new Bible Study: Psalms

[cheapskatemum]

Psalm 23

A psalm of David.
1 The LORD is my shepherd, I lack nothing.
2 He makes me lie down in green pastures,
he leads me beside quiet waters,
3 he refreshes my soul.
He guides me along the right paths
for his name’s sake.
4 Even though I walk
through the darkest valley,[a]
I will fear no evil,
for you are with me;
your rod and your staff,
they comfort me.

5 You prepare a table before me
in the presence of my enemies.
You anoint my head with oil;
my cup overflows.
6 Surely your goodness and love will follow me
all the days of my life,
and I will dwell in the house of the LORD
forever.

Footnotes:
Psalm 23:4 Or the valley of the shadow of death

[cheapskatemum]

I've posted the New International Version, because I thought it might be easier for MNers who are less familiar with Psalm 23 to understand. Personally, I prefer the poetry of the King James Version (a much older translation, so English a bit like that of Shakespeare).

[cheapskatemum]

enjoy your meal now it's dark. Are you talking about the hymn, crescent? If so, yes, it's from psalm 23. Thanks for posting, I hope the others join us here!

[cloutiedumpling]

This is one of my favourite passages. I love the simple, personal relationship that the psalmist has with God. It seems to me to be a simple, uncluttered faith that isn't (at that point) complicated by doubts

[Tuo]

Thank you for this new thread.

One of the first things that strikes me about this psalm is how easy it is (at least for me as a reader based in the UK) to read it and imagine something that looks a bit like the English countryside with green pastures and quiet streams and sheep grazing, whereas the psalmist would have been familiar with a very different landscape, with greenery and fresh flowing water in relatively short supply perhaps. The picture, then, is a very idealised one - not an image of 'the farm down the road', as it were, but of a fertility and fruitfulness that is far from the reality of the average shepherd in the ancient Middle East. It comes to be an image not only of God nurturing and nourishing us, but of his doing so extravagantly and with abundant generosity (also seen in the image of the cup overflowing - he gives us not just enough but more than we need).

And yet, the praise in this psalm is a peaceful praise: it's not about jumping up and down and praising God with singing and shouting and musical instruments (compare Psalm 148 and others), but rather about being allowed to lie down - to rest in God and with God and under God's protection - and to be fed and refreshed and comforted. In our busy lives, I think it's very easy to fail to make time to be at peace with God (or, perhaps better the other way around, to allow God to bring us to peace).

Thank you for sharing it, cheapskatemum.

[niminypiminy]

Thank you, cheapskatemum! Just done some longish posts on other threads, and must go off and do some work... but will come back later. I love this psalm!

[madhairday]

Thanks for this cheapskate mum. I love this psalm. Have to go as going away for the weekend but marking place for a proper think about it when I get back.

'He restores my soul' - yes. Such profound truth in these words.

[newlark]

I love the way it switches from talking about the Lord in the third person to the 2nd person in the second half when speaking about going through trials. So many people testify to how they have felt God's presence with them, sustaining them and have felt at peace though very difficult situations - it reminds us that even though we walk through the darkest valley (and all of us will at some point) we can know God's comfort through it.

[cheapskatemum]

Lovely comments, all of you. A few years ago I was at a Prophecy conference and the leaders (couple from Northern Ireland, can't remember their names) got us to concentrate on the person next to us and think of which line of this psalm was most relevant to them at this time. I was a total novice, but it seemed evident to me that, for the young man next to me, it was line 2. I could even picture him lying down in a grassy field. When I told him he explained that he'd just had to take time out from his careworker job as too many 12 hour shifts had left him wrung out.

[gingerdodger]

Weird! I completely missed this thread last week having previously really enjoyed the bible study threads. Am currently up in the night feeling troubled and the thread jumped out at me and when I opened it up saw words I really needed to hear. Sometimes God really does speak to us in very imaginative ways. Going to go back to bed now with these words in my mind.

Thank you for posting it .

[niminypiminy]

I think the last line is interesting 'I will dwell in the house of God forever'. For the psalmist I imagine that would have been the Temple so literally it would have been 'I will dwell in the Temple'. But I understand it to mean that my home will be with God forever and that's an image that goes right to the heart for me.

It reminds me of one of the prayers after communion we say in the CofE which starts 'Father of all, when we were still far off, you met us in your son and called us home...' . I love this prayer, I can hardly ever say it without a catch in my throat.

Our true home, where we will always be loved, and rested, and feasted, and comforted, all the days of our life, and forever.

