A Psalm a Day Keeps Satan Away: The Podcast

Psalm 78 – A History Lesson The setting is a small village near the Sea of Galilee. I imagine an evening fire in the courtyard of an extended family’s “insula” which is a series of connected rooms (sleeping quarters for each family unit) and a courtyard making a singular rectangular compound (see attached sketch). The evening meal is finished, and the animals are secure within the courtyard. The f...

Psalm 77 – Remembering and Forgetting Has G-d changed? “Has God forgotten to be merciful?” (v. 9) Theological questions like this (remember, the Bible is a book of questions!) span human existence and explain why the psalms remain so relevant to our modern lives. This psalm is classified as a lament (complaint) psalm, and it follows the “good ol’ days” theme that we have observed several times. In...

Psalm 76 – Our Warrior God Our God is a Warrior God. He dwells with us. He fights for us. His power is awesome. As we encounter the events of our day, as we interact with people who are for us and against us, we often forget that. We get mired in the anxiety of our day. We forget Who is fighting for us. Psalm 76 reminds us of our Warrior God. He is known by His people in His land. (v. 1) He dwells...

We just completed our most recent trip to Greece and Turkey following the footsteps of St. Paul during his second (and part of his third) missionary journey. As always, it was an incredible trip, and this group leaned in to the faith lessons in a big way! We also had a lot of fun creating community and enjoying the beauty of mainland Greece and the Greek Islands as well as the hustle and bustle of...

Psalm 75 We are now at the halfway point of our Psalm a Day Keeps Satan Away exercise. If you are reading this … THANKS for hanging in there! For some of you, this is round 2 or 3 or 4 … again, THANKS for being a part of this exercise. Some have asked for new content … I promise, it will be forthcoming! In the meantime, now that we are using Substack, you can go to the GoForth website at in order...

Psalm 74 – The Good New Days Have you ever longed for the “good ol’ days?” Do you remember the days of old when your body was fit, and you could eat anything you wanted and not gain weight? Do you remember the “good ol’ days” before Facebook, IG and Tik-Tok? Do you remember the “good ol’ days” when we only had three TV channels and an antenna on the roof? Do you remember the “good ol’ days” when t...

Today is our 250th Substack submission! Thanks to our more than 300 subscribers for reading/listening/watching. This endeavor has been a humbling and unexpected experience. And now, as promised in the podcast, our shameless plug for our small book “Creating a Christian Seder Worship: A Maundy Thursday/Good Friday Worship Experience.” See the link below: Book Link Godspeed and Shalom, Pastor D-Wach...

Cancel culture is killing our country. The faith community is not immune from it. It is HaSatan’s most lethal weapon. Ten years ago I created a set of principles to help me through a relationship conflict … I needed something to help guide me to forgiveness and reconciliation. Given recent events that are dividing us, I offer fellow believers the following. Godspeed and Shalom, Pastor D-Wach D-Wac...

Psalm 73 Don’t you hate it when good things happen to bad people? Isn’t it frustrating when you “fight the good fight” and it seems in vain? It should come as no surprise that the psalms articulate that very sense of frustration. The psalmist laments today, “For I envied the arrogant when I saw the prosperity of the wicked. They have no struggles; their bodies are healthy and strong. They are free...

Psalm 72 – Legacy, Part 2 Fun facts about Psalm 72: 1. It is the last psalm in ‘Book II’ of the Psalter, which ends in a characteristic doxology (v. 18-19) similar to the ends of other ‘books’ of the Psalter. In addition to that, there is an addendum, v. 20, that reads “This concludes the prayers of David, son of Jesse.” This is clearly an add-on. Is it inspired? Is it Scripture? Why does this not...

Psalm 71 - Legacy Psalm 71 is a top fiver for me. It is the lament of an old man who is looking back on his life of faithfulness to the One who has been his rock and fortress since birth: “You have been my hope, O Sovereign LORD, my confidence since my youth. From birth I have relied on you; you brought me forth from my mother’s womb. I will ever praise you.” (v. 5-6) This confession of faith and...

Psalm 70 – Slow Down … Get Smooth … Smooth is Fast! Fun Facts about Psalm 70: 1. This short psalm is a duplicate of Psalm 40:13-17 with slight variations, including the use of אֱלֹהִ֥ים ‘El-o-HIM’ (G-d) in Psalm 70 rather than יְ֝ הוָ֗ה ( Yahweh ) in Psalm 40 (with two exceptions). Remember, we are in the Elohist section of the Psalter (Psalms 42-83) where the references to G-d are Elohim and the...

