Psalms 91, 137, 126, 84: The God who saves, and a journey from exile to the temple of the Lord Psalm 91: Surely he will save you 1. Read Psalm 91, an eloquent testament to deep trust in God. As those who follow a crucified Lord, the promises of Psalm 91 are best expressed by 1 Peter 5:5-6 and Phil 4:6-7; God genuinely cares for our welfare and even in our trials will walk with us and give us his peace. Now read David and Goliath, p. 149 par. 3-154, par. 1. Gladwell's thesis is that whereas a near miss can traumatize you and impair your courage, a remote miss, where you escape mostly unscathed, has the opposite effect. Whether or not you buy this theory, what do you think of Shuttlesworth's statement, if the Lord saved me from this, I'm here for the duration? 2. We all can point to traumas and troubles serious enough for us to call out to God for rescue, experiences or periods in our lives which we will never forget, even if they resolve well. Can you think of experiences which, instead of strengthening your trust in God, have shaken it? Can you also point to times in your life which you feel have left you bolder and more willing to trust in God? While these might be physical, they could also include scarring experiences in service at church, traumatic work experiences, etc. Psalm 137: Remembering Jerusalem 3. Read 137:4-6. Why can t they sing songs of joy in exile? 4. They had gone into exile to Babylon and suffered terribly at the hands of their captors and the Edomites. The psalmist chose not to sing, lest the exiles forget and become too at ease. While we are not subject to the horrors of exile, we can learn from this psalm. Paul says that "our citizenship is in heaven" (Phil 3:20). Peter urges us "as sojourners and exiles to abstain from the passions of the flesh, which wage war against your soul" (1 Peter 2:11). When are you most aware of your status as a resident alien? Do you ever consciously abstain from something desirable (like the psalmist's songs of joy) to remind yourself that your treasure is in heaven? Psalm 126: A cry for God's renewed blessing 5. Psalm 137 tells us to remember. Psalm 126 recalls a time of great blessing, of laughter, joy, dreaming, of God's glory spreading even outside Israel. The psalmist cries to God for a return to these blessings. Sometimes we are so dry spiritually, and the family of God so tired that we forget the times when God's blessing were poured out abundantly. We stop dreaming, and even stop asking. Can you recall a time (or is now such a time for you?) when God's blessings on you or the church filled you with joy and expanded your mind to just dream of what God would do next? 6. One way to read this psalm is as a yearning for renewal. Listen to Tim Keller's lecture, A Biblical Theology of Revival from The Gospel Coalition 2013, 10:40-17:04. 1 We don t pursue revival for its own sake; instead, we rejoice when we so become so dedicated to and hungry for the Lord that God is more able to use us for his kingdom and glory. Keller elsewhere 2 lists three means of revival: a recovery of the gospel, which entails a rediscovery of the wonder of grace ; corporate prayer; and creativity, in that no revival is just like the last one. 1 www.youtube.com/watch?v=xirszsusrza. 2 www.xenos.org/classes/media/documents/keller-tenmarksofrevival.pdf. The Holy Huddle 1 Friday, February 5 th, 2015
Psalms 126 and 137 show that a first step toward revival is remembering how close we can be to the Lord. What else should our church or small group do to increase our dedication and hunger for the Lord? Psalm 84: Pilgrimage to the house of God 7. This Psalm has three beatitudes (4, 5, 12). What are they? 8. For Christians, the house of God (4) is the body of believers (1 Timothy 3:15; 1 Corinthians 3:16; and 1 Peter 2:5). Read Psalm 84, paraphrased with this in mind: How lovely is the family of believers in which your Spirit is pleased to dwell, O LORD of hosts! My soul longs, indeed it faints for the congregation of the LORD; my heart and my flesh sing for joy to the living God. Even the sparrow finds a home, and the swallow a nest for herself, where she may lay her young, in RCRC's high eaves, O LORD of mighty armies, my King and my God. Happy are those who are ever going to our little church to sing your praise. [Selah] Happy are those whose strength is in you, in whose hearts are the road to Sunday worship and Friday huddle. As they go through the Irondequoit creek valley the snow melts, the trees bud with leaves and they make it a place of rushing springs and singing birds. They go from strength to strength; the God of gods will be seen in our humble church, and his presence will be felt in our committees and Sunday-school classes. O LORD God of hosts, hear my prayer; give ear, O God of