Week 25: Psalms 78 - 111

This week we'll continue in the book of Psalms:

• Weekend: Psalms 78 - 82
• Monday: Psalms 83 - 89
• Tuesday: Psalms 90 - 97
• Wednesday: Psalms 98 - 103
• Thursday: Psalms 104 - 106
• Friday: Psalms 107 - 111

Over time, certain Psalms can become very personal and bring back strong memories. For me (Dick), Psalm 90 is such an example. When I grew up, every year on New Year's Eve we would gather with family and play games and eat Dutch dumplings all evening. But five minutes before midnight, we would stop all festivities. My uncle, the oldest brother on my mom's side, would get out his Bible and read this Psalm with his low voice. Then we would pray, usually interrupted by the fireworks that would burst out at 12a.m. Psalm 90 is one of those Psalms that shows the 'transitoriness' of mankind, his weakness and mortality. But it also shows his dependence on an eternal, immortal God.

Psalm 92 is another one of those memorable Psalms for me. On Sunday morning before church, we would all have breakfast together as a family. After breakfast, my dad would get out his Bible and read either Psalm 92 or Psalm 122. Both are Psalms of worship that exalt God and tell us how good it is to worship God in his temple. Very appropriate to read that before you go to church. As kids, we'd sometimes jokingly recite the whole Psalm to imitate my dad -- that's how familiar it had become to us.

Psalm 103 is a beautiful psalm about God's mercy and forgiveness. Jesus' work on the cross almost jumps off the pages if you read that. In the church I grew up in, we used to read that every single time after we had communion. Parts of Psalm 105 were read when we had baptisms as it talks about God's faithfulness with his people.

I encourage you to make the Psalms your own. They are expressions of all kinds of emotions, but most of all, they are expressions of worship of our great and awesome God. He is worthy of all our praise.

Dick