man’s wife, and that is adultery! (Matthew 5:28). God hates that!

God sent the Prophet Nathan to tell David a story of a rich man with great flocks of sheep stealing the one prized ewe from his poor neighbor (2 Samuel 12). This aroused white-hot anger in David, who declared, “As the Lord liveth, the man that hath done this thing shall surely die” (verses 1-5). Nathan responded, “You are the man” (verse 7).

It suddenly became clear that God had plainly seen all David’s sins (verse 9). God said, “Now therefore the sword shall never depart from thine house, because thou hast despised me …. Behold, I will raise up evil against thee out of thine own house …” (verses 10-11). David despised God by his actions! That is serious!

“And David said unto Nathan, I have sinned against the Lord. And Nathan said unto David, The Lord also hath put away thy sin; thou shalt not die” (verse 13). David had said the man should die—but God spared him. Yet He did say, “Howbeit, because by this deed thou hast given great occasion to the enemies of the Lord to blaspheme, the child also that is born unto thee shall surely die” (verse 14). God hates sin, and He does punish. We must not be naive about this. David suffered in his family the rest of his life.

David fasted for the child, hoping God would have mercy. But when the child died, David stopped. God had spoken, and he accepted that and did not complain. David was severely corrected through this ordeal, yet he did not groan or protest. There is no hint of that. He knew he had sinned against God. He was disgusted and angry with himself. He knew he deserved every bit of this punishment.

The history in 2 Samuel 12 records David as saying only, “I have sinned against the Lord.” But Psalm 51 records the depth of his repentance, what occurred deep within his heart! There is real beauty in this. When he had a sin pointed out to him, he turned! God loves this so much about David. Where do you find anything in the Bible about repentance that equals this? David truly took those sins seriously. Look how this changed him! He became a different man.

We all sin and need to be corrected. God is deeply concerned about our repentance—and He provided this example of David for all of us. And Jeremiah knew there was a profound lesson here.

This psalm begins, “Have mercy upon me, O God, according to thy lovingkindness: according unto the multitude of thy tender mercies blot out my transgressions” (verse 1). Blot them out so they will never be remembered again! “Wash me throughly from mine iniquity [lawlessness], and cleanse me from my sin. For I acknowledge my transgressions: and my sin is ever before me” (verses 2-3). David realized he wasn’t even close to what God expected of him. He knew he had to change, and he kept the knowledge of his sin before him all the time.

“Against thee, thee only, have I sinned, and done this evil in thy sight: that thou mightest be justified when thou speakest, and be clear when thou judgest” (verse 4). Acknowledging guilt is the first essential step in repentance. And David stated deeply: I have sinned against you and you only. David knew he had sinned against God. That really moved and motivated him—and Jeremiah. They really understood this!

When Potiphar’s wife tried to seduce Joseph, he said, “how then can I do this great wickedness, and sin against God?” (Genesis 39:9). He recognized that as sin against God, not against this woman’s husband.

Do you understand this truth? We sin only against God. Sin is the transgression of the law, which was given by God. We have all sinned against God and need to grow in this understanding.

God loves family. He wants the members of a family to be unified, harmonious and loving. Anything that disrupts or violates that is a real problem in His eyes. Yet even many who call themselves Christian dismiss God’s laws and have very little regard for family. The truth is, they despise God!

How do you men think about your sisters? How do you women think about your brothers? If you begin to lust for a man or a woman, you are destroying the Family of God! You will never get away with that. We are the Family of God, and we are here to think as Christ thinks! If we lust for the opposite sex, we are killing Christ! It takes His death to pay for our sins, but people in this world sin and laugh about it. Somebody must teach them how horrifying their actions are and how their sins must be paid for with Christ’s very blood!

“Behold, I was shapen in iniquity; and in sin did my mother conceive me” (Psalm 51:5). David repented for far more than what he did: He repented of what he was—his own human nature. He traced his sin all the way back to his birth when he came into this world and began to be shaped and molded by Satan the devil, which is where human nature comes from. David was grasping this reality deeply. Elsewhere he wrote, “The wicked are estranged from the womb …” (Psalm 58:3).

David was repenting of the cause of his sin. He searched his whole life from childhood and saw how he had problems, perhaps even as a young man. He began to see how the problems had built up in his mind and that he had never really dealt with them. David began to confront the thoughts that had been in his mind long before the acts of adultery and murder. Christ said that if you look upon a woman in lust, you have already committed adultery (Matthew 5:28). That is adultery. If you hate your brother, that is murder! David saw that he had to get to the root cause. We must get to that cause, or we will not conquer our problems.

When you lust for something, you are despising God. We must purge that sin! We came from this world, and this world worships the devil! We cannot look to them as our standard. We must look to God and get to the cause of those sins and have a new mind.

Herbert W. Armstrong said he hoped he was 51 percent spiritual. As long as we are in the flesh, we cannot be content to remain as we are: We have to confront whatever within us remains carnal! Christ was 100 percent spiritual!

“Behold, thou desirest truth in the inward parts: and in the hidden part thou shalt make me to know wisdom” (Psalm 51:6). David realized how his thinking had become terribly sinful and twisted, and he hadn’t been honest about what had been going on in his mind. What am I thinking? he asked himself earnestly. What caused this? God knew it all, right to David’s core. And God desires truth in the very deepest part of our hearts.

“Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean: wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow” (verse 7). Soncino says hyssop is a cleaning agent used on lepers in the rite of purification (Leviticus 13). David thought of himself as a leper—and spiritually speaking, he was, and he admitted that.

“Hide thy face from my sins, and blot out all mine iniquities” (Psalm 51:9). David was embarrassed. He knew he had been disobeying and despising God and His law. He agonized over this.

“Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me” (verse 10). David had been getting into a wrong spirit. That wasn’t Christ living in him; it was his own evil human nature. That is what he repented of—not just the act of killing and adultery. He begged for a new heart.

“Cast me not away from thy presence; and take not thy holy spirit from me” (verse 11). God was not there with David. David really thought God might take away His Holy Spirit. Does that really happen? Well, it happened to Saul (1 Samuel 16:14). Yes, God certainly can take it away. Surely David was close to losing his salvation! He had almost gone too far, and he knew it. And he realized he had to repent like he had never repented before. If Nathan hadn’t corrected David, I would think he’d have gone further along that path and soon would have been beyond help.

“Restore unto me the joy of thy salvation; and uphold me with thy free spirit” (Psalm 51:12). He thought that relationship with another man’s wife would be so exciting. The world tries to make sin sound thrilling. But it caused David to lose his joy! After committing adultery and murder, David asked God to restore his joy.

“Then will I teach transgressors thy ways; and sinners shall be converted unto thee” (verse 13). He was fasting and praying, and he just wanted to give his life to serving God and His Work and His people! He thought back and realized that he had had his mind completely on himself rather than on serving God. He knew he had to get back to doing the Work of God. If you will just help me through this, God, I will teach those who sin against you, he said. I’ll teach them your ways anytime I have an opportunity. Sinners will be converted to you because of this.

When you think about it, what was David’s great sin? It was not wanting to do God’s Work! He had to repent of breaking the First Commandment and failing to fulfill the purpose of his calling. He wasn’t thinking like God and wanting to do God’s Work and help build God’s Family. He recognized that and had to repent bitterly and deeply of that.

“Deliver me from bloodguiltiness, O God, thou God of my salvation: and my tongue shall sing aloud of thy righteousness” (verse 14). And then that bloodguiltiness incurred the sentence of a murderer. He realized that not only had he murdered Uriah but he was also guilty of killing Jesus Christ! He knew that the Son of God would have to die because of his sin! Deliver me from that! he prayed.

“The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit: a broken and a contrite heart, O God, thou wilt not despise” (verse 17). True repentance means we must change! We must be teachable and have a broken spirit and a contrite heart, or we won’t change like we should. God can lead and use a broken spirit. He cannot use an unbroken spirit. Have you ever tried to ride an unbroken horse? It is practically impossible. You cannot lead them. God wants to lead and guide you as His son and daughter, but He can’t do it if you lack a broken spirit. We all need to be truly humble. You must get yourself out of the way and allow God to convict you of your sins and teach you. That is very spiritual. That is what it takes for God to lead you and to root out those sins. This was fundamental to David’s repentance, and it is how to be a man after God’s own heart.

This psalm is the language of repentance. It is unparalleled in the Bible. We all need to understand this more deeply. We need to realize the depth of repentance God wants from us. What is more important than this subject? David taught us a great lesson about repentance, and this is surely one of the most important lessons in the Bible.

Jeremiah surely had to teach this lesson. That is why he put it in The Psalter of Tara and why God is giving it to us in this end time. We must be ready to help people understand what is so bad about their sins—and teach them true repentance!

Psalm 52 As the subhead shows, this psalm was written after an unspeakably horrifying tragedy: “when Doeg the Edomite came and told Saul, and said unto him, David is come to the house of Ahimelech.” That history is recorded in 1 Samuel 22.

David was on the run from King Saul, who was demoniacally wrathful. Saul imagined conspiracy from all directions and was convinced that his people wanted to dethrone him in favor of David. When the treacherous Doeg brought word that Ahimelech the priest was harboring David at Nob, where the tabernacle was located, Saul summoned Ahimelech and the dozens of priests from there. Deranged in mind, he falsely accused these men of treason and ordered his guards to kill them all! When the startled guards refused, Doeg stepped in and personally did the despicable deed—slaughtering 85 loyal and guiltless priests.

Deeply grieved by this shattering event, David turned to composing sacred poetry.

“Why boastest thou thyself in mischief, O mighty man?” Psalm 52 begins; “the goodness [mercy] of God endureth continually.” “Mischief” as cold-blooded as what Doeg perpetrated would be far better translated evil or wickedness, which is the usual translation of the Hebrew word. David further condemns the physically mighty man’s cruelty and arrogance by placing them in jarring contrast with God’s eternal goodness.

In verses 2-4, David denounces the wicked for their lying and deceit, their murderous intent and their love of evil rather than good. He then warns: “God shall likewise destroy thee for ever, he shall take thee away, and pluck thee out of thy dwelling place, and root thee out of the land of the living. Selah” (verse 5). He continually rested on these promises, knowing in faith that God will withstand the sinners who hate him and erase every trace of the world’s injustice.

Place yourself in the shoes of this man who was grappling with such monstrous horror! As the world descends into the times of the Gentiles, we are already encountering more of these kinds of atrocities, and in the time ahead they are certain to hit closer and closer to home. This psalm shows the spiritually minded response of a man after God’s own heart. We would do well to meditate on it and project ourselves into circumstances when we will need more of this kind of spiritual perspective and composure.

This psalm concludes beautifully: “But I am like a green olive tree in the house of God: I trust in the mercy of God for ever and ever. I will praise thee for ever, because thou hast done it: and I will wait on thy name; for it is good before thy saints” (verses 8-9). What magnificent faith and trust! Trust in God’s mercy, and you will flourish spiritually as David did!

Psalm 53 This is almost an exact repetition of Psalm 14. David gave it to the chief musician a second time, with two additional instructions: “upon Mahalath, Maschil.” Mahalath may indicate the tune to employ or the musical style to use. So although the words are much the same, the musical setting was likely quite different. Spurgeon said some forms of Mahalath signify disease, so it was likely a sobering musical rendering. This psalm certainly does expose the disease of the sinful human heart. The additional note of Maschil indicates “that double attention is to be given to this most instructive song.” It certainly is a theme we need to think deeply on. God doesn’t repeat things without a purpose. David wanted this in the second book of the Psalms.

The world around us is alienated from God. “… Corrupt are they, and have done abominable iniquity: there is none that doeth good. … Every one of them is gone back: they are altogether become filthy; there is none that doeth good, no, not one” (Psalm 53:1, 3). Where in this world can you find a truly righteous man, one really striving to obey God?

David is reminding us how we must be living sacrifices to God. We must examine ourselves and realize where we need more of that broken spirit. Without a broken spirit, we cannot be taught by God! We must let God in and seek Him the way David did. He had a broken spirit. God could teach him everything he needed to know!

There are notable differences in the lyrics between the two songs. Psalm 53 uses stronger language: Verse 1 says the wicked have done “abominable iniquity” rather than the “abominable works” in Psalm 14. Verse 3 says they have “gone back” rather than merely “gone aside.”

Psalm 14 uses yhwh as God’s name in verses 2, 4, 6 and 7, whereas all seven times God is mentioned in Psalm 53, it is Elohim. Why the difference? One reason is that Elohim is the name for God used more commonly in Book ii (whereas Book i favors yhwh). But that is not all.

The biggest textual difference is toward the end. Psalm 14:5-6 emphasize God’s deliverance of the righteous; Psalm 53:5 focuses on God’s annihilation of the wicked. Psalm 14:6 says, “You [the wicked] shame the counsel of the poor, But the Lord is his refuge” (nkjv). Psalm 53:5 says, “… You [the righteous] have put them [the wicked] to shame, Because God has despised them” (nkjv).

So Psalm 14 is directed to God’s enemies, warning them that God is about to wipe them out. To them God is yhwh, the Eternal. Psalm 53 is aimed at God’s people. To us He is Elohim, the God Family.

Read this psalm from that standpoint, and it is quite encouraging. As hostile as this world is to God, hold fast the vision of the end. David wrote, as if it had already occurred, of the time when God’s enemies will be trembling in fear, and when “God hath scattered the bones of him that encampeth against thee: thou hast put them to shame, because God hath despised them” (verse 5).

But that victory is only a step in God’s larger plan. “Oh that the salvation of Israel were come out of Zion! …” (verse 6). Once rebellion is put down, this whole world will have opened to it the salvation that comes out of spiritual Israel. What a blessing that will be, and what a rapid change that will make globally!

Psalm 54 The subhead of this psalm says, “[W]hen the Ziphims came and said to Saul, Doth not David hide himself with us?” This took place not long after the event memorialized in Psalm 52, when Saul was seeking to kill David. These people tried to win Saul’s favor by informing him of David’s presence in their territory (1 Samuel 23:19-20; 26:1). Knowing this, David turned to God in prayer and in song.

“Save me, O God, by thy name, and judge me by thy strength” (Psalm 54:1). That is a remarkable attitude: Having been condemned to death by the king, David asks God not only to save him but also to judge him, to rule and govern him, to execute judgment in his life. David prayed for that!

“For strangers are risen up against me, and oppressors seek after my soul: they have not set God before them. Selah” (verse 3). This man faced troubles greater than we can probably imagine. Yet in the midst of danger he paused—he stopped and thought on the situation. And as in so many other cases, he sought refuge in God. The rest of the psalm has a tone of triumph.

“Behold, God is mine helper: the Lord is with them that uphold my soul” (verse 4). David remained strong even in situations like this because of his diligence to draw on God’s help. How much more could we follow this example in our trials?

“For thou hast delivered me from every trouble, and my eye has looked in triumph on my enemies” (verse 7; rsv). David enjoyed God’s blessing and protection. He knew God was in his life, and he took full advantage of that!

Again, consider the trying circumstances in which David wrote this psalm. When you face life-threatening challenges, take this example to heart: Turn to God in heartfelt praise and worship, and trust wholly in Him.

