Biblical Reflections

Psalm 92: A Song for the Sabbath

Psalm 92 carries a superscript found nowhere else in the Psalter: "A Psalm. A Song for the Sabbath." It is a hymn of thanks and praise to God for giving Israel the Sabbath, and Andrew finds in it a model for how we pray. Verses 1–5 — Praise. It is good to give thanks and sing praises to YHWH, El Elyon, the Most High. This praise is built on declaring God's names, extolling His steadfast love and faithfulness, and remembering His great works. Andrew encourages us to pray the same way, and to keep a prayer log so we can look back and remember what God has done. Verses 6–11 — The contrast. The wicked sprout like grass, but they are doomed to destruction forever. The godless are called stupid, foolish, wicked, and evildoers, while the faithful are lifted up and anointed with fresh oil, and live to see their enemies scattered. Verses 12–15 — The flourishing. Back to the Sabbath, the faithful rest secure. They flourish like the palm tree, grow like the towering cedars of Lebanon, and still bear fruit in old age. In worship they declare that YHWH is upright, that He is their rock, and that there is no unrighteousness in Him. God's righteousness means He always acts according to His holiness and His covenant promises. As new covenant people, we can count on that, and like Israel we are called to set aside regular time to worship Him. This is Season 2 of Biblical Reflections — a week-by-week walk through the Psalms to shape our prayer and our praise. — Biblical Reflections is a Christ-centered Bible teaching podcast from Cogworks Media, hosted by Andrew. Season 2 walks week-by-week through the Psalms. New episodes weekly. ▶ Subscribe for weekly teaching through Scripture 🔗 More shows and ways to give: cogworksmedia.org Cogworks Media is a 501(c)(3) public charity — gifts are tax-deductible. Music: The Inspiration by Keys of Moon | https://soundcloud.com/keysofmoon Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) | https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ Music promoted by https://www.chosic.com/free-music/all/

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Psalm 91: My Refuge and My Fortress

Psalm 91 is a hymn of confidence in the face of danger and trouble. It carries no superscript, and it moves through four movements — from the one who prays, to the singer assuring him, to God himself speaking. Andrew works through its metaphors and lands on the verse that unlocks the rest. Verses 1–2 — The refuge. The basic theme: God is my refuge, my safe place. Notice the metaphors — shelter, shadow, fortress — and the names stacked in two verses: Most High (El Elyon), the name even the Gentiles acknowledged; LORD (Yahweh), the covenant God; God (Elohim); and Almighty (El Shaddai). Verses 3–8 — The deliverance. He will deliver you, the faithful one who prays this hymn. The dangers come as metaphors too: the snare of the fowler, deadly pestilence, destruction, the terror of night, the arrow by day. So does the protection: pinions, wings, shield and buckler. God is not a bird — these are poetic devices the original hearers would have understood at once. Verse 8 is the key: "you will only look with your eyes and see the recompense of the wicked." The trouble falling all around is God's judgment on the wicked, which implies the faithful one can be sure of God's protection through it. Verses 9–13 — The angels. Because you have made Yahweh your dwelling place, no evil shall befall you and no plague come near your tent — for he will command his angels concerning you, to guard you in all your ways. Verses 11–12 are the ones Satan quoted at the temptation, urging Jesus to throw himself from the highest point of the temple so the angels would rescue him in front of everyone. If that stunt had worked, it would have spared him the cross — which is exactly why he refused it. The lion, the adder, and the serpent stand for people who seek to harm the faithful. Verses 14–16 — God speaks. Because the faithful one holds fast to him in love, God will deliver him. Because he knows God's name — itself an image of faith — God will protect him. Then the list of how: he answers his prayer, is with him in trouble, rescues him, honors him, and satisfies him with long life. A good prayer for difficult times. As we walk through them, God is there — for those who are faithful, who know his name, who love and cling to him. Season 2 of Biblical Reflections — a week-by-week walk through the Psalms to shape our prayer and our praise. — Biblical Reflections is a Christ-centered Bible teaching podcast from Cogworks Media, hosted by Andrew. 🔗 More shows and ways to give: cogworksmedia.org Cogworks Media is a 501(c)(3) public charity — gifts are tax-deductible. Music: The Inspiration by Keys of Moon | https://soundcloud.com/keysofmoon Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) | https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ Music promoted by https://www.chosic.com/free-music/all/

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Psalm 90: Teach Us to Number Our Days — A Prayer of Moses

