psalm 111: Why should we praise the Lord?

In Psalm 111 we see many reasons to praise the Lord, but let us point two:

• He is the Creator as in Psalm 111:

2 Yahweh’s deeds are spectacular.

    They should be studied by all who enjoy them.

3 His work is glorious and majestic.

    His righteousness continues forever.

Isaac Newton and Eistein are considered great scientists. They enojoied to stud the deeds of YHWH. I am retired. I should consider to study the creation because it will lead me to praise the Lord.

• He has a special care to his people.

6 He has revealed the power of his works to his people

    by giving them the lands of other nations as an inheritance.

I should observe more how the Lord is taking care of me in a special way, as a believer. Indeed, the Lord has provided everything I need and more: peace and joy.

psalm110: YHWH and Adonai - one or two

In Psalm 110 we read:

1 Yahweh said to my Lord,

    “Sit in the highest position in heaven

        until I make your enemies your footstool.”

Jesus says that the Christ is called Adonai/Lord by David. In the old testament it is common to think of YHWH and Adonai as the same person, but here we see YHWH talking to Adonai. It is not common to see the Trinity in the Old Testament but Psalm 110 goes on this direction.

Psalm 109: strength when bullied

 In Psalm 109 we read:

2 Wicked and deceitful people have opened their mouths against me.

    They speak against me with lying tongues.

3 They surround me with hateful words.

    They fight against me for no reason.

4 In return for my love, they accuse me,

    but I pray for them.[a]

5 They reward me with evil instead of good

    and with hatred instead of love.

What do I do when I meet wicked people that oppress me? David brought his case to the Lord. He prayed:

6 I said, “Appoint the evil one to oppose him.

    Let Satan stand beside him.

7         When he stands trial,

            let him be found guilty.

            Let his prayer be considered sinful.

8 Let his days be few in number.

    Let someone else take his position.

As a Christian should I always pray in favor of my enemies? Certainly David cursed his enemies. The closer I see in New Testament is in 1 Corinthians 5:

4 So when you are assembled and I am with you in spirit, and the power of our Lord Jesus is present, 5 hand this (incestuous) man  over to Satan for the destruction of the flesh, so that his spirit may be saved on the day of the Lord.

David prays in Psalm 109:

15 Let their guilt and sin always remain on record

    in front of Yahweh.

        Let Yahweh remove every memory of him from the earth,

16 because he did not remember to be kind.

His prayer is very similar to Psalm 37:

11 But the meek will inherit the land and enjoy peace and prosperity.

because the who is not meek (kind) will be removed from the earth.

David finishes Psalm 109 with:

26 Help me, O Yahweh my Elohim.

    Save me because of your mercy.

27 Then they will know that this is your doing,

    that you, O Yahweh, are the one who saved me.

28 They may curse, but you will bless.

    Let those who attack me be ashamed,

    but let me rejoice.

29 Let those who accuse me wear disgrace as though it were clothing.

    Let them be wrapped in their shame as though it were a robe.

30 With my mouth I will give many thanks to Yahweh.

    I will praise him among many people,

31 because he stands beside needy people

    to save them from those who would condemn them to death.

I was bullied when I was young. It's pretty sad to be made the clown of by everyone for no reason (is ethnicity a reason?). David trusts in the Lord amid the oppression of his enemies. David was strengthened by trusting in a merciful and just God.

psalm 108: human help is worthless.

In Psalm 108 we read:

10-11 Who will take me to the thick of the fight?

    Who’ll show me the road to Edom?

You aren’t giving up on us, are you, God?

    refusing to go out with our troops?

12-13 Give us help for the hard task;

    human help is worthless.

In God we’ll do our very best;

    he’ll flatten the opposition for good.

In a way, we are in war against very powerful enemies. We have victory if the Lord is by our side but if the Lord refuses to go out with us, we lose battles. This happens in our fight against our sin, our flesh.

psalm107: the wise understand Yahweh’s blessings

In Psalm 107, we read:

1 Give thanks to Yahweh because he is good,

    because his mercy endures forever.

