Gold for the heart - Psalms 108-116

Psalm 108

God’s holiness is beautiful, all belong to Him

0 A Song or Psalm of David. 1 O God, my heart is fixed; I will sing and give praise with my glory. 2 Awake harp and lyre: I myself will awake early. 3 I will praise you, O LORD, among the people: and I will sing praises to you among the nations. 4 For your love is great above the heavens: and your truth reaches to the clouds. 5 Be exalted, O God, above the heavens: and your glory above all the earth; 6 That your beloved may be delivered: save with your right hand, and answer me.

Psalm 47:2 For the LORD Most High is awesome; he is a great King over all the earth.

Psalm 96:9 O worship the LORD in the beauty of holiness: fear before him, all the earth.

Psalm 24:1 The earth is the LORD’s, and the fullness of it; the world, and they that dwell in it. 2 For he has founded it on the seas, and established it on the floods.

Through God we do valiantly because He fights for us and treads down our enemies

7 God has spoken in his holiness; I will rejoice, I will divide Shechem, and measure out the valley of Succoth. 8 Gilead is mine; Manasseh is mine; Ephraim also is the strength of my head; Judah is my lawgiver; 9 Moab is my washpot; over Edom I will cast out my shoe; over Philistia I will triumph. 10 Who will bring me into the strong city? Who will lead me into Edom? 11 Will you not, O God, who has cast us off? And will you not, O God, go out with our armies? 12 Give us help from trouble: for vain is the help of man. 13 Through God we will do valiantly: for it is he that will tread down our enemies.

Deuteronomy 20:4 For the LORD your God is he that goes with you, to fight for you against your enemies, to save you.

Psalm 109

0 To the chief Musician, A Psalm of David. 1 Do not hold your peace, O God of my praise; 2 For the mouth of the wicked and the mouth of the deceitful are opened against me: they have spoken against me with a lying tongue. 3 They have surrounded me with words of hatred; and fought against me without a cause. 4 For my love they are my adversaries: but I give myself to prayer. 5 And they have rewarded me evil for good, and hatred for my love.

God can turn bad things to good if we are willing

6 Set a wicked man over him: and let Satan stand at his right hand. 7 When he is judged, let him be condemned: and let his prayer become sin. 8 Let his days be few; and let another take his office. 9 Let his children be fatherless, and his wife a widow. 10 Let his children be continually vagabonds, and beg: let them seek their bread also out of their desolate places. 11 Let the extortioner catch all that he has; and let the foreigners spoil his labor. 12 Let there be none to extend love to him: neither let there be any to favor his fatherless children. 13 Let his posterity be cut off; and in the generation following let their name be blotted out. 14 Let the iniquity of his fathers be remembered with the LORD; and do not let the sin of his mother be blotted out. 15 Let them be before the LORD continually, that he may cut off the memory of them from the earth.

David received undeserved suffering.
He was attacked by people that he cared about and treated well.
This is a picture of how mankind treats God.
He has been wonderfully good to us.
It is possible that the trouble that David was praying down on his enemies would correct them.
Verse 10 explains why some are homeless.
Children of the wicked are cursed to wander homeless.
God is merciful and gives them many opportunities to break the curse (Psalm 107).
If they choose to seek God, they can break the curse and live in blessing.
Often people won’t change for themselves but they will change because they do not want to bring bad things on their children.

Jeremiah 2:19 Your own wickedness will correct you, and your backslidings will reprove you: know therefore and see that it is an evil thing and bitter, that you have forsaken the LORD your God, and that my fear is not in you, says the Lord GOD of hosts.

Galatians 6:7 Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man sows, that is what he will reap.

16 Because he did not remember to show love, but persecuted the poor and needy man, that he might kill the broken in heart. 17 As he loved cursing, so let it come to him: as he did not delight in blessing, so let it be far from him. 18 As he clothed himself with cursing like as with his garment, so let it come into his bowels like water and like oil into his bones. 19 Let it be to him as the garment that covers him, and for a girdle with which he is wrapped continually. 20 Let this be the reward of my adversaries from the LORD, and of them that speak evil against my soul.

The world is full of people just like this, but today we put a good face on everything.
Satan’s view of the world says that there is a little good in everyone. That is a lie. God has to change man or man is not good.

Jeremiah 17:9 The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?

Psalm 14:3 They have all gone aside, they have all together become filthy: there is none that does good, no, not one.

Romans 3:12 They have all gone out of the way, they have together become unprofitable; there is none that does good, no, not one.

He is God the Lord; He is in control; His mercy is good

21 But deal kindly with me, O GOD the Lord, for your name’s sake: because your love is good, deliver me. 22 For I am poor and needy, and my heart is wounded within me. 23 I am gone like the shadow when it declines: I am tossed up and down as the locust. 24 My knees are weak through fasting; and my flesh fails of fatness. 25 I became a reproach to them: when they looked on me they shook their heads. 26 Help me, O LORD my God: O save me according to your love: 27 That they may know that this is your hand; that you, LORD, have done it.

