Transcript

Podcast Introduction

Today is Psalms Wednesday. We’ll read chapter 111-113. I’ll have a brief introduction before reading each chapter, and after the reading I’ll have some comments. And of course I’ll have an “On This Date In Church History” segment for you, too. I’m calling today’s episode  “I Will.”

Comments on Psalm 112

Praise the Lord! I will praise the Lord with my whole heart, In the assembly of the upright and in the congregation.

Psalm 112: 1 NKJV

Notice the psalmist says, “I will praise the Lord…”. He does not say, “I feel like praising the Lord…”. It is an act of will, not an emotion. 

Face it, sometimes we do not feel like praising the Lord. Maybe we have had a difficult week, or we’ve been on the outs with our spouse, or money ran out before the month did. Or maybe we are just in a dry spell with the Lord. 

Does any of that change who God is? Of course not. No matter what happens in our own life, God is still God. He is still worthy of praise, and when we decide that we *will* praise the Lord with our whole heart, 99 times out of 100, our emotions will be lifted up as we lift up the name of the Lord. I know, because I have experienced it myself, and have talked to others who agree.

When you are feeling down, or afraid, or lonely, or like God doesn’t hear you, praise the Lord with your whole heart. 

Remember the old milk commercial? Milk. It does a body good.

Let’s change it up. Praise. It does a spirit good.

Today’s Bible Translation

Bible translation used in today’s episode: Ch. 111-113 NKJV

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Transcript

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Steve Webb 0:00
Does any of that change who God is?

Steve Webb 0:10
Coming to you from Riverside, California, this is the Lifespring Family Audio Bible. Podcasting since 2004, I’m your OG Godcaster, Steve Webb. Welcome! Like my dad used to say, I’m just tickled to see ya. This is the daily show where we’re reading through the entire Bible in a year. Today is Psalms Wednesday. We’ll read chapters 111 through 113. I’ll have a brief introduction before reading each chapter and after the reading, I’ll have some comments. I have an On This Date in Church History segment for you, and we’ve got some prayer requests. The title of today’s episode is “I Will”. The show notes page for today’s episode is at lifespringmedia.com/s12e259. And my email address as always is st***@*************ia.com. You ready? Let’s go.

Steve Webb 1:00
Psalm 111, like the rest of the Psalms we have today, has no title or author attribution. Psalm 111 is an acrostic which means that in Hebrew each of the twenty-two lines begins with successive letters except for the first line which begins with the Hebrew word “Hallelujah” or in English “Praise the Lord.” Being an acrostic makes the psalm easier to memorize – if you speak Hebrew.

Steve Webb 1:02
Psalms, chapter 111. Praise the Lord! I will praise the Lord with my whole heart, In the assembly of the upright and in the congregation. The works of the Lord are great, Studied by all who have pleasure in them. His work is honorable and glorious, And His righteousness endures forever. He has made His wonderful works to be remembered; The Lord is gracious and full of compassion. He has given food to those who fear Him; He will ever be mindful of His covenant. He has declared to His people the power of His works, In giving them the heritage of the nations. The works of His hands are verity and justice; All His precepts are sure. They stand fast forever and ever, And are done in truth and uprightness. He has sent redemption to His people; He has commanded His covenant forever: Holy and awesome is His name. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom; A good understanding have all those who do His commandments. His praise endures forever.

Steve Webb 2:33
Psalm 112 is very similar to Psalm 111. This is what James Montgomery Boice wrote about these two psalms. “They are the same length, fall into identical stanzas, and even have identical or similar phrases occurring at the same places in each. Both are precise acrostics; that is, they have twenty-two lines each of which begins with a successive letter of the Hebrew alphabet.” Also, beloved, where 111 declared the glory of God, 112 was about the man who loves and serves God.

