Category: Wisdom & Poetry

Psalm 41 is a lament psalm. In it, we’ll see David pronounce a blessing on those who consider the poor. Then he gives a lament that even though he does consider the poor, he himself is being mistreated and afflicted. Then he asks God to raise him up. He expresses confidence in God’s hearing him,…

In a mass email dated Monday, October 2, 2017, the President of the United States of America, Donald Trump, uttered these words of assurance: Scripture teaches us, “The Lord is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit.” But what Scripture is he referring to? Where is this passage in the…

And now, the last section of this psalm in verses 13 through 17 has David petitioning the Lord – asking the Lord for something. And again, we see the element of invocation as well here. So, David will be calling on the Lord and making request of him to the end of this psalm. 13…

And so, after praising the Lord in the first five verses, and then going on to express his confidence in verses 6-10, David now starts his lament in verses 11 and 12. And as we often see, he invokes the Lord or calls on the Lord in conjunction with his lament. 11 Withhold not thou…

So, after giving his praise to the Lord in the first five verses of this psalm, David now turns to expressing his confidence in verses 6 through 10. In particular, David’s confidence seems to be that he has been upright and sought God’s will generally. In other words, he’s on God’s side. He’s interested in…

Psalm 40 is a lament psalm that starts with praise and confidence – and then moves into the lament and petitions. And what’s interesting is that it seems like David begins with praise from the past in order to deal with his problems in the present.