Friday: Further Thought – ‘In the Psalms: Part 1’
Daily Lesson for Friday 23rd of May 2025
Further Thought: “The psalms of David pass through the whole range of experience, from the depths of conscious guilt and self-condemnation to the loftiest faith and the most exalted communing with God.
Image © Stan Myers from GoodSalt.com
His life record declares that sin can bring only shame and woe, but that God’s love and mercy can reach to the deepest depths, that faith will lift up the repenting soul to share the adoption of the sons of God. Of all the assurances which His word contains, it is one of the strongest testimonies to the faithfulness, the justice, and the covenant mercy of God. . . .
“ ‘I have sworn unto David My servant . . . with whom My hand shall be established: Mine arm also shall strengthen him. . . . My faithfulness and My mercy shall be with him: and in My name shall his horn be exalted. I will set his hand also in the sea, and his right hand in the rivers. He shall cry unto Me, Thou art my Father, my God, and the Rock of my salvation. Also I will make him My first-born, higher than the kings of the earth. My mercy will I keep for him forevermore, and My covenant shall stand fast with him.’ Psalms 89:3-28.”—Ellen G. White, Patriarchs and Prophets, Pages 754, 755.
Discussion Questions
|
(9)
Most of us will have our favourite Psalm or Psalms that resonate with our experience. I freely admit the affection I have for Psalm 23 with its picture of a shepherd and his much loved flock. I have mentioned before that I grew up on a farm with about 200 sheep and often accompanied my grandfather as he cared for his flock.
And it wasn't just about cuddling cute little woolly lambs. I learned the hard facts of life, like getting a lamb to come out the right way, Treating a sheep with fly-blow, killing a sheep humanely when it was too sick to help, shearing them to harvest their wool, and so on. I also learned about the stupidity of sheep and their willingness to jump into the creek rather than go through an open gate. I learned to find sheep who were cast upside down and could not get back on their feet. I saw my grandfather shepherd count his sheep and know there was one missing.
I remember that Moses spent many years as a shepherd before he lead the Exodus from Egypt. I know how important that training was for him. People have more in common with sheep than we like to admit.
So when I read Jesus describing himself thus:
...I understand what he is saying. And I understand the calling that He has made to those of us who call ourselves Christian.
Some Sabbath viewing - A visit to Hagley Park in Christchurch NZ on a rainy Sabbath afternoon.
Beautiful! Thank you for sharing😊
In psalms what comes out is sin comes as a result of unlimited Boundaries - David at the point of sinning with Bathsheba seems to have lacked boundaries.
Everything was at his disposal -when we have everything we go after everything. Jesus taught us to pray, “Lead us not into temptation.” yet we willingly put ourselves in tempting situations rather than saying, “For the sake of my soul I’m not going there...” We consume media that allures us into sin, we pursue friendships with the opposite sex when we know it’s dangerous, we have no accountability for how we view the internet. The lesson is psalms teaches us to know where our greatest temptations lie and set up appropriate boundaries.
Although God forgives sins and forgets iniquities, it doesn’t wipe out the consequences. As a result of David’s sin with Bathsheba, he would now reap many great pains; among them: a son’s betrayal, the verbal abuse by Shimei, and then the physical abuse and death threats of Absalom.
But the best news of all is that, by the grace of God, David faced every one of these consequences with the promises of God. His responses as we’ll see recorded in the Psalms, record some of the most hope-filled pages of Scriptures.
Our travel, communication, and industry are built upon these inflexible and unchanging laws of the physical world. We respect those laws. If we slam into a stationary object when traveling at a high velocity, we expect there to be corresponding damage. If we jump off a high place, we expect to fall. It is simply a law of gravity that indiscriminately takes over.
As we walk through each of the pages of God’s Word we can see God’s Laws at work in and around David’s choices. And, as we see this inspired record of God’s dealings with him, we can better choose our course-knowing that God and His laws are unchanging.
Thank God for His plans for humanity. Although we have been far from God's first plan, we can fit into His alternative: Jesus as our Savior. All glory to God, His Son, and the Holy Spirit!