Steve Webb 3:09
Psalms, chapter 112. Praise the Lord! Blessed is the man who fears the Lord, Who delights greatly in His commandments. His descendants will be mighty on earth; The generation of the upright will be blessed. Health and riches will be in his house, And his righteousness endures forever. Unto the upright there arises light in the darkness; He is gracious, and full of compassion, and righteous. A good man deals graciously and lends; He will guide his affairs with discretion. Surely he will never be shaken; The righteous will be in everlasting remembrance. He will not be afraid of evil tidings; His heart is steadfast, trusting in the Lord. His heart is established; He will not be afraid, Until he sees his desire upon his enemies. He has dispersed abroad, He has given to the poor; His righteousness endures forever; His horn will be exalted with honor. The wicked will see it and be grieved; He will gnash his teeth and melt away; The desire of the wicked shall perish.

Steve Webb 4:19
There are three specific groups of psalms in the book of Psalms which are called Hallel. One of those groups begins with this Psalm 113, and it ends with Psalm 118. These six Psalms are called the Egyptian Hallel because they’re associated with the Passover, which marks Israel’s deliverance from Egypt. The Psalms were sung as part of the Passover observance and Psalms 113 and 114 were sung before the meal and Psalms 115 through 118 were sung after the meal. I have a question for you. When was Jesus crucified? Just before the Passover. What did he do before the night of his crucifixion? He celebrated the Passover meal with His disciples. So it’s most likely that he sang these songs with His disciples on his last night with them. Both Matthew and Mark made mention in their gospels that they sang a hymn and went out to the Mount of Olives, which is where he prayed to the Father asking, “If it is possible that this cup of suffering be taken away from me, yet I want your will to be done not mine.” After he prayed this prayer, Judas betrayed Him with a kiss. So as we read this psalm, listen carefully and imagine what he must have thought and felt as he sang, knowing that he would soon be betrayed into the hands of those who would put him to death.

Steve Webb 5:43
Psalms, chapter 113. Praise the Lord! Praise, O servants of the Lord, Praise the name of the Lord! Blessed be the name of the Lord From this time forth and forevermore! From the rising of the sun to its going down The Lord’s name is to be praised. The Lord is high above all nations, His glory above the heavens. Who is like the Lord our God, Who dwells on high, Who humbles Himself to behold The things that are in the heavens and in the earth? He raises the poor out of the dust, And lifts the needy out of the trash heap, That He may seat him with princes— With the princes of His people. He grants the barren woman a home, Like a joyful mother of children. Praise the Lord!

Steve Webb 6:30
Beloved, did you notice that all three of the Psalms we read today began the same way? They began with “Praise the Lord”. Psalm 112 said, “Praise the Lord! I will praise the Lord with my whole heart in the assembly of the upright and in the congregation.” Notice that the psalmist says, “I will praise the Lord.” He doesn’t say, “I feel like praising the Lord.” For this psalmist, it’s an act of will. It’s not an emotion. Let’s face it, sometimes we don’t feel like praising the Lord, do we? Maybe we’ve had a difficult week or maybe we’re on the outs with our spouse, or money ran out before the month did. Or maybe we’re just in a dry spell with the Lord. So does any of that change who God is? Of course not. No matter what happens in our life, God is still God. He’s still worthy of praise. And when we decide that we will praise the Lord with our whole hearts, 99 times out of 100 our emotions will be lifted up as we lift up the name of the Lord. I know this because I’ve experienced it myself. And I’ve talked to others who agree. When you’re feeling down or afraid or lonely or like God doesn’t hear you, praise the Lord with your whole heart. Do you remember that old milk commercial? “Milk. It does a body good.” Well, let’s change that up. “Praise. It does a spirit good.” What do you think? I’d love to hear your comments, let me know at lifespringmedia.com/s12e259. Tomorrow is Poetry Thursday and we’re in the Proverbs. We’ll read chapter 25. Boost!

