Chuck Smith :: Verse by Verse Study on Psalms 20-30 (C2000)

Psalm 20 is to the chief musician also. It is a psalm of David.

The LORD hear thee in the day of trouble (Psa 20:1);

Actually, Jehovah, "May Jehovah hear you in the day of trouble."

the name of the God of Jacob [which is Jehovah or Yahweh] defend thee; Send thee help from the sanctuary, and strengthen thee out of Zion; Remember all thy offerings, and accept thy burnt sacrifice (Psa 20:1-3);

In other words, "May the Lord hear you, the name of the Lord, or Jehovah, the name of the God of Jacob defend you. May He send help and strengthen you, and remember, or take notice of all your offerings and accept your burnt sacrifices."

May he grant thee according to your own heart [that is, the desires of your heart], and fulfill all of your counsel. We will rejoice in thy salvation, and in the name of our God [Yahweh or Jehovah] we will set up our banners: for Jehovah fulfill all your requests. Now know I that Jehovah saves his anointed; he will hear him from his holy heaven with the saving strength of his right hand. Some trust in chariots, some in horses: but we will remember the name of Jehovah our God. They are brought down [those that are trusting in horses and chariots], and they are fallen: but [because we have trusted in the name of the Lord,] we are risen, and stand upright. Save, LORD: let the king hear us when we call (Psa 20:4-9).

Psalm 21

Again, to the chief musician, the psalm of David.

The king shall joy in thy strength, O LORD; and in thy salvation how greatly shall he rejoice! Thou hast given him his heart's desire, and you have not withheld the requests of his lips (Psa 21:1-2).

Now the Selah indicates, really, sort of a change of thought. It sort of introduces a new idea. It is just sort of a rest, and then introducing of a new idea, new thought pattern.

For you prevent him with the blessings of goodness: you set a crown of pure gold on his head. He asks for life from thee, and you gave it to him, even the length of days for ever and ever. His glory is great in thy salvation (Psa 21:3-5):

He is talking about the king's delight in the Lord, and how he was just so gracious for what God has done.

For thou hast made him most blessed for ever: thou hast made him exceeding glad with thy countenance. For the king trusts in the LORD, and through the mercy of the Most High he shall not be moved. Your hand shall find out all your enemies: your right hand shall find out those that hate thee. You will make them as a fiery oven in the time of thine anger: the LORD will swallow them up in his wrath, and the fire shall devour them. Their fruit will you destroy from the earth, and their seed from among the children of men. For they intended evil against thee: they imagined mischievous devices, that they are not able to perform. Therefore thou shalt make them to turn their back, when thou shalt make ready your arrows upon thy strings against the face of them. Be thou exalted, LORD, in your own strength: so will we sing of thy praise and thy power (Psa 21:5-13).

Psalm 22

Psalm 22 is one of those prophetic psalms which stands out probably among all of the Messianic psalms. This psalm is again a psalm of David, and it is a very graphic description of death by crucifixion. Now, at the time that David wrote this, stoning was the method of capital punishment. Actually, it was almost 1000 years later that crucifixion was introduced by the Romans as a form of capital punishment. So that David would describe death by crucifixion is sort of a miracle in itself, and yet, inspired by the Holy Spirit, he wrote graphically of the death of Jesus Christ. The very first phrase of this psalm was quoted by Jesus on the cross. As Jesus cried out,

My God, My God, why hast thou forsaken me? (Psa 22:1)

In that cry of Jesus from the cross, we understand more completely the agony in the garden, as He was seeking to, if possible, escape the cross. For in the garden we read that He was praying, "Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from Me. Nevertheless, not My will, Thy will be done" (Matthew 26:39). And that thrice repeated prayer in the garden, sweating as it were great drops of blood to the ground. The agony of Christ in the garden is explained of the cry of Christ on the cross, "My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken Me?" But He was forsaken of God for a moment. And the reason for His being forsaken is given to us in this psalm in verse 3. But He was forsaken by God for a moment in order that you would not have to be forsaken by God eternally. He was forsaken by God when God placed upon Him the iniquities of us all. He bore the penalty of our sin.

