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Why study the Psalms?
They’re part of the Word of God, and all Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.
The Psalms teach us about God – and knowing about God is the greatest knowledge there is.
They teach us about the Son of God. Quite a few of the Psalms have prophecies about the Messiah.
They are prayers. Studying them teaches us how to pray, and knowing how to talk to God is very important.
Many of them were originally used as worship songs. Studying them teaches us how to be better worshipers, how to worship God in spirit and in truth.
Many of them are poetry. The right combination of words can be beautiful, powerful, moving. The Psalms help us appreciate interesting and beautiful combinations of words and the imagery they create.
The Psalms express the full range of emotions. So, when we are experiencing an emotion, a psalm with the same emotion is there which can help us in our situation.
A Psalm of David.
Adonai, mee yah-goor b’ohalecha? Mee yish-con b’har kod-she-cha? O Lord, who may live in your tent? Who may dwell on your holy mountain? He who walks blamelessly and does what is right and speaks truth in his heart; who does not slander with his tongue and does no evil to his neighbor, nor takes up a reproach against his friend; in whose eyes a vile person is despised, but who honors those who fear the Lord; who swears to his own hurt and does not change; who does not put out his money at interest and does not take a bribe against the innocent. He who does these things shall never be moved.
David began this song/poem with two questions directed to Adonai. O Lord, who may live in your tent? Who may dwell on your holy mountain?
During David’s life, the Lord manifested His presence on Earth in a tent. That tent was devoted exclusively to Him and His worship.
There are many mountains in the world. The holy mountain refers to that special mountain in Jerusalem called Mount Moriah, on which the tent was placed. Later, the temple replaced the tent. Today that area is called the Temple Mount.
O Lord, who may live in your tent? Who may dwell on your holy mountain? This is poetic language. The meaning is: Who is the one who is acceptable to You? Who is the one who can be close to You? Who is the one who can live with You – now and forever?
Here are answers to David’s questions from some people today:
Theological liberals: Everyone. All paths lead to God.
Atheists: No one. God doesn’t exist. No one can live with a being who doesn’t exist.
Socialists: Who can live with the Jewish God? It’s not relevant. Forcing people to evenly distribute society’s wealth – except for the elites who run the state, who get much more than everyone else – that’s what’s important.
A couple more comments about David’s questions: O Lord, who may live in your tent? Who may dwell on your holy mountain?
Notice that David’s questions were not directed to Baal or Ishtar or any of the so-called gods of the nations of his day. David’s questions were directed to Adonai. The one who is acceptable to God, like David, must want to live with the Lord in His tent and dwell on His holy mountain. He must know, love, be devoted to and serve Adonai. He can’t be involved with any other god. That’s faith.
O Lord, who may live in your tent? Who may dwell on your holy mountain?
When the tent existed, no one was allowed to live in the Lord’s tent. The descendants of Aaron, the priests, were allowed to go into the Holy Place of the tent to perform their priestly duties. And the high priest was allowed to enter the Most Holy Place of the tent, but only on Yom Kippur – the Day of Atonement – to perform special ceremonies. However, none of the priests, including the high priest, lived in the Lord’s tent.
Again, this is poetic language. The meaning is: Who is the one who is acceptable to You? Who is the one who can be close to You? Who is the one who can live with You – now and forever?
David, a man who knew the Lord, who was devoted to and served the one true and living God, answered his questions in a very different way than most of the people of today would. He focused on two things: faith in God and good character. Faith, belief, loyalty to the Lord is essential. And good character is essential. Just as faith without works is dead, faith without good character is dead.
O Lord, who may live in your tent? Who may dwell on your holy mountain? He who walks blamelessly. God is blameless. He is whole. He is complete. Perfect. He lacks nothing. He is missing nothing.
So, the one who would live with God must be like God. He must walk blamelessly. His walk, the way he lives, is whole, complete, full. He’s doing everything he should be doing. He is fulfilling his responsibilities to God; to Messiah’s Community. He is fulfilling his responsibilities to the Gospel. He proclaims the good news to everyone he can. He is fulfilling his responsibilities to his family and to his society. Nothing is missing in the way he is living.
He who walks blamelessly doesn’t mean that he has achieved a state of sinless perfection, that he never sins, never makes a mistake. He does make mistakes. He does sin. But when he sins, when he makes a mistake, and when he realizes it, he repents, he turns back to the right way. He atones, he reconciles, he makes things right, he restores, he makes restitution. And he puts safeguards in place so he won’t make the same mistake or repeat the same sin so easily.
He does what is right. God is right. He is perfectly right, always right, never wrong. He never does anything wrong. The Lord loves what is right and hates what is wrong. So, the person who would be close to the Lord knows what is right and what is wrong – the Lord’s version of right and wrong. And he is committed to do what is right and not do what is wrong. He consistently does what is right. And when he does something that’s wrong and he becomes aware of it? He repents, he turns back to the right way, he atones, he reconciles, He makes things right, he restores, he makes restitution. And he puts safeguards in place so he won’t do the same wrong so easily again.
He speaks truth in his heart: God is truth. That means several things. It means He is the source of reality – of what really is. God perfectly conforms to reality – and reality is Himself.
Truth is an expression of who and what God is and what God ordains.
God is truth and loves the truth and hates anything that is not of the truth.
The man who would dwell with the Lord speaks truth – not in a shallow way, but in a deep way – in his heart. In his innermost being, he knows the truth. He believes the truth.
