Gold for the heart - Psalms 99-104

Psalm 99

The LORD is great, awesome, and high above all

1 The LORD reigns, let the people tremble: he sits between the cherubim; let the earth stagger. 2 The LORD is great in Zion; and he is high above all the people. 3 Let them praise your great and awesome name for it is holy.

Ezekiel 1 describes the heavenly cherubim that surround God’s throne in detail. They are amazing and do not resemble little fat flying babies with wings.
God’s dwelling on earth had cherubim made of gold above the mercy seat, God’s throne on earth.
God alone is infinite and eternal. He alone sustains all creation.

Daniel 2:21 He changes the times and the seasons: he removes kings, and sets up kings: he gives wisdom to the wise, and knowledge to them that know understanding:

Psalm 145:3 Great is the LORD, and greatly to be praised; and his greatness is unsearchable.

He executes right judgment

4 The king’s strength also loves judgment; you establish equity, you execute judgment and righteousness in Jacob. 5 Exalt the LORD our God, and worship at his footstool for he is holy.

God has never made one mistake or slight miscalculation—not ever.

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.

6 Moses and Aaron are among his priests, and Samuel among them that call on his name; they called on the LORD, and he answered them. 7 He spoke to them in the cloudy pillar: they kept his testimonies, and the ordinance that he gave them. 8 You answered them, O LORD our God: you were a God that forgave them, though you took vengeance of their misdeeds. 9 Exalt the LORD our God, and worship at his holy hill; for the LORD our God is holy.

Misdeeds are the things we do to get what we want apart from God’s provision through faith.
For example, Abraham and Sarai wanted a child and Sarai had the idea to give Abraham her handmaid as a wife and get a child through her. That was not God’s plan and caused them all pain (Genesis 16-21).
God forgave and was merciful but did not let it pass without showing them that His way is best. He forgives and corrects.

Exodus 33:9 And it came to pass, as Moses entered into the tabernacle, the cloudy pillar descended, and stood at the door of the tabernacle, and the LORD talked with Moses.

Revelation 3:19 As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten: be zealous therefore, and repent.

Jeremiah 33:3 Call to me, and I will answer you, and show you great and mighty things, which you do not know.

Psalm 100

0 A Psalm of praise. 1 Make a joyful noise to the LORD, all the earth. 2 Serve the LORD with gladness: come before his presence with singing. 3 You know that the LORD he is God: it is he that has made us, and not we ourselves; we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture.

Genesis 1:27 So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them.

Jeremiah 10:10 But the LORD is the true God, he is the living God, and an everlasting king: at his wrath the earth will tremble, and the nations will not be able to abide his indignation.

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

4 Enter into his gates with thanksgiving, and into his courts with praise: be thankful unto him, and bless his name.

He is good; His mercy is everlasting; His truth endures to all generations

5 For the LORD is good; his love is everlasting; and his truth endures to all generations.

Psalm 33:5 He loves righteousness and judgment: the earth is full of the goodness of the LORD.

John 17:17 Sanctify them through Your truth: Your word is truth.

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 101

Our God is a God of love and justice

0 A Psalm of David. 1 I will sing of love and justice: to You, O LORD, I will sing. 2 I will behave myself wisely in a perfect way. O when will you come to me? I will walk within my house with a perfect heart. 3 I will set no wicked thing before my eyes: I hate the work of those that turn aside; it will not cling to me. 4 A perverse heart will depart from me: I will not know a wicked person.

In Eden man was forbidden to partake of evil. When the serpent talked with Eve, she partook of the forbidden fruit of evil. Man has the same choice today, man can listen to God and follow Him or he can listen to the whispers of evil and follow them.

Psalm 57:10 your love is great to the heavens, and your truth to the clouds.

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.

5 Whoever privately slanders his neighbor, I will cut him off: him that has a high look and a proud heart I will not allow. 6 My eyes will be on the faithful of the land, that they may dwell with me: he that walks in a perfect way, he will serve me.

No person on this earth has anything to be proud of or boast about. We did not make ourselves. We did not make this world. We do not sustain ourselves. We do not sustain this world.

Proverbs 6:16 These six things the LORD hates: yes, seven are an abomination to him: 17 A proud look, a lying tongue, and hands that shed innocent blood, 18 A heart that devises wicked imaginations, feet that are swift in running to mischief, 19 A false witness that speaks lies, and he that sows discord among brothers.

7 He that works deceit will not dwell in my house: he that tells lies will not linger in my sight. 8 Early I will destroy all the wicked of the land; that I may cut off all wicked doers from the city of the LORD.

