This is the overview of the three-week Psalms of Advent class, December 2021.
Download or view the PDF outline here.
Our Security in Christ Our King and in His Community
Presented December 5 and 6, 2021
Download or view the PDF below.
For Monday Psalms, November 15, 2021
Book 1 of the Psalms(Psalms 3-41) reveals our human condition of limitation and our struggle to trust the steadfast love and power of the LORD. It is dominated by Psalms “of David” in which the psalmist is constantly beset by problems, difficulties, trials—most often at the hands of others who are determined to make life difficult for him, though sometimes he makes his own trouble. (Psalms 32 and 38 are penitential.)
* Holy Day with different Psalms readings
| NOV | MORNING | EVENING |
| * All Saints 1 | Psalm 1, 15 | Psalm 34 |
| 2 | Psalm 5, 6 | Psalm 7 |
| 3 | Psalm 9 | Psalm 10 |
| 4 | Psalm 8, 11 | Psalm 15, 16 |
| 5 | Psalm 12, 13, 14 | Psalm 17 |
| 6 | Psalm 18:1-20 | Psalm 18:21-52 |
| 7 | Psalm 19 | Psalm 20, 21 |
| 8 | Psalm 22 | Psalm 23, 24 |
| 9 | Psalm 25 | Psalm 27 |
| 10 | Psalm 26, 28 | Psalm 31 |
| 11 | Psalm 29, 30 | Psalm 33 |
| 12 | Psalm 34 | Psalm 35 |
| 13 | Psalm 32, 36 | Psalm 38 |
| 14 | Psalm 37:1-17 | Psalm 37:18-41 |
| 15 | Psalm 40 | Psalm 39, 41 |
| 16 | Psalm 42, 43 | Psalm 44 |
| 17 | Psalm 45 | Psalm 46 |
| 18 | Psalm 47, 48 | Psalm 49 |
| 19 | Psalm 50 | Psalm 51 |
| 20 | Psalm 52, 53, 54 | Psalm 55 |
| 21 | Psalm 56, 57 | Psalm 58, 60 |
| 22 | Psalm 59 | Psalm 63, 64 |
| 23 | Psalm 61, 62 | Psalm 65, 67 |
| 24 | Psalm 68:1-18 | Psalm 68:19-36 |
| 25 | Psalm 69:1-18 | Psalm 69:19-37 |
| 26 | Psalm 66 | Psalm 70, 72 |
| 27 | Psalm 71 | Psalm 73 |
| 28 | Psalm 74 | Psalm 77 |
| 29 | Psalm 75, 76 | Psalm 79, 82 |
| Andrew 30 | Psalm 78:1-18 | Psalm 78:19-40 |
Prepared for Monday Psalms, November 1, 2021
Prepared for Monday Psalms, October 18, 2021
1. Our group focused on Psalm 107 on 2/16/20, a month before the COVID 19 lockdown that started during March 2020. Reflect on how your understanding of who God is to you and to his people has changed from February 2020 to now, October 2021.
Read the cry to the LORD our God in Psalm 106:47. Psalm 107 starts out like Psalm 106, with an ancient liturgy extolling the LORD’s goodness and steadfast love (See also Jeremiah 33:11). But then Psalm 107 goes a different direction and becomes an answer to the cry for help that ends Psalm 106. This is the strongest link in the Psalms between the closing psalm of one book and the opening psalm of the next book, the link between Book IV and Book V of the Psalms.
Read Psalm 107:1-3, recalling Exodus 34:6-7,the central confessional passage for the OT about God’s gracious character and purpose, extending unfailing love and forgiveness to thousands of generations.
Notice the words used to describe God in 107:1-3:
good (tov=good in the widest sense, everything good you can think of, God is better and best)
steadfast love (hesed=unfailing love, covenant love, faithful and loyal love, “never runs out” love, merciful and kind love, enduring love)
What is the connection between verses 1 and 2 of Psalm 107? What are the redeemed of the LORD told to say? (“Let the redeemed of the Lord say so…”)
2. Psalm 106’s ending cry for help is answered by Psalm 107’s four examples of God rescuing people who cry to him in their trouble/distress. These four examples form a community song of thanksgiving with repetitions:
One of the enduring delights of this psalm is repetition—repeated descriptions of threatening situations, repeated recourse to prayer, repeated divine response, repeated calls to thankfulness.
New Bible Commentary, p. 557
Read the four examples of trouble and distress(vv.4-9, vv.10-16, vv.17-22, vv. 23-32).
Notice what words, phrases, and images speak to you? What seems to draw you? Why? What life experiences of your own or others help you relate to the troubles described?
The circumstances of Psalm 107 include human suffering due to human limitation and also suffering due to human sin. Sometimes the reasons for suffering are mixed, both self-inflicted and completely beyond one’s control. How does Psalm 107 present God’s response to the wide variety of people in distress who cry out for rescue?
3. Notice the repeated calls to thankfulness in 107:8-9, 15-16, 21-22, 31-32. How do these calls to practice thankfulness develop the theme presented in 107:2?
Which of these four calls to gratitude draws you most strongly now? Why?
