Thanks to CREC pastor, Brian Penney
Saturday Psalter, Genevan Psalm 2
Psalm 1, Genevan Psalter
Saturday Psalter: Psalm 19, Genevan
Saturday Psalter: Genevan Psalm 1
Saturday Psalter: Psalm 138
Saturday Psalter: Genevan Psalm Two
St. Athanasius on the Psalms
St. Athanasius on the Psalms:
So then, my son, let whoever reads this Book of Psalms take the things in it quite simply as God-inspired; and let each select from it, as from the fruits of a garden, those things of which he sees himself in need. For I think that in the words of this book all human life is covered, with all its states and thoughts, and that nothing further can be found in man. For no matter what you seek, whether it be repentance and confession, or help in trouble and temptation or under persecution, whether you have been set free from plots and snares or, on the contrary, are sad for any reason, or whether, seeing yourself progressing and your enemy cast down, you want to praise and thank and bless the Lord, each of these things the Divine Psalms show you how to do, and in every case the words you want are written down for you, and you can say them as your own.
-Athanasius, On the Incarnation, Appendix P. 116.
{Thanks to Toby Sumpter}
Judges and Laughter
Judges is a story of laughter, because history is God’s big laugh. In Psalm 2 we remember that Yahweh laughs at the plans of the wicked. For some of you who are cable-news driven; who love to be aware of everything going on in the world at the same time, be aware of interpreting the world through the lenses of a pagan worldview. The late Greg Bahnsen used to say that the problem with some evangelicals is that they are newspaper exegetes. In other words, they interpret the Bible in light of what they read in the newspaper. But biblically, our task is the opposite: we interpret the world in light of the Bible. And the Bible says that God laughs at wickedness. Next time you see or hear of people mocking the Church, remember to laugh a little at their foolish agenda to consume the One who is the All-Consuming Fire, God Himself.
More Thoughts on Psalm 8:3
One of the points of Psalm 8 is that even the smallest, weak, and frail of God’s covenant is sufficient to undo the unfaithfulness and the faithless ones in Israel. Jesus picks up on the same theme in the Gospels when he rebukes the Pharisees for assuming infants to be an unnecessary part of Jesus’ mission.
If the psalm follows the creation pattern, then it entails progression. There can be no day 6 without day 1, proving then that infants are part of the creation and re-creation story. Infants are seeds, but seeds that will grow to reach the maturity of day 6.
The main point of verse 3 is that babies are potent soloists in God’s creational concert.