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This week we’ll be studying the first of three lessons from the Book of Psalms. And, a little something about teaching the Psalms. It’s a little different, and it’s a little challenging to teach. It’s a book unlike any other in the Old Testament and since it’s so different, I find it often requires a different approach. Unlike all the books we’ve studied so far, Psalms is not a book of stories, it’s not a book of sermons, it’s not a book of laws or genealogies. It’s a book of hymns. Psalms is the hymnbook of the Old Testament. So before we get into the content of those hymns, I usually like to begin a study of this book with a bit of an introduction.
INTRODUCTION
Here are some good things to know and understand about the Book of Psalms.
· It’s the longest book of the Old Testament with 150 different psalms which cover 97 pages of text in our printed version of the Bible.
· Many of the psalms still contain musical instructions, attesting to the fact that their text was meant to be sung. Some examples, you may see the word Selah appear in the text of a psalm (Psalm 9) Or Alamoth (Psalm 46), Mahaiath (Psalm 53), or Shushan (Psalm 60). And oh, how I’d love to be able to hear the original music to some of them. Maybe in the next life, but we know that words set to music can have an incredible impact on our minds, hearts, and souls. But just having their words can still be inspiring.
· There are multiple authors to the Psalms. The most prolific psalm writer was David who has 73 of them attributed to him. And there are others, such as Asaph, and Heman, who are also named as writers of the psalms.
· Apparently, Jesus really loved the Book of Psalms, and he quoted it frequently. It’s actually the most quoted book in the New Testament. Out of 283 direct citations of the Old Testament in the New, 116 are from the Book of Psalms. So Jesus must have spent a lot of time reading, studying, or singing them.
· The Psalms have a wide date range of composition. And although it is impossible to truly determine exactly when each was written, most scholars feel that they were composed between 1000 and 500 BC.
· I once heard another teacher say that Proverbs appeal to the head, but Psalms appeal to the heart. Proverbs help people to think, but Psalms help people to feel. Just like attending a sermon would be a much different experience from going to a concert of religious music. But both experiences can be spiritually uplifting and edifying.
· Another interesting thing about the psalms. Though I have no problem with somebody taking the time to read through all 150 of the psalms in order in the same way they read each of the other books of the scriptures, one by one and from beginning to end, that’s not really the way they were intended to be used. In the same way that we don’t read through the hymnbook from cover to cover. Instead they are meant to be enjoyed and explored from time to time in small chunks, here a little and there a little. I think it’s ok to have favorite psalms that we turn to again and again in times of need or distress.
· The purpose of the psalms is to strengthen faith, build testimony, praise God, and express a wide array of human emotions.
ICEBREAKER
So with that as an introduction, as an icebreaker to the Book of Psalms I like to give the following handout to my students to scan. It shows all the different hymns in our hymnbook that are based on or have some kind of connection to one of the Psalms. Encourage them to look through and find a hymn that they particularly enjoy or find inspiration in and then instruct them to go and read the part of the Psalm that that hymn is based on in the Bible. Then, if you’d like to take a little more time on this activity, you could invite volunteers to share which hymn they chose and how it related to the Psalm that they read. You could even have the entire class sing at least one verse of their chosen hymns together.
OUR APPROACH TO STUDYING THE PSALMS
With that as a good introduction to the power of the psalms, let’s discuss how we’re going to approach our study of this book. One of the things that makes teaching the psalms a little more difficult is that they aren’t really organized in any specific order or message. One psalm may focus on the temple, while the next focuses on the power of God’s word, and the next on praising God’s power and goodness. And that pattern of alternating topics continues throughout the book. They aren’t really organized into thematic blocks. So I’ve decided that the way I’m going to cover the Book of Psalms these next three weeks is going to vary a little from how the manual breaks it down. Rather than cover the particular assigned psalms they’ve given us for each week, I’d like to just approach the book more thematically and focus on some of the major ideas that show up throughout the psalms. So when we cover a theme, we’ll examine how it’s treated throughout the book rather than just a confined section of it. That way, I think you’ll get a much better sense of how the Psalms really cover that theme in its entirety, and not just a partial understanding. So to begin our thematic study, I’d like to focus our attention on one of the themes that I feel stands out as one of the most significant and valuable from the entire book. And that is its depiction and portrayal of the nature of God.
