Psalm 50

1 -3 The God of gods—it's God!—speaks out, shouts, "Earth!" welcomes the sun in the east, farewells the disappearing sun in the west. From the dazzle of Zion, God blazes into view. Our God makes his entrance, he's not shy in his coming. Starbursts of fireworks precede him. 4 -5 He summons heaven and earth as a jury, he's taking his people to court: "Round up my saints who swore on the Bible their loyalty to me." 6 The whole cosmos attests to the fairness of this court, that here God is judge. 7 -15 "Are you listening, dear people? I'm getting ready to speak; Israel, I'm about ready to bring you to trial. This is God, your God, speaking to you. I don't find fault with your acts of worship, the frequent burnt sacrifices you offer. But why should I want your blue-ribbon bull, or more and more goats from your herds? Every creature in the forest is mine, the wild animals on all the mountains. I know every mountain bird by name; the scampering field mice are my friends. If I get hungry, do you think I'd tell you? All creation and its bounty are mine. Do you think I feast on venison? or drink draughts of goats' blood? Spread for me a banquet of praise, serve High God a feast of kept promises, And call for help when you're in trouble— I'll help you, and you'll honor me." 16 -21 Next, God calls up the wicked: "What are you up to, quoting my laws, talking like we are good friends? You never answer the door when I call; you treat my words like garbage. If you find a thief, you make him your buddy; adulterers are your friends of choice. Your mouth drools filth; lying is a serious art form with you. You stab your own brother in the back, rip off your little sister. I kept a quiet patience while you did these things; you thought I went along with your game. I'm calling you on the carpet, now, laying your wickedness out in plain sight. 22 -23 "Time's up for playing fast and loose with me. I'm ready to pass sentence, and there's no help in sight! It's the praising life that honors me. As soon as you set your foot on the Way, I'll show you my salvation."

Psalm 50 Commentary

Matthew Henry Concise Commentaryon the Whole Bible

Chapter 50
The glory of God. (1-6) Sacrifices to be changed for prayers. (7-15) Sincere obedience required. (16-23)
Verses 1-6 This psalm is a psalm of instruction. It tells of the coming of Christ and the day of judgment, in which God will call men to account; and the Holy Ghost is the Spirit of judgement. All the children of men are concerned to know the right way of worshipping the Lord, in spirit and in truth. In the great day, our God shall come, and make those hear his judgement who would not hearken to his law. Happy are those who come into the covenant of grace, by faith in the Redeemer's atoning sacrifice, and show the sincerity of their love by fruits of righteousness. When God rejects the services of those who rest in outside performances, he will graciously accept those who seek him aright. It is only by sacrifice, by Christ, the great Sacrifice, from whom the sacrifices of the law derived what value they had, that we can be accepted of God. True and righteous are his judgments; even sinners' own consciences will be forced to acknowledge the righteousness of God.
Verses 7-15 To obey is better than sacrifice, and to love God and our neighbour better than all burnt-offerings. We are here warned not to rest in these performances. And let us beware of resting in any form. God demands the heart, and how can human inventions please him, when repentance, faith, and holiness are neglected? In the day of distress we must apply to the Lord by fervent prayer. Our troubles, though we see them coming from God's hand, must drive us to him, not drive us from him. We must acknowledge him in all our ways, depend upon his wisdom, power, and goodness, and refer ourselves wholly to him, and so give him glory. Thus must we keep up communion with God; meeting him with prayers under trials, and with praises in deliverances. A believing supplicant shall not only be graciously answered as to his petition, and so have cause for praising God, but shall also have grace to praise him.
Verses 16-23 Hypocrisy is wickedness, which God will judge. And it is too common, for those who declare the Lord's statutes to others, to live in disobedience to them themselves. This delusion arises from the abuse of God's long-suffering, and a wilful mistake of his character and the intention of his gospel. The sins of sinners will be fully proved on them in the judgment of the great day. The day is coming when God will set their sins in order, sins of childhood and youth, of riper age and old age, to their everlasting shame and terror. Let those hitherto forgetful of God, given up to wickedness, or in any way negligent of salvation, consider their urgent danger. The patience of the Lord is very great. It is the more wonderful, because sinners make such ill use of it; but if they turn not, they shall be made to see their error when it is too late. Those that forget God, forget themselves; and it will never be right with them till they consider. Man's chief end is to glorify God: whoso offers praise, glorifies him, and his spiritual sacrifices shall be accepted. We must praise God, sacrifice praise, put it into the hands of the Priest, our Lord Jesus, who is also the altar: we must be fervent in spirit, praising the Lord. Let us thankfully accept God's mercy, and endeavour to glorify him in word and deed.