Psalm 90 is a community lament during a time of unspecified disaster — but you can feel that it is also the lament of an old man. It is the only psalm attributed to Moses, and it opens Book 4 of the Psalter. Andrew reads it with Moses at the end of his life in view, and finds his way to the gospel hymn "I'll Fly Away" and the 1966 film Alfie along the road. Verses 1–2 — The eternal God. The Lord has been our dwelling place in all generations. Before the mountains were brought forth, before the earth and the world were formed, from everlasting to everlasting he is God. He does not change. Verses 3–6 — The fleeting man. Set against that, man's life is nothing. You return man to dust. A thousand years in God's sight are a yesterday already past, a watch in the night. We are a flood, a dream, grass that flourishes in the morning and withers by evening. Verses 7–11 — The weight. We are brought to an end by your wrath, our secret sins set in the light of your presence. The years of our life are seventy, or eighty by reason of strength, and their span is toil and trouble. They are soon gone, and we fly away. Verses 12–17 — The turn. So teach us to number our days, that we may get a heart of wisdom. Satisfy us in the morning with your steadfast love. Give us glad days for as many years as we have seen evil. Show your work to your servants and your glorious power to their children. And then the request everything has been building toward: establish the work of our hands. Andrew reads that last line as the real question of the psalm. If everything we do returns to dust, what makes any of it endure? The answer he points to is the judgment seat of Christ — where the works that survive the fire are the ones done for God, and everything else is hay and stubble. Season 2 of Biblical Reflections — a week-by-week walk through the Psalms to shape our prayer and our praise. — Biblical Reflections is a Christ-centered Bible teaching podcast from Cogworks Media, hosted by Andrew. 🔗 More shows and ways to give: cogworksmedia.org Cogworks Media is a 501(c)(3) public charity — gifts are tax-deductible. Music: The Inspiration by Keys of Moon | https://soundcloud.com/keysofmoon Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) | https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ Music promoted by https://www.chosic.com/free-music/all/

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Psalm 89: The Covenant with David

Psalm 89 is a community lament, but it celebrates the Davidic kingship as God's special gift to his people. The heir of David is the divinely appointed ruler over Israel, whose task is to lead the people faithfully — and so the people pray for that king to lead them out of their present disaster. The disaster is not in doubt: Babylon has destroyed the city, the temple, and the throne. Verses 1–4 — The covenant. God's covenant with David expresses his steadfast love and faithfulness to his people. "I will establish your offspring forever and build your throne for all generations." Verses 5–18 — The praise. God is above all other powers, heavenly and earthly, and has shown favor to Israel. Mighty deeds are recounted — creation and Exodus — and his attributes praised: righteousness, justice, steadfast love, faithfulness, power. Therefore blessed are the people of God. Verses 19–37 — The promise. God promised David an enduring dynasty, sworn to stand forever with an heir on the throne, witnessed by the sun and the moon. God will punish a Davidic king for his sins, but he will not remove that king from his steadfast love and faithfulness, and he will not violate the covenant. Verses 38–45 — The disaster. The throne is cast to the ground and the nation lies destroyed by the Babylonians. Andrew fills in what the psalm leaves unsaid: the covenant at Sinai, renewed under Moses in Deuteronomy with blessings and curses, functioned as progressive discipline — and centuries of rebellion had brought the nation to its final stage. Verses 46–51 — The plea. How long, O Yahweh? The people ask God to show his steadfast love by restoring the Davidic throne, while the nations mock the footsteps of his anointed. Verse 52 — The closing doxology concluding Book 3 of the Psalter. Like Psalm 88 before it, this is a prayer offered without any sight of the answer. What the singers could not know is that the covenant was kept — the son of David came, died, rose, and reigns forever. Faith is believing what you do not yet see. Season 2 of Biblical Reflections — a week-by-week walk through the Psalms to shape our prayer and our praise. — Biblical Reflections is a Christ-centered Bible teaching podcast from Cogworks Media, hosted by Andrew. 🔗 More shows and ways to give: cogworksmedia.org Cogworks Media is a 501(c)(3) public charity — gifts are tax-deductible. Music: The Inspiration by Keys of Moon | https://soundcloud.com/keysofmoon Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) | https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ Music promoted by https://www.chosic.com/free-music/all/

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Psalm 88: When God Seems Silent