THE NATURE OF GOD
Now remember that a majority of the Psalms were written by David. But here, we get to see the character of David in a very different light than we’ve seen him back in 1 and 2 Samuel. Really, there are two major stories that David tends to be remembered for. What are they? We all know the moment of his greatest victory, his confrontation with Goliath. And we know the moment of his greatest failure, his adultery with Bathsheba. And for most, that’s it. But in Psalms we have the opportunity to get inside the heart of David. We get to know HIM in the first person and not just the third. Many of the Psalms that David writes are actually prayers directed right to God. And regardless of what we think about the sins of David, he truly had a deep and remarkable relationship with his Heavenly Father and his Savior—the kind of relationship that I think we all want to have with God. David addresses Him so personally and familiarly. We get the rare opportunity in the Psalms to hear a great man of faith talk to his God. And he talks beautifully to him. David was a master poet, and master musician. We know that from the Book of 1 Samuel. When he was young, he was chosen by King Saul to come and play music for the King when he wasn’t feeling well (1 Samuel 16). And I would imagine that most of us have experienced the phenomenon that sometimes the poet or the musician can express the thoughts of our minds, the feelings of our hearts, and the content of our souls with words and melody better than we ourselves can express them. And when we hear those words and that music, we connect with those things more deeply and they can strengthen our faith and testimony. David had a gift for this. And here in Psalms, he paints a portrait of a loving, merciful, and tender God.
Now there are many different Psalms that we could study to see this portrait but let me point you to a number of them that I feel to be among the best representative examples. If you’re an individual studying on your own, I encourage you to study each of the following psalms on this list with three questions in mind. One, what do you learn about the nature of God from them. Two, what do they encourage us to do because of the kind of God he is. And three, what is your favorite verse from each psalm and why? If you’re a teacher. You could assign your students one of the psalms and to answer the three questions as they study. If you desired, you could also approach this activity as a handout. Then I could see the entirety of a lesson being dedicated to students sharing what they discovered with the rest of the class.
1. Psalm 3
2. Psalm 4
3. Psalm 23
4. Psalm 30
5. Psalm 40
6. Psalm 77
7. Psalm 86
8. Psalm 103
9. Psalm 116
For the sake of this video, allow me to lead you through some of the things that I see in these psalms and why I chose them as representative examples. Keep in mind that as I review some of these Psalms, that you or your students are likely to find completely different thoughts from mine or choose other verses that are more significant to you or them. That’s ok. I’ll just review some of the insights that I see within them.
Psalm 3
So we’ll start with Psalm 3. What does this psalm teach us about the nature of God. Here we see God as protector and sustainer.
3 But thou, O Lord, art a shield for me; my glory, and the lifter up of mine head.
I love the symbol of God as a shield. I can hold Him up as my defense. He stands between me and my enemies, shielding me from their fiery darts and assaults. My faith in God can protect me from discouragement, temptation, despair, and He can warn me of dangers, both spiritual and physical. And when I refer to “God” in our study of the Psalms here, realize that we could be referring to either God the Father, or his Son, Jesus Christ. I don’t think we need to get too hung up on which exactly the Psalmist is referring to. They are one in purpose, thought, and character and so I believe these thoughts can apply to both. If we see the Lord here as Jesus, his role as our shield takes on a different significance. Through the power of his atoning sacrifice, we are shielded from the full measure of justice that our sins demand, making it possible for us to be forgiven. We are also shielded from the power of Satan through Christ’s atoning sacrifice.
God is also the lifter up of our heads. Picture that one for a moment. Perhaps you envision a wounded soldier, or a sick child, and a caring medic, or a loving parent, or a trusted counselor comes along to lift up your head to give you life-sustaining water or comfort or help. God can do this for us. Or perhaps you picture someone distraught, depressed, or downcast, and along comes the Savior to lift up their head, encourage them, and provide them with hope for the future.
4 I cried unto the Lord with my voice, and he heard me out of his holy hill. Selah.
God hears us when we cry unto him. Our prayers do not fall on deaf ears.
