Author: Doug

“Hanging Out with the Humbled” describes living in community with others who are seeking transformation into the humility of Christ. (Philippians 2: 1-11; St. Benedict’s Ladder of Humility, PDF below)

“Hanging out with the Humbled” describes both the means and the evidence of contentment in our journey with God in Christ.  Experiencing humility with God and in community creates and evidences contentment. Think about where you are in your own experiences with humility, community and contentment  as you read and reflect on Psalm 119:57-64, Psalm 131 and Psalm 33. 

Background

Book 4 of the Psalms (90-106)

As we noted last week, Book 3 contained “problem psalms” that would fit with scholars dating its compilation during the Exile. Book 4 follows with the great encouragement needed to move forward and rebuild after the Exile, whether dated shortly before or after their return. (Remember that the date of compilation does not indicate when each psalm was written.)

We have been learning about the structure of the book of Psalms from Toni little by little over the past year. These two psalms are the “bookends” of Book 3. Many scholars believe that this portion of the psalter was compiled during the Exile. This would explain the following:

It contains many problem psalms, in which, both at individual and at national levels, the psalmists are wrestling with difficulties of theodicy.

Geoffrey Grogan, Prayer, Praise and Prophecy: A Theology of the Psalms, p. 209

theodicy : defense of God’s goodness and omnipotence in view of the existence of evil

merriam-webster.com

In other words, the main question seems to be, “What is going on here?!?”

Prepared for Psalms Group, September 27, 2020

As I was working through Psalm 40 last week, these words on p. 84 of The Songs of Jesus leaped off the page into my mind and heart:

Lord, praying for your glory is indeed the way of liberation. If I pray, “Glorify yourself in my needs,” that frees me to receive whatever you send as your wise will.  For I know that your glory includes your love.  In my life, Lord, be glorified.  Amen.                                                                     

Tim and Kathy Keller, The Songs of Jesus, p. 84, italics mine

Dear Psalms friends,

Our focus psalm this Sunday, September 27, will be Psalm 57, an individual Davidic lament in a troubled time  Let’s be asking ourselves, “How much weight, how much importance, does God actually have in my life, especially when I feel the earth shaking under my feet and my pulse quickening?” 

Prepared for Psalms Group, 9/20/20

Our current lectionary readings in I Kings, the minor prophets, and Hebrews, coupled with Judaism’s high holy days of Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur triggered my curiosity about actual worship in the tabernacle and temple (original and second). How do the Psalms, eventually the hymnbook of the Second Temple, inform us about and lead us in God-focused worship?

Prepared for Psalms Group, August 30, 2020

Psalm 136 is the only psalm in the whole Psalter which has a repeated refrain in every verse.  It is a far-reaching celebration of the love and covenant faithfulness of YHWH to his people, for steadfast love is the love which honors and works within the covenant.  (Grogan, Prayer, Praise and Prophecy, p. 236)