Psalm 88 is an individual lament — the darkest in the Psalter. The singer is so overwhelmed with troubles that even his friends shun him, and he comes to fear that God is shunning him too. What do you do when it seems God does not answer? Andrew walks through four movements of a prayer that never resolves, and finds the faith hidden inside it. Verses 1–2 — The cry. "O Yahweh, God of my salvation, I cry out day and night before you." Let my prayer come before you. Incline your ear. Verses 3–9 — The trouble. My soul is full of troubles and my life draws near to Sheol. The singer stays with his own helplessness: the pit, the dark and deep regions, companions who have turned away, eyes grown dim with sorrow. Verses 10–12 — The petition. A series of rhetorical questions. Do you work wonders for the dead? Is your steadfast love declared in the grave, your faithfulness in Abaddon? Behind them is a real fear in Hebrew thought — that to die under God's wrath is to be cut off from praising him at all. The plea is: lift this from me while I can still praise you. Verses 13–18 — The silence. "Why do you cast my soul away? Why do you hide your face from me?" The psalm closes with darkness as the singer's only companion. There is no turn, no resolution, no closing note of praise. And that is the point worth carrying: he is still praying. He keeps seeking the Lord even while waiting in silence. There is a realization in this psalm that God has brought these troubles, which means God can also lift them. No matter how hopeless things seem, keep the faith. God is there. Season 2 of Biblical Reflections — a week-by-week walk through the Psalms to shape our prayer and our praise. — Biblical Reflections is a Christ-centered Bible teaching podcast from Cogworks Media, hosted by Andrew. 🔗 More shows and ways to give: cogworksmedia.org Cogworks Media is a 501(c)(3) public charity — gifts are tax-deductible. Music: The Inspiration by Keys of Moon | https://soundcloud.com/keysofmoon Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) | https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ Music promoted by https://www.chosic.com/free-music/all/

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Psalm 87: Citizens of Zion

Psalm 87 is a hymn celebrating Zion — Jerusalem, the city of God. It is also prophetic, foreseeing the ingathering of the nations into Zion as fellow citizens with Israel in the kingdom of God. Andrew walks through its three movements, including a verse that has divided interpreters for centuries. Verses 1–3 — The LORD loves Zion. On the holy mount stands the city he founded. Yahweh loves the gates of Zion more than all the dwelling places of Jacob. "Glorious things of you are spoken, O city of God." Verses 4–6 — The mystery. Rahab, Babylon, Philistia, Tyre and Cush are named, with the words "this one was born there." The traditional reading takes those nations as the object of God's recording: Gentiles who come to Zion to worship are entered in God's book as having been born there, made one with the Jews. Some English versions add "I will record" to make that reading explicit. But the verse may instead be addressed to those nations in the vocative — God speaking to them rather than about them. Andrew explains why Hebrew poetry can carry both senses at once, and why the ambiguity may be intentional. Verse 7 — All the praise and worship, the singers and dancers who assist in worship, are in Zion. All my springs are in you. Wherever you land on verse 4, the destination is the same: a kingdom in which Jew and Gentile alike are citizens. As Andrew puts it, some are natural-born and some are naturalized — but the rights of citizenship are identical. Season 2 of Biblical Reflections — a week-by-week walk through the Psalms to shape our prayer and our praise. — Biblical Reflections is a Christ-centered Bible teaching podcast from Cogworks Media, hosted by Andrew. 🔗 More shows and ways to give: cogworksmedia.org Cogworks Media is a 501(c)(3) public charity — gifts are tax-deductible. Music: The Inspiration by Keys of Moon | https://soundcloud.com/keysofmoon Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) | https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ Music promoted by https://www.chosic.com/free-music/all/

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Psalm 86: Teach Me Your Way — A Prayer of David

Psalm 86 is an individual lament of David, written while a band of insolent men sought his life — and at the same time a prophetic hymn looking ahead to the day when all the nations come and worship God. Andrew walks through its three movements and draws out a pattern worth copying in your own prayers. Verses 1–7 — The appeal. A general call for God to preserve and save the life of his servant. Notice the psalm doesn't open with the request; it opens by appealing to who God is — good, forgiving, and abounding in steadfast love. Verses 8–13 — The sovereignty. There is none like God among the heavenly host. Because of that, all the nations he has made will come and worship before him — including those who now oppose his people. "Teach me your way, O Yahweh, that I may walk in your truth." Verses 14–17 — The supplication. Wicked men who do not honor God have risen up against David, which makes them God's enemies as much as his own. He appeals a second time to God's attributes — mercy, grace, slow to anger, abounding in steadfast love, faithfulness — and asks for a sign of favor, so that those who hate him would see it and be put to shame. The closing question is the one to sit with: David doesn't just want rescue. He wants his rescue to be a sign that turns his enemies toward the God they've been ignoring. Season 2 of Biblical Reflections — a week-by-week walk through the Psalms to shape our prayer and our praise. — Biblical Reflections is a Christ-centered Bible teaching podcast from Cogworks Media, hosted by Andrew. 🔗 More shows and ways to give: cogworksmedia.org Cogworks Media is a 501(c)(3) public charity — gifts are tax-deductible.