You see, sin always results in separation from God. God said to Adam, "In the day that thou eatest thereof, thou shalt surely die" (Genesis 2:17). Talking about spiritual death, where man's spirit is separated from God. Now when the Bible talks about death, as a general rule, it is talking about spiritual death which is the separation of a man's soul and spirit from God. We talk about death when a man's soul and spirit are separated from his body, but you may be walking around, all of your body motor functions working, and seem to be very much alive, but God looks at you and says, "Hey, you're dead." Your soul and spirit are separated from God; your spirit is dead. "You," Paul said, "hath He made alive who were dead in your trespasses and sins" (Ephesians 2:1).

So here we see when Jesus took upon Himself all of our sin, because sin does separate from God, as Isaiah the prophet said in chapter 59, "God's hand is not short that He cannot save, neither is His ear heavy that He cannot hear, but your sins have separated you from God." Always the result or the effect of sin. So when God laid on Him the iniquities of us all. The cry, "My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken Me?"

So Jesus identifies this psalm. Maybe He was trying to give a hint to the disciples, "Go back home and read the psalm, you'll know what's going on. Read the whole thing, you'll understand what is happening." The rabbis would often in those days just give you the first verse of a psalm and expect you to go home and do your homework, read the whole thing. Maybe Jesus was following one of their methods, just giving them the first verse of the psalm, knowing that then they would then go search out the whole psalm.

My God, My God, why hast thou forsaken me? why art thou so far from helping me, and from the words of my roaring? O my God, I cry in the daytime, and thou hearest not; and in the night season, and am not silent (Psa 22:1-2).

Remember that darkness covered the land, and so crying in the day, crying in the night, the darkness. But the reason why the separation, forsaken:

But thou art holy, O thou that inhabits the praises of Israel (Psa 22:3).

The holy God could not be in fellowship with sin. It is impossible that a holy God be one with sin. And the word fellowship means a oneness, a community, a commonness. When God placed upon Jesus the sins of us all, it brought that separation. "For Thou art holy," the reason for His being forsaken.

Our fathers trusted in thee: they trusted, and you delivered them. They cried, and they were delivered: they trusted, and were not confounded. But I am a worm, and no man; I am a reproach of men, and despised of the people (Psa 22:4-6).

This, of course, was prophesied in the fifty-third chapter of Isaiah, how He would be despised and rejected of men. "A reproach of men, I am despised of the people."

All they that see me laugh me to scorn: they shoot out the lip, they shake their head, saying, He trusted in the LORD that he would deliver him: let him deliver him, seeing he delighted in him (Psa 22:7-8).

Remember the high priest and all when Jesus was hanging on the cross, they said, "Ha ha! He trusted in the Lord to deliver Him. Now let Him come down if He is truly the Messiah, and we will worship Him." All of these things.

But thou art he that took me out the womb: you did make me hope when I was upon my mother's breasts. I was cast upon thee from the womb: thou art my God from my mother's belly (Psa 22:9-10).

Now, again, where does consciousness, or where does life begin? If there is indeed something within the plants of some form of primitive understanding, or maybe it is highly sophisticated, more highly than we are. Who knows? They have found that there is quite a consciousness of the child in the fetal state. That from the tenth week or so, about the twelfth week the child begins to have very normal functions, sleeping, the awake times. If the mother yells, it might wake up the child. Runs down the stairs. And at that point it begins to recognize the mother's voice, and that is why the child is always more comfortable with the mother than even with the grandmother when it is first born. Because it is used to the mother's voice; it has been hearing it for sixth months. After the third month the child begins to hear the mother's voice. "Thou art my God from my mother's belly." And so it speaks really of an awareness, a consciousness. "You did make me hope when I was upon my mother's breast."

Be not far from me; for my trouble is near; for there is none to help. Many bulls have compassed me: the strong bulls of Bashan have beset me round. They gaped upon me with their mouths, as a ravening and a roaring lion (Psa 22:11-13).