5 I laid me down and slept; I awaked; for the Lord sustained me.
God can bring us soul-sustaining rest and support. Perhaps after a particularly enlightening sacrament meeting, session of scripture study, or visit to the temple, we come away refreshed, rested, and spiritually invigorated. He is a God that can provide that type of spiritual respite.
What must we do from this Psalm? We must cry unto the Lord with our voice. We’ve got to pray and rely on Him. He’s not going to force us to use him as a shield, or to enter into his rest. He’s like the mother hen calling to us to run under his protective wings. We must choose to go to him and answer that call.
Psalm 4
is similar in its themes.
1 Hear me when I call, O God of my righteousness: thou hast enlarged me when I was in distress; have mercy upon me, and hear my prayer.
God enlarges us when we are in distress and call upon him. He is a concerned and helpful God. He makes us more capable of confronting the forces that assail us. Sometimes our problems may seem unsurmountable or beyond our capacity to overcome. But God can raise us above the level of their power. Like a David facing a Goliath. He increases our ability to stand firm against those things that we fear will defeat us. We are enlarged.
7 Thou hast put gladness in my heart, more than in the time that their corn and their wine increased.
8 I will both lay me down in peace, and sleep: for thou, Lord, only makest me dwell in safety.
God is the kind of god that can bring us joy and gladness. More than any earthly harvest can provide. He gives us peace, and sleep, and safety.
But what must we do?
5 Offer the sacrifices of righteousness, and put your trust in the Lord.
We must strive to be obedient, which often requires sacrifice. And we’ll also be required to trust Him—trust his promises, trust his commandments, trust his timing, trust in his love even when things go wrong.
Psalm 23
Probably the most famous Psalm of all time, and for good reason. It provides us with one of the greatest metaphors or figurative images of the Savior that I know of. And that is Christ as the good shepherd. In our hymnbook there are two hymns that are inspired by Psalm 23. Hymn numbers 108 and 109: The Lord is my Shepherd (which quotes, word for word, many of the lines found within the Psalm) and The Lord My Pasture Will Prepare (which we don’t sing as often in the Church, but also calls upon the exquisite imagery of Psalm 23) When I served as a missionary in Brazil I often saw posters or framed pictures of this Psalm hanging on the walls of the home of the people we visited. In fact, I thought it was kind of funny when I asked people if they ever studied the scriptures and the response I would often get was, “Oh yes, I read Psalm 23 often.” And that was the extent of their scripture study. But that still does speak to the power of this Old Testament hymn. The image of the Good Shepherd communicates God’s love, care, and concern for his sheep, his disciples. I don’t think it needs much more commentary than that. It’s superb, what more can I say.
23 The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.
2 He maketh me to lie down in green pastures: he leadeth me beside the still waters.
3 He restoreth my soul: he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name's sake.
4 Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me.
5 Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies: thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over.
6 Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life: and I will dwell in the house of the Lord for ever.
But what must we do from this Psalm? We must choose Him as our shepherd. We must join his flock.
Psalm 30
2 O Lord my God, I cried unto thee, and thou hast healed me.
So God is not only a shepherd to us, but a doctor as well. He heals us. He heals us from sin, he heals us from pain, he heals us from adversity. He can even heal us from death.
And I absolutely love this thought from verse 5.
5 For his anger endureth but a moment; in his favour is life: weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning.
Yes, it’s true that we believe in a loving, merciful, and Good Shepherd-like god. But we also believe in a chastening God. “For whom I love, I also chasten, that their sins may be forgiven” (Doctrine and Covenants 95:1) However, how long does that “anger” (in quotes) last? But a moment. Just enough to help us to change and deliver us from future sin and indiscretion. That godly sorrow and weeping may endure for the night, but joy cometh in the morning. Our Savior does not wish us to trudge through life condemning ourselves or beating our breasts in guilt. After that necessary “night” of chastening, he invites us to rejoice in the morning of his mercy and forgiveness. Verses 10 and 11 reiterate this thought:
10 Hear, O Lord, and have mercy upon me: Lord, be thou my helper.
11 Thou hast turned for me my mourning into dancing: thou hast put off my sackcloth, and girded me with gladness;
We get another great description of God. He is our helper. And I love the alliteration of that last phrase. God girds us with gladness.