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Psalm 85: When Did Your Church Last Confess Sin Together?

Psalm 85 is a community lament because God is withholding blessings, likely a good harvest, because the people have been unfaithful. The people ask for forgiveness for all of the people. They recall God’s steadfast love, his faithfulness to the covenant, and his righteousness. 1-3 – The psalm begins by recounting a past time when God showed his favor, forgave his people, and restored their fortunes. 4-7 – Now a plea to once again restore the people and to forgive them. 8-9 – The congregation waits in patience for God to answer their request for peace and restoration. 10-13 – God’s attributes of steadfast love, faithfulness, righteousness, and peace are praised.

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Psalm 84: Why Is One Day With God Better Than a Thousand Elsewhere?

Psalm 84 is a pilgrimage hymn as the people travel to Israel for one of three Feasts that required all Hebrew men who were able to be present at the Tabernacle/Temple. The intent of the psalm is to cause delight in the eyes and the hearts of God’s people to joy and privilege of worshipping in God’s house, Temple. 1-4 – The singer begins with describing the dwelling place of God and how blessed are the people who can visit and worship there. 5-9 – Next, the singer states that those who make the journey or pilgrimage to the Temple are blessed. God sustains them on their journey. 10-12 – Those who trusts in the LORD are blessed.

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Psalm 83: How Should We Pray for People Who Want to Destroy Us?

Psalm 83 is a community lament in which God’s people are threatened by gentile enemies. The prayer is that God will defeat the gentile enemies so that they may come to know the true God. This is an example of how we, as followers-of-Jesus, should pray for the defeat, not of our national enemies, but of our spiritual enemies so that they in defeat may come to know the true God. 1-8 – This is a call to God for a perceived existential threat by gentile nations to destroy Israel. 9-18 – The basic request is that the enemies of Israel should utterly fail in their plans to destroy Israel. The request is that the enemies be put to shame in such a way that they would seek the God of Israel.

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Psalm 82: A community lament

Psalm 82 is a community lament. Although some classify it as a prophetic hymn like Psalm 81. The idea here is that the reference to “gods” is a metaphor for unjust judges whom God will judge. The psalm is an encouragement for those who are weak and low on the social scale, who suffer unjustly from those in authority over them. Further this psalm is a call to those who wield authority such as judges to use their power justly because they will someday stand before a righteous God in judgment. 1-4 – The task of the “gods” or the human judges is to give justice to the weak and fatherless and to rescue the weak and needy from the hand of the wicked. Judges must not show partiality towards the wicked. Others see these “gods” as a divine council of angelic beings. 5-7 – God pronounces judgment on judges who lack knowledge and understanding and who walk in darkness. God will judge the earth, and he will inherit al the nations, giving a prophetic word for the second coming of Christ as the ruler of all things, who will rule in true justice.

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Psalm 81: Challenging the people to faithfully follow the covenant

Psalm 81 is a prophetic hymn, sort of. This psalm challenges the people to faithfully follow the covenant and if they do follow the covenant, then covenant blessings would come. This psalm may have been used during the Feast of Trumpets (Rosh Hashanah) and the Day of Atonement (Yom Kippur). 1-3 – Here is a jubilant call to worship with shouts of joy. 4-7 – Then there is a recounting of how God cared for the Hebrew people in the past, leading them out of slavery and forgiving their rebellion at Meribah during the Exodus. 8-10 – God calls his people to worship only him. YHWH, your Elohim. In return God would bless them with food. 11-16 – Sadly, God’s people do not listen to God or observe his covenant. If only they did, then God would subdue their enemies and feed them with the finest food.

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Psalm 80: A community lament

Psalm 80 is a community lament in which some of the people received harsh treatment from the gentile nations. 1-3 – Stir up your might to save us and to restore us. 4-7 – How long will God be angry with his people. Obviously, they have been unfaithful. [YHWH] Elohim Sabaoth 8-15 – The people are described as God’s grape vine 16-19 – Restore us and make us faithful.

