Please read Psalm 28 (9 verses)

The Lord is a rock to His people and we can call on Him at all times. God is not deaf or the cries of those who suffer loss, for if He were to ignore us, we would be no better off than those who are heading to destruction.

We lift up our hands to the most holy place and worship the Lord who delivers us from all our foes. We are not dragged away like the wicked who give in to the temptation to speak in a friendly way to their friends, but gossip and malign them behind their back. God hates hypocrisy for it is really lying and hiding behind a false veneer of pleasantness to practice a cruel mindset.

The Lord will repay such behaviour by cutting the wicked down to size and never rebuilding them. They will suffer such loss that they will never recover their composure nor regain their place in the pecking order that they crave. The Lord may deliver them in His good pleasure and rescue them from a life of futility, for He is not willing that any should perish, but the position of the hypocrite is dangerous. The Lord can save the least and the lowest, such is the mercy of the Lord towards sinful people.

The heart of the Psalmist leaps for joy that the Lord is his shepherd and will lead him safely through the troubles of life to the place of rest. The Lord is his strength and shield and his whole being will be carried in joy and praise by the Lord forever.

Please read Psalm 27 (14 verses)

The Psalmist is not afraid of anything, because he fears the Lord. No enemy, invading army or state of war will intimidate him from his faith in the Lord his God. The Lord has saved him from sin and death and has given him great gospel light, so that he will walk in the ways of the Lord all his life.

He asks for three requests, to dwell in the house of the Lord forever; to gaze upon the beauty of the Lord; and to seek the face of the Lord in His house. He knows the Lord will keep him safe against the enemy in three ways. The Lord will keep him safe; shelter him and lift him high upon a rock of refuge. As a result of the rescue of the Lord, he experiences three consequences of the Lord’s blessing on his life. The reputation of the psalmist will be lifted up; he will set himself apart for the Lord; and rejoice before Him with great joy. He knows the mercy of the Lord and seeks the Lord with a full heart. Even when his family forsake him, the Lord will never leave him and will teach him every right way. The psalmist has been hurt by rejection, but the Lord has taken his cause and supported him.

The writer of the Psalm is still concerned about the malicious speaking of the enemies that surround him, but he deals with them by resting on the promises of God. He knows he cannot stop their verbal abuse, but He has full confidence in the deliverance of the Lord. The psalmist is strong and has a true heart for the Lord and will still see the goodness of the Lord in this fallen world. He reminds us of these facts and tells us to do the same.

Please read Psalm 26 (12 verses)

The psalmist affirms his integrity in this Psalm. He asks the Lord to vindicate him in the presence of his enemies and all who detract from him. He has suffered greatly with the criticism and oppression of other people and it has caused him great distress, as we read in the previous Psalm, Psalm 25. He has been the subject of wicked lips and voices that have oppressed him and spread malicious rumours about him, which is affecting his life adversely.

He asks the Lord to test his mind and heart, that he has not deviated from his firm trust in the mercy and salvation of the Lord. He asks the Lord to deliver him from those who deal maliciously and have sinister plans against him as a person. He wishes to be clean and able to visit the altar of the Lord and not to be included with the wicked. He wishes his voice to be raised in praise and not complaint and sorrow. He knows the Lord will deliver him because he deals uprightly with life and does not entertain sin in his life.

The writer loves the Lord and being in the house of the Lord is his chief delight. He wishes not to be included with the bloodthirsty or people who will cheat others and take bribes to facilitate their own ends, building empires in this life. His life is not faultless but is blameless and his heart is to the Lord and not the schemes of the wicked. His feet stand secure of the doctrines of God, on level ground, which he has made for his feet and his true delight is the Lord Himself.

Please read Psalm 25 (22 verses)

The psalmist is feeling the effects of the oppression of other people and is iterating his trust in the Lord. He knows that his Lord is faithful and will never leave him, because of his personal faith, built through past difficult experiences. He allocates the Lord the exalted position as being the God of his salvation and asks his Lord to give him courage in the face of the adversity he faces. It may be physical and social adversity, which feeds the adversity that has built up in his own mind.

The writer realises his unworthiness to have the help of the Lord, and asks the Lord not to remember the sins and failings of his past life, but to teach him, lead him and protect him in these oppressive days. He recognises his iniquity has been great, but also knows the mercy of the Lord is greater. He admits his fault and asks the Lord not to hold it against him but to teach him the everlasting way. The fear of the Lord is wisdom and God will honour all who walk in this way. He will teach sinners His ways and freely forgive and honour the penitent. The mercy of the Lord extends to the following generations of those who honour Him and seek his mercy. This is an eternal promise to the upright in heart, made upright by the mercy of the God that they seek. The Lord will release his feet from the nets of the wicked.

The psalmist is in so much distress he is ill and feels his infirmity acutely. He asks the Lord to release him from his distress and relieve the suffering in his mind and soul. In his distressed state he feels his sin and needs the reassurance of the grace of God towards him and that he is forgiven and free. His confidence is only in the Lord, for only the Lord can heal these wounds. He prays that he will be released from the cruel judgement of other people and find the release that God gives to all who believe in Him.

