May 14, 2024 - Psalms 1-5

The Psalms!  I love the Psalms!  They are the testimonies of good times and of bad times, saints just getting real about life with all its ups and downs.  That’s, I suppose, what so attracts me, i.e., these are our testimonies, my testimonies.  Typically, I spend some time in Psalm 1 which, noted by Charles Spurgeon, rightly sits at the head of the Psalter and lays out the two paths we can take in life:  that of righteousness or of wickedness.  About those testimonies of distress and trouble, David calls on the Lord in a time of trouble, remembering that God has already given him relief in times past and confident that he will do so, again:  “Answer me when I call, O God of my righteousness! You have given me relief when I was in distress. Be gracious to me and hear my prayer! . . . In peace I will both lie down and sleep; for you alone, O Lord, make me dwell in safety” (4:1-8).  Adam Dorsey, a dear brother whom we know and who has suffered so greatly with a physical ailment, has said, “To know God is infinitely better than to not to know suffering.”

Cast thy burden on the Lord,

Only lean upon His Word;

Thou wilt soon have cause to bless

His eternal faithfulness.

Jesus, Guardian of Thy flock,

Be Thyself our constant Rock;

Make us, by Thy powerful hand,

Strong as Zion’s mountain stand.   –Anonymous (1783)