Psalm 55 This psalm is about the bitterness of betrayal. I believe David wrote it when he was on the run from his son Absalom (2 Samuel 15). This was one of the curses he suffered because of his sin with Bathsheba. As Nathan had told him, “The sword shall never depart from your house.” This was an agonizing time for David.

The psalm begins, “Give ear to my prayer, O God; and hide not thyself from my supplication” (Psalm 55:1). In the verses that follow, we see that he is oppressed by wicked enemies and is full of fear and trembling as he seeks to make his escape.

“For it was not an enemy that reproached me; then I could have borne it: neither was it he that hated me that did magnify himself against me; then I would have hid myself from him: But it was thou, a man mine equal, my guide, and mine acquaintance. We took sweet counsel together, and walked unto the house of God in company” (verses 12-14). He didn’t name Absalom, but that appears to be who he was referring to. This harkens back to Nathan’s warning. Imagine David’s emotions, dealing with this treachery from within his own family, and knowing that it was his own sin that had sparked this disaster.

Most of us have experienced betrayal from a close Family of God member or a physical family member. It is fiercely painful.

As we see repeatedly throughout Psalms, David took his troubles to God. “As for me, I will call upon God; and the Lord shall save me. Evening, and morning, and at noon, will I pray, and cry aloud: and he shall hear my voice” (verses 16-17). This is powerful, unforgettable poetry! David organized his life, and he knew God would hear him. He was doing everything he could to stay close to God, especially after his repentance (Psalm 51). His prayer and study were organized—evening, morning and noon. This is the only way we can become spiritual and keep ourselves in that frame of mind.

The intense pain of this kind of betrayal caused David to cry aloud!

“The words of his mouth were smoother than butter, but war was in his heart: his words were softer than oil, yet were they drawn swords” (Psalm 55:21). Such was the kind of people David had to deal with—even his own son. “War was in his heart”—his inward parts, as David said; he was thinking about his own son and, I’m sure, his own sins. How terrible is duplicity and hypocrisy! People’s words can be smoother than butter and seem so nice, but their hearts are intent on war. We see that violent spirit against the Church at times.

“Cast thy burden upon the Lord, and he shall sustain thee: he shall never suffer the righteous to be moved” (verse 22). God doesn’t say He will remove that burden. But you can cast that burden on Him. If you let that burden weigh you down, it will leave you in serious spiritual trouble. Let God carry it, or at least most of it. Often you will still be carrying some, but God will ensure you can handle that burden. Do your part and maintain that broken spirit, and go right on with your life and do the Work of God and serve people. That experience will toughen you up, and you will grow in character.

Psalm 56 Like Psalm 16, this is a Michtam of David, as are the next four psalms (57-60). This means he is carving it into his mind, engraving it into his thinking. This is what we need to do.

The subhead says David wrote this “when the Philistines took him in Gath.” This was about the same time he wrote Psalm 34: Fleeing from Saul in fear, he foolishly looked for refuge in Gath, forgetting that they were still angry with him for slaying Goliath. That harrowing incident is recorded in 1 Samuel 21:10-12. Even though David didn’t handle those circumstances with great faith, it is remarkable that he wrote these psalms to redirect his agitated mind back to God.

“Be merciful unto me, O God: for man would swallow me up; he fighting daily oppresseth me,” he begins (Psalm 56:1). “Whenever I am afraid, I will trust in You” (verse 3; nkjv). That is what we all ought to do when fear begins to overtake us!

Verse 4 is even more resolute: “In God I will praise his word, in God I have put my trust; I will not fear what flesh can do unto me.” After what happened in Gath, David knew that he needed more faith and courage. He was determined not to allow fear to grip him like that again. He committed himself to God.

“You number my wanderings; Put my tears into Your bottle; Are they not in Your book?” (verse 8; nkjv). David knew that though he drifted as a fugitive, God recorded his every step and took careful note of his every tear. When we feel alone and forgotten, remember: God tells us, “I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee” (Hebrews 13:5).

Verse 11 of Psalm 56 echoes the bold statement of verse 4: “In God have I put my trust: I will not be afraid what man can do unto me.” When you don’t fear man, that brings wonderful peace into your life! God commands us repeatedly not to fear. He doesn’t want us to fear evil men who seek to impede His Work and sabotage His people. If we are fearful, we cannot do the Work of God! We must not live that way. That means changing and building character, growing in spiritual courage, as David did.

David etched this lesson in his mind: I will NOT be afraid of what man can do to me! You can see why he was such a warrior! He fortified his faith, renewed his trust in God, and revived his eagerness for battle. That is the kind of faith we must have.

Psalm 57 David wrote this Michtam “when he fled from Saul in the cave,” the subhead says, taking us back again to the history recorded in 1 Samuel 22 and 24. “This is a song from the bowels of the earth, and like Jonah’s prayer from the bottom of the sea, it has a taste of the place,” Spurgeon wrote. “The poet is in the shadow of the cave at first, but he comes to the cavern’s mouth at last, and sings in the sweet fresh air, with his eye on the heavens, watching joyously the clouds floating therein.”

The subhead also says Altaschith, meaning destroy not (though it may be a technical musical term). That was essentially what David said when he had the opportunity to kill Saul, and here he is asking God to apply the same mercy toward himself.

This psalm begins with the same phrase that began the previous psalm, with a repetition for emphasis: “Be merciful unto me, O God, be merciful unto me: for my soul trusteth in thee: yea, in the shadow of thy wings will I make my refuge, until these calamities be overpast” (Psalm 57:1). The verses that follow amplify this theme of relying on God amid sore trial. Though his “soul is among lions,” besieged by “the sons of men, whose teeth are spears and arrows” (verse 4), who “have prepared a net for my steps” (verse 6), David is certain that “God shall send forth his mercy and his truth” (verse 3). Psalm 56:1 complained of those who would “swallow me up”; Psalm 57:3 describes God saving him from those who would “swallow me up,” and then he says, “Selah”!

Verses 5 and 11 give this glorious refrain: “Be thou exalted, O God, above the heavens; let thy glory be above all the earth.” What a marvelous expression of praise amid such trying circumstances!

“My heart is fixed, O God, my heart is fixed: I will sing and give praise” (verse 7). What a wonderful thing to tell God: My heart is fixed! I will sing and give praise. David was thinking only about serving God and God’s people. That filled his mind, and he said, That is fixed! God loves to hear such passionate commitment and see a man exercise such determination and implement that way of life.

This psalm concludes with an outburst of praise for God! David threw himself into making this offering of praise. “Awake up, my glory; awake, psaltery and harp: I myself will awake early. I will praise thee, O Lord, among the people: I will sing unto thee among the nations” (verses 8-9). David was so full of love that he wanted to sing about God to everybody!

What an exceptional example of remaining positive and spiritually focused in a trial! “For thy mercy is great unto the heavens, and thy truth unto the clouds” (verse 10). Direct your mind into the heavens! Break out the bagpipes and harp, and fix your heart on singing and praising God!

Psalm 58 This too is a Michtam, or golden psalm. David was dealing with similar problems to those we see in the world today: Society is saturated in evil and proud of it; it defies God and willfully celebrates it. The influence of Satan and the demons is rampant!

“Do you indeed speak righteousness, you silent ones? Do you judge uprightly, you sons of men?” (verse 1; nkjv). Are you silent? Won’t you speak what is right and judge properly? Evil is taking over, and so many people are silent about it.

“No, in your hearts you devise injustice; with your hands you mete out violence on the earth” (verse 2; Berean Standard Bible). Rather than confronting evil, people are contributing to it. Even those who should be leading us are terribly wicked.

“The wicked are estranged from the womb: they go astray as soon as they be born, speaking lies” (verse 3). Think on that: People are tracking down this path of evil from day one! This one verse tells you that you had better work diligently with your children and shape their thinking, or you will have serious problems! This is probably the best verse to tell you what a child is! Look at young people today. Behold how selfish, hateful and wicked so many of them are—to the point where they could kill a person and enjoy it!

Are you going to abandon your children to the enemy’s influence? Satan is waiting for them! As soon as they are born, Satan starts to build his nature in human beings. We have to make sure that doesn’t happen to our children.

“They spit venom like deadly snakes; they are like cobras that refuse to listen” (verse 4; New Living Translation). Those are strong words from David. But they are true, much like Jesus Christ calling the religious leaders of His day vipers and snakes (e.g. Matthew 23:33). How evil people are! Transgressors are come to the full (Daniel 8:23). It is as in the days of Noah, when God was sorry He had created man! (Genesis 6:5-6; Matthew 24:37).

We have to really know human nature. Who in this world understands it? Even many leaders today don’t grasp human nature, and they are simply enslaved to it! What a blessing it is to have God’s truth that explains this. The world is in the dark. You would think they would be flocking to hear what God has to say, with all the problems they have. They are facing self-annihilation, yet still they won’t hear God’s warning. What a shame!

Think about the fact that David wrote poetry about this. He knew that Satan is the god of this world (2 Corinthians 4:4; Revelation 12:9). Not only did he think deeply about the world’s evil—he described it in song lyrics. That is extraordinary! Do you want to write music and sing about just how wicked these liars and unjust rulers are?

Meditate on what David urged God to do: “Break their teeth, O God, in their mouth: break out the great teeth of the young lions, O Lord” (Psalm 58:6). This is another example of cursing in the psalms, as we saw in Psalm 35. This great man was inspired not only to pray these words but to record them and have people sing them!

“Let them vanish like water that runs away; when he aims his arrows, let them be blunted. Let them be like the snail that dissolves into slime, like the stillborn child who never sees the sun” (Psalm 58:7-8; esv).

We must work to think more like God. Ask yourself: Do I see good and evil the way God does? Do I view rebellion and arrogance with the same hatred that God does? Do I long for justice as God does?

This psalm concludes with a moving picture of God vanquishing all wickedness. “The righteous shall rejoice when he seeth the vengeance: he shall wash his feet in the blood of the wicked.” And why? “So that a man shall say, Verily there is a reward for the righteous: verily he is a God that judgeth in the earth” (verses 10-11). Yes, the day is coming soon when the whole world will know God! Sin and evil will be avenged. All people will recognize that there is a reward for the righteous—a sure and spectacular reward—and that there is an all-powerful God who judges and will rule over the whole Earth very soon!

Psalm 59 Here is another “destroy not” Michtam of David. This was “when Saul sent, and they watched the house to kill him.” You can read about this, and how Saul’s daughter Michal hindered his soldiers from carrying out their murderous orders, in 1 Samuel 19:11-17. It is phenomenal how consistently David wrote to God and about God in the middle of such adversity.

“Deliver me from mine enemies, O my God: defend me from them that rise up against me. … For, lo, they lie in wait for my soul: the mighty are gathered against me; not for my transgression, nor for my sin, O Lord” (Psalm 59:1, 3). David knew he wasn’t being persecuted for his sins. At that point in his life, he was on track and was not suffering the curses of his later transgressions.

That made David bold in prayer. “For no fault of mine, they run and make ready. Rouse thyself, come to my help, and see!” he wrote (verse 4; rsv). “Thou therefore, O Lord God of hosts, the God of Israel, awake to visit all the heathen: be not merciful to any wicked transgressors. Selah” (verse 5).

“But thou, O Lord, shalt laugh at them; thou shalt have all the heathen in derision. Because of his strength will I wait upon thee: for God is my defence” (verses 8-9). However intimidating our enemies may be, always remember that God is far more powerful. The stronger they are, the more we need to wait on God and look to Him for protection.

“Slay them not, lest my people forget: scatter them by thy power; and bring them down, O Lord our shield” (verse 11). This is a remarkable prayer: David asked that God not completely destroy the foe, so the people would not too quickly forget the miracle of deliverance. There are certainly times when God allows a trial to linger, or provides relief but doesn’t eliminate it completely. Even after a trial ends, God can leave a reminder of certain effects. He knows we are far too prone to allow even spectacular miracles to slip from mind. This prayer shows that David recognized this fallible human tendency and asked for help to overcome it.

“Consume them in wrath, consume them, that they may not be: and let them know that God ruleth in Jacob unto the ends of the earth. Selah” (verse 13). Such prayers show that God’s rulership was continually on David’s mind. When he beseeched God to destroy his enemies, he repeatedly voiced his desire that God be glorified and that the world behold His power and recognize His rule!

“Unto thee, O my strength, will I sing: for God is my defence, and the God of my mercy” (verse 17). Where is our strength? Right here—in God! And David said, I will sing about that! He was so thankful for all that God did for him that he couldn’t contain his gratitude. He wanted to express it and publicize it!

Psalm 60 This is another Michtam. Carve it in your mind indelibly. That is what God wants all of us to do with His truth. When you take notes in Church services, carve them into your mind and etch them into your thinking. We have to work hard to do that. If we don’t, this is all in vain. What good is it if we fail to practice these wonderful truths?

The notes are not enough, but we certainly can benefit from them. I can go back to my notes from some of Mr. Armstrong’s sermons, and they are still so powerful! I have quite a number of them, and I try to review them when I can—and I can find that same inspiration I had when he gave them! Notes certainly help me. But the goal is to get them in our minds—to know them, and be ready to talk about them, and to live by them. Sometimes, as you get older, you lose some memory, and you have to work harder. But when you’re resurrected, you will remember all those things. Still, we have to try to remember them now as much as we can, because that is a way we build character.

The subhead also says this psalm is “to teach.” David thought a lot on how to teach the nation spiritual truths. He wrote these poems into songs, and he assembled massive choirs to sing them and to teach them to the congregation. He formalized and required praise and thanksgiving to help the people see God’s hand in their lives. To this day, we sing these songs and they have become stamped on our memory. They teach us and help us stay in a right attitude for building godly character.

The subhead says David wrote this “when he strove with Aramnaharaim and with Aramzobah, when Joab returned, and smote of Edom in the valley of salt twelve thousand.” This was a fierce battle that yielded a decisive victory for Israel. It harmonizes with events recorded in 2 Samuel 8 and 1 Chronicles 18. The victory marked a dramatic reversal in the nation’s history after the curses and ignominy it had suffered under King Saul.

David begins the instruction of this psalm “to teach” by reflecting on that shameful past: “O God, thou hast cast us off, thou hast scattered us, thou hast been displeased …. Thou hast shewed thy people hard things: thou hast made us to drink the wine of astonishment” (Psalm 60:1, 3). It is important to remember such history to ensure you hold fast its lessons and recognize God’s hand at work.

The psalm then takes a major turn, celebrating the change God had brought about for the nation: “Thou hast given a banner to them that fear thee, that it may be displayed because of the truth. Selah” (verse 4). What victories God gives His people who fear Him! How He blesses us when we hold high the banner of His truth!

In verses 6-8, David writes about how God gave the Israelites the Promised Land and divided it as their inheritance. He looks with satisfaction over a nation of flourishing tribes. He exults at the victories God has given them over neighboring foes. In verses 9-10, he expresses his desire for God’s help in extending these conquests. One of the results of the victory memorialized in this psalm was David placement of garrisons in Edom (referenced in verses 8-9; see 2 Samuel 8:14; 1 Chronicles 18:13).

“Give us help from trouble: for vain is the help of man” (Psalm 60:11). Can you get any help from men? No, it must be from God.

“Through God we shall do valiantly: for he it is that shall tread down our enemies” (verse 12). We must be like David and follow this example! Through God we shall do valiantly! Use His power, and we will not fear to speak out for Him.

