Rev Chris Roth

Psalm 71 Today we are looking at Psalm 71. It is a Psalm asking for help from God. The one praying is someone who is constantly praising God and constantly declaring God’s good deeds. … Some think he is an elderly man. He asks God,  “Do not cast me off in the time of old age; forsake me not when my strength is spent” (v9); “even to old age and gray hairs, O God, do not forsake me, until I proclaim your might to another generation”(v18). The psalmist is dealing with people he calls “the wicked”, “the unjust”, and the “cruel” (v4). He seems to have been dealing with trouble without much relief, which leads his enemies to say,  “God has forsaken him; pursue and seize him, for there is none to deliver him” (v11).  They see his suffering as evidence that God has abandