Pursue Total Dependence on God – Psalms 108-114

Joy: You’re listening to Season 2 of the Lifting Her Voice podcast.  This is Episode #186 and today we’ll read Psalms 108-114 together.   David teaches us to pursue total dependence on God.  

Welcome

Welcome to the Lifting Her Voice podcast, Season 2!  I’m your host, Joy Miller, and I invite you to grab your Bible and join me – from the beginning – simply reading God’s word together.  We built some spiritual muscles in 2020 with just the New Testament.  But this year we’re going all out, cover-to-cover, Old Testament and New.  So, whether with your first cup in the morning, your commute to work, or as the last thing on your mind before sleep, God’s Word will equip you for every good work.  I’m really glad you’re here!

Psalm 108

A Plea for Victory

A song. A psalm of David.

My heart is confident, God;

I will sing; I will sing praises

with the whole of my being.

Wake up, harp and lyre!

I will wake up the dawn.

I will praise you, Lord, among the peoples;

I will sing praises to you among the nations.

For your faithful love is higher than the heavens,

and your faithfulness reaches to the clouds.

God, be exalted above the heavens,

and let your glory be over the whole earth.

Save with your right hand and answer me

so that those you love may be rescued.

God has spoken in his sanctuary:

“I will celebrate!

I will divide up Shechem.

I will apportion the Valley of Succoth.

Gilead is mine, Manasseh is mine,

and Ephraim is my helmet;

Judah is my scepter.

Moab is my washbasin;

I throw my sandal on Edom.

I shout in triumph over Philistia.”

Who will bring me to the fortified city?

Who will lead me to Edom?

God, haven’t you rejected us?

God, you do not march out with our armies.

Give us aid against the foe,

for human help is worthless.

With God we will perform valiantly;

he will trample our foes.

Psalm 109

Prayer against an Enemy

For the choir director. A psalm of David.

God of my praise, do not be silent.

For wicked and deceitful mouths open against me;

they speak against me with lying tongues.

They surround me with hateful words

and attack me without cause.

In return for my love they accuse me,

but I continue to pray.

They repay me evil for good,

and hatred for my love.

Set a wicked person over him;

let an accuser stand at his right hand.

When he is judged, let him be found guilty,

and let his prayer be counted as sin.

Let his days be few;

let another take over his position.

Let his children be fatherless

and his wife a widow.

Let his children wander as beggars,

searching for food far from their demolished homes.

Let a creditor seize all he has;

let strangers plunder what he has worked for.

Let no one show him kindness,

and let no one be gracious to his fatherless children.

Let the line of his descendants be cut off;

let their name be blotted out in the next generation.

Let the iniquity of his fathers

be remembered before the Lord,

and do not let his mother’s sin be blotted out.

Let their sins always remain before the Lord,

and let him remove all memory of them from the earth.

For he did not think to show kindness,

but pursued the suffering, needy, and brokenhearted

in order to put them to death.

At the Right Hand of the Needy

He loved cursing — let it fall on him;

he took no delight in blessing — let it be far from him.

He wore cursing like his coat —

let it enter his body like water

and go into his bones like oil.

Let it be like a robe he wraps around himself,

like a belt he always wears.

Let this be the Lord’s payment to my accusers,

to those who speak evil against me.

But you, Lord, my Lord,

deal kindly with me for your name’s sake;

because your faithful love is good, rescue me.

For I am suffering and needy;

my heart is wounded within me.

I fade away like a lengthening shadow;

I am shaken off like a locust.

My knees are weak from fasting,

and my body is emaciated.

I have become an object of ridicule to my accusers;

when they see me, they shake their heads in scorn.

Help me, Lord my God;

save me according to your faithful love

so they may know that this is your hand

and that you, Lord, have done it.

Though they curse, you will bless.

When they rise up, they will be put to shame,

but your servant will rejoice.

My accusers will be clothed with disgrace;

they will wear their shame like a cloak.

I will fervently thank the Lord with my mouth;

I will praise him in the presence of many.

For he stands at the right hand of the needy

to save him from those who would condemn him.

Psalm 110

The Priestly King

A psalm of David.

This is the declaration of the Lord

to my Lord:

“Sit at my right hand

until I make your enemies your footstool.”

The Lord will extend your mighty scepter from Zion.

Rule over your surrounding enemies.

Your people will volunteer

on your day of battle.

In holy splendor, from the womb of the dawn,

the dew of your youth belongs to you.

