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Tara Leigh Cobble
Hey, Bible Readers, I'm Tara Leigh Cobble, and I'm your host for the Bible recap. We covered seven Psalms today. One of my favorite parts about Psalm 43 is how David preaches the gospel to himself. He's struggling and he feels far from God, but he speaks reminders of the truth to his own soul in verse 5. Why are you downcast, O my soul? And why are you in turmoil within me? Hope in God, for I shall again praise him, my salvation and my God. David tells his heart and mind what to do. This is exactly the kind of thing Moses told the Israelites to do in tough times, to remember who God is and what he has done. David is putting Moses words into practice. Hundreds of years later, in Psalm 44, we see that the writers, the sons of Korah, are even relying on the things God has done for their ancestors, not just themselves personally, as a source of praise. They remember that God is the one who grants victory, not a man's strong arm or a sword or a bow. Especially since sometimes Israel didn't even take weapons to war at all. Remember back when Moses warned the Israelites against three kinds of sinful thinking? One was fearful thought and two were prideful thoughts. In Deuteronomy 8, Moses addressed the second kind of prideful thought by saying, beware, lest you say in your heart, my power and the might of my hand have gotten me this wealth. You shall remember the Lord your God, for it is he who gives you power to get wealth that he may confirm his covenant that he swore to your fathers. As it is this day. Again, the writers are doing exactly what Moses encouraged them to do. They're walking in humility, and it leads them to praise God. But right now, the sons of Korah are confused because God doesn't seem to currently be granting the kind of victory he did in the past. From their vantage point, it seems like God has not kept up his end of the covenant, so they're taking that concern to God himself. They have no idea what kind of sin might be prompting God's silence on their behalf, and they ask God to come to their rescue. We don't get any indication if their claim is right or wrong, whether there's sin to be repented of among the people or not. But the fact that this is written to be a corporate song is an interesting thing, because then when the people are singing it, it might prompt some individual reflection, which in turn might prompt some repentance from any unconfessed sins among the people. By the way, the reason we know this song was written to be sung corporately is because it has that little phrase at the top that says to the choirmaster, personal songs usually say something like Of David or of Asaph. If you want more info on all this, we'll link to a short article in the show Notes. And if you haven't been reading those little lines at the top, check them out it's really interesting to read a psalm in light of its intended voice and audience. For instance, Psalm 45 was written for a wedding. The king's wedding, to be precise. This one wasn't written by David, but it's probably about David, or at least about one of his descendants. Even in the context of a wedding, the song still opens with praise of God. Unlike Psalm 45, which is for two specific people, Psalm 49 is addressed to everyone, all the peoples of the earth. The psalmist has one message for everyone. Rich and poor, low and high, wise and foolish. And the message is, you're going to die. It's basically a call to remember what matters in life, because that will drive out fear. In verse 5 he says, why should I fear in times of trouble? He points out that God has ransomed his soul so in the face of worldly oppression or even death, he can rejoice. And while Psalm 49 ends by focusing on death, Psalm 84 brings things back to focus on life, specifically the life of God's servant. The psalmist says he never feels more at home than in God's house. When he's away from it, he feels weak, but when he's there, he feels alive. Verses 5 through 7 talk about strength. Verse 5 says, Blessed are those whose strength is in you. And verse seven continues, they go from strength to strength. There's a hint here that the overall Context of verses 5 through 7 indicates something along the lines of they go from you to you. I love that. It's like there's no other place to go but to the Lord. He's our home and he's our strength. The psalmist values nearness to God above everything else, and he's even willing to serve in humble positions just to draw near to God. Psalm 85 is a corporate lament. It points to God's past faithfulness and asks him to bless Israel again. One of the standout features of this psalm is how much it calls on the character of God and the name of God. When God told Moses his name back in Exodus 34, a lot of the words he used to describe himself are the same words sprinkled throughout this poem. He forgives iniquity and sin, like in verse 2. He shows steadfast love and faithfulness, like in verses 7 and 10. He doesn't clear the guilty, like in verses 4 and 5. And the ending has some really beautiful imagery. Israel promises to let their faithfulness rise up from the ground and trust that God's righteousness will look down from the sky and those two things will meet each other in a holy kiss. And we ended with the weird and Wonderful Psalm 87, which is where my God shot showed up today it's easy to read this psalm and miss what it's hinting at. This psalm isn't just praising Zion or Jerusalem. It's obvious that God loves Jerusalem for sure, but it's pointing out something else about God here as well. The people it lists are all Gentiles. There's Rahab, which either refers to the Canaanite prostitute or more likely is a nickname for Egypt. Then there's Babylon, a wicked city. Philistia, their enemy Tyra, another wicked city. And it celebrates that those people are all welcomed in Zion. The psalm points out Israel's unique relationship to God, but shows that he invites others, other nations, to make a home among his people. And it closes with a celebration of singing and dancing in honor of the God who provides for his people and invites outsiders to be his people. I'm so grateful he adopts outsiders, not just insiders, because I'm a Gentile. But hey, all my springs are in him too, you guys, because he's where the joy is. If you've ever not wanted to read the Bible, raise your hand unless you're driving right now. Hands on the wheel. But if that's relatable, you might like this month's bonus content for Recaptains. It's a bonus episode called what to do when youn Don't Want to Read the Bible. It's available to the recaptains at the bonus content tier or higher. Recaptains are God's way of keeping the lights on at tbr. The people like you who financially support TBR so we can help more people read, understand, and love God and His Word. You can join the recaptains at a variety of support levels and you can adjust or cancel your membership at any time. Become a recaptain today or if you joined at a lower tier and you want this perk, just log in to your account and adjust your membership accordingly. Check out today's show notes for the link.