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- [00:00]
Scott
Foreign.
- [00:05]
Co-host
Hey, you are listening to A Year in the Bible with Daily Grace. If you are listening on a podcast app, don't forget to subscribe. Follow YouTube. You can do the same so that you don't miss a single episode. Scott Today we are finishing up the Book of Psalms. We have been in this book for just about a month, which has been really refreshing, has been really helpful, encouraging, but we're going through the final five psalms today, which is crazy. Yeah, it is. Okay, so these final five psalms, what stood out to you?
- [00:40]
Scott
Sure, the first thing to point out, all five of these last five psalms begin the same way with Hallelujah or Praise the Lord, depending on your translation, which I think is really cool. And I found a really neat comment from one commentator who pointed out that the book of Psalms began like back in Psalm 1. It began with blessed is the man and it ends with a sustained five fold equivalent of Bless the Lord. Bless the Lord. And he goes on to say that there's not so much any personal needs represented in these last five psalms, rather the focus is all on just praising God for His qualities. And so I love that Psalm 1 blesses the man. Going to end it out with Blessed is God. It's such a beautiful observation, but particular passage in this section is Psalm 146, 6, 9. This is one spot where again, I think you see God's transcendence and imminence in close proximity with each other. So transcendence. We read that he is the Maker of heaven and earth, the sea and everything in them. So God stands above all things. He's the Creator and yet he's also very intimately involved in the lives of his people, which we see in the next few verses. So he we read that he cares for the oppressed, he feeds the hungry, he frees prisoners. And I love that he gives sight to the blind. He gives care to the foreigners and the widows and the orphans. So God sees these vulnerable people who often go unseen by others, which I think is incredible. And it reminds Me of James 1:27 where he writes that pure and undefiled religion before God our Father is this to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself unstained by the world. And so reminder there, if we love God, if we want to imitate God, then we need to care about what God cares about. And he cares deeply about the poor and the vulnerable.
- [02:30]
Co-host
Yeah, absolutely. So we've got a couple more psalms left here. Any other thoughts to wrap up this section? And then we'll also have some Thoughts. To wrap up the entire book of
- [02:44]
Scott
Psalms, I'll mention Psalm 149. 4. The Lord takes delight in his people. He crowns the humble with victory. That's a verse I find myself coming back to a lot because I think there's a lot of times in my life where I feel like I can kind of trick myself into thinking that I'm a burden on God, that he. Maybe he's annoyed with me when I sin, when. Or that I've just disappointed him in some way, just in whatever form it takes that I burden the Lord. And this verse just reminds me of how complete opposite that is from reality. Like God delights in me. God delights in me. God takes pleasure in me. He doesn't put up with me. He enthusiastically embraces me. I. I make him happy. And remembering that makes me happy. Brings me joy.
- [03:37]
Co-host
Yeah, I love that. Enthusiastically embraces me. That's a really good thought. Okay, so the book of Psalms as a whole. Do you have any thoughts that can kind of wrap up our journey through these 150 chapters together?
- [03:53]
Scott
There's a quote I've long loved from John Calvin about the Psalms I've always encouraged by. I think it's an incredible quote. He wrote this about the book. He says, I have been accustomed to call this book, I think, not inappropriately. Great phrase. An anatomy of all parts of the soul. And he writes, there is not an emotion of which anyone can be conscious that is not here represented as in a mirror. Or rather, the Holy Spirit has here drawn to the life all the griefs, sorrows, fears, doubts, hopes, cares, perplexities. In short, all the distracting emotions with which the minds of men are known to be agitated. Great quotes. In other words, all the emotions we experience in our lives, day in and day out, are represented. They find voice somewhere in the Psalms. And I think Psalms shows how to process those emotions in the presence of the Lord. And for that reason, I think it's a book we need to be regularly reading and digesting. And in my own life, I've just radically been trying to increase the amount of times I read the Psalms. And I feel like I've already just seen the beneficial effects of that on my soul.
- [05:06]
Co-host
Yeah. Oh, man, I can't echo that enough. A while back, I started to rhythm of just listening to Psalms when I find myself in the car, and maybe not for the whole time I'm in the car. We have quite long commutes in the Houston Metro where we live, but just even beginning when I know I'm going to be alone by myself with my thoughts in the car, beginning that time in a psalm. It changes so much how my thoughts will play out for the whole rest of that time in the car. So maybe just a practical application of what you just said, but I think this whole book has encouraged me that I can bring my whole self to the Lord. And also I've been encouraged to love him holy. I think that I've seen people express their worship of God, their love for God, that has encouraged me to love and worship him more fully as well. And so I'm so thankful for this book. I'm so thankful that we got to spend the last month in it. I'm glad we got to wrap it up with you, Scott. But tomorrow, begin the begin the book of Proverbs, which is also a great book. I'm very excited to continue through wisdom literature with a few more books as we continue throughout the Old Testament and all of scripture this year. Thanks so much for leading us through these last 50 Psalms. Thanks for having me. Yeah. Okay. Proverbs starting tomorrow. We'll see you there.