Now, again, descriptive of the cross:

I am poured out like water (Psa 22:14),

Remember when they thrust the spear in His side, there came forth blood and water.

all my bones are out of joint (Psa 22:14):

One of the things that takes place during crucifixion, as a person is hanging there, and usually held there by the spikes, your muscles after awhile begin to fatigue and give way. And when your muscles give way, your body begins to drop and actually the joints, because the muscles have fatigued, the joints begin... your body begins to fall out of joint, actually, from the hanging there. And this description of all my bones are out of joint, of course, the excruciating pain of the joints loosening, often killed the prisoner.

my heart is like wax; it is melted in the midst of my bowels. My strength is dried up like a potsherd; and my tongue (Psa 22:14-15)

That thirst, that horrible thirst that you receive when you are hanging there, and through the sweat your body liquids are dissipated. Then you get that horrible thirst, the dry mouth, the cotton taste.

my tongue cleaves to my jaws; for thou hast brought me into the dust of death. For dogs have compassed me: the assembly of the wicked have enclosed me: they pierced my hands and my feet (Psa 22:15-16).

Now, the Jehovah Witnesses seek to teach us that Jesus was crucified on a pole, that the cross is actually the pagan Tou symbol, and so the church is actually worshipping a pagan symbol. They tell this to all of their poor deceived people. And they then quote from a sixteenth century book and show them the pictures of this sixteenth century book written by a monk in which he describes the struttural, the pole, and the many methods of crucifixion of the Roman government. And he shows the picture of this man who is crucified on a pole, his hands above his head, one spike through his hands, and then, of course, the one spike through his feet. And they say that the church, in picturing Christ on a t-shaped cross, actually the pagan symbol Tou, and the whole church is following Babylonian paganism and so forth; the whole church is Babylon. We are the only ones that tell you the truth. And they deceive the people. It is interesting that in the New Testament it speaks about the nails, plural, in His hands. The nails, plural, in His hands.

"They pierced My hands and My feet." What the Jehovah Witnesses didn't tell the people is that this same sixteenth century author and the book that they take the picture from, and they quote him, supposedly translating the Latin that is there, they don't tell the people that they have mistranslated the Latin that is there, and on two pages further on the book, he has the t-shaped cross. And he says this no doubt is the kind of the cross that Jesus was crucified on, because it refers to their nailing the nails through His hands and His feet. And they don't tell the people that they have deceived them. They have taken one page of the book, mistranslated the Latin from it, and a couple of pages later, the same author in the same book shows the type the cross that we usually think of when we think of the cross, and says "This no doubt is the shape of the cross that Jesus was crucified on." But that's what I say, they are... I feel sorry for the people that are deceived. It is the leaders in New York that are going to have to really answer to God for the deception of these poor people around the United States, keeping them in deception and darkness. My heart goes out to them.

I may tell all my bones: for they look and stare upon me. They part my garments among them, and cast lots upon my vesture (Psa 22:17-18).

Now you remember when Jesus was crucified, they tore His garment, divided it into four, but with the coat they said, "Oh this coat is nice. It been woven all the way from the top to the bottom without any seam. Let's not tear it; let's cast lots to see whose this will be." So here it was prophesied. Now Schoenfield, who is called a scholar by many of those men who like to pat each other on the back and tell each other how brilliant they are, declared that the whole Passover, crucifixion of Jesus was a gigantic plot that Jesus set up. And that the disciples had spiked the vinegar that they finally put to His lips, to put Him in a swoon so that they would think that He was dead. And that after they had buried Him, of course, the disciples came and whisked Him away. And it was just all a big plot, and Jesus set the whole thing up. He deliberately angered them. He deliberately set the whole thing up so that He actually plotted the whole crucifixion and everything else. And it was just a big, gigantic plot of Jesus. Well, it was very ingenious of Jesus to somehow get the soldiers to go along with the plot and not to tear His robe, but to cast lots for it. That was very clever of Him indeed. And even to get the high priest to go along and say, "Oh, He saved others, Himself He cannot save. If He is the Son of God, then let Him come down. He said He delights in Him, okay, if God wants Him then let Him save Him." Schoenfield just turns out to be a liar like so many others and his book of fraud. And it turns out that Schoenfield's book is the fraud, not Jesus. As is always the case.

