Psalm 43 - is this Psalm 42 part 2?

Psalm 43

This Psalm is quite short and finishes with the refrain that occurs in Psalm 42.

Vindicate me, my God and plead my cause against an unfaithful nation.

The writer of this psalm feels that God has rejected him and handed him over to his enemies

The request in this psalm is basically - 
Send me your light and your faith care, let them lead me; let them bring me to your holy mountain, to the place where you dwell.
Then I will go to the alter of God, to God, my joy and my delight.
I will praise you with the lyre,  O God my God.

Then we get that refrain from Psalm 42
Why, my soul are you downcast? Why so disturbed within me?
Put your hope in God, for I will yet praise him, my saviour and my God.

Psalm 42 Thirsty - for what?

Psalm 42

This is written by the sons of Korah, It is a Maskil (not sure what one of those is).

As the deer pants for streams of water, so my soul pants for you my God, my soul thirsts for God, for the living God.

It seems the Psalmist has not been to worship God for a while and he is missing the relationship.

Yet in verse 5 - we get "Why my soul are you downcast? Why so disturbed within me? Put your hope in God for I will yet praise him, my saviour and my God".

There is an element of will involved in faith - certainly at times the only thing that kept me going in the faith I hold was a stubborn determination to not break my promise to God who seemed very distant at the time.
The next verse is "My soul is downcast within me, therefore I will remember you"

The recurring theme in here is "Why my soul are you downcast? Why so disturbed within me? Put your hope in God for I will yet praise him, my saviour and my God".

I guess that I'm not likely to come up with better advice that this today - so I suggest it as a spiritual exercise.

Psalm 41 Those who care for the weak

Psalm 41

There are a few gentiles (non-Jews) commemorated on the avenue of the righteous in Jerusalem having been invited to plant a tree.

Those "Righteous Gentiles" stood up and protected oppressed Jews and include Oskar Schindler and the British sir Nicholas Winston 

This Psalm starts with Blessed are those who have regard for the weak....... they are counted among the blessed in the land.

This is one of the things that Oskar Schindler did when he protected his Jewish slave labour from the excesses of the Nazi regime. Nicholas Winston organised trains to transport Jews from Czechoslovakia at the eve of war.

It should be the responsibility for governments to have regard for the weak in society, Too often they look after their own interests first.
Some 800 years ago the start of western democracy came about when the Magna Carter was signed - the fact that it was specifically written by the nobles to limit the power of the king and held very few privileges for the poor and weak is neither here nor there!

The Psalm continues .

I said "Heave mercy on me Lord; heal me, for I have sinned against you"

David's enemies speak maliciously against him - so unlike the press in the UK at the moment to victimise somebody who has done something wrong or immoral.

Through his faith in God, David can say in verse 11 "I know that you are pleased with me, for my enemy does not triumph over me."

Praise be to the LORD, the God of Israel, from everlasting to everlasting.
Amen and Amen.

The book of Psalm is broken into a number of sub books. This is the end of book 1.

Psalm 40 God lifts us up where we belong

Psalm 40

"I waited patiently for the LORD, he turned to me and heard my cry.
He lifted me from the slimy pit, out of the mud and mire.
He set my feet on a rock and gave me a firm place to stand.
He put a new song in my mouth,  a hymn of praise to our God.
Many will see and fear the LORD and put their trust in him"

Archimedes once said that given a firm place to stand and a long lever he could move the earth,

David declares that the one who trusts in God is blessed.
In the news this week the UK Prime minister argued that making fun and ridiculing deeply held faith was all fun and part of freedom of speech. I think in response to this we should be prepared - at length if necessary - to discuss the wonders of God's deeds - this Psalm says that they are too many to declare. If you want me to put up with your derision I'll explain why you are wrong!

The Psalm continues - that God desires righteous living and to do his will than sacrifices and rituals.
As somebody wittier than I said - "Going to church does not make one a Christian any more than going to McDonalds makes you  a burger"

In the midst of this David feels poor and needy, requiring God to think of us and helping and delivering us.

Psalm 39 Self control

Psalm 39

Trying to live a good life is often difficult and takes a lot of self control.

This Psalm reflects on this a bit - In the presence of bad people David determined to not be led into saying anything unworthy - he decided that he would say nothing either good or bad but to stay silent.

However bottling it all up is not healthy for very long - David's unrest increased.

According to scientists the universe is something like 13.8 Billion years old, I am currently 42 - so the universe has been around some 328 million times older than I am (which won't make me any happier next time I am asked my age group and I have to tick the next box forward!)

David asks God to remind him how short a time he has on earth to do the right thing - I feel this is the right time to quote from Russell Crowe from the film Gladiator - "Remember what we do here echoes in eternity". so lets do our best to do the right thing now.

David felt that God was angry with him for not speaking out.

It is interesting that David felt that living with God was like living in a foreign world. 
Later on in the book of Hebrews, these people are described as being true citizens of heaven.

