Chapter: Book 2

The Inward/Outward Journey From Self-Preoccupation to God-Centeredness

Prepared for Monday Psalms, October 4, 2021

Prepared for Monday Psalms, September 20, 2021

Prepared for Psalms Group, May 30, 2021

Psalm 71 is a unique voice in Book 2 of the Psalms and easy to hurry past in its simplicity. It’s also part of the section of Psalms called the Elohistic Psalter (Psalms 42-83) because the word Elohim appears frequently while the word YHWH less so. Here’s the summary of Book 2 from the ESV Study Bible:

Book 2 (Psalms 42-72) From the Davidic voice of Book 1, Book 2 introduces the first Korah collection (42-49, although 43 lacks a superscription), with a single Asaph psalm at Psalm 50. A further Davidic collection is found in Psalms 51-65 and 68-69, including the bulk of the historic superscriptions (51-52; 54; 56-57; 59-60; 63). Once again lament and distress dominate the content of these prayers, which now include a communal voice (Psalm 44, 67 68). The lone psalm attributed to Solomon concludes Book 2 with the Psalms’ pinnacle of royal theology (72, cf. 45)

Psalm 71 gets “orphaned” again! In Psalm 71, an individual lament, we hear an aging person of genuine faith praying. This person’s life models what reading, praying, and living the Psalms is all about: a God-centered life hidden in YHWH Elohim, Israel’s personal King/Shepherd who is the supreme and universal God of the whole universe. That’s the stance of one who lives and prays the psalms—hiding out in the safety of YHWH Elohim. 

1. Psalm 71 quotes from three other Psalms (Psalms 31, 22, and 35; all psalms “of David”). Its theme and circumstances belong with Davidic Psalms 69 and 70 (70=40:13-17) and certainly fit with David’s struggles with false accusation and frightening, undeserved assaults.

Allow God to search you and point out current unresolved difficulties in your life and /or in others your life touches. 

Read Psalm 71:1-3 and 31:1-3. What is your understanding of God as a “rock of refuge…my rock and my fortress”? (refuge=habitation/dwelling, “a home in the rock’) When have you deliberately hidden in God for safety/protection or seen someone else hiding out in God?

2. Notice the different words the psalmist uses to address God. (71:1, 4-5) (LORD=YHWH=yahweh, the personal name for Israel’s God, a proper noun, see Exodus 3:13-15)

(Elohim=God=an honorific plural used to show honor to a single referent. It is a common noun, not a proper name, that refers to the universal deity who creates and rules the universe. This faithful Israelite thinks of YHWH as his Elohim, his sovereign and master, his personal God above all gods, his only God.)

How do these words for God help you understand God’s position in the psalmist’s life? In your own life?

3. What do you learn about the psalmist in 71:5-8, 71:17-18, and 20? 

What do you wish you could ask this person? 

71:7 tells us that he has been a “portent, a sign, a model, an example, a warning example” for many. What do you think that means? Who has been that “sign” to you and who might you be “a sign” to?

4. What are his current concerns according to 71:9-13? Read 71:1, 71:13 and 71:24. What does he believe God’s support of him will do to his enemies? How do you think that fits with Jesus’ teaching on loving enemies?

5. What does this aging psalmist experience as he is beset by troubles that apparently could bring public loss of his reputation and disappointment of his hopes for his life? (71:14-18)What seems to be his attitude and focus? 

How does he explain this experience, and what part does God have in it?

What impact do you think people of faith have when they face their difficulties in humble dependence on God? 

6. In his current difficulty, the psalmist turns to God, and particularly to God’s righteousness (71:2, 15, 19, 24).What do you learn about the righteousness this psalmist is counting on from his words of lament and trust in Psalm 71? 

Notice how Psalm 71 starts in honest supplication and petition. As the prayer continues, his requests begin to be sprinkled with praise. (6c, 8) This “speaking well of God” is intertwined with realistic observations about his age, current difficulties, and past history of “troubles and calamities.” No sugar-coating!

As it concludes, this prayer becomes praise (71:22-24). What stands out to you about these closing expressions of praise, the reasons for them, the impact on the psalmist himself and on you as a reader/prayer/praiser? 

Time and trouble shape the context of faithfulness in this psalm. The psalmist ends up commending all of his life to YHWH Elohim. 

Those who pray the psalms are aware that, in spite of their own infidelities to God over the years, God has nonetheless remained faithful. Were that not the case, they would not be praying the psalms at all.

Reardon, Christ in the Psalms, p. 139

Lord, do not let advancing age increase either pride or worry in me. Instead let me grow in humility….and patience… 

Kellers, Songs of Jesus, p, 162

Prepared for Psalms Group, 5/23/21

Psalm 48 is a descriptive hymn of praise that belongs to a group of psalms called songs of Zion, psalms that celebrate the city of Jerusalem and the temple as the epicenter of cosmic reality.The purpose of these Songs of Zion is to enliven our minds and hearts with thankfulness, praise and longing for the presence of God with us, as we learn to worship by worshipping. 

Prepared for Psalms Group for January 31, 2021

More than 1/3 of the psalms are complaints to God in situations of limitation or threat.  These laments were a form of prayer and praise based on the conviction that God is concerned about people and answers the human cry in ways surpassing human expectation or understanding. Israel’s laments out of distress were a way of praising God even when he seemed absent. The faith of the psalmists is founded on the good news that God intervenes in desperate situations to help those who are distressed. The psalmists show a deep confidence that God is compassionate, concerned, hearing his people and involved with them; God is faithful and trustworthy.  A lament is an outcry to God from a responsive heart. 

When the Enemy is Me

Prepared for Psalms Group, January 24, 2021

They say confession is good for the soul, But that sure doesn’t make it easy!  In general, our culture is neither good at confessing or at hearing confessions.  Given our fierce independent natures, and our tendencies toward perfectionism, we are slow to admit our sin, and uncomfortable when we do. We would rather have superficial relationships than expose our deep seated fears and secrets…The psalms of penitence have much to teach us—about the results of sin, the attitude of God, and the hope for change.  It is when we come to God with empty hands that we understand his unfailing love. 

Wilson and Nygren, The Cries of the Faithful, Vol. 1, p. 63