But in one sense, of course, it was a plot, and Jesus was a part of the plot. It was a plot that was hatched by God before the foundations of the earth. For Christ was crucified before the foundations of the earth. "You, according to God's predetermined council and foreknowledge, with your wicked hands have crucified and slain" (Acts 2:23). You see, when Peter talks about the cross, he talks about prophecy, the foreknowledge of God. Yes, it was a plot. God plotted it a long time ago, and Jesus carried it out. But it is your salvation and it is my salvation.

But be not far from me, O LORD: O my strength, haste thee to help me. Deliver my soul from the sword; my darling from the power of the dog. Save me from the lion's mouth: for thou hast heard me from the horns of the unicorn (Psa 22:19-21).

Now on the altars they had on each corner of an altar a horn, a single horn going up as the horn of a unicorn. And when they were really desperate and really wanting to cry out unto God, they go unto the altar and they'd grab hold of the horns of this unicorn. You remember when Joab, the general of David was... after David, when he was dying he said to Solomon, "Now Joab has spilt so much blood, now take care of him. Don't let his old gray head go down to the grave in peace." And so when Solomon was doing the cleanup for David, after David's death, he ordered them to bring Joab, because of all of the innocent blood that he had shed, in order that he might give his life. And Joab ran into the altar and he grabbed hold of the horns of the altar. And the guy came back and said, "He is holding on to the horns of the altar." Well, when they were really desperate they would run in and grab hold of the horns of the altar, and there they would pray and intercede unto God. And so here it speaks of that kind of intercession from the horns of the unicorn.

I will declare thy name unto my brethren: in the midst of the congregation I will praise thee. Ye that fear the LORD, praise him; all ye the seed of Jacob, glorify him; and fear him, all ye the seed of Israel. For he hath not despised nor abhorred the affliction of the afflicted; neither hath he hid his face from him; but when he cried unto him, he heard (Psa 22:22-24).

God heard Jesus when He cried.

My praise shall be of thee in the great congregation: I will pay my vows before them that fear him. The meek shall eat and be satisfied: and shall praise the LORD. All the ends of the world shall remember and turn to the LORD (Psa 22:25-27):

Now the salvation that went out to the Gentiles is predicted.

with all the families of the nations they'll worship before thee. For the kingdom is the LORD'S: and he is the governor among the nations. And all they that be fat upon earth shall eat and worship: all they that go down to the dust shall bow before him (Psa 22:27-29):

So the intimation of the resurrection. "Even those that have gone down into the dust of the earth, shall bow before Him." In Philippians we read, "God has given Him a name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee shall bow," every knee shall bow, "and every tongue shall confess that Jesus Christ is the Lord to the glory of God the Father." So God has given to Him the kingdom. The kingdom is the Lord's. He is the governor.

and all they that go down to the dust shall bow before him: none can keep his own soul alive. A seed shall serve him; it shall be accounted to the LORD for a generation. They shall come, and shall declare his righteousness unto a people that shall be born, that he hath done this (Psa 22:29-31).

And so the gospel has come to us, of the glorious work of Jesus Christ in His death for our sins. The fulfillment of Psalm 22.

Psalm 23

Psalm 23, the prayer of David, or a psalm of David, rather. And it is a psalm in which he sees God in three aspects. He sees God first as a shepherd; secondly as a guide; and thirdly as a host. There is a very interesting commentary called, "A Shepherd Looks at the Twenty-third Psalm." And you might want to read this book. It is a fascinating book, as it goes into many of the aspects of a shepherd, and the character and the nature of sheep. And you'll find it an excellent commentary on the twenty-third psalm, "A Shepherd Looks at the Twenty-third Psalm." But in reality, a guide could look at it too, and a host could look at it, because he sees God in all three capacities, not just as a shepherd, but also as a guide and as a host. God is a shepherd.

Jehovah is my shepherd; I shall not want (Psa 23:1).

I shall not want, actually, for provision.

