Tag: music

Study of Psalm 124 (Part One)

A song for pilgrims ascending to Jerusalem. A psalm of David.

What if the Lord had not been on our side? Let all Israel repeat: What if the Lord had not been on our side when people attacked us? They would have swallowed us alive in their burning anger. The waters would have engulfed us; a torrent would have overwhelmed us. Yes, the raging waters of their fury would have overwhelmed our very lives (124:1-5 NLT).

Psalm 124 is the fifth of the Songs of Ascent. They were composed for people going to Jerusalem for the three required feasts during the old covenant. As the heading indicates, David wrote this song. His love for the true and living God overflowed to help the worship of God’s covenant people. In our time, people have mainly lost their ability to sing. People will listen to others perform music, but they lack desire to sing. We have become passive in our emotional expressions. It should not surprise us to see people emotionally manipulated by those who produce music. David wrote to improve and enhance the worship of the Lord by his people.

His song has structure; it pushes its participants to move through the muck and mire of their experience to the Lord God. But it does not do this in a balanced way. This might upset the analytic or clinical mind that likes everything in neat orderly packages. But David writes about life, which is anything except neat and orderly, and he writes about God who reveals himself as greater than the wild messes of our lives.

The psalm can be outlined in this way:

  • Presence of the Lord during trials (124:1-5)
  • Protection by the Lord (124:6-7)
  • Praise to the Lord (124:8)

So then we see that David lets us linger in our problems for over half the psalm before he reminds us of how God has rescued us, which in turn he develops into a call to worship.

Let’s speak plainly. None of us want to slowly review our trials. We want them way behind us in the rear view mirror. After I recovered from a heart attack, I wanted to get on with my life as quickly as I could. I was very thankful for how God preserved my life, but once rescued, it was time for other things. Then I had to have bypass surgery a year later, followed by another time of recovery, and more desire to move on. A couple years later, I did move on, but not as I expected! My point is simply that we want to get out of painful and unpleasant situations and get on with whatever. David did not do that. He wanted the pilgrims on the path to remember where they had been and what the Lord had done for them.

Like many psalms, it is unclear what troubles David and Israel faced. Perhaps he pointed to the early years of his reign. He could truthfully say it was a time when people attacked us. Benjamin and the other ten tribes refused to bow to David’s God-given kingship, and a mini civil war lasted for about seven years. That was bad enough, but there were also problems from the Philistines, Israel’s archenemy for many years during the leadership of Samson, Samuel, and Saul. David inherited those enemies when he became king, and he had his own hand in stirring the pot, when he supposedly defected to the Philistines and then was kicked out by them when they went to fight Saul. When the Philistines heard that David was king over all Israel and not merely the tribe of Judah, they decided that they must strike hard against David and Israel (2 Samuel 5). It was a dangerous time for David and his people. He had to flee to his stronghold to get into a defensible position. (God expects us to use our common sense.) Then David rightly asked God what to do. (God expects us to pray. He wants us to welcome him into our problems.) And in two different ways, God gave David and Israel victory over their enemies.

So in this Song of Ascent, David reminded the worshipers of the crisis they had passed through. What if the Lord had not been on our side? Let all Israel repeat: What if the Lord had not been on our side when people attacked us? By repetition, he helps Israel recall the dangers they had been in. During what dangers you’ve faced have you experienced that God was on your side? Remember the following great word. What, then, shall we say in response to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? (Romans 8:31 NIV)

Grace and peace,
David

Study of Psalm 14 (Part One)

The fool says in his heart, “There’s no God.” They are corrupt; they do vile deeds. There is no one who does good (14:1 CSB)

This psalm and Psalm 53 are twins; most of Psalm 14 is repeated in Psalm 53 with just a few minor variations. Paul quotes from this psalm in Romans 3:10-12 to prove that all people everywhere are sinners.

Few songs are written like this one. Some have thought that the best music is simply praise or worship songs, usually very upbeat. Others like “therapeutic” music, composed to soothe the soul and to give encouragement. There is nothing wrong with either, as long as you do not restrict your musical diet to either option. The Holy Spirit obviously disagrees with a limited viewpoint. Compare Ephesians 5:19 where the Spirit commends all kinds of music: speaking to one another with psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit. Sing and make music from your heart to the Lord (NIV). Our music ought to be doctrinally sound and deep. Shallow music that says little, while fine for little children, only promotes a nebulous, empty Christianity that is not equipped to stand in the day of evil. Read Ephesians 6:10-18 to refresh your memory about the war we are in. In Psalm 14 we find the “sweet psalmist of Israel” singing about the radical corruption of mankind, and as God’s king and prophet, he directed that it be used in public worship. We need to broaden modern worship to declare musically the whole counsel of God.

We can briefly outline Psalm 14 this way.

I.          The world’s foolish creed and lifestyle (14:1).
II.         God’s view of human corruption (14:2-3).
III.       The hope of God’s people in spite of evildoers (14:4-7).

David began with rebellious man’s view of God. He did not pull any punches as he described what all people everywhere are like apart from saving grace. Lost people are fools, because they reject and suppress the knowledge of the true God. Then they exchange the knowledge of God for the worship of idols (Romans 1:18-25). Yet only with the knowledge of God may anyone be wise. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, and the knowledge of the Holy One is understanding (Proverbs 9:10 CSB).

The foolish person has a simple creed, “There’s no God.” This is the confession of faith that they say in their own heart. The word used here for heart refers to the totality of a human’s inner nature, mind emotions and will. Notice that we talk to ourselves, but what foolishness we can deceive ourselves with! Someone might object, “But aren’t people everywhere seeking for God?” No, not at all! See the next two verses. People may be religious, but that does not mean that they have any room in their religion for the true and living God (cf. Psalm 10:4; Jeremiah 10:1-10). People may profess anything they choose outwardly, but a lie holds the inner person of the heart. The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it? (Jeremiah 17:9 NIV).