David committed himself to follow the LORD. We also can commit to follow the LORD.
What God says in His word is what we are to follow rather than the many other voices in the world including government, spouses, children, friends, and family.
The city of the LORD is Jerusalem, also called Zion. Many of the Psalms speak of Zion as God’s city where the Lord chose to dwell.
Zion is the place in the Promised Land where the last enemy was conquered.
Revelation 21:9-22:6 describes the eternal New Jerusalem.

Psalm 78:68 But chose the tribe of Judah, the mount Zion which he loved.

Psalm 102

0 A Prayer of the afflicted, when he is overwhelmed, and pours out his complaint before the LORD. 1 Hear my prayer, O LORD, and let my cry come to you. 2 Do not hide your face from me in the day when I am in trouble; lean your ear toward me: in the day when I call answer me speedily. 3 For my days are consumed like smoke, and my bones are burned as a hearth. 4 My heart is struck down, and withered like grass; so that I forget to eat my food. 5 Because of my groaning my bones cling to my skin. 6 I am like a pelican of the wilderness: I am like an owl of the desert. 7 I watch, and am as a sparrow alone on the housetop. 8 My enemies criticize me all the day; and they that ridicule me have used my name as a curse. 9 I have eaten ashes like bread, and mingled my drink with weeping, 10 Because of your indignation and your wrath: for you have lifted me up, and cast me down. 11 My days are like a shadow that declines; and I am withered like grass.

Revelation 3:19 As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten: be zealous therefore, and repent.

1Peter 1:6 if need be, you are in heaviness through manifold temptations: 7 That the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perishes, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honor and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ:

James 1:4 But let patience have her perfect work, that you may be perfect and whole, lacking nothing.

The Lord endures forever and His remembrance to all generations

12 But You, O LORD, will endure forever; and your remembrance to all generations. 13 You will arise, and have compassion on Zion: for the time to favor her, yes, the set time, has come. 14 For your servants take pleasure in her stones, and favor the dust of it. 15 So the nations will fear the name of the LORD, and all the kings of the earth your glory. 16 When the LORD builds up Zion, he will appear in his glory.

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 likeness of the throne the appearance 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 the loins upward, and from his loins downward, I saw the appearance of fire, and it had brightness around it. 28 Like the appearance of the bow that is in the cloud in the day of rain, was around it. This was the appearance of the likeness of the glory of the LORD.

17 He will regard the prayer of the destitute, and not despise their prayer. 18 This will be written for the generation to come: and the people that will be created will praise the LORD. 19 For he has looked down from the height of his sanctuary; from heaven the LORD intently scanned the earth; 20 To hear the groaning of the prisoner; to loose those that are appointed to death; 21 To declare the person of the LORD in Zion, and his praise in Jerusalem; 22 When the people are gathered together, and the kingdoms, to serve the LORD. 23 He weakened my strength in the way; he shortened my days. 24 I said, O my God, do not take me away in the midst of my days: your years are throughout all generations. 25 Of old you have laid the foundation of the earth: and the heavens are the work of your hands. 26 They will perish, but you will endure: yes, all of them will grow old like a garment; as a garment you will change them, and they will be changed:

He is eternally changeless

27 But you are the same, and your years will have no end. 28 The children of your servants will continue, and their seed will be established before you.

Psalm 103

The LORD crowns us with loving kindness and tender mercies

0 A Psalm of David. 1 Bless the LORD, O my soul: and all that is within me, bless his holy name. 2 Bless the LORD, O my soul, and do not forget all his benefits: 3 Who forgives all your iniquities; who heals all your diseases; 4 Who redeems your life from destruction; who crowns you with love and tender mercies; 5 Who satisfies your mouth with good things; so that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s.

Bless is ‘barah’ which means to kneel before God in adoration.
Psalm 103 is full of wonderful promises for us to claim.
God will fulfill His promises if we believe them.

6 The LORD executes righteousness and judgment for all those that are oppressed. 7 He made known his ways to Moses, his acts to the children of Israel. 8 The LORD is merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and great in love. 9 He will not always strive/wrestle with us: neither will he keep his anger forever.

God’s Holy Spirit wrestles with us to get us from our sin into His place of blessing for us.

Psalm 50:6 And the heavens will declare his righteousness: for God is judge himself.