Psalm 69 – In the Pits and In the Deep Psalm 69 is a “stock” individual lament (complaint) psalm utilizing the basic structure we have seen more than two dozen times already: the lament (complaint) lifted up to G-d, the petition (fist shaking) demanding G-d do something, imprecations (curses) against the psalmist’s enemies, and acknowledgement/submission/trust/praise directed to G-d. But there are...

Psalm 68 – Don’t Miss the Parade! By now, it should not surprise you that Psalm 68 is participating in yet another intertextual conversation with a passage found elsewhere in the “Ta-NAHK.” The Tanahk is the Hebrew Bible, what we, as Christians, call the Old Testament. Tanahk ( תָּנָ״ךְ ) is a Hebrew word created from an acronym. The three Hebrew consonants in the word sound like ‘T,’ ‘N,’ and ‘K....

Psalm 67 – Blessings Psalm 67 holds an interesting place in Judaism and exhibits some of the cool Jewish literary techniques that we have already noticed. There is repetition of a particular word which brings emphasis to that word: ‘ba-Rahk’ ( בָּרַךְ ), “to bless,” is repeated 3 times in the short text (vv. 1, 6 & 7);thus, we can say that this is a “G-d’s blessing” psalm. There is intertextual “c...

Psalm 66 - Testing Today’s psalm is a classic communal hymn of praise that morphs into an individual hymn of praise. There is nothing unusual about that (or the reverse). This structure reinforces Jewish theology that our communal salvation, praise, suffering, etc. is deeply intertwined with our individual salvation, praise, suffering, etc. I think Christianity has lost some of that mindset. I see...

In this episode, Pastor D-Wach reflects on personal experiences and significant global events that have transpired since the last podcast. He shares updates about his family, a recent trip, and the sale of his parents’ house. The conversation also touches on the assassination of Charlie Kirk, the ongoing conflict in Israel, and the importance of spiritual awakening over political solutions. Pastor...

Psalm 65 – Who is this Man? We start our discussion today in the most logical place, which is in the New Testament Gospel of Matthew, chapter 8 verses 23-27. Jesus had been teaching in the villages around the Sea of Galilee. The text says, “Then he got into the boat and his disciples followed him. Without warning, a furious storm came up on the lake, so that the waves swept over the boat. But Jesu...

Psalm 64 – God Wins! We start our discussion today in the most logical place, which is in the New Testament book of Philippians, chapter 2, verses 9 – 11: “Therefore God has highly exalted him [Jesus] and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee shall bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and that every tongue shall confess that Jesus Ch...

Psalm 63 – Seeking Discomfort I texted Steve “The Rev” Allen last night and asked, “Quick and off the cuff: three thoughts on what the Israeli desert means to you.” His answers: 1. Discomfort is a teacher. 2. Comfort is usually not. 3. The Hebrew word for desert has as its root the word ‘da-VAR’ ( דָּבָר ) which means ‘word.’ If you listen in the desert, you can hear a word for your life. Today’s...

Psalm 62 – Strong AND Loving Psalm 62 gets little attention from modern Christian scholars. It is yet another psalm of lament and trust that follows the standard “formula” that we have seen numerous times to this point. But in the Jewish world, it has significant meaning, and I think we would be wise to pay attentionn. Verses 11-12a offer one of the most important theological concepts in all of Sc...

Psalm 61 – Our Spiritual Heritage: Passing the Baton After experiencing numerous lament (complaint) psalms, we can easily recognize yet another example in Psalm 61. The psalmist cries out to G-d and beseeches G-d to hear his prayer. He longs to be in G-d’s tent, His Temple, and “take refuge in the shelter of [its] wings.” (v. 4) But as is the case with lament/complaint psalms, the text pivots at v...

Psalm 60 - Truth Steve “the Rev” Allen, a key member of the highly acclaimed Advanced Research Department of The Psalm a Day Keeps Satan Away Community, alerted me to some interesting data regarding today’s lengthy superscript to Psalm 60. The intertextual Scriptural reference seems to be from II Samuel 8 and 10. The Rev noted several historical discrepancies between the superscript and the text f...

Psalm 59 – Household Idols This is the third straight psalm where the superscript instructs the leader to play the song to the tune of “Do Not Destroy.” It is a very interpretive translation: all Jewish translators/interpreters, and some Christian ones, punt the attempt and simply retain the archaic Hebrew אַל־תַּשְׁחֵת֮ ‘ al tash-HETH’ because no one really knows what it means. Such is the realit...

Psalm 58 - Leadership “O God, smash their teeth in their mouth; shatter the fangs of lions, O LORD.” That is the petition of the psalmist in verse 6. This isn’t the first psalm to articulate imprecations and curses upon one’s enemies and it won’t be the last! This is a strange text that doesn’t resonate well for us modern readers. It is doubtful that it is in anyone’s top five. Thus, it is easy to...