Biblical Reflections

Psalm 23 celebrates God’s providential care for his people.  God personally cares for each of his faithful people.   1-4 – The LORD is a shepherd to his people.  He provides food, water, safety, and protection for his people.   5-6 – The LORD is a host who provides welcome, food, and safety.   The LORD literally pursues us with goodness and mercy all the days of our lives.  We can dwell safely in...

A.           22:1-11 – Fervent Prayer of one who is forsaken – Lament and Confidence                                   Cycle One – 22:1-5 – Lament – Pain and Trust                                                  Pain is described, followed by affirmation of faith by previous generations                                                                                  Cycle Two – 22:6-11 - Lament –...

Psalms 20 and 21 form a pair of royal Psalms.  Psalm 20 is a prayer of supplication that LORD will give the king success in battle.  Psalm 21 is a prayer of thanksgiving for honoring the request in Psalm 20.   Psalm 20   1-5 – The congregation or nation speaking to the king asks the LORD to give the king success in battle.    6-8 – The congregation speaks about the king; they proclaim their faith...

Psalm 19 celebrates the Torah, the Law of Moses, which sets out the requirements of the Covenant people in relationship with God.  In particular, the Law is celebrated as the supreme revelation of God, until of course the incarnation of Jesus Christ.   1-6 – The heavens declare the glory of God:  including, his power, wisdom, worthiness of honor and worship.   This is the general revelation of God...

Psalm 18 is a royal song.  It celebrates the way God has shown love for his people by giving the Davidic monarchy and by preserving David through many dangers.  The text of this Psalm is almost identical to 2 Samuel 22.  2 Samuel 22 is David’s personal expression of gratitude to the Lord.  Psalm 18 is an adaptation of the song for the whole nation to sing because their wellbeing is now tied to the...

Psalm 17 is an individual lament by a person who is suffering and unjustly accused wrongdoing, similar to Psalm 7, and asks God for vindication to bring the Psalmist innocence to light.   1-2 – This is the request for vindication.     3-5 – Here the Psalmist claims he is innocent of any wrongdoing.  He asserts that he is a godly man whose ways are blameless.   6-9 – The Psalmist asks for an answer...

Psalm 16 is a hymn praise where those who sing entrust themselves to the Lord in confidence and contentment in his care.   1-2 – The Lord is my refuse, the only one on whom I can rely on for my well-being.   3-4 – My delight is being with the godly, those who also rely on the Lord for their well-being.  The saints are the godly, in contrast to the ungodly who run after idols and false gods.   5-6...

Psalm 15 is a hymn celebrating the ideal worshipper of the Lord.  The singing congregation does not claim to have all of these ideal qualities, but in describing these qualities, the members yearn to have them more and more.   Who will dwell in the house of the LORD?  What does the ideal worshipper of God look like?   In v:2-5b – The answer is given that ideal worshipper of God is one whose walk w...

Psalm 14 is a community lament, in which the people of God mourn the fact that humans in general do not seek after God, and as a result, these godless people treat the people of God cruelly.  Psalm 14 is identical to Psalm 53.  Likely one was an alternate version before the Psalms were collected into this book, often called the Psalter.   Godless people, here the gentiles, devour God’s people.  Th...

Psalm 13 is an individual lament, a cry of anguish, for circumstances that have put the faithful one on the verge of despair. This is a prayer of feeling and emotion. How long will you forget me is not a question to God as much as it is an expression of feeling unable to endure any longer. Is this your situation? The Psalm moves from God’s apparent indifference to the Psalmist’s anguish. It feels...

Psalm 12 is a community lament when God’s people are dominated by liars and deceivers in positions of authority.   Sound familiar?     When liars prevail in all aspects of society, it seems as though the faithful have disappeared.    The Psalmist asks that the LORD to cut off the liars be removing them from his people and from their positions of authority.     The Psalmist remembers the promises o...

The immediate crisis is described as the wicked threatening to kill the upright in heart.  The wicked have free reign because the foundations of society are being destroyed and there is no one in authority to keep the wicked in check.  The natural reaction for the upright in heart is to want to flee like bird.  So, the Psalmist asks the obvious question:  in a time of extreme crisis, such as this,...

