The Bible Recap - Day 140 (Psalm 5, 38, 41-42) - Year 5

Episode Date: May 20, 2023

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Hey Bible readers, I'm Tara Lee Cobble, and I'm your host for the Bible recap. In Psalm 5, David, the King, calls God His King. It's an act of humility and worship to recognize that even though he is the ruler of a nation, he's still subordinate to God. In verse seven, after pointing out that evil won't dwell in God's house, he recognizes that the only reason he gets to be in God's presence

is not because he himself is good, but because God is good. He says, I, through the abundance of your steadfast love, will enter your house. David knows his own wickedness. He hasn't forgotten. He doesn't think he's perfect. He just knows he's been forgiven for it because of his relationship with God.

And again, his fear of God draws him near to God, doesn't push him away. In verse 10, when David asked God to punish his enemies, he doesn't ask God to do it in response to their evil against him, but in response to their evil against God. He says, cast them out for they have rebelled against you. David's love for justice is adjacent to his love for God. Psalm 38 really endears me to David. We've probably all experienced some situation like this before. David is enduring all kinds of pain and suffering simultaneously, physical, emotional, spiritual, relational, and he knows it's the result of his own sin and foolishness.

He repents of his sin and accepts that these are his consequences, but he asks God to bring him relief, and specifically, relief in the form of his nearness and salvation. Because when you've known the nearness of God like David has, then feeling distant from him is far more painful than any other kind of suffering. In the last verse, he says, Do not forsake me, O Lord, oh my God, be not far from me.

David opened Psalm 41 with an interesting line. He says that those who consider the poor are the ones who are blessed or happy. God is attentive to those who are attentive to the needy. I think the reason he points this out is because he has been kind to the poor, and he sees how God is being attentive to him, especially in his sickness. This is probably the same physical suffering he mentions in Psalm 38. David's enemies think he's on the brink of death, but David is asking God to restore him. But he has no entitlement in this request.

In verse 10, he says, Be gracious to me and raise me up. He knows that physical healing would be God's grace, something he doesn't deserve. We've talked about this before, so as a reminder, grace is when we get what we don't deserve, and mercy is when we don't get what we do deserve. David closes by thanking God for upholding him to this point,

and he knows that the ultimate good is to be in God's presence regardless. In Psalm 42, he continues to cry out for the nearness of God. He's desperate for God. He portrays himself as an animal who is dying of thirst. He remembers what it's like to feel near to God.

He talks to his despairing soul and commands it to hope in God. And at the same time, he expresses his feelings that God has forgotten him, even though we know this is impossible. He trusts that there will be restoration, and he praises God in expectation of that time. I read these Psalms a lot at times in my life when I resonated with the way David felt. I know what it's like to feel distant from him. I know what it's like to feel distant from him. I know what it's like to feel parched in the desert, to feel the enemies taunt, and to wait

for God's nearness and salvation to become evident to me. So my God shot in reading these Psalms again here on the other side of those struggles has more to do with recognizing the way he has delivered me through those things, just like David believed God would deliver him, too. Each of these Psalms we read today ends with a request for God to act and an earnest belief that he will. I hope you can recall and praise him for a time when you've seen him deliver you. And if you haven't seen him do that yet, I hope you can pray with the same kind of faith David displays here,

trusting God's character and commanding his soul to believe it. It was in my darkest hours when he felt the furthest from me that I first realized he's where the joy is. Okay, Bible readers, it's time for our weekly check-in. How's it going? We get significantly more downloads on Mondays than any other day of the week, so I know this is a struggle for some of you, and I just want to encourage you. Keep at this. Keep asking God to draw you in and to make His Word come alive to you. The more you put your eyes on these words, the more His Word will do what He says in Psalm 197.

The law of the Lord is perfect, reviving the soul. The testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple. He's reviving your soul, he's making you wise, not just on Mondays, but every day you spend time in his word. We'll see you back here tomorrow. Today's episode is brought to you by Way Nation. If you want to laugh, learn, or be encouraged, click the Way Nation link in today's show notes. On their website, you'll find the Bible Recast podcast, Faithful Videos, relevant articles,

and more great content.