The Lord has sworn an oath and will not take it back:

“You are a priest forever

according to the pattern of Melchizedek.”

The Lord is at your right hand;

he will crush kings on the day of his anger.

He will judge the nations, heaping up corpses;

he will crush leaders over the entire world.

He will drink from the brook by the road;

therefore, he will lift up his head.

Psalm 111

Praise for the Lord’s Works

Hallelujah!

I will praise the Lord with all my heart

in the assembly of the upright and in the congregation.

The Lord’s works are great,

studied by all who delight in them.

All that he does is splendid and majestic;

his righteousness endures forever.

He has caused his wondrous works to be remembered.

The Lord is gracious and compassionate.

He has provided food for those who fear him;

he remembers his covenant forever.

He has shown his people the power of his works

by giving them the inheritance of the nations.

The works of his hands are truth and justice;

all his instructions are trustworthy.

They are established forever and ever,

enacted in truth and in uprightness.

He has sent redemption to his people.

He has ordained his covenant forever.

His name is holy and awe-inspiring.

The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom;

all who follow his instructions have good insight.

His praise endures forever.

Psalm 112

The Traits of the Righteous

Hallelujah!

Happy is the person who fears the Lord,

taking great delight in his commands.

His descendants will be powerful in the land;

the generation of the upright will be blessed.

Wealth and riches are in his house,

and his righteousness endures forever.

Light shines in the darkness for the upright.

He is gracious, compassionate, and righteous.

Good will come to the one who lends generously

and conducts his business fairly.

He will never be shaken.

The righteous one will be remembered forever.

He will not fear bad news;

his heart is confident, trusting in the Lord.

His heart is assured; he will not fear.

In the end he will look in triumph on his foes.

He distributes freely to the poor;

his righteousness endures forever.

His horn will be exalted in honor.

The wicked one will see it and be angry;

he will gnash his teeth in despair.

The desire of the wicked leads to ruin.

Psalm 113

Praise to the Merciful God

Hallelujah!

Give praise, servants of the Lord;

praise the name of the Lord.

Let the name of the Lord be blessed

both now and forever.

From the rising of the sun to its setting,

let the name of the Lord be praised.

The Lord is exalted above all the nations,

his glory above the heavens.

Who is like the Lord our God —

the one enthroned on high,

who stoops down to look

on the heavens and the earth?

He raises the poor from the dust

and lifts the needy from the trash heap

in order to seat them with nobles —

with the nobles of his people.

He gives the childless woman a household,

making her the joyful mother of children.

Hallelujah!

Psalm 114

God’s Deliverance of Israel

When Israel came out of Egypt —

the house of Jacob from a people

who spoke a foreign language —

Judah became his sanctuary,

Israel, his dominion.

The sea looked and fled;

the Jordan turned back.

The mountains skipped like rams,

the hills, like lambs.

Why was it, sea, that you fled?

Jordan, that you turned back?

Mountains, that you skipped like rams?

Hills, like lambs?

Tremble, earth, at the presence of the Lord,

at the presence of the God of Jacob,

who turned the rock into a pool,

the flint into a spring.

Close

We have a penchant for thinking that David is being rude in Psalm 109.  Unloving?  Probably.  That he wishes evil on his enemies, instead of turning the other cheek, sure.  But don’t miss the point here and that is the reason for God’s favor.  Whereas we – and David’s foes apparently – desire to be independent and self-reliant, David is not.  He admits and pursues total dependence on God.  And that’s just the way God likes it.

And how about Psalm 110?  These are familiar words, aren’t they?  Who is the priest forever in the Order of Melchizedek?   Well, it’s Jesus!  Hebrews 7:17 tells us: For it has been testified: You are a priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek.  Sounds like David is writing here – again – under the influence of the Holy Spirit.  Share your thoughts with me at Lifting Her Voice.com, Facebook, Instagram or Twitter.

Thank you for joining me here today.  I pray that by spending time in His Word every day, you will by changed.  Visit me at Lifting Her Voice.com with your comments and questions.  And don’t forget to visit the Blog page while you’re there.  If you like the podcast, it would be great if you’d give it a five-star review and share it with everyone you know.  Don’t forget to subscribe wherever you get your podcasts.  See you tomorrow!

Unless otherwise noted, all Scripture quotations are taken from the Christian Standard Bible(r), Copyright (c) 2017 by Holman Bible Publishers. Used by permission. Christian Standard Bible(r) and CSB(r) are federally registered trademarks of Holman Bible Publishers.