Testimony – Old Testament Survey

Psalm 119.89-104

ל Lamed Verses 89-96

These verses establish the immutability of God’s Word (c.f., Isaiah 40.8; Matthew 24.35; and 1 Peter 1.25). Nature shows this truth as well. The seeming permanence of heaven mirrors God’s eternal faithfulness, love, and compassion for His creation. Just as the universe works according to His laws (91), so we must work according to His Word. We see, in society, today, what happens when we follow our own moral code instead of God’s. See our discussion on Psalm 72. The psalmist is reminding us of the eternal perfection of God’s established Word and how we fall short of it each time we stray from it.

מ Mem Verses 97-104

The psalmist presents how useful knowing God’s Word is for everyday life. When we obey God’s Word, His wisdom runs through us and our understanding of what life is truly about goes beyond our years, our teachers, and our enemies. We are truly wise. Read my testimony on this subject.

This lifestyle requires discipline and time. However, the results are astounding. How are you doing in knowing and loving God’s Word? You can easily answer this by how well you obey what it says.

Psalm 96

How does your life lead to a celebration of life for God? Even in our dark times, our life should celebrate what He does for us. Who has praised God because of what He has done in your life? He is active. What have you shown or told others about Him?

Psalm 96 (1 Chronicles 16.23-33; see our study)

This psalm does not tell us who wrote it but 1 Chronicles 16 informs us it is David. The account for this is the bringing of the Ark to Jerusalem This is called a royal psalm emphasizing God’s judgment. One commentary states there are “At least seventeen different ways of praising the Lord, given in the form of crisp commands, are found in Psalm 96” (Believer’s Bible Commentary, 1997). If you are able to list them, please comment.

Verses 4-6 describes the Lord as full of beauty and splendor. He is Creator and Sustainer. He is unlike the idols (אֱלִילִים), which by definition are “worthless” (the root of the Hebrew word for idol is worthless [אלל]).

David is calling us to sing a new song, to tell of God’s glory to those around us (1-3). David then celebrates who God is and how great is our God (4-6). David then calls us to great and festive worship of God with our whole life (7-9). David then celebrates who God is in that He will judge righteously (10-13). This psalm is like what Paul does in a few of his writings (Ephesians 3 with verses 20-21 for example). He writes of what God has done then goes into a hymnic praise of Him not by Israel alone but by the whole earth. All the peoples will praise Him.

For those of you who tried, here is another author’s attempt at finding the commands.

Three times in verses 1–2 we hear the summons, “sing to the LORD”; three times in verses 7–8, “ascribe to the LORD.” In each case further injunctions follow: “bless … tell … declare” in verses 2–3; “bring … come … worship … tremble” in verses 8–9 (Davidson, R. 1998).

Psalm 77

Will God leave me?
Will God never grant His goodness to men?
Will God cease to show His mercy?
Will God fail to keep His promises?
Will God forsake grace?
Will God, in anger, refuse to bless His chosen?

Psalm 77

This is another psalm of Asaph with a secondary ascription provided, it is according to Jeduthun (Psalm 39, 62, and 89). It can be divided into four parts: sighing (1–3), sinking (4–9), singing (10–15), and soaring (16–20).

Verses 1-3-Asaph is in distress. He is crying out to God with outstretched hand seeing direction and help.

Selah-In your troubles, where do you go? To whom do you turn?

Verses 4-9-God will use sleepless nights to draw us closer to Him, to have us contemplate our purpose and worldview, even to have us struggle with sin both known and unknown. During these times we scream out to God and wonder if He has forgotten His promises to us (2 Peter 3.8-9). When we are in these circumstances we need to remember what He has done or else we will begin to think He is who He is not. Remember, one felt need not met will distort our view of all other needs being met. When we ponder Him, we bring our understanding of Him back to what the Scripture states about Him. In this chapter, He is holy and great (13).

Asaph provides six questions whose answers are ridiculous when the nature of God is known. However, these questions are always on the minds of those who do not know the God presented in the Bible.

Will God leave me?
Will God never grant His goodness to men?
Will God cease to show His mercy?
Will God fail to keep His promises?
Will God forsake grace?
Will God, in anger, refuse to bless His chosen?

Selah-Ponder those times when God creates restlessness for you. When you are awakened at night, do you fight it off and go back to bed or do you wrestle with what God is doing?

Verses 10-15-Asaph remembers to recall the goodness of God in a situation such as these. When we are struggling, it is good to recall what God has done in prior years. In this Psalm, it is what God did during the Exodus (a thousand years prior).

It is in verse ten that Asaph answers the questions from verses 7-9. He realizes that God does not change! It was Asaph’s false perspective of the circumstances that brought this line of questioning. All the answers to these questions and the questions themselves are found to be absurd in light of the truth of whom God is. This is Isaiah’s argument too (Isaiah 55.7-9).

Selah-Asaph made a conscious choice to remember. Journaling is a conscious choice to do something to recall. It is a wonderful method of being able to recall what God has done in your life. Knowing what He has done through your ancestors is also a means of remembering God’s continual faithfulness to you. Why not pick up this habit today?

Verses 16-20-The recalling of Exodus 14 is poetic. God’s work is unseen for a moment then it rushes through and we see He was there all the time. When these verses are read in connection with the previous verses, we gather the idea that God’s ways are not thwarted by man’s interventions. God is God.

My testimony from the late 1980s into the early 1990s is reflected in these verses. In days to come, I may add this to these posts.