The Purpose of Judgment Psalm 83:1–18 That they may seek your name, O Lord. Psalm 83:16 Psalm 83 includes an impassioned appeal to God to overthrow and destroy Israel’s enemies (vv. 9–17). What are we to say about this? The first observation made by the psalmist is that God had destroyed Israel’s enemies in this…

Confession Psalm 79:1–13 Deliver us, and atone for our sins, for your name’s sake! Psalm 79:9 Every true prayer should have within it a confession of the worshiper’s sins. This is not some morbid preoccupation. It is an inevitable result of prayer that is truly prayer to God. This is because God is holy, and…

Reasoning from God’s Attributes Psalm 77:1–20 Your way, O God, is holy. What god is great like our God? Psalm 77:13 What Asaph the psalmist remembers about God when he reflects on the years of his working is in the stanza comprising verses 13–15. This is all about God, just as the opening stanzas of…

Pleading with God Psalm 74:1–23 Arise, O God, defend your cause. Psalm 74:22 Psalm 74 is a model for prayer because of the way it pleads with God. Or, as Charles Spurgeon said, it is an example of how we can pray to God with arguments. The psalmist wants God to take his hand out…

Faithful and Righteous Psalm 71:1–24 My tongue will talk of your righteous help all the day long. Psalm 71:24 To deal with the limitations of old age, David looks to the past to remind himself of God’s faithfulness and power. He looks to the future to remind himself of the work yet to be done….

Poor and Needy Psalm 70:1–5 But I am poor and needy; hasten to me, O God! Psalm 70:5 The last verse of Psalm 70 is what I call the psalmist’s most basic belief or persuasion. It has two parts: (1) he is “poor and needy,” and (2) God is his “help and . . . deliverer.” The…

The Shining Face of God Psalm 67:1–7 May God be gracious to us and bless us and make his face to shine upon us. Psalm 67:1 The language of this verse is drawn from the great Aaronic blessing of Numbers 6. The text says that God told Moses to have Aaron bless the people, saying,…

Singing Praise Psalm 61:1–8 So will I ever sing praises to your name. Psalm 61:8 David began this psalm feeling at “the end of the earth” (v. 2), far from God. But as he thought about God and prayed to him, he drew closer to God and grew in confidence until he ends actually expecting…

Lessons for Victory Psalm 60:1–12 With God we will gain the victory. Psalm 60:12 (NIV) What lessons is David learning as he reflects, first on his people’s defeat by Edom and second on the promises of God to give an eventual victory? It seems to me that there are two of them. 1. Only God…

Trust in God Psalm 56:1–13 In God I trust; I shall not be afraid. Psalm 56:4 There are two parts to David’s confidence: 1. Confidence in God. The first is that he is confident in God. He trusts God. Not man! Not circumstances! Not his own cunning, as useful as that seemed to have been…