Psalm 88 is the only Psalm that doesn't resolve, but the very act of crying out to God is still a choice made in faith and God is honored by it. Whether you are in a season of joy or struggle, the Lord will meet you through the book of Psalms today!

And guess what? Today we finish those genealogies in Chronicles! Give yourself a pat on the back. :)

Today's Reading: 1 Chronicles 8-10 and Psalm 81, 88, 92, and 93

Scripture Read or Referenced:

1 Chronicles 8:33

1 Chronicles 9:1-2, 13, 17-26

1 Chronicles 10:13-14

Psalm 84:10

Psalm 81:1-4, 11-16

Psalm 88 (all)

Psalm 92 (all)

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Commentaries Most Referenced: Moody Commentary, MacArthur Commentary, Spurgeon's Treasury of David

Welcome to the Dwelling Place from Aru Ministries.

2

I'm Stephanie Hickox, first Chronicles

eight through 10, and Psalm 81, 88,

3

92 and 93 will be our focus for today.

4

As I was reading through these

genealogies yet again, I had a thought

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that whenever you see a woman pop

up in a genealogy, something good is

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about to happen or something important.

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I just thought that that was a line.

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That we can stick in our hats for whenever

we're studying genealogies, you might

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notice that Chapter eight lists four sons

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for Saul, but ish Beeth is not listed.

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He was the one that stayed

home from battle that Abner

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crowned king after Saul died.

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He was known by a different name

as well, so he is still listed.

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Chapter nine Begins, so All Israel

was recorded in genealogies,

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and these are written in the

books of the Kings of Israel.

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And Judah was taken into exile and

Babylon because of their breach of faith.

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Remember that phrase Now, the first

to dwell again in their possessions in

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their cities were Israel, the priests,

the Levites, and the temple servants.

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I've seen the phrase mighty men before

in scripture referring to men that go

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out to battle, but I've never noticed it

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referring to men serving in the temple.

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But verse 13 says, mighty men for the

work of the service of the house of God.

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If you're a mom of boys, that might

be a phrase that resonates with

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you, that you want your boys to

be strong, but to serve Christ.

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And a large section of this Psalm

talks about the gatekeepers of the

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temple, that's especially sweet

to me since we just studied Psalm

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84 and it says, I would rather be a

doorkeeper in the house of my God than

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to dwell in the tents of the wicked.

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We read that there were four chief

gatekeepers who were Entrusted to be

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over the chambers and the treasures

of the house of God, and they lodged

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around the house of God for on them

lay the duty of watching, and they had

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the charge of opening it every morning.

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What a sacred calling.

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This was a day in, day out position,

protecting and guarding the house of God.

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One Chronicles 10 recounts

the end of Saul's life.

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It's quite consistent with the

account we read in for Samuel.

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There is this very important

epitaph at the end.

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So Saul died for his breach of faith.

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He broke faith with the Lord and that he

did not keep the command of the Lord and

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also consulted a medium seeking guidance.

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He did not seek guidance from the Lord.

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Therefore, the Lord put him to

death and turned the kingdom

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over to David, the son of Jesse.

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Saul's life serves as

a warning to all of us.

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That God deeply cares about our obedience

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and how can we obey his

words if we don't read them?

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So good for you, mama, that you keep

sticking with it and congratulations.

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You made it through all those genealogies.

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At the beginning of Chronicles,

give yourself a pat on the back.

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Let's look at Psalm 81 now.

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I just love the beginning.

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Sing aloud to God our strength.

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Shout for joy to the God of Jacob.

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Raise a song, sound the tambourine

the sweet liar with the harp.

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Blow the trumpet at the New Moon

at the full moon on our feast day.

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For it is a statute for Israel,

a rule for the God of Jacob.

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My moody commentary lays out several

literary devices occurring in the Psalms.

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And frequently featured in Hebrew.

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Poetry is parallelism and

there are three main types.

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First, there's synonymous parallelism

where the same idea is repeated.

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But with slightly different phrasing.

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For example, in Psalm one 13, he

raises the pore from the dust and he

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lifts the needy from the ash heap.

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The same idea is repeated, but

then you can have antithetical

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parallelism where there's a contrast.

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Like in Psalm 1 45, 20, the

Lord keeps all who love him,

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but the wicked he will destroy.

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And finally.

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There's synthetic parallelism in which

the lines will be complimentary, but

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not presenting an identical idea.

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Maybe you remember this

line from Psalm 18.

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He trains my hands for battle so that

my arms can bend a bowl of bronze.

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See how those ideas are tied

together, but not quite the same.

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Speaker 61: I appreciate in Psalm

81 that we have this repeating idea

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that God calls us to praise him.

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The psalm was sung at the

beginning of one of their feasts.

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They were called to praise him,

to sing aloud, shout for joy,

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raise a song, blow the trumpet.

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We might think, oh, well,

that was a cultural thing.

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We're just different today.

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And to that, I would say six words.

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Are you ready for some football?

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Our culture still likes

to cheer and shout.

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it has to do with the

object of our affection.

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And I don't think God wants us

screaming at TV screens or at sporting

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events and then standing with our

hands in our pockets for church.

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I love the transparency of God's

heart as Psalm 81 concludes, but my

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people did not listen to my voice.

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Israel would not submit to me, so

I gave them over to their stubborn

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hearts to follow their own councils.

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Oh, that my people would listen to me.