What would God have thought of us if we didn’t fight in court for Mr. Armstrong’s works? He wants to know that we love His truth and will fight for it! We must not let anyone take it from us—we must be determined to fight even to the death if we have to, to cling to that wonderful truth! That is what David did. And he says, Through God we shall do valiantly! That is the way God wants us to be and the way we must be.

Psalm 61 It appears David wrote this after he had become king of Israel (verse 6) and while he was exiled from Jerusalem (verse 2)—perhaps during Absalom’s rebellion. The subhead says “upon Neginah”—a singular form of “Neginoth,” used for Psalm 4. Because of this, Spurgeon wrote, “the psalm itself is very personal and well adapted for the private devotion of a single individual.” What a stirring picture these psalms give us of this man’s attentiveness to God, whatever his condition!

“Hear my cry, O God; attend unto my prayer. From the end of the earth will I cry unto thee, when my heart is overwhelmed: lead me to the rock that is higher than I” (Psalm 61:1-2). Whenever his heart was overwhelmed—whenever his state was too much for him to bear—and wherever he found himself, David cried out to God.

“I will abide [Hebrew: sojourn] in thy tabernacle for ever: I will trust in the covert of thy wings. Selah” (verse 4). Note the irony: Sojourn and tabernacle have temporary implications, but David connects them here with forever. God’s tabernacle abides forever (Psalm 46:4-5; Isaiah 33:20; Revelation 21:3). That is the new Jerusalem!

“Thou wilt prolong the king’s life: and his years as many generations” (Psalm 61:6). He didn’t speak of God preserving his own life but “the king’s.” He knew God’s promise regarding his throne, culminating in the eternal rule of Jesus Christ on that throne!

“So will I sing praise unto thy name for ever, that I may daily perform my vows” (verse 8). Singing was part of David’s daily spiritual life. He truly did love to praise God in song. He made it part of his daily routine in expressing and growing in love for God!

Psalm 62 This psalm begins with a beautiful picture of David waiting on God: “For God alone my soul waits in silence …” (verse 1; rsv). The word translated “waits in silence” (“waiteth” in the kjv) literally means silent. It suggests resting, expecting, reflecting, observing. David was still, calm, attentive, listening for anything God would say or do. This is the posture we need in life if we are to exalt God’s will above our own in every detail.

“For God alone,” verse 1 begins. The word alone (translated “truly” in the King James) is elsewhere rendered “only,” such as in verse 2: “He only is my rock and my salvation; he is my defence; I shall not be greatly moved.”

This is a theme throughout the psalm: God only. “My soul, wait thou only upon God; for my expectation is from him” (verse 5). The First Commandment is, “Thou shalt have no other gods before me.” God must fill an exclusive role in our lives, one that He only can fill and into which we must never try to put anyone or anything else. David worked very hard to keep the one true God in that singular place in his life! He repeats the refrain of verse 2: “He only is my rock and my salvation: he is my defence; I shall not be moved” (verse 6). Carve this into your mind—not just into your notes!

In verse 3, David turns his attention to his enemies and asks, “How long will ye imagine mischief against a man?” He then warns: “… ye shall be slain all of you: as a bowing wall shall ye be, and as a tottering fence.”

He denounces these men: “Surely they intend to topple me from my lofty place; they take delight in lies. With their mouths they bless, but in their hearts they curse” (verse 4; niv). And this verse ends with “Selah.” Stop and think about the damage that violent, deceitful, hypocritical men can do!

Only God can protect us from such men! “In God is my salvation, and my glory: the rock of my strength, and my refuge, is in God” (verse 7). He is our refuge—and what a mighty refuge He is! “Trust in him at all times; ye people, pour out your heart before him: God is a refuge for us. Selah” (verse 8). We truly can trust in Him!

Never lose this perspective. God is enduring and powerful, an immovable rock and fortress—and His enemies are ephemeral and weak. “Surely men of low degree are vanity, and men of high degree are a lie: to be laid in the balance, they are altogether lighter than vanity” (verse 9). Remember this, and never be tempted to enrich yourself by using their vain ways (verse 10).

“God hath spoken once; twice have I heard this; that power belongeth unto God” (verse 11). We need that power that God has to give us, and with it we will do marvelous deeds!

Psalm 63 David wrote this “when he was in the wilderness of Judah,” on the run from Saul. How remarkable that, even under those adverse and demeaning conditions, he still made time to write poetry to God—and such positive, praiseful poetry!

“O God, thou art my God; early will I seek thee: my soul thirsteth for thee, my flesh longeth for thee in a dry and thirsty land, where no water is” (verse 1). The more challenging the circumstances, the more David sought after God to preserve his perspective and stability. Early, first thing in morning, he was going after God, eager to be with God. He truly worked to build a sincere love of God and a craving for God in his innermost being! The fact that he was writing love poems to God while in the wilderness gives you a good idea of how much work he devoted to these artistic accomplishments.

“To see thy power and thy glory, so as I have seen thee in the sanctuary. Because thy lovingkindness is better than life, my lips shall praise thee” (verses 2-3). We can have something better than life? Yes, God’s lovingkindness, His mercy and goodness, is more wonderful than this physical life! We need God’s lovingkindness. It really is special! We have so much to praise God for and to thank Him for.

“Thus will I bless thee while I live: I will lift up my hands in thy name” (verse 4). As long as I’m alive—I’m going to bless you! David wrote. That is impressive spiritual resolve. Nothing would stop him from blessing God.

“My soul shall be satisfied as with marrow and fatness …” (verse 5). Here he was on the run, in a desolate desert, and saying that God’s presence satisfied him like feasting on the richest foods!

“[M]y mouth shall praise thee with joyful lips: When I remember thee upon my bed, and meditate on thee in the night watches” (verses 5-6). When he awoke in the night, David used those moments to direct his thoughts to God. That helped him build a heart like God’s own heart.

“Because thou hast been my help, therefore in the shadow of thy wings will I rejoice” (verse 7). In so many cases, this is what got David through his trials: He thought on those times when God had helped him. He set his mind on past deliverances, interventions and miracles.

It is easy to get discouraged when life get tough. Throughout the Psalms, David wrestled with negative emotions, bemoaned his trials, expressed disgust over his own sins. But he always came back to a mindset of faith. Again and again he made the choice to look to God as his Protector and Defender, to deliver him from his troubles. Because you have been my help, in the shadow of your wings will I rejoice—period! he said.

“My soul followeth hard after thee: thy right hand upholdeth me” (verse 8). Is our soul following hard after God—cleaving to God, clinging to God? As we do, God will hold us up and take care of us.

Jeremiah really wanted to get these psalms out there about this man, especially personal experiences not found elsewhere in the Bible. David loved to compose poetry about everything in his life—even his sins—and especially his love and praise and thanks for all that God meant to him!

Psalm 64 This is another psalm of cursing and of asking for protection from foes. “Hear my voice, O God, in my prayer: preserve my life from fear of the enemy. Hide me from the secret counsel of the wicked; from the insurrection of the workers of iniquity” (verses 1-2).

In verses 3-6, David describes the actions of these wicked people: vicious, violent, cruel, cunning, brazen. They think themselves outside of God’s view and beyond His reach, and they give their deceitful hearts free rein.

Then David focuses on God’s justice: “But God shall shoot at them with an arrow; suddenly shall they be wounded” (verse 7). When you see the wicked prevailing, do you see this prophesied outcome so clearly?

The psalm ends with an inspiring picture of God triumphing in the end and establishing His rule: “And all men shall fear, and shall declare the work of God; for they shall wisely consider of his doing” (verse 9). All men! What a glorious day that will be—when all men declare the Work of God!

“The righteous shall be glad in the Lord, and shall trust in him; and all the upright in heart shall glory” (verse 10). This majestic vision will abound all over the Earth. But God’s people—righteous, upright in heart—should be glad and trust in Him and glory in this way even today!

Psalm 65 This is an inspiring psalm with themes consistent with a time of harvest and the fall holy days. It foretells the time when God will be “the confidence of all the ends of the earth, and of them that are afar off upon the sea” (verse 5).

It begins with a word of expectation: “Praise waiteth for thee, O God, in Sion …” (verse 1). It is like God’s people are silently, eagerly waiting for Christ’s Second Coming to break out into full-throated celebration and song.

“O thou that hearest prayer, unto thee shall all flesh come” (verse 2). What a wonderful title for God: “O thou that hearest prayer”! And how thrilling it will be when all of mankind approaches Him and learns how to pray and to build a family relationship with Him.

Verse 3 speaks of God purging sins, as pictured powerfully on the Day of Atonement. “Iniquities prevail against me”—here again is evidence that David was still fighting sins—“as for our transgressions, thou shalt purge them away” (verse 3). We do sin. Yet when we repent, God purges those sins! He purged David’s, and He will purge ours as well.

“Blessed [happy] is the man whom thou choosest, and causest to approach unto thee, that he may dwell in thy courts: we shall be satisfied with the goodness of thy house, even of thy holy temple” (verse 4). Those God chooses, whom He calls out of this world and into His Family, have tremendous cause for deep happiness! He gives us untold blessings, including His wonderful truth, His Spirit, fellowship with His people, the beautiful house of God to worship in, and so much more. David loved being in God’s presence and being with God’s faithful people.

Verse 5 begins describing the time when God is going to work wonders and rule over the whole Earth. “By terrible things in righteousness wilt thou answer us, O God of our salvation … Which stilleth the noise of the seas, the noise of their waves, and the tumult of the people” (verses 5, 7). God speed that day, when He stills the tumult of this world! When Christ returns, He will authoritatively establish a government that brings real peace.

“They also that dwell in the uttermost parts are afraid at thy tokens: thou makest the outgoings of the morning and evening to rejoice” (verse 8).

Verses 9-13 portray the abundant harvests and widespread prosperity that we tend to associate with the Feast of Tabernacles and the Millennium. “Thou visitest the earth, and waterest it: thou greatly enrichest it with the river of God, which is full of water: thou preparest them corn, when thou hast so provided for it” (verse 9). God’s providence is already wonderfully generous, even in this cursed world. But it will overflow when the Kingdom of God is established on Earth.

“Thou crownest the year with thy goodness; and thy paths drop fatness. … The pastures are clothed with flocks; the valleys also are covered over with corn; they shout for joy, they also sing” (verses 11, 13). This vision of God’s rule on Earth is one we should keep continually in mind. Thy Kingdom come!

Psalm 68 This psalm is an inspiring prophecy of God’s victory in the war fought on the Day of the Lord, and His majestic procession afterward into Jerusalem. This is the last war this weary world will have to endure!

This psalm shares similarities with writings of Moses and Deborah (Judges 5), a fact that shows David diligently studied the Scriptures.

Many commentaries say David likely wrote this when he was bringing the ark from the house of Obededom to Jerusalem. The psalm begins with the prayer Moses prayed when moving the ark (Numbers 10:35). But it goes far beyond that. In the spirit of prophecy, David projects forward to Jesus Christ triumphing over all His foes and setting up His Kingdom on Earth from Jerusalem, His headquarters city.

Though the King James translation obscures this, David used a remarkable variety of names for God throughout this exultant psalm: Elohim (verse 1), jah (verse 4), Adonai (verse 11), Shaddai (verse 14), yhwh (verse 16) and El (verse 20). He saw the great God clearly. This psalm portrays Him as not only very majestic but also very merciful. It portrays Him leading the Israelites through the wilderness (verse 7) and providing for them with refreshing rain in the Promised Land (verse 9). It also describes God as a loving “father of the fatherless, and a judge [advocate] of the widows” (verse 5), who “sets the solitary in families [and] brings out those who are bound into prosperity” (verse 6; nkjv), and “hast prepared of thy goodness for the poor” (verse 10).

“But let the righteous be glad; let them rejoice before God: yea, let them exceedingly rejoice” (verse 3). God wants His people to rejoice exceedingly! And David wants us to praise Him energetically. “Sing unto God, sing praises to his name: extol him that rideth upon the heavens by his name JAH, and rejoice before him” (verse 4; see also verses 26, 32, 34). This is the name of God that concludes the word HalleluJAH—meaning, “Praise you the Lord”!

“Blessed be the Lord, who daily loadeth us with benefits …” (verse 19). Do you see those benefits that God loads you with daily? Surely we see them. As God’s people, we must. God loads us with benefits every day! They range from small blessings that we would easily overlook to spectacular healings. We need to remember those miracles and remind ourselves of them regularly!

In verse 11, you begin to read about God attaining victory in war. It starts with the enemy approaching, and God, the Commander, sending out the alarm of war. “The Lord gave the word: great was the company [army] of those that published it” (verse 11). David loved that God gave the word, and God’s people published it—they got it out to the world! He gives it; we publish it! That is the way it should always work.

Then you read of God’s victory: “Kings of armies did flee apace …. [T]he Almighty scattered kings …. The chariots of God are twenty thousand …. God shall wound the head of his enemies …. That thy foot may be dipped in the blood of thine enemies, and the tongue of thy dogs in the same” (verses 12, 14, 17, 21, 23). These verses point to the mighty military triumph that will usher in God’s Kingdom. God is going to “rout all the races that rejoice in war” (verse 30; Moffatt).

“Thou hast ascended on high, thou hast led captivity captive: thou hast received gifts for men; yea, for the rebellious also, that the Lord God might dwell among them” (verse 18). The Apostle Paul applied this verse to the resurrection of Jesus Christ (Ephesians 4:8-10). That resurrection opened up salvation for God’s people! We are now preparing for Christ’s return from the third heaven to rule as King of kings!

“Because of thy temple at Jerusalem shall kings bring presents unto thee” (Psalm 68:29). This refers specifically to God’s physical temple in the Millennium. Kings of the Earth will bring gifts to Christ. God’s faithful people have the opportunity to work where kings come to us! God is giving us a real, majestic calling that is almost too wonderful to even comprehend (Revelation 1:6; 5:10). That millennial temple is a wonderful vision to fix our minds on, to motivate us in preparing for that future.

When Christ establishes His rule, He will open up salvation to the Gentiles. “Princes shall come out of Egypt; Ethiopia shall soon stretch out her hands unto God” (Psalm 68:31). How amazing! Soon, the people of Ethiopia will be stretching out their hands to God! What wonderful revelation. This should make us more alive! We need to tell the Ethiopians about this exciting vision. Mr. Armstrong visited these people personally. Soon they will be stretching out their hands to God—what a future!

“Sing unto God, ye kingdoms of the earth … To him that rideth upon the heavens of heavens, which were of old; lo, he doth send out his voice, and that a mighty voice. … [T]he God of Israel is he that giveth strength and power unto his people. Blessed be God” (verses 32-33, 35). What a mighty God we serve! He gives His people strength and power even today, as we are preparing for the day, coming very soon, when He will lead this revolutionary transformation, and all kingdoms of the Earth will be singing to Him!

Psalm 69 This is a prayer of deliverance amid intense distress. It is one of the strongest psalms of cursing in the book. It is also directly prophetic of Jesus Christ. It is truly an extraordinary psalm; we need to study it carefully.

“Save me, O God,” it begins, “for the waters are come in unto my soul” (verse 1). David felt like troubles were rising around him like floodwaters. “I sink in deep mire, where there is no standing: I am come into deep waters, where the floods overflow me” (verse 2). Have you ever felt this way? When he was neck deep in trouble, David cried out, “Save me, O God!”

