Day 112 (Psalm 6, 8-10, 14, 16, 19, 21) - Year 7
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Hey, Bible readers, I'm Tara Lee Cobble, and I'm your host for The Bible Recap.

You may wonder why we're hitting so many days of just Psalms lately. We're reading chronologically, so while we're at this point in history, we'll often be reading the Psalm David wrote in response to his current life events. David wrote approximately half of the Psalms, so we'll hit a lot of them here, but since there aren't 150 of them, we'll still have others sprinkled throughout our writing until we wrap up the Old Testament. So let's jump into Psalm 6 first.

David is troubled, and it sounds like he's saying God doesn't even notice. David is also using poetic imagery and hyperbole to make a point about how he feels. When we relate to his feelings or his language, it's easy to latch on to his poems. And then, before we know it, we've built our theology on poetic imagery and hyperbole. So we have to ask a lot of questions of the text. First, we have to look at it in its literary context—

It's poetry. And then we also have to look at it in its historical context, much like we had to do with all the laws God gave the Israelites that seemed so foreign to us. We also have to look at its theological context by measuring it against the rest of Scripture. So let's look at another place Psalm 6 can be confusing. In verse 5, David seems to fear that his sin and eventual death will separate him from God. That sets this psalm against the rest of the Bible's teachings on this topic. So what do we do with it?

What we know about this period of time in ancient Judaism is that God hadn't revealed much about the afterlife to them yet. He'd spent most of his time trying to talk to them about how to build a society and get to know him in this life, not talking about what's going to happen in the next life. Think about it. You've read everything up to this point. Can you think of much, if anything, that he said about the afterlife? We've read a lot about Sheol, but that's mostly just a reference to the grave, not the afterlife.

And as far as actual examples that we've read so far, when Saul goes to visit the medium, Samuel still seemed to exist after death, which contradicts what David appears to be thinking here.

All this to say, we have to be careful about building theology from the Psalms unless that idea can be backed up elsewhere in Scripture. And the good news is, for the really important stuff, it totally will be, repeatedly. In this example, for instance, the rest of Scripture makes it clear that Christ's death has covered our sins and that for God's kids, death is a uniter, not a divider. Moving on to Psalm 8, David marvels at God's creation and the fact that man is given dominion over it.

In Psalm 9, he praises God for all the things he's done for David and for Israel, for being a righteous judge, for turning back the efforts of his enemies. We've read a few of the Psalms where David was asking God to do this, so I love that he circles back to write a song about the way God answered him with a yes. I love seeing David's gratitude. Private prayer is like the dressing room for our hearts. We're completely exposed and there's a three-way mirror behind us.

Intimacy comes through things like private prayer, through being seen and deeply known at our heart level. It's clear that David isn't just in this relationship for what he can get from God. He's in this for intimacy with God. And we see that because he doesn't just come to God selfishly with complaints and needs. He comes to God with praise. Then we move on to Psalm 10, and David has switched gears again.

He starts out feeling that God is distant and hiding himself because the wicked seem to be prospering while oppressing the poor and mocking God. It's easy to conclude that God is inattentive when that kind of thing is happening, right? But David calls his own feelings to account in verse 14. He says, David circles back around on his accusations of God's distance to remind himself of the truth.

This psalm expresses two conflicting ideas, but both of these feelings can sit in the human heart simultaneously. It's just helpful to know which feeling is true.

Psalm 14 may have really felt familiar to you if you've spent a lot of time in the New Testament. That's because the Apostle Paul quoted it a lot in his letter to the Romans. Romans 3, 10-12 says, As it is written, None is righteous, no, not one. No one understands. No one seeks for God. All have turned aside. Together they have become worthless. No one does good, not even one. So is this just poetic hyperbole?

It's quoted in one of the most theologically saturated books in the New Testament, so what do we make of it? Surely someone seeks God, right? And didn't God call a few people righteous? Job and Abraham, at least? Here, it doesn't seem to be hyperbole. Regardless, the point David and Paul are both driving home here is that none of us have anything to offer God. But praise God that He seeks us out. He pursues us. He initiates. He takes the unrighteous and grants them the righteousness of Christ.

In Psalms, these verses feel especially harsh. But if you read them in light of the gospel, they're praise-inducing. It could almost read like this. I'm a corrupt sinner who can't get my act together no matter how hard I try. The mantras and affirmations just aren't working today. But praise Christ, I've been made righteous, and it was through no effort of my own. It was His gift to me as His child. David closes this psalm by saying, "'Oh, that salvation for Israel would come out of Zion.'"

And God answered that prayer with a yes. Next up is Psalm 16. So much of what we read here pertains to everything we've been studying. When you see phrases like, I bet you understand those phrases in a new way if this is your first trip to the Old Testament.

When he says, you hold my lot and the lines have fallen for me in pleasant places. Those phrases probably make more sense now that we've read all about the tribal land allotment.

I bet Psalm 19 had a similar effect. In verse 7, when David is talking about the Torah and he says, "...the law of the Lord is perfect, reviving the soul. The testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple." I couldn't help but think of some of the reviews I've read from those of you who've said things like, "...I never knew I could love Leviticus." Or, "...if you had told me I would take a page of notes from one day of reading in Deuteronomy, I never would have believed you."

For all of us, as we read his word, he is bringing this to fulfillment. He's doing what verse 7 says. He's making wise the simple.

And we close today with Psalm 21. It's where my God shot came in. Did you see it? David goes on and on about how he has everything, all his heart's desires and a crown of fine gold and a long life and blah, blah. We get it, David, you're the king. But in verse six, when he's talking to God and speaking in third person like kings sometimes do, here's where he says his joy comes from. You make him glad with the joy of your presence.

We read something similar in Psalm 1611, where David said, In your presence there is fullness of joy. It seems to be on David's mind a lot that he's where the joy is. ♪

Tomorrow we'll be reading the book of 1 Chronicles. We're linking to a short video overview in the show notes, so check that out if you've got a few minutes to spare. And just a reminder, if you're using our plan in the Bible app, this video will also be linked for you tomorrow in the devotional portion above the chapters we're reading.

Okay, Bible readers, it's time for our weekly check-in. No matter when you're listening to this, you are right on time. How are you feeling about it? Today, you may have felt some whiplash reading through David's Psalms. He went from praising God to mourning the wickedness of the people and how God seems distant. So much back and forth.

I hope this encourages you because it reminds us that we can trust God and His character regardless. We can take it all to Him. No matter how our emotions and circumstances shift, we can talk to Him about it. So I'll see you back here tomorrow for more of His goodness.