For he makes me to lay down in green pastures (Psa 23:2):

I shall not want for refreshment, for

he leads me beside the still waters (Psa 23:2).

I shall not want for strength, for

He restoreth my soul (Psa 23:3):

So God is a shepherd. Watching over me, leading me into green pastures, leading me to the still waters, restoring my soul.

But now God is a guide.

he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness [or in the right path] for his name's sake. And yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me (Psa 23:3-4);

Now, God is leading me through my path of life. He leadeth me. "In all thy ways acknowledge Him, He will direct your path" (Proverbs 3:6). God will lead you through your path of life. But each one of you the path of life will one day, barring the rapture of the church, lead into the valley of the shadow of death. When it does, I will fear no evil, for Thou art with me. Death doesn't hold any terror or fear for the child of God.

A survey was recently done among morticians; 2000 of them responded to it. And it was a survey that dealt with the preparation of bodies of those people who they knew to be truly born again and those who were not. And you can ask a mortician, and it's almost impossible for a mortician to put a smile on a person's face when they are dead. Did you know that? Next to impossible, unless the person was a born again Christian. And they had observed this phenomena, and so they made sort of a survey among morticians, and it all came back, yes, they had all observed the same phenomena. You bet there will be a smile on my face! All right, you know.

"For death has been swallowed up in victory. O death where is thy sting? O grave where is thy victory? For the sting of death was sin, but sin has been removed. Thanks be unto God, who gives us the victory through Jesus Christ our Lord" (I Corinthians 15:55-57). So, even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for Thou art with me. Oh, the presence of God. Taking me by the hand, leading me through the valley.

Now God is seen as a host.

Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies: thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over (Psa 23:5).

God is just really a great host. He is a gracious host. He takes care of you fabulously. Preparing a table before you, anointing your head with oil, causing your cup to overflow. The glorious overflowing life of the child of God. "If any man thirsts," Jesus cried, "let him come to Me and drink. And he who drinks of the water that I give, out of his innermost being, there will gush torrents of living water" (John 7:37-38). The cup will overflow.

Surely goodness and mercy should follow me all the days of my life (Psa 23:6):

Wherever I go, throughout my pilgrim journey on this earth. Goodness and mercy. The goodness of God, the mercy of God, attending my path. And at the end of the path, all the days of my life having been completed,

I shall then dwell in the house of the LORD for ever (Psa 23:6).

That house that Jesus spake of, when He said, "In my Father's house there are many mansions. And I'm going to prepare a place for you." Now I look at this world and I love to go to Hawaii, and I love to go to Yosemite, and I love to go into any areas where you have beautiful woods and ferns and rivers, and streams and flowers and fauna. I love it! I love the beauty. And I look at the beauties of Grand Canyon. I look at the beauties of the oceans. I look at the beauties of the lakes and the rivers and the streams and the woods, the deserts. And I realize that He created the whole thing in six days. Now, it was about 1900 years ago that He said He was going to prepare a place for me. If He could do all of this in six days, what must that place be like that He has been working on for 1900 years? You bet there will be a smile on my face. As I shall dwell in the house of the Lord forever.

Psalm 24

Psalm 24:

The earth is the LORD'S, and the fullness thereof; the world, and they that dwell therein (Psa 24:1).

It all belongs to God.

For he hath founded it upon the seas, he established it upon the floods (Psa 24:2).

Now the question, the whole thing is God's, the earth's the Lord's, the fullness thereof. He founded it. He made it. It belonged to him.

Who shall ascend (Psa 24:3)

The question:

Who shall ascend into the hill of the LORD? or who shall stand in his holy place? (Psa 24:3)

The answer:

He that hath clean hands, and a pure heart (Psa 24:4);

Jesus said, "Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God" (Matthew 5:8).

who hath not lifted up his soul to vanity, nor sworn deceitfully. He shall receive the blessing from the LORD, and righteousness from the God of his salvation. This is the generation of them that seek him, that seek thy face, O Jacob. Lift up your heads, O ye gates; and be ye lift up, ye everlasting doors; and King of glory shall come in. Who is the King of glory? The LORD strong and mighty, the LORD mighty in battle. Lift up your heads, O ye gates; even lift them up, ye everlasting doors; and the King of glory shall come in. Who is the King of glory? The LORD of hosts, he is the King of glory (Psa 24:4-10).

