How to Study the Bible III - Psalms 1 2 & 6
Psalm 1:2 · Vern Peterman · Aug 21, 2016
How to Study Bible (2016), No. 32
Holly Hills Bible Church
https://www.hollyhillsbiblechurch.org/teaching/messages/4926537437514

Transcribed from the recording by SermonAudio, so expect the occasional misheard word.

A look here at Psalms 1, 2, and 6. Just an introduction. Psalms is Israel's national hymn book. Anybody recall offhand how many? 150 of them, right? One of the things to ponder is they were accumulated, unlike a lot of the books, Unlike a lot of the books of the Bible, which were written in shorter periods of time, this is one of them that was accumulated over a long period of time, a thousand years.

So if you can kind of imagine that, Just kind of picture, you know, all right, we're going to write the first psalm and now a thousand years from now will be done, right? So this is accumulating over a long period of time. Try to project yourself into it. Yeah. How do you know it was a thousand years? As you look over the different ones, the first one was Moses. Okay. And so here's about, and this was a crossing of the Red Sea.

So you get, you know, 1446 BC. you get almost half of the Psalms written by David so he's writing about a thousand BC and then they continue to accumulate them over time, and so it was really towards the end of the Old Testament year before they actually pulled them all together.

They're organized into five different groupings, but even within a group, like we're going to be looking at 1st, 2nd, and the 6th Psalm, they're all, from a literary standpoint, all very different. And so that's one of the things with the Psalms is we call them Psalms and they're Israel's national hymn book, but they can be quite varied in character. And we'll be seeing that as we take a look at it. One of the things that also happens is because they're different in character, gaining an insight into each of them comes from observing and then matching it up with the tools that we have to understand them.

So here's Psalm 1, how blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked, nor stand in the path of sinners, nor sit in the seat of scoffers. So there's the first verse. Let's ask a few questions here. How blessed is the man? Now this is what we've got to think about, because are believers in the church blessed? Yes, alright? And then, here's how blessed is the man. So there's a blessing for the Jew, right? And there's a blessing for the Christian. But let's think about this. How blessed is a man who does not walk? So it depends on what he does, right? So what happens if a man does walk in the Council of the Wicked? Is he blessed?

He won't be, right? So this is key. You first start reading it. Wait a minute. This is blessed only if I do certain things and don't do certain other things, right? So blessed here is conditional, right? It is written for Jews, right? And it's conditional.

And then the next question, where am I blessed? If I'm a Jew and I walk in conditionally in obedience, where am I blessed? In the land. and I'm blessed in earthly ways, right? So I'm blessed in the land, blessed in earthly ways, but as a believer, where am I blessed? In the blessed in the heavenlies, and one more location, in Christ. So I'm blessed in the heavenlies, in Christ, and now, am I blessed in the heavenly places, in Christ, no matter how I walk? Yes, I'm blessed in the heavenly places.

This is Ephesians 1.3. No matter how I walk. So just the first thing I see in this thing, that word blessed, it's one where we have to compare and contrast and look at it. As a Christian believer in Christ, I'm blessed unconditionally in the heavenly places. As a Jew reading this, I'm blessed only if I walk godly and I'm blessed in the land and I'm blessed on earth.

So the same word, at least as it comes across in English, but radically different. I've noticed something similar in John 15, 10. Jesus said, if you keep my commandments, you will remain in my love, just as I kept my father's commandments and remained in his love. It's conditional. If you keep my commandments, you will remain. If you don't keep the commandments, you won't remain in my love.

Yeah, and now that's a side trip that we won't be able to take time for here, but a key thing is not everything about the Christian walk is unconditional, right? That's why we talk about position, which is unconditional, and condition, which is certainly conditional, right?

This is the man who does not walk. Now we talked about this word walk before, and we said it's what kind of a term? It's a Jewish term. It starts way back in Genesis. Noah did what with God? He walked with God, right? Enoch walked with God. So it starts early, continues on here, and is carried forward into the New Testament, right? So that word walk is a Jewish understanding. Now, let's look at the next one.