Psalm 10 is a lament over faithless, wicked, wealthy Israelites who hotly pursue the poor and the underprivileged.    The lament - O LORD, why do you let the faithless wicked people get away with destroying the poor?  The wicked say that there is no God, that he has forgotten, that God does not see their deeds of evil, that God will not call us into account.   A plea to God (Elohim) to arise and c...

Psalms 9 and 10 taken together are basically an acrostic pattern, where Psalm 9 stops in the Hebrew alphabet, Psalm 10 then picks up in the Hebrew alphabet. Psalm 9 has a title, Psalm 10 does not. The Greek Septuagint and the Latin Vulgate list Psalms 9 and 10 as one Psalm. There are other similarities between the two Psalms but differences also. Either way, Psalms 9 and 10 were intended to be a m...

Psalm 8 is a hymn of praise. God’s people celebrate their privileged place in the created order. This Psalm is covenantal, focused on the Hebrews, the covenant people, yet it speaks of man in general terms, foreshadowing Jesus as the Davidic King, who is crowned with glory and honor, who ultimately will rule all things in creation. The majesty of God’s name, his revealed character, is seen in the...

Psalm 7 is an individual lament, David calls on God for help because David has been unfairly slandered and persecuted by a man from the Tribe of Benjamin, the same tribe that King Saul came from.     Psalm 7 starts out with a cry for safety because of the desperate circumstances that David finds himself in.  In the 1st verse, David calls for refuge and deliverances from his pursuers.      David cl...

Psalm 6 begins with a plea for mercy from some life-threatening situation, which comes from God’s displeasure for a particular sin of David. While not all life-threatening situations/illnesses are the result of sin, this one certainly was caused by sin, which David acknowledges. Notice that David pleads to God’s love and mercy. If this sin is not forgiven and if David dies, then he will be cut-off...

Psalm 5 is an individual lament, a plea for help. This is also an imprecatory prayer that prays for the personal downfall of the enemies. These foes are bloodthirsty and deceitful persecutors. The Psalm begins with a calling out to God, followed by praise that God loves justice and hates the wicked, the proud, the evildoer, the liar, and the bloodthirsty men. Their attack against David is really a...

Psalm 4 is an individual lament, a plea for help.      David appeals to the righteousness of God.    Again, David recollects a past experience, where God has rescued him, much like Psalm 3, which emboldens his faith to pray confidently in the present.      David then has a word of rebuke for those faithless people who mock the godly man.      Psalm 4 states with certainty that God hears the prayer...

Psalm 3 is the first Psalm with a title.  Psalm 3 is an individual lament, a plea for help.  David seeks salvation from God for the foes that have come against him, apparently the forces of his rebelling son, Absalom.      David models genuine faith amidst his dire straights.    David remembers past experiences where God has rescued him, and to these past experiences David builds his confidence of...

Psalm 2 is a royal Psalm celebrating the kingship of David and his descendants as God’s anointed representative to rule the people of Israel.  The nation’s prosperity is tied to the rule of the Davidic King.  But it also has a future application.    The Davidic king figuratively is God’s Son, yet ultimately in Jesus Christ, the King will indeed be the Son of God, the second person of the Trinity. ...

Psalm 1 states that there are only two ways to live, the way of righteous, those who obey the law and instruction of God, and the way of the wicked, those who deny God.   The way of the righteous, who follow God’s law, will flourish.  But the way of the wicked will perish. 

An introduction to the Psalms with host Andrew. We unpack what we are in for in this length but insightful season on Biblical Reflections. You are encouraged to read each with with host Andrew and keep a prayer journal as you go. 

This is the longest episode in the series and will be split into 4 parts. It is almost two-hours long. Where we find the gospel message in the book of Revelation is pretty, straight forward, and I do that at the beginning of the episode. Trying to understand the Book of Revelation, well that’s another matter. In keeping with my rather, unique story-telling style, I present four-challenges to readi...

This is the longest episode in the series and will be split into 4 parts. It is almost two-hours long. Where we find the gospel message in the book of Revelation is pretty, straight forward, and I do that at the beginning of the episode. Trying to understand the Book of Revelation, well that’s another matter. In keeping with my rather, unique story-telling style, I present four-challenges to readi...