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That Israel would walk in my ways.

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I would soon subdue their enemies

and turn my hand against their foes.

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Those who hate the Lord would

cringe toward him and their

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fate would last forever.

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But he would feed you with the

finest of the wheat and with honey

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from the rock, I would satisfy you.

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This verse means that God would bring

blessing and joy from unexpected places.

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Next we'll look at the only Psalm

that doesn't resolve at the end.

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Psalm 88 is unique, although

there's a lot of lamenting and

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grieving throughout Psalms.

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Generally, the writers point

themselves toward hope by the end

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and what it says about the

heart of God that this chapter

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is still included in scripture.

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Is that the very act of pouring

ourselves out to the Lord is

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a beautiful thing before him.

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The psalmist doesn't turn away even

though the circumstances remain the same.

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And this is a godly example because our

hope is eternal, not circumstantial.

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And even if we find ourselves getting

up from our knees feeling exactly the

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way we did, the moment we bent down.

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God is honored every time you call to him.

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Just so we can understand the depths of

the pain, this Psalm almost was feeling.

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I'll read it in its entirety.

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Oh Lord God of my salvation.

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I cry out day and night before

you let my prayer come before

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you and climb your ear to my cry.

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For my soul is full of troubles

and my life draws near to she.

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I am counted among those

who go down to the pit.

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I am a man who has no strength, like

one set loose among the dead, like

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the slain that lie in the grave, like

those whom you remember no more for

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they are cut off from your hand.

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You have put me in the depths of the pit.

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In the regions dark and deep.

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Your wrath lies heavy upon me, and

you overwhelm me with all your waves.

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You have caused my companions to shun me.

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You have made me a who to them.

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I am shut in so that I cannot escape.

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My eye grows dim through sorrow.

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Every day I call upon you, oh

Lord, I spread out my hands to you.

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Do you work wonders for the dead?

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Do the departed rise up to praise you?

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Is your steadfast love declared in

the grave, or your faithfulness in

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abbadon are your wonders known in

the darkness or your righteousness

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in the land of forgetfulness?

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But I, oh Lord, cry to you in the morning.

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My prayer comes before you.

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Oh Lord.

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Why do you cast my soul away?

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Why do you hide your face from me?

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Afflicted and close to death from

my youth up, I suffer your terrors.

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I am helpless.

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Your wrath has swept over me.

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Your dreadful assaults destroy me.

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They surround me like a flood.

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All day long, they close in on me.

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Together you have caused my

beloved and my friend to shun me.

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My companions have become darkness.

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Does it remind you of

job's, words, though?

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He slay me.

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Yet?

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Will I trust in him?

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Thankfully, Psalms of Praise

abound and Psalm 92 is one of them.

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It is good to give thanks to the Lord to

sing praises to your name almost high,

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to declare your steadfast love in the

morning and your faithfulness by night

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to the music of the loot and the harp

to the melody of the liar for you.

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Oh Lord, have made me glad by your

work at the works of your hands.

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I sing for joy.

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How great are your works?

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So Lord.

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Your thoughts are very deep.

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The stupid man cannot know.

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The fool cannot understand this, that

though the wicked sprout like grass

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and all evil doers flourish, they

are doomed to destruction forever.

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But you, oh Lord, are on high forever.

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For behold your enemies, oh Lord, for

behold, your enemies shall perish.

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All evil doers shall be scattered.

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But you have exalted my horn

like that of the wild ox.

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You have poured over me fresh oil.

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My eyes have seen the

downfall of my enemies.

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My ears have heard the

doom of my evil assailants.

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The righteous flourish like the palm

tree and grow like a cedar in Lebanon.

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They are planted in the house of the Lord.

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They flourish in the courts of our God.

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They still bear fruit in old age.

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They are ever full of sap and green.

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To declare that the Lord is

upright, he is my rock, and there

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is no unrighteousness in him.

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I had the privilege of going

to Hawaii several years ago.

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I remember staring up at the

palm trees during some very windy

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days, being in awe at how much

they could bend without breaking.

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And in a not so coincidental moment, I

opened up my Bible to this very verse that

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the righteous flourish like the palm tree.

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I prayed that whatever storms of life

came that God would make me like a

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palm tree, that I would be able to bend

and withstand the wind not breaking,

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declaring that the Lord is upright and

righteous, let me pray that for us now.

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Heavenly Father, I praise you.

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For each mom listening that they

keep coming back to your word so

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they can obey it and honor you.

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Sustain them and strengthen them.

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Fill them with joy and hope so

that they can give you praise.

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Singing of your steadfast

love and faithfulness.

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Help them to flourish like

the palm trees and the cedars.

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And even when they're bending more than

they feel like they can take, Lord,

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would you provide them with the strength

that they need to stay faithful to you?

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in those hard times, show

them some honey in the rock.

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Leave them a trail of your goodness,

even in those days that begin and

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end with a lament and don't resolve.

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Help our sons to be mighty men for your

service, whether they are in ministry or

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serving in the world, I pray that they

would be bold and humble for your glory.

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And we pray that our daughters with

all of their word count, that you

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created them to fit in each day.

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That their lips would sing you

praise and that they delight to

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bring you the glory that you are due.

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Jesus, we thank you that like the

psalmist, even when you felt completely

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abandoned by your father, that you

were obedient to the point of death.

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You are worthy of all our praise.

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Amen.