Category: Wisdom Stream

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April 18

 

Psalm 28-33

We are in the Wisdom Stream reading through the psalms. We are using the Good News Translation this week.

 

Commentary by Dr. Drake Travis

28 – “give praise to the Lord for he has heard my cry for help.” is the core of this Psalm.  It is a prayer. It is thanksgiving for God answering prayer. David is urging people to be grateful and devoted to God. God saves and protects and David is blessed by this.

 
29 – is a very audio centered Psalm, it is filled with reminders of the sounds that God makes through what He has created: seas, thundering, echoes, lightning, trees in the wind.  Many are not drawn to God by such things, perhaps.  But David is so focused on God that any sound has David pause to reflect, “wow, listen to what God is doing now!” He has a childlike faith and wonder about him that shows up all the time in David’s life and pilgrimage.
 
30 – David has come through so much turmoil and brushes with death and battles and chaos and treachery.  And it all comes back to him as he has just taken Jerusalem and made it the capitol.  His palace will be there in Jerusalem.  This event happens early in II Samuel.  But the decision to settle and make this the center of the young nation – that and the dedication of David’s palace was the occasion of Psalm 30 being written.
[Don’t confuse this with the Temple – his son Solomon did that a few decades later]
 
31 – This issue here is prayer, trust and looking to God for protection.  It has been said of David, and for many reasons, that he learned better than probably anyone that he knew best that when God was all you had, you then realized that God is all you need. God was David’s Savior, defense, refuge, and shelter. David turned to God in the midst of any and every event or emotion he was going through.  He saw God as his caregiver.  None of the “if it’s to be, it’s up to me” touting.  David’s hymn was “I did it Thy Way” v.s. the American tune that was popular in the 1900’s.  The Lord is faithful and deserves our response of love for Him.
 
32 – David’s sin with Bathsheba and the full realization of the gravity that David had descended to is what prompted him to write Psalm 51.  David going through the confession process and finding restoration and relief and healing prompted him to write this one; Psalm 32.  David’s remorse had run its course and David realized the full depth and height of God’s forgiveness by now.  His joy in the Lord was returning.
 
33 – This is a song of joy and praise and thanksgiving that seems to ring clear up to heaven.  The joy of walking with God makes each step a wonder.  The joy of the Lord spreads to everything everywhere.  All nature and the sky too brings out the praise.  God is such a marvel!
 
Lord God of Heaven, you truly are good to us. You give us your righteousness and you strengthen us to live in joy and with that strength we can praise you more and more and praising you gives us joy to praise you yet more.  You a our marvelous God.  Amen.
Posted on

April 11

 

Psalm 22-27

We are in the Wisdom Stream today as we read from the Lexham English Bible this week.

 

Melissa Disney’s CDs – Sweet Faith & Love

Commentary by Dr. Drake Travis

Today is some of, if not, the most famous literature and prayers EVER written.  Be blessed and keep reading these all your lives. My husband and I read this again and again.  And we are glad to read it with you today.

 
Ps 22 –   You heard Jesus quote this on the Cross.  God had not forsaken the Son. But to hang on a Cross is to feel forsaken, no matter what the Truth is.  Here is a Psalm that can only be attributed to the Crucifixion of our Lord.  And Jesus; The Truth, is on the Cross feeling forsaken, sneered at, pierced (bit by lions accd’g to this translation), his clothing getting illustratively “auctioned off”.  He’s in a bad way and calling out on God His Father.  That means that when we are in the worst of duress, we are to do that same – for God is listening.  Also it asserts that Jesus understands our plight, regardless.  That means we are never alone.
 
23 – When the Lord is your Shepherd, you have what you need; there is rest and peace and beauty, restoration, peace in all settings, comfort (strengthening), we are fed regardless of the surroundings.  We have anointing, plenty, goodness, love and mercy along with eternal security.  That should answer all our questions, oy mate? In all seriousness, David likely wrote this when he was a boy in Bethlehem, tending sheep.
Just over 1000 years later, angels announce to shepherds that the Good Shepherd has arrived. It wouldn’t surprise me if it all happened in the same field. Ponder that amazement.
 
