Today’s passage: Psalm 140

Helpful thoughts:

• Often the evil men who were the attackers in David’s psalms were Israelites.  This psalm is understood differently when we consider that the enemies mentioned are “inside the camp.”
• Under such great duress, David turns to the Lord as his deliverer, preserver, and guardian.
• David understood that these enemies who were against him were first against the Lord.  His appeal to God was for God’s glory as well as for his own safety (Verse 8).

Questions to consider:

1. Face with this opposition, what do you think David would have been tempted to do?  How might he have desired to settle matters as the king of Israel?  What did he do instead?
2. What did David declare in verse 6?  Who is the God of David to you?  How can the reality of who God is and the fact that you have a personal relationship with Him give you encouragement and hope in the midst of difficulty?
3. What do verses 12-13 mean?  When will full and final justice be served?  Why do these statements of trust require faith?

Today’s passage: Psalm 139

Helpful thoughts:

• God is omniscient.  He knows all things.
  • Not just the “who,” “what,” “when” and “where,” but also every “why” and “how.”
• It is so good to remember that God knows things that we do not and could not.
• If God was evil, these truths would be a terror to us.  But God is good!  God is love!  God is gracious and merciful!
  • He is also holy and worthy of our whole-hearted obedience.  God’s knowledge can stir in us both a reverence and thanksgiving.

Questions to consider:

1. How do verses 13-16 inform us concerning the beginning of life for every individual person?  How do these same verses teach us whose we are?  How does this help us think rightly about how we treat others and how we view “our own” lives?
2. What is the source of David’s anger in verses 19-22?  Who have the wicked sinned against first?  Why does David count them his enemies?  When would they cease to be enemies (Ephesians 2:1-10)?
3. What is David’s request in verses 23-24?  What did he hope would be accomplished if God were to reveal any blind spot in his life?  Why is it hard to hear about our blind spots?  How would a firm rooting in the Gospel help us be humble to hear the truth spoken in love?

Today’s passage: Psalm 138

Helpful thoughts:

• This is a psalm of thanksgiving.
• The “gods” of verse one could be translated from the Hebrew as angels, kings, or false gods.
• David prayed to the God of Israel, but God is not just the God of Israel.  All the kings of the world should be giving thanks to the one true God.
• After reading of the kings of the world, we are reminded that humility is an essential component of our relationship with the Lord (Verse 6).  The greater our pride, the less we think we need God (James 4:8).

Questions to consider:

1. What does it mean to thank God with our whole heart?  How do you thank Him whole-heartedly?
2. In what ways had God preserved and cared for you as you walked through the midst of trouble?  What can you thank Him for today?
3. What do we know about the request at the end of verse 8?  If the first two lines of the verse are true, then what would have can we be utterly confident of concerning the request?

Today’s passage: Psalm 137

Helpful thoughts:

• The psalmist expresses the pain of being required to sing songs about Jerusalem to the Babylonians after it had been destroyed.
• He would rather forget how to play his instrument and lose his ability to speak or sing than forget about Jerusalem (And all the promises of God concerning the city).
• It is known that the Babylonians committed great atrocities against the kingdoms they conquered.  The final verse of this psalm is asking for the old law of “eye for an eye, tooth for a tooth.”  However, God has commanded us to leave vengeance to Him (Deuteronomy 32:35, Romans 12:19)

Questions to consider:

1. Why would it be right for the psalmist to continue trusting in the promises of God for Jerusalem?  Did the Babylonians defeat God like they may have thought they had? (Jeremiah 29:14, Revelation 21:2)
2. How does the justice of God give us freedom from exacting revenge on anyone we might consider to be an “enemy?”
3. How could we desire to see God’s justice poured out for their sin (As it was for ours)?  (1 John 2:2)

Today’s passage: Psalm 136

Helpful thoughts:

• This palm is often used in “arguments” over repetition of lyrics in worship songs.
  • Two observations concerning this:
    • There is a place for repetition and this psalm is an example.
    • There are 150 psalms and only one of them has this level of repetition.
• The repetition this psalm contains is a glorious one.  The steadfast love of God endures forever!
• The example of God’s steadfast love is a recounting of Israel’s liberation from Egyptian bondage and God provision for the in the wilderness.
  • This provides a narrative recounting of God’s past love and then a response of hope in God’s enduring covenanted love going forward.

