Psalm 129 They have oppressed me

Psalm 129

They have oppressed me from my youth 

Wow - cheerful! 

They have oppressed me from my youth  but they have not gained the victory over me.
Ploughmen have ploughed my back and made their furrows long.
But the LORD is righteous and has cut me free from the cords of the wicked.

Not sure what this is about 

The fairly short Psalm finishes with wishing those who hate Zion would be turned back in shame, wither like grass growing on a rooftop and nobody passing a blessing on from God

Psalm 128 Fear the LORD

Psalm 126

This is another tricky one for me as a single person who lives on their own!
Anyway more of this later...

Blessed are all those who fear the LORD, who walk in obedience to him.
You will eat the fruit of your labour, blessings and prosperity will be yours.

You know, I look around and far too often see good people suffering, made redundant - is the Psalm wrong? 
Personally I don't think value and prosperity can be measured in terms of simple money (which will come as a bit of a relief to the Chancellor of the Exchequer!) If there is one thing that the founders of the Christian faith show it is that prosperity and blessing can just as easily come from a non-earthly source.

Now comes the bit I have difficulty with -
Your wife will be like a fruitful vine in your house; your children will be like olive shoots round your table.
Yes this will be the blessing for the man who fears the LORD.

By the way fear in this case is not the same as afraid - it is more like respect
It is interesting to note that, so far as we know, many of the founders of the Christian faith were not married - including Jesus himself (there is absolutely no evidence that Dan Brown  is anything but am author of well selling, but implausible, books!)

May the LORD bless you from Zion, may you see the prosperity of Jerusalem all the days of your life.
May you live to see your children's children - Peace be on Israel.

Psalm 127 God the builder

Psalm 127

Unless the LORD builds the house, the builders labour in vain.
Unless the LORD watches over the city, the guards stand watch in vain.

This has been a difficult week for me this week, on Thursday in a referendum my fellow countrymen voted to leave the EU (well actually it was more like 37% voted to leave and 27% did not vote) but the  "voters have spoken" and those who disagree are now told to shut up as the "country has decided" You may get the hint that I am part of the country that did not want to leave and woke on Friday to what I feared.

I find that this Psalm is difficult too - I am deliberately single, this is my choice and I have accepted that it is very unlikely that I will ever have children but the Psalm says 
Children are a heritage from the LORD, offspring a reward from him, 
Like arrows in the hands of a warrior are children born in one's youth.
Blessed is the man whose quiver is full of them.
They will not be put to shame when they contend with their opponents in court.

Interesting the use of the word "When" in this last verse!
As I say I don't have children and am unlikely to have children, and what is more at the age of 40 something I don't think if I had children today they would be the children born in my youth!

I think I'll consider the first part of the psalm - and pray that God builds my nation and guards my country so that we are not working in vain!

Psalm 126 When god restores

Psalm 126

I'm going to let you in on a secret today - I don't always find it easy to be a Christian.

Some years ago, when I was at University I had a stage with - I hesitate to call it depression, as a lot of people have it a heck of a lot worse than me, call it a dark period or a sad time. I went so far as to try and ignore my faith and what I knew about God his presence and his spirit.

God actually met with me and restored my faith at a Christian Union meeting where the guest talker was talking about the outpouring of God's spirit called the "Toronto blessing" 
I asked for prayer from the speaker and the chaplain after the meeting and this psalm kind of reminds me of the feeling I got during and after the prayers - 

"When the LORD restored the fortunes of Zion, we were like those who dreamed.
Our mouths were filled with laughter, our tongues with songs of joy."

I won't say it was quite that extreme, but I did feel a sense of God's presence and his peace, that today, nearly 20 years later, has not left me!

Then it was said among the nations, The LORD has done great things for us and we are filled with joy.

Restore our fortunes, LORD, like streams in the Negev (Desert).

The Psalm ends with an interesting expression - 
Those who sow with tears will reap with songs of joy.
Those who go out weeping carrying seed to sow , will return with songs of joy, carrying sheaves with them

If you are in a hard place right now - you have my prayers. 
Remember - it may take some time, but things will work out for the best one way or another 

LORD, please be with those who are suffering and weeping now, please restore faltering faith, comfort those sowing acts of faith through tears.
Please hurry and bring a harvest of laughter.
Amen.

Psalm 125 Those who trust

Psalm 125

This is yet another song of ascents or pilgrimage psalm,

Those who trust in the LORD are like Mount Zion, which cannot be shaken but endures for ever.

I guess from the view of a couple of thousand years this is true enough, but geologists will tell us that the earth is in a constant state of change in geological times and that once the very mountain tops were on the sea be. 
Furthermore this mechanism is essential for life on earth to exist.