Wicked is what? How is wicked defined in the Jewish context? He's certainly evil. As a matter of fact, he's got some synonyms. You've got wicked sinners and scoffers. But it's living contrary to the law of Moses. Living contrary to the law of Moses. So now I've got walk, nor stand. So I walk and then stand.

And what's the next verb there? Sit. Now, here's something very interesting. This walk, stand, sit. Those are very pivotal words in the book of Ephesians. So is the word blessed, isn't it? Let's ask this question. Here, it's walking and standing and then sitting, and it has to do with the wicked and the sinners and the scoffers. But let's ask this question. Where are you seated? With Christ in the heavenlies, right?

And so we have that. There is walking brought up in the book of Ephesians. He has prepared good works that we might walk in them. And then in chapters four and five, the exhortation to walk. Walk as children of God, right? So you have that, and then how about stand?

Where does that show up in Ephesians? Chapter 6, having to do with spiritual worship. Isn't that interesting? So there are parallels between this and the book of Ephesians. In all three verbs, in walk and stand and sit, and there's also a parallel in terms of what's blessed, even though it's defined differently.

Alright, so let's take a look then at verse 2, but his delight is in the law of the Lord. Which law is that? The law of Moses, right? So his delight is in the law of the Lord, the law of Moses, and then in his law he meditates day and night. Now, why doesn't he just say meditates all the time? Because the Hebrew way of doing things is two halves make the whole, right? So it's not he created the world, he created heaven and earth. It's not he walks all the time or he delights all the time or meditates all the time, it's he meditates day and night. So that's the Jewish way of thinking, is you put two halves together and make the whole.

Yes? Who wrote this psalm? Is this David? Ah, good question. And I don't know, your notes in your Bible may say. Yours doesn't? Let's see if this one does. A lot of these have explanatory notes in the original writing of it. They may or may not be carried over in the English. The Bible here doesn't say. I can look that up and see if I can get an answer. No, I don't know if I can.

Let's take a further look here. His delight is in the law of the Lord, and he meditates day and night. So delight points to emotions, and meditation points to thought. Thought and emotions focus on the law. Now here's where we turn an interesting corner.

In verse 3, he will be like a tree firmly planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in its season, and its leaf does not wither, and whatever he does, he prospers. Okay, now, so why shift to the tree analogy? Why does that word picture fit? First of all, this prosperous thing, prospering, is that being spiritually prosperous or in what way? Materially prosperous in the land.

And, I have a note there, Deuteronomy 20, 19 and 20, and that says According to the Law of Moses, you may not cut down a fruit-bearing, healthy tree. So what does this say? This tree firmly planted by streams of water yields its fruit in its season, so you can't cut it down. So this is the mindset, he's like a tree, you can't cut him down and he's doing well and he's bearing fruit and his leaves are not withered, but they're healthy, right?

You can't cut it down, so whatever he does, he prospers. Now let's turn this around to one more thing. One of the things we encounter in the Gospels is if a person is rich and doing well, he's prospering, what was the assumption? He must be a godly person and God's blessed him.

If something bad happens, then what's the assumption? Then you're a sinner and they even had this kind of bad thing results in this kind of, from this kind of sin. They even had a kind of a chart and table of connecting up, you know, this sin results in this bad consequence. Here's a man born blind and the question is, who sinned. So this points to the Jewish mindset. And so he prospers, is earthly blessed. Earthly blessed. See that?

Do you think that in the book of Revelation John may have used this as his expansion on that in Revelation where it talks about the trees by the streams of water and all that sort of thing? Ah, in that, he's talking about the Tree of Life, and in the New Heavens, New Earth, what that's bringing is bringing the garden, things from the garden back into the New Heavens, New Earth. Because it's specifically the Tree of Life. Some relationship, but ultimately it's specifically the Tree of Life, not just a fruit-bearing tree.