God has all the power in heaven and earth.
The word ‘Lord’ means controller. He controls all things.
2Peter 3:9 The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any perish, but that all come to repentance.
Psalm 40:17 But I am poor and needy; yet the Lord thinks upon me: You are my help and my deliverer; hurry, O my God.
Hebrews 13:6 So that we may boldly say, The Lord is my helper, and I will not fear what man will do unto me.

The Lord will stand at the right hand of the poor to save him from those that condemn his soul

28 Let them curse, but you bless: when they arise, let them be ashamed; but let your servant rejoice. 29 Let my adversaries be clothed with shame, and let them cover themselves with their own confusion, as with a mantle. 30 I will greatly praise the LORD with my mouth; yes, I will praise him among the multitude. 31 For he shall stand at the right hand of the poor, to save him from those that condemn his soul.

Psalm 110

0 A Psalm of David. 1 The LORD said to my Lord, You sit at my right hand, until I make Your enemies Your footstool. 2 The LORD will send the rod of your strength out of Zion: You rule in the midst of Your enemies.

David wrote this Psalm around 1042 BC. , over 1,000 years before the birth of Jesus Christ.
Christ is the rod of God’s strength.
Christ will rule during the millennium while unbelievers are on earth.

Matthew 26:64 … nevertheless I say to you, After this you will see the Son of man sitting on the right hand of power, and coming in the clouds of heaven.

God the Father has made Christ His eternal priest

3 Your people will be willing in the day of Your power, in the beauties of holiness/arrayed in holy majesty from the womb of the morning: You have the dew of Your youth. 4 The LORD has sworn, and will not repent, You are a priest forever after the order of Melchizedek.

The Lord’s power is infinite. His holiness is beautiful. Ezekiel 1:26-28 illustrates.
His priestly function is to bring men to God and intercede for them.
He rules as king and priest forever.
The book of Hebrews explains the superiority of the priesthood of Melchizedek.

5 The Lord at your right hand will strike through kings in the day of his wrath. 6 He will judge among the nations, he will fill the places with the dead bodies; he will wound the heads over many/great countries. 7 He will drink of the brook in the way: therefore will he lift up the head.

The Lord will retake earth by force from those who refuse to be bow before their Maker--Those who lead their people to eternal death.
The phrase ‘drink from the brook’ reminds us that God Almighty, who doesn’t need water to live, became like us to be with us.
Jude 1:14 And Enoch also, the seventh from Adam, prophesied of these, saying, Behold, the Lord comes with ten thousands of his saints, 15 To execute judgment on all, and to convince all that are ungodly among them of all their ungodly deeds which they have ungodly committed, and of all their hard speeches which ungodly sinners have spoken against him.
Psalm 96:13 (rejoice) Before the LORD: for he comes, for he comes to judge the earth: he will judge the world with righteousness, and the people with his truth.

Psalm 111

1 Praise the LORD. I will praise the LORD with my whole heart, in the assembly of the upright, and in the congregation. 2 The works of the LORD are great, sought out by all those that have pleasure in them.

Psalm 33:6 By the word of the LORD were the heavens made; and all the host of them by the breath of his mouth. 9 He spoke, and it was done; he commanded, and it stood fast.

1Peter 1:18 … you were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold, from your empty life received by tradition from your fathers; 19 But with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot.

3 Glorious and majestic are his deeds: and his righteousness endures forever. 4 He has made his wonderful works to be remembered: the LORD is gracious and full of compassion. 5 He has given food to them that fear him: he will always be mindful of his covenant.

Here is the real cure for world hunger.
Fear God, your Maker, and He will see that you have plenty of food.
That is a promise from God who cannot lie.
Psalm 96:5 …all the gods of the nations are idols: but the LORD made the heavens.
Psalm 145:16 You open your hand, and satisfy the desire of every living thing.

God’s heritage is beyond imagination

6 He has showed his people the power of his works, that he may give them the heritage of the heathen. 7 The works of his hands are truth and justice; all his commandments are sure. 8 They stand fast forever and ever, and are done in truth and uprightness. 9 He sent redemption to his people: he has commanded his covenant forever: sacred and revered is his name. 10 The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom: a good understanding/success have all those that do: his praise endures forever.

Christ paid what we owe God…perfect obedience and adoration.
Man fell from God into Satan’s arms.
The world could not be taken back until sin, which caused the forfeit of ownership of earth was paid in full.
Because Christ paid for us in full, God gives those in Christ the same inheritance that Christ has been given.
The heathen are the nations that turn the back on their Maker.
Revelation 3:21 To him that overcomes will I grant to sit with me in my throne, even as I also overcame, and am set down with my Father in his throne.
Revelation 21:7 He that overcomes will inherit all things; and I will be his God, and he will be my son.
Deuteronomy 32:4 He is the Rock, his work is perfect: for all his ways are judgment: a God of truth and without iniquity, just and right is he.

