The book of Psalms comes to an end with a symphony of praise in Psalm 150 – sanctuary. What is this sanctuary, this holy place? Psalm 150 The Psalms begin with blessed (Psalm 1:1 – “Blessed is the one”) and end with “hallelujah.” We begin our lives with blessings and end our life in praise. […]
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It is good to praise our God, even better to join with others in this praise, or so we learn from Psalm 149 – assembly. What is the assembly of the faithful? Psalm 149 We are almost to the end of our journey through the book of Psalms. Psalm 149 is another one of the […]
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Psalm 148 – heaven, begins by exhorting the highest places to praise the Lord. What can heaven tell us about our God? Psalm 148 The third Hallelujah Psalm at the end of the book of Psalms, Psalm 148 – heaven starts with a call to praise from the heaven. Psalm 19 tells us “The heavens […]
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Psalm 147 – fitting, begins by saying it is fitting to praise God. What does it mean to say something is fitting? What is fitting praise? Psalm 147 Psalm 147, the second of the Hallelujah psalms that end the book of Psalms, begins with words of praise of our creator who restored Israel. “Hallelujah! It […]
Read More With Psalm 146 – hallelujah, we begin the five hallelujah psalms that end the book of Psalms with a chorus of praise of our God. “No sooner is one hallelujah ended, but another begins.” (Horne) Psalm 146 Commentary: Praise to the LORD Why? What reasons are there to praise God? Psalm 146 Many translations of […]
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In Psalm 145 – exalt, David exalts God. What does it mean to exalt someone or something? Who or what do we exalt in our lives? Psalm 145 Psalm 145 is the last psalm entitled a psalm of David and the last of the nine acrostic psalms found in the Bible (Psalm 9, 10, 25, […]
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In Psalm 144 – war, David praises God who trains his hands for war. What did it mean to be trained for war during David’s time? What does it mean today? But maybe more important, what does peace look like? How might we train for this? Psalm 144 Another psalm attributed to David, Psalm 144 […]
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In Psalm 143 – righteousness, David calls upon God’s faithfulness and righteousness. What does it mean to say that God is righteous? Psalm 143 Psalm 143, another psalm of David, is included in the seven penitential psalms though it is not as clearly linked to them as the others. David, during another time of crisis […]
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No one likes a whiner. We hate their incessant complaints and negativity. What good does it do to complain? But is there a place for complaints? What can we learn from Psalm 142 – complaint? Psalm 142 Psalm 142 is entitled: “A maskil (contemplation) of David. When he was in the cave. A prayer.” The cave is […]
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The smell of incense permeates throughout a church or meditation room, filling the space with its essence. We breathe it in and it becomes part of us. In the same way the atmosphere we inhabit, our thoughts, attitudes, prejudices, influence everything around us, as we see in Psalm 141 – incense. Psalm 141 Psalm 141 […]
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