However from the point of view of humanity most of the mountains have been in their current from since discovery, so from the Psalm writers, way before geology became a science, mountains are permanent 

I've never visited Jerusalem, but I believe it is in a mountainous area with hills and mountains in every direction as the surrounding hills are likened to the surrounding presence of God.

The sceptre of hte wicked will not remain over the land allotted to the righteous, for then the righteous might use their hands do do evil.
I'm not sure if this has actually happened, though for good people to do evil just takes an amount of following on and listening to messages of hate, walking with those who believe in violence and fitting in with evil people!
Sometimes one has to take a stand to maintain ones integrity.

Lord, do good to those who are good, to those who are upright in heart.
But those who turn to crooked ways the LORD will banish them with the evildoers.

Psalm 124 Going alone

Psalm 124

If the LORD had not been on our side - 

"If" is such a small word isn't it? 
One of my favourite poems - and indeed the UK's favourite when voted on is "IF" by Rudyard Kipling
It is an amazing list of things that if you can do them, "Yours is the earth and everything that's in it and, which is more, you'll be a man my son" - sorry non inclusive language...

The Psalm however is not "If you" but "If God"

IF God had not been on our side when people attacked us - we would have been swallowed alive, engulfed in torrents and floods of raging rivers.
You only have to watch the news for a bit to see tragic tsunamis, floods, landslides, senseless murders.
Speaking of which I write this the day after a local member of parliament was stabbed and shot to death on the street in my county.
My sympathy and prayers are with the family and friends of Jo Cox MP along with those who have lost an advocate and voice.
I also pray for the family of the murderer, and indeed the assailant that they and he would feel the love and forgiveness of the true God, after all the first person Jesus promised a place in heaven was a murderer and terrorist "I tell you the truth, this day you will be with me in paradise"- is one of only 7 sentences recorded by Jesus on the cross. if Jesus can make that offer - I don't want to slam the door of forgiveness on anybody 

Anyway, lets finish the Psalm shall we?

Praise be to the LORD, who has not let us be torn by their teeth,
We have escaped their pluts like a bird escaping a broken snare.

Our help is in the name of the LORD, the maker of heaven and earth.

Perhaps there is room for both "If God" and "If you" -
If you can live your life to the fullest within the blessing of God
If God is for us, who can stand against?
Neither poverty, nor riches,, neither height nor depth, neither life nor death, neither angels nor demons can separate us from the love of God - to paraphrase St Paul

Psalm 123 Don't look down

Psalm 123

This is another pilgrimage Psalm 

I lift my eyes to you who sit enthroned in heaven.

I'm a bit confused by the next bit if truth be told - I don't agree with slavery!

As the eyes of slaves look to the hand of their master, 
as the eyes of a female slave look to the hand of her mistress,
So our eyes look to the LORD our God, till he shows us his mercy.

Have mercy on us, LORD, have mercy on us, for we have endured no end of contempt.
We have endured no end of ridicule from the arrogant, of contempt from the proud.

I wonder at the requirement to look to the hand of a human, either hoping for reward or in fear of punishment.
Though the hand of a master craftsman showing his or her skills so that we can learn is something worth taking notice of.

There is an old song that I recall that has the line,
Father, I want to be with you and do the things you do.

One of the things Jesus and God do is free people from the tyranny of mental and physical slavery, now that is worth looking our for! 

Psalm 122 To be a pilgrim

Psalm 122

The title for this post may seem a bit of a stretch - the Psalm is titled "A song of ascents. Of David"

I believe that the song of ascents refers to the journey to Jerusalem that was supposed to be made three times a year. 
For me I would describe a pilgrimage as a physical journey with a spiritual goal.

Historically a pilgrimage would have been to a holy site, in the UK we have a few pilgrim sites. Historically Canterbury was the main one to visit the shrine of Thomas Beckett (parts of him actually came back recently following the destruction of the shrine during the reformation) 

Anyway back to the Psalm - how do you feel when somebody says "Lets go to church"?

I guess for a lot of people the response would be For why, Keats, for why? (extra points if you get the movie reference!)

Here, though I rejoiced with those who said to me "Let us go to the house of the LORD"
Our feet ar standing at your gates, Jerusalem.

Jerusalem, I believe is built on a hill top and is pretty built up

The Psalm asks us to pray for the peace of Jerusalem holy to three major world faiths (if only we could see eye to eye on living peaceably there! But hey there has been a long time to wind each other up!)

I honestly do think that praying for peace in the middle East is a worth while thing to do - after all we have had a few thousand years of human "diplomacy" to demonstrate that we cannot solve these divisions on our own!

