Psalms

The usefulness of psalms of despondency

July 27, 2010

A useful prayer, this psalm of despondency, because the life of faith is not a sustained, uninterrupted series of triumphs. –Patrick Henry Reardon on Psalm 44 in Christ in the Psalms

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Psalm 36

February 4, 2010

At our Wednesday evening services we have been periodically (i.e., except during Advent, Lent, or when a minor festival falls on or close to a Wednesday) working through the Psalter. I wasn’t going to publish the one from January 27 on Psalm 36, partly because I wasn’t quite finished with my manuscript, and partly because [...]

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Psalm 33

October 14, 2009

Psalm 33 rings out a new hope for the first time: the singing of the new song. “Sing to [the LORD] a new song; play skillfully on the strings, with loud shouts.” This is the first occurrence of six in the Hebrew Bible. “Sing to the LORD a new song” is not a reference to [...]

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Psalm 32

October 7, 2009

Psalm 32 Evening Prayer October 7, A+D 2009 Immanuel Evangelical-Lutheran Church, Alexandria, VA Our sins are horrible. Often done in secret, even the recesses of our mind, we fear discovery. If it becomes known what we have done, what we have thought, who we truly are, we will be exposed as frauds, hypocrites. So we [...]

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Psalm 31

September 10, 2009

The actual sermon preached on Ps. 31 ended up being quite a bit different from this, but here was my manuscript for the sermon at last night’s Evening Prayer: The center of tonight’s Psalm is found in the words, “Into Your hand I commit my spirit.” In Luke’s Gospel, these are the final words of [...]

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Psalm 29

August 31, 2009

Tonight’s psalm exhorts us to “Worship the LORD in the splendor of holiness.” “Splendor” by itself in the Bible means “beauty.” It can refer to radiant things seen in nature, a handsome man, or the luxuries of wealthy people. Proverbs 31 uses it to describe the ideal wife. It often describes the majesty of the [...]

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Psalm 26

July 8, 2009

Portions of this are adapted from Patrick Henry Reardon’s phenomenal Christ in the Psalms. Except the part on forensic and infused righteousness. He’s entirely wrong on that. Tonight’s psalm is traditionally to be prayed by the Pastor as he is washing his hands to prepare for Communion, on account of the verse, “I wash my [...]

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Meditation on Psalm 25

July 1, 2009

Ps. 25 is an acrostic poem, meaning the verses begin with successive letters of the Hebrew alphabet. But more importantly, it is a Psalm that describes the single-minded devotion of the child of God, and beautifully states the way of salvation. David begins, “To you, O LORD, I lift up my soul. O my God, [...]

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Meditation on Psalm 23

May 27, 2009

  The Twenty-Third Psalm is doubtless the best-known and most-loved Psalm in all Christendom. Many children learn it at a young age; I memorized it in the King James version probably by the time I was in Kindergarten. I didn’t know why at the time, but the Church gave me the clear message that this [...]

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Meditation on Psalm 22

May 14, 2009

We resumed our Wednesday evening series on the Psalms last night. When our Lord Jesus despairs, when He experiences the utter dereliction of the human race, when He suffers all the humiliation, all the agony, all the fear and sorrow and loneliness and pain a man can experience; when He has the punishment for all [...]

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