Savoring the Scripture

A Prayer Against Idolatry Psalm 99 You shall have no other gods before Me. Exodus 20:3 Idolatry. Idolatry is the worship of idols. To our modern minds, we may justify ourselves thinking this is one area we don’t falter. We have no shrines set up in our homes. We don’t have any small idol sitting on our mantle. We would never go to a temple or shrine and offer up prayers to a foreign deity. But idolatry can be more subtle and far more pervasive in our hearts than we first think. John Calvin said that our hearts are a “perpetual factory of idols.” In other words, it’s not what lies outside of us that is the problem, but rather what lies inside of us that is the problem. “What do I long for so much that my heart clamors, ‘Give me this , or else I’ll die!’ What must I have for life to be meaningful or happy? If I answer that question with anything other than God Himself, then that’s what functions as a god for me” (Fitzpatrick). Our emotions, sinful habits, the ways we spend our time, and ...

A Prayer for Endurance with Joy Psalm 98 Saints bear up under every discouragement, believing that all things work together for their good, and that out of apparent evils a real blessing shall ultimately spring-that their God will either work a deliverance for them speedily, or most assuredly support them in the trouble, as long as He is pleased to keep them in it. Charles Spurgeon As a parent, it is a delight to see our children grow from infancy to mature adults. At first, our children rely on us for everything: diaper changes, milk, protection, love, and every other thing needed to survive. But as they mature, they become smarter, wiser, more independent. They still need us but in different ways, and we receive great joy when we see them making good decisions, working hard, functioning as competent adults, and following Christ.  The Lord Himself desires for His children to grow in spiritual maturity. We never grow in a sense of independence from our Lord, but rather our maturity...

Be Glad in the Lord Psalm 97 Be glad of heart, O believer, but take care that your gladness has its spring in the Lord. You have much cause for gladness in your God, for you can sing with David, "God, my exceeding joy!" Be glad that the Lord reigns--that Jehovah is King! Rejoice that He sits upon the throne and rules all things! Charles Spurgeon Not too long ago, I attended a birthday party for a friend. She is older than I am, and she has lived her life well. Friends of hers were allowed to get up and share what they loved about this woman. Many stated how they loved the joy, warmth, and light this woman exhibited. And it was all from her Savior. A life rooted in Christ will be one that shows gladness of heart. Psalm 97 ends with a command, “Be glad in the Lord, you righteous ones; and give thanks to His holy name” (97:12). To be glad is to be pleased or delighted. God commands us to be glad in Him partially because He is the one thing that will never change. If we find our ...

A Psalm of Adoration Psalm 96 And they sang a new song, saying, “Worthy are you to take the scroll and to open its seals, for you were slain, and by your blood you ransomed people for God from every tribe and language and people and nation, and you have made them a kingdom and priests to our God, and they shall reign on the earth.” ‭‭Revelation‬ ‭5:9-10‬ ‭‬‬ Psalm 96 is a psalm of worship and adoration. Worship is “focusing on and responding to God…[it is] the God-centered focus and response of the inner man; it is being preoccupied with God” (Whitney). Worshiping God can be done with our whole lives and throughout the whole day as we live our lives unto His glory. However, there ought to be times throughout our week where we set aside time to really focus solely on our Lord. These times include both public and private worship.  Public worship is gathering together with other believers and singing praises together to the Lord and hearing the preaching of His Word. Private worship a...

A Prayer Against Unbelief Psalm 95 There can be no rest to an unbelieving heart. Spurgeon  Psalm 95 begins with an invitation to worship the Lord and gives us reasons why He is worthy of our worship, thus the tone at the beginning of the psalm is one of joy and confidence. The second part of the psalm, however, gives us warnings to not turn away from this worthy God. This psalm is part of book 4 of the psalms which has a theme of trusting God and living by faith that God reigns, even when all of the evidence of life appears to contradict that truth.  In his warning, the psalmist implores the people to not harden their hearts as their fathers did when they came out of Egypt. God had rescued the Israelites from slavery in Egypt by mighty signs and the miraculous parting of the Red Sea. And yet, when they started to experience the difficulties of the wilderness, they quickly turned aside from the Lord and grumbled and complained, testing and trying the Lord, and doubting Him by s...

