Web Theologian

>134:1 Come, bless the Lord, all you servants of the Lord,
who stand by night in the house of the Lord!
2 Lift up your hands to the holy place
and bless the Lord!

3 May the Lord bless you from Zion,
he who made heaven and earth!

Short and sweet. That is how I would describe this Psalm. It is a simple call to worship which encourages those who serve God to worship Him. The picture I have of those who stand by night in the house of the Lord, are of the Raiders fans in Oakland camping out before a football game. They would arrive at the stadium days before the game they would be so excited.

>133:1 Behold, how good and pleasant it is
when brothers dwell in unity!
2 It is like the precious oil on the head,
running down on the beard,
on the beard of Aaron,
running down on the collar of his robes!
3 It is like the dew of Hermon,
which falls on the mountains of Zion!
For there the Lord has commanded the blessing,
life forevermore.

Very beautiful! This is what we are to be known for, our love for each other. I have to laugh a little though because I think of the Saturday Night Live skit, I want to suck the goose juice out of you beard…sorry if you don’t remember it. Just think about the last time you had where you really were able to enjoy a friend or family memember. Hope you get to have one of these moments over these holidays.

>131:1 O Lord, my heart is not lifted up;
my eyes are not raised too high;
I do not occupy myself with things
too great and too marvelous for me.
2 But I have calmed and quieted my soul,
like a weaned child with its mother;
like a weaned child is my soul within me.

3 O Israel, hope in the Lord
from this time forth and forevermore.

There is alot to think about when it comes to God. Hard to get your mind around, try and you will probably feel humbled. As I write this my six week year old daughter lies on a blanke and squirms and coos. She is amazed by everything around her, life is so big she hardly even knows what direction to look in. Amazing. With all the things that distract the thing that gives me the most peace and true sense of myself is God.

>130:1 Out of the depths I cry to you, O Lord!
2 O Lord, hear my voice!
Let your ears be attentive
to the voice of my pleas for mercy!

3 If you, O Lord, should mark iniquities,
O Lord, who could stand?
4 But with you there is forgiveness,
that you may be feared.

5 I wait for the Lord, my soul waits,
and in his word I hope;
6 my soul waits for the Lord
more than watchmen for the morning,
more than watchmen for the morning.

7 O Israel, hope in the Lord!
For with the Lord there is steadfast love,
and with him is plentiful redemption.
8 And he will redeem Israel
from all his iniquities.

What does is sound like when you have been under it a long time? This is it, you cry, cry because it hurts and hopefully cry out to the Lord who can rescue you. A nice point here is how the Psalmist does not pretend to be better than he is. If you were to judge me God I won’t make it, but you offer forgiveness which is even greater! So then let us wait upon the Lord’s salvation. There are many things that plague me, I must wait upon the Lord for deliverance. Remembering his love is steadfast (it is always there) and his goal is to redeem me!

>129:1 “Greatly have they afflicted me from my youth”—
let Israel now say—
2 “Greatly have they afflicted me from my youth,
yet they have not prevailed against me.
3 The plowers plowed upon my back;
they made long their furrows.”
4 The Lord is righteous;
he has cut the cords of the wicked.
5 May all who hate Zion
be put to shame and turned backward!
6 Let them be like the grass on the housetops,
which withers before it grows up,
7 with which the reaper does not fill his hand
nor the binder of sheaves his arms,
8 nor do those who pass by say,
“The blessing of the Lord be upon you!
We bless you in the name of the Lord!”

Who has been after you for a long time? I can think of difficulty and evil but a particular person or group of people is hard, if they have been at it I’ve been completely unaware. The Psalmist has felt it, they really have made him suffer, and God is his deliverance.

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>127:1 Unless the Lord builds the house,
those who build it labor in vain.
Unless the Lord watches over the city,
the watchman stays awake in vain.
2 It is in vain that you rise up early
and go late to rest,
eating the bread of anxious toil;
for he gives to his beloved sleep.
3 Behold, children are a heritage from the Lord,
the fruit of the womb a reward.
4 Like arrows in the hand of a warrior
are the children of one’s youth.
5 Blessed is the man who fills his quiver with them!
He shall not be put to shame
when he speaks with his enemies in the gate.

This is another pretty cool Psalm. Anything God is behind will get done. If he is not don’t be surprised if you have trouble regardless of how hard you work, smart you are, or how early you wake up in the morning, it will all be worthless if God doesn’t want it to happen.

Then there is the issue of children, they are a blessing. Never once in the Bible are they not referred to in that way. They are described as great and wonderful weapons, which leads me to the question of whether I am working to make my daughters ‘sharp’. I really hope so. Those kids are going to be so great that even your enemies won’t have anything bad to say about you because of them. That is pretty cool.

>126:1 When the Lord restored the fortunes of Zion,
we were like those who dream.
2 Then our mouth was filled with laughter,
and our tongue with shouts of joy;
then they said among the nations,
“The Lord has done great things for them.”
3 The Lord has done great things for us; we are glad.
4 Restore our fortunes, O Lord, like streams in the Negeb!
5 Those who sow in tears shall reap with shouts of joy!
6 He who goes out weeping, bearing the seed for sowing,
shall come home with shouts of joy, bringing his sheaves with him.

This is a really wonderful Psalm, on my top five favorites. The line that says, when the Lord restored us “we were like those who dream”. To me that is beautiful, fairytale like, and full of imagination. It also blows my mind because it is about being restored here on earth, and yet it is never done fully therefore we still have dreams to dreams. So many times people come to faith and they check their brain and their imagination in at the door. We are encouraged to continue to hope in God’s power and desire to lead us beyond our wildest imagination.

Many will look upon the fortunes of God’s people and be amazed! There will be crying, and shouting and plenty of goodies to bring home to the family. What an amazing picture.