“I am weary of my crying: my throat is dried: mine eyes fail while I wait for my God” (verse 3). He was weary—but he kept waiting for God. That means he was patient and hopeful, expectant.

David was the ultimate warrior. He left us hundreds of examples of how we can be God’s soldiers.

“They that hate me without a cause are more than the hairs of mine head: they that would destroy me, being mine enemies wrongfully, are mighty …” (verse 4). Wow—what a collection of troubles! And this verse is cited in John 15:25, speaking of Christ being hated without cause. So David wasn’t merely complaining here: He was writing in the spirit of prophecy!

“O God, thou knowest my foolishness; and my sins are not hid from thee” (verse 5). Here is more language of repentance. David was continually bringing these issues before God very candidly. But he certainly paid a heavy price for a dreadful number of sins.

In verse 6, he makes intercessory prayer for all those who wait on God and seek God. So he wasn’t just praying for himself here.

“I am become a stranger unto my brethren, and an alien unto my mother’s children” (verse 8). Of course David had trouble within his family, where even his mother’s children turned against him because they rejected God’s truth. Christ warns that this will happen to many of us, and we have to be prepared for that (Matthew 10:34-37). Even Christ’s own family did not believe Him (e.g. John 7:5); the King James margin links these verses to verse 8 in Psalm 69.

The psalm continues with more prophetic statements of Christ: “For the zeal of thine house hath eaten me up …” (verse 9). Early in Christ’s ministry, He visited Jerusalem, saw money changers in God’s holy temple, and was filled with righteous indignation! (John 2:13-17). When His disciples witnessed that, they thought of this verse in Psalm 69. Christ was consumed with fiery desire to maintain purity—in His own life and in God’s house! That was a righteous reaction. We need to react this way when we see sin—in the world, in our personal life, in our family, and everywhere. The zeal of God’s house should consume us! This is what God wants. This was the spirit that started the Philadelphia Church of God: zeal and righteous anger over seeing God’s spiritual house polluted, and a determination to clean it up!

“[A]nd the reproaches of them that reproached thee are fallen upon me,” verse 9 concludes. This is cited in Romans 15:3, also referring to Christ.

Read verses 10-20 of Psalm 69. What severe problems David experienced! But he was praying for God’s will. He sought to put all these matters into God’s hands, to subject Himself to God’s will, and to take on God’s mind and heart!

Verse 21 has another direct prophecy: “They gave me also gall for my meat; and in my thirst they gave me vinegar to drink.” This foretells Christ’s treatment on the stake (cited in John 19:29). That is four explicit references in this psalm that concern the life of Jesus Christ over 1,000 years later! Lange’s says that next to Psalm 22 this psalm is the most frequently cited in the New Testament.

In Psalm 69:22-23, strong cursing begins: “Let their table become a snare before them: and that which should have been for their welfare, let it become a trap. Let their eyes be darkened, that they see not; and make their loins continually to shake.” Some people might question whether this is really a godly prayer. “Pour out thine indignation upon them, and let thy wrathful anger take hold of them. Let their habitation be desolate; and let none dwell in their tents. … Add iniquity unto their iniquity: and let them not come into thy righteousness. Let them be blotted out of the book of the living, and not be written with the righteous” (verses 24-25, 27-28). That is rough! But we certainly cannot say that this is not inspired, or that David is praying a wicked prayer.

In Acts 1, Luke quotes a speech from the Apostle Peter describing how Judas bought a field with money for betraying Christ and died a gruesome death there, after which the field became uninhabited. He quotes Psalm 69:25. So the chief apostle certainly viewed this psalm as prophetic and relevant!

The Apostle Paul wrote about Israel’s disobedience and God’s rejection of the nation for a time: “And David saith, Let their table be made a snare, and a trap, and a stumblingblock, and a recompence unto them: Let their eyes be darkened, that they may not see, and bow down their back alway” (Romans 11:9-10). Paul specifically quoted the curses in Psalm 69. He did not view these words as sinful, and neither did Peter, Luke or John. These men all viewed this psalm as inspired and prophetic—well-crafted poetry in a spirit of worship.

All Scripture is given by inspiration of God and is profitable for our study. Study Psalm 69 and the other psalms of cursing, and strive to build more of this aspect of the spirit of David and the righteous thinking of God.

In verses 30-31 we see more evidence of David’s understanding of the spiritual meaning behind the physical sacrifices God called for in the Old Testament.

“For the Lord heareth the poor, and despiseth not his prisoners. Let the heaven and earth praise him, the seas, and every thing that moveth therein. For God will save Zion, and will build the cities of Judah: that they may dwell there, and have it in possession” (verses 33-35). God will save Zion and build the cities of Judah! This truly is about to happen. And God’s people will be ready to help.

Psalm 70 “A Psalm of David, to bring to remembrance,” the subhead says. Again there is something David says we ought to remember. We are all prone to forget; God works continually to put His truth in the forefront of our mind.

This psalm is almost an exact copy of Psalm 40:13-17. It appears he took this portion of the earlier psalm and made slight alterations to fit the occasion. It is clearly a time of intense distress, possibly during Absalom’s rebellion.

Psalm 40 begins, “I waited patiently for the Lord ….” It includes a lot of praise and thanks to God for past deliverance. But Psalm 70, by using only the last five verses of Psalm 40, strongly emphasizes one point: Make haste, God!

Mr. Armstrong referred to this psalm in his autobiography, referring to a time early in his Christian life when he was in desperate need of God’s help. “I felt there was not time—or need—of a long prayer,” he wrote. “Instantly the 70th Psalm flashed into my mind. God by His Holy Spirit inspired David to record, as part of the very Word of God, David’s prayer wherein he asked God to ‘Make haste, O God, to deliver me; make haste to help me, O Lord. … I am poor and needy: make haste unto me … O Lord, make no tarrying.’ I knew that prayer would not be in God’s Word unless it was God’s will to answer that same prayer for me. So I asked God boldly to make haste!”

What an important practical lesson! We can all apply this in our personal prayer life. Remember this point when your needs are great—have it always in remembrance.

Psalm 72 The header says “A Psalm for Solomon.” It is clearly a prayer of David for his son (verse 1), and the final verse reinforces David’s authorship (verse 20). The “amen” at the end of verse 19 also indicates the closing of the second “book” of the Psalms.

After the baby from David and Bathsheba’s affair died, they had another son and named him Solomon. You have to believe that was a happy day. Things were beginning to go in the right direction. David probably had some idea of what Solomon would be doing and what a blessing that would be to the nation. He had failed to rear his other sons properly, but he really taught Solomon—though, sadly, Solomon didn’t follow that instruction the way he should have.

When David was about to die, he told his son, You are going to receive this office as king, and you need to show yourself a man! Be a man! Stand up and fight for God! (1 Kings 2:1-4). We have to teach this to our young men: Do you want to be a man—or a little effeminate boy? God wants us to be men like David! What an example! What a warrior he was. We will be blessed, and this world will be blessed, to have him over us in the future.

This psalm for his son is truly beautiful. It points to the millennial rule of Jesus Christ, of whom Solomon was a type. David prayed that his son’s kingship would be a blessing to the people—that he would “save the children of the needy, and … break in pieces the oppressor” (Psalm 72:4). “They shall fear thee as long as the sun and moon endure, throughout all generations. He shall come down like rain upon the mown grass: as showers that water the earth” (verses 5-6). Similar words are found in 2 Samuel 23:4, recorded as David’s last words, about the wonderful effects of God’s government. It truly is a blessing to the people!

“In his days shall the righteous flourish; and abundance of peace so long as the moon endureth. He shall have dominion also from sea to sea, and from the river unto the ends of the earth” (Psalm 72:7-8). The expanse and prosperity of Solomon’s kingdom was only a small foretaste of the rule of the King of kings (e.g. compare 1 Kings 4:24-25 with Micah 4:4).

“The kings of Tarshish and of the isles shall bring presents: the kings of Sheba and Seba shall offer gifts. Yea, all kings shall fall down before him: all nations shall serve him” (Psalm 72:10-11; compare with Revelation 21:23-24). David had this inspiring vision glowing in his mind, and it motivated him. All nations are going to bow down before Jesus Christ, prostrate and with a broken spirit, wanting God to teach them. All nations will travel to Jerusalem to be taught. That is coming—oh, so soon!

The verses that follow further amplify this wonderful prophecy. “His name shall endure for ever: his name shall be continued as long as the sun: and men shall be blessed in him: all nations shall call him blessed” (Psalm 72:17). These are the thoughts that filled David’s mind in his final days, as he passed the throne on to his son and thought on how it would one day be passed on to the Son of God!

“Blessed be the Lord God, the God of Israel, who only doeth wondrous things. And blessed be his glorious name for ever: and let the whole earth be filled with his glory; Amen, and Amen” (verses 18-19).

Psalm 86 Not only is this the only psalm of David in Book iii of the five-part division of Psalms, it is one of only two of his psalms (the other being Psalm 17) labeled “A Prayer of David.” Obviously the Psalms are filled with prayers, but a great many of them have prayerful sections mixed with other content. This psalm is directed solely at God throughout. It is a profoundly humble and beautiful prayer expressing David’s intimate love for God and fervent desire to reach His ear. It uses four different names for God: yhwh, El, Elohim and Adonai (seven times).

“Bow down thine ear, O Lord, hear me: for I am poor and needy” (Psalm 86:1). In Isaiah 66:2, God says, “[T]o this man will I look, even to him that is poor and of a contrite spirit, and trembleth at my word.” Here David is expressing that attitude of humility God wants from us. When we recognize our spiritual poverty and need, we see God clearly, and He will look to us and hear us as He heard David.

“Preserve my soul; for I am holy: O thou my God, save thy servant that trusteth in thee” (Psalm 86:2). That is a bold thing to say: I am holy. We all ought to be living our lives in a way that would back up such a statement!

“Be merciful to me, O Lord, For I cry to You all day long” (verse 3; nkjv). God truly dominated David’s thinking. He was so intent on maintaining that connection that he prayed “without ceasing” (1 Thessalonians 5:17).

Throughout this prayer, David extolled God for His kindness, goodness and mercy, as well as His greatness. “For thou, Lord, art good, and ready to forgive; and plenteous in mercy unto all them that call upon thee. … For thou art great, and doest wondrous things: thou art God alone. … For great is thy mercy toward me: and thou hast delivered my soul from the lowest hell [grave]. … [T]hou, O Lord, art a God full of compassion, and gracious, longsuffering, and plenteous in mercy and truth” (Psalm 86:5, 10, 13, 15). The Apostle Paul often talked about making sure our prayers are filled with thanksgiving (e.g. Philippians 4:6; Colossians 3:17; 1 Thessalonians 5:18). This is an outstanding example of the effectiveness of that kind of attitude in prayer.

Psalm 86:9 has a moving prophetic picture of when this merciful God will rule the whole world: “All nations whom thou hast made shall come and worship before thee, O Lord; and shall glorify thy name.”

David makes this wonderful request: “Teach me thy way, O Lord; I will walk in thy truth: unite my heart to fear thy name” (verse 11). The New International Version reads, “give me an undivided heart, that I may fear your name.” David wanted to deeply, sincerely fear God. So he asked God to “unite [his] heart” for that purpose—to make it one. He asked God to help make every fiber of his heart united in the purpose of fearing Him.

What a prayer! God’s command is that we love Him with all our heart! We must work to eliminate the divisions in our heart. Scriptures like Hosea 10:2, Matthew 6:22-24 and 1 Corinthians 10:21 show what a curse a divided heart is. God wants us to work “in singleness of heart, fearing God: And whatsoever ye do, do it heartily, as to the Lord, and not unto men” (Colossians 3:22-23).

When we have singleness of heart, we can do like David: “I will praise thee, O Lord my God, with all my heart: and I will glorify thy name for evermore” (verse 12). Once our heart is united, we can serve and praise God wholeheartedly!

Psalm 95 This psalm doesn’t have David’s name on it, but it is attributed to David in Hebrews 3 and 4. We will look at that in a moment.

Look at this magnificent invitation to worship the great God: “O come, let us sing unto the Lord: let us make a joyful noise to the rock of our salvation. Let us come before his presence with thanksgiving, and make a joyful noise unto him with psalms. For the Lord is a great God, and a great King above all gods” (Psalm 95:1-3). David sang and made a joyful noise to God, but he wasn’t content to keep it to himself—he wanted the whole nation to experience that same joy!

Verses 4-5 talk about the greatness of the Creator. Verse 4 says God owns Earth’s “deep places” and “the strength [summit] of the hills”—all from low to high! Then David reemphasizes the call to worship: “O come, let us worship and bow down: let us kneel before the Lord our maker. For he is our God; and we are the people of his pasture, and the sheep of his hand …” (verses 6-7).

At this point, the psalm begins to focus on a crucial lesson of history: “… To day if ye will hear his voice, Harden not your heart, as in the provocation, and as in the day of temptation [testing] in the wilderness: When your fathers tempted me, proved me, and saw my work” (verses 7-9). David points back to when the Israelites were in the wilderness. There they provoked God many times (e.g. Exodus 17:1-7). In Numbers 14:22, God says they tempted Him 10 times!

How different is the spirit of worship being encouraged in the first several verses with the natural resistance to God being warned against here. Surely David saw a lot of the same hardness of heart in the Israelites of his day that we read about in the books of Moses. “Today, if you will hear His voice,” David said, “harden not your heart.”

Those words in Psalm 95:8 are the entreaty of God Himself through David: Don’t harden your hearts like your fathers did! He reminded them of all the miracles He had worked for them, and He marveled over how they could forget them and behave so obstinately.

David continues from God’s perspective: “Forty years long was I grieved with this generation, and said, It is a people that do err in their heart, and they have not known my ways: Unto whom I sware in my wrath that they should not enter into my rest” (verses 10-11). What a powerful warning that ancient history provides! How hard is the human heart—how resistant to God’s government! (Romans 8:7). And what grievous punishment the Israelites suffered as a result: With only two exceptions, God did not allow anyone of that generation to enter “my rest,” their promised inheritance in Canaan.

That tragic history is recorded for our instruction (1 Corinthians 10:11-12). We all must guard against making the Israelites’ mistake.

The Apostle Paul’s citation of this psalm in the book of Hebrews is interesting. In Hebrews 3:7-12, he writes, “Wherefore … Take heed, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief, in departing from the living God”—in that gap, in parentheses, he quotes the entirety of Psalm 95:7-11: “(as the Holy [Spirit] saith, To day if ye will hear his voice, Harden not your hearts …. So I [God] sware in my wrath, They shall not enter into my rest.)” Paul treated David’s inspired words as a tremendous lesson needed by New Testament Christians. He continued, “But exhort one another daily, while it is called To day [not Moses’s day, or David’s day, but in the day of grace, of New Testament Christians—especially us today, upon whom the ends of the world are come]; lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin” (Hebrews 3:13).

Hold fast this lesson from Psalm 95! If we harden our hearts through sin, if we provoke God and grieve God, if we err in our heart and don’t know His ways, we too will forfeit our spiritual inheritance! And ours is not merely a physical land but an eternal spiritual inheritance in God’s Kingdom!

