Bible Reading Challenge Blog

We have to focus on Psalm 133 where we read how blessed it is to dwell together with those who love the Lord. Well, that’s not exactly what is stated. The demographic group that is lifted up is kindred. Now, that could be blood relatives, or kin, or that could be spiritual relatives, or the church. I like the latter, although the former was probably what was in mind when this was written. But I have used this verse countless times to describe what it is like to be in unity together in all sorts of different settings, even in those settings where the participants aren’t related in any way shape or form, by spirit or blood.

The first thing that caught my attention was found in Psalm 126 where we read in vs.6 the words that brought about this song.

I hope this got you started on your day. We are very close to closing out our time together on this Bible reading challenge. We only have this week left!

We have two of the most classic psalms that we find in all of Scripture. When we read Psalm 46 we hear the words “God is our refuge and our strength.” What strong words of comfort we find here which should be familiar to us. We hear the words “Be still and know that I am God.” Again, very familiar words that we have used in one setting or another where our life might seem a bit out of control and those words come to calm us down.

Similarly we find in Psalm 118 numerous phrases that we have used and with which we are familiar. We see from vs.25-27 the very words that the people used to greet Jesus when he entered Jerusalem. These are words that were used to greet the pilgrims as they came into Jerusalem and went back out. But they are words that have been immortalized not just in this Psalm but by their repetition in the Gospels. We also hear words that we know in “O give thanks to the Lord, for his steadfast love endures.” It does remind me of this song.

We have the shortest of the chapters of the Bible in Psalm 117, but it is powerful. Is there anything more important that we do in our lives than praise the Lord? I have always said that it is from worship where we understand what God has called us to do. I have always said that it is in worship where we practice the righteousness that is required of us in the world. Worship is the pratice field of life, where we practice that which God calls us to do so that when we get into the game, the real world outside of the walls of sanctuary, we will have all the muscle and the heart memory that we need to do God’s work. Worship is at the center of our spiritual life. It has to be.

There is a somewhat secondary theme in a few of these psalms that we read which lift up certainly one of the primary themes of Jesus. We see a consistent recognition that there is a preference for the poor on behalf of God. Those who are poor, those who are marginalized, those who are outcast, those who are on the fringes of society are loved and evern favored by the Lord. But when we look at our own lives and certainly at the way in which society is constructed, there is almost a sense that the poor are poor because of their own doing. As a result we cast even more shame upon that status as opposed to being aware of how God favores the poor and looks out for them and wants them to come out of their poverty.

If we were but able to see poverty as not a result of ignorance or unwillingness to work but rather as a state that often our policies and our attitudes create, then we would probably have a different perspective of the poor, and it would be one that would be more generous and giving and loving than what we currently have.

A number of these Psalms have inspired praise songs that I love and which I want to share with you. When I read Psalm 103, and we are going in no particular order, I can’t help but think of the song below.

Then when I read Psalm 100 I can’t help but remember a story that my dad told me of his first Easter Sunday when he was an associate pastor at a big church and he was tasked with giving the call to worship. He stood up in front of the congregation on this most important of Sundays and began by proclaiming Psalm 100 and he said with gust: “Make a noyful joise to the Lord!” He blew it, but the congregation laughed and loved him even more after that.

When I read Psalm 99 I can’t help but think of this song that extols the greatness of our God. I hope you enjoy these praise songs as they bring us to a place where we worship the Lord with all instruments, including the instrument of our voice.

There are a number of psalms that we read today which have a common theme and that theme is one of calling people to worship. Psalm 95 calls people to worship and also requires obedience from them. This Psalm which commands us to sing a song to the Lord is reminiscent of the next psalm, 96, which tells us to sing to the Lord a new song. This is one of the primary reasons that we have songs in our worship. We are commanded to sing to the Lord. It isn’t just because music and song move us in a certain way, but because we are actually commanded to sing to the Lord. Don’t you often find yourself humming or singing a song to the Lord, or is it just me?

