December 5, 2024: Thursday Bible Study on Psalms 1
Grace and Peace stand with you every day of your life.
We will soon enter into the 2nd week of Advent. What does that mean for us? It means that as the darkness of the year piles up, God's Light through Jesus Christ will provide for seeing through that darkness, and will make it possible, even in the face of the worst possible events, for all who accept Christ as their Lord and Savior to be surrounded by His Light and Life, with a heart of love for you and me, and for the promise of the Resurrection which lives in us through Christ Himself. It is His Light that will shine brighter than any darkness. At Christmas we will see the Light of Christ overcome all darkness, and shine more brightly for all to see.
On to Psalms now: Psalms are a part of the First Testament (the Old Testament). Unlike other scriptures in the OT, the Psalms are personal reflections of thanksgivings, appeals, and, in addition, infrequent Words of God spoken to the faithful. There are only 15 Psalms which hold those most holy Words of our LORD for those who pray and seek God's help, as well as those who are giving thanks for God's blessings and interventions. Psalms contain four kinds of conversations:
We say to God, and to others, you are Great! Psalm 8 is an example of this kind of Psalm.
We say to God, and to others, "Help". Psalm 3 is a good example of this kind of Psalm.
We say to God, and to others, "I trust you." This might be the words spoken when the situation is less dire and offering that we trust God is a way of asking for the help He will offer to work out for our good. Psalm 23 is our example here.
We say "Thank you" to God and to others when our prayers have been responded to, and the possibility of a positive outcome is obvious. Psalm 30 is an example of this type of Psalm.
We are always searching for the answer about an author when we encounter these Psalms. We don't know who wrote them, but we do have some guesses. There are some that are attributed specifically to David, others to Israel's kings, and others yet as the songs which the pilgrims sang as they entered the Temple while on their journeys. These are called Psalms of Ascent as the pilgrims would ascend the hill on which Jerusalem and the temple stood.
You and I live in a culture and nations where we cherish our privilege to make choices for our lives, for our families, even for our nation as we just did in the election. However, that is not true in all places around this globe. Psalm 1 believes in the importance of choice, and our choices, like theirs, are immensely important to how our lives move. In the case of Psalm one, we find that choice is pretty straight forward for people of faith in God, and for us in Jesus Christ as well. In Matthew 7 Jesus talks about the broad and the narrow way. This helps to define who we are, and whether or not we will be living lives that are pleasing to God. Poet Robert Frost helps us to see this in his poem "The Road Not Taken". In the journey of our lives there are choices to make, easy ones that may take us away from our Savior, and more difficult ones that build the love we have for our Lord and Savior. This Frost poem tells us that the one less taken, the more difficult one, makes all of the difference in our lives. On that road we learn about the kinds of things that the Psalms bring us to learn, like how important our relationship with God really is.
If we want to have the blessings of this relationship with God, Christ, and the Spirit, our choices will make all the difference. This means taking delight in the ways in which our God has guided His children throughout all time. We are meant to find the greatest joy in God's presence and rule for our lives. His rule is filled with Grace and Peace. There are plenty of opportunities to be led astray in this journey of faith upon which we have all started. What looks like a path with great wideness and no rules, lots of friends, and an easy life, is not the path upon which our Father in Heaven would have us tread. Christ has set the example for us. Out of His love for His Father in Heaven, and for us too, Christ chose the tough path with confidence in the care of His Father, and even in the face of such a horrible end, Christ knew that God really had everything which would carry Him through this difficult path. How confident are you when it comes to the really tough stuff in life, to trust that God is really in charge? He will love and cherish you through it all. The judgement about which this Psalm speaks is not the final judgement, but rather the natural consequences of journeying on the road most taken. There we find it easy to be separated from the power of God's love to be our immeasurable support no matter what happens to us. We all know that both those who make poor choices, and those who make the very best choices, that both will have difficult times in their lives, but where will the support to make it come from for the people who have wandered away down that other very busy path? This Psalm also makes it clear that daily life has never been meant to be separated from our experience of the Holy. They go together. So, in life we don't deny the mess we may be in, but we also do not separate it from God's loving rule in our lives. Lutherans address this kind of choosing and consequences when we say that everyone is simultaneously Saint and Sinner. God bless you as we undertake a task of many months to allowing the Psalms to feed our faith with the power of God's love, especially in the face of all of the difficulties of life.
With Love in Christ, Pastor Kim
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