[newlark]

Home/belonging is how I think of heaven. And now I have that Getty/Townend song "There is a higher throne" in my head... The second verse starts "And there we'll find our home, our life before the throne; we'll honour him in perfect song where we belong." .

Psalm 23v6 also brings to mind Psalm 27v4 "One thing I ask from the Lord, this only do I seek: that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to gaze on the beauty of the Lord and to seek him in his temple." The same Hebrew word for house is used here which is used for both the house of the Lord many times in the bible but also for other households so I guess it has more of a feel of where someone (God in this case) lives or dwells which is what the temple was to the Jews rather than just a place of worship.

[niminypiminy]

This week's psalm:

Psalm 77

I cry aloud to God;
I cry aloud to God and he will hear me.
In the day of my trouble I have sought the Lord;
by night my hand is stretched out and does not tire;
my soul refuses comfort.

I think upon God and I groan;
I ponder, and my spirit faints.
You will not let my eyelids close;
I am so troubled that I cannot speak.
I consider the days of old;
I remember the years long past;
I commune with my heart in the night;
my spirit searches for understanding.

Will the Lord cast us off for ever?
Will he no more show us his favour?
Has his loving mercy clean gone for ever?
Has his promise come to an end for evermore?
Has God forgotten to be gracious?
Has he shut up his compassion in displeasure?
And I said, ‘My grief is this:
that the right hand of the Most High has lost its strength.’

I will remember the works of the Lord
and call to mind your wonders of old time.
I will meditate on all your works
and ponder your mighty deeds.
Your way, O God, is holy;
who is so great a god as our God?
You are the God who worked wonders
and declared your power among the peoples.
With a mighty arm you redeemed your people,
the children of Jacob and Joseph.

The waters saw you, O God;
the waters saw you and were afraid;
the depths also were troubled.
The clouds poured out water; the skies thundered;
your arrows flashed on every side;
The voice of your thunder was in the whirlwind;
your lightnings lit up the ground;
the earth trembled and shook.
Your way was in the sea, and your paths in the great waters,
but your footsteps were not known.
You led your people like sheep
by the hand of Moses and Aaron.

I've taken it from the common worship psalter, because I think those are really good, clear translations. For comparison the New International Version is here, The Message is here, Good News Bible is www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=psalm+77&version=GNThere, NRSV is here and KJV is here.

Would it be helpful for me to post some questions to think about later? As always, I'm looking forward to your thoughtful and prayerful comments and questions!

[niminypiminy]

Sorry, link fix for GNB is here

[cheapskatemum]

I think we're in need of your questions, niminy!

I note that, despite not getting an immediate response from God, the psalmist still cries out to him day and night, thus "keeping lines of communication open" a bit like parents of teenagers!

[niminypiminy]

I love this psalm -- it's been really important to me in my own life. I find the way that the psalmist, in the middle of his own despair and everything that's going wrong in the present, turns back to remember what God has done in the past. I find it really helpful that it's like an act of will 'I will remember ... I will meditate...'. When God seems to have forgotten us, often it is the case that we have forgotten God.

Anyway, this psalm has been hanging about for ages my fault, because I've just been so busy I couldn't even think so here is another psalm, with some questions (next post):

[niminypiminy]

Psalm 1

Blessed are they who have not walked
in the counsel of the wicked, •
nor lingered in the way of sinners,
nor sat in the assembly of the scornful.
Their delight is in the law of the Lord •
and they meditate on his law day and night.
Like a tree planted by streams of water
bearing fruit in due season, with leaves that do not wither, •
whatever they do, it shall prosper.
As for the wicked, it is not so with them; •
they are like chaff which the wind blows away.
Therefore the wicked shall not be able to stand in the judgement, •
nor the sinner in the congregation of the righteous.
For the Lord knows the way of the righteous, •
but the way of the wicked shall perish.

What would it be like to be a tree planted by streams of water?

What would it be like to be chaff blown away by the wind?

Do we face choices in our lives between being righteous (translates Hebrew word for justice-loving) and being wicked?

What is the assembly of the scornful and the counsel of the wicked?

How does it help us to meditate on God's law?

[cheapskatemum]

Thanks niminy no need to apologise as I could have stepped up. I was waiting to see if anyone had anything more to say about the last one.

In answer to your first question, I would say that the tree would have a constant source of nourishment, like a believer who is able to call on God at any time and read his word in the Bible. Isn't there a verse in another psalm where we are exhorted to dig deep, like roots going down far to find much needed sustenance, when times are tough? This is like the opposite.