24 –  A series of writers and biblical commentators muse that Ps.24 was what David wrote when the ark was brought back into Jerusalem as told in II Sam. 6:12-15.  The sentiment of the Psalm certainly matches the festivity of the occasion. God IS a celebration of love and remember that our entry and the beginning of heaven for us starts with worship and celebration.
 
25 – David is looking for rescue, guidance, mercy, a right-standing in God’s Presence,  protection, and redemption.  It’s a Psalm written and recited by a man in anguish who knows where to turn when life has taken a turn such as this.  It’s the same David of whom we see cheering and praising in other places. This is what made David a man after God’s own heart. He wanted to know and have the heart of God – so he did. Such a wonderful model David is for us.
 
26 – whereas 25 if ‘David lamenting, “God, I’ve messed it up here. Help me”, 26 is David nearly protesting, “God, I’ve been good about it all, don’t “diss’ me out now.  You said you were good … ”    It’s similar to us if we prayed, “uh, God, you told me to call on you and that you would answer me.  I’m calling on you now, and I need you to answer me.  I don’t want to listen to a recording, I want you to ‘pick up’.”   ‘Ever feel this way?  So did David – and it kept him in prayer.
 
27 – We all know what it’s like to arrive at a favorite place, be it a meadow, or a vista on the trail, or a beach, or a relatives’ house.  We pause and sigh, “wow, I love it here!!”  David says that when he sits with God.  He loves to sit with God and sing and listen and bask and rest.  Let’s let this urge us accordingly.  Don’t drift when we pray. Don’t check your watch during a sermon. Turn off your phone when in a worship service. Pull away from the screen when family is telling you something vital and impassioned. Don’t read the news or popups when your spouse is dining with you.  Come on, now.  God calls us into his courtyard.  Get there.  Psalm 27 helps us all get there.
 
God thank you.  Thank you and thank you again.  You ARE everything we need.  Fill us with gratitude and may it spill over back into your house as we worship with you.  Amen.
Posted on

April 4

Psalm 18-21

We are in the Wisdom Stream today reading from the book of Psalms. We are using the World English Bible this week.

 

Commentary by Dr. Drake Travis

God, we want to walk with you as David did; so completely caught up into your goodness and faithfulness and comprehensive care that the world all around us is a mere reminder of how good you are to us.  Thank you for your goodness, Lord.  Amen.

Into the Wisdom stream today we reach Psalm 18 – a highlight of the Bible!  If any student of the Psalms made a list of their favorite Psalms to count on one hand, Psalm 18 is one of them.  It’s David’s triumphant praise after “the battle is over”.  His enemies are neutralized. King Saul, who hated him, is gone now. David’s kingdom is realized and he is Ruler of Israel. Note the traits of the Psalm: God is all the things David needed all along, needs now, and what David is grateful for.  David calls and claims that God is his rock, his shield, his high tower.  The false religions of the world idolatrously claim “this rock is my god, this shield is my god, this tower is my god.” The pagan religions have things perfectly backward.  This is why David is a hallmark of our faith and devotion. This Psalm is so pivotal and landmark in David’s life that it is repeated in II Samuel 22.  We will reach that section in the “nation stream” next week.

 
19 – The wonder of nature as David is in awe of what God has done morphs straight into David’s wonderment over what God has said; His Word.  It is perfect, right, pure, …Gold. ‘Makes y’want to read the rest of the Bible doesn’t it?!  Praise God
 
20 – twenty has a nice variation – 18 was David rejoicing in all God had done for him.  This Psalm of prayer is asking God to grant all that is desired and sought for – for you!   It rings as a rally cry for battle.  It is a request for victory.  As in all of David’s life, he is not distracted by objects and trusting in them.  He trusts in God alone, for himself and for others – even as he is headed into the thick of battle.
 
21 – David is yet enraptured with his marvelous God.  In 20 he is asking for victory as he seems destined to head into battle.  In 21, David is thanking God for victory in this same conflict that seems imminent.  Notice that all that God is going to do is in the future tense.  God will find them (David’s enemies), He will burn them, He will destroy them. David is as certain of this as he was on his first battlefield in I Sam. 17.  He is basically teaching us a very clear prayer lesson.  Thank God in advance.