PSALM 111 Life Lived as God's People

In Christ we live and move and have our being.
The Spirit is poured out in our hearts as love.

Romans 5:5 New Living Translation
.....for we know how dearly God loves us,
because He has given us the Holy Spirit
to fill our hearts with love.

Life lived as God's people is expressed in Psalm 111.
This summary stands as a benchmark
from the days of King David
and is valid for God's people today.
It is a good and necessary thing to fear the Lord.
It is desirable  to have a good understanding.
It is good and necessary to personally
put into practice , the will of God.
It is good and necessary to reverence God
and be zealous in keeping all His laws.
It is good to delight in His commandments,
                to delight in Him and ponder on His deeds.
It is good to be joyful in fearing the LORD and
wholeheartedly participate in His will and purpose.

Psalm 111:10 New Living Translation.
Fear of the LORD is the foundation of true wisdom.
All who obey His commandments will grow in wisdom. Praise Him forever !
                

PSALM 111 Ponder the deeds of the LORD

Psalm 111:2 NLT 
How amazing are the deeds of the LORD !
All who delight in Him should ponder them.

Psalm 111:6 points to more deeds of the Lord.
Psalm 111:6 NASB
He has shown his people the power of his works,
giving them the lands of other nations.

Grateful memory of God,s past actions ads to our confidence
in God,s deeds and works in the present and in the future.
We have a oneness in the communion of saints
with people whose life and work transcends the limits of time
to reach us through their written words.
We can be grateful for God,s deeds in their lives.

A sad heritage is left by those who lightly esteemed God
and failed to serve Him and who did not value the will of God.
As the body of Christ we celebrate and remember the works of God
in His people of faith in Old Testament times and in New Testament times.
We gratefully remember His works and deeds in His people of faith
since New Testament times.

We should ponder the deeds of the Lord, done through the lives of
the brave missionaries and hymn writers of each century.
Thank God for all who came to faith and wholeheartedly shared
the source of their hope with friends and family and community.

PSALM 111 Ponder the Will of God

Psalm 111:10 NKJV
The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom;
A good understanding have all those who do His commandments.
His praise endures forever.

John Calvin instructs his readers to "Reverence God"
and be zealous in keeping His laws.
John points out that, in practice, those who do not fear God
fail to regulate their lives according to His law.
Those who do not render explicit obedience unto God
clearly have no regard for the will of God or His purposes.
In John Calvin's words; "Many lightly esteem God
and fail to serve Him and submit to the regulation of His word."

Psalm 112:1 NLT
How joyful are those who fear the LORD
and delight in His commands.

Those who take delight in putting God's commands
into practice personally have it right.
Participation in the will of God is a wholehearted activity
rather than an academic or legalistic process.

PSALM 110 Our TRIUNE GOD

Psalm 110   (Vulgate 109)
The Lord (The Father)  said to my Lord (Christ),
"Sit at My right hand"

Jesus is begotten from the Father before all time
( before the morning star ) 
and is the "ETERNAL SON " of the "FATHER"

In this Psalm of David
David calls the future king "my Lord".
Since the future king is the Messiah,
David is calling the Messiah "my Lord" !

Psalm 110:3 NCV
Yours is royal dignity in the day of your birth;
in holy splendor, before the day star
like the dew, I have begotten you.

Psalm 110 (Septuagint 109) is a Royal Psalm and
contains prophecy concerning the Melchizedek
 priesthood of our Lord Jesus  Christ .

In Genesis 14:18 Melchizedek is king of Salem
                            and priest of God Most High
bringing out bread and wine he blesses Abram.
See Hebrews 7 regarding the permanence of the
Royal Priesthood of the Lord Jesus.

Hebrews 1:8 begins "But of the Son he says;---"
and quotes Ps110:1  and Psalm 45:6-7 precisely.

Psalm 110:1 ESV    The LORD says to my Lord;
"Sit at my right hand until I make your enemies your footstool"

Psalm 45:6-7 ESV Your throne, O God, is for ever and ever.
The sceptre of your kingdom is a sceptre of uprightness;
you have loved righteousness and hated wickedness.
Therefore God, your God, has anointed you
with oil and gladness beyond your companions.

Since we know from Isaiah 63;10 that God's people
"rebelled and grieved his Holy Spirit"
we can distinguish God the Father, God the Son,
and God the Holy Spirit, while understanding that
God-With-Us comprises all three.

David, the divinely inspired writer of Psalm 110
predicted that the future seed of David was to be our Messiah.
Our Lord Jesus is,in the flesh, descended from David,
and is David's Lord and our Lord. 

Psalm 2:7  ESV and SAAS
The LORD said to me
"You are my son; today I have begotten you.

St Matthew 3:17 KJV
And lo a voice from heaven, saying, 
This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.

PSALM 109 Discern what is Good

Discern what is good with the help of Psalm 109.