We should understand that all sin (rebellion against God, transgression of his laws, falling short of his glory) has an element of practical atheism in it. When we sin, we say in our practice, “There is no God, no Holy One to whom we must give account.” It is like saying to the sun, “I have closed my eyes and I will act like you do not give light on the earth.” But such denials do not change the facts.

The sinner’s problem is basically moral, not an incapability of understanding the truth of God’s existence. God the Spirit communicates in plain, understandable words. People say in their hearts that there is no God, because they have another agenda. Sinners desire to follow their own ways and not walk according to the will of the Lord. David provides us with a description of what life is like when it is lived apart from God.

  • They are corrupt… People are ruined by sin; it destroys those who commit it. One of the great lies of sin is the belief that it will bring true happiness, but the actual result is destruction. Notice that the person is corrupt, and not just the actions. The bad record of activity comes from a bad heart (cf. Mark 7:20-23).
  • The lifestyle is also wrong. The Spirit says it strongly “they do vile deeds” or “detestable actions.” God has no pleasure in our sin; in fact, sin disgusts him.
  • They are unable to perform what is good. There is no one who does good.” Weep for the religious sinner who thinks he or she can be saved by doing good deeds. They cannot! What a ruin is the heart of rebellious people. They do not do good, but they do what is detestable.

Who can find any hope in the sinner? Salvation is found only in the blessed name of Jesus Christ the Lord. Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to mankind by which we must be saved (Acts 4:12 NIV).

Grace and peace,
David

Psalm Nineteen (Part Five)

The law of the Lord is perfect, refreshing the soul. The statutes of the Lord are trustworthy, making wise the simple. The precepts of the Lord are right, giving joy to the heart. The commands of the Lord are radiant, giving light to the eyes. The fear of the Lord is pure, enduring forever. The decrees of the Lord are firm, and all of them are righteous. They are more precious than gold, than much pure gold; they are sweeter than honey, than honey from the honeycomb. By them your servant is warned; in keeping them there is great reward (Psalm 19:7-11 NIV).

In this section, David lifts up the Scriptures, God’s special, written revelation, to those who listen to his song. Remember that the Psalms were written to be sung. God loves art. He designed us to delight in music and to make music. David uses six predicate adjectives that tell us what the Scriptures are. Four of these are somewhat synonymous, which serves to emphasize the quality of God’s message. It is perfect, right, radiant and pure. The Bible covers all aspects of life about living in the presence of the living God, of knowing him and pleasing him, and of relating rightly to other people. There are no imperfections in the Bible, since it is the message of the perfect, righteous Lord. This is one of the foundations of the doctrine of the inerrancy of the Scriptures. God does not lie, and he is all-wise, making mistakes in his revelation impossible. Most of the supposed errors in the Bible are really failures by people to understand the text or stem from people’s disagreement with God about his ways. The rest are basically a lack of information about matters that we suppose the Lord should have told us more about! Many of these have “disappeared” over time as additional archaeological and historical investigation have constantly demonstrated the perfection of the Scriptures.

The other two predicate adjectives (trustworthy and sure) proclaim the reliability of God’s word. In a world of constant change and corruption, we have a dependable foundation for our faith and hope. All of these adjectives “move in a different world from the compromise, insincerity and half-truths of human intercourse” (Kidner).

Next, we observe that David uses six verbal phrases to set forth four ways the Scriptures affect people, and then he praises the word of God in two ways.

  • The Bible “revives” or “turns” the soul (the whole self or person). “Making the man to be returned or restored to the place from which sin had cast him” (Spurgeon).
  • God’s word “makes wise” those who need to be taught the right way to live and the correct attitudes to have (cf. 2 Timothy 3:15; Psalm 119:130). “The beginning of conversion, and so all along, the increase of all grace to the end, is expressed by wisdom entering into a man’s heart” (Goodwin).
  • The Scriptures “give joy” to the heart (the totality of our inner nature). God has a means for making us glad—the teaching of his word. As we reach his understanding of life and bow before him and his purposes, our emotional outlook is transformed. Notice the progression. When we are turned back to God and made wise, joy returns to the person. Joy is a by-product of God’s free grace. The tragedy of the human race is in seeking for joy in empty boxes.
  • God’s message also “gives light” to the eyes. Light in the Scriptures usually means either holiness or accurate knowledge. The eyes are “used to express knowledge, character, attitude, inclination, opinion, passion and response…a good barometer of the inner thoughts of a man” (TWOT). If we listen to God’s voice in his written word, our approach to living will be changed in an observable manner. If we look at the sun, our eyes will go blind, but if we gaze steadily at the light of God’s word, our spiritual sight grows stronger and clearer.
  • The Bible “endures forever.” When all else fails and passes away, a firm foundation remains (Matthew 24:35). The opinions of the wisest men of one generation are discarded as useless trash by the next. Each generation is in love with its own wisdom, only to be called fools by those who follow. How different is the Bible! Throughout the generations its accurate portrayal of life remains constant.
  • The last phrase, which is very difficult to put into English as a verb form, also is a praise of God’s word. Perhaps we can say it is “being righteous altogether.” In all its parts, each and everyone, it shines with being right; that is, it has the same character as God.

Please read the above verses from Psalm Nineteen over and over. Let their music permeate your heart. Think about them, rejoice in them, and choose the ways of God by them.

Grace and peace, David