Psalm 40

Psalm 40 - Message

A David Psalm

^1-3 I waited and waited and waited for God. At last he looked; finally he listened.
He lifted me out of the ditch,
pulled me from deep mud.
He stood me up on a solid rock
to make sure I wouldn't slip.
He taught me how to sing the latest God-song,
a praise-song to our God.
More and more people are seeing this:
they enter the mystery,
abandoning themselves to God.

^4-5 Blessed are you who give yourselves over to God,
turn your backs on the world's "sure thing,"
ignore what the world worships;
The world's a huge stockpile
of God-wonders and God-thoughts.
Nothing and no one
comes close to you!
I start talking about you, telling what I know,
and quickly run out of words.
Neither numbers nor words
account for you.

⁶ Doing something for you, bringing something to you—
that's not what you're after.
Being religious, acting pious—
that's not what you're asking for.
You've opened my ears
so I can listen.

^7-8 So I answered, "I'm coming.
I read in your letter what you wrote about me,
And I'm coming to the party
you're throwing for me."
That's when God's Word entered my life,
became part of my very being.

^9-10 I've preached you to the whole congregation,
I've kept back nothing, God—you know that.
I didn't keep the news of your ways
a secret, didn't keep it to myself.
I told it all, how dependable you are, how thorough.
I didn't hold back pieces of love and truth
For myself alone. I told it all,
let the congregation know the whole story.

^11-12 Now God, don't hold out on me,
don't hold back your passion.
Your love and truth
are all that keeps me together.
When troubles ganged up on me,
a mob of sins past counting,
I was so swamped by guilt
I couldn't see my way clear.
More guilt in my heart than hair on my head,
so heavy the guilt that my heart gave out.

^13-15 Soften up, God, and intervene;
hurry and get me some help,
So those who are trying to kidnap my soul
will be embarrassed and lose face,
So anyone who gets a kick out of making me miserable
will be heckled and disgraced,
So those who pray for my ruin
will be booed and jeered without mercy.

^16-17 But all who are hunting for you—
oh, let them sing and be happy.
Let those who know what you're all about
tell the world you're great and not quitting.
And me? I'm a mess. I'm nothing and have nothing:
make something of me.
You can do it; you've got what it takes—
but God, don't put it off.

Matthew Henry from studylight.org

Psalms 40

It should seem David penned this psalm upon occasion of his deliverance, by the power and goodness of God, from some great and pressing trouble, by which he was in danger of being overwhelmed; probably it was some trouble of mind arising from a sense of sin and of God's displeasure against him for it; whatever it was, the same Spirit that indited his praises for that deliverance was in him, at the same time, a Spirit of prophecy, testifying of the sufferings of Christ and the glory that should follow; or, ere he was aware, he was led to speak of his undertaking, and the discharge of his undertaking, in words that must be applied to Christ only; and therefore how far the praises that here go before that illustrious prophecy, and the prayers that follow, may safely and profitably be applied to him it will be worth while to consider. In this psalm, I. David records God's favour to him in delivering him out of his deep distress, with thankfulness to his praise, Psalms 40+1-5. II. Thence he takes occasion to speak of the work of our redemption by Christ, Psalms 40+6-10. III. That gives him encouragement to pray to God for mercy and grace both for himself and for his friends, Psalms 40+11-17. If, in singing this psalm, we mix faith with the prophecy of Christ, and join in sincerity with the praises and prayers here offered up, we make melody wit our hearts to the Lord.