Psalm 79: A great disaster had befallen Jerusalem

Psalm 79 is a community lament because of a great disaster had befallen Jerusalem, likely the Babylonia destruction. Psalm 79 is similar to Psalm 74. Disaster came to Jerusalem because Israel did not keep the covenant in faith. This is also a psalm of confession, that seeks forgiveness and promises to be faithful in the future. 1-4 – Gentile nations have defiled the Temple and slain the people. 5-7 – Query, how long of God will you let this destruction go on? 8-10 – Forgive us, help us, let the nations know that God has allowed this. 11-13 – Preserve us and return the taunts of the gentiles. We will praise you.

Psalm 78: A historical psalm

Psalm 78 is a historical psalm recounting historical events when God preserved his people, even in their disbelief, and purged them of unbelievers along the way. The point is so that future generations will take these lessons to heart and that they will faithfully embrace the covenant. 1-8 – We must recount past deeds so that our children do not forget and fail to keep covenant commandments. 9-16 – The Ephraimites forgot God’s great deeds of the past and turned back on the day of battle. 17-31 – The people sinned against God during the Exodus despite his provision for them during their journey. 32-39 – God showed compassion after compassion to the people of Exodus, but they sinned even more. 40-55 – Remembering the plagues in Egypt and how God freed them from slavery, the people forgot and continued to rebel and to grieve God. 56-64 – The people tested and rebelled against God in the promised land. They made and worshipped idols. 65-72 – Finally, God rejected all and chose the Tribe of Judah, Mount Zion. God choose David to be king.

Psalm 77: Is a community lament

Psalm 77 is a community lament, perhaps because the people were suffering under God’s anger for some unfaithfulness. Each person singing acknowledges that they are part of the congregation and that their individual well-being is bound up with the well-being of the whole congregation. 1-3 – I cry aloud to God in the day of my trouble. I cry, moan, meditate, and faint, with my hand outstretched. 4-9 – Has God forgotten to be gracious? I consider the days of old when God was gracious. 10-20 – Now an appeal to what God has done in the past for his people, remembering God’s deeds, wonders, and works to preserve and to save his people.

Psalm 76: A hymn celebrating Zion

Psalm 76 is a hymn celebrating Zion as the place God has chosen for his people and his Temple. The people sing at the privilege of going to Zion and there worshipping God. 1-2 – God has made his abode in Zion. 3-9 – No one can stand against God on Zion. God rebukes the Gentile invaders. 10-12 – All the people should praise God and bring him gifts for his saving power to protect, Zion, the city, the people and the Temple.

Psalm 75: A hymn of praise

Psalm 75 is a hymn of praise. The psalm thanks God for the wonderful things he has done for Israel and celebrates that God is judge of all the earth and will one day put down the wicked and lift up the faithful. 1 – We give thanks to God and recount his wonderous deeds. 2-5 – God declares that at the set time he will judge the earth, rebuking the boastful and the wicked. 6-8 – It is God who executes judgment, lifting up the faithful and putting down the wicked. All the wicked of the earth will be put down. 9-10 – And the singer will declare God’s praises forever.

Psalm 74: A Cry of Anguish

Psalm 74 is a community lament, a cry of anguish over a disaster that has fallen on the people and destroyed the Temple of God. There is the plea that even though this may come from God in punishment, yet do not let the Gentiles scorn God for this tragedy. 1-3 – Why God did you let this tragedy happen to us? 4-8 – A description is presented of how the Temple of God, the dwelling place of god’s name, was destroyed. 9-11 – Puzzlement over why God is silent during this destruction. 12-17 – Recalling the past wonders that were worked by God and acknowledging that salvation comes from God. 18-23 –For the sake of the covenant, deliver us.

Psalm 73: the question of why do the wicked prosper

Psalm 73 is a psalm of wisdom and the first psalm in Book 3. Asaph struggles with the question of why do the wicked prosper. Spoiler alert, ultimately the faithful and the wicked have different destinations. 1-3 – The wicked prospered and Asaph envied them. 4-12 – The wicked are free from the troubles that the faithful face on a daily basis. 13-15 – Asaph had bitter feelings and felt that he had lived a faithful life in vain. 16-17 – Asaph found the answer to his anguish in the sanctuary of God. 18-20 – The destiny of the wicked is destruction. 21-28 – The destiny of the faithful is four-fold. God is continually with us. He holds our right hand in protection. God guides us with counsel. After death, God will take us into glory. Our treasure is in heaven not in this world. God is our strength and our inheritance forever. In this life it is good to be near God, and to make him our refuge.