Read today’s scripture.

Did you find comfort or hope in these Psalms?

Psalm 43.

David preaches to himself in this psalm. It feels to him that God has rejected him and is ignoring him. It’s a good pattern for us when times are hard.

• Vindicate me, O God, defend my cause
• Why have You rejected me?
• Send out Your light and Your truth; let them lead me; let them bring me to your holy hill and to your dwelling.
• Then I will go to the altar of God, to God my exceeding joy; and I will praise you with the lyre, O God, MY God.
• Why are you cast down, O my soul, and why are you in turmoil within me?  Hope in God, for I shall again praise Him, MY SALVATION AND MY GOD.

Psalm 44.

• O God, we have heard with our ears, our fathers have told us, what deeds YOU performed in their days, in the days of old; YOU with Your own hand drove out the nations, but them You planted; YOU afflicted the peoples, but them you set free;  for not by their own sword did they win the land, and did their own arm save them, BUT YOUR RIGHT HAND AND YOUR ARM, AND THE LIGHT OF YOUR FACE, for you delighted in them.

Remember here Deuteronomy 8:17-18. “Beware lest you say in your heart, “MY power and the might of MY hand have gotten me this wealth. You shall remember the LORD your God, for it is HE who gives you power to get wealth.”

• YOU are my King, O God; ordain salvation for Jacob! Through YOU we push down our foes; through YOUR name we tread down those who rise up against us.
• For not in MY bow do I trust, nor can MY sword save me.
• But YOU have saved us from our foes and have put to shame those who hate us.
• in God we have boasted continually, and w will give thanks to YOUR NAME forever.

Psalm 45.

A corporate song to be sung by the whole congregation.

• My heart overflows with a pleasing theme; I address my verses to the King; my tongue is like the pen of a ready scribe.

The psalm praises the aspects of the earthly king of Israel in gorgeous phrases of glory.  Then in the middle a verse about the KING OF KINGS:

• Your throne, O God, is forever and ever. The scepter of Your kingdom is a scepter of uprightness,  You have loved righteousness and hated wickedness.

Psalm 49.

This psalm is quite whimsical, although it speaks about death as inevitable to all men. DO READ IT!  It begins……

• HEAR this, all peoples!
• GIVE EAR, all inhabitants of the world, both low and high, rich and poor together.
• MY MOUTH SHALL SPEAK WISDOM; the meditation of my heart shall be understanding.
• I will incline my ear to a proverb; I will solve my riddle to the music of the lyre. 

It ends….

• Man in his pomp yet without understanding is like the beasts that perish.

Psalm 84.

This one is such a beauty. It praises God, and the psalmist longs to be with the LORD, in His temple.

• How lovely is your dwelling place, O LORD of hosts!
• My soul longs, yes, faints for the courts of the LORD; my heart and flesh sing for joy to the living God.
• Even a sparrow finds a home, and the swallow a nest for herself, where she may lay her young at Your altars, O LORD of hosts.
• Blessed are those who dwell in Your house: ever singing Your praise.
• For a day in your courts is better than a thousand elsewhere.
• I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God than dwell in the tents of wickedness.
• For the LORD God is a sun and a shield; the LORD bestows favor and honor. 
• NO GOOD THING does He withhold from those who walk uprightly.
• O LORD of hosts, BLESSED is the one who trusts in You!

Psalm 85.

• LORD, You were favorable to Your land; You restored the fortunes of Jacob.
• You forgave the iniquity of Your people, You covered all their sin.
• You withdrew all your wrath; You turned from Your hot anger.
• Restore us again, O God of our salvation.
• Will You be angry with us forever?
• Will You prolong your anger to all generations?
• Will You not revive us again, that Your people may rejoice in You?

Psalm 87.

This psalm shows God’s love for the holy Mount Zion on which His temple stands. Jerusalem of gold!  Later in our study, we will see how God actually put the “symbol” of His Name on Mt Zion and Jerusalem.  And one day, King Jesus will rule there.

• On the holy mount stands the city He founded; the LORD loves the gates of Zion more than all the dwelling places of Jacob.
• Glorious things of you are spoken O city of God. 

One day, in the Messianic Kingdom, Israel will sit gloriously in the city. And Egypt, Philistia, Tyre, and Cush, all gentile nations and ancient enemies will one day worship the LORD with Israel in the Holy Mount.