: Good morning! In today’s passage (Psalms 102-104) we have several psalms that repeat themes from earlier in the book, and then glory in a hymn of creation that rivals the opening chapters of Genesis.
Author: Oby Ballinger
Psalms 95-101
Good morning, and happy July! We are officially in the second half of this whole year of reading the Bible together! Thank you for your steadfast patience with the texts of ancient Israel and our reflection together on what they might mean for humanity today. This has been a life-changing and life-expanding experience for me and for many of our colleagues in this effort!
Psalms 90-94
Good morning! Today’s passage (Psalms 90-94) dwells for the most part on the relationship between righteousness and wickedness. In the confident understanding found in most of these psalms, God establishes the way of virtue, then helps law-abiders to stay within it and punishes those who fall outside of it.
Psalms 88-89
Good morning! Today with Psalms 88 and 89 we get a glimpse of two eternals, and the temporary in between them, fraught with inexplicable suffering. Finite human lives are all the more precious when juxtaposed with the realms of heaven and Sheol.
Psalms 83-87
June 28: Good morning! Today in Psalms 83-87 amid what we have read before (pleas for deliverance from enemies, personal devotion to God) comes several beautiful depictions of life at its best. Ancient Israel’s highest aspirations are realized at physical and metaphysical mountaintops.
Psalms 79-82
Good morning! Today’s passage come from a little later in Israel’s history, when the suffering of God’s “chosen people” is a reality clamoring for explanation and response. These psalms (79-82) lament the suffering and plead for the return of God’s protection, then suggest two possible reasons (disloyalty and injustice) for the suffering of God’s people.
Psalms 77-78
Good morning! We are over halfway through the book of Psalms now, and today only have two chapters to consider (Psalms 77-78). Both look backward to salvation history for encouragement and exhortation in the current moment.
Psalms 73-76
Good morning! Today we start the third subsection of the Psalms. Book 3 appears to be from a time after David, perhaps in the time of the temple’s flourishing under Solomon and later rulers. One clue about this comes in the fact that so many of these psalms are dedicated to or from Asaph or “the Korahites”, both of which may be professional music communities that took root in the relative leisure years after the successful establishment of David’s monarchy.
Psalms 69-72
Good morning! Today with Psalms 69-72 we finish the subsection of the Psalms that are attributed directly to King David.
Psalms 62-68
Good morning! Hebrew writers and priests borrowed many things from other cultures, and perhaps the most worldwide religious phenomenon is discovering divinity in the natural world. Some parts of the Bible decry looking for God in nature (see the destruction of trees which were Asherah poles), but the psalms are shot through with references to God in creation. Our passage for today (Psalms 62-68) particularly exemplifies this universal wisdom.
Pastor Oby Ballinger 