Read the rest of Hebrews 3 to see how Paul emphasizes this lesson. We must “hold the beginning of our confidence stedfast unto the end” (verse 14) and avoid the unbelief, the faithlessness, that plagued the carnal-minded Israelites.

Hebrews 4 expands on the point: “Let us therefore fear, lest, a promise being left us of entering into his rest [speaking of the Kingdom of God and God’s people made immortal], any of you should seem to come short of it” (verse 1). In the verses that follow (verses 3, 7), Paul again quotes God’s condemnation in Psalm 95. He specifically focuses on the need for us to obey God’s command to rest on the seventh-day Sabbath if we are to enter into the rest of God’s Kingdom.

Paul took deep instruction and correction from David’s inspired words, and so should we. It was God Himself speaking through His Holy Spirit! (Hebrews 3:7). Learn from and avoid the Israelites’ failure. The first several verses of Psalm 95 show the way: Seek after God, praising Him and thanking Him for His goodness, His righteousness and for every blessing and miracle, kneeling before Him in worship, and keeping our hearts soft and supple, in the spirit of David.

Psalm 96 Here is another psalm that doesn’t carry David’s name in the subhead. Yet it is quoted almost verbatim in 1 Chronicles 16:23-33, and verse 7 says that David delivered this psalm to Asaph and his brothers.

The occasion was just after David brought the ark of the covenant into Jerusalem—one of the most celebratory events in his entire reign. The ark represented God’s presence in the nation, so this was one of the greatest possible ways that David could honor God and exalt Him in the eyes of the nation. It was an occasion gleaming with vision, and you certainly see that in what David wrote.

Notice, though, that Psalm 96 is only a portion of what David composed for that grand occasion. Verses 8-22 of 1 Chronicles 16 are found in Psalm 105:1-15, and verses 34-36 are found in Psalm 106:1, 47-48. The portion of that psalm found in Psalm 96 focuses on God’s inspiring plan to reach far beyond the borders of Israel and to offer salvation to all mankind.

The first half of Psalm 96:1 is not in the Chronicles account: “O sing unto the Lord a new song: sing unto the Lord, all the earth.” David wanted all the Earth to sing to God—and there is coming a day when they will!

“Declare his glory among the heathen, his wonders among all people” (verse 3). Again—not just among the Israelites but among all people: All need to hear about God’s glory and wonders. We are our brother’s keeper. We are to love this world and do everything we can to serve them—but also to fight for God’s truth when they try to take it from us.

“For the Lord is great, and greatly to be praised: he is to be feared above all gods. For all the gods of the nations are idols: but the Lord made the heavens” (verses 4-5). Soon the falsity of all this world’s fraudulent objects of worship and counterfeit religions will be thoroughly exposed and made plain to everyone. The true Creator God alone will be worshiped.

“Give unto the Lord, O ye kindreds of the people, give unto the Lord glory and strength” (verse 7). The ark coming into Jerusalem foreshadowed the time when Jesus Christ Himself will descend to Earth and establish His headquarters in the Holy City. That is where David’s mind was as he meditated on that spectacle anciently. Several prophecies show how people of all nations will be flowing to God’s headquarters in Jerusalem to pay God homage and to receive instruction in righteousness.

“O worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness: fear before him, all the earth. Say among the heathen that the Lord reigneth: the world also shall be established that it shall not be moved: he shall judge the people righteously” (verses 9-10). What a visionary prophecy!

“Let the field be joyful, and all that is therein: then shall all the trees of the wood rejoice Before the Lord: for he cometh, for he cometh to judge the earth: he shall judge the world with righteousness, and the people with his truth” (verses 12-13).

This psalm is part of a chain of psalms, including Psalms 97 through 100, foreshadowing Christ’s coming millennial reign. Set your mind on and set your affections on that future the way that David and the other psalmists did. Daily pray, Thy Kingdom come! Come to judge the world with righteousness and all people of all nations with your truth!

Psalm 101 What is your attitude toward sin? In this psalm, David expresses his determination not to tolerate it or compromise with it at all. That is God’s view, and David strove to emulate Him.

“I will sing of mercy and judgment: unto thee, O Lord, will I sing” (verse 1). Mercy and judgment are two aspects of God’s justice that He administers in perfect balance. Jesus said mercy and judgment are two of three “weightier matters of the law” (Matthew 23:23). If we exercise mercy without judgment, we are soft-headed toward sin. If we administer judgment without mercy, we can become tyrannical. Both extremes create serious problems. We must learn to think like God and develop that balance in our own thoughts.

“I will behave myself wisely in a perfect way. O when wilt thou come unto me? I will walk within my house with a perfect heart” (Psalm 101:2). What a magnificent goal! We are to become perfect, even as our Father is perfect (Matthew 5:48). We must never be complacent about imperfections in our character, or settle for sin.

The true pursuit of perfection requires radical action. This psalm shows David’s determination to do whatever was required. It also shows how he worked to gain the godly judgment part of that balance spoken of in verse 1.

“I will set no wicked thing before mine eyes …” (verse 3). This world is filled with wicked things that are easy to set before our eyes. We need David’s determination to avoid those things completely. God promises protection to the individual who “shutteth his eyes from seeing evil” (Isaiah 33:15-16). Apply this practical point in your life.

Psalm 101:3 concludes, “I hate the work of those who fall away; It shall not cling to me” (nkjv). Here is an example of godly hatred. Mr. Armstrong said he hated a carnal mind. Yet he thought he was only 51 percent spiritual, so he had to battle that carnality. We must overcome that carnal mind and think like God! What a change! Notice that David didn’t hate “those who fall away,” but their work. He hated the sin, not the sinner. And he distanced himself from their deeds.

“A perverse heart shall depart from me; I will not know wickedness. Whoever secretly slanders his neighbor, Him I will destroy [or cut off]; The one who has a haughty look and a proud heart, Him I will not endure. … He who works deceit shall not dwell within my house; He who tells lies shall not continue in my presence” (verses 4-5, 7; nkjv). There is a time to cut someone off! There are people we should not stay around! David wanted deceitful people out of sight—a virtuous attitude.

God hates the high look and the proud heart (Proverbs 6:16-17; 8:13; 21:4). He will not dwell with such people, and neither should we. This world is full of this kind of pride—pride that must be purged before God can ever work with those people.

As careful as David was to shun the wicked, he sought out those who were faithful and trying to live the same way of perfection that he was pursuing: “Mine eyes shall be upon the faithful of the land, that they may dwell with me: he that walketh in a perfect way, he shall serve me” (Psalm 101:6). It is for these people that God reserves the greatest portion of His mercy.

This psalm concludes with David expressing righteous kingly authority, seeking to forcibly put down rebellion just as Jesus Christ will when He establishes His rule: “I will early destroy all the wicked of the land; that I may cut off all wicked doers from the city of the Lord” (verse 8). He truly was a man after God’s own heart—even in the way he sought to confront the wicked!

Psalm 103 “Bless the Lord, O my soul: and all that is within me, bless his holy name,” this psalm begins. David wanted to give his all in blessing God! “Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits” (verse 2). In this psalm, David meditates deeply on the blessings of God. We all need to do the same—and make sure we do not forget all His benefits!

“Who forgiveth all thine iniquities; who healeth all thy diseases” (verse 3). What promises! As we repent, God forgives all our sins and heals all our diseases—all of them! Mr. Armstrong used this verse to show that if you believe in the promise of salvation, made possible by Christ’s crucifixion paying the penalty of our spiritual sins, then you ought also to have confidence in the promise of healing, made possible after the same principle by Christ’s scourging paying the penalty of our physical sins. God will heal all our diseases! We have witnessed many of our diseases healed, and we know that all will be healed in the resurrection. And as we grow spiritually, more of those diseases should be healed even today.

“Who satisfieth thy mouth with good things; so that thy youth is renewed like the eagle’s” (verse 5). Do you want your youth renewed like the eagle’s? An eagle has tremendous strength, grace and power in its flight. It possesses keen vision; to have an “eagle eye” means you see practically everything. The United States has made the eagle its national emblem for good reason: It is a majestic creation of God. He wants us to be like the eagle: He wants to empower us to develop its marvelous qualities. Even when we age, God will renew our youth like the eagle’s!

“He made known his ways unto Moses, his acts unto the children of Israel” (verse 7). What a benefit! How thankful are you for that rich history, for the record of it we have in the Bible, for the laws revealing the ways of God that we live by to this day?

“The Lord is merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and plenteous in mercy” (verse 8). We all need to set our minds on these qualities of God, of which we are rich beneficiaries. God has not been unfair one time!

“He hath not dealt with us after our sins; nor rewarded us according to our iniquities” (verse 10). No, He has been very gentle with us, and we need to remember that always.

“For as the heaven is high above the earth, so great is his mercy toward them that fear him” (verse 11). Note the qualification here: Only if you fear God will you receive such mercy. No mercy if you do not fear Him.

“As far as the east is from the west, so far hath he removed our transgressions from us” (verse 12). Those sins are gone—they are out of God’s mind. He will not remember them (Hebrews 8:12).

We must never forget that God says these things—we need to etch them into our thinking! In our carnality, we often do not see God as He is. We must not allow our human emotions to steer our view of God. Use the Spirit of God, or else our view will be very limited; God simply will not be able to reveal much to us. Our thinking should always be guided by the Holy Spirit; that is where the power is.

“Like as a father pitieth his children, so the Lord pitieth them that fear him” (Psalm 103:13). God knows we are children, and He has tremendous compassion for us—again, as long as we fear Him.

There is also a wonderful child-rearing principle in this verse: We have to think the way God does toward our own children. We must realize that they are children and ask God to give us His understanding of how to raise them. Go to Him with a broken spirit, asking for help with your children! Rearing children is a tremendous responsibility. It is difficult, and we really need the Spirit of God working in our minds—and working with them as well.

David understood just how frail is flesh. “As for man, his days are as grass: as a flower of the field, so he flourisheth. For the wind passeth over it, and it is gone; and the place thereof shall know it no more” (verses 15-16). This too is a truth we can never afford to forget. This physical tabernacle does not last long, and we must make use of it while we can!

What a contrast with the eternal God! “But the mercy of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting upon them that fear him, and his righteousness unto children’s children” (verse 17). God is always trying to get us to think in terms of eternity!

This psalm is a masterpiece of poetry, written in chiasm form, where the first half and last half mirror one another. The first phrase of verse 1 and the last phrase of verse 22 are identical. Moving inward, the rest of verse 1 through verse 5 are similar to verses 20-22. Verse 6 is comparable to verse 19, verse 7 parallels verse 18 (describing God giving His commands to Moses; then, “remember his commandments to do them”), verses 8 and 17 are both about God’s mercy, and so on. A chiasm often has a central verse that is not mirrored. Here, verse 12 is the “axis.” The masterful poet David uses this point of emphasis to describe God’s forgiveness and how much He wants to distance us from sin. What a comfort!

This beautiful psalm concludes with an outburst of glorious praise—a picture of the majesty of God in the heavens surrounded by the angelic hosts: “The Lord hath prepared his throne in the heavens; and his kingdom ruleth over all. Bless the Lord, ye his angels, that excel in strength, that do his commandments, hearkening unto the voice of his word. Bless ye the Lord, all ye his hosts …” (verses 19-21). Let’s all emulate David and join the heavenly chorus in blessing the great God!

Psalm 105 We know David wrote this psalm because it is quoted in 1 Chronicles 16, on the occasion of David bringing the ark into Jerusalem (see also Psalms 96 and 106). Verses 1-15 of Psalm 105 are virtually identical to 1 Chronicles 16:8-22. This portion of the psalm is an inspiring lesson in history and God’s place at the center of it.

You can see the celebratory tone from the beginning: “O give thanks unto the Lord; call upon his name: make known his deeds among the people” (Psalm 105:1). David encourages singing praise to God and talking about His wonders, miracles and judgments.

“Seek the Lord, and his strength …” (verse 4). Leviticus 26:19 says that God has broken the pride of America’s strength (same Hebrew word). He doesn’t want us looking to physical means of strength. God has strength, power and might, and it is from Him that we need to seek strength. That is the only way to be truly strong!

Beginning in Psalm 105:6, David begins to focus on God’s unbreakable covenant with Abraham. It shows how educated David was in Israel’s history and how he viewed it as wonderful proof of God’s perfect character, His unchangeable nature, His reliability and constancy. “He hath remembered his covenant for ever, the word which he commanded to a thousand generations” (verse 8). You can absolutely count on God. When He makes a promise, He keeps it. When He establishes a covenant, He never breaks it. He remembers His covenant forever. He remembers His word to a thousand generations.

“Which covenant he made with Abraham, and his oath unto Isaac; And confirmed the same unto Jacob for a law, and to Israel for an everlasting covenant: Saying, Unto thee will I give the land of Canaan, the lot of your inheritance” (verses 9-11). His covenant with Abraham, and with Isaac and Jacob (Israel), is forever. It is a promise of possession of the Promised Land.

From here, David delivers an elaborate account of the winding road God laid out in fulfilling His promise. He begins with its humble beginning. At the time God promised to give all this land, these were the circumstances: “When they were but a few men in number; yea, very few, and strangers in it. When they went from one nation to another, from one kingdom to another people” (verses 12-13). God laid out His vision even when His people were just a handful of sojourners in the land (see Hebrews 11:9). God is a God of small beginnings.

Abraham was a stranger and a pilgrim in this world; nevertheless, God truly looked after him and his family: “He suffered no man to do them wrong: yea, he reproved kings for their sakes; Saying, Touch not mine anointed, and do my prophets no harm” (Psalm 105:14-15). God commands kings! If He needs to work something out for His people, He exercises authority over the highest powers in the land.

Verse 16 begins a summary of God’s orchestration of events to bring Israel to Egypt: by sending a famine, by moving Joseph there, by ensuring Joseph was placed in authority. This contains historical details about Joseph’s imprisonment found nowhere else in the Bible. Verses 21-22 describe the tremendous power given to Joseph: He could imprison even the pharaoh’s high officers, his princes and nobles! That was an awesome turn for a man who had been falsely imprisoned. He even instructed the wisest men of Egypt in the wisdom of God. This is one of the Bible’s greatest examples of God’s ability to orchestrate miraculous circumstances in the lives of His faithful servants.

David then recounts the Israelites’ captivity in Egypt and the drama surrounding the Exodus. Verse 37 has an encouraging detail found nowhere else: When Israel left Egypt, “there was not one feeble person among their tribes.” How miraculous! David then describes the journeying in the wilderness and how God provided for His people: “He spread a cloud for a covering; and fire to give light in the night. … He opened the rock, and the waters gushed out; they ran in the dry places like a river” (verses 39, 41).

All the ways God cared for His people point to this truth: “For he remembered his holy promise, and Abraham his servant” (verse 42). It was all part of God fulfilling His “holy promise,” His sacred promise, to Abraham! The word promise here simply means speech or word, saying or utterance. But promise is an appropriate translation, because when God speaks a word, it is a promise!

“And he brought forth his people with joy, and his chosen with gladness: And gave them the lands of the heathen: and they inherited the labour of the people” (verses 43-44). The Israelites were beneficiaries of tremendous labor from Canaan’s prior occupants. The Promised Land wasn’t undeveloped: It had fruit orchards, houses, wells and other infrastructure. “He gave his people the lands of pagan nations, and they harvested crops that others had planted” (verse 44; nlt); “… they took possession of the fruit of the peoples’ toil” (esv).

