Month: February 2025

Psalm 84:11-12 For the Lord is a sun and shield; the Lord will give grace and glory: no good thing will he withhold from them that walk uprightly. O Lord of hosts, blessed is the man that trusteth in thee.

Our response to God’s grace, goodness, and salvation is to walk uprightly and to trust in the Lord. This is our part of the Covenant the Lord made with us. “I have done this for you; now you will do this for me.” You will walk uprightly, that is, keep the covenant by living according to the Ten Commandments, God’s Law, and especially the First Commandment, to trust the Lord above all things.

The Lord is our sun and shield, our provider and protector. We hold up the shield of faith by believing the Gospel of Christ. He has done all things for us; we respond with faith and obedience, and enjoy life under His blessing. God’s blessings come to those who trust Him above all things.

The promised incentive for trusting and living uprightly is that He gives grace and glory, grace now and glory forever. The amazing promise is that He will withhold no good thing from us. This does not mean that He will give us everything that we think is good but that He will withhold from us nothing that is permanently good. When we obey Him, He will not hold anything back that will help us serve Him. Blessing and good comes to faithful believers in Christ. Count on it.

Psalm 84:1-2, 4 How amiable are thy tabernacles, O Lord of hosts! My soul longeth, yea, even fainteth for the courts of the Lord: my heart and my flesh Cristy out for the living God….Blessed are they that dwell in thy house: they will be still praising thee.

The House of God is a good place to go to and remain awhile. Indeed, my whole being longs and faints for the Presence of the Lord. Amidst the daily grind of life we long to get away and meet God in His dwelling place. Those who worship in spirit and truth (believe in Jesus) can meet God anywhere, at any time. But we know that going into a church building helps us step aside to pray and worship. This weekly activity informs and inspires our daily quiet time of meeting with God.

When we are not with God in His presence we miss Him, and we long, even faint, for God and His Presence. So we look forward to going to church and we come away refreshed and renewed for the week. And during the week we spend daily time alone with the Lord. We dwell in His loving presence at all times, and so we continually praise the Lord.

Psalm 81:11, 13 But my people would not hearken to my voice; and Israel would none of me….Oh that my people had hearkened unto me, and Israel had walked in my ways!

The Lord God had miraculously saved, delivered, and provided for His people. And made a covenant with them that He would be their God and they would be His people. But the people still continued in sin and unbelief, would not listen to Him and walk in His ways, as revealed in the Ten Commandments of the covenant. Therefore, they would have trouble from the world and from their enemies.

And so it happened. Their own sin and disobedience, their worshipping other gods, and their not listening and obeying His covenant ways, was the cause of their problems and troubles. God is not to blame. Finally disaster came upon the people of God, their nation, their city and temple. The curses of the covenant came into effect because the people did not listen.

We today are still the same kind of people that Israel was, not listeners. But God’s Love is stronger, so He sent His Son to listen, obey and walk for us, and to die in our place as us as judgment upon our sin, disobedience and unbelief. We did not listen to the Law, but, with the Spirit’s help, we can listen to (believe) the Gospel of grace and life.

Psalm 81:8-9 Hear, O my People, and I will testify unto thee, O Israel, if thou wilt hearken unto me. There shall no strange god be in thee, neither shalt thou worship any strange god.

The Lord comes to His people, delivers them, and provides for them. In response, their part of the covenant is to listen and obey. The obedient response to God’s grace is that they will “have no other gods before Me” There is no other God but the Lord, who saves them. Other gods are strange, false, helpless, and hopeless. So we do not look to them, trust in them, or worship them. We listen to the Lord alone, and we fear, love and trust in nothing or no one else.

This is the First Commandment, and all the others flow from it. Then life is good. Living God’s way is the only way to a peaceful, prosperous, happy, and contented life. The good life, the only life, begins with God who is good and gracious, who saves us. It continues through us as we listen to Him, to His Law and Gospel. God’s good and true and eternal life flows into us when we listen.

Psalm 81:7 Thou calledst in trouble, and I delivered thee; I answered thee in the secret place of thunder: I proved thee at the waters of Meribah. Selah.

In Psalm 50:15 God promises: “Call upon me in the day of trouble; I will deliver you, and you shall glorify me.” Here the Lord says He did just what He promised to do. When we are in trouble, trouble of any kind, large or small, we are commanded and encouraged to respond to the trouble by calling upon the Lord. Our first response, not our last resort, is to pray in time of need. He says He will deliver and answer.

He has done it before and He will do it again. He delivered water out of the rock at Meribah. Remember His Grace and Power is present for every need. He is a very present help in a time of trouble. The Rock is Christ. He it is who died for us to eternally deliver. And He comes again and again in every day of trouble to answer our call and meet our need.

