psalms

A few years back, there was a clever trend afoot that brought light amusement to some and great annoyance to others. Friends and family members would record a voicemail greeting that began with a cheery “hello,” only to pause for a few seconds before launching into the rest of the greeting, “I can’...

Those who have experienced a regular Sunday evening service, often observe a “quietness” about them fondly. The morning service is associated with the frenetic pace of rounding up households with hair and outfits assembled, racing to roles in the service, coffee hour, and Sunday school, and back...

Psalm 133:1 extols, Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity! It teaches us to appreciate how God ’ s good blessings are especially experienced in the worshipful union and communion of His saints. This pleasantness is something Christians enjoy in local...

Psalm 132 has a very different feel than the rest of the Psalms of Ascent. In fact, this Psalm is explicitly Messianic, speaking of the Davidic promises and line and the Lord’s Anointed. As a Psalm of Ascent then, this song brings the traveling worshippers into focus on the city and king that God...

“They’re trying to get me” is the catch phrase of the paranoid mind. The question it raises, is the identity of “they”. But the leading declaration of Psalm 129 is quite different. It is not a statement of fears but of memory: “Many time have they afflicted me from my youth, may Israel now say.” (1...

That Psalm 126 bears the heading “A Song of Ascents,” and is within the grouping of the Psalms of Ascent is a providential grace of God. Likely penned later than most other Psalms, it offers a great degree of hope and comfort to those weary saints who, like the Israelites of the Babylonian exile,...

Forgetfulness is a natural sign of aging, but the opposite is true for the Christian. If a believer forgets God's wonderful work of salvation, it is a sure sign that he is not maturing in his faith but is drifting away from it (Heb. 2:1). However, singing is one proven antidote to both spiritual...

If you don’t look up into the evening sky, you won’t see a shooting star—nor the moon, nor a sunset, and you’ll miss the comfort of God’s transcendent presence and comforting beauty. Psalm 123:1-2 emphasizes the need to keep lifting up our eyes unto the Lord: “Unto thee lift I up mine eyes, O thou...

Young children love family reunions more than the adults who host them. Children are focused on who will be there, who will they play with, who will tell the best story, who will remember their name, who will lift them high off the ground to say, “Look how big you are!” It is good we start life as...

Wandering eyes are bad harbinger in Scripture. From the opening chapters of Genesis, when Eve looked at the tree and saw that it was good for food and “a delight to the eyes,” humanity’s false reliance on sight is a consistent theme. From Lot to David, whenever an individual sees that something...