Okay, so then, so you have that pattern. Now, isn't it interesting as you look at this, as you look at this, have you ever looked at Psalm 1 and kind of noticed this blessed? And it's an earthly blessing and it's you're blessed conditionally, see? So it's one of those areas where it's important to compare what's similar And what contrast? Bless you. So it's comparison and contrast.

Now what would happen if I just looked at this and didn't contrast it with how I'm blessed as a Christian? And I didn't contrast it with the fact that I'm not under the law. What would I conclude from this? Yeah, if I'm not looking at this with comparison, what's similar, and what contrasts, I can easily look at this and it pulls me into legalism.

Instead I can look at it and say, okay, blessed, does that mean something to me? Does that mean something to them? So that's a comparison, but then I look at the contrast. Wait a minute, how am I blessed? And where am I blessed? So we look at comparison and contrast to understand that. Yeah, it's easy for this to justify legalism. Now, here's also another point of comparison and contrast here, and that is the first three verses there have to do with the one who is blessed because he walks not in the counsel of the wicked. But then we have verse four, the wicked are not so. and they're like chaff, which the wind drives away.

Now, what's chaff? Tell me about chaff. It's like dross. Okay. It's like the stuff you don't eat. Alright, so think about the harvest. How are they going to do the harvest? First they're going to go out in the field and let's say I've got wheat, which I couldn't eat, but anyway, let's say I've got wheat and I'm going to go cut those the stand of wheat, right? And then what am I going to do?

Separate the wheat from the chaff. Right, I'm going to break off the heads and then separate the wheat from the chaff and how do I do that? And so you take it and you throw it up in the air on a windy day and the chaff just kind of blows away, right? And the wheat falls close by because it's heavier, right? And do you care about what happens to the chaff? Not particularly because it's the wheat that you're aiming for. The whole process of cutting, breaking off the heads, casting the wheat into the air so that the chaff blows away.

That whole process is designed to end up with wheat and you don't want the chaff. You certainly don't want to grind it up and have it with your meal, right? It's useless. Yeah, it's useless and so you just let the wind blow it away and you don't mess with it. Okay.

And then this is, therefore, the wicked will not stand in judgment, nor sinners in the assembly of the righteous. For the Lord knows the way of the righteous. Those are the ones who are blessed. But the way of the wicked will perish. So here's another comparison and contrast. The contrast is the first three verses of the one who is the righteous man who is blessed. with the last three verses that talks about the wicked one. So you have comparison and contrast in two different ways. One is between the righteous and the wicked, and the other comparison and contrast is between the Jewish person trying to live according to the law of Moses and the Christian who is blessed unconditionally.

Does everybody have a handout here? Let's go on to the second page. This is Psalm 2, which by the way I mentioned earlier the Psalms are very different. This one is a very different Psalm from the one we just read. This talks about how people live. Psalm 2 talks about a time that hasn't even happened yet. Psalm 2 is about the end of the tribulation and the second coming. So radically different from Psalm 1.

So this is about the end of tribulation, the second coming. It's specifically about the Gentiles who will come against the Jews in the last half of the tribulation period. And we're going to talk about it today in the main service. This has to do with the campaign of Armageddon.

Let's take a look here at the first verse there and the beginning of verse 2. Why are the nations in an uproar and the peoples devising a vain thing? The kings of the earth take their stand. and the rulers take counsel together against the Lord and against His anointed. So let's take a look at those first two verses.

Whenever you see in the Bible, the nations, when you see the nations, what's the other way of translating the nations? Gentiles. In the Greek, it's ethnos. It's where we get our terms, ethnic, ethnicity. So it's Gentiles. So the pattern in the Bible, Old Testament on into the New. If it's the nations, it's Gentiles.

If it's the nation, it's who? The Jews. Israel, right? And a lot of times, and even in the same verse, you'll have the peoples, and who is that referring to? Gentiles, right? And if it's the people, who is it referring to? The Jews, right? So that pattern is in the Old Testament on into the last book of the Bible. The nation, the people, Israel, the Jews. The nations, the people, the peoples, plural, Gentiles. And so that's the pattern. There's one more pattern that you'll find is very interesting, and it goes from the Old Testament on into the last chapters of the Bible.

