The Bible David Read

Yesterday was our last Sunday morning session until September and Mike took us through Psalm 89. He showed us that David and the other Psalmists had only the books of Moses and possibly Joshua and Job. He compared the teachings in the Psalms to the books of Moses.
Psalms 1 - 41 are the Psalms of the beginnings, Genesis.
Psalms 42 - 72 are the moving forward as Exodus.
Psalms 73 - 89 are the sanctuary or worship Psalms as Leviticus.
Psalms 90 - 106 correspond to Numbers.
Psalms 107 to 150 correspond to Deuteronomy.

Some Things I Learned Last Week

Here are a few random things I learned this past week.

Miracles. Many miracles are not going against the natural order but the restoration of the way things were in the beginning.

Sunday School curriculum: Many evangelical Sunday School curriculum for children teach the Biblical stories as moralistic. It would be better if they just told the story and not make a moral of it as it teaches the students the wrong idea about the Word of God.

Single families are costly. The average income for a two parent family in Canada is $70K while for a single parent family it is only $30K. It would save Canadians $1.7B if families stayed together.

Just some random thoughts.

Songs of Deliverance

The Psalm (Psalm 32) begins with confession and ends with singing. One of the reasons why Christians are a singing people is because they have been delivered. When Israel escaped from the hands of the Egyptians they sang a song of deliverance (Exodus 15). In Isaiah 12:5 we read, "Sing to the LORD, for he has done glorious things; let this be known to all the world." What were the glorious things that the Lord had done for His people? In verse 2 we are told that He is their salvation. In Revelation 5 we once again see the people singing because of the fact that He has redeemed a people unto Himself. Let us join in singing a song of deliverance.

Losing our way

I went to University in Waterloo. When I arrived at Waterloo I drove in at night and some how I got turned around. For the next four years I could not determine which direction is north.
I did an interesting experiment in my class one time. I had my students close their eyes, put their heads on their desk and then point north. When they opened their eyes they were surprised to see the directions that people were pointing including themselves.
The Psalmist said, "I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go; I will counsel you and watch over you." Psalm 32:8
I heard a discussion with a Christian radio talk show host and his guest. They were discussing guidance and the guest said that it was important to do something while the host insisted that we need to seek God for guidance. The host sounded good but there was not substance. The Psalmist reminds us that instruction comes from knowing the Word of God. Many people who are seeking to know God's will by signs and wonders, fleeces and such, have not spent time in the Word. Ezekiel reminds us that the Word of the Lord came to him. How did it come to him? I don't know but it comes to us through the Bible. We cannot expect to have guidance unless we have instruction and that instruction comes from the Word of God.

Hidding Place

The Psalmist says in Psalm 32:7 "You are my hiding place". At the beginning of the Psalm he said that we are blessed when our sins are not covered up, when we try to hide our sins but realize that we cannot hide them but God can cover them and they are removed from us completely and totally.

Baseball

I like baseball. The one thing I like about baseball is that the game is never over until the last out. In basketball, football, hockey the game may be over long before the game ends but not in baseball. A team can be down ten runs with two out in their last at bat and come back to win the game. In Psalm 32 the Psalmist says, "Therefore let everyone who is godly pray to you while you may be found." There is coming a time for everyone when it will be too late to call upon the Lord to save them. When is that day? Only God knows.

Two sinners

David begins Psalm 32 talking about a man whose sin is not covered. He talks about him in the third person but then in the middle verses of the Psalm he changes the pronoun and talks about "my sin", "my iniquity", "my transgressions". He now takes ownership of his sin and confesses it to God. We cannot truly confess our sins if we talk about them in the third person.