10 He has not dealt with us according to our sins; or rewarded us according to our iniquities. 11 For as the heaven is high above the earth, so great is his love toward them that fear him. 12 As far as the east is from the west, so far he has removed our transgressions from us. 13 As a father pities his children, so the LORD has compassion on them that fear him. 14 For he knows our frame; he remembers that we are dust. 15 As for man, his days are as grass: as a flower of the field, so he flourishes. 16 For the wind passes over it, and it is gone; and its place will know it no more. 17 But the love of the LORD is from everlasting to everlasting on those that fear him, and his righteousness unto children’s children; 18 To those who keep his covenant, and to those that remember his commandments to do them.

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.

His kingdom rules over all

19 The LORD has prepared his throne in the heavens; and his kingdom rules over all. 20 Bless the LORD, you his angels that excel in strength that do his commandments, listening to the voice of his word. 21 Bless the LORD, all you his hosts; you ministers of his that do his pleasure. 22 Bless the LORD, all his works in all places of his dominion: bless the LORD, O my soul.

Daniel 2:21 And he changes the times and the seasons: he removes kings, and sets up kings: he gives wisdom to the wise, and knowledge to those that know understanding:

Psalm 104

The LORD is clothed with honor and majesty; the earth is full of His riches

1 Bless the LORD, O my soul. O LORD my God, You are very great; You are clothed with honor and majesty. 2 Covering yourself with light as with a garment: who stretches out the heavens like a curtain: 3 Who lays the beams of his chambers in the waters: who makes the clouds his chariot: who walks on the wings of the wind: 4 Who makes his angels spirits; his ministers a flaming fire: 5 He has founded the earth on her bases, that it not be removed forever. 6 You covered it with the deep as with a garment: the waters stood above the mountains.

God wrapped the waters around the earth like a coat around the shoulders.

7 At your rebuke they fled; at the voice of your thunder they hurried away. 8 The mountains rose, the valleys sank down to the place that you founded for them. 9 You set a boundary that they may not pass over; that they not return to cover the earth. 10 He sends the springs into the valleys to walk among the hills. 11 They give drink to every beast of the field: the wild asses quench their thirst. 12 By them the fowls of the heaven dwell, which sing among the branches. 13 He waters the hills from his chambers: the earth is satisfied with the fruit of your works. 14 He causes the grass to grow for the cattle, and herb for the service of man: that he may bring forth out of the earth; 15 And wine that makes the heart of man glad, and oil to make his face shine, and food which strengthens man’s heart. 16 The trees of the LORD are full of sap; the cedars of Lebanon, which he planted; 17 Where the birds make their nests: as for the stork, the fir trees are her house.

The Lord plants the trees on the earth.

18 The high hills are a refuge for the wild goats; and the rocks for the conies. 19 He appointed the moon for seasons: the sun knows his going down. 20 You make darkness, and it is night: when all the beasts trample the forest. 21 The young lions roar after their prey, and seek their food from God.

Conies are probably a species of rock rabbit, probably the hyrax.
Verse 28 and Psalm 145 explain the lions seeing their food from God.

Psalm. 145:16 You open your hand, and satisfy the desire of every living thing.

22 The sun rises, they gather themselves together, and lay them down in their dens. 23 Man goes out to his work and to his labor until the evening. 24 O LORD, how manifold are your works! In wisdom you have made them all: the earth is full of your riches. 25 There is the sea, great and wide, in which are innumerable creeping things, both small and great beasts. 26 There go the ships: there is that leviathan, whom you formed to play in it.

In Job 41 God talks about His creature leviathan.

27 These all wait on you to give them their food in due season. 28 You give to them and they gather: you open you hand and they are filled with good. 29 You hide your face, they are troubled: you take away their breath, they die, and return to their dust. 30 You send forth your spirit, they are created: and you renew the face of the earth.

His glory endures forever; He will rejoice in His works

31 The glory of the LORD will be forever: the LORD will rejoice in his works. 32 He looks on the earth, and it trembles: he touches the hills, and they smoke. 33 I will sing unto the LORD as long as I live: I will sing praise to my God while I have my being. 34 My meditation of him will be sweet: I will be glad in the LORD. 35 Let the sinners be consumed out of the earth, and let the wicked be no more. Bless the LORD, O my soul. Praise the LORD.

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SUMMARY: Psalms 99-104

The LORD is great, awesome, and high above all
He executes right judgment
He made us; we are His
He is good; His mercy is everlasting; His truth endures to all generations
Our LORD is a God of love and justice
The LORD will endure forever and His remembrance to all generations
He is eternally changeless
He crowns us with lovingkindness and tender mercies
His kingdom rules over all
The LORD is clothed with honor and majesty
The earth is full of His riches
His glory endures forever
He will rejoice in His works