Biblical Reflections

Psalm 92 carries a superscript found nowhere else in the Psalter: "A Psalm. A Song for the Sabbath." It is a hymn of thanks and praise to God for giving Israel the Sabbath, and Andrew finds in it a model for how we pray. Verses 1–5 — Praise. It is good to give thanks and sing praises to YHWH, El Elyon, the Most High. This praise is built on declaring God's names, extolling His steadfast love and faithfulness, and remembering His great works. Andrew encourages us to pray the same way, and to keep a prayer log so we can look back and remember what God has done. Verses 6–11 — The contrast. The wicked sprout like grass, but they are doomed to destruction forever. The godless are called stupid, foolish, wicked, and evildoers, while the faithful are lifted up and anointed with fresh oil, and live to see their enemies scattered. Verses 12–15 — The flourishing. Back to the Sabbath, the faithful rest secure. They flourish like the palm tree, grow like the towering cedars of Lebanon, and still bear fruit in old age. In worship they declare that YHWH is upright, that He is their rock, and that there is no unrighteousness in Him. God's righteousness means He always acts according to His holiness and His covenant promises. As new covenant people, we can count on that, and like Israel we are called to set aside regular time to worship Him. This is Season 2 of Biblical Reflections — a week-by-week walk through the Psalms to shape our prayer and our praise. — Biblical Reflections is a Christ-centered Bible teaching podcast from Cogworks Media, hosted by Andrew. Season 2 walks week-by-week through the Psalms. New episodes weekly. ▶ Subscribe for weekly teaching through Scripture 🔗 More shows and ways to give: cogworksmedia.org Cogworks Media is a 501(c)(3) public charity — gifts are tax-deductible. Music: The Inspiration by Keys of Moon | https://soundcloud.com/keysofmoon Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) | https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ Music promoted by https://www.chosic.com/free-music/all/

Psalm 91 is a hymn of confidence in the face of danger and trouble. It carries no superscript, and it moves through four movements — from the one who prays, to the singer assuring him, to God himself speaking. Andrew works through its metaphors and lands on the verse that unlocks the rest. Verses 1–2 — The refuge. The basic theme: God is my refuge, my safe place. Notice the metaphors — shelter, shadow, fortress — and the names stacked in two verses: Most High (El Elyon), the name even the Gentiles acknowledged; LORD (Yahweh), the covenant God; God (Elohim); and Almighty (El Shaddai). Verses 3–8 — The deliverance. He will deliver you, the faithful one who prays this hymn. The dangers come as metaphors too: the snare of the fowler, deadly pestilence, destruction, the terror of night, the arrow by day. So does the protection: pinions, wings, shield and buckler. God is not a bird — these are poetic devices the original hearers would have understood at once. Verse 8 is the key: "you will only look with your eyes and see the recompense of the wicked." The trouble falling all around is God's judgment on the wicked, which implies the faithful one can be sure of God's protection through it. Verses 9–13 — The angels. Because you have made Yahweh your dwelling place, no evil shall befall you and no plague come near your tent — for he will command his angels concerning you, to guard you in all your ways. Verses 11–12 are the ones Satan quoted at the temptation, urging Jesus to throw himself from the highest point of the temple so the angels would rescue him in front of everyone. If that stunt had worked, it would have spared him the cross — which is exactly why he refused it. The lion, the adder, and the serpent stand for people who seek to harm the faithful. Verses 14–16 — God speaks. Because the faithful one holds fast to him in love, God will deliver him. Because he knows God's name — itself an image of faith — God will protect him. Then the list of how: he answers his prayer, is with him in trouble, rescues him, honors him, and satisfies him with long life. A good prayer for difficult times. As we walk through them, God is there — for those who are faithful, who know his name, who love and cling to him. Season 2 of Biblical Reflections — a week-by-week walk through the Psalms to shape our prayer and our praise. — Biblical Reflections is a Christ-centered Bible teaching podcast from Cogworks Media, hosted by Andrew. 🔗 More shows and ways to give: cogworksmedia.org Cogworks Media is a 501(c)(3) public charity — gifts are tax-deductible. Music: The Inspiration by Keys of Moon | https://soundcloud.com/keysofmoon Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) | https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ Music promoted by https://www.chosic.com/free-music/all/

