Psalms

This book is in process. It had been completed but data was lost in a systems transition.

This is a comparison of the righteous and the wicked.  The righteous are listed with joys and strength. The wicked are listed with their destruction and downfalls. 

Principles: Living a righteous life leads to blessing.  Living a wicked life leads to condemnation and destruction. 

Principles: Living a righteous life leads to blessing. Living a wicked life leads to condemnation and destruction.

The psalmist asks about the anger of nations and points at them rejecting God. God is not worried though at their anger. He chastises them. He knows His Son will vanquish them. He tells them that they need to serve the Lord.

Principles: the problems in the world are due to lack of submission to God. Submission to God brings peace.

The psalm was written when David was running from Absolom, his son, when Absolom was trying to seize the kingdom from David. David starts by telling Good how he has so many enemies. But David recognizes that God is a shield around him and he calls out to God and God responds. Because of this, David was able to rest in safety. Then David asks God to basically embarrass his enemies. 

Principles: when our trust is in God we have no reason to worry. We can rest in God when we trust in Him.

David asks God to hear him when he calls and says that people are spreading lies about him. He knows God sets the godly apart for Himself and will answer him when he calls. 

David then gives advice: don’t sin in your anger; offer sacrifices in the right heart; God provides great joy and peace. 

Principles: let God manage your reputation.  Rest in God’s peace. 

David begins this psalm by asking God to listen to him as he makes his requests in the morning. He uses words like groaning and crying to describe his prayers. He says he prays only to God and waits expectantly. He notes that God takes no pleasure in wickedness and sin and that He detests murderers and thieves. 

He then moves towards the positive in describing God and how he (David) will worship Him (God) and his request for guidance from God. 

Then David goes back to the evil of his enemies and asks the Lord to let them bear the fruits of their actions. 

He ends with describing the path of those who follow God, noting the joy and protection they receive. 

Principles: Only following God brings true joy and God’s protection.

David asks for compassion from God. He asks for mercy from God as he faces his enemies. He asks that his enemies be stopped and vanquished. In the last portion, there is a change in tone noting that God is saving him. 

Principles: Call out to God to save you. 

LIn the first stanza, David comes to God asking for protection. Next, he asks God to mobilize His armies against his enemies and defend his innocence. David notes that God is his shelter and protector and that He is an honest judge of people.  David describes what happens to the wicked and how they operate. David ends by expressing his thanks to God because He is just and he praises God.

Principles: God is the defender of the just and is a righteous judge.

David starts by saying how he will praise the Lord. He talks about how his enemies have been vanquished. He moves on to how God rules the world with righteousness. 

David then goes back to reminding/ asking God to protect him from his enemies. 

He then states what happens to the wicked and how the poor will be cared for by God.

He then asks God to judge the nations and not let people defy Him.

Principles: God handles the world according to His plan. He is worthy to be praised for that and so many things 

David asks why people get worried by troubles happening around them when God is watching everything going on. He watches both just and unjust.

Principles: God is still on the throne. 

David asks for God’s help because of the declining level of righteous people.  He describes how people are scoffing against don’t right.  Then he shares how God is responding, that He sees what is going on and will rise up and rescue those who need His help and have been calling on Him. 

Principles: God hears those who call on him for help and rescues them. 

David asks why God is forgetting him.  David asks how long he must be in anguish and when the Lord will restore joy to him.  David doesn’t want his enemies to be able to gloat about his state. 

However, David trusts God and rejoices because He has rescued him. 

Principles: look to God in the midst of your troubles.  

David notes that the fool rejects God’s existence. God looks for those who are righteous but everyone falls short. The wicked go after the righteous but God sees them doing so. 

David then points to the Messiah, who will rescue God’s people and result in joy for God’s people. 

Principles: fools reject God’s very existence.  

David highlights the heart of those that are true worshippers/God-followers.

Principles: actions can demonstrate a heart attitude and purity before God.

David asks God to keep him safe but then goes into praising Him for all that He does. He ends it by making a Messianic reference. 

Principles: Praise God for all that He does for you. 

This is a prayer of David. It covers a regular theme of David, asking God for protection from enemies and recognition/declaration of his innocence. It ends taking about the hope of relationship with God.

Principles: put your trust in God and His protection. 

This psalm is David praising God for delivering him from Saul. David praises God for being his protector and strength.  He describes how bad it was during the time when Saul was after him.  Then he shares how God prepared for and went to battle against David’s enemies. David then shared how God protected him for staying faithful to Him. David shares how God cared for, protected, and prepared him for the fight against his enemies and how they were completely destroyed. Then God put him in authority to the point that people knew his heart strength and were afraid of opposing him. 

Then David praises God for his great power and strength through the situation. 

Principles: God will move heaven and earth to care for His children. 