Psalm 38 A petition

Psalm 38

David was a man of deep integrity from what I can tell from the accounts that have come down - ok he was certainly not perfect, which makes this Psalm slightly odd to me.

David is feeling knocked about, God is angry with him.
David is feeling very run down and unhealthy, burdened with guilt

Without God's presence David feels like he is disabled, part of him is missing.

the psalm ends with "LORD, do not forsake me; do not be far from me my God.
Come quickly to help me my Lord and my saviour"

Psalm 37 Don't worry

Psalm 37 

This is quite a long psalm at 40 verses.

I have to say I quite like this psalm - there is a lot of optimism in my opinion.

In this psalm the wicked do not prosper in the long run.

Verse 11 - I never noticed this before but this verse seems to have inspired Jesus in the sermon on the mount -Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth and the famous misquote from Monty Pythons Life of Brian - (Well they were a long way off on the edge of the crowd) 
"Blessed are the Greek" - "The Greek? why should they be blessed?"
"Oh he actually said "The Meek""
"Well that's nice, about time they had a break, they have a terrible time, the meek"
J Paul Getty, the American multi millionaire famously said "The meek may inherit the earth, but NOT the mineral rights" - presumably they have been nicked by the arrogant and nasty, nasty and bankers.

Keeping calm and trusting God while bad people get away with, in some cases, murder can be very difficult and it does sometimes seem a bit unfair 

David apparently wrote this Psalm when he had been king for quite a while as he says in verse 25 I was young and am old, yet I have never seen the righteous forsaken or their children begging bread.

All we can do is in the words of verse 34 
Hope in the LORD and keep his way. He will exalt you to inherit the land.

Consider the blameless, observe the upright, a future awaits those who seek peace.

The phrase "Do not fret" appears several times - don't fret about the wicked - their time will come, instead we should be positive and in verses 3-6

Trust in the LORD and do good, dwell in the land and enjoy safe pasture.
Take delight in the LORD and he will give you the desires of your heart.
Commit you way to the LORD, trust him and he will do this 
He will make your righteous reward shine like the dawn, your vindication like the noonday sun.

In western culture today advertisers spend millions of pounds encouraging us to spend our hard earned money on the best and greatest items in an attempt to "keep up with the Joneses", but really we are likely to spend our money and time and effort on things that are much more important if we look to God.

For those that know me and are just shouting at your screen about having all the latest gadgets - I am fully aware that I have more gadgets than you can shake a stick at and that I should probably put my resources to better use, so this is as much to me as anybody else.

Psalm 35 God on my side

Psalm 35 

The Motto of the British Royal family is "Dieu et mon droit" - which translates as "God and my right". Perhaps it would be better as the motto for David?
In this Psalm David asks God to be on his side - to take arms against David's enemies.

I don't know when in David's life this psalm would have been written - it is likely during one of the many periods of his life when people were trying to kill him!

The psalm carries on in a similar vein - David is interrogated about things he knows nothing about, his enemies lay traps for him,

The last verse is a declaration that David will proclaim god's righteousness and praises all day long.


Psalm 36

This seems to follow on from Psalm 35 - 

"I have a message from God in my heart concerning the sinfulness of the wicked, there is no fear of God before their eyes"

God's love however reaches to the heavens and faithfulness to the skies, God's righteousness reaches to the mountain heights, his justice to the deeps of the seas.
God preserves life on earth and people take refuge in God's unfailing love

We feast at the abundance of Gods house and drink from his river of delights, for with God is the fountain of life and by his light we see light.

God's love continues for generations.

the evildoers in the end will lie fallen and unable to get up

Psalm 34 A song of praise following a slightly worrying event

Psalm 34

This is a Psalm written by David while on the run from his deranged father in law - king Saul.

David has gone to ground outside Israel at the court of Abimelek where, fearful of his reputation as Israel's champion warrior David pretended to be insane.
Abimelek drove him out as he already had enough mad people in his court!

David wrote a song of praise to God - 
"I will extol the LORD at all times, his praise will always be on my lips.
I will glory in the LORD, let the afflicted hear and rejoice. 
Glorify the LORD with me, let us exalt his name together"

"I sought the LORD and he answered me, he delivered me from all my fears
Those who look to him are radiant, their faces never covered with shame."

When Moses spent time with God, it is recorded that his face shone with glory for some time afterwards.

Here is a piece of advice - "Taste and see that the LORD is good"

One of the most famous French Philosophers, mathematicians, and physicists, Pascal - after whom the unit of pressure in the SI system is named - his name is also a programming language, once suggested a wager - based on risk and reward - 
If God does not exist then if we don't believe in him we have not gained much, but if we do believe it costs us time and money - neither of which are much use after we die, but hopefully we make a positive contribution to the world either way.

If however God does exist the by not believing we don't gain any benefit now and risk massive loss if there is an afterlife.
If we do believe in a God who exists we can gain everlasting life plus hopefully make the world a better place. 

