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- [00:00]
Paul
Foreign.
- [00:05]
Shelby
Hey, this is Shelby and Paul on A Year in the Bible With Daily Grace. We are walking through the Psalms today in Psalms 36:40. Before we get into today's episode, just be sure you follow or subscribe wherever you listen or watch. That way you don't miss an episode. Paul, Psalms 36 through 40. What are we going to focus on? Or what do we see in these Psalms? Psalms that's important to draw out in our episode today.
- [00:32]
Paul
Yeah, so the consistent theme that we're going to see in all these psalms is humility. And I feel like I could really talk about all of the Psalms from today, but the two I want to focus on are Psalms 37 and 38. And I think they kind of go hand in hand. I don't know if they were intentionally placed together in this way, but their themes relate closely, so we'll talk about why in a second. So Psalm 37 is a wisdom psalm, and it's one of the most quintessential examples of one of these. It's almost reads like a chapter out of Proverbs. And so we have verse four that I think sort of serves as like a thesis statement to basically encapsulate the whole psalm. And it reads, fret not yourselves because of evildoers. Be not envious of wrongdoers, for they will soon fade like the grass, and wither like the green herb. Trust in the Lord and do good. Dwell in the land and befriend faithfulness. Delight yourself in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart. And so this is such a great reminder that just because someone is doing well in life doesn't necessarily mean that they have the things that really matter in this life. And I think when I read the psalm, it would be kind of easy to apply it and just say, like, okay, I'll be good and I'll value the things that are most important. But I don't think it's quite that simple. I think the psalm actually gives us an idea of what really makes the difference between the righteous person and the wrongdoer in the psalm. And I think it's humility. Right. Verse four says that we are to delight in the Lord. And what does that require? It requires humility. It requires us to acknowledge that God is worth delighting in and that he is God and we are not, that his ways are better than our ways. And most notably, we know from reading the whole Bible that all of us are wicked, all of us fall short of the glory, and so to delight in the Lord Properly. And to avoid doing wrong, we have to acknowledge that we are not good enough to do that on our own. And also, I think noting verse 11, it says, but the meek shall inherit the land. And this might sound familiar. And that's because Jesus takes us almost word for word in the Beatitudes in Matthew 5, 5, he says, blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth. And so again, it's this just this idea of humility that's being drawn out here, and especially this final ver. It says the Lord helps them and delivers them. He delivers them from the wicked and saves them because they take refuge in Him. And I emphasize that because since it's what God requires of us, he requires us to turn to him as our refuge. And that's when he delivers us. Right. It's not when we overcome all of our sin or our wickedness that God helps us. It's when we acknowledge that we need him as a refuge that we acknowledge our wickedness and ask him for help. And so the jump to Jesus isn't very far from that acknowledgement to say that we need him as Lord and Savior. We need him to not only deliver us from sin unto eternity, but also help us to walk in Christ likeness every single day.
- [03:31]
Shelby
Yeah, super helpful breaking that down, kind of using the theme of humility. And then also love that New Testament reference. We said that in the beginning, and we're gonna continue to bring those up for you. Okay, that was Psalm 37, but we also wanna touch on Psalm 38 today. What's happening in that psalm?
- [03:48]
Paul
Yeah, so I said they kind of connected thematically. And we see that in that David is really recognizing his sin in this Lament psalm, specifically the consequences of his sin. He says, there's no health in my bones because of my sin. And this might be a metaphor to describe his sin, or it could have been some kind of physical ailment that he thought was judgment upon him. But Regardless, in verse 15, we get that pivot towards humility that I've been discussing. He says, but for you, O Lord, do I wait. It is you, O Lord, my God, who will answer. So he acknowledges that he can't save himself from his sin or its consequences, and he needs help. And I think this draws me towards something that I often forget but have to remember. And it's that Jesus is actually with us in our sin. David's asking for help right in the middle of needing deliverance from his sin. And I think sometimes when I'm struggling with something, especially habitual sins, I can sort of imagine Jesus standing far, far off, looking at me with sort of this face of indignation. Right. But that's not what we see in the New Testament. In Second Corinthians 5, 21, it says, he made the one who did not know sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. So if Jesus became sin, why would he be far off from me in my sin? I think, no, it's the exact opposite. He's as close as he can possibly be. Right in the middle of the bad decision that I'm making, He's right there with me, loving me, wanting me to come back to him and walk in righteousness with Him. And I think that reminder of his presence transforms everything because it means that we're not pushing God away, we're not kicking him out of our hearts. He's still here because we have faith in him and we can come back to him at any moment and at any point in the decision process of sin, he is always willing to receive us back.
- [05:45]
Shelby
Yeah, I love that. And I think we can even see that in the life of Jesus. Right. We saw him come to sinners and say, come, follow me. And he was inviting them into this close and personal relationship with Himself. And so super cool thing to draw out there, man. I just love how the Psalms provide perspective and some perspective that I found in today's reading. And these are kind of heavy verses, so let me just read a couple of them. It says, lord, make me aware of my end in the number of my days so that I will know how short lived I am. In fact, you have made my days just inches long, and my lifespan is as nothing to you. Yes, every human being stands only as a vapor.
- [06:25]
Paul
Wow.
- [06:25]
Shelby
I need that eternal perspective. I don't know about you, but sometimes my days feel so long and I can get so caught up in everything that won't last for eternity. And so for me, I'm taking eternal perspective away from my time in the Psalms today. Okay, thank you so much, Paul. We're going to be back with Psalms 41:45 tomorrow.