Questions to consider:

1. How long will God’s steadfast love endure?
2. Where have you seen God’s steadfast love in your life?
3. What has God promised us in His word that we can have all confidence in because of the nature of His love?

Today’s passage: Psalm 135

Helpful thoughts:

• The reader is encouraged to praise the Lord, and then the psalmist tells us why we should.
• We become like what we worship.
  • Matthew 13:10-17
• There is no god like the one true God!

Questions to consider:

1. What are the given reasons Israel should praise the Lord related to His attributes (Who He is and what He is like)?
2. What are the given reasons Israel should praise the Lord related to what He has done (Or what He will do in the future)?
3. How does thinking about who God is and what He has done for us through Christ move our hearts to worship?

Today’s passage: Psalm 134

Helpful thoughts:

• This is the final song of ascents, songs to be sung by those journeying to Jerusalem for worship.
  • It is a fitting concluding song.
• In the first two verses, the congregation sings to the servants of the temple (“who stand by night in the house of the Lord”) to bless the Lord.
• In verse 3, the temple servants sing a response, “May the Lord bless you from Zion.”

Questions to consider:

1. What does this psalm remind us of concerning worship?  We can certainly worship alone at times, but what place does corporate worship also have in our lives? (Ephesians 5:19-21)
2. What appears to be the effect of corporate worship in this psalm?  Why is it fruitful to worship together?
3. How is God described in verse 3?  What truths come to mind when we consider the God who made all of heaven and earth would bless a specific people from a specific city?

Today’s passage: Psalm 133

Helpful thoughts:

• Oil ran down the head and beard of Aaron when he was consecrated for service.  This image in verse 2 is communicating how the unification of God’s people around their God-given purpose will result in them fulfilling their calling.
• The dew of Hermon falls to the valley below, causing the vegetation to grow.
• God’s calling is not just on individuals, but on a people.  Today, the church must function together in unity.

Questions to consider:

1. What must the church be united in? How can you as an individual promote and help maintain right unity?
2. Who has given us our identity and purpose?  How can we know if we are united in the right thing?
3. What will be the fruits of unity in the church?

Today’s passage: Psalm 132

Helpful thoughts:

• This is a Messianic Psalm.
  • Jesus Christ is the One who will sit on the throne forever.
  • Jesus is the “horn to sprout for David.”
  • Jesus is the “anointed” (“Messiah”).
• The Davidic Covenant recounted here can be found in 2 Samuel 7:4-16.

Questions to consider:

1. How did David’s hope in the presence of the Lord motivate his actions?  Why did David desire to build the temple?
2. In what ways was God’s response to David’s desire far better than what David had hoped?
3. Who is Jesus?  He is our savior, God the Son…and what else?  What does this Psalm teach us about Him?

Today’s passage: Psalm 131

Helpful thoughts:

• This would be an excellent psalm to memorize if you struggle with anxiety.
• In verse 1, David speaks of his need for humility.
• In verse 2, David speaks of the contentment and rest we can have simply being with God, regardless of what is going on around us.
• The overall point of the psalm could be said this way, “I can’t fix this.  This is above my ability.  I will rest with my Heavenly Father and know that He will make all things right in the end.”

Questions to consider:

1. What might be some areas of concern that you have been trying to handle or be occupied with?  How could God be using it to make you more like Jesus?
2. What desires do we have to give up in order to truly rest in God?  When we are anxious, what do we want to have happen that we feel we can’t live without?
3. What has Christ already given to us that we could never have obtained on our own?