The Bible Recap - Day 118 (Psalm 81, 88, 92-93) - Year 4

Starting point is 00:00:00 Hey Bible readers, I'm Tara Lee Cobble and I'm your host for the Bible recap. Psalm 81 is a corporate praise song, but it also has some elements of prophetic warning. We start out with a call to the musicians to play their instruments, their harps and tamarines and trumpets, God likes it all. By the way, trumpets in that day weren't made of brass. They were made of rams horns. You may have seen one, it's called a show-far. The musicians are signaling the beginning of a feast so they can gather all the people together. The people have come from all over Israel to the religious headquarters of their nation, just like they do three times a year for these feasts, because God has commanded them to keep these feasts as a means of remembering and celebrating all he has done for them.

Starting point is 00:00:51 The lyrics of the song recount God's rescue from Egypt, his provision in the wilderness, and his command to be faithful to him alone. Then it recounts their rebellion, and it ends with God imploring his people to repent. We see the words here and listen repeated three times in this Psalm. For all the noise God calls them to make with their instruments in the beginning, he's more concerned with them hearing him and doing what he says. Psalm 88 was written by a man named Heman, and he was in a dark place. We've all been there, right? He's freely expressing his emotion to God,

Starting point is 00:01:24 and what I learned from this song more than anything is that God can handle our frustrations and questions without being threatened one bit. First, Timon starts out by addressing Yahweh as the God of my salvation. So he's marking out that he does have a relationship with God, and he asks for God to be attentive to his prayer. It sounds like he's either actually close to death, or that he feels like he's dying emotionally. We can't say for sure. In verses 6-8 and again in verses 16 and 18, he names God as the source of his troubles. Even though he also makes it clear that God is also the only solution to his troubles.

Starting point is 00:02:02 The psalm doesn't get tied up with a bow. It's left open-ended. But as we've talked about before, these kinds of psalms show us that our prayers don't have to be formulaic or perfect or polished. We can bring our hearts to the God who built our hearts, knowing that he will meet us in the mess. If you're afraid to pray, don't worry.

Starting point is 00:02:22 There's very little chance you could say something worse to God than him on did. The subtitle for Psalm 92 is a song for the Sabbath. We've seen songs for the feasts, so it shouldn't surprise us that there's a song for the Sabbath as well. But what does the Psalmist want us to remember on the Sabbath? He starts out with a call to worship, reminding the listener to book end their days with worship in the morning and the evening.

Starting point is 00:02:47 Then he contrasts the wicked in the foolish with the righteous and wise. The wicked may seem to flourish in this life, but their blessings are temporary. And this kind of truth would likely serve as a timely reminder on the Sabbath, especially, when God's people might be tempted to go back to work on the day He called them to rest, just so they can be one step closer to keeping up with the Canaanites. But the righteous are like trees planted in the house of God, and they flourish, always bearing fruit. Verse 14 says, they are ever full of sap and green.

Starting point is 00:03:19 But the original Hebrew renders it something more like, they are fat and luxuriant. Do what that what you will. But regardless of how you translate it, it sounds pretty awesome. I want to be the righteous wise person. I don't want her retire when I'm old. I want to keep bearing fruit. I want to be empowered by his spirit to keep making disciples and shaking hearts awake with the word of God until the day he puts me in the ground.

Starting point is 00:03:44 Which is why Psalm 93 got me even more pumped up than I was after reading Psalm 92. And the whole thing is my God shot. Can I just read it to you so we can all hear it again? Here it is. The Lord reigns. He is robed in majesty. The Lord is robed. He has put on strength as his belt.

Starting point is 00:04:03 Yes, the world is established, it shall never be moved. Your throne is established from a bold. You are from everlasting. The floods have lifted up, O Lord, the floods have lifted up their voice, the floods lift up their roaring. Mighty are the the thunder of many waters. Mighty are the waves of the sea, the Lord on high is mighty. Your decrees are very trustworthy. Holiness befits your house, O Lord, forevermore. That's my God, and he's

Starting point is 00:04:36 where the joy is. Not everyone's quiet time looks the same, sometimes they aren't quiet at all. I actually refer to my quiet time as priority time, because that's what helps me remember the place it holds in my schedule and in my life. If you're new to this or if you just want to add more tools to your toolkit in case you find them helpful, I'd love to share more about what my priority time looks like. We've built out a PDF that we're offering for free, and if you want to get access to our free priority time toolkit, all you have to do is go to thebiblericap.com-forwardslashtime

Starting point is 00:05:10 and submit your email address. That's thebiblericap.com-forwardslashtime, like a quiet time, but without the quiet. The Bible Recap is brought to you by D-group, discipleship and Bible study groups that meet in homes and churches around the world each week.

The Bible Recap - Day 118 (Psalm 81, 88, 92-93) - Year 4

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