Psalm 90 is a community lament during a time of unspecified disaster — but you can feel that it is also the lament of an old man. It is the only psalm attributed to Moses, and it opens Book 4 of the Psalter. Andrew reads it with Moses at the end of his life in view, and finds his way to the gospel hymn "I'll Fly Away" and the 1966 film Alfie along the road. Verses 1–2 — The eternal God. The Lord has been our dwelling place in all generations. Before the mountains were brought forth, before the earth and the world were formed, from everlasting to everlasting he is God. He does not change. Verses 3–6 — The fleeting man. Set against that, man's life is nothing. You return man to dust. A thousand years in God's sight are a yesterday already past, a watch in the night. We are a flood, a dream, grass that flourishes in the morning and withers by evening. Verses 7–11 — The weight. We are brought to an end by your wrath, our secret sins set in the light of your presence. The years of our life are seventy, or eighty by reason of strength, and their span is toil and trouble. They are soon gone, and we fly away. Verses 12–17 — The turn. So teach us to number our days, that we may get a heart of wisdom. Satisfy us in the morning with your steadfast love. Give us glad days for as many years as we have seen evil. Show your work to your servants and your glorious power to their children. And then the request everything has been building toward: establish the work of our hands. Andrew reads that last line as the real question of the psalm. If everything we do returns to dust, what makes any of it endure? The answer he points to is the judgment seat of Christ — where the works that survive the fire are the ones done for God, and everything else is hay and stubble. Season 2 of Biblical Reflections — a week-by-week walk through the Psalms to shape our prayer and our praise. — Biblical Reflections is a Christ-centered Bible teaching podcast from Cogworks Media, hosted by Andrew. 🔗 More shows and ways to give: cogworksmedia.org Cogworks Media is a 501(c)(3) public charity — gifts are tax-deductible. Music: The Inspiration by Keys of Moon | https://soundcloud.com/keysofmoon Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) | https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ Music promoted by https://www.chosic.com/free-music/all/

Psalm 89 is a community lament, but it celebrates the Davidic kingship as God's special gift to his people. The heir of David is the divinely appointed ruler over Israel, whose task is to lead the people faithfully — and so the people pray for that king to lead them out of their present disaster. The disaster is not in doubt: Babylon has destroyed the city, the temple, and the throne. Verses 1–4 — The covenant. God's covenant with David expresses his steadfast love and faithfulness to his people. "I will establish your offspring forever and build your throne for all generations." Verses 5–18 — The praise. God is above all other powers, heavenly and earthly, and has shown favor to Israel. Mighty deeds are recounted — creation and Exodus — and his attributes praised: righteousness, justice, steadfast love, faithfulness, power. Therefore blessed are the people of God. Verses 19–37 — The promise. God promised David an enduring dynasty, sworn to stand forever with an heir on the throne, witnessed by the sun and the moon. God will punish a Davidic king for his sins, but he will not remove that king from his steadfast love and faithfulness, and he will not violate the covenant. Verses 38–45 — The disaster. The throne is cast to the ground and the nation lies destroyed by the Babylonians. Andrew fills in what the psalm leaves unsaid: the covenant at Sinai, renewed under Moses in Deuteronomy with blessings and curses, functioned as progressive discipline — and centuries of rebellion had brought the nation to its final stage. Verses 46–51 — The plea. How long, O Yahweh? The people ask God to show his steadfast love by restoring the Davidic throne, while the nations mock the footsteps of his anointed. Verse 52 — The closing doxology concluding Book 3 of the Psalter. Like Psalm 88 before it, this is a prayer offered without any sight of the answer. What the singers could not know is that the covenant was kept — the son of David came, died, rose, and reigns forever. Faith is believing what you do not yet see. Season 2 of Biblical Reflections — a week-by-week walk through the Psalms to shape our prayer and our praise. — Biblical Reflections is a Christ-centered Bible teaching podcast from Cogworks Media, hosted by Andrew. 🔗 More shows and ways to give: cogworksmedia.org Cogworks Media is a 501(c)(3) public charity — gifts are tax-deductible. Music: The Inspiration by Keys of Moon | https://soundcloud.com/keysofmoon Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) | https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ Music promoted by https://www.chosic.com/free-music/all/

Psalm 88 is an individual lament — the darkest in the Psalter. The singer is so overwhelmed with troubles that even his friends shun him, and he comes to fear that God is shunning him too. What do you do when it seems God does not answer? Andrew walks through four movements of a prayer that never resolves, and finds the faith hidden inside it. Verses 1–2 — The cry. "O Yahweh, God of my salvation, I cry out day and night before you." Let my prayer come before you. Incline your ear. Verses 3–9 — The trouble. My soul is full of troubles and my life draws near to Sheol. The singer stays with his own helplessness: the pit, the dark and deep regions, companions who have turned away, eyes grown dim with sorrow. Verses 10–12 — The petition. A series of rhetorical questions. Do you work wonders for the dead? Is your steadfast love declared in the grave, your faithfulness in Abaddon? Behind them is a real fear in Hebrew thought — that to die under God's wrath is to be cut off from praising him at all. The plea is: lift this from me while I can still praise you. Verses 13–18 — The silence. "Why do you cast my soul away? Why do you hide your face from me?" The psalm closes with darkness as the singer's only companion. There is no turn, no resolution, no closing note of praise. And that is the point worth carrying: he is still praying. He keeps seeking the Lord even while waiting in silence. There is a realization in this psalm that God has brought these troubles, which means God can also lift them. No matter how hopeless things seem, keep the faith. God is there. Season 2 of Biblical Reflections — a week-by-week walk through the Psalms to shape our prayer and our praise. — Biblical Reflections is a Christ-centered Bible teaching podcast from Cogworks Media, hosted by Andrew. 🔗 More shows and ways to give: cogworksmedia.org Cogworks Media is a 501(c)(3) public charity — gifts are tax-deductible. Music: The Inspiration by Keys of Moon | https://soundcloud.com/keysofmoon Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) | https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ Music promoted by https://www.chosic.com/free-music/all/