God gave the land for this additional purpose: “That they might observe his statutes, and keep his laws” (verse 45). God was establishing a holy nation! God actually told the Israelites that He was evicting the Canaanites because of their sins, and He warned them that if they committed the same abominations, He would evict them too! (e.g. Deuteronomy 8:19-20; Joshua 23:15-16). God is no respecter of persons (Romans 2:11).

This psalm gives a wonderful overview of God’s faithfulness to His covenant. When the Israelites brought the ark into Jerusalem, David was meditating on this history and seeing this historic moment in its magnificent context. We too ought always to remember our rich heritage as a means of seeing God’s hand in the flow of events.

Psalm 106 Three verses of this psalm (1, 47 and 48) are part of the great psalm David wrote for the ark’s entrance into Jerusalem (see 1 Chronicles 16:34-36). But those words only frame a much lengthier, quite epic historical psalm.

Psalm 105 lauded God’s faithfulness. Psalm 106 describes Israel’s faithlessness. It rehearses the people’s sins in Egypt, in the wilderness and in the Promised Land, and it shows how they provoked God. It is a plea for forgiveness and mercy.

The first five verses are praise for God, and a request: “Remember me, O Lord, with the favour that thou bearest unto thy people: O visit me with thy salvation; That I may see the good of thy chosen, that I may rejoice in the gladness of thy nation, that I may glory with thine inheritance” (verses 4-5). Then begins the painful chronicle of Israel’s sins.

“We have sinned with our fathers, we have committed iniquity, we have done wickedly” (verse 6). We have already seen several examples of David’s personal repentance. This psalm shows his repentant spirit on behalf of the nation. He didn’t merely remember these past sins; he recognized that the present generation had fallen into the same pattern of rebellion: We have sinned with our fathers.

Verses 7-12 are about Israel provoking God at the Red Sea, after He had delivered them from Egypt (read about this in Exodus 14:11-12). Yet God rescued them anyway. Soon after, however, they “forgat his works; they waited not for his counsel: But lusted exceedingly in the wilderness, and tempted God in the desert” (Psalm 106:13-14). It is truly disgraceful history exposing the sickness of human nature.

In the verses that follow we read about Korah’s rebellion (verses 16-18) and the Israelites worshiping a golden calf (verses 19-22). David was appalled: “Thus they changed their glory into the similitude of an ox that eateth grass. They forgat God their saviour, which had done great things in Egypt” (verses 20-21). He also included Moses’s intercession for the people, thus averting God’s intent to destroy them (verse 23).

Next we read about the faithless spies who scouted the Promised Land and then disheartened the whole nation, for which God cursed them to 40 years of wandering in the wilderness (verses 24-27; Numbers 13-14). During that period, the men lusted after Midianite women and all committed idolatry—but there is praise for righteous Phinehas (Psalm 106:28-31; Numbers 25). Next is the tragedy at Meribah, where the murmuring people provoked Moses and he “spake unadvisedly with his lips”—a sin for which God excluded him from the Promised Land (Psalm 106:32-33; Numbers 20).

The psalm then jumps forward to the period when Israel had arrived in Canaan and Joshua had died. It moves to the period of the judges, when the Israelites failed to rout the Gentile inhabitants as God commanded, and ended up descending into abominable idolatry (Psalm 106:34-39; Judges 1:21, 27-36; 3:5-7, etc). “Therefore was the wrath of the Lord kindled against his people, insomuch that he abhorred his own inheritance” (Psalm 106:40). God cursed the nation through enemy oppression and then relented with compassion when they cried out to Him (verses 41-46).

What a miserable picture of how God’s people have treated our Maker! “Now all these things happened unto them for ensamples: and they are written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the world are come. Wherefore let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall” (1 Corinthians 10:11-12). How important, and how sobering and humbling, to remember this history and grow in the fear of God!

David clearly put a high value on internalizing these lessons. Think of David, after the triumphant occasion of bringing the ark of God into Jerusalem, remembering these ignominious chapters of the nation’s history and calling on all Israel to remember them. This psalm concludes with David’s words at that celebration, made far more sober in this context: “Save us, O Lord our God, and gather us from among the heathen, to give thanks unto thy holy name, and to triumph in thy praise. Blessed be the Lord God of Israel from everlasting to everlasting: and let all the people say, Amen. Praise ye the Lord” (Psalm 106:47-48). With this “amen,” Book iv of the five-part division of Psalms ends.

Psalm 108 Here is a repetition of two “Michtam” psalms: Psalm 57:7-11 and 60:5-12. Remember, David wrote Psalm 57 while fleeing from Saul. He composed Psalm 60 after a victory in battle, but there he first also recounted some shameful history. What you have here is only the exultant, positive portions of both of those psalms—an eruption of praise and gratitude! David likely put this together some years later because he wanted to emphasize these wonderful expressions of adoration for God.

Spurgeon made this interesting observation: “We have before us The Warrior’s Morning Song, with which he adores his God and strengthens his heart before entering upon the conflicts of the day.” Verse 2 speaks of awakening early to praise God. These are good things for us to remember before we enter each day’s spiritual warfare.

The psalm begins with David’s wonderful declaration, “O God, my heart is fixed; I will sing and give praise, even with my glory” (verse 1). That bold last phrase was added here (compare Psalm 57:7). David had fixed his heart and wanted to sing to and praise God with all his being! He was determined to “sing praises unto thee among the nations” (Psalm 108:3)—to publicize God and make His name great. “Be thou exalted, O God, above the heavens: and thy glory above all the earth” (verse 5). This was how Psalm 57 concluded. Here it is how the psalm begins, making the tone of the psalm much more jubilant.

David then makes this petition: “That thy beloved may be delivered: save with thy right hand, and answer me” (verse 6). Then comes the description of the lands God gave Israel for its inheritance and the victories God provided. The psalm concludes with the recognition that our help must come from God: “Give us help from trouble: for vain is the help of man” (verse 12). Then, finally, this faith-filled pronouncement: “Through God we shall do valiantly: for he it is that shall tread down our enemies” (verse 13). That is an inspiring truth worth repeating!

Psalm 109 This is a vivid example of a psalm of cursing. The scene is set right at the start: “Hold not thy peace, O God of my praise; For the mouth of the wicked and the mouth of the deceitful are opened against me: they have spoken against me with a lying tongue” (verses 1-2). David is being attacked by his enemies, hated “without a cause” (verse 3)—innocent of the crimes of which they are accusing him. Jesus Christ invoked this language the night before He was crucified (John 15:24-25).

Interestingly, David uses the Hebrew word satan three times in this psalm, translated “adversaries”: “For my love they are my adversaries …” (Psalm 109:4, also verses 20, 29). That is the name God gave the devil. “And they have rewarded me evil for good, and hatred for my love” (verse 5). Christ could say the same thing! David suffered for righteousness’ sake—people returning evil for his good, hatred for his love. That is the way the world is, especially with Satan cast down. The proper name for Satan appears in verse 6. He and the demons attack what is good and make the righteous a prey (e.g. Isaiah 59:15).

How did David respond? He didn’t retaliate and return evil with evil. “[B]ut I give myself unto prayer” (Psalm 109:4). The Hebrew literally reads, “[B]ut I am prayer.” David became prayer! He truly sought solace in God. That is what we all must do when we are attacked. This is practical and helpful for us to remember as Satan’s power grows. Christ warned that the world would hate us and persecute us (John 16:1-4). You see this spirit in the world more than ever: People have demonic hatred for those they disagree with! That hatred is going to be directed at us, and psalms like this give us guidance on how we should handle that.

Romans 12:19 reads, “Dearly beloved, avenge not yourselves”—why?—“for it is written, Vengeance is mine; I will repay, saith the Lord.” We are not to avenge ourselves because that is God’s job! And as this psalm shows, David turned the matter of vengeance over to God, where it belongs.

In the first part, he references “adversaries”—plural. Then he begins speaking in the singular, as if he has one particular enemy in mind. He does not name anyone specifically, which makes the message universal: It applies to God’s people dealing with enemies throughout history.

“Set thou a wicked man over him: and let Satan stand at his right hand” (Psalm 109:6). Perhaps this man who is committing great wickedness needs to be ruled by a wicked man. Let those who oppress those under them experience oppression from one over them. This man has been accusing your servant—let the Accuser stand next to him. As we will see later, this is often the way God administers justice.

“Let his days be few; and let another take his office” (verse 8). The Apostle Peter spoke of Judas by quoting Psalm 69:25: “Let his habitation be desolate, and let no man dwell therein …” (Acts 1:20). He then quoted Psalm 109:8: “[L]et another take his office.” Afterward, the apostles replaced Judas with Matthias. So consider this: Peter knew Psalm 109 well, and was inspired to apply David’s curses to a man who had betrayed Christ and committed terrible violence against God—a man who had returned evil for good, hatred for love.

Christ Himself called Judas the “son of perdition”—or son of destruction. This indicates the scale of wickedness for which such a prayer would be appropriate! This isn’t a prayer against someone who committed a personal offense—but for someone who has betrayed God. Not just our enemy, but God’s enemy!

Because of this, some commentaries refer to Psalm 109 as the “Judas Psalm.” It should resonate with God’s faithful people quite a bit in this Laodicean era. We have experienced the devastation caused by such a betrayal in God’s Church! 2 Thessalonians 2:3 prophesies of the Laodicean leader by calling him the “son of perdition” like Judas! “Christ is telling us that the ‘man of sin’ will commit a monstrous betrayal—just as Judas Iscariot did!” I wrote in Malachi’s Message. We have lived through that. We experienced spiritual offense on the scale of what David is writing about in this psalm. Do we see that as clearly as David did and as Christ did?

The way David continues here is some of the strongest cursing in the Bible: “Let his children be fatherless, and his wife a widow. Let his children be continually vagabonds, and beg: let them seek their bread also out of their desolate places. Let the extortioner catch all that he hath; and let the strangers spoil his labour. Let there be none to extend mercy unto him: neither let there be any to favour his fatherless children. Let his posterity be cut off; and in the generation following let their name be blotted out” (Psalm 109:9-13).

Many people have a problem with these verses. They believe themselves to be more righteous than the man who wrote them. Is your thinking more righteous than David’s? Peter seemed to understand exactly the spirit in which this psalm was written. And when he saw a man betray Christ, this is where his mind went!

Remember, these words were intended for public worship: The subhead says, “To the chief Musician.” This is not merely a carnal-minded outburst from a hotheaded man. David’s thinking here is based on God’s thinking! In the Ten Commandments, God says He will visit “the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me” (Exodus 20:5). Other laws warn that certain sins bring consequences on the sinner’s family. In Exodus 22:22-24, God warns: “Ye shall not afflict any widow, or fatherless child. If thou afflict them in any wise, and they cry at all unto me, I will surely hear their cry; And my wrath shall wax hot, and I will kill you with the sword; and your wives shall be widows, and your children fatherless.” In Deuteronomy 28, God promises to financially ruin the disobedient. So David’s prayer in this psalm is essentially asking God to act according to His promises!

Couldn’t we all think and pray more that God would fulfill His promises—even that He would send the curses necessary to correct the wicked? We are in a spiritual war against terrible evil! When you are in a war, you must differentiate between good and evil, black and white. That is not to say we should pray these exact words against anyone in particular. But in these evil times, surely we can recognize the relevance of passages like this!

This psalm was written by a man who was truly horrified by sin. He was righteously vexed and indignant. We need that mindset, and studying psalms like this can really help us. We are preaching God’s truth and warning this world in love, trying to save people—yet soon the land will be unable to bear the words of those doing this end-time Work (Amos 7:10). People are going to hate us, punish us, and exile us! Surely psalms such as this will become more and more relevant.

How deeply do you want to see evil vanquished and good prevail? We need to be calling on our Captain—our Commander! We need to be bold in soliciting His help against those who are destroying all that is good. We need to beseech Him to fulfill His promises to execute justice!

Another important theme arises in this context. “Because that he remembered not to shew mercy, but persecuted the poor and needy man, that he might even slay the broken in heart. As he loved cursing, so let it come unto him: as he delighted not in blessing, so let it be far from him” (Psalm 109:16-17). Such language appears throughout the Psalms: This is how God administers justice. He sees how men treat other men, or treat Him, and He lets them experience how it feels to receive that kind of treatment. The Bible has many examples of this. To pray for God to administer that kind of justice is very godly thinking.

“He clothed himself with cursing as his coat, may it soak into his body like water, like oil into his bones!” (verse 18; rsv). Many people today are just clothing themselves in curses—by the way they live they are choosing and embracing curses. And they need to feel the full extent of that! That is what David is praying here: God, carry out your promised curses against them!

Notice this important point: “Help me, O Lord my God: O save me according to thy mercy: That they may know that this is thy hand; that thou, Lord, hast done it” (verses 26-27). David prayed for deliverance and protection, and he prayed God would deal with his enemies in a way that they would see God! He wanted them to recognize it was God they were fighting, and it was God’s hand punishing them. This prayer foreshadows the statement that appears repeatedly in the book of Ezekiel: Amid all the punishment that is coming, “they shall know that I am the Lord.” That is a promise from God. For us to pray that God would bring justice so all people will know Him is very godly prayer!

There are many prophecies of God promising to take vengeance. “To me belongeth vengeance, and recompence … the day of their calamity is at hand …. [H]e will avenge the blood of his servants, and will render vengeance to his adversaries …” (Deuteronomy 32:35, 43). “[T]he Lord revengeth, and is furious; the Lord will take vengeance on his adversaries, and he reserveth wrath for his enemies” (Nahum 1:2). If our minds are on those prophecies as they should be, and we see evil around us, it makes sense that we would be praying for their fulfillment. These psalms are prayers for God to fulfill His promises. They are written in the spirit of zeal for God’s justice. They can help us get our minds in that spirit.

David studied and prayed to think like God. “I will greatly praise the Lord with my mouth; yea, I will praise him among the multitude” (Psalm 109:30).

Psalm 110 This psalm shows David’s vision and focus on the prophetic events surrounding Jesus Christ’s return to establish His rule on Earth. David truly was a prophet (Acts 2:29-30).

“The Lord said unto my Lord, Sit thou at my right hand, until I make thine enemies thy footstool” (Psalm 110:1). This is the most-quoted single verse in the New Testament from the Psalms. King David said, “The Lord said to my Lord.” He had no physical Lord—only God. He was referring to the Most High God—the one who later became God the Father—speaking to the God Being who became Jesus Christ. The Father promised Christ that He would sit at His (the Father’s) right hand, “until I make thine enemies thy footstool.” Christ will remain there until He becomes King of kings! To reinforce the point, verse 4 shows the Father telling this other “Lord”: “Thou art a priest for ever after the order of Melchizedek.” That can only refer to Jesus Christ.

This is incredible revelation God gave David. David saw, in vision, Christ returning to His Father’s throne after His first coming and the Father anticipating the moment He will send His Son a second time!

Then this prophecy of the Second Coming follows immediately: “The Lord shall send the rod of thy strength out of Zion: rule thou in the midst of thine enemies” (verse 2). The day is approaching when God will command His Son: It is time—go to Zion and rule the entire world from there! What an exciting moment that will be.