Psalm 81:1-3 Sing aloud unto God our strength: make a joyful noise unto the God of Jacob. Take a psalm, and bring neither the timbrel, the pleasant harp with the psaltery. Blow up the trumpet in the new moon, in the time appointed, on the solemn feast day.

God’s people are commanded and expected to worship God exuberantly and praise God extravagantly in response to His awesome power and great love shown unto us. When it is time for music and praise, whether monthly or weekly in the assembly, or daily in private, we pull out all the stops. We sing loudly and joyfully. We use the musical instruments we have: psalm, timbrel, harp, psaltery (lyre), and trumpet. In our day we may use organ, piano, guitar, drums, etc., along with voice. Nothing is too loud or boisterous for God, for He is worthy.

There is a worship life and a life of worship, in which we are “making melody in our heart to the Lord.” Our daily life of constant worship is punctuated with regular public, joint expressions of praise in the great congregation. Exuberance is the believer’s appropriate and normal response to the extravagant love God has shared with us in the person and work of His Son. We are so overwhelmed with love and overcome by the Gospel that we sing aloud.

Psalm 80:18-19 So will not we go back from thee: quicken us, and we will call upon thy name. Turn us again, O Lord God of hosts, cause thy face to shine, and we shall be saved.

The troubles the nation is undergoing are caused by their own sin and unbelief. The Psalmist here repents and pleads for mercy and salvation. He promises they will not go back from God again. He asks God to give them life (quicken), and they promise to call upon the Lord in faith and worship. He asks the Lord to come among them and smile upon them and they trust Him to save.

We also admit that our own sin is the cause of the troubles we face, and we repent and ask forgiveness. We daily renew our faith and call upon Him. We arise and walk in newness of life. He makes alive, smiles upon us with grace and favor, and saves us. We are overwhelmed with love so that we respond with perpetual thanksgiving in our hearts.

Psalm 80:1, 3, 7 Give ear, O Shepherd of Israel, thou that leadest Joseph like a flock, thou that dwellest between the cherubim’s, shine forth….Turn us again, O God, and cause thy face to shine, and we will be saved….Turn us again, O God of hosts, and cause thy face to shine, and we will be saved.

Asaph recognizes that they in trouble again, and it is their own fault. Yet he repents for the people and prays to the Lord to save them. In dire straits surrounded by enemies, he asks God to bring about genuine repentance (turn us again), to bring His Presence to bear (cause his face to shine), and to save them. He trusted the goodness and strength of the Good Shepherd to care for and protect him and the sheep of His pasture.

When life gets difficult and spiritual enemies threaten us, we turn to the Lord to turn us again in repentance and faith and come and save us. And just as the Lord Jesus came among us to save us once before, so He will come again and again to dwell among us and deliver. Thus we respond to trouble and to the promise with daily repentance and faith in the Gospel.

Psalm 79:13 So we thy people and sheep of thy pasture will give thee thanks forever: we will show forth thy praise to all generations.

As the people of God and the sheep of His pasture we may believe and thrive under the Lord’s care, provision, covering, and protection. Our spiritual enemies will try to attack us and destroy us, but we have the Good Shepherd guarding us and keeping us safe from the Enemy. Life is difficult and dangerous, and with Sin, Death, and the Devil ever lurking about seeking to devour us we are always exposed to evil.

So we pray: “Deliver us from evil.” And He does, sometimes in ways we don’t even see or know about. We realize that we are always in danger, but we also realize that we are cared for and protected by the strong and loving hand of God. Therefore, we continually give thanks and praise to Jesus for His keeping and caring. We live lives continually thanking Jesus for what He has done and praising Him for who He is. This heart attitude makes for a happy and contented life. And not only will that thanks go on through our lives, but we will spend eternity praising the Lord. In fact, eternity will not even seem like enough time to truly praise God. Praise never ends, for His goodness and mercy never ends.

Psalm 79:9 Help us, O God of our salvation, for the glory of thy name: and deliver us, and purge away our sins, for thy name’s sake.

Asaph writes this Psalm after the people are brought very low. In the depths of defeat and despair, their response is to pray to the God of their salvation to help, deliver, and purge away their sins. God has saved them before; save them now from the present trouble.

Sometimes when we feel down and out, we may turn to God and ask for help in time of need. We ask the Lord to deliver us from the present trouble. And we ask Him to purge away our sins. We do not ask because we deserve it, but we ask for the glory of God’s name, and we receive forgiveness for the sake of the name. For this reason we pray in the name of Jesus. It is for the sake of Jesus and because Christ died for our sins to purge us that God come to help and deliver. Our prayer expresses that faith and the calm assurance of hope. Faith and prayer responds to the time of need.