From verse 1    Praising God is a good start.
From verse 4    Being a loving person is good and
                         good people give themselves to prayer.
From verse 16  Lovingkindness is a welcome sign of good.
From verse 17  The good delight in blessing others.
From verse 21  To be merciful is godly.
                          To see people's need and in steadfast love
                           to deliver them, is in the Spirit of Christ.
From verse 22   It is good to be aware of our own inadequacy.
From verse 24   Fasting and prayer is the normal way of life for the good.
From verse 26   Constant reference to the LORD for
                          His help and enabling is the way of the good.
From verse 30  The good are grateful to the LORD
                          and praise Him to everybody.
From verse 31   It is really Christlike to stand beside the needy,
                          the afflicted and the oppressed.

                         

PSALM 109 Recognize Evil

Discern what is bad with the help of Psalm 109.

From verse 1-5     The wicked are deceitful.
It is wicked to lie about other people.
Words of hatred are spoken out of hatred.
Accusers reveal what is in their heart.
People have to be quite bad to return evil for good.
and even worse to return hate for love.
From verse 16-17
Failure to show kindness is a bad sign.
Persecuting the afflicted and needy is bad.
Bringing about the malnutrition and premature death
of underprivileged people is seriously bad.
Cursing the oppressed is a terrible sign
of social and political decline.
Those who would deny medical care to the "undeserving"
are animated by evil.
Those who curse "immigrants" (even the ones who drown
in the Mediterranean) for being a "nuisance" and a "problem"
curse out of their own personal wickedness.
From verse 28 and 29
Those who publish hatred in the social media,wear their disgrace
like a tea shirt, advertising their evil attitudes.
From verse 31        The LORD our GOD stands beside the needy,
the afflicted and the oppressed...every...single...one.

PSALM 108 Ministry of witness

When older people repeat themselves, it shows what is on their mind.
When mothers repeat themselves, it shows that the mother knows
that her child needs to hear it twice.
When we hear something repeated, we may give it a higher priority.
When today's prayer sounds familiar because we have prayed
much the same before, we pray with fresh faith and a new heart.

Psalm 108:2-6      repeats      Psalm 57:8-12       and
Psalm 108:7-14    repeats      Psalm 60:7-14.

Which surely shows what is on God's mind
and indicates that we should give these matters higher priority.
We need grace to live through familiar challenges with a new heart.
We need to recognize where God's love is .
It is love which gives us fresh enabling and fresh smiles

Verse 1-5 is a vow to sing, give thanks, and to sing God's praises
among the peoples and among the nations.
That is an international ministry of witness !
In verse 6 we seek answer to prayer,
rescue for the all the Lord's people and victory for us all.
In verse 12 we express our need of help from the Lord.
In verse 10, 11 and 12 we lament our own inadequacy:
And in verse 13 we declare our hope and trust in the one true God.

PSALM 107 Witness to Steadfast Love

Psalm 107:1-2  NRSV
1     O give thanks to the LORD, for he is good;
       for his steadfast love endures for ever
2     Let the redeemed of the LORD say so,
       those he redeemed from trouble.

The "Redeemed of the LORD" are particularly qualified
to witness to the LORD'S goodness and steadfast love.
In Psalm 107 the importance of witnessing to his love
and wonderful works is repeated in verses 6, 13, 19, and 28.

Psalm 107:6   &  21-22  NRSV
6     Then they cried to the LORD in their trouble
       and he delivered them from their distress.

21   Let them thank the LORD for his steadfast love
       for his wonderful works to humankind.
22   And let them offer thanksgiving sacrifices,
       and tell of his deeds with songs of joy.

Public , joyful, "telling of his deeds", out loud in song,
is a witness to all those for whom we pray who need to know
the steadfast love of the Lord
and his wonderful works to humankind.

Our every experience of recognizing the presence of God;.........

Every awareness of the working of the Holy Spirit;........

Every deliverance which we can acknowledge;......

is an opportunity to witness to the Glory of God
to encourage members of the body of Christ
and to shine a beacon to those who are unaware of
the steadfast love and wonderful works of our LORD.

2nd Chronicles  5:13 NRSV
It was the duty of the trumpeters and singers to make
themselves heard in unison in praise and thanksgiving
to the LORD, and when the song was raised with trumpets
and cymbals and other musical instruments, in praise to the LORD,
     "For he is good,
             for his steadfast love endures forever."

EPHESIANS 5:19 NRSV
but be filled with the Spirit,
as you sing psalms and spiritual songs among yourselves,
singing and making melody to the Lord in your hearts,
giving thanks to God the Father at all times and for everything
in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.

PSALM 106 RESTORATION !

Psalm 106:1-2  NCV
1   Give thanks to the Lord, for he is Good
     his kindness endures forever.
2   Who can possibly recount the mighty acts of the Lord
     and fully proclaim his praise ?

A repentant people recall historical sin
but only to confess contemporary sin.
The community of God,s people gather together
to acknowledge the sins of society, nationally and communally,
in order to seek forgiveness and restoration.
We recall God's mercy, the mercy accomplished in Christ
on behalf of God's sinful but believing people:
Forgiveness accomplished in Christ
which opens us up to the experience of God's love
in restored, thankful, praising community.

Psalm 106: 47-48 NCV
47   Save us, O LORD, our God,
       and gather us from among the nations,
       so that we may give thanks to your holy name
       and glory in praising you.
48   Blessed be the LORD, the God of ISRAEL
       from everlasting to everlasting
       Let all the people say , "Amen."