Psalm 98 strengthens this command to sing to the Lord a new song. But it also lays out the various instruments that we are to use in order to praise God. There should be no argument that God requires us to sing to him and praise him in a new way and in creative ways. No one instrument or no one form of worship was instituted by God, but rather a command to do it new day after day.

It might be good to go Psalm by Psalm to see the goodies that are in there. Let’s start: Psalm 87 – Interesting Psalm and one that I do not remember reading before, although I am sure that I have, it emphasizes how God will recognize those who are born in His land and will call them out. It is from here that the hymn: Glorious Things of Thee are Spoken comes. Psalm 88: A classic psalm of lament where the author cries out to God and does not hear from him for most of the psalm. Most of the Psalms of lament end with God answering but not this one, the lament ends this one. Psalm 89: A very long psalm which extols the presence of God especially on the battlefield. If I were going into battle I definitely would want this psalm read and I would put myself on the side of the Lord because it is obvious from this psalm that no one, and I mean no one, is going to conquer him.

Psalm 91: I can’t place from where I know this Psalm, but it is one with which I am very familiar. It speaks to God’s protection. It is a good psalm to read when we are afraid or anxious for whatever life event we might be facing. The verse that reminds us that he will cover us under his wings is similar to the verse in Matthew where Jesus looks out over Jerusalem and states how he wishes he could gather all his people under his wings like a mother hen gathers her brood. Psalm 92 – Finally we have a psalm which extols the righteous and gives thanks for God and all that he has done. It is a call, like Psalm 1, to righteous living.

The second part of Paul’s letter is a bit more acerbic and certainly more pointed and maybe even angry than the first part of the letter. He feels like he needs to remind the Corinthians that it was Paul who led them to Christ, even though they may feel like they are now free to live and believe as they like even outside of the confines of the what is becoming the orthodoxy of Christianity. Paul reminds them that no, they are to live and believe within the paramaters that Christ has established and that those parameters are not for the sake of Paul or for anyone who may have brough them the Gospel, but for the sake of the kingdom so that others might come into the fold.

That is a good lesson for us to remember. We are called to live and believe in a certain way not to maintain our institutional presence, but rather so that the kingdom of God can be realized and Jesus Christ proclaimed as Lord and Savior. Paul spends a lot of time warning against false prophets and supporting his own authority and the reasons why they should listen to him. We don’t find ourselves in a position having to defend anyone today. Our job is to proclaim Christ and to understand that Scripture has authority that comes not from the power that we give it, but rather as a result of the inspiration that proceeds from it.

In Paul’s first letter to the church in Corinth he scolded them because of the immorality that was taking place in the church. He went so far as to say that if things don’t change then you need to cast out the person who is acting so. In his second letter he lets the church know how proud he is of them because they listened to his words and now it is time to forgive and to bury the hatchet, to remember no more the transgressions of the person. In fact, he says how proud he is of the church because they made a complete transformation as a result of his words. This isn’t the primary point of the letter, but it is an element that is found in our reading for today that is interesting.

I wanted to lift up two points that I saw in this letter that are well known and should be known by anyone who reads II Corinthians. The first is found in chapter 4 where Paul describes these treasures that we contain in clay jars. We have the power of Christ within our bodies, and yet our bodies are so weak and frail that it seems as if at any moment they can crack and break. And yet Christ chose to reside with us and within us. That is a pretty powerful image of having treasure in clay jars, jars that are so vulnerable and yet which can still carry that which is from God, if not God Himself.

In chapter 5 Paul speaks to the ministry of reconciliation which is a paragraph that we would do well to reread. You can focus on vs.15 where we read that no longer live for ourselves but for Christ, then again in vs.20 where we are called ambassadors for Christ. What a poweful image which reminds us that wherever we go we go and represent Christ in all that we do. Finally, I know I said two but it is actually three, we can look at chapter 6:14 where we read that we are not to be unequally yoked. I remember growing up and hearing that verse constantly as we looked to date and we were told, not by my parents but by my youth group leader, to not be unequally yoked. Meaning, we were to find people who loved Jesus and make sure that we date them and not people who didn’t know Jesus.