He speaks the truth in his heart – to himself. He believes the most important truths – the truth about the holy and righteous God – Father, Son and Spirit. And he believes the truth that he is a sinner; that he is in the greatest need of salvation, atonement, grace, mercy, forgiveness. He believes that Yeshua is the risen Lord and Savior and he has given his loyalty, his allegiance, to Him. And in his heart, he speaks the truth to himself that he must live according to these truths. His actions, his life must reflect these truths.
And the truth that he speaks in his heart to himself, he speaks to others – the truth about the one true and living God – Father, Son and Spirit; the truth about the fallenness of man and his need for salvation that only comes from faith in Yeshua the risen Messiah and one and only Lord and Savior.
He does not slander with his tongue: The word that is translated “slander” comes from the idea of walking around looking for damaging things about someone and then saying those damaging things to others.
God is good. He wants to do good to human beings, to help us, to bless us. He doesn’t want to hurt us. He doesn’t walk around looking for damaging things to say about us. If He does say things that hurt us, its because the truth hurts. If He says we are sinners in need of repentance, it’s because we are sinners in need of repentance. If He says we are proud and arrogant and need to repent, it’s because we are proud and arrogant and need to repent. If he says that Yeshua is His Son and the only way of salvation, it’s because Yeshua is His Son and the only way of salvation.
The man who would live with God does not walk around looking for damaging things about others and then say those things to others. So many people pass along damaging information about others. This man does not do that.
He does no evil to his neighbor: God is good. He does many good things to people – the righteous, the wicked – constantly, all the time. The man who would be acceptable to God acts the same way. He does no evil to his neighbor. He causes no harm to his neighbor. Why would he? He sees his neighbor like God sees him. He loves his neighbor. He wants to do good to his neighbor, to help him, to bless him.
And who is his neighbor? Anyone he comes into contact with. Anyone. Everyone.
He does not take up a reproach against his friend: A reproach is a comment that embarrasses or disgraces someone unnecessarily. The one who would be acceptable to God stands by his friend. He doesn’t bring up instances when his friend was shamed or disgraced. He doesn’t add to his embarrassment.
In his eyes a vile person is despised: God is righteous. He is holy. The one who would be close to the Lord knows right from wrong, good from evil. He knows what sin is. He is able to recognize a vile person – someone who is a flagrant sinner; someone who is blatantly wicked, despicable, contemptible.
Examples of a vile person: Those involved in providing abortions; pro-abortion politicians, especially those who claim to be Christians; those involved in advancing pornography; those involved in human trafficking; those approving of and commending and advancing the homosexual and transgender agendas. The one who would be close to the Lord knows these flagrant sinners are vile. He does not honor them, praise them, commend them. He doesn’t vote for them.
On the other hand, he honors those who fear the Lord: The one who would dwell with the Lord fears Him. He realizes how great God is, how holy He is. He lives his daily life in terms of the Lord being a great God and Judge and King. Everything he does is done with thoughts of God’s awesomeness, God’s holiness.
And the ones he honors, the ones he esteems, the ones he thinks highly of – are not those whom the world considers honorable – the rich and powerful and famous and gifted. No. He honors those who fear the Lord, who treat the Lord with the reverence and respect and holiness He deserves.
He swears to his own hurt and does not change: God is faithful. Perfectly faithful. Completely faithful. Always faithful. He keeps His word, His promises, His oaths. The man who would be close to God knows this and wants to be like his Creator. He becomes a man whose word is his bond; his commitments, promises, vows can be trusted.
His yes means yes and his no means no.
If he says “I will do this” – he does it.
If he makes a commitment, promise or vow, then later regrets it, he keeps his commitment, promise or vow – even if it costs him.
He does not put out his money at interest: God is good. He wants to do good to people, to bless them, to help them. He would never take advantage of those in need. The man who would live with God cares about people, and that care is expressed in the way he uses his money. He uses his money to do good to people, to bless them, to help them. He wouldn’t think of loaning his money to those in need at interest.
He does not take a bribe against the innocent: God is perfectly fair, just and righteous. He would never corrupt justice for any reason. The man who would be close to the Lord wants to be like Him. He would never take money for the purpose of perverting justice, so that the innocent are harmed. Prefer money over justice with the result that the innocent are hurt? What a horrific thought.
O-seh eh-leh lo yimot l’olam. He who does these things shall never be moved. The Lord is immovable. He is enduring. He is Eternal. He will never die. The man who would be acceptable to God, who would be close to God, live with God, dwell with God; the man who has real faith and good character – will be the same. He will be immovable. His life will experience strength, stability, endurance, staying power. He will never die. He will live with the Rock of his salvation forever and ever!
O Lord, who may live in your tent? Who may dwell on your holy mountain? He who walks blamelessly and does what is right and speaks truth in his heart; who does not slander with his tongue and does no evil to his neighbor, nor takes up a reproach against his friend; in whose eyes a vile person is despised, but who honors those who fear the Lord; who swears to his own hurt and does not change; who does not put out his money at interest and does not take a bribe against the innocent. He who does these things shall never be moved.
Let’s pray:
Lord, help us know You and want You. Help us want to be acceptable to You, be close to You, live with You, dwell with You now and forever.
And for this we need faith and good character. Lord, having genuine faith – being faithful and loyal to You, and having good character – isn’t easy. We ask You for Your help for us to have that too. Amen.