And that is the term, the kings of the earth. The kings of the earth is an old ancient term that the Jews use that continues on into the last chapters of Revelation. And the kings of the earth are who? They're the leaders of the Gentiles. And then when you say the rulers, that's simply rhyming in the Hebrew poetry pattern. Let's take a look at the last couple of pages in what you have in your handout. And this is looking at these kings of the earth and peoples and nations phrases. What I did is I took those places where we have kings of the earth and where there was also peoples or nations, I included it. But the focus here is on kings of the earth.

So 1 Kings 3.43 Men came from all peoples to hear the wisdom of Solomon, and from all the kings of the earth who had heard of his wisdom." So, from all peoples, so that's referring to Gentiles, right? And the kings of the earth are who? The leaders of the Gentiles. And we go through, essentially I got a long list and I won't go through all of them.

But let's take a look at the middle of that page, Psalm 102.15.

So the nations will fear the name of the Lord and all the kings of the earth, your glory. And so you will see that pattern. There's one more that crops up towards the end of the page, and it only shows up a few times, but judges of the earth is another phrase that refers to judges over the Gentiles. So you'll see that pattern, and it continues on into page two, and what you see is it even goes on into the new heavens and the new earth. So it's not going to end when this present heavens and earth ends. There's still reference here in Revelation 21-24, the nations, and who's that referring to?

The Gentiles will walk by its light, and the kings of the earth will bring their glory into it. So on into the new heavens and new earth, the identity of Gentiles versus Jews will remain, and there will continue to be kings over the Gentiles on into the new heavens and new earth. Is that surprising? Maybe.

So anyway, this is a pattern that you continue to see, that Kings of the Earth phrase shows up in Revelation 1.5, and then shows up several times in the middle of Revelation, and then again 21.24, the one we read, which is the last occurrence. So this is a prominent term for the leaders of the Gentiles.

And you'll find it in the Bible again and again. So guess what? If you see it in a passage, you say, ah, okay, I've learned something and now I can take that and I can carry it from one end of the Bible to the other. As a tool to help understand it. Okay, so let's go back to Psalm 2. So why are the nations in uproar? Who's that? the Gentiles in an uproar, and the peoples, so that's essentially a rhyming term, devising a vain thing, the kings of the earth take their stand.

And this verse, by the way, is quoted in Acts 4.26. By the way, we're going to be starting into Acts at the beginning of the year next year. And as we do so, one of the things we're going to find is that as Peter talks to the Jews in Jerusalem, he quotes passages to just scare them to death, so to speak. And this is one of them. It's a judgment passage, right?

Against the Lord and against His anointed, okay? And what does that anointed mean? The Messiah, okay? Against the Lord and against His Messiah. So this is, and by the way, Christ has got several different references in here, and not always the same name, so this is the first one. So look at that. So against the Lord and against his Messiah. The Messiah is the anointed one. In Greek we say Christos, for it's anglicized to Christ. In the Hebrew it's Hamashiach, anglicized to Messiah. But that's what that means.

So let us tear their fetters apart and cast away their cords from us. So here are the armies of the Antichrist. coming against the Lord and against the Messiah. And then in verse four, he who sits in the heavens laughs and the Lord scoffs at them. He will speak to them in his anger and terrify them with his fear. Okay, before we go past that, when Christ comes again, how will he deal with the armies of the Antichrist.

Will they come there and say, okay, Vern, you take this legion over here and you take on that, and Morgan, I'm going to have you taking this group over here and I want you to hit them on the left flank. Is that the way he's going to do it? No. What's he going to do? Speak. See that? He'll speak to them in his anger. And that's not just, well, you terrible people, right? He's not just going to yell at them and say bad things about them. When He speaks, what's it going to do? It's going to take them out.

