Psa. 34-38

Psa 34

Psa 35

Psa 36

Psa 37:1-11

Psa 37:12-40

Psa 38

Recap

A. Find Out:    

1. What had David done & with what effect? v.4,6

2. What does he say about those who seek & fear God? v.5,7-10

3. What instructions does he give if you fear God? v.11-14

4. What does he say about the righteous person? v.15,17,19,20

5. What does he say about the evil man? v.16,21

6. So what does all this leave David wanting to do? v.1-3

B. Think:

1. What does the heading of this Psalm tell us about David's situation?

2. What does David in the Psalm tell us about it?

3. What principles does he declare about knowing God?

C. Comment:

  David had been through the most difficult of circumstances (see “David on the Run” in this series). He had cried out to God and the Lord had delivered him. That, simply, is the basis of this Psalm. As a result of that he feels a number of things.

  First, he has a sense of praise and worship . That is the natural heart response of the man of God. Is it ours?

  Second, he has a sense of relationship . Relationship means interaction with God. He called to God and God had answered him.

Third, he has a sense of security . He says if we look to God we will be radiant. If we fear God He will put an angel to protect us.

Fourth, he has a sense of required righteousness . If you are going to have this sort of relationship with God then it has moral implications in your life. Careful what you say and do!

Fifth he has a sense of the rewards of righteousness . The person who is righteous before God will have God's ear, and the Lord will deliver him from evil. Those who are crushed the Lord will restore.

Sixth, he has a sense of the awfulness of unrighteousness . The evil man will be opposed by God and cut off; he will be condemned and destroyed. What a warning!

D. Application:

1. A godly relationship brings many rewards. Am I aware of them?

2. Am I secure in the truths David presents in this Psalm?

Passage: Psalm 35

A. Find Out:

1. What is David asking in this psalm? v.1-8,17,22-24

2. What does David promise to do if that happens? v.9,10,18,28

3. What has actually been happening to David? v.1b,3b,4,7,12,13,15,16

4. What made it worse? v.13,14

5. Again, list what had been happening to him. v.19-21,26

6. So what does David ask to happen? v.26,27

B. Think:

1. How would you summarise what has been happening to David?

2. What does he ask the Lord to do?

3. What ‘motivation' does he give the Lord to do this?

C. Comment:

   A psalm of anguish, a cry from a heart in distress, yet a psalm without some of the spiritual awareness found in many of David's other psalms. Let's observe first the reason for David's cry. There were obviously those who fought against David and pursued him (v.1,3), who sought his life and plotted against him (v.4), who sought to entrap David (v.7), who perjured themselves against him (v.11), slandered him (v.15), maliciously mocked him (v.16), falsely accusing him (v.20), gloating over his apparent downfall (v.26). This is indeed an awful list of what has been coming against him! What had made it worse, is that some of these were people who David had prayed and fasted for (v.13,14) when they were in need and now they turn on him! It reminds us that the righteous will be opposed by the unrighteous and the weapons will be lies and deceit, false accusations, seeking for their destruction (for Satan is a liar & destroyer! See Jn 8:44).

  Then comes David's cry to the Lord to rise up to fight (v.1,3) to come to his aid (v.2), to overthrow the enemy (v.4-8), to rescue him (v.17), to come to his defence and vindicate him (v.23,24,27). When the Lord does that David will publicly praise and thank the Lord for His deliverance (v.9,10,18,28). This is a psalm about spiritual warfare!

D. Application:

1. The enemy sometimes comes and harries us. Turn then to God!

2. In our lowest state all we can cry is “Lord, please help!”

Passage: Psalm 36  

A. Find Out:

1. Of what is David speaking first of all? v.1a

2. In what ways is this expressed? v.1b-4

3. What characteristics of the Lord are then described? v.5-7

4. What does David say about each of them? v.5-7

5. Who are blessed in what way? v.7b,8

6. How is God described? v.9

B. Think:

1. How are the descriptions of the wicked seen in today's world?

2. How does David contrast the Lord with the wicked?

3. What is his prayer?

C. Comment:

  Arising within David's consciousness is an awareness of the evil of men. By definition, an evil man is wicked and sinful. David enlarges on this sinfulness.

First of all there is no fear or respect of God in this person (v.1). Godlessness always comes before wickedness (Rom 1:18 ), a rejection of God or total indifference to Him. This is pure folly. This person flatters himself (v.2), is proud and simply thinks well of himself so he cannot see the wrong in himself. His words are wrong (v.3) and even his thoughts when he is alone are wrong (v.4), so he sets himself to do wrong.

Then, as if by comparison, David describes what he knows of the Lord. He speaks of the Lord's love, His faithfulness (v.5), His righteousness, His justice (v.6). Each of these things is unlimited. They are not just a small thing in God but they are enormous and unlimited. God's love will be found wherever we can go, and similarly we can utterly rely upon Him wherever we go. His goodness (righteousness) and His ability to always do the right thing in response to wrong situations (justice) are always there in enormous evidence. The person who turns to the Lord for help will always have abundance (meditate on v.8). With God there is always abundance of Life!

