Saturday, January 25, 2025

Psalm 11,93 Psalm Addendums

These are additional notes to our Psalms posts on Sundays.   

Psalm 11 Addendum

11:1: This is likely what my “un-renewed mind” says.  Flee as a bird to your mountain.  I often tell people how much I love a “road trip.”  But I wonder at times if this “wanderlust” is not a tool I use just to escape reality.  I’m not “alcoholic,” but maybe instead I am “roadaholic.”  Father, I submit my heart and soul to you that you might continue to do the mind-renewal project.

11:4: Your throne is in heaven.  Help me to be heavenly minded.  By which we mean, not denying or escaping what needs to be done in me and through me on this earth, but rather Christ-focused, setting my mind and heart on things above where Christ sits at Your right hand.

11:5: God, You, are a person.  You also have a soul!

11:5: You test the righteous.  In other words, they are already righteous.  By Your work you are increasing their righteousness.  Help me to be yielded to You, a living sacrifice.

Psalm 119:161-168 Addendum

119:161: “princes.”  Isaiah 40:23 says that the LORD brings “princes” to naught.  So with the Psalmist here: stand in awe of God’s word, not the word of the princes.  Ah, but for the Lord Jesus, the Prince of Peace!  “Prince” in 119:161 is “sar”, used many times (421) of a chief, leader, elder, captain and so forth.  This term is used of Jesus in Isa. 9:6. In Isa. 40:23 it is “razan,” used only six times, and has the idea of someone who is weighty, commanding.  It was first used by Deborah as she sang praising the LORD for victory (Judges 5:3).  It is also used of the rulers of earth who take counsel against the LORD and His Anointed (Ps. 2:2). 

Psalm 93 Addendum

93:5: “testimonies.”  The Hebrew is “eda” and is always plural, and always used in relationship to the truth of someone’s word (26 times).  The first use is in Gen. 21:30 where Abraham offered seven lambs that they might be a “witness that I have dug this well.”  Then, Gen. 31:52, where Jacob set up a pillar as a “witness” of the boundary between him and Laban.  Then, in Deuteronomy (3X) and the Psalms (19X) they are used of God’s word (14X in Ps. 119, the Psalm of the Word of God).  God’s word is a full of “testimonies” because they are a witness to God in terms of who He is in truth.  When “witnessing” to others the best thing is to encourage them to read the Bible.  They need our testimony but they need God’s testimony.

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