Remember, what does Christ have in His mouth throughout the book of Revelation up to chapter 19? He's got a ramphaya, which is a five foot long battle sword. It's not the mechaira, which is the two foot long Greek, excuse me, Roman soldier standard issue, but it's a five foot long sword. The Ramphaya was designed to hack flesh. to be kind of crude about it. Yes. Just so everybody has perspective, I am 5 foot. So it's a story that is my height.

Yes, and so when Christ speaks, it isn't just that he's not coming back. Well, you nasty antichrist, right? He's not just talking to them, and he's not there cursing them out or anything like that. He speaks and they're just destroyed. He speaks and they're ruined.

Isn't that also what happened in creation? Think about it. When God created the world, how did He create? Spoke. So when God speaks, things happen. Big things happen. That's also true in judgment. When God speaks, big things happen. Really big things.

So to speak to them in His anger is not just, boy, He's really ticked off and you guys are going to get a real yelling. Right? He's not just saying that. He's saying He's going to speak and it's going to be massively destructive for the armies of the Antichrist. Yes, things happen, major things happen when He speaks. So, verse 6, but as for me, I have installed my King.

Ah, so this is the second name of Christ. Right? I have installed my King and where? Zion, my holy mountain. By the way, they don't live in Colorado, they've got a very different idea of what a mountain is. We would say it's sort of a hill, but anyway, Zion is my holy mountain. By the way, what are the two names of the so-called mountains? You've got Zion, which is in old Jerusalem, kind of southwest. That was about the area where they had the Last Supper. And then you've got Moriah, is another pronunciation I've heard, that is where the temple is located. So those two are kind of the mountains of Jerusalem. Okay, so now you've got this.

For me, I have installed my king. Who's me? God, God the Father, ultimately, right? I have installed my King, who is Christ, the Anointed One, the Messiah, upon Zion. I will surely tell of the decree of the Lord. He said to me, You are my Son. Now, who's He? The Father. You are my Son. So this is God the Son. So here's the third name for Christ in this psalm. Today I have begotten you, right? Ask of me and I will surely give the nations as your inheritance." What does that mean? The nations? The Gentiles, right?

So Christ isn't just King of Israel? He's going to be King of Israel over the Jews in an expanded land. Genesis and Ezekiel give us the territory and the division between the tribes, and it goes all the way to the river Euphrates. It encompasses what's now eight nations, in whole or in part. So that's the land over which Christ will be King, but it doesn't end there, does it? He'll also be King of kings and Lord of lords over the Gentile nations. So that's what this is talking about, not just, I've installed my king, he's king there in Zion, which refers to Israel, but then I will surely give the nations as your inheritance. He will be over the Gentile nations as well. And to the very ends of the earth, and that also points to the nations, not just Israel, as your possession.

You shall break, and I'll add to that a rule, would be another translation, rule them with a rod of iron. Now, what's the significance of the rod of iron? Well, it speaks of power. Yeah, I've got a rod of iron and rebellion and lawlessness will be treated how? With intensity, right? And so that's why we have here a rod of iron and it's quoted, yeah. Is rod in that sense, is it a standard of measurement or is it?

It's a symbol of rulership. So it's a symbol of rulership, it's not a symbol of standard. A measure or something. That word is also used, but that's based on rabdos. In other words, that's a standard of measure, and that's also used in Revelation. This one is a rod of iron indicating power and authority and judgment.

And so now we have a rod of iron, and it's quoted in Revelation 2, 26 and 27. and referred to in Revelation 12.5 and 19.15.

In 19.15, chapter 19 is when Christ comes again and he uses that rod of iron against two, the forces of the Antichrist.

So what you have, and you shall shatter them like earthenware, like you ever see a clay pot get smashed? Not that you necessarily go and purposely smash it, but just even dropping it or something like that, just shatters, right? And so that's the word picture that's used. Yes? And we've never taken earthenware vessel that you have shattered and tried to put that together with the material?