Steve Webb 8:22
On this date in church history, May 18, 1843, nearly half of the member congregations of the national Church of Scotland seceded on this day to form the Free Church of Scotland. Renowned clergymen associated with this reformed Presbyterian denomination included Thomas Chalmers, Horatius and Andrew Bonar, and William Robertson Smith.

Steve Webb 8:52
Sean of San Pedro sent in two prayer requests today, he said, “My friend’s beloved mom passed away yesterday. Please pray for him, his father, and the rest of his family as they grieve and go through this. Thank God we’ll all meet again in heaven.” Amen to that, Sean. And then he continues. “Another of my friends reached out from the ER. He’s feeling at risk of leaving his three young teenage and tween kids behind. I don’t think it’ll come to that. But please pray for his recovery and comfort.” Yeah, Sean that would be a scary thought, leaving youngsters behind. Let’s pray. Our loving Heavenly Father, we will praise you because you are worthy. There is none like you. You’re holy. You’re righteous. You are gracious and full of compassion. And we can sing: “We will sing your praises forever.” The Psalms are a treasure, Lord. They teach us. They inspire us to lift up your name. So we thank you for them. And Father, we pray for this family who lost their wife, mom, and family member. Comfort them, hold them close. May their memories of her be warm and sweet and vivid as they look back at their time with her. Be with them, Lord, and may they feel your presence. And we pray for Shawn’s friend who was in the ER. I don’t know anything at all about why he was there or his present condition, but you know, and that’s all that’s necessary. Bring him healing Lord. He has children, so comfort them as you do the same for this man. We pray that you would be glorified in this situation and that they all will look to you and know that you are with them. I pray that You would bless the Lifespring family, Lord. Help us to praise you even when we don’t feel like it. I thank you and I pray this in Jesus’ name. Amen.

Steve Webb 10:38
After I recorded the show, my good friend Ron Ploof, host of the Griddlecakes Radio podcast, texted me. Now normally, I would put this prayer request on the next day’s show but this one’s different, not because it’s wrong, but because of the request. You may have heard that this past Monday, May 16, 2022, there was a shooting in Laguna Woods in Orange County, California at Geneva Presbyterian Church. This is about, oh, forty miles or so from where I live and just a few miles from where Ron lives. Here’s what Ron texted me. “Hi, Steve, please pray for the family of Dr. John Cheng. He was the hero that stopped the shooter at the Geneva Presbyterian Church yesterday and paid with his life. He’s been my primary physician for 23 years. Still in shock.” So here’s a bit more context from CBS News. “Authorities also identified the sole churchgoer killed as Dr. John Cheng, a sports medicine doctor who took heroic action and charged the gunman. While Cheng rushed the suspect. It was said that his actions allowed the other church-goers who ranged between 66 and 90 years old, to subdue the gunman, undoubtedly saving more lives. Cheng leaves behind a wife and two children, officials said. Two additional victims have begun recovering and are now listed in good condition. Two remain in stable condition. And one’s condition is still unknown.” So let’s pray. And Father we pray for the family of Dr. Cheng. We pray you comfort them and the many other people who knew him or were his patients, including Ron. We thank you for the courage he had in sacrificing himself so that others could live. We pray that in all this tragedy, you would somehow be glorified. And Lord, we pray for the shooter. Touch his heart. Help him to find you. I pray this in Jesus’ name. Amen. If you have a prayer request or a praise, please go to prayer.lifespringmedia.com and tell me about it right there. The system will take your prayer request or your praise and send me an email. And I’ll pray for you in my private prayer time, and we’ll pray together right here on the show. Prayer.lifespringmedia.com.

Steve Webb 13:00
Comment on the show at lifespringmedia.com/s12e259. Email me at st***@*************ia.com. Thanks to the team, Kirsty, Sean of San Pedro, and Denise. You guys are awesome. And I thank God for you every day. And I thank God for you for being with me today. Support the show with your time your talent or treasure at lifespringmedia.com/support. Until tomorrow, may God bless you richly. My name is Steve Webb. Bye.

Transcribed by https://otter.ai