In this Psalm, we have different kinds of people who were rescued by the Lord. For instance:

10 Those who lived in the dark, in death’s shadow

    were prisoners in misery.

        They were held in iron chains

11 because they had rebelled against El’s words

    and had despised the advice given by Elyon.

12 So he humbled them with hard work.

    They fell down, but no one was there to help them.

Certainly, people who rebelled against the word of the Lord are not good people. 

13 In their distress they cried out to Yahweh.

    He saved them from their troubles.

Even though, the Lord rescued them when they cried out to Yahweh.

14 He brought them out of the dark, out of death’s shadow.

    He broke apart their chains.

15 Let them give thanks to Yahweh because of his mercy.

    He performed his miracles for Adam’s descendants.

16 He shattered bronze gates

    and cut iron bars in two.

The Psalm finishes with:

43 Let those who think they are wise

    pay attention to these things

        so that they may understand Yahweh’s blessings.

I have to pay attention to how good the Lord is to people who don't deserve his mercies, me included.

Let me understand more and more how Yahweh has been good to me.

Psalm 106: Despite our troubles, we see how the Lord is good to us!

Psalm 106 is written when Judah is on exile.

Many should be asking: "Why the Lord is treating us so badly?".

The psalmist remembers how Israel has been guided by the Lord despite their lack of faith and obedience.

47 Rescue us, O Yahweh our Elohim, and gather us from the nations

    so that we may give thanks to your holy name

        and make your praise our glory.

It reminds me 2 Corinthians 10: 

17 “Whoever brags should brag about what the Lord has done.” 18 It isn’t the person who makes his own recommendation who receives approval, but the person whom the Lord recommends.

Our glory is to be praised by the Lord, to be recommended by Him, to be chosen by Him.

I want more and more to be praised by the Lord and not by men.

The psalmist knows how the people of the Lord are suffering in exile, but despite their troubles, he looks to the history of Israel and notice how the Lord has been faithful to Israel despite their sins. 

Psalm 105: The Lord rules over nations

 Psalm 105 begins with:

1 Give thanks to Yahweh.

    Call on him.

    Make known among the nations what he has done.

All nations have their gods. Jews, in general, are not prone to convert other people to Judaism, but this verse resembles to the Abraham calling where (genesis 22:18) all nations will be blessed through him. 

Psalm 105 highlight the promises to Abraham:

10 He confirmed it as a law for Jacob,

    as an everlasting promise to Israel,

11 by saying, “I will give you the land of Canaan.

    It is your share of the inheritance.”

He continues to say that the Lord moved his creation in order to redeem Israel from Egypt and set them in Canaan.

Are we Christians (not Jews) supposed to give thanks to the Lord for Israel redemption?

Yes, we are.

We are ingrafted branches in the vine (Romans 11), in Israel.

We also praise Him for what his intervention in the Earth, so that we too were redeemed from our sins.

psalm 104: wine, olive oil and bread

Certainly the Lord created our blood, our lungs, air, animals, mountains but did he create wine, olive oil and bread?

we read:

 psalm 104:15 You make wine to cheer human hearts,

    olive oil to make faces shine,

        and bread to strengthen human hearts.

I really enjoy Portuguese cuisine. They are very good at making wine, oil, bread and cheese, but in verse 15, it was the Lord who made them.

Computers are based on very simple logic: Boolean functions with combined memory. Were computers really a human invention? If the psalmist says it was the Lord who made wine, I say it was the Lord who made computers.

We read:

24 What a large number of things you have made, O Yahweh!

    You made them all by wisdom.

33 I will sing to Yahweh throughout my life.

    I will make music to praise my Elohim as long as I live.

But we also know that there is something wrong with creation: it has been tainted with sin.

The psalmist ends with:

35 May sinners vanish from the world.

    May there no longer be any wicked people.

    Praise Yahweh, my soul!

One way to sinners vanish form the world is by a transformation, a conversion: the death of the sinner and the rise of the believer.

psalm103: is talking about sin opressive?