Beautiful psalm.

Psalm 25

Psalm 25:

Unto thee, O LORD, do I lift up my soul. O my God, I trust in thee: let me not be ashamed, let not my enemies triumph over me. Yea, let none that wait on thee be ashamed: let them be ashamed which transgress without cause. Show me thy ways, O LORD; teach me thy paths. Lead me in thy truth, and teach me: for thou art the God of my salvation; on thee do I wait all day. Remember, O LORD, thy tender mercies and thy loving-kindnesses; for they have been ever of old. Remember not the sins of my youth, nor my transgressions: according thy mercy remember thou me for thy goodness' sake, O LORD (Psa 25:1-7).

Now David is changing his tune. Earlier he was saying, "Lord, remember my righteousness, and do good to me for my righteousness' sake." And now as he is growing a little older, and he is looking back in retrospect, he is saying, "Lord, don't remember the sins of my youth. According to Your mercy remember me. When You think about me, Lord, let it be covered with Your mercy. And for Your goodness' sake, O Lord."

Good and upright is the LORD: therefore will he teach sinners in the way. The meek will he guide in judgment: and the meek will he teach his way. The paths of the LORD are mercy and truth [all of the paths of the Lord are mercy and truth] unto such as keep his covenant and his testimonies (Psa 25:8-10).

So all of God's ways towards you are mercy and truth if you keep His covenant and walk in His testimonies.

For thy name's sake (Psa 25:11),

Remember we were dealing with this this morning. "For thy name's sake." He leads me in the path of righteousness for His name's sake. Now David is saying,

For thy name's sake, O LORD, pardon mine iniquity; for it is great. What is man that he fears the LORD? him shall he teach in the way that he shall choose. His soul shall dwell at ease; and his seed shall inherit the earth. The secret of the LORD is with them that reverence him; and he will show them his covenant (Psa 25:11-14).

God's secret. Oh, the glorious mysteries. What is the secret of the Lord? Paul tells us the secret of the Lord. It is Christ in you, the hope of glory. That is God's secret. It is a mystery hid from the beginning of the world now revealed to the church, Christ in you, the hope of glory. He reveals it to those who keep His covenant.

Psalm 26

In Psalm 26, another psalm of David. The first is,

Judge me, O LORD; I have walked in my integrity (Psa 26:1):

The second:

Examine me, O LORD, and prove me; try my mind and my heart. For thy loving-kindness is before my eyes: and I have walked in your truth. And I have not sat with vain persons, neither do I go in with dissemblers [with disgruntles]. I have hated the congregation of evildoers; I will not sit with the wicked. I will wash my hands in innocency (Psa 26:2-6):

In the seventy-third psalm he said, "I have cleansed my hands in vain in innocency." But here, "I will wash my hands and"

so will I compass thine altar, O LORD: that I may publish with the voice of thanksgiving and tell of your wondrous works. LORD, I have loved the habitation of thy house, and the place where your honor dwells. Gather not my soul with sinners, nor my life with murderous men: In whose hands is mischief, in their right hand is full of bribes. But as for me, I will walk in mine integrity: redeem me, and be merciful unto me. My foot stands in an even place: in the congregations will I bless the LORD (Psa 26:6-12).

Psalm 27

Psalm 27 begins with that song that we sang tonight.

The LORD is my light [or Jehovah is my light] and my salvation: whom shall I fear? the LORD is the strength of my life; of whom shall I be afraid? (Psa 27:1)

As a child of God, I need not to be afraid, I need not fear, because the Lord is my light, He's my salvation, He is my strength. I will not fear what man might do to me. Because the Lord is watching over me; He keeps me. And He that keepeth Israel will neither slumber nor sleep, and the Lord keeps you.

