S1E156-Psalms 66-68: Essentials
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Today’s Bible Translation
Bible translation used in today’s episode: Ch. 66 GWT; Ch. 67 NLV; Ch. 68 GWT
Podcast Introduction
It’s Psalms Wednesday, and we’ll read chapters 66-68. I’m calling this episode “Essentials.”
Comments on Psalm 66
This psalm opens with a call to all the earth to praise God because of His awesome (in the truest sense of the word…awe-inspiring) deeds. It even gives a sample of what should be said to God: “How awe-inspiring are your deeds! Your power is so great that your enemies will cringe in front of you. The whole earth will worship you. It will make music to praise you. It will make music to praise your name.”
All of this is true, of course. God is worthy of the praise of the whole world. Most of this psalm gives various reasons to give him worship, and one can’t help but say “Yes!” and “Amen!” as we read them.
But the last five verses are a bit different:
16Come and listen, all who fear God,
and I will tell you what he has done for me.
17With my mouth I cried out to him.
High praise was on my tongue.
18If I had thought about doing anything sinful,
the Lord would not have listened ⌞to me⌟.
19But God has heard me.
He has paid attention to my prayer.
20Thanks be to God,
who has not rejected my prayer
or taken away his mercy from me.
Psalm 66: 16-20 God’s Word Translation
The psalmist said, “If I had thought about doing anything sinful, the Lord would not have listened ⌞to me⌟.”
And he was right. Have you ever thought about the fact that God is not obligated to listen to every prayer?
Proverbs 28:9 says, “He who turns away his ear from listening to the law, Even his prayer is an abomination.” Job, when speaking of the wicked says in Job 27:9, “Will God hear his cry when trouble comes upon him?” Sometimes God will listen to the prayer of an unbeliever, if the prayer is in alignment with His will. There are many examples of this in the Bible. But an unbeliever should have no expectation that God will hear them.
But for Christians, listen to Hebrews 4:14-16: “14 Since then we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. 15 For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin. 16 Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.”
And there are many other promises for believers concerning prayers.
It is because of God’s great mercy and grace that He invites us to come to Him. Yes, let us come to Him in confidence, but also with reverence and awe, knowing that Jesus paid a tremendous price to bring that mercy and grace to us.
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The Team
Transcript Correction: Lifespring Family Berean, Sister Denise
Podcasting 2.0 Chapters: Lifespring Family Berean, Brother Sean of San Pedro and Lifespring Family Berean, Brother Michael Haner
Show Art: Lifespring Family Berean, Brother Scott Snider and Lifespring Family Berean Jason Paschall
Newsletter Publisher: Lifespring Family Berean, Sister Brittaney
Transcript
Transcript not corrected.
Read through the Bible in one year with the OG Godcaster, Steve Webb. This is a rewind series of the award winning daily podcast in which Steve reads a section of the Bible and then shares thoughts on the day's reading.
Your comment on Proverbs 28:9… I think the cool kids would say something like “It hits!”
Michael Saylor talks about the need for some way to compel ‘skin in the game’ on social media platforms to prevent spamming and violating rules of conduct. He suggests the possibility of micropayments or forfeitable deposits. Even I have suggested someone should build a platform or protocol that’s either pay-per-post/message or requires a subscription as a way of improving signal to noise ratio. Boostagrams and snail mail seem to be the closest thing we have to that.
It turns out, God has his own system for filtering out ‘spam prayers’: obedience. Mind blown!
Your podcast has helped make the Bible understandable and reignited that fear/respect/love for God that I had when I first got saved, before the world made me jaded. Thank you for answering his call, and thanks to Adam Curry for all he’s done as well.