This Psalm of David shows David outlining aspects of God’s characteristics and how creation tells about Him.

Principles: the qualities of God are undeniable. 

This Psalm reads as a blessing to the reader, transitions to a declaration about God, and ends with a direct prayer to God.  

Principles: God is the source of our blessing and protection.

David starts out with thankfulness for how God had blessed him as King. He then switches to stating how God will triumph and how His (and David’s) enemies will be vanquished. 

Principles: be thankful for God’s provision

David expresses his feelings of being alone and that God seems far away.  Jesus quotes this when He’s on the cross.  There are a number of messianic references in here.  The psalm goes back and forth between David’s despair and his proclamation of God’s greatness. 

Principles: Even in times of trouble, God is great. We should proclaim that and rely on God in times of trouble. 

This psalm speaks of the overwhelming care of God for David. God takes care of all hours needs, leads him, protects him, gives him rest, and keeps him healthy. David can’t imagine rejecting this and going away from this ever. 

Principles: rest is God’s overwhelming care.

David writes of God’s ownership of everything as creator.  Then he expresses who may approach God. Finally, he encourages people to turn to God. 

Principles: Recognize God’s authority. 

David shares a Psalm of placing trust in God and then laying out a defense of why God is great (for others to place how trust in him) and also why God should forgive us (because of His greatness). 

Principles: put your trust in God because He is great and forgives is despite our sins. 

David calls on God to defend his innocence.  He relates why and how he has separated himself from those who are not innocent. 

Principles: let God manage your reputation. 

David contradicts the incredible characteristics of God with his own inadequacies. He then talks about what he wants most: to be intimate in his relationship with God. Then he asks God for grace, mercy, and protection. 

Principles: trust in the greatness of God, not in your own weaknesses. 

David asks God to hear God’s prayer and not include him with those who are wicked.  David then thanks Good for hearing his cry for mercy. He ends with a prayer for Israel.

Principles: God’s mercy is a treasured gift. 

David talks about the greatness and strength of God in this psalm. 

Principles: God’s greatness needs to be proclaimed. 

In this Psalm, David rejoices in God’s help. He talks about praising God, recognizing that there may be times when there will be pain and trouble but God’s favor and joy follow. 

Principles: Praise God in the midst of the trials and when you have made mistakes. 

David comes to God for protection.  He lays out the struggles he’s going through, including sin, and asks God for His protection. He then praises God for what He has done and is doing to care for David and encourages the Godly to do the same. 

Principles: place your trust in God.

David describes the joy and peace that comes from God’s forgiveness. He also talks about the weight of not confessing sin and living in rebellion. 

Principles: confession to God is good for your well being. 

David praises the Lord highlighting Him as creator and sustainor.  

Principles: Praise the Lord for His greatness in creating all that is and for His plans for your life.

David writes this after feigning madness to the king of the Philistines when running from his enemies (after having killed their hero, Goliath, years prior). It sounds more wisdom based like Proverbs. David advises his listener to seek peace and keep from speaking evil and lies.

Principles: seek to live quiet and peaceable lives before God.

David is asking God to defend him and crush his persecutors.

Principles: take your problems to God and let God defend you. 

This psalm begins by talking about how sin works the wicked.  Then it moves on to talk about how great and wonderful God is. David then asks God to pour out His love on His people.  He ends with a statement of victory showing the wicked falling. 

Principles: God’s greatness far exceed the ploys of the wicked. 

This is a psalm of hope for those struggling with evil around them.  

Principles: put your trust in and focus on God. Don’t let the evil around you change your countenance for the negative. 

David talks about how he feels when he is guilty of sin and when God is disciplining him. 

Principles: Cry out to God when you are in the wrong so you can be restored.  

David is writing about wanting to speak out against what is going on but holding his tongue until he can’t stand it any longer. He then calls on God to remind him how short and fleeting his life is. He wants to let that remind him that his words are not as important as he thinks. He talks about being exhausted by the discipline he’s going through from God. He wants release from the discipline of God. 

Principles: Put things in perspective. You are not as important as you think. Let God’s discipline work in you. 

David talks about how he benefits when he waits on God to move. When he focuses on what’s going on around him, he can only see trouble and his own sin.  

Principles: God’s greatness is unending and He cares abundantly for His people. 

David starts by talking about defending the poor and how God blesses those that do.  He then moves on to a familiar request: protect me from those that wish evil and harm. 

Principles: Do your best to care for the poor. God sees.

David expresses how he longs to be in God’s presence worshiping him instead of worried about the challenges of the day. He encourages himself to focus on God who sustains him. 

Principles: focus on God’s sustaining power instead of circumstances. 

David looks to God to defend him and pronounce him innocent.  He is being lied about from others and wants to be comforted. He ends calling himself to put his hope in God.

Principles: let God defend your reputation. Put your hope in God not your circumstances.