JUNE 17 PSALMS 84-89

BLOG June 17, 2014

Psalms 84-89; today, we finish BOOK THREE of the Psalms!

Psalm 84 was fashioned by the Sons of Korah as a hymn of praise to God for the temple of His presence. As you read it, put yourself in the place of an ancient Israelite preparing to travel to Jerusalem from some distant corner of the Kingdom. You imagine the beauty of God’s dwelling place; you prepare for the trip; you leave the places that make you cry (Baca); and come into the glorious presence of the Lord!

Psalm 85 is a prayer for revival (vv. 1-7) and a statement of faith (vv. 8-13). It can be prayed and proclaimed as easily for church, as it was for ancient Israel. Try it!

Psalm 86 is a litany of prayer requests with faith statements sprinkled in among them. The faith statements provide an encouraging foundation for each of the prayer requests. For example, I can ask the Lord to incline his ear, preserve my life and be gracious unto me (vv. 1-4), because I know that He is good and forgiving, abounding in steadfast love to all who call on Him (v. 5). Make this psalm personal and pray it for yourself!

Psalm 87 is a psalm of roots. Aren’t we sort of proud of the places of our births? I only lived in Akron, Ohio, the first five years of my life, but I’ve always held Goodyear Aircraft and the All-American Soapbox Derby in high regard! Why? ‘Cause I’m from there! The psalm-writers are thankful that even the foreign people recognize Zion (Jerusalem) as the place where they were born! To have Zion as one’s birthplace is to have a special relationship with God’s dwelling place on earth!

Psalm 88 cries out from the psalm-writers’ depths of depression. Speaking as one person, they say, I cry out day and night (1); my soul is full of troubles (3); You have put me in the depths of the pit (6). And this is just a sampling! Again, as in a number of David’s psalms, the cause of this depression seems to be the desertion of a friend. How sad the final verse is! A part of the lesson here is this: You can come to the Lord, even when you have nothing positive to say. Cry out to Him, like the psalmists did.

Psalm 89 is a song of the “steadfast love of the Lord!” We can see the place of trouble from which the psalmist cries (vv. 38-48), but the thrust of the psalm is faith in God’s righteous rule, in God’s gracious covenant, and in God’s steadfast love. It’s because of His faithfulness that we can cry out to Him!

Tomorrow, we begin BOOK FOUR of the Psalms.


Your fellow traveler through the Word,

Pastor Gary