Psalm 112

The LORD greatly blesses those who revere Him

1 Praise the LORD. Blessed is the man that fears/reveres the LORD who delights greatly in his commandments. 2 His seed will be mighty on earth: the generation of the upright will be blessed. 3 Wealth and riches will be in his house: and his righteousness endures forever. 4 To the upright there arises light in the darkness: he is gracious, and full of compassion, and righteous.

God has wonderful promises for those who fear Him, delighting in His word.
Romans 11:36 For of him, and through him, and to him, are all things: to whom be glory forever. Amen.
John 8:12 Then spoke Jesus again to them, saying, I am the light of the world: he that follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.

He alone is worthy of our trust

5 A good man shows favor, and lends: he will guide his affairs with discretion. 6 Surely he will not be moved forever: the righteous will be in everlasting remembrance. 7 He will not be afraid of bad news: his heart is fixed, trusting in the LORD.

Has anyone ever failed you?
God never has.
People are imperfect and not all knowing and all powerful.
Deuteronomy 31:6 Be strong and of a good courage, do not fear, or be afraid of them: for the LORD your God, he goes with you; he will not fail you or forsake you.
Hebrews 13:5 Let your life be without covetousness; and be content with what things you have: for he has said, I will never leave you, or forsake you.

8 His heart is established, he will not be afraid, until he see his desire on his enemies. 9 He has dispersed, he has given to the poor; his righteousness endures forever; his horn will be exalted with honor. 10 The wicked will see it, and be grieved; he will gnash with his teeth, and melt away: the desire of the wicked will perish.

The horn is the symbol of strength and honor in scripture.

Psalm 92:10 you will exalt my horn like the horn of a unicorn: I will be anointed with fresh oil.

Psalm 89:24 But my faithfulness and my love will be with him: and in my name his horn will be exalted.

Psalm 113

1 Praise the LORD. Praise, O servants of the LORD, praise the name of the LORD. 2 Blessed be the name of the LORD from this time on and forevermore. 3 From the rising of the sun to the going down of the same the LORD’s name is to be praised.

There is no being more awesome or wonderful than God.
His is infinite and eternal knowledge, power, righteousness, goodness, and love.
All things that are good and wonderful come from Him.
The sun is always rising and going down somewhere on earth. God is always to be praised.

4 The LORD is high above all nations, and his glory above the heavens. 5 Who is like the LORD our God, who exalts to dwell on high, 6 Who humbles himself to behold the things that are in heaven, and in the earth!

God is bigger than the universe; He made it.
He is infinite. Therefore He is outside as well as throughout the universe.
There are 297 nations on earth.
God rules over all of them forever. His glory is described in Ezekiel.
Ezekiel 1:26 And above the firmament that was over their heads was the likeness of a throne, as the appearance of a sapphire stone: and on the throne was the of a man above upon it. 27 And I saw as the color of amber, as the appearance of fire round about within it, from his loins upward, and from his loins downward, I saw the appearance of fire, and it had brightness around. 28 Like the appearance of the bow that is in the cloud in the day of rain, this was the appearance of the brightness around. This was the appearance of the likeness of the glory of the LORD.

The Lord raises up the poor and the needy; He makes the barren fruitful and joyful

7 He raises up the poor out of the dust, and lifts the needy out of the dunghill; 8 That he may set him with princes, even with the princes of his people. 9 He makes the barren woman to live in a house, a joyful mother of children. Praise the LORD.

God promotes the poor and needy to places of authority.
God gives conception, not fertility clinics. He doesn’t fail and He doesn’t charge.
Psalm 75:6 For promotion comes neither from the east, nor from the west, nor from the south. 7 But God is the judge: he puts down one, and sets up another.
1Samuel 2:8 He raises up the poor out of the dust, and lifts up the beggar from the dunghill, to set them among princes, and to make them inherit the throne of glory: for the pillars of the earth are the LORD’s, and he has set the world on them.

Psalm 114

God wants to dwell in the midst of His people

1 When Israel went out of Egypt, the house of Jacob from a people of foreign language; 2 Judah was his sanctuary, and Israel his dominion. 3 The sea saw it, and fled: Jordan was driven back.