Jeremiah made sure this was all included in The Psalter of Tara. He wanted to teach this truth to the people in Ireland!

Verse 3 describes God’s people at that time: “Your people will offer themselves freely on the day you lead your host …” (rsv). This is the Bride of Christ submitting to her Husband as He descends with His heavenly armies! We are soldiers for God and must be willing to fight for Him.

Verse 3 continues, “… in the beauties of holiness, from [more than; margin] the womb of the morning: thou hast the dew of thy youth.” This is comparing the lovely “birth” of glittering morning dew—a unique Hebrew expression poetically described as coming from the womb of the mother—to the birth of God’s saints into God’s eternal Family! There is the strength of youth here, physically and spiritually: This is the power and freshness that God gives us. We are seeking real life from God, not a mere chemical existence. Even young people must understand this.

The birth of God’s saints is an inspiring aspect of Christ’s return. That will happen at the last trump, when Christ descends from heaven (1 Corinthians 15:52; 1 Thessalonians 4:16)—and it is described beautifully here in this psalm.

There is also a terribly sobering dimension to that climactic prophesied event: “The Lord is at your right hand; he will shatter kings on the day of his wrath. He will execute judgment among the nations, filling them with corpses; he will shatter chiefs over the wide earth” (Psalm 110:5-6; rsv). To assume rule, Christ will have to execute an overwhelmingly violent battle plan! To create world peace, He must forcibly eliminate the cause of this world’s wars.

Verse 7 is a picture of Christ as a conquering King after total victory. This psalm makes clear how excited David was about the sure prophecy of the return of his Lord, the triumph of his King!

Psalm 122 “A Song of degrees of David,” the header reads. It is believed that David wrote this “song of ascents,” as the Hebrew reads, for people to sing as they made their ascent up to Jerusalem, likely for the holy days. The 15 total psalms of ascents may coincide with singing one per day for the 15 days from the Day of Trumpets and the start of the Feast of Tabernacles. This psalm radiates with prophetic vision of Jerusalem’s role in the World Tomorrow.

David made Jerusalem the capital of Israel. He had a deep passion for this special city. (Read about its illustrious origins in my book The Eternal Has Chosen Jerusalem.) He wanted the city to be the center of religious worship for the entire nation and far beyond! To house the ark of the covenant, David charged his son Solomon to build a temple that would attract visitors from distant nations.

“I was glad when they said unto me, Let us go into the house of the Lord. Our feet shall stand within thy gates, O Jerusalem” (verses 1-2). David’s enthusiasm for Jerusalem spread. During Solomon’s reign, the city’s fame grew immensely (1 Kings 10). Visitors entering its gates surely would have experienced the excitement conveyed in this psalm. Their pilgrimage to God’s city foreshadowed the time when people of all nations will flow there in the World Tomorrow (Zechariah 8:20-22; Isaiah 60:3-10; Revelation 21:24-26).

David clearly had a vision of what Jerusalem would become under his son’s rule—and even far beyond that. “Jerusalem is built As a city that is compact together, Where the tribes go up, The tribes of the Lord [Hebrew yah, God’s name often used in this psalm], To the Testimony of Israel, To give thanks to the name of the Lord” (Psalm 122:3-4; nkjv). Verse 3 may refer to the impressive buildings in the capital city. David laid the groundwork for the bustling metropolis it became under Solomon. During the Millennium, it will be far more active and developed and more populated than any other city on Earth—yet highly organized, peaceful and efficient. People will have much to thank God for!

“For there are set thrones of judgment, the thrones of the house of David” (verse 5). When Christ returns, His people will be crowned “kings and priests” (Revelation 1:6; 5:10), and Christ will rule as King of kings! God has already given the throne of David to His faithful Church. We are the spiritual house of David.

“Pray for the peace of Jerusalem: they shall prosper that love thee. … Because of the house of the Lord our God I will seek thy good” (Psalm 122:6, 9). If we love Jerusalem, we prosper—and he is talking mainly about new Jerusalem. Pray for the peace of Jerusalem—pray for that new Jerusalem!

David knew that everything in the World Tomorrow would revolve around Jerusalem! (Isaiah 62:1-7). Even beyond the Millennium and the second resurrection, everything in the universe will revolve around new Jerusalem! (Isaiah 65:17-19). God the Father will be in that city! Like David, set your mind on that majestic vision!

Psalm 124 Where would we be without God? If He weren’t protecting us and looking after us, we would be desolate. That is the sentiment of this psalm. It is another song of “ascents” that David added to this set.

It begins with a poetic refrain: “If it had not been the Lord who was on our side, now may Israel say; If it had not been the Lord who was on our side, when men rose up against us: Then they had swallowed us up quick, when their wrath was kindled against us: Then the waters had overwhelmed us, the stream had gone over our soul: Then the proud waters had gone over our soul” (verses 1-5). Spurgeon suggested that the sense of these opening verses might be better conveyed as: Had it not been the Lord! He was for us, oh let Israel say! Had it not been the Lord! He who was for us when men rose against us.

Having received God’s deliverance, David turned to praise: “Blessed be the Lord, who hath not given us as a prey to their teeth” (verse 6).

This is a truth worth meditating deeply on. Satan is like a roaring lion seeking to devour us (1 Peter 5:8). He desires to sift us as wheat (Luke 22:31). If God allowed it, the devil would stir up people to take all that we possess and kill those closest to us, or strike us head to toe with disease, as he did Job. How grateful are you for the security God provides? We should pray daily for protection and deliverance from those attacks (Matthew 6:13).

If we remember God in this way, then we can have the faith and confidence David communicated in the final words of the psalm: “Our help is in the name of the Lord, who made heaven and earth” (Psalm 124:8).

Psalm 131 Though one of the shortest psalms, this “ascent” psalm is one of the most precious and beautiful. Jesus Christ said, “… Except ye be converted, and become as little children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven. Whosoever therefore shall humble himself as this little child, the same is greatest in the kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 18:3-4). This is an exquisite expression of that childlike humility. You see it in the best chapters of David’s life; here you overhear him expressing it directly to God.

“Lord, my heart is not haughty, nor mine eyes lofty: neither do I exercise myself in great matters, or in things too high for me” (Psalm 131:1). How important it is that we clearly recognize what things are too high for us so we do not overstep. The world aches and groans under leaders and people at every level with bloated self-esteem who exercise themselves in matters too high for them! We must crush that haughtiness and purge that lofty thinking. We all need to work on that, always.

Do we really see ourselves as God does? David worked very hard to do that. God revealed David’s own nature to him—his problems—and his righteousness.

“Surely I have calmed and quieted my soul, Like a weaned child with his mother; Like a weaned child is my soul within me” (verse 2; nkjv). This was the king of Israel speaking! How easy for a man, when he gets a bit of authority, to take on inflated self-importance. David tamped that down and worked always to keep God foremost in his thinking. He behaved himself, he quieted himself, in the presence of the Almighty, like a respectful little child who has been brought up properly.

Isaiah 28:9 asks, “Whom shall he [God] teach knowledge? and whom shall he make to understand doctrine? them that are weaned from the milk, and drawn from the breasts.” Whom will God teach? We all learn from the Church and the ministry, our spiritual mother. But we must grow beyond that—we must be weaned from the mother—and truly follow Jesus Christ, the Head of the Church, if God is to teach us! We must behave and quiet ourselves before our Father. Like David we must truly humble ourselves in His presence. Then we will see Him, and see ourselves, clearly and begin to really soar spiritually!

In that humble state of mind, David’s thoughts went outward to others, to the whole nation! Psalm 131 concludes with this soaring admonition: “Let Israel hope in the Lord from henceforth and for ever” (verse 3). He learned contentment in his state and in the office in which God had placed him. He had experienced the joy of putting his hope solely in God, and he wanted all men to share in that joy!

Psalm 133 There is no more perfect unity than in the God Family. “I and my father are one,” Jesus Christ said (John 10:30). He prayed that His people would enjoy that same perfect unity with Himself, with the Father, and with each other (John 17:20-23). That is God’s ultimate purpose: to re-create Himself in more beings who will be of the same perfect mind that He and Christ are!

God deeply desires that His people be learning and growing in that unity even today. The Apostle Paul wrote, “Now I beseech you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that ye all speak the same thing, and that there be no divisions among you; but that ye be perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment” (1 Corinthians 1:10). God wants His Church to be of “one spirit” and “one mind,” “like-minded, having the same love, being of one accord, of one mind,” to be “as one man” (Philippians 1:27; 2:2; Ezra 3:1).

How beautiful, how pleasant, is truly deep family unity! This is what David meditated on in the choice few verses of Psalm 133, the last of his songs of “ascents,” and the 14th in the set of 15.

“Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity!” (verse 1). When each of God’s people is unified with God, then we are unified with each other. And this gives God great delight! This unity—this harmony and peace that comes when we all speak the same thing that God Himself speaks—enables us to do a tremendous work for God even with limited resources. That is our goal and what we must do. How could we really accomplish God’s Work without it? When we assemble together for services, it ought to really bring us together, unite us, harmonize our thinking, and enable the very mind of God to guide us!

How wonderful is this unity? “It is like the precious ointment upon the head, that ran down upon the beard, even Aaron’s beard: that went down to the skirts of his garments” (verse 2). This pictures Aaron’s anointment as high priest—a spiritually profound milestone in Israel’s history (Leviticus 8:12). The oil, symbolic of God’s Holy Spirit, that consecrated Aaron into that office should be flowing in our fellowship.

“As the dew of Hermon, and as the dew that descended upon the mountains of Zion: for there the Lord commanded the blessing, even life for evermore” (Psalm 133:3). The water pictured by these heavy dews of Hermon also symbolize God’s life-giving Spirit. God’s presence in our interactions creates a picture of abundance, health and beauty, of refreshing water bathing the landscape. This is what God desires for His people spiritually. It is a blessing that He commands—and it leads to “life for evermore”—or life as far as eternity, as the literal Hebrew could read—enjoying the magnificent unity of the God Family forever!

Psalm 138 In this psalm we see David’s confidence in God, his desire to see God exalted before all peoples, his humility, his looking to God for mercy and strength, his vision.

“I will praise thee with my whole heart: before the gods will I sing praise unto thee” (verse 1). David was not only wholehearted in his religion, he was bold and unashamed—heedless of anyone who might disapprove. He looked forward to the day when all false gods are exposed and the whole world worships the one true God.

“All the kings of the earth shall praise thee, O Lord, when they hear the words of thy mouth” (verse 4). Yes, the day is coming when man will no longer be cut off from God, when this world’s kings, and all peoples of all nations, will hear God’s truth openly and will praise God. “Yea, they shall sing in the ways of the Lord: for great is the glory of the Lord” (verse 5). David lived for that day and in the spirit of that day.

David wrote, “[T]hou hast magnified thy word above all thy name” (verse 2). It is an important point, especially since so many “Christians” focus on the person of Christ and not on the message He brought.

“Though the Lord is on high, Yet He regards the lowly; But the proud He knows from afar” (verse 6; nkjv). God knows the proud only at a distance. Pride separates us from Him. “… God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace unto the humble” (James 4:6; see also Isaiah 66:1-2). David actively developed the humility that kept him close to God.

Because of this, he was confident God would strengthen him in trouble and save him from the wrath of his enemies (verse 7). The Moffatt reads, “Though I must pass through the thick of trouble, thou wilt preserve me …. The Eternal intervenes on my behalf: … thou wilt not drop the work thou hast begun” (verses 7-8). Mr. Armstrong said he prayed these words often. “That promise of God has sustained me through the years of opposition, persecution and trouble,” he wrote in his autobiography. “God is still keeping that promise, and He will perpetually!”

“The Lord will fulfil his purpose for me; thy steadfast love, O Lord, endures for ever,” David concludes in faith. Then, this humble prayer: “Do not forsake the work of thy hands” (verse 8; rsv).

Psalm 139 How real is God to you? Do you truly know that God is with you in all that you do, watching you and measuring your actions and thoughts? David did, and he was delighted by that.

“O Lord, you have searched me and known me! You know when I sit down and when I rise up; you discern my thoughts from afar” (verses 1-2; esv). Throughout this psalm David meditates on the reality of this truth. “You comprehend my path and my lying down, And are acquainted with all my ways” (verse 3; nkjv). Here David is again using merism, the poetic device that uses two opposites to show the totality of something. God knew his sitting down and standing up, meaning everything about him. How well do you understand this?

When David thought on this, he was in awe that the Almighty God would be so involved with the details of his life. “Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; it is high, I cannot attain unto it” (verse 6).

He realized that God’s presence is everywhere, and there was no place where he would be without God’s guiding hand and help (verses 7-10). God’s Spirit permeates everything in God’s very elect! Even the darkest circumstances and most oppressive trials in our lives are as well known to God as if they lay in broad sunlight (verses 11-12). Here are more examples of merism: David knew that, high or low, in darkness or light, God was not only at both ends of the spectrum but everywhere in between.

“I will praise thee; for I am fearfully and wonderfully made …” (verse 14). What a creation man is, and with a mind like God’s. We look like God, and we are learning to think like God and build the very character of God! That is why we are here: to build God’s character so we are preparing to rule with Jesus Christ on the throne of David. What a future!

“How precious also are thy thoughts unto me, O God! how great is the sum of them!” (verse 17). How weighty and how precious are God’s thoughts to you? We ought to be able to recognize how great is the sum of them. We can’t comprehend it all, but we can perceive God’s greatness and His magnificent mind. David continually focused his mind on God, to the point that God was his first thought upon awaking (verse 18).

“Search me, O God, and know my heart: try me, and know my thoughts: And see if there be any wicked way [Hebrew: way of pain] in me, and lead me in the way everlasting” (verses 23-24). What a bold statement: I want you to know my thoughts and try me! If you see any wicked way in me, then I want to know it! Mr. Armstrong discussed how the worst of sins is self-righteousness. That sin is easy for us to commit. This verse shows how to get rid of it! Pray to God: Search me! Seek out God’s scrutiny, measuring and correction. The more we do, the more we will be thanking Him—because we will be purged of self-righteousness and our lives will be so much better.

Think deeply on the message of this psalm. It is a profound expression of a spirit dedicated to God by a man after God’s own heart!

Psalm 140 Here David prays for protection from the wicked. “Deliver me, O Lord, from the evil man: preserve me from the violent man; Which imagine mischiefs in their heart; continually are they gathered together for war” (verses 1-2). Interestingly, the Hebrew for the phrase “violent man” is ish hamasim—the “men of Hamas.” (Recently we saw that many American college students support the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas against the Jewish people.)

“They have sharpened their tongues like a serpent; adders’ poison is under their lips. Selah” (verse 3). Such malignant language is everywhere today. People talk like that great serpent, the devil! His influence is very strong. This is worth stopping and thinking about. David saw evil plainly and was filled with indignation about it. But he didn’t avenge himself—he left that to God (verse 4).

He knew his only hope was in God. “I said unto the Lord, Thou art my God: hear the voice of my supplications, O Lord” (verse 6). You are my God! he said boldly. He talks about these supplications again, a series of earnest prayers he said for matters deeply important to him. How earnest is the voice of your supplications?