It doesn't work very well. that really puts it together well. So you look at this, at first people say, well this is about the end of the tribulation and the second coming, but you go through it piece by piece, and yep, it is. And as a matter of fact, the New Testament quotes from parts of it repeatedly, even to the point of Revelation 19.15 referring to Christ's second coming. So what we'll see when we get into the main services, the second page will be a full map of the campaign of Armageddon. It has 8 stages. Stage 5 will be the national regeneration of Israel. Right now most of the people who live in Israel are not Hasidic or observant Jews. It's less than 10%. Most of them are atheist or agnostic. Most of them are atheists or agnostic. But what's going to happen is many of the Jews will die.

The figure that Zechariah 13 gives is two-thirds. But those who remain will all be saved. Those who remain will all be saved. And that doesn't fit the proportion of what's there in Israel now. So what's going to happen is these Jews are going to be in a place where they're going to see no matter how good our military is, we are not going to be able to survive this except by God's direct intervention. And they will realize that. And they will realize that only God can save us. Only God can save us now. And guess what? He will. He will. And that's the really cool thing. He's telling us in advance what's going to happen. And it's as close as seven years from now.

And so what people see over there now in terms of the spiritual condition of the people of Israel is no reflection on what's going to happen. In the end, all Israel, all those who are believing and surviving, will be saved. All Israel will be saved. That's Romans chapter 11. It will be an astounding and amazing thing. It will be miraculous. And as Nancy and I stood there at the Garden of Gethsemane, looked across this Kidron Valley, and then over there to the Eastern Gate, which Ezekiel chapter 44 verse 3 says will be opened by the Messiah. It's that valley in between, where the forces of the Antichrist will be killed. So we know where it is, and the conditions leading up to it, we know what those are. The Lord knows what He's doing. OK, thoughts, questions? OK, let's go to the next one.

Page 3, oh, there we got on the top of page 3 the rest of Psalm 2, it says, Now therefore, O kings, so short for the kings of the earth, right? And judges of the earth, and by the way, that only shows up here and then in Psalm 140 at 11 and Isaiah 40, 23, but it is a lesser used, also a term for the leaders of the Gentiles, the judges of the Gentiles, okay?

Worship the Lord with reverence and rejoice with trembling. Rejoice, implying rejoice in the Lord, with trembling, right? Do homage to the Son. So here's the fourth time Christ is mentioned. Do homage to the Son that he not become angry and you perish in the way. For his wrath may soon be kindled and blessed are all who take refuge in him. Now let's ask this question. His wrath may soon be kindled.

Who is possibly subject to the wrath of Christ when he returns? The wicked. So anyone who follows the Antichrist and especially those in this case who come against militarily the Jews because God will fight for them. Zechariah 14 it says that God's feet that God's feet will touch the Mount of Olives and he will fight as he fights in the day of battle. Yes? Technically, wouldn't that mean all unbelievers? All unbelievers and all those, particularly in this case, what the context is all those who oppose the Jews who are God's chosen people, right?

So Christ comes and we'll see the eight stages of the campaign of Armageddon. Ever hear about the Battle of Armageddon? The Armageddon isn't really a place for battle. It's a place of the gathering of the forces of the Antichrist. That's what Armageddon is. It's actually the gathering place of the forces of the Antichrist.

Now let's ask about in verse 12, His wrath may soon be kindled. Is that going to be against you? No, and why not? Why isn't this spoken against you? Because Christ will be there. We won't be there, and why won't we be there? In other words, we will already have been taken up before the tribulation begins. And we will have been praising the Lord during this time, and we will come back with Him. We will come back with Him, but we won't do any fighting. Because He'll do it all. And all He has to do is speak.

So we won't be subject to His wrath, because we've already been taken up, and matter of fact, we've been promised We've been promised in Romans two times, in 1 Thessalonians, and then also in Revelation chapters 2 and 3 that we won't be subject to that.

Okay, so then we go on to Psalm 6, and I jump to that because now we've got a different pattern altogether, and it's Hebrew poetry patterns. And so we've got it arranged so that the poetry patterns are more evident. Now when I say Hebrew poetry patterns, what do I mean by that?