D. Application:

1. Godlessness precedes wrong doing.

2. God is full of blessing for those who turn to Him.

Passage: Psalm 37:1-11    

A. Find Out:

1. What are we NOT to do? v.1,7,8

2. What will happen to the wicked? v.1,2,9

3. Who will "possess the land"? v.3,9,11

4. What happens when we "delight in the Lord"? v.4

5. What happens when we commit our way to Him? v.5,6

6. What are we to do in adversity? v.7a

B. Think:

1. What problem in life is being dealt with in these verses?

2. How is it to be overcome - negatively?

3. How is it to be overcome - positively?

C. Comment:

     A problem or an obstruction that many believers have is how to cope with other people who are not godly, not righteous, who are, in fact, downright wicked and who hinder their quiet enjoyment of life. This problem David addresses here. First he speaks negatively (v.1), DON'T FRET (WORRY or be UPSET) over them. The tendency may be to get angry over them, but don't!

     Then he speaks positively (v.5-), instead DO various things. First TRUST in the Lord, second TAKE DELIGHT in the Lord, third COMMIT YOUR WAY to the Lord, fourth, BE STILL AND WAIT for Him to move. You can only be still and wait when you have committed your way to Him, when you have given the situation over to Him and said, "I trust you to deal with it!" But while you are waiting DELIGHT in Him, enjoy knowing Him, and as you do this He will transform you and give you new desires in your heart. No longer desires to deal with the enemy but desires to bless Him (Romans 12:20 ). The Lord, when we delight in Him, will give us new desires, new purpose, new hopes, new direction, while HE gets on and deals with the situation in His time and in His way! What a wonderfully transformed situation!

D. Application?

1. We need to face the worries that we have and share them with Him

    (Philippians 4:6,7)

2. Are we trusting, taking delight, committing, waiting????

Passage: Psalm 37:12-40

A. Find Out:

1. What do the wicked do? v.12,14,21,32

2. But what will happen to them? v.13,15,17,20,28b,34b,38

3. How are God's people described? v.12a,18,28,37,39

4. What do they do? v.21b,26a,30,31a

5. What does the Lord do for them? v.17b-19,22a,23-29,33,34,39,40

6. What instructions does David give? v.27,34

B. Think:

1. How would you summarise the wicked and what will happen to them?

2. How would you summarise “the good” and what will happen to them?

C. Comment:

     In the first part of the psalm David had exhorted us not to worry about wicked men. Now he distinguishes between the wicked and the righteous.

    Observe first the nature of the wicked : the wicked plan bad things, do bad things against the weak and the good (v.12). They borrow money and don't repay it showing their unrighteous lack of concern for others (v.21). They plot against those who are good, wanting to destroy them (v.14).

    Second, note what will happen to them: they may apparently flourish for a while but the Lord will destroy them! Their end is decreed, for the Lord sees and knows and will act in His time (v.13,15,20).

    Third, observe the righteous , the blameless, the just, the good. These people may not have much of the world's possessions (v.16) but they have the Lord on their side. They have generous hearts (v.21b), they speak well because God's word is in their hearts.

     Fourth, observe how God is with them: He will uphold them (v.17), provide for them (v.19), give them enjoyment of the land (v.22), make them secure (v.23,24), protect them (v.28), redeem them (v.33,40). The Lord is for them!

D. Application:

1. The wicked are God's enemies and he will deal with them. Watch for their

     activities described in this psalm.

2. The righteous are God's children and He will bless them.

Passage: Psalm 38

A. Find Out:

1. What does David ask of the Lord? v.1,21,22

2. What does he feel has happened? v.2

3. How does that affect him physically? v.3,5a,7,10,17

4. What does he see as the cause of this? v.3b,4,5b,18

5. How have his friends treated him? v.11

6. How have others responded to him? v.12,19,20

B. Think:

1. Why does David feel he's opened himself to this?

2. What has the Lord done to him?

3. Yet what is his cry?

C. Comment:

     This is a song of anguish that has several faces.

    First there is the anguish of guilt . David is aware that he has sinned. He sees a direct link between his sin and the things that have now happened to him.

   Second, there is the anguish of ill-health . He feels absolutely shattered in his body. He aches, he feels weak, he feels utterly downcast.

   Third, there is the anguish of isolation . His friends have rejected him and his enemies have risen up against him. There is a sense of isolation about him. He is alone.

    Fourth there is the anguish of possible rejection . Because of his sin he feels the Lord is bringing these things upon him. He fears the Lord will forsake him, will leave him.

   When we sin unwittingly there is, for us, a sacrifice that takes away the sin and its effects. When we sin purposefully we deny the cross (Heb 10:26 ) and we take upon ourselves the consequences (Gal 6:7). What in fact happens is that God then disciplines us (Heb 12:4-6) to drive us back to Him. He temporarily lifts off His hand of protection and we may suffer the things David speaks of in this psalm.

D. Application:

1. Wilful sinning brings painful consequences.

2. Repentance is always the way back. The way is always there.

RECAP -   Psalms 34 - 38

As we said before, our recaps will be different from those usually found in Bible Alive Studies. We will simply produce a table as a reminder of what we have recently been reading in the Summary, and then a similar table in the Lessons.

SUMMARY :

COMMENT :

     These psalms show us the reality of conflict in a fallen world. It's an up and down world. In Psa 34 David is full of praise, in Psa 35 he is crying for deliverance from his enemies and in Psa 38 he is crying for deliverance from the effects of his sin. In this fallen world, as we battle with sin in its many forms, the man or woman of God will often be crying out to God.

LESSONS?

PRAY :

  Oh Lord, in the stresses of life, you are my deliverer, you are the one to whom I run, you are my saviour. Thank you so much.