Southern Cross Presbyterian Church

Psalm 112:1 – 119:33

The Psalm that I got into the most this morning was Psalm 118.

Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good; his love endures forever. Psalm 118:1

When everything turns pear shaped I reckon it is really hard to honestly think that God is good and that his love endures forever.

In today’s Psalm we are not told who the psalmist is. But as you read the Psalm you get the impression that things weren’t going so well for the psalmist but the LORD rescued him.

I was pushed back and about to fall, but the LORD helped me. The Lord is my strength and my song; he has become my salvation. Psalm 118:13-14

Well the question for us this morning might be, so what has the LORD done for us? How I can I know that the LORD is good and his loves endured forever? Checkout the following verses.

The stone the builders rejected has become the capstone; the LORD has done this, and it is marvelous in our eyes. Psalm 118:22-23

What’s all this about? Checkout some more verses

Then Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, said to them: “Rulers and elders of the people! If we are being called to account today for an act of kindness shown to a cripple and are asked how he was healed, then know this, you and all the people of Israel: It is by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified but whom God raised from the dead, that this man stands before you healed. He is ” ‘the stone you builders rejected, which has become the capstone. Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved.”  Acts 4:8-12

Israel rejected Jesus but now he has become the capstone – he is only way to be saved.

We might know this already – but do we really know it? Because if we did really know it I reckon we could honestly say ”Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good; his love endures forever”, in all things.

How does Jesus’ death and resurrection help you in the tough times?

Psalms 105-106

These two psalms are a fascinating contrast when read one after the other.

The first (105) is an out-and-out unadulterated celebration of what God had done for his people, especially in the Exodus. God is praised for his steadfast faithfulness and his loving actions on behalf of his people are described in great detail. There is no mention of Israel’s failure to respond properly.

The second of the two psalms (106) is quite the opposite! Things start in a similar fashion but from verse 6 all the way through to verse 43, rather than God’s faithfulness being described, the Psalmist laments Israel’s UNfaithfulness. When history is condensed like this it’s easy to shake our heads and look down on Israel for her many sins – how good they get it SO wrong SO many times?! But the fact is our lives are no less tragic. From one day to the next, even though we know God’s greater Exodus in Christ, yet we still sin, just doing as we see fit.

God’s enduring faithfulness is amazing isn’t it?!

Psalm 79:1-85:13

Psalm 80 just struck me through some of the images it uses:

You have fed them with the bread of tears; you have made them drink tears by the bowlful

What a picture this paints for us. The depths at which the Psalmist feels, the heart ache at this time is evident for us to see. Even the way they describe what has taken place is very powerful:

. ⁸ You brought a vine out of Egypt; you drove out the nations and planted it. ⁹ You cleared the ground for it, and it took root and filled the land. ¹⁰ The mountains were covered with its shade, the mighty cedars with its branches. ¹¹ It sent out its boughs to the Sea, its shoots as far as the River. ¹² Why have you broken down its walls so that all who pass by pick its grapes? ¹³ Boars from the forest ravage it and the creatures of the field feed on it. ¹⁴ Return to us, O God Almighty! Look down from heaven and see! Watch over this vine, ¹⁵ the root your right hand has planted, the son you have raised up for yourself. ¹⁶ Your vine is cut down, it is burned with fire; at your rebuke your people perish.

Here the Psalmist captures the history of Israel; saved out of Egypt and established in the promised land and now judged by God in the exile.

Many of these Psalms (79-84) reveal the pain of the period of exile. Psalm 80 shows us the Psalmist grief at the destruction of the nation. Though they feel the great sorrow of this time they still recognize where salvation comes:

¹⁹ Restore us, O LORD God Almighty; make your face shine upon us, that we may be saved.

Our salvation too came from a face shining:

⁶ For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” made his light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ. 2 Cor 4:6

Psalms 75:1-78:72

There was a lot to read this morning or maybe just the fact that Psalm 78 was 72 verses long put me off.

But of the four Psalms this morning I really enjoyed 78.

It’s a great recap of what has happened in the history of Israel so far and the funny thing is the Psalm stops with David. Just  where we are about to start looking together as a church.

It so easy to see how dumb Israel was – God has delivered them in all kinds of ways and yet they still didn’t trust him and wanted to go back to their old ways. But the reason I like being reminded of the exodus is I reckon we’re very similar to Israelites. See I reckon even with Jesus’ death and resurrection being constantly reminded to us – we quickly forget all that we have in Christ and want to go back to the old way of things.

The talk on Sunday was a great reminder for me of what we have in Jesus and the response I need to make. That I need to willingly pick up my cross each morning. Do you still crave the old life? Or do you realise what you have in Jesus?