Please read Psalm 24 (10 verses)

This exultant Psalm starts with clarity about who God the Lord is. The Lord owns everything, land and sea and everything in them, for He has made everything that exists. Every person who lives and has ever lived belongs to Him and He alone decides their fate. God is the sovereign Lord over all that He has made, both in our reality of creation and all other worlds that are outside our sphere of experience. He rules everything by His power and wisdom, and nothing is outside His control. 

Who can draw near to the Lord? 

Only those with clean hands and pure hearts, who have been made righteous before the holy one. They have kept their hearts and their words pure before God and other people. Those who seek this righteousness are not disappointed and worship God alone and turn away from all idols of heart, mind and practice. They seek His face and are vindicated by the power of the Spirit and cleansed by the shed blood of the Saviour. 

The Psalm changes to great exaltation of the King of all Kings, the holy chosen one of God to be the Saviour of the world. The ancient doors lift their heads for the mighty conqueror is passing through. The one who has bought salvation and to whom all things and all people belong. This King of glory is none other but Christ, the Lord mighty in battle and the all-victorious King of His people. All Queens and Kings of the earth will bow to Him, and He will be set high above all at the right hand of God. Such is the destiny of all who seek after the God of Jacob. 

Please read Psalm 23 (6 verses)

This is such a touching and heart-warming Psalm that many people take into their minds and hearts as great comfort and support. We turn to this Psalm in our times of need and pain and find relief in the words that the psalmist has written. It stands in contrast to the previous Psalm of the suffering of the Messiah and is the application of the comfort and safety that He has procured for His people. This is a Psalm for the uncomfortable Christian who is weary of this vain world and seeks spiritual comfort in the Word of God.

The writer of this Psalm loves righteousness and lovingkindness, and finds refreshment by the living waters, which is the Word of God. Even should we find ourselves in the most dreadful of situations and the setting in our life is dire, the Lord is with us in the darkness and we do not need to be cast down or to fear that the enemy will finally get the better of us and we will be destroyed. The Lord will even give us the whole spread of provision and comfort in the presence of the ill will and hurt that may be going on around us and will deliver us with great victory. The mercy of the Lord never fails and He will keep all His promises to bring us safely to heaven and home, where we shall surely dwell forever.

Please read Psalm 22 (31 verses)

This Psalm begins with great suffering, humiliation and rejection. It is the song of the suffering Messiah and is devided into two parts. The first part is full of prophecies about what will happen to the Messiah as He suffers for the sin of the world. It so very specific and full of pathos and much woe. He will suffer great ignominy and exclusion from the well-being of God and man. The prophesies are very specific and cannot be confused with a vague predication about what will happen to the Messiah. They tell us He will be forsaken and made a reproach to everyone, despised and rejected by all. The prophesy tells us that His bones will be out of joint and He will suffer great thirst. The suffering Saviour is surrounded by the congregation of the wicked and suffers great personal loss in His life and dignity as a person. They will pierce His hands and his feet and cast dice for His clothing. His suffering will be as the goring of the wild bulls of Bashan, the baying of the hungry lion who waits to tear his prey apart. This is suffering on a terrible scale, inflicted on the one who is so lowly and gracious and takes His place among the lowest people.

But the Psalm changes and becomes a song of praise to the Lord for His deliverance of the suffering one from the clutches of sin and death. The Messiah has overcome death and has paid the price of sin and is now exalted above the heavens. We are called upon to praise Him for He has not despised the lowly but identified Himself with them in His death. When the afflicted have cried out, the Saviour has heard them and has answered them in all their need by paying the price required. The ends of the earth shall remember Him and turn to Him as the only Saviour. Every family will worship Him for He is the King of all the nations. All posterity will honour Him because of what He has done. Rich and poor alike will bow down before Him, for He holds their destiny in His hands. God will declare His righteousness to those not yet born and it will be the work of God. 

Please read Psalm 21 (13 verses)

This is a Psalm by David as King. He rejoices in the joy and the strength of the Lord and in the salvation that the Lord has given to him. This salvation that he has received has been the desire of his heart and the request of his lips. The psalmist is living in full assurance of his faith, and the salvation of the Lord is the constant desire of his heart.

King David is also synonymous with the king of all kings the Lord Jesus Christ and the second part of the Psalm is full of the blessings of his goodness and all that God has done for His servant, His son, the Saviour of the world. All the glory in this Psalm goes to Christ. He has a crown of gold upon His head and He inherits life because of what He has done for His people. His glory is seen in His salvation and all honour and majesty are His because of what He has done. The king trusts in the Lord and through the mercy of the Lord He is sustained and lifted up. The king is glad in the presence of God, because God has made Jesus the Lord, the king forever and has given Him everlasting life.

The enemies of the Lord will not stand before the Lord, for the Psalm tells us that the Lord will swallow them up and a fire will devour them. The Lord is not slow to tell us the fate of the unbeliever because to plot evil against the Lord is a serious offence and the Lord will not hold us innocent. The Lord is exalted above all and He is exalted by His own strength. Those who love the Lord their God, will sing and praise Him for His power and His glory. The king has joy in the strength of the Lord, and his requests have all been answered.