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 

Psalm 117 Guess What?

Psalm 117

This is a remarkable chapter in the Bible - first off it is the shortest chapter in teh whole Bible a mere couple of verses.

However this chapter is also exactly half way through the Bible chapters in total 929 chapters in the Old Testament and 280 in the new so a total of 1189 chapters.
Psalm 117 is chapter 595.

If you have read my posts you may have noticed that I skipped a couple of books that covered the kings of Israel (For the Third time!).

I'd like yo say a HUGE thank you, or Possibly THANK YOU for reading my blog, I hope you have found something interesting in it

The Chapter reads - 
Praise the LORD, all you nations;
Extol him all you peoples, for great is his love towards us,
and the faithfulness of the LORD endures for ever.

Praise the LORD

Join me in upcoming posts as we enter the second half of the Bile

Psalm 116 Promises fulfilled

Psalm 116

This Psalm begins I love the LORD for he heard my voice; he heard my cry for mercy.
Because he turned his ear to me I will call upon him as long as I live

Now to me it sounds a bit like the Psalmist badgering a charity donor here! However let's carry on!

The cords of death entangled me, the anguish of the grave came over me; I was overcome by distress and sorrow.
Then I called on the name of the LORD: "LORD, Save me!"

I'm going to let you in on a secret here - sometimes I feel a bit like that, my mind turns on transience and mortality - when I think about it rationally I turn to God who has given us so many wonderful things to enjoy in life and remember, as in my last post that God is the God of the living, and to quote another great hero from the Christian faith "For me to live is Christ, and to die is gain" St Paul letter to the Philippians

Suddenly the tense of the Psalm changes from the first person - 
The LORD is gracious and righteous; our God is full of compassion.
The LORD protects the unwary.

Does this mean that I can go wandering alone in the rougher areas of Bradford (pick a city of your choice, Bradford is local to me.) in the middle of the night as God will protect the unwary?

There may be a thin line between "unwary" and "idiot".......
I know of Christians who go out to the night clubs and pubs in the early hours as street pastors - they try and protect some of the (self induced) vulnerable people and share that there is more to life than needing help counting your feet (or whatever they think they are doing) But they take precautions and are wary of their surrounding 

Then back to the first person - 
When I was brought low, he saved me.
Return to your rest, my soul, for the LORD has been good to you

God's goodness here has a response from the Psalm writer -

What shall I return to the LORD for all his goodness to me?
I will lift the cup of salvation and call on the name of the LORD.

I will fulfil my vows to the LORD in the presence of all his people.
Precious in the sight of the LORD is the death of his faithful servants.

I was going to skip over this verse, but actually I want to say something.
In November and December of 2015 my grandparents died. Both had followed the Christian faith most (if not all) their lives. They met a church, married at church and their church minister took their funerals. Both their lives spent in service of God were precious but here I find that God treasures the moment they passed into glory. I type this with a tear in my eye and a lump in my throat amazed by this fact - Precious in the sight of God is not only my life, but my death!

Truly I am your servant, LORD; I server you just as my mother did (and my grandmother and grandfather if it comes to that!) 

I will fulfil my vows to the LORD in the presence of all his people.
In the courts of the house of the LORD - In your midst, Jerusalem.

Praise the LORD

Psalm 115 Non nobis Domine

Psalm 115

I have verse 1 of this Psalm in latin on the back of a T shirt celebrating Medieval knights. In particular the knights templar.

It is a famous prayer - ordered by Henry V following the battle of Agincourt. 
In latin verse 1 reads (the famous soldiers prayer) 
"Non nobis, Domine, non nobis, sed nomini tuo da gloriam"
In the NIV bible is is 
Not to us, Lord, not to us, but to your name be the glory, because of your love and faithfulness.

The Psalm goes on to talk about the difference between God of Israel and the gods of the other nations - 
Why do the nations say "where is their God?" 
Our God is in heaven he does whatever pleases him.
But their idols are silver and gold, made by human hands.
They have mouths but cannot speak, eyes, but cannot see.
They have ears but cannot heat, noses but cannot smell
They have hands, but cannot feel, feet but cannot walk.
They can't make a sound with their throats.
Those who make them will end up like them as will any who trust in them

The Psalm continues with the injunctions to God's people - 
All you Israelites, trust in the LORD
He is their help and shield
House of Aaron (the priestly leaders), trust in the LORD
He is their help and shield
You who fear (respect) him, trust in the LORD 
He is their help and shield 

Do you see a pattern emerging here?

There is faith in this Psalm that God remembers and will bless us.

May the LORD cause you to flourish, both you and your children, May you be blessed by the LORD the maker of heaven and earth.

There is an interesting bit at the end of this Psalm - 
It is not the dead who praise the LORD, those who go down the the place of silence; it is we who extol the LORD both now and evermore.

Jesus was asked a question by a group of leaders who did not believe in life after death - Jesus quoted from Exodus and God's introduction to Moses "I AM the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob" God's friends and followers are NEVER in the past tense for God is "Not the God of the dead, but of the living" to quote from Jesus

Psalm 114 When Israel left Egypt

Psalm 114

This is a short Psalm remembering the events of the exodus of Israel from Egypt -

The long trek from Egypt to the land of Canaan is described as Jacob coming out from a people of foreign tongue, Judah became God's sanctuary and Israel his dominion.

At the time the sea looked and fled, the Jordan turned back and the mountains leaped like rams.

Why was the natural order in such disarray? the Psalm asks 

It is attributed to the presence of the LORD, the God of Jacob , who turns rock into a pool and hard rock into springs of water.

I guess that some people would argue that unusual weather and global warming are myths and that climate change is the will and purpose of God 

Personally I don't think the science and evidence mounting annually can be ignored - if there is the slightest chance that our overuse and misuse of the planets resources, dumping literally billions of tonnes of greenhouse gasses into the atmosphere, we have to take seriously that we are temporary residents of this planet and have a responsibility to look after and use the resources in the best way we can
Science has proved that we dumped millions of tonnes of poisonous lead in an effort to make our engines operate more efficiently on lower grade petrol. 
Amd that we used thousands of tonnes of CFC which destroy a vital layer of the atmosphere that absorbs harmful UV radiation to make our armpits smell better

Ironically these last 2 were the brainchild of just one person!

Psalm 112 Delight in God

Psalm 112


At the end of the last chapter we read that "Fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom"

This Psalm kind of carries on the theme - 
Blessed are thay who fear the LORD, who find great delight in his commands.
Their children will be mighty in the land, the generation of the upright will be blessed.

Delighting in god's command? What does that mean? Many of the laws of God I've been reading recently have been concerned with what animals are clean and what do to if one becomes ritually unclean.
Having said that many commands of God do make sense. 
One of the people who inspired me to write this blog was a chap called AJ Jacobs who wrote a blog and a book called "my year of living Biblically" - in that book one of the things he found was that thinking about these things actually made him more  thankful and thoughtful - so perhaps there is something in it!

In the Psalm, the righteous last forever with wealth and riches.
Even in the dark, the upright have light, no fear of bad news.
In the end they will look in triumph on their foes.

Who are these people? - those who are gracious and compassionate and righteous, generous and lend freely, they conduct their affairs with justice, freely scattering gifts to the poor.

I wish I was rather more like these people!