What must we do though?
8 I cried to thee, O Lord; and unto the Lord I made supplication.
So appeal to God. Look to him for that help.
Psalm 40
2 He brought me up also out of an horrible pit, out of the miry clay, and set my feet upon a rock, and established my goings.
God places us on firm ground—on the Rock of our Salvation. He establishes our way. He is a grounding God that provides stability and strength in a world of shifting and crumbling values.
Then verse 5
5 Many, O Lord my God, are thy wonderful works which thou hast done, and thy thoughts which are to us-ward: they cannot be reckoned up in order unto thee: if I would declare and speak of them, they are more than can be numbered.
God is a god of wonders—a being who does wonderful works. That could refer to the incredible miracles he has brought to pass in the scriptures, and in the individual lives of all his Saints. Perhaps you have personally experienced one of those wonders. This could also refer to the wonders of his creation. The beauties of this earth and the expanse of the universe. From the delicate beauty of the smallest flower to the majesty of planets and galaxies. We worship a wonderful God of Wonders.
Another powerful thought from this Psalm: Verse 11
11 Withhold not thou thy tender mercies from me, O Lord: let thy lovingkindness and thy truth continually preserve me.
Some of you may recall Elder Bednar’s general conference talk a number of years ago that highlighted the term the “tender mercies” of the Lord. Now he quoted that phrase from a verse in the Book of Mormon where Nephi speaks of God’s tender mercies. However, it’s very possible that Nephi learned that phrase or became familiar with it from one of the Psalms of David. God is not just a God of Wonders, or even just a god of mercies, but a god of tender mercies. He’s not just a god of kindness, but of lovingkindness.
What does this psalm encourage us to do?
1 Wait patiently for the Lord.
Those miracles and tender mercies will not always come at the very moment we desire them. We’ll need to be patient before we see them.
8 We must delight to do his will, and have his law within our hearts.
Psalm 86
When you study the Psalms looking for what they say about the nature of God, there is one characteristic that seems to come up again and again that is emphasized throughout. We’ve already seen it in some of the psalms we’ve covered already. And that is God’s merciful and forgiving nature. Psalm 86 really stresses that idea.
Here are just a few examples of that message.
5 For thou, Lord, art good, and ready to forgive; and plenteous in mercy unto all them that call upon thee.
7 In the day of my trouble I will call upon thee: for thou wilt answer me.
13 For great is thy mercy toward me: and thou hast delivered my soul from the lowest hell.
15 But thou, O Lord, art a God full of compassion, and gracious, long suffering, and plenteous in mercy and truth.
Now that’s His part. What’s our part?
2 Preserve my soul; for I am holy: O thou my God, save thy servant that trusteth in thee.
Again, the Psalms encourage us to trust in Him—to trust in that compassion.
Psalm 103
And continuing on that theme of mercy comes Psalm 103. Just how merciful is he? How far does his lovingkindness extend? Well let’s see.
8 The Lord is merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and plenteous in mercy.
9 He will not always chide: neither will he keep his anger for ever.
10 He hath not dealt with us after our sins; nor rewarded us according to our iniquities.
(Isn’t that a nice thought. We really never get what we actually deserve for our sins. He goes rather easy on us when it comes to that)
11 For as the heaven is high above the earth, so great is his mercy toward them that fear him.
12 As far as the east is from the west, so far hath he removed our transgressions from us.
13 Like as a father pitieth his children, so the Lord pitieth them that fear him.
14 For he knoweth our frame; he remembereth that we are dust.
15 As for man, his days are as grass: as a flower of the field, so he flourisheth.
16 For the wind passeth over it, and it is gone; and the place thereof shall know it no more.
17 But the mercy of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting upon them that fear him, and his righteousness unto children's children;
We cannot place bounds on the mercy of our Lord. It reaches higher than the heavens, farther than the East to the West, and stretches from everlasting to everlasting. Our lives pass by as the flower of the field that flourishes for a short time and then is gone. But the mercy of God, it can encompass the sins of an entire life, because it is incomparably vaster and more extensive.
What must we do to receive this mercy?
