18 June

Bible In 365 Days                                                       

Psalms 26-31

Psalm 26

The central word of the song may be said to be, "So will I compass Thine altar, O Jehovah" (Psalms 26:6). On either side conditions of worship are described. First the conditions of personal life necessary to worship (Psalms 26:1-6). Afterwards the true exercise of worship is described (Psalms 26:7-8). Then the psalm becomes a prayer for preparation (Psalms 26:9-11); and ends with the declaration of assurance (Psalms 26:12).

As to conditions of personal life fitting for worship, they may be described as complete separation from evil ways and evil persons. Fellowship with Jehovah is only possible when there is no fellowship with the wicked. Moreover, the Judge must be Jehovah Himself. To Him the singer makes his appeal. In this fact there is great solemnity and great comfort. Jehovah's standards are high, but they are ever far more reasonable than those of men. The exercise of worship at its highest is that of praise, issuing from delight in the dwelling-place and glory of God. The prayer for preparation explains the opening words. In its light they are seen to be of the nature of appeal to Jehovah's decision rather than boasting in His presence. The final prayer for preparation is, "Redeem me and be merciful unto me." Such a prayer is immediately answered, and this the last verse makes plain.

Psalm 27

The real significance of this psalm is that of the experience of worship. It is somewhat strange that the remarkable contrast between the first (Psalms 27:1-6) and second (Psalms 27:7-14) parts has given rise to the view that two men have written the psalm, or if one person is the author, he must have written them at different times. The psalm reveals the true attitude and exercise of the worshipping soul. Praise and prayer follow each other in their true order. First the offering of praise due to the consciousness of Jehovah. The pouring out of the heart's need to the One worshipped.

The conception of God revealed in the first half makes possible the abandon of the petitions in the second half. The God Who is light, and salvation and strength, Who hides in His pavilion, and lifts the soul on to the rock is the very One Whose face a man, forsaken of father and mother, pursued by adversaries, and slandered by enemies, will most easily appeal to. This is the meaning of the injunction of the final verse. When hosanna languish on our tongues it is because we do not begin with Jehovah. To see Him first in the hour of communion, and to praise Him, is to be able without reserve to pour out all the story of our sorrow in His ear, and to know that when the soul beseeches Him not to cast off, it may affirm in confidence, "Jehovah will take me up."

Psalm 28

The affinity between this psalm and the previous one is evident and its placing by the editor here was in all likelihood due to that fact. In Psalms 27:1-14, in true order, praise prepares for, and issues in, prayer, the whole ending in an appeal to "wait on Jehovah." The next psalm opens with "Unto Thee, O Jehovah, will I call."

This is not to suggest that the song was written by the same person or immediately. It rather affords an illustration of a song written by one who acted on the principle enjoined. The cry of need is very urgent. The peril is so great that death threatens. Unless Jehovah help there is no help. That the danger arose from enemies is evident from the psalmist's cry to Jehovah for justice.

Suddenly the prayer becomes a song of praise, an act of adoration. The prayer is heard, help is granted, the song begins. That this psalm, with its inverted order of prayer and praise, follows closely that in which the order is praise and prayer is encouraging. The true order is praise and prayer. If the heart is not strong enough for this, let it learn how to praise by speaking first in prayer of its sorrow. The one thing impossible in worship is to compress it within the narrow limits of stated formulas.

Psalm 29

This is a wonderful picture of a storm, viewed from the standpoint of one who is supremely conscious of Jehovah. The great name occurs oftener in this psalm than in any other in this first book, being found no less than eighteen times. Therein is discovered the key to the whole movement. Once the name suggestive of wonder-working might is used: The God of glory thundereth.

For the rest, this God is seen to be Jehovah of the trusting soul.

From this outlook, all the sublimity and majesty are seen under the control of love, and the singer finds occasion for the highest form of praise in the presence of a storm which otherwise might have filled the heart with terror. The storm is described in the central part of the song (3-9). To the description there is a prelude calling on "the sons of God" to praise (1, 2). In the epilogue (10-ll), the storm seems to have subsided and the psalmist sings of the one supreme impression produced. Over all the flood Jehovah sat as King. The deductions are simple and yet full of beauty. Jehovah always sits as King. During the storm He will give strength to His people. Following it He will give them peace.

Psalm 30

This is a song of praise for deliverance (1-5) and a meditation on the deliverance and its lessons (6-12), with a final note of praise (12). The phrases descriptive of the trouble are such as to leave little room for doubt that the singer had been sick and nigh unto death-"Thou hast healed me. . . . Thou has brought up my soul from Sheol." Moreover, he believed that the sickness was a divine chastisement and that through it and his deliverance he had found the method of Jehovah: "His anger is but for a moment; . . . weeping may tarry for the night."

The issue of such experience is of the highest, "life," "joy in the morning." The review is full of suggestiveness. Days of prosperity had issued in self-satisfaction. Jehovah had hid His face. That was the moment of His anger and that the night of weeping! There was the return to Jehovah in the cry of anguish. The answer was immediate, mourning became dancing, sackcloth was exchanged for gladness. What was all this for?

"To the end that my glory may sing praise to Thee and not be silent." Self-satisfaction cannot praise Jehovah. Therefore it must be corrected by discipline. The final note of praise shows that through affliction and by deliverance the lesson has been learned.

Psalm 31

In this great song of trust struggling through tears to triumph, we have a fine example of an experience often repeated in the history of the children of faith. There are three divisions. In the first division (1-8), the double sense of trust and trials clearly manifest. In the second division (9-18), the trial seems for a time almost to have overcome the trust, so keen is the consciousness thereof. In the last division(19-24), trust has completely triumphed and the sense of the singer is the sense of perfect safety in the pavilion of Jehovah.

In the first, the soul of the singer valiantly affirms its confidence and pleads for help. In the second, the affirmation of trust is in a past tense and the present is one of trial and tears. In the last, trust is a condition which needs no formal declaration but sings itself out in victory and gladness. In this song we find the seasons of the soul as we know them all sooner or later. First, autumn with its winds and gathering clouds, yet having sunlight and a golden fruitage even though the breath of death is everywhere (1-8). Then follows winter, chin and lifeless, full of sobs and sighing (9-13). After that the spring with its hope and expectation and its sweeping rains and bursting sun gleams (14-18). At last the glad and golden summer (19-24). We need them all to complete our year!