Those of no faith may argue that the divisions are religious - in which case go in there and sort it out using atheism and pure "logic" - see how you get on!
Oh wait, we saw how that works with the purges and pogroms of totalitarian atheist states!

Perhaps there is something to be said about making a journey together - after all sometimes the journey of discovery is as important as the destination?

Psalm 121 Run for the hills!

Psalm 121

There is an expression "Run for the Hills" - in the BBC show Blackadder this phrase is followed with "Bit they're coming from the hills"- - "Run away from the hills"

I live in a town called Ilkley which is in a valley between Ilkley moor on one side and high land with Beamsley beacon the other 

This Psalm starts with the words "I lift my eyes up to the hills, Where does my help come from?"

This Psalm is very comforting and positive and the chance to just relax into the presence of God here is rather nice.

Our help comes from God, maker of heaven and earth .
He will not let your foot slip - God watches over us won;t let our foot slip, he does not sleep.
God is our shelter so that neither the sun nor the moon can hurt us.
(I'm quite fair skinned and get sunburn easily!)


God will watch over our coming and going, both now and forevermore.

Psalm 120 Location, location

Psalm 120

This is titled a song of ascents (or a pilgrimage song) though it is not all that cheerful!

I call on the LORD in my distress and he answers me.
Save me, LORD, from lying lips and from deceitful tongues.

So far, fair enough I think, but the Psalm continues with what God does 

What will he do to you and what more besides, you deceitful tongue?
He will punish you with a warrior's sharp arrows, with burning coals of the broom bush.

Sorry - are broom bushes prone to turning into coals?

Then the Psalm continues with moaning about the neighbours!

Woe to me that I dwell in Meshek (Possibly a middle East version of somewhere like, for example, Mirfield?)  that I dwell among the tends of Kedar (Is that like Dewsbury?)
Before you comment Mirfield and Dewsbury are quite nice (in parts) 

I actually looked this up in some commentaries of the Bible and it seems that Meshek is a hostile tribe in the North somewhere and Kedar is a hostile tribe in the south, and these verses are not meant literally since Meshek and Kedar are actually nowhere near each other!

Too long have I lived among those who hate peace.
I am for peace; but when I speak they are for war.

This last bit is the sort of thing that I can imagine coming from the mouth of some mad warmongering dictator or insincere politician!
 I'd hope it was sincere but actions speak loud when you say this sort of thing!

Psalm 119 The longest chapter

Psalm 119

This short post is ironically on the longest chapter in the whole Bible! 

It is an acrostic poem where each stanza starts with the next letter in the Hebrew alphabet.

It's a poem about the Law of God in a whole 176 verses.

It'll take you about 10 minutes to read it.....


Ready?

https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Psalm+119

see you in Psalm 120......

Psalm 118 A Love that lasts - forever

Psalm 118

There are a number of chants and shanties that the military and sailors sing with a refrain, for example haul away - lets haul away together or songs that soldiers sing to help keep in step on a long march.

This Psalm strikes me as one to sing out while the Israelites were making the journey to Jerusalem to worship God at the temple -certainly the start of the Psalm 

Give thanks to the LORD for he is good - his love endures forever
Let Israel say - his love ensures forever
Let the priests say - his love endures forever
Let those who respect the LORD say - his love endures forever.

Apparently this is not out of some over-abundance of exuberance, the Psalmist has good reason for praising God

When hard pressed, I cried to the LORD; he bought me into a spacious place.

The LORD is with me; I wont be afraid of mere mortals - what can they do?
The phrase "The LORD is with me" now becomes the chant for the next bit 
The LORD is described as helper 
"It is better is now repeated" - It is better to take refuge in the LORD than to trust in humans or princes.

The Psalm goes on a bit about being surrounded by enemies who are blown away by the grace and power of God .

Verse 22 of this Psalm is quoted by Jesus and St Peter "The stone the builders rejected has become that cornerstone; the LORD has done this and it is marvellous in our eyes"
The rejected stone is Jesus who has formed the keystone of Christianity.

There is a bit in verses 25 to 27 that puts me in mind of palm Sunday and Jesus entry into Jerusalem 
LORD, Save us (in Hebrew the word is "Hosannah")
LORD grant us success! - Blessed is he who comes int eh name of the LORD.
From the house of the LORD we bless you.
The LORD is God and has made his light shine on us.
With boughs in hand, join in the festal procession up to the alter.

The Psalm ends with 
You are my Goid and I will praise you, you are my God and I will exalt you.

So we end as we began- 

Give thenks to the LORD for he is good;
his love endures forever.

Apologoes for the delay in this post