When My Anxious Thoughts Multiply Within Me Psalm 94 When I am tossed to and fro with various reasonings, distractions, questions, and forebodings, I will fly to my true rest, for thy comforts delight my soul. Spurgeon This morning, when you woke up, where did your thoughts immediately go? If you woke during the night, what kept you from sleeping? As you drove into work, what thoughts occupied your mind? For many of us, the thoughts that fill our minds at these moments are the things that concern us, the cares of our heart. When the cares of your heart are many, what do you do? When your anxious thoughts multiply, where do you turn?  The seemingly endless swirl of anxious thoughts and the ways we cope with them can be exhausting and futile. Psalm 94 declares, “When the cares of my heart are many, your consolations cheer my soul.” the NASB says it this way, “When my anxious thoughts multiply within me, Your consolations delight my soul” (94:19). God’s comfort for the anxious heart c...

Prayer for His Mighty Power Psalm 93 The main idea therefore, in the psalm is, that, in view of the fact that God reigns, and that nothing can frustrate his plans, or disturb his throne, we should approach him with reverence, with humble trust, with sincere and pure hearts. Barnes  The Psalms are filled with glorious truths about the Lord. The book of Psalms is not merely a songbook for God’s people, but it is a book filled with theology. Theology is simply the study of God. The Psalms teach us so many foundational truths about the Lord, and this knowledge of the character and nature of God builds our confident trust in the Lord. Despite what the world might say, or what we may be feeling, or how are circumstances appear, we can know solid truth to bolster our faith throughout our days here on earth. Two truths from Psalm 93 that should put our minds and hearts at ease regardless of circumstances are the sovereignty of God and the omnipotence of God.   The sovereignty of God m...

A Prayer of Flourishing and Finishing Well  Psalm 92 No heart has so much joy as that which abides in the Lord Jesus. Fellowship with the stem begets fertility in the branches. If a man abide in Christ he brings forth much fruit. Charles Spurgeon If we could look into the future or fast forward 10 years, 20 years, 30 years from now, what do you hope your life looked like? What do you wish you would be doing for the Lord? What character qualities do you desire to see in yourself? What are you doing now to encourage the spiritual growth you desire for yourself?  Psalm 92 gives a description of a righteous man. He is one who flourishes like a palm tree, growing like a cedar in Lebanon, planted in the house of the Lord, flourishing in the courts of God, yielding fruit in old age. This description is full of vitality. Flourishing means to grow luxuriantly, to thrive, or to be in a state of activity or production (Merriam-Webster). The righteous man, the one who lives in close proxi...

A Prayer for Protection  Psalm 91 It is not because we are perfect or highly esteemed among men that we can hope for shelter in the day of evil, but because our refuge is the Eternal God, and our faith has learned to hide beneath his sheltering wing. Charles Spurgeon  Three years ago, our oldest son joined the Marine Corps. As he was preparing to leave for boot camp, I knew I needed to have somewhere to go in the Scriptures to pray for him, especially during those initial months of difficult and intense training. The Lord led me to Psalm 91.  Psalm 91 is a prayer of protection. The dangers in this psalm include snares, pestilence, terrors of the night, arrows, destruction, evil, and plague. In all these dangers, the psalmist knows exactly where to place himself: in the shelter of God Most High. Spurgeon says, “To take up a general truth and make it our own by personal faith is the highest wisdom.” We see the psalmist taking the truth He knows about God and making it his o...

A Prayer for Joy Psalm 90 Why should not one be filled with constant joy who has the hope of dwelling in a world of glory forever? Barnes The Psalms are divided into five books. Psalm 90 marks the beginning of book four. The five book form was compiled in the days of Ezra and Nehemiah. These men lived in the time of Israel’s history when the people were still in exile. Some were being allowed to return to their homeland, but there was no king, no temple, no walls around their great city, and Jerusalem was still in ruins. Men like Ezra, Nehemiah, and Zerubbabel were tasked by the Lord for the rebuilding of the temple, city, and walls and to instruct the people in the ways of the Lord. They were living in a time where they needed to live by faith that God would fulfill His promise of a Messianic King, even though at the moment it appeared as though it may never happen.  Book four of the Psalms, consisting of Psalms 90-106, has a heavy emphasis on the theme that God is still King and ...