Introduction Today's psalm is a psalm of lament in which the psalmist cries to the Lord because he's in trouble. And he's in trouble because of the wicked and the wicked things they're doing. But he's also in trouble, because a friend has betrayed him. Verses 1 to 3 In verses 1 to 3 the … Continue reading Psalm 055 →

Introduction Today's psalm begins with the psalmist crying to God to save him, because ruthless strangers are attacking the psalmist. Then, in the middle of the psalm, the psalmist expresses his confidence in the Lord. And at the end, the psalmist makes a vow to give thanks to the Lord for delivering him from his … Continue reading Psalm 054 →

Introduction This psalm may be familiar to us because it's almost identical to Psalm 14 which we studied together last November; and Paul the Apostle quotes lines from these two psalms in Romans 3 to make the point that Jews and Gentiles alike are sinners in the sight of God. And while it's true that … Continue reading Psalm 053 →

Introduction The title to today's psalm refers to that time in David's life when he had to flee for his life because Saul wanted to kill him. And we read in 1 Samuel 21 that Samuel went to a place called Nob, where he asked the priest for food. The priest replied that the only … Continue reading Psalm 052 →

Introduction Psalm 51 is a penitential psalm in which the psalmist confesses his sin to the Lord and seeks God's mercy and forgiveness. You'll see from the title that the background to the psalm is the time when Nathan the prophet confronted David about his sin with Bathsheba. David had committed adultery with Bathsheba; and … Continue reading Psalm 051 →

Introduction Worship can be a contentious issue in the church; and from time to time people talk about the worship wars. And we have worship wars because people have strong views on worship and on the kind of thing we should sing in church. And we learn from this psalm that the Lord himself takes … Continue reading Psalm 050 →

Introduction The message of this wisdom psalm is very simple and straightforward: everyone will die. Everyone will die. And the richest people in the world cannot buy their way out of death and the grave. In this life, the rich may live in splendour and luxury in princely mansions; and they can do whatever they … Continue reading Psalm 049 →

Introduction What we have today in psalm 48 is a song of praise to the Lord. And the psalmist praises the Lord because the Lord has made the city of Jerusalem secure. And since the city of Jerusalem symbolises the people of God, then we can read the psalm as a song of praise to … Continue reading Psalm 048 →

Introduction Psalm 47 is a hymn of praise to the Lord, who is the great King over all. It's not entirely clear how the psalm should be divided; and the commentators make various suggestions. Perhaps the most straightforward way to divide the psalm is to divide it into two parts: verses 1 to 5 and … Continue reading Psalm 047 →

Introduction Psalm 46 is a well-known and well-loved psalm. Martin Luther, the great reformer, used Psalm 46 as the basis of his hymn: A mighty fortress is our God a bulwark never failing; Our helper he, amid the flood of mortal ills prevailing. We often sing a version written by Richard Bewes which begins with … Continue reading Psalm 046 →