Jacob! [Selah] Behold our shield, O God; look on the face of your Son, Jesus Christ. For an evening at Holy Huddle and a dinner with brothers and sisters at Koinonia is better than a thousand elsewhere. I would rather be a third-shift janitor at RCRC than live in the McMansions of wickedness. For the LORD God is a sun and shield; he bestows favor and honor. No good thing does the LORD withhold from those who walk uprightly. O LORD of hosts, happy is everyone who trusts in you, who trusts you have not forgotten your beloved church. Pray for God to fill our souls with yearning for the presence of his Spirit and to satisfy that yearning. Pray for God's strength to bring spring to our humble church. Ω Fun fact: The Talmud says that [Psalm 137:6], if I do not set Jerusalem above my highest joy,, should be read at a wedding to the bridegroom as her awaits the arrival of the bride, as a reminder that no joy, not even that of marriage, could be as great as the joy associated with Jerusalem. (James Limburg, Psalms, 467) The Holy Huddle 2 Friday, February 5 th, 2015
Psalm 137 By the rivers of Babylon, there we sat down, yea, we wept, when we remembered Zion. 2 We hanged our harps upon the willows in the midst thereof. 3 For there they that carried us away captive required of us a song; and they that wasted us required of us mirth, saying, Sing us one of the songs of Zion. 4 How shall we sing the LORD's song in a strange land? 5 If I forget thee, O Jerusalem, let my right hand forget her cunning. 6 If I do not remember thee, let my tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth; if I prefer not Jerusalem above my chief joy. 7 Remember, O LORD, the children of Edom in the day of Jerusalem; who said, Rase it, rase it, even to the foundation thereof. 8 O daughter of Babylon, who art to be destroyed; happy shall he be, that rewardeth thee as thou hast served us. 9 Happy shall he be, that taketh and dasheth thy little ones against the stones. *** Psalm 84 How amiable are thy tabernacles, O LORD of hosts! 2 My soul longeth, yea, even fainteth for the courts of the LORD: my heart and my flesh crieth out for the living God. 3 Yea, the sparrow hath found an house, and the swallow a nest for herself, where she may lay her young, even thine altars, O LORD of hosts, my King, and my God. 4 Blessed are they that dwell in thy house: they will be still praising thee. Selah. 5 Blessed is the man whose strength is in thee; in whose heart are the ways of them. 6 Who passing through the valley of Baca make it a well; the rain also filleth the pools. 7 They go from strength to strength, every one of them in Zion appeareth before God. 8 O LORD God of hosts, hear my prayer: give ear, O God of Jacob. Selah. 9 Behold, O God our shield, and look upon the face of thine anointed. 10 For a day in thy courts is better than a thousand. I had rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God, than to dwell in the tents of wickedness. 11 For the LORD God is a sun and shield: the LORD will give grace and glory: no good thing will he withhold from them that walk uprightly. 12 O LORD of hosts, blessed is the man that trusteth in thee. The Holy Huddle 3 Friday, February 5 th, 2015
Leader s Notes Tonight's study will be on four psalms. The first, Ps 91, is a famous hymn of trust in God. The other three psalms, 137, 126 and 84, represent a progress from exile, to a recollection of a time when God poured out his blessings, and ending in a pilgrimage to the temple of God. Unlike some passages we ve studied, these psalms require little exegesis to appreciate their meaning, which is deep and heartfelt. Psalm 137: The focus on 137 is often on the curse which the Psalm ends with. We will focus on a different aspect of the psalm, but a word is in order. 137:7-9 uses legal language: the psalmist is presenting before God the brutality of Edom and Babylon, as the happy of v. 9 is better understood as blessed, in the sense of doing God s will. For the cry for retribution is nothing more than God has already promised for Babylon in Jer 51:56, and while retribution was not to be used in personal matters (Prov 24:29), it was expected in legal matters (Dt 19:19). This retribution is nothing more than the hard and impenitent of heart can expect from God (Rom 2:5). The psalmist's curse is no worse than Jeremiah's and in fact may have been inspired by it. Certainly as Christians we know that we should always first seek a blessing for our enemies. The Holy Huddle 4 Friday, February 5 th, 2015