The way in which the Jews wrote that new rhyme. Right, so the Jews would write poetry and song, and what would they do when they did that? They would perform ideas, and there's this poem that you talk about where there's a key point right in the middle. Right, so repetition and rhyming right? And sometimes chiasm, and so that they would write in particular ways.

Now one of the advantages of doing it that way instead of the way we do it, because we're going to sing songs here in the next service, right? And what are we going to do? We're going to rhyme sounds, right? And typically at the end of a verse is where we want to rhyme sounds, right? And so that's why it's so easy to put in, you know, thing and king and sing, right? So we put all those things in there. But in the Hebrew, you don't rhyme the sounds, you rhyme the meaning and ideas. So you'll use synonyms or you'll restate things.

And that's great because it means when we translate it into another language, you still get the rhyming of ideas. And you get that idea, which if we were to take our songs and translate them into another language, it wouldn't carry over, right? I was over in Germany about 30 years ago and was at a Lutheran church where they sang, A Mighty Fortress is Our God. And I'm sure it all came out well, but they had to translate everything quite differently when they brought it over into English. because, you know, we want to rhyme sounds.

Alright, so now, here we go. So it says, O Lord, and how many times do you see O Lord repeated in this psalm? One, two, three, four, five, six, seven. Ah, seven times. I wonder if that's significant. Ah, okay. So, O Lord, do not rebuke me in your anger, nor chasten me in your wrath, and is that intended to rhyme? Don't rebuke me in your anger nor chase me in your wrath." So it's rhyming ideas, right? So it's a restatement of the same idea used in different words.

Be gracious to me, O Lord, for I am pining away. Heal me, O Lord, for my bones are dismayed and my soul is greatly dismayed. But you, O Lord, how long? Return, O Lord, rescue my soul, save me. Because now I have a pattern. and I didn't highlight it all, but how many times do you have you or your? Actually, if you start at the top, and I didn't catch that, the bold, so you've got two up there, so you end up having you or your easily five times there. I am weary with, and then you see a pattern, excuse me, I'm jumping ahead here. Return, O Lord, rescue me, save my soul, save me because of your loving kindness.

There is no mention of you in death and Sheol, now what's Sheol? This is the Hebrew word for the place of the dead, right? The place where the dead are. She'll who will give you thanks and that is when they're saying that is is You know, we we don't communicate with them and they don't communicate with us, right?

So now is the time I'm weary with my sighing every night. I make my bed swim now. How's that for figure of speech in the word picture? Anybody have any swimming beds? It's been a while how many of you slept on a waterbed I I had a friend that slept in a waterbed while it was filling up with water, only he fell asleep while it was filling up, and he had lots of water all over his house. Anyway, but I make my bed swim, right?

I dissolve my couch with my tears. Now these are really intense word pictures, aren't they? I make my bed swim, I dissolve my couch, right? These are really intense words. My eye has wasted away with grief. It has become old because of all my adversaries. Depart from me, all you who do iniquity, for the Lord has heard the voice of my weeping. The Lord has heard my supplication and receives my prayer."

So here's the pattern of my. My, my, my. Now the first my's are what? How would you characterize the first my's there in verse 6? Yeah, these are all, boy, I'm just really distraught. Now as I look in verses 8 and 9, the my's, the Lord has heard the voice of my weeping, the Lord has heard my supplication, the Lord receives my prayer.

So the my pattern is repeated again, but different. In this case, the Lord heard me. The Lord heard me. all my enemies will be ashamed and greatly dismayed they shall turn back and they will suddenly be ashamed. So anyway a real different pattern from the first two songs we looked at and this one looking at the Hebrew poetry patterns becomes the prominent tool for taking a look at it and how do I understand this song. So am I supposed to see, so in this we have six, great grief, and turmoil, probably some fear, and then in eight there's liquidity, there's heaving, but then in ten it's my enemies, and then they're the issue, dismay, so it's almost, is it supposed to be turning it? Yeah, in other words, the dismay used to be mine, right? Now the Lord's going to turn this the other way. But let's ask this question. Let's do compare and contrast again.