Verse 19 and 20 are interesting - The righteous person may have many troubles, but the LORD delivers him from them all; 
He protects all his bones, not one of them will be broken"
This is regarded as prophesy when during the crucifixion of Jesus the soldiers realised that Jesus was already dead and did not break his legs - which they did to the other 2 people being crucified at the same time. 

Psalm 33 Many a sinner has blown his way into heaven thanks to the (Salvation) army

Psalm 33

The quote in the title is from George Bernard Shaw in case you were wondering.

This Psalm has a wonderful start - "Sing joyfully to the LORD you righteous; it is fitting for the upright to praise him.
Praise the LORD with the harp and make music to him on the 10 stringed lyre.
Sing to him a new song, play skilfully and shout for joy"

I don't know what sort of music you listen to - but I am a sucker for brass bands - being a trombonist and Euphonium player I have to say that the skill found in a top notch brass band can be uplifting.
In the UK there is a TV show on BBC called Songs of Praise - and they sometimes have a brass band leading the hymns and it can be absolutely stunning.

but whatever type of music you are into - you can use it to praise God - William booth, founder of the Salvation army is reputed to have heard a catchy tune and was told it was a drinking song and said "Dash it, why should the devil have all the good tunes?"

"For the word of the LORD is right and true, he is faithful in all he does.
The LORD loves righteousness and justice; the earth is full of his unfailing love"

If you recall the first blog post in this series in the book of Genesis the spoken word of God created the living world we are fortunate enough to live on.

In his "Discworld" series, Terry Pratchett has a group of monks who listen very carefully - if the universe was formed by a big bang, they are listening for the faintest echoes. In the book "Soul Music" the most talented monks could hear before the first chord that bought things into being and heard "1, 2, 3, 4" and the most talented of all could hear before that "1, 2"
In our world the echoes of the big bang have been converted into microwave radiation and if you tune your TV to a non broadcast channel about 1% of what you see in the snowstorm is the big bang residue - who says that there is nothing on TV?

God has a habit of foiling plans that are contrary to his will - it may take some time and force, but God's plans stand firm forever from generation to generation.

No king is saved by the size of his army, no warrior by his strength.
Richard the third found out at the battle of Bosworth that a horse was no guarantee of deliverance.
Shakespeare has him saying "A horse, a horse, my kingdom for a horse" 

Sometimes things may not go according to plan - "but we wait in hope for the LORD, he is our help and our shield, in him our hearts rejoice."

Psalm 32 Confession and redemption

Psalm 32

This is another of David's Psalms, this one is a "Maskil" but nobody knows what that means, though it may be a musical or literary term.

"Blessed is the one whose transgressions are forgiven, whose sins are covered. Blessed is the one whose sin the LORD does not count against them and in whose spirit is no deciet"

"When I kept silent my bones wasted away through my groaning all day long. For day and night your hand was heavy on me; my strength was sapped as in the heat of summer"

Have you ever watched the news and been shocked and amazed at the reaction of the next of kin who say that they forgive those who wronged them? 
I believe that there is evidence of health and lives and happiness being affected by people who cannot forgive and being forgiven for a wrong can be very powerful.

The Roman Catholic church has a sacrament (earthly event that mirrors an aspect of heaven - or where it is believed heaven and earth are close) that is called "reconciliation" or in the vernacular it is confession. Other Christian churches have the same thing to a greater or lesser extent.

David has a similar moment here - I will confess my transgressions to the LORD, and you forgave the guilt of my sin.

Therefore let us pray to God, admitting and confessing our shortcomings.

I'm not 100% certain as it has been a very long time since I read it but a Christian woman from Holland called Corrie Ten Boom wrote a book about her wartime experiences in occupied Holland that was called "The Hiding place" which I think is inspired by verse 7

You are my hiding place, you will protect me from trouble and surround me with songs of deliverance

The Ten Boom family helped Jews escape the Nazi persecution as practising Christians. They were caught and Corrie wound up being rescued from Ravensbruck Concentration camp at the end of the war.

I believe that God offers the advice in verses 8-11
God promises to instruct and teach us the way we should go and council us with his loving eye on us.
We could be like a horse or mule, that requires a bit and bridle as they have no understanding.

The Lords prayer (found in the gospels as an example of how to pray) contains the phrase "Forgive us our sins as we forgive those who sin against us"
The first sentence after the Lords prayer is "If you do not forgive people when they sin against you, God will not forgive your sins either"

Another person many people find it hard to forgive is themselves - "He is his own worst enemy" 
Jesus told us to forgive our enemies - even if that turns out to be you sometimes.
It is the teaching of the church that Jesus died once for all to pay the price for all sins that includes all of mine (thank God!, no, literally I mean that) and yours.
There is a line in one of my favourite hymns "The vilest offender who truly believes, that moment, from Jesus a pardon receives"

God's amazing grace also found a slave trader by the name of John Newton who wrote a hymn called Amazing grace. Nobody is beyond the love of God.