18 To such as keep his covenant, and to those that remember his commandments to do them.
Psalm 116
What do I learn about God here?
5 Gracious is the Lord, and righteous; yea, our God is merciful.
6 The Lord preserveth the simple: I was brought low, and he helped me.
7 Return unto thy rest, O my soul; for the Lord hath dealt bountifully with thee.
8 For thou hast delivered my soul from death, mine eyes from tears, and my feet from falling.
Many of the same themes found here. But this psalm, you’ll find, is much more focused on our part and what we must do. As we consider the wonders, the mercy, and the power of our Father in Heaven, what should that cause us to want to do?
1 I love the Lord, because he hath heard my voice and my supplications.
2 Because he hath inclined his ear unto me, therefore will I call upon him as long as I live.
12 What shall I render unto the Lord for all his benefits toward me?
13 I will take the cup of salvation, and call upon the name of the Lord.
14 I will pay my vows unto the Lord now in the presence of all his people.
15 Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his saints.
16 O Lord, truly I am thy servant; I am thy servant, and the son of thine handmaid: thou hast loosed my bonds.
17 I will offer to thee the sacrifice of thanksgiving, and will call upon the name of the Lord.
18 I will pay my vows unto the Lord now in the presence of all his people.
19 In the courts of the Lord's house, in the midst of thee, O Jerusalem. Praise ye the Lord.
What an incredibly superb statement of conviction and commitment to God. One of the greatest things we can render to our Lord, is to take the cup of salvation and drink deeply from it. The Lord has put that cup into our grasp and has sacrificed so much in order to give it to us. The least we could do, is drink from it. To make proper use of that sacrifice by partaking of his cup.
What more can we do? Once again, we can pay our vows and keep our covenants. I’m intrigued by the language of verse 17. I will offer to thee the sacrifice of thanksgiving. Gratitude is a sacrifice. It’s something we give and requires focused effort and exertion. Because I have been given much, I too must give.
TRUTH
Well did you learn a little something about your Father in Heaven and your Savior from the Psalms today? More importantly, did you feel something for your Father in Heaven and your Savior today? Perhaps we could sum up some of the things that we’ve gathered today with the following statement of truth.
God is a protecting, strengthening, shepherding, kind, wonderful, and gracious God. If we call upon, rely upon, trust, obey, and offer gratitude to Him, he will offer his mercy and lovingkindness upon us.
LIKEN THE SCRIPTURES
While we’ve studied today, have you felt inspired to do anything that would help you to develop a relationship with your Lord and Savior comparable to David’s?
Well, I don’t know about you but I want to be judged by David’s God. I want to worship a God like that. I want to come to know and communicate with him the way David does.
CONCLUSION
And so I’d like to conclude by reminding you as my listeners that the Book of Psalms is much more about the heart than the head. Have you felt their power so far? Have you come to know your God and Savior on a more personal level today? I encourage you to come back to the Psalms more frequently in your scripture study—not to just read it all at once, although that can be beneficial too, but in small snippets—here a little and there a little. I promise that as you do, you will come to know the character and nature of your God on a deeper degree than ever before. God is the kind of God that you can feel comfortable talking about anything with. Your joys and successes, as well as your sorrows and failures. He’s that close friend to whom you can divulge all your deepest hopes and fears. I pray that you, like David, can develop that same kind of pleading, praising, loving, trusting, familiar, and warm bond with your God and your Savior.
ICEBREAKER
There is one final theme that I would like to treat today before we end our study. It follows naturally from the previous theme of God’s mercy but from the perspective of the sinner—which we should all be able to relate to since, well, we’re all sinners. There are just three psalms that I’d like to focus your attention on here, each of which capture the essence of the penitent disciple. As an icebreaker to this theme, you might consider the following idea. Show the following pictures of people carrying heavy loads to your students and ask them how they imagine these people must feel. Exhausted. Burdened. Oppressed. In pain. Trapped.