Is this exclusively Jewish, or is it mostly Jewish, or is this just a believer? I think a mindset is used, but I think most people who have lived as a saint at any moment, especially in certain parts of history, could relate as far as the emotional part of being a saint. That's not the literal of what's happening. But as a sage, any place, everywhere, will it suffer from the word of the Messiah?

Yeah, and as we look at this, this is expressing great distress. And the Lord's responding. Does the Lord respond right away? No. No, and I think that's something else for us to look at. The Lord may say, no, I'm not going to answer with an immediate yes, right?

I think it also has a lot to do with relationship. If you really look at it, it's the believer to his God. And it's how you respond and what's going to happen in life. And that's what it says in Hebrews. He will punish those who he loves. And so this is all part of the life process. And this is how you respond if you have a relationship. Yeah. Yeah.

And it makes a great point because in 8 and 9, after he says, depart from me, all you who do iniquity for the Lord, ask her, the voice, ask her, I mean there's a total confidence in God, which I think saints who understand God, that is our confidence point. Regardless of what's happening, regardless of whether we're going to lose our life or whatever, the confidence point is He has heard me, He knows my prayers, He will take care of it in His life.

So let's ask a few questions. I mean, as I look at this, where, say, the first one, Psalm 1, I could look at it and say, well, that's looking specifically at a Jewish context, and I can glean some things from it. This Psalm 6 isn't just all Jewish custom and Jewish law, per se. It does have more direct application to me. So what are some of the conclusions we might have about things that we go through, or prayer, and that sort of thing, from the psalm. Is God going to answer every prayer immediately? He's going to immediately take care of all of our problems. Why not? He knows what's best. Here's the Apostle Paul, he says, I've got this thorn in the flesh, Lord, take it away. No. Lord, take it away. No. Lord, take it away. No. Well, God has a perfect plan.

It's more than just us. That's right. It's not all about me. Yes. Yeah. And we also, quote you, we also need what is happening to us. Yes. Maybe that's more and needs to be there so that we may further see. Yes. As a pastor, sometimes people will come and say, well, help me get the rock out of the way. I don't want to get the rock out of your way if God put it there, right? So it isn't always just a matter of, we've got to get rid of the problem, right? Yes?

Well, and often, if the problem is solved immediately, as a saint or a believer, you don't have the beautiful opportunity to know As Miss Marjoram, a woman who helped me on this first period, you know that you know that you know that God loves you, that He will comfort you, that He will have care for you.

And that's where you learn, it's in the midst of those trials, who God truly is. Another thing too about this, the end of verse 8 and 9 says about her, kind of brings out, is that we, he intently hears us, he values our prayers, he has heard us, it's definite, kind of like what Chris just said, and we, he puts our prayers in multiple folds, so this kind of resembles that, that it's just, it's valuable.

It is a, according to my Bible, it is a Davidic Psalm, and I can't really put my finger on it, but when I read this, it reminds me a whole lot of the 23rd Psalm. And the words aren't the same or anything, but it's just got the same, you know, this is how it's going to be. I think that's one thing, because we're going to go through more Psalms, and there's different patterns, more patterns beyond just what we've seen. And these are three very different Psalms. But there are even more patterns for us to take a look at and to look for as we go through the book of Psalms. We'll be going through Psalm 22 and 23. One we'll do probably in a couple of weeks here. So at any rate, we will proceed through picking out different patterns among the Psalms. and taking a look at that.

Any other thoughts? Questions? Okay, let's pray. Lord, we thank you for your word and you indeed have put great variety. We see in the one hand rejoicing, we also see lamenting, we see answered prayer, but also not just instant gratification as if you were somehow a genie or compelled to just do what we say. And Lord, we pray as we look at this and ponder these, just the lessons to be learned. and that those will be brought home to our hearts. We pray in Jesus' name. Amen.