Revelation 3:20 Behold I stand at the door and knock. If any man hears my voice and opens the door I will come in and feast with him and he with me.
Exodus 14:21, 22 And Moses stretched out his hand over the sea; and the Lord caused the sea to go back by a strong east wind all that night and made the sea dry land and the waters were divided. 22 And the children of Israel went into the midst of the sea on dry ground.
Joshua 3:15, 16 when the feet of the priests that carried the ark were dipped in the brim of the water, the waters that came down from above rose up in a heap…

4 The mountains skipped like rams, and the little hills like lambs. 5 What ailed you, O sea, that you fled? You Jordan, that you were driven back? 6 You mountains, that you skipped like rams; and you little hills, like lambs? 7 Tremble, earth, at the presence of the Lord, at the presence of the God of Jacob; 8 Who turned the rock into a standing water, the flint into a fountain of waters.

Psalm 104:32 He looks on the earth and it trembles. He touches the hills and they smoke.

Revelation 1:17, 18 And when I saw Him, I fell at his feet as dead. And he laid his right hand on me, saying to me, Do not fear; I am the first and the last: I am He that lives and was dead; and behold, I am alive for evermore, Amen, and have the keys of hell and of death.

Luke 1:37 With God nothing will be impossible.

Psalm 115

1 Not to us, O LORD, not to us, but to your name give glory, for your love, and for your truth’s sake. 2 Why should the heathen say, Now, where is their God?

Mankind would be forever doomed without the love and truth of God.
Man chose evil from the beginning.
God’s truth and love through Jesus Christ saves us.
God’s truth shows us what real good is and what real evil it.
God’s love saves us because we could not save ourselves.

God does what He pleases

3 But our God is in the heavens: he has done whatever he has pleased. 4 Their idols are silver and gold, the work of men’s hands. 5 They have mouths, but they do not speak: eyes have they, but they do not see: 6 They have ears, but they do not hear: noses have they, but they do not smell: 7 They have hands, but they do not touch: feet have they, but they do not walk: neither do they speak through their throat. 8 They that make them are like them; so is every one that trusts in them. 9 O Israel, trust in the LORD: he is their help and their shield. 10 O house of Aaron, trust in the LORD: he is their help and their shield. 11 You that fear the LORD, trust in the LORD: he is their help and their shield.

Psalm 96:5 For all the gods of the nations are idols: but the LORD made the heavens.

The Lord is always thinking about us

12 The LORD has been mindful of us: he will bless us; he will bless the house of Israel; he will bless the house of Aaron. 13 He will bless them that fear the LORD, both small and great. 14 The LORD will increase you more and more, you and your children. 15 You are blessed of the LORD who made heaven and earth. 16 The heaven, even the heavens, are the LORD’s: but the earth he has given to the children of men. 17 The dead do not praise the LORD, neither any that go down into silence. 18 But we will bless the LORD from this time on and for evermore. Praise the LORD.

Psalm 116

1 I love the LORD, because he has heard my voice and my supplications. 2 Because he has inclined his ear to me, therefore I will call on him as long as I live. 3 The sorrows of death surrounded me, and the pains of hell took hold of me: I found trouble and sorrow. 4 Then I called on the name of the LORD; O LORD, I beg you, deliver my soul. 5 Gracious is the LORD, and righteous; yes, our God is merciful.

Psalm 103:11 For as the heaven is high above the earth, so great is his mercy toward them that fear him.

6 The LORD preserves the simple: I was brought low, and he helped me. 7 Return to your rest, O my soul; for the LORD has dealt bountifully with you. 8 For you have delivered my soul from death, my eyes from tears, and my feet from falling. 9 I will walk before the LORD in the land of the living. 10 I believed, therefore have I spoken: I was greatly afflicted: 11 I said in my haste, All men are liars. 12 What shall I render to the LORD for all his benefits toward me? 13 I will take the cup of salvation, and call on the name of the LORD. 14 I will pay my vows to the LORD now in the presence of all his people.

The death of God’s people is precious to Him; He is bringing them to Himself

15 Precious in the sight of the LORD is the death of his saints. 16 O LORD, truly I am your servant; I am your servant, and the son of your handmaid: you have loosed my bonds. 17 I will offer to you the sacrifice of thanksgiving, and will call on the name of the LORD. 18 I will pay my vows to the LORD now in the presence of all his people. 19 In the courts of the LORD’s house, in your midst, O Jerusalem. Praise the LORD.

2Corinthians 5:8 We are confident, I say, and willing rather to be absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord.

1Corinthians 13:12 For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then I will know even as I am known.

SUMMARY: Psalms 108-116

God’s holiness is beautiful, all belong to Him
Through God we do valiantly because He fights for us and treads down our enemies
The Lord will stand at the right hand of the poor to save him from those that condemn his soul
God can turn bad things to good if we are willing
He is God the LORD; He is in control; His mercy is good
He alone is worthy of our trust
God the Father has made Christ His eternal priest
God’s heritage is beyond imagination
The LORD greatly blesses those who revere Him
God wants to dwell in the midst of His people
The Lord raises up the poor and the needy; He makes the barren fruitful and joyful
God does what He pleases
The Lord is always thinking about us
The death of God’s people is precious to Him; He is bringing them to Himself