TRANSITION
Maybe some of you can relate to these pictures on an emotional or spiritual level. Maybe some of you are looking at those pictures and saying, “Yep, that’s me. I feel that way everyday”. Are you carrying a burden of guilt or remorse? Are regret and shame destroying your peace of mind? Is your soul troubled? If you can relate to those feelings in any way, I believe that these three psalms can not only movingly capture these feelings in words but can also leave us with a profound sense of hope and relief. Each of them was written by David. And can you think of any event in David’s life that might have prompted some heavy feelings of regret or guilt within him? Yeah, his affair with Bathsheba and the subsequent death of her husband Uriah through David’s conspiring.
The two things I feel these psalms capture extremely well are one, how guilt feels. David is going to put into words, the humble pleadings of a regret ridden soul. And two, hope. The hope and assurance of the possibility of forgiveness and relief from the weight and the burden of sin.
SEARCH
So we’re going to approach this theme with a marking activity. I’d like to invite you to study the following three psalms with those two things in mind.
Psalm 25
Psalm 32
Psalm 51
In one color, mark verses and phrases that put into words the desires of the penitent soul. What are their pleadings? What are their longings? Find those phrases and mark them. In another color, mark verses of hope and trust in God. Look for those phrases that express a confidence in God’s ability to forgive and forget. So you’ve got the “penitent” phrases, and the “promise” phrases.
Psalm 25
Here are some of the penitent phrases that I see here.
7 Remember not the sins of my youth, nor my transgressions: according to thy mercy remember thou me for thy goodness' sake, O Lord.
11 For thy name's sake, O Lord, pardon mine iniquity; for it is great.
16 Turn thee unto me, and have mercy upon me; for I am desolate and afflicted.
17 The troubles of my heart are enlarged: O bring thou me out of my distresses.
18 Look upon mine affliction and my pain; and forgive all my sins.
20 O keep my soul, and deliver me: let me not be ashamed; for I put my trust in thee.
Have you ever prayed one of those prayers? Have you ever pined at the memory of the sins of your youth or your past? Have you ever reflected on the greatness of your iniquity? Have you ever had enlarged troubles and distresses in your heart? Have you ever longed for deliverance from your shame? I know I have. David just puts into words so well what that feels like.
But now for the promise phrases:
8 Good and upright is the Lord: therefore will he teach sinners in the way.
9 The meek will he guide in judgment: and the meek will he teach his way.
You see, we are not “sinners in the hands of an angry God”. God is willing to work with the sinner. He teaches them in “the way”. He “guides” in judgment, not “condemns” in judgment. When we go to Him with a penitent heart, he says, “Let me help you. I will teach you how to overcome this if you’re meek and humble. I can guide you through the mists of darkness and lead you back to me. He’s a good and upright God.
12 What man is he that feareth the Lord? him shall he teach in the way that he shall choose.
13 His soul shall dwell at ease; and his seed shall inherit the earth.
15 Mine eyes are ever toward the Lord; for he shall pluck my feet out of the net.
When we feel entangled in the nets of sin and shame, he can pluck us out of them and lovingly free us from those snares.
Psalm 32
Penitence phrases:
3 When I kept silence, my bones waxed old through my roaring all the day long.
You ever felt that before? What happens when we try to “keep silence” with our sins. When we hold those things in and suppress them or keep them to ourselves? Our bones wax old with the constant roaring of self-condemnation—all the day long. There is only one way to hush that roaring. Break the silence. Go to God, go to his representatives if need be and let it out. Confession is an act of healing and release. The roaring ceases when we do so.
9 Be ye not as the horse, or as the mule, which have no understanding: whose mouth must be held in with bit and bridle, lest they come near unto thee.
We don’t want to be like the horse or mule that have to be pulled or bridled or coerced into action. We want to come to God willingly, freely, and happily. In fact, in the church handbook of instructions to priesthood leaders who are working with those who have seriously sinned, one of the things that they are asked to consider when it comes to any kind of formal disciplinary measures, is whether the confession was voluntary or compelled. Were they caught in the act by someone else or did they come forward of their own volition. Now both can still be forgiven. But those who are brought to God without bit and bridle, typically experience a swifter pathway through repentance.
Now promise phrases:
1 Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered.
5 I acknowledge my sin unto thee, and mine iniquity have I not hid. I said, I will confess my transgressions unto the Lord; and thou forgavest the iniquity of my sin. Selah.
