PSA Bible Reading Challenge 2023-2024

So when we lived in Florida there really were no mountains around.  It was wonderfully flat and so I loved to go to the Ravines and run.  Here is a link to the Ravine State Park in Palatka, Florida: https://www.floridastateparks.org/park/Ravine-Gardens

You can’t tell from the pictures but there is a loop around the park which is a few miles and it is incredibly steep and hilly.  It was the closest thing to a mountain that I could find to train on.  I needed mountains.  Then just a few years ago as I was training for the half ironman I had to find mountains, or at least steep hills, in order to train for the bicycling.  I can’t tell you how helpful that was because when the race came around the course proved to be much less hilly than my training runs.  I wish I could say the same for the running.

Here, the psalmist is giving thanks for the mountains that are surrounding Jerusalem.  We normally see mountains as obstacles, as things which need to be moved, but here in this psalm the author sees it as a place of refuge and protection.  As vs. 2 tells us, just as the mountains surround Jerusalem, so the Lord surrounds his people.  It is quite awe inspiring to drive into Jerusalem as you make your way either over a mountain or through a tunnel which has been cut through a mountain.  The city itself does gleam on a hill.  

I went in to see a member of our church yesterday who was in the hospital for minor surgery (is there such a thing as minor surgery?).  Anyway, we read this psalm and for some reason it proved to be especially meaningful.  In the face of having overcome a difficult medical situation we are able to say in vs.6: “Blessed be the Lord who has not given us as prey to their teeth.”  We can be thankful that when an organ, even if it is a useless one, is removed we have not succumbed, or been given up, to the elements which would seek our life.

You know, this psalm really begins with a key verse: “If it had not been the Lord who was on our side…”  We can all rest assured that God is on our side.  If God were not on our side…, well, I don’t even want to think about it.  The Psalmist thinks about it and lists a whole bunch of things that would happen if God were not on our side.  Now, I don’t want any of you to jump to a double effect where you say: so, if God is on our side, then it means He isn’t on the side of…, and then you fill in the blank (wow, I have a lot of …).  That is not where this psalm is going and that is not where we ought to go either.  Just rest assured that God is on our side now and forever more.

So how do we understand a psalm which uses two examples which are simply not appropriate in our 21st century lives?  We can’t really understand language of slaves and masters.  I guess not understanding isn’t the point, the point is more that it simply is a tragic example for us and not one that we would hope someone who wrote Scripture would write.  The same is true with maidens and their use in religious rites as the vestal virgins in the days of David and after.  

So maybe we could say something along the lines of: as the eyes of the players look to the hand of their coach and as the eyes of the workers look to the hand of the employer, so our eyes look to the Lord our God, until He has mercy.  That works for me.

Did you know that there is a hidden meaning when people say: “Pray for the peace of Jerusalem.”  I had someone come to me early in my time here and say that and I responded that of course I would pray for the peace of Jerusalem, just as I would pray for the peace of Palestine.  She was not happy with that.  You see, the assumption is that we think that the only way that there can be peace in Jerusalem is if it is a peace governed by a people of Scripture.  That is not my understanding.

The peace of Jerusalem can only happen when the Jewish, Muslim, Christian, and Armenian sections of the city agree to live together in peace.  It cannot happen if only one of those factions, or even if two of them, agree together to impose their will upon the others.  That is not peace, that is heavy-handedness.  

Psalm 122 is a prayer of David, who was the king who made Jerusalem, Jerusalem, who wanted there to peace in his home.  Jerusalem was his home.  

Favorite psalm alert!!  Who can read this psalm without feeling a sense of peace and security only on par with psalm 23?  It is once again a song of ascents which means that this would have been sung by pilgrims as they made their way from the Mount of Olives up to the hill where the temple stood, or where Jerusalem was located.  It is a psalm which also has ties to Jesus’ temptation in the wilderness in each of the Gospels.  

It is nice to know that God is never napping on us.  I like to know that when I find myself in some tight situations.  Praise God that He is ready to take on whatever comes our way.

I really didn’t mean to take a vacation from the blog even while I was on vacation this past week.  But…I guess that is what happened.  Here are some thoughts on 119 and then we’ll get to 120.

119:  Did you know that every section of this massive psalm begins with another successive letter of the alphabet?  For example, vs. 1 begins with the word: Happy which in Hebrew is “ashrei” which begins with the first letter of the Hebrew alphabet, aleph.  Then vs. 9 begins with the word in Hebrew:  בַּמֶּ֣ה which begins with the second letter of the Hebrew alphabet, bet.  The psalm follows all the way through till the end with every single letter of the alphabet represented.  It is called an acrostic poem.