Psalm 40 Reflection

Is there an area in your life that is acting as “quicksand” or “deep mud” that is leading you to sin? What is and how are you going to get back onto solid ground? (verse 2)

Are you feeling overwhelmed right now by guilt from past sins or feeling that you are a “mess”, “poor” and “needy” and need to confess those feelings to the Lord? Or are you lacking courage and surrounded by trouble? Do you need to acknowledge your unworthiness and inability to make sin offerings or be perfect and allow God to “make something of you”. (verses 12 +17)

If you have been delivered from sin, are you keeping the “good news about God’s justice hidden”? (verse 10)

What words do you use to describe God? Give thanks for the wonders that he has performed for you and for His plans for our lives (Verse 5).


Reflect on this Psalm in Reference to Jesus’ Passion. Think about the garden and Jesus desire to do the Father’s will and his ultimate deliverance from Worldly pain and death.

Psalm 23

A psalm of David.

1 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.

M. Henry:
Many of David's psalms are full of complaints, but this is full of comforts, and the expressions of delight in God's great goodness and dependence upon him. It is a psalm which has been sung by good Christians, and will be while the world stands, with a great deal of pleasure and satisfaction. I. The psalmist here claims relation to God, as his shepherd, Psalms 23:1. II. He recounts his experience of the kind things God had done for him as his shepherd, Psalms 23:2,3,5. III. Hence he infers that he should want no good (Psalms 23:1), that he needed to fear no evil (Psalms 23:4), that God would never leave nor forsake him in a way of mercy; and therefore he resolves never to leave nor forsake God in a way of duty, Psalms 23:6. In this he had certainly an eye, not only to the blessings of God's providence, which made his outward condition prosperous, but to the communications of God's grace, received by a lively faith, and returned in a warm devotion, which filled his soul with joy unspeakable. And, as in the foregoing psalm he represented Christ dying for his sheep, so here he represents Christians receiving the benefit of all the care and tenderness of that great and good shepherd.

From three very comfortable premises David, in this psalm, draws three very comfortable conclusions, and teaches us to do so too. We are saved by hope, and that hope will not make us ashamed, because it is well grounded. It is the duty of Christians to encourage themselves in the Lord their God; and we are here directed to take that encouragement both from the relation wherein he stands to us and from the experience we have had of his goodness according to that relation.

Read rest of M Henry's commentary
http://www.studylight.org/com/mhc-com/view.cgi?book=ps&chapter=23&verse=1#Ps23_1

Psalm 19

1 The heavens proclaim the glory of God. The skies display his craftsmanship.
2 Day after day they continue to speak; night after night they make him known.
3 They speak without a sound or word; their voice is never heard.
4 Yet their message has gone throughout the earth, and their words to all the world. God has made a home in the heavens for the sun.
5 It bursts for like a radiant bridegroom after his wedding. IT rejoices like a great athlete eager to run the race.
6 The sun rises at one end of the heavens and follows its course ot the other end. Nothing can hide from its heat.
7 The instructions of the Lord are perfect, reviving the soul. The decrees of the Lord are trustworthy, making wise the simple.
8. The commandments of the Lord are riht, bringing joy to the heart. The commands of the Lord are clear, giving insight for living.
9. Reverence for the Lord is pure, lasting forever. The laws of the Lord are true; each one is fair.
10. They are more desirable than gold, even the finest gold. They are sweater than honey, even honey dripping from the comb.
11. They are warning to your servant, a great reward for those who obey them
12. How can I know all the sins lurking in my heart? Cleanse me from these hidden faults.
13. Keep your servant from deliberate sins! Don't Let them control me. Then I will be free of duilt and innocent of great sin.
14. May the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be pleasing to you, O Lord, my rock and my redeemer.

God's Greatness Revealed in Creation
Last week was another Psalm about Creation. Look at Romans 1:20. How are you ignoring or taking God's Creation for granted?

God's Greatness Revealed in Creation and His Word becoming Flesh/ Fulfillment of the Law
Colossians 1:15-23 Are you delighting in God's law and rejoicing in the freedom that it affords you or are you rejecting his commandments and creating false gods and worshiping what you have made. Acts 7

Keeping from Deliberate Sins/Words of my Mouth/Wisdom
What are the deliberate sins you commit in your life? For most people it is saying something we know we shouldn't.
"May the words of my my mouth...be pleasing to you, O Lord" verse 14.

Look at James 3:13-18 and James 4:7-10.