“O God the Lord, the strength of my salvation, thou hast covered my head in the day of battle” (verse 7). David knew that God’s protection was better than any physical helmet or other armor. In our spiritual warfare, we need to be clothed always with the whole armor of God (Ephesians 6:11-18).

David also prayed for his enemies: “Grant not, O Lord, the desires of the wicked: further not his wicked device; lest they exalt themselves. Selah” (Psalm 140:8). He knew that they need to be humbled for their own spiritual benefit!

The psalm concludes with a joyous expression of faith in God to give ultimate victory: “I know that the Lord will maintain the cause of the afflicted, and the right of the poor. Surely the righteous shall give thanks unto thy name: the upright shall dwell in thy presence” (verses 12-13). In the tumult of battle, this is a glorious vision that we should always remember and take to heart.

Psalm 141 This short psalm is packed with gems, profound in meaning.

It begins with urgent prayer in a time of distress: “Lord, I cry unto thee: make haste unto me; give ear unto my voice, when I cry unto thee” (verse 1). Like so many other psalms, it shows how David raced to God whenever he needed His help.

The next verse shows that David understood prayer as spiritual sacrifice: “Let my prayer be set forth before thee as incense; and the lifting up of my hands as the evening sacrifice” (verse 2). Incense was offered daily in God’s tabernacle (Exodus 30:7-8). David compared his daily prayers to the attentive labor involved in that offering. It isn’t until the book of Revelation (5:8; 8:3-4) that we see explicitly how the incense altar that God placed in the tabernacle and later in the temple typified the golden altar before God’s throne in heaven, upon which angels offer the prayers of the saints as incense. Yet this poet-prophet recognized deeper spiritual significance in that tabernacle rite and how it connected believers to God.

As David cried out for help, he also asked for God’s aid in ensuring that his own thoughts and emotions were righteous and godly: “Set a watch, O Lord, before my mouth; keep the door of my lips. Incline not my heart to any evil thing, to practise wicked works with men that work iniquity: and let me not eat of their dainties” (Psalm 141:3-4). What a wonderful prayer! David wanted God to govern him, to rule him, to guide even the details of his life. Statements like these inspired Jeremiah to similar prayers (Psalm 119:36), and they should us as well.

David went still further: “Let the righteous smite me; it shall be a kindness [Hebrew: it is mercy]: and let him reprove me; it shall be an excellent oil …” (Psalm 141:5). Think on that! David didn’t just ask God for correction—he asked Him to supply it through righteous men. God certainly can correct us through His ministry or even lay members. How do you react when a righteous person “smites” you or corrects you? David said, If the righteous smite me, that is what I need! That is God’s mercy! He preferred reproof from the righteous to flattery from the wicked (Proverbs 27:6). We all must receive correction at times. That is like God pouring precious oil on our heads! We need to seek it from our loving Father (Hebrews 12:5-11). We must see our flaws so we can grow. Correction is a great blessing, and it should be a deep desire in our hearts!

Many commentaries view Psalm 141:6-7 as evidence that David wrote this psalm after sparing Saul’s life at Engedi, and this may be correct. Though Saul was despotic and murderous (e.g. 1 Samuel 22:16-19), David spoke only kindly to him (1 Samuel 24:8-15). Certainly the day is coming when the leaders of this world, so many of whom have oppressed God’s saints and millions upon millions of others, will be overthrown, and the sweet truth of God will be heard.

David ends Psalm 141 by expressing his confidence in God and emphasizing his need for God to save him. “But mine eyes are unto thee, O God the Lord: in thee is my trust; leave not my soul destitute. Keep me from the snares which they have laid for me …” (verses 8-9). Again he sets the example of keeping his eyes fixed on God, rather than on the troubles that can enfeeble our faith, and letting God fight his battles.

Psalm 142 It is remarkable how much time David spent “in the cave,” on the run, a fugitive, in mortal peril. Even more remarkable was that he took time amid those severe conditions not only to pray to God, but to compose poetry such as this. This Maschil is “A Prayer when he was in the cave,” the header says. Don’t you feel “in the cave” at times? What a treasure for us to possess this example of how to approach God when we experience periods of crisis.

“Caves make good closets for prayer; their gloom and solitude are helpful to the exercise of devotion,” Spurgeon commented. “Had David prayed as much in his palace as he did in his cave, he might never have fallen into the act which brought such misery upon his later days.”

“I cried unto the Lord with my voice; with my voice unto the Lord did I make my supplication” (verse 1). David prayed aloud. Evidently he felt the cave provided enough privacy that he was free to speak to God. He mentions supplication again, that earnest, intense prayer. He desperately needed God as his bloodthirsty persecutors “privily laid a snare for me” (verse 3).

Verse 3 begins, “When my spirit was overwhelmed within me, then thou knewest my path.” David did get overwhelmed at times! The author of these psalms is profoundly emotional, keenly sensitive, alive with feeling—and he was far from always being positive. But he found solace in knowing that God saw everything, that He knew his every step and heard his every word. When you are overwhelmed and unsettled on what path to take, think on this and know in faith that God knows your path and knows exactly what would be best for you to do.

There are times when people fail us—as they did David (verse 4). God never will (Hebrews 13:5). That is where David found his help.

“I cried unto thee, O Lord: I said, Thou art my refuge and my portion in the land of the living” (Psalm 142:5). God didn’t just provide David a refuge—He was David’s refuge!

“Bring my soul out of prison, that I may praise thy name …” (verse 7). David asked for deliverance not for his own benefit but so that he could be a benefit to God—so he could praise God’s name. Think deeply on the God-centered mind, prayer and expression of this wonderful man after God’s own heart!

Psalm 143 Again David is emotionally distraught. “Therefore is my spirit overwhelmed within me; my heart within me is desolate” (verse 4). Why? “For the enemy hath persecuted my soul; he hath smitten my life down to the ground; he hath made me to dwell in darkness, as those that have been long dead” (verse 3).

Amid desperate conditions, this godly man makes several extraordinary statements of faith, of humility, of awe, of devotion to God. Stop and think on them.

“Hear my prayer, O Lord, give ear to my supplications: in thy faithfulness answer me, and in thy righteousness” (verse 1). This is a wonderful way to approach God. David asked to be heard, but he wanted even more to be answered, and he invoked God’s faithfulness and righteousness in seeking that answer.

“And enter not into judgment with thy servant: for in thy sight shall no man living be justified” (verse 2). He humbly asks for mercy, knowing that, like all men, he could not stand in God’s sight on his own merits.

Verse 5 shows a practical way David elevated his thoughts above the tumult of his trials: “I remember the days of old; I meditate on all thy works; I muse on the work of thy hands.” Follow his example! When you are feeling overwhelmed, direct your mind to God’s works, His miracles, how He is conducting His plan for man and for you.

“I stretch forth my hands unto thee: my soul thirsteth after thee, as a thirsty land. Selah” (verse 6). He didn’t allow his trial to draw him into a vortex of self-absorption. He stretched toward God. He yearned for Him and thirsted for His righteousness. Having spent so much time on the run in the arid wilds of Judah, David made powerful use of the thirst analogy.

Verses 7-12 have a series of requests, intermingled with statements of devotion. Some of these requests are movingly beautiful: “Cause me to hear thy lovingkindness in the morning”; “cause me to know the way wherein I should walk”; “Teach me to do thy will”; “lead me into the land of uprightness,” or a level land. David genuinely desired to be led by God! And the accompanying statements, intended to persuade God to answer those requests, are also lovely: “in thee do I trust”; “I lift up my soul unto thee”; “thou art my God”; “I am thy servant.” How moving such words must be to God! How could our heavenly Father not be deeply touched to hear a precious son speaking to Him this way?

Verse 9 also shows David’s childlike trust in God: “Deliver me, O Lord, from mine enemies: I flee unto thee to hide me.” He fled to God for protection! We could all be quicker to draw on our Father for such needs. Think deeply about how you can better follow this exquisite example.

Psalm 144 This is a spectacular psalm, brimming with faith and gratitude, courage and confidence in God. It concludes with a shimmering World Tomorrow vision of a people wholly dedicated to and blessed by God.

Several verses are similar to Psalm 18, David’s battle hymn. It begins: “Blessed be the Lord my strength, which teacheth my hands to war, and my fingers to fight: My goodness, and my fortress; my high tower, and my deliverer; my shield, and he in whom I trust; who subdueth my people under me.” These first two verses strongly echo Psalm 18:34 and 2. David was a skilled spiritual warrior, well exercised at looking to God as his Trainer, his Commander, his Defender.

Psalm 144:3-4 paint a striking contrast: Opposite God the mighty Fortress and High Tower, David muses, “Lord, what is man, that thou takest knowledge of him! or the son of man, that thou makest account of him! Man is like to vanity: his days are as a shadow that passeth away.” In Psalm 8:4, David marveled that the Creator of the glories of the vast universe would have regard for mere man. Here that same impression is intensified as he contemplates the stark disparity between this majestic and eternal Warrior, this enduring spiritual Fortress—and vain, vanishing mortals. The clearer we see this reality, the more we too will look to God to fight our battles.

Having contemplated God’s might, David boldly prays for Him to display it: “Bow thy heavens, O Lord, and come down: touch the mountains, and they shall smoke. Cast forth lightning, and scatter them: shoot out thine arrows, and destroy them” (Psalm 144:5-6). These verses echo the breathtaking imagery of Psalm 18:8-14. God truly can deliver us in dramatic style!

For all that God did for him, David truly loved to give back to God all that he could. “I will sing a new song unto thee, O God: upon a psaltery and an instrument of ten strings will I sing praises unto thee. It is he that giveth salvation unto kings: who delivereth David his servant from the hurtful sword” (Psalm 144:9-10).

Verses 12-15 are an exquisite picture of an obedient people enjoying God’s favor. “That our sons may be as plants grown up in their youth; that our daughters may be as corner stones, polished after the similitude of a palace” (verse 12). This verse likens our daughters with the palace and royalty. Our young people truly are royalty! God emphasizes this repeatedly. He has ensured that David’s very palace in Jerusalem be uncovered, and that His faithful remnant Church be given the privilege of working in it! He truly is our Father, and He watches closely over each one of us. He wants with all His being to build the character in you that He did in David.

Verses 13-14 describe the abundance and prosperity our Father desires for us and that He will supply to all mankind when He establishes His rule on Earth. The psalm concludes, “Happy are the people who are in such a state; Happy are the people whose God is the Lord!” (verse 15; nkjv). Here is the way to true happiness! Make the Eternal God your God and serve Him with the fervency that David did. We need this spirit of David!

Psalm 145 This is the final psalm from David, and its subhead is unique: “David’s Psalm of praise.” Psalm is in italics; it was added by translators. It literally reads, “David’s praise.” This is truly an exalted expression of praise for God! As much praise as permeates David’s psalms, Spurgeon wrote, “this he regarded as his peculiar, his crown jewel of praise.”

This is one of David’s acrostic masterpieces, each verse starting with the next letter of the Hebrew alphabet. These poems emphasize the completeness and totality of a concept. They also show a logic and orderly design to David’s thinking.

He begins with a positive statement of praise: “I will extol thee, my God, O king ….” King David looked to God as the real, ultimate King! “[A]nd I will bless thy name for ever and ever” (verse 1). He wanted to be part of God’s eternal Family so he could bless God’s name forever!

“Every day will I bless thee …” (verse 2). We often ask for blessings from God. David sought to bless God! Every day. He was “a man after God’s own heart.” He always defended God—even in his most severe trials.

“Great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised; and his greatness is unsearchable” (verse 3). David thought so deeply on God, yet he realized that no matter how broad and how penetrating his meditations, he still had only a partial, even shallow, comprehension of God’s greatness.

“One generation shall praise thy works to another, and shall declare thy mighty acts” (verse 4). This is a vision of parents speaking of God’s greatness with their children, and children with their parents; of grandparents and grandchildren uniting in their worship and praise of God.

Several verses define specific aspects of God worthy of all this praise. “I will speak of the glorious honour of thy majesty, and of thy wondrous works” (verse 5). These are not things simply to admire; they are things to speak about! David was determined to publicly declare them! “And men shall speak of the might of thy terrible acts: and I will declare thy greatness” (verse 6). He was settled: We will do it—period! Nobody will stop us from honoring you in this way!

“They shall abundantly utter the memory of thy great goodness, and shall sing of thy righteousness. … They shall speak of the glory of thy kingdom, and talk of thy power; To make known to the sons of men his mighty acts, and the glorious majesty of his kingdom” (verses 7, 11-12). Consider these verses when you evaluate your fellowship in God’s Church. How much do you extol God in this way? These are wonderful things to speak about.

This psalm is filled with distinct, praiseworthy qualities of God: “The Lord is gracious, and full of compassion; slow to anger, and of great mercy. The Lord is good to all: and his tender mercies are over all his works. … The Lord is righteous in all his ways, and holy in all his works” (verse 8-9, 17). Think on these traits! This is the character of God, and it is the character we are to build. Are we gracious, full of compassion, slow to anger, of great mercy? Are we good to all? We need to allow God to build His righteous, holy nature in us.

“Thy kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and thy dominion endureth throughout all generations” (verse 13). What a wonderful truth to fix your mind on. God’s Kingdom rules in the heavens and is about to rule this Earth, and of its increase there will be no end!

Verse 13 is one of several verses in this psalm that use alliteration—where the initial letter also begins several other words within the verse (especially verses 5, 10 and 18). It gives a beautiful sound in the Hebrew.

After verse 13, David skips the next alphabetical letter. This draws attention to the verses before and after it. Consider the vision of verse 13—then notice: “The Lord upholdeth all that fall, and raiseth up all those that be bowed down” (verse 14). If we look to Him, then when we fall, God will uphold us—when we are oppressed, He will raise us up!

“The eyes of all wait upon thee; and thou givest them their meat in due season. Thou openest thine hand, and satisfiest the desire of every living thing” (verses 15-16). Think on how generous God is in providing for every creature under heaven. Let your imagination wander over the plains and mountains, the forests and jungles, the deserts and tundra, the places teeming with people and the wilds devoid of them, the vast oceans and vaulted skies. Everywhere there is life, and it is all dependent on the Sustainer.

“The Lord is nigh unto all them that call upon him, to all that call upon him in truth. He will fulfil the desire of them that fear him: he also will hear their cry, and will save them” (verses 18-19). What a blessing to be able to call upon God in truth! He has opened that way to us and will draw near to us if we draw near to Him (James 4:8). If we fear Him, then we can expect answers to our prayers and salvation from God!

“My mouth shall speak the praise of the Lord: and let all flesh bless his holy name for ever and ever” (Psalm 145:21). When you step back and look at God’s entire master plan, you know that this vision will come to pass. Very soon, all flesh will be blessing God’s name, and they will do so for eternity. This magnificent vision glowed brightly in David’s mind; he was overjoyed to be able to contribute toward its fulfillment even today.

So ought we to be! The more fervently we work to “speak the praise of the Lord,” to shape our thinking to match declarations like this “praise of David” and the outpourings of wholehearted, God-inspired emotion and poetic expression that permeate the book of Psalms, the more we too will become people after God’s own heart and hasten the arrival of the day when all flesh will unite in blessing God’s holy name for ever and ever!

Continue Reading: Inset: A Model of Repentance