7 Thou art my hiding place; thou shalt preserve me from trouble; thou shalt compass me about with songs of deliverance. Selah.
10 Many sorrows shall be to the wicked: but he that trusteth in the Lord, mercy shall compass him about.
Do you sense the hope and assurance in each of those verses? God loves to forgive his children. He can cover them, he can preserve us, he can deliver us. His mercy compasses us about.
Psalm 51
This psalm above all others, I feel, really captures the disposition of the penitent and it’s basically the entire psalm. I think that when we talk about repentance, we often go straight to a doctrinal understanding of the principle. We talk about the steps of repentance, the requirements of repentance, the need for repentance. We may even try to diagram and calculate out the nature of the atonement and the balance of God’s justice and mercy. But here, we leave all of that behind and we just FEEL the principle of repentance. We FEEL David’s godly sorrow and desire for mercy.
Have mercy upon me, O God, according to thy lovingkindness: according unto the multitude of thy tender mercies blot out my transgressions.
2 Wash me throughly from mine iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin.
3 For I acknowledge my transgressions: and my sin is ever before me.
4 Against thee, thee only, have I sinned, and done this evil in thy sight: that thou mightest be justified when thou speakest, and be clear when thou judgest.
5 Behold, I was shapen in iniquity; and in sin did my mother conceive me.
6 Behold, thou desirest truth in the inward parts: and in the hidden part thou shalt make me to know wisdom.
7 Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean: wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.
8 Make me to hear joy and gladness; that the bones which thou hast broken may rejoice.
9 Hide thy face from my sins, and blot out all mine iniquities.
10 Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me.
11 Cast me not away from thy presence; and take not thy holy spirit from me.
12 Restore unto me the joy of thy salvation; and uphold me with thy free spirit.
13 Then will I teach transgressors thy ways; and sinners shall be converted unto thee.
14 Deliver me from bloodguiltiness, O God, thou God of my salvation: and my tongue shall sing aloud of thy righteousness.
15 O Lord, open thou my lips; and my mouth shall shew forth thy praise.
16 For thou desirest not sacrifice; else would I give it: thou delightest not in burnt offering.
17 The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit: a broken and a contrite heart, O God, thou wilt not despise.
Now, could you feel David’s repentance in that? And can you relate in any way?
TRUTH
When I feel burdened by sin or regret, If I go to God, He can relieve me of my burdens.
I want you to think back to those pictures we looked at the beginning of the lesson and imagine how you think it would feel for those people once they were able to lay their loads down? Can you imagine the relief, the liberation, and the delight. Well, that’s what confession, and repentance and forgiveness feel like. We can experience the same kind of thing on a spiritual level when we’re willing to take our burdens to the Lord.
LIKEN THE SCRIPTURES
When have you felt God relieved you of some burden? What did it feel like?
What would you tell someone that was discouraged about their past to give them hope?
CONCLUSION
Well, what has David just taught us by example to do when we feel weighed down by the loads of life? When we feel burdened, talk to God! Don’t suppress it. Don’t hide it. Don’t go around telling everyone how terrible you are or what an appalling disciple you must be. Go to God. Trust in his lovingkindness and his tender mercies. Be willing to do what you need to do to make restitution and the things that will help you to change your heart—but find comfort and peace in the knowledge that God can and does forgive. Since we’re studying and enjoying the power of Old Testament hymns, perhaps it would be appropriate to include a modern hymn here as well. One of my favorite hymns that I feel captures this theme we’ve been studying today really well is hymn #125 “How Gentle God’s Commands”. I invite you to listen to and ponder the words.
1. How gentle God’s commands!
How kind his precepts are!
Come, cast your burdens on the Lord
And trust his constant care.
2. Beneath his watchful eye,
His Saints securely dwell;
That hand which bears all nature up
Shall guard his children well.
3. Why should this anxious load
Press down your weary mind?
Haste to your Heav’nly Father’s throne
And sweet refreshment find.
4. His goodness stands approved,
Unchanged from day to day;
I’ll drop my burden at his feet
And bear a song away.
I pray that when your “anxious loads press down your weary minds” that you will remember the promise of David’s pleas and drop your burdens at the feet of your Lord and bear a song away.
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