Notes I. Psalm 137: In exile 1-3: The captors demand joyful songs i 4-6: We can t sing songs of joy in exile because Jerusalem is our highest joy ii 7-9: A call for retribution against Babylon, that what they did to Israel might be done right back to them b. Question ideas: c. Notes Read 4-6. Why can t they sing songs of joy in exile? i This psalm asks how there can be joy when in the duress of exile. They had gone into exile to Babylon and suffered terribly at the hands of their captors and the Edomites. We experience separation from loved ones, when we leave home, when we are forced apart for practical reasons such as employment, and ultimately in the separation of death. But our deeper exile is spiritual, since our citizenship is in heaven (Phil 3:20). The psalmist chose not to sing, lest the exiles forget, lest they become too at ease. What do we do to remember we are in exile? ii The psalmist deliberately denies himself joyful song in order to remember the true source of his joy and his spiritual home. How can or do we deny ourselves otherwise good things in order to prevent erosion of our true source of joy and our spiritual home? NBC: The past tense of 1-3 suggests this is a recollection after they d returned from exile. i NBC: The call to sing a joyful song was an invitation to settle down in Babylon. ii Phil 3:2: But our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ iv. NBC: v. 7 s lit. remember for the Edomites is legal language one would put before a judge. (See Obad 10-14 for a description of Edom s sins in this case.) v. NBC: Happy in 9 is better translated blessed ; the basic meaning of the word is straight and it means that such a person would be doing the right thing (as in Prov 14:21, Ps 106:3) v This sort of retribution (lex talionis) was applicable in legal proceedings but not personal matters (Deut 19:19+ v. Prov 24:29). This call for retribution parallels God s judgment in Jer 51:56, and in fact three of Jeremiah s principal words are related to the three verbs of 137:8) (IVP 460). vi FUN FACT: IVP: As for lyres and the demand for songs, it happens that a relief from Sennacherib s palace at Nineveh, in the neighboring land of Assyria, portrays a situation not unlike this, with three prisoners of war playing lyres as they are marched along by an armed The Holy Huddle 5 Friday, February 5 th, 2015
II. Psalm 126: b. Notes soldier. (459; See M. A. Beek, Atlas of Mesopotamia (Nelson, 1962), plate 219.) Also, There is ample evidence that to dash in pieces their little ones was a common enough sequel to a heathen victor, and that Babylon had been in no mood for restraint at the fall of Jerusalem (2 Ki 25:7, La 5:11+) (IVP 460). vii NT perspective: The Babylonians deserve to have done to them what they did to Israel. To that further question [of who should punish them] the NT replies that ultimately God will render to every man according to his works, but also makes it clear that wrath is only for he hard and impenitent heart (Rom 2:5+) (IVP 460). ix. FUN FACT: This is the only Psalm that specifically indicates its context in the text of the psalm. (JL 484) (Are we sure of this?) x. Calls to mind an American slave being ordered to sing or dance for the entertainment of his masters x The question raised in Ps 137 is one that concerns any group of believers as they move through history: How can we sing the Lord s song in a foreign land? Put in order words: How can we be faithful to the religion we have inherited and yet also relevant to the world in which we live? (JL 465) xi The key concept in this psalm is remember (1, 6, 7). the advice to remember Jerusalem will be quite welcome to those whose faith has at its center a cross and an empty tomb, both located in that city. (JL467) xii REAL FUN FACT: The Talmud says that verse 6, if I do not set Jerusalem above my highest joy,, should be read at a wedding to the bridegroom as her awaits the arrival of the bride, as a reminder that no joy, not even that of marriage, could be as great as the joy associated with Jerusalem. (James Limburg, Psalms, 467) 1-3: When God restored the fortunes of Zion they were filled with joy i 4-6: Petition to God to fulfill that promise c. Question ideas III. Psalm 84: Pilgrimage to the Temple 1-4: The psalmist yearns to dwell in God s house The Holy Huddle 6 Friday, February 5 th, 2015
b. Notes i 6-9: Blessed are those whose strength is in the Lord; petition for God s favor ii 10-12: It is far better to be with God than elsewhere The psalmist longs for God s house, the temple. The Christian equivalent is longing for fellowship with God s people (1 Cor 3:16; 6:19) c. Question ideas IV. Psalm 91/27: God will rescue b. Notes 1-2: Trust in God and you will be safe i 4-8: God will save you from danger; he will shield you; only the wicked will suffer ii 9-13: God will protect you iv. 14-16: [God speaking] BECAUSE he loves me I will rescue and protect him and answer him and deliver him and be with him and honor him and satisfy him c. Question ideas The Holy Huddle 7 Friday, February 5 th, 2015