In my opinion, psychologists try to elevate the self-steem of their patients. Talking about sin is oppressive. Some pastors go in this direction too. 

In Psalm 103, we read:

8 Yahweh is compassionate, merciful, patient,

    and always ready to forgive.

9 He will not always accuse us of wrong

    or be angry with us forever.

If sin can't be treated or forgiven, then talking about sin is very oppressive. However, the Lord will not always accuse us of wrong. He is merciful and patient. 

3 As a father has compassion for his children,

    so Yahweh has compassion for those who fear him.

He understands us:

14 He certainly knows what we are made of.

    He bears in mind that we are dust.

When we accept who we are, and we understand what the Lord has done to us, we say:

22 Praise Yahweh, all his creatures

    in all the places of his empire.

    Praise Yahweh, my soul!

psalm 101: David don´t want liars in his house

In Psalm 101 we read:

2 I want to understand the path to integrity.

    When will you come to me?

David wants to understand the path to integrity. He expects that the Lord will come to him as we Christians expect to meet Jesus.

David wants to be surrounded by men with integrity too. He says:

7 The one who does deceitful things will not stay in my home.

    The one who tells lies will not remain in my presence.

8 Every morning I will destroy all the wicked people in the land

    to rid Yahweh’s city of all troublemakers.

Jesus called Matthew, a publican, to follow him. Was Matthew a men with integrity? Certainly not, but he became one. David committed adultery and murder, but we see him as man with integrity. 

David and Matthew repented of their sins and wanted to understand the path to integrity. Both of them waited for the Lord to come.

Psalm 100: Music for the Gods

Suppose we are creating a religion that worships some god. What kind of music would fit a god? Maybe a very serious song, or maybe an intimidating song. I'm not saying there aren't happy songs to the gods, but I think they're not as common as in Judeo-Christian worship songs.

YHWH is the one, the only one, who brings joy to our hearts.

In Psalm 100 we read:

2 Serve Yahweh cheerfully.

    Come into his presence with a joyful song. 

why rejoice before the Lord?

Because:

• He created us, 
• we are His people (chosen by Him) whom He cares for, 
• we are grateful to Him. 
• He is good
• He is merciful
• He is faithful, trustworthy

The Psalm ends with:

5 Yahweh is good.

    His mercy endures forever.

    His faithfulness endures throughout every generation.

Psalm 99: Look to the Lord

My wife always says I'm terribly focused on myself. As a retiree, I swim Monday through Friday for 45 minutes every day. My goal is to age healthily.

In Psalm 99, the psalmist is focused on the Lord and how He has led His people with emphasis on Moses, Aaron and Samuel.

It is much better to have a healthy mind than a healthy body. In a way, a bad mind leads to a bad body.

In Psalm 99 the Lord is teaching me that it is very important to escape from myself, to contemplate and praise Him.

We read in Psalm 99:

9 Highly honor Yahweh our Elohim.

    Bow at his holy mountain.

    Yahweh our Elohim is holy!

Others gods (me included) aren't holy, only YHWH.

psalm98 - orchestra

It is pleasant to listen to music played by an orchestra. It is better when the orchestra is praising the Lord as in Messiah of Handle.

In a orchestra there is diversity, union, harmony.

However the focus is not on the orchestra, but in the Lord:

In Psalm 98, God made a world of wonders!

and He thought about us:

3 He remembered to love us, a bonus

To his dear family, Israel—indefatigable love.

In verse 5:

5 Round up an orchestra to play for God,

Add on a hundred-voice choir.

The Lord invites me not only to listen to the orchestra but also to be part on it. Why? Because He simply loves me.

psalm 97: who exalts the Lord?

The creation exalts the Creator. The heavens (clouds, darkness, fire, lightnings) serve the Lord. The earth sees amd trembles. The mountains melt like wax at His presence. However, mankind are a little different.We have men (in Zion) who trust in the Lord and those who serve false idols. 

