Psalm 13, Psalm 17, Psalm 23, Psalm 26, Psalm 28, Psalm 31
Ryan: I doubt there’s anything that can be said about Psalm 23 (“The LORD is my shepherd…”) that hasn’t been said already, so I don’t think my adding one more paragraph will help. Instead, I’d like to pull one verse out of today’s reading to discuss: “I love the house where you live, O LORD, the place where your glory dwells” (Psalm 26:8). Of course, in David’s time, the “house” where God lived was the tabernacle, and soon to be the temple. But it was indeed a specific place where one could go and worship. Today, each believer is the house where God lives, and His glory dwells in us. Paul wrote in his first letter to the sinful Corinthian church, “Don’t you know that you yourselves are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit lives in you? If anyone destroys God’s temple, God will destroy him; for God’s temple is sacred, and you are that temple” (1 Corinthians 3:16-17, emphasis added). So my question to you is, do you love the house where God lives? In an age and nation that not only permits, but often celebrates obesity, substance abuse, body modification, and sexual impurity, I’m terribly afraid that the house where God lives is under siege. Let us all work together to clean and rebuild the temple of the LORD our God.
Samantha: I almost jumped out of my skin when David said “Into your hands I commit my spirit” (Psalm 31:5). Sound familiar? The only other place that phrase occurs in the Bible is when Jesus says it right before he dies (Luke 23:46). Jews had the Scriptures memorized backwards and forwards, and how much more did Jesus know them! They applied them to every part of their lives, and this psalm that David writes is no exception. The picture is of a righteous person being overtaken by their enemies and how God will rescue, redeem, and deliver them. I went back and re-read Psalm 31 from the perspective of Jesus as he was hanging there on the cross, and I highly recommend you do the same! It is astounding (and so like the Holy Spirit!) how the words of David were so applicable to Jesus’ situation over 1,000 years after the psalm was written. They are just as appropriate to us today; this set of psalms is for anyone who is feeling cornered, betrayed, forgotten, overwhelmed, or defeated. No matter your situation, God will deliver those who love him. “Be strong and take heart, all you who hope in the LORD” (Psalm 31:24).
Tags: Discipleship, Faith
[...] against him even though he is blameless, and how God will provide salvation. Like the psalm from Day 110, take a few minutes to go back and re-read Psalm 69 from Jesus’ and his disciple’s [...]