When the wicked, even my enemies and my foes, came upon me to eat up my flesh, they stumbled and fell. Though a host should encamp against me, my heart's not going to fear: though war should rise against me, in this I'm going to be confident. One thing have I desired of the LORD, that will I seek after: that I may dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the LORD, and to inquire in his temple. For in the time of trouble he will hide me in his pavilion: in the secret of his tabernacle shall he hide me; he shall set me up upon a rock (Psa 27:2-5).

I would like to make mention that, at this point, there is a lot of fear that is being cast into the church and into various congregation; the fear of war, the fear of tribulation, the fear of the church going through the Tribulation. And there is a lot of endeavor and a lot of energies being put forth now to prepare survival huts out in the desert someplace. And make sure you get the water in there. And they'll tell you just how to fix the water, and how much of the dehydrated food you should have, and the whole thing. So that when this holocaust comes, you can beat it out to your desert retreat and get down in the hole, and you can hide there in the ground for several months. And then you can emerge and you can have the whole thing to yourself. And a lot of fear concerning war and all is being propagated today. "The Lord is my light and my salvation, whom shall I fear? The Lord is strength of my life, of whom shall I be afraid? In the time of trouble He will hide me in His pavilion." I don't have to make a shelter out in the wilderness, you know, so many feet so that I can survive the radiation and all this kind of stuff. I tell you, I have no desire to emerge and look at the holocaust. If it's going to happen, I'd just assume be right in the epicenter. Just go for it.

And now shall mine head be lifted up above mine enemies round about me: therefore I will offer in his tabernacle the sacrifices of joy (Psa 27:6);

Actually, in the New Testament we are told to offer unto the Lord the sacrifices of praise, even the fruit of our lips. We don't bring our wheat to the Lord and grind it into flour and bake little cakes and all for them to sacrifice unto the Lord any more. We don't bring animals. But we do still offer sacrifices, that is, the fruit of our lips. Not the fruit of the ground or the fruit of our flocks, but now the fruit of my lips, praises unto the Lord, accepting, pleasing sacrifices unto Him.

yea, I will sing praises unto the LORD. Hear, O LORD, when I cry with my voice: have mercy, and answer me. When you said, Seek my face; my heart said to you, LORD, I will seek your face (Psa 27:6-8).

When God said, "Hey, seek My face," David said, "All right, Lord. I'll seek Your face."

Don't hide your face far from me; don't put your servant away in anger: you have been my help; don't leave me, neither forsake me, O God of my salvation. When my father and my mother forsake me, then the LORD will take me up. Teach me thy way, O LORD, and lead me in a plain path, because of mine enemies. Deliver me not over unto the will of mine enemies: for false witnesses have risen up against me, and such as breathe out cruelty. I had fainted, unless I had believed to see the goodness of the LORD in the land of the living (Psa 27:9-13).

How many times I would have just given up in life if I did not believe the promises of God. If I didn't believe to see the Lord.

Wait on the LORD: be of good courage, and he shall strengthen your heart: wait, I say, on the LORD (Psa 27:14).

Excellent Psalm.

Psalm 28

Unto thee will I cry, O LORD my rock; be not silent to me: lest, if thou be silent, I become like those that have gone down into the pit. Hear my voice of my supplications, when I cry unto thee, when I lift up my hands toward thy holy oracle (Psa 28:1-2).

So David in his prayer had those times when he lifted up his hands towards God.

Draw me not away with the wicked, and with the workers of iniquity, which speak peace to their neighbors, but mischief is in their hearts. Give to them according to their deeds, according to their wickedness in their endeavors: give them after the work of their hands; render them their just desserts. Because they did not regard the works of the LORD, nor the operation of your hands, you will destroy them and not build them up. Blessed be the LORD, because he hath heard the voice of my prayers. The LORD is my strength and my shield; my heart trusted in him, and I am helped: therefore my heart greatly rejoices; and with my song will I praise him. The LORD is their strength, and he is the saving strength of his anointed. Save thy people, and bless your inheritance: feed them also, and lift them up for ever (Psa 28:3-9).

Psalm 29

Give unto the LORD, O ye mighty, give unto the LORD glory and strength. Give to the LORD the glory that is due unto his name (Psa 29:1-2);

We have told you how that they reverence the name of God. Now we are commanded, "Give the Lord that is glory, due His name; the name that is above all names,"

worship Jehovah in the beauty of holiness (Psa 29:2).