Let all be put to shame who serve carved images,

Who boast of idols.

Worship Him, all you gods. 

Those who trust the false idols will be disappointed but:

8 Zion hears and is glad,

And the daughters of Judah rejoice

Because of Your judgments, O Lord.

The Lord expects some behavior from those who trust in Him:

• hate the evil v10
• shine more and more v11
• grow in satisfaction, gladness v11
• rejoice in the Lord v12
• give thanks at the remembrance of YHWH. v12

psalm 96: worship YHWH

There is a problem with men in general, me included: every one wants to be praised.

Since I was born, I wanted to be the number one in my class. Why? I would say to prove that I am more worthy than others. 

When everyone wants to be praised, we have competition and hate.

Psalm 96 says:

4-5 For God is great, and worth a thousand Hallelujahs.

His furious beauty puts the other gods to shame;

Pagan gods are mere tatters and rags.

YHWH is great and worth my praise. Imagine a world where everyone praises YHWH: no competition, but love instead. YHWH is not static in heaven, but we read

Then all the trees of the forest will sing for joy

13 Before the Lord, for He is coming,

For He is coming to judge the earth.

He will judge the world in righteousness,

And the peoples in His faithfulness.

He is coming to judge the world and the peoples in His faithfulness. I will be judged by my faithfulness to Him. May the Lord not allow me to live for my honor, to praise myself. Let YHWH be praised by my life. 

Psalm 95: lessons from Meribah

Psalm 95 talks about Numbers 20 when the people of Israel complained to Moses due to the lack of water.

They were in a desert. As they didn't find any water, they began to question Moses: "why did you bring us here? To die?".

Perhaps I would act as the people of Israel. I would say as the people of Israel in Numbers 20:5:

- Why did you make us come up from Egypt, to bring us into this wretched place? It is not a place of grain or figs or vines or pomegranates, nor is there water to drink!”

However in Psalm 95 we read the Lord saying:

For forty years they watched me at work among them,

    as over and over they tried my patience.

And I was provoked—oh, was I provoked!

    ‘Can’t they keep their minds on God for five minutes?

    Do they simply refuse to walk down my road?’

The Lord appeared to Israel in a supernatural way for forty years. It was expected that they trust in the Lord, but at that moment they were very focused on drinking water. The Lord was provoked by the lack of trust. How did the Lord reacted to it?

Exasperated, I exploded,

    ‘They’ll never get where they’re headed,

    never be able to sit down and rest.’”

I am retired now. I want to be able to trust in the Lord, sit down and rest.

psalm 94: A good person who is against evil doers.

On 2006, 15th of May, Sao Paulo had a lockdown. Everyone (millions) returned home earlier (causing a huge traffic jam) and after that, all streets were desert because a criminal organization (PCC) determined so.

Normal citzens were subjected to evildoers.

In Psalm 94:

3-4 God, the wicked get away with murder—

    how long will you let this go on?

They brag and boast

    and crow about their crimes!

5-7 They walk all over your people, God,

    exploit and abuse your precious people.

They take out anyone who gets in their way;

    if they can’t use them, they kill them.

They think, “God isn’t looking,

    Jacob’s God is out to lunch.”

The psalmist has courage and confronts them:

8-11 Well, think again, you idiots,

    fools—how long before you get smart?

Do you think Ear-Maker doesn’t hear,

    Eye-Shaper doesn’t see?

Do you think the trainer of nations doesn’t correct,

    the teacher of Adam doesn’t know?

God knows, all right—

    knows your stupidity,

    sees your shallowness.

However, the psalmist knows that he may become a target of evildoers. He asks:

16-19 Who stood up for me against the wicked?

    Who took my side against evil workers?

If God hadn’t been there for me,

    I never would have made it.

The minute I said, “I’m slipping, I’m falling,”

    your love, God, took hold and held me fast.

When I was upset and beside myself,

    you calmed me down and cheered me up.

In general, it seems that good people are coward, but the psalmist is brave because he trusts in the Lord.