There has to be meaning in the completeness of this psalm.  As I read through it and made my way through it I was somewhat surprised that I was actually looking forward to what came next.  It flows naturally and gives what I would consider one of the most complete life lessons in Scripture on how to live your life.  It sounds very much like the advice which we receive in Proverbs, but it is…complete.  

In almost every single one of the sections of each letter of the alphabet we find the phrase: “word” or “law”.  So, that would lead me to believe that the verse which we all know and which we enjoy: “Thy word is a lamp unto my feet and light unto my path.” (vs.105), is really one of the central tenets of this psalm.  It speaks to how the Word of God has to be central in our lives and has to guide and direct our every step.  

It is so tempting to make decisions that we think have nothing to do with our faith and so take a time out on the Scripture and how we ought to make our decisions.  We see that happen with our families, with our finances, with our friends.  There is no time out in our lives from following the way of Scripture.  We sometimes treat family members in a way that is contrary to Scripture and we don’t even think about it.  But Scripture tells us to love and to turn the other cheek.  It is interesting for me to study people and try to figure out why they made a certain decision and discover that it really had nothing to do with their faith and or their understanding of Scripture.  The decision was made with a suspension of belief.  Not a very healthy thing to do.  So, as you read Psalm 119 (again), be reminded of the centrality of Scripture as our guide in life.

120:  I was about to say that this psalm is more manageable, but I’m not so sure.  It is entitled a song of ascents, which means that it would be used by pilgrims as they made their way into Jerusalem.  So what I am envisioning is the small town feel that many of these pilgrims may have felt.  You see, everyone knew each other and each family knew each other.  What happens in this setting is that automatically people get a label and words fly quickly whenever something bad happens.  Once a label is attached it is hard to shake.  So the pilgrim, or maybe it was David himself, is hoping that people would not judge him based on the words that have gone before him which don’t necessarily represent him.  

The book of James has something to say about this as well.  Go ahead and read James chapter 3 and see the intersection of this psalm and that chapter in the Bible.  There is a great lesson to be learned in these verses.

There is so much in this psalm which is more than even what the words say and represent.  I’m getting to it a bit late this evening so tomorrow you will have a two for one.  We have to talk about Psalm 119.  It is pivotal, it is crucial.  Hang in there and I’ll give you more tomorrow.  Both Psalm 120 and 119.

Get ready for the long, long, long psalm tomorrow.  It is the longest chapter in the Bible…but wait, that is tomorrow.  Just give yourself a lot of time to read the Psalm, and since I’m not preaching on Sunday I’ll probably give you a longer breakdown of the psalm than normal.  But let’s look at Psalm 118.  

This Psalm reminds me of that saying where a person says: “God is good”, and someone else responds: “All the time, all the time”, and then the first person responds back with: “God is good”.  Look at the beginning verses which have that repeat which goes: “His steadfast love endures forever.”  We see another repeat in vs. 15 and following.  

So this is the psalm which is used by the Gospel writers to talk about Palm Sunday.  Look at verses 25 and following and we have “save us” which in the Hebrew is Hosanna.  It is also the Psalm which tells us: “This is the day that the Lord has made!  Let us rejoice and be glad in it.”  I use those words more times than you may imagine.  I use it for funerals (which we call services of witness of the resurrection), weddings, and just general worship services where I feel really good.  It is just a great, happy statement that comes right out of Scripture.  It also applies to every day.

So, here are a couple of interesting tidbits in regards to Psalm 117.  It is the shortest Psalm in the Bible.  It is the shortest chapter in the Bible.  It is exactly in the center of the Bible.  It is the 595th chapter in the Bible which means that there are 1190 chapters in the Bible.  What I like is the simplicity of the Psalm which really captures the entirety of God’s relationship with us.  It is a psalm of worship.  It encourages, strike that, it beseeches us, strike that, it commands us to praise the Lord!  The reason we are given that we ought to praise the Lord is that His steadfast love endures forever and his faithfulness is something you can bank on.

The first place my mind went was to this song.  Then, right after I thought of this song  I thought of Jonah 2 when he prays in the belly of the whale.  It sounds like he is saying this Psalm.  He would have known it.  Then my thoughts went to Job as the author in this psalm rejoices that the Lord drew him out of his affliction.  

It is hard to believe that we are only 34 psalms away from covering all 150.  I need to end today’s blog with the last words from this Psalm.  Read them and know that I am saying them now.  I hope you are praising the Lord for how He has brought us safely thus far.