How would you describe what Psalm 107 teaches about what redeemed, rescued people need to be learning to do? We need to learn to feel and express gratitude for…what?
5. Psalm 107 ends with a wisdom meditation leading us to reflect on how the LORD vindicates Himself through reversals (107:33-43). Whom do the Lord’s reversals ultimately benefit?
Think of examples of this teaching about “reversals” from the Gospels and the teaching ministry of Jesus.
Ponder Jesus Christ’s life, crucifixion and death, resurrection and ascension. What wondrous, mighty acts of love on behalf of whoever will believe and receive God’s goodness and enduring love!
Then reflect on your own life, “hidden with Christ in God.” (Colossians 3:3)
Our Triune God, the LORD of all, is bigger than each of our individual stories and bigger than the stories of nations and cultures.
The Inward/Outward Journey From Self-Preoccupation to God-Centeredness
Prepared for Monday Psalms, October 4, 2021
* Holy Day with different Psalms readings
| OCT | MORNING | EVENING |
| 1 | Psalm 78:41-73 | Psalm 80 |
| 2 | Psalm 81 | Psalm 83 |
| 3 | Psalm 84 | Psalm 85 |
| 4 | Psalm 86, 87 | Psalm 88 |
| 5 | Psalm 89:1-18 | Psalm 89:19-51 |
| 6 | Psalm 90 | Psalm 91 |
| 7 | Psalm 92, 93 | Psalm 94 |
| 8 | Psalm 95, 96 | Psalm 97, 98 |
| 9 | Psalm 99, 100, 101 | Psalm 102 |
| 10 | Psalm 103 | Psalm 104 |
| 11 | Psalm 105:1-22 | Psalm 105:23-44 |
| 12 | Psalm 106:1-18 | Psalm 106:19-46 |
| 13 | Psalm 107:1-22 | Psalm 107:23-43 |
| 14 | Psalm 108, 110 | Psalm 109 |
| 15 | Psalm 111, 112 | Psalm 113, 114 |
| 16 | Psalm 115 | Psalm 116, 117 |
| 17 | Psalm 119:1-24 | Psalm 119:25-48 |
| Luke 18 | Psalm 119:49-72 | Psalm 119:73-88 |
| 19 | Psalm 119:89-104 | Psalm 119:105-128 |
| 20 | Psalm 119:129-152 | Psalm 119:153-176 |
| 21 | Psalm 118 | Psalm 120, 121 |
| 22 | Psalm 122, 123 | Psalm 124, 125, 126 |
| James of Jerusalem 23 | Psalm 127, 128 | Psalm 129, 130, 131 |
| 24 | Psalm 132, 133 | Psalm 134, 135 |
| 25 | Psalm 136 | Psalm 137, 138 |
| 26 | Psalm 139 | Psalm 141, 142 |
| 27 | Psalm 140 | Psalm 143 |
| Simon & Jude 28 | Psalm 144 | Psalm 145 |
| 29 | Psalm 146 | Psalm 147 |
| 30 | Psalm 148 | Psalm 149, 150 |
| 31 | Psalm 2 | Psalm 3, 4 |
Prepared for Monday Psalms, September 20, 2021
* Holy Day with different Psalms readings
| SEP | MORNING | EVENING |
| 1 | Psalm 1, 2 | Psalm 3, 4 |
| 2 | Psalm 5, 6 | Psalm 7 |
| 3 | Psalm 9 | Psalm 10 |
| 4 | Psalm 8, 11 | Psalm 15, 16 |
| 5 | Psalm 12, 13, 14 | Psalm 17 |
| 6 | Psalm 18:1-20 | Psalm 18:21-52 |
| 7 | Psalm 19 | Psalm 20, 21 |
| 8 | Psalm 22 | Psalm 23, 24 |
| 9 | Psalm 25 | Psalm 27 |
| 10 | Psalm 26, 28 | Psalm 31 |
| 11 | Psalm 29, 30 | Psalm 33 |
| 12 | Psalm 34 | Psalm 35 |
| 13 | Psalm 32, 36 | Psalm 38 |
| Holy Cross 14 | Psalm 37:1-17 | Psalm 37:18-41 |
| 15 | Psalm 40 | Psalm 39, 41 |
| 16 | Psalm 42, 43 | Psalm 44 |
| 17 | Psalm 45 | Psalm 46 |
| 18 | Psalm 47, 48 | Psalm 49 |
| 19 | Psalm 50 | Psalm 51 |
| 20 | Psalm 52, 53, 54 | Psalm 55 |
| Matthew 21 | Psalm 56, 57 | Psalm 58, 60 |
| 22 | Psalm 59 | Psalm 63, 64 |
| 23 | Psalm 61, 62 | Psalm 65, 67 |
| 24 | Psalm 68:1-18 | Psalm 68:19-36 |
| 25 | Psalm 69:1-18 | Psalm 69:19-37 |
| 26 | Psalm 66 | Psalm 70, 72 |
| 27 | Psalm 71 | Psalm 73 |
| 28 | Psalm 74 | Psalm 77 |
| Michael & All Angels 29 | Psalm 75, 76 | Psalm 79, 82 |
| 30 | Psalm 78:1-18 | Psalm 78:19-40 |