Now he speaks of the greatness of the Lord.

The voice of the LORD is upon the waters (Psa 29:3):

"The voice of the Lord, the voice of the Lord," this is Hebrew poetry in its finest form, the repetition. "The voice of the Lord is upon the waters."

the God of glory thundereth: the LORD is upon many waters. The voice of the LORD is powerful; the voice of the LORD is full of majesty. The voice of the LORD breaketh the cedars; yes, the LORD breaks the cedars of Lebanon. He maketh them also to skip like a calf; Lebanon and Sirion like a young unicorn. The voice of the LORD divides the flames of fire. The voice of the LORD shakes the wilderness; the LORD shakes the wilderness of Kadesh. The voice of the LORD makes the hinds to calve, and discovers the forests: and in his temple doth every one speak of his glory. The LORD sitteth upon the flood; yes, the LORD sitteth King for ever. The LORD will give strength unto his people; the LORD will bless his people with peace (Psa 29:3-11).

What glorious promises, "God will give you strength. God will bless you with peace."

Psalm 30

I will extol thee, O LORD; for you have lifted me up, and you've not made my foes to rejoice over me. O LORD my God, I cried unto you, and you healed me. O LORD, you have brought up my soul from the grave: you have kept me alive, that I should not go down into the pit. Sing unto the LORD, O ye saints of his, and give thanks at the remembrance of his holiness. For his anger endureth but for a moment; in his favor is life: weeping may endure for a night, but joy comes in the morning (Psa 30:1-5).

Now, when you go through the psalms and you come to a psalm like this, rather than just read it, I think that you ought to just do it. When you are reading through the psalms and David says, "Sing unto the Lord, O ye saints of His," I think you ought to just sing unto the Lord. You know, just spend a little... if he says to do it, then we ought to do it. And then when he said, "Give thanks at the remembrance of His holiness," then you ought to give thanks unto the Lord. When he says, "Praise the Lord in the beauty of holiness," then we ought to praise the Lord. In other words, I think the psalms ought to be enacted, rather than just read and think, "Oh, isn't that beautiful. Yes, oh, isn't that nice, sing unto the Lord. Oh, yes, that's wonderful, you know." But when you are reading them through, just go ahead and follow the exhortations. As you get to an exhortation, follow it, and you will find that the psalms will really become very meaningful to you. As you follow the exhortations of the psalms, it is a blessed experience. When you are encouraged to do something, do it, and you will really be blessed.

"Weeping may endure for a night, but joy comes in the morning." Oh, how glorious it is when God brings us through the trial, brings us out onto the other side. We come out into the victory and again into the glorious joy of the Lord. We go through the trials of weeping, we go through these experiences of difficulty, and we can't see the hand of God. We don't know the way of the Lord. And we spend the time weeping, in prayer, travail, our soul travailing unto God. All night in travail, but as the morning comes, and God begins to shower forth His love and His plan and His purpose, oh what joy we get when God brings us through that night of hardship. As we have wept and travailed, and then we come out on the victory side and see the glorious victory of the Lord.

And in my prosperity I said, I will never be moved. LORD, by thy favor thou hast made my mountain to stand strong: when you hid your face, I was troubled. I cried to thee, O LORD; and unto the LORD I made prayer. What profit is there in my blood when I go down to the pit? Shall the dust praise thee? shall it declare thy truth? Hear, O LORD, have mercy upon me: LORD, be thou my helper. For you have turned for me my mourning into dancing: thou hast put off my sackcloth, and you've clothed me with gladness; To the end that glory may sing praise to thee, and not be silent. O LORD my God, I will give thanks to thee for ever (Psa 30:6-12).

Shall we stand.

Now may the Lord be with you and just really bless you during the week. May His Word become your strength and your portion. And may God just really bless you and enrich your life as you've gotten into the Word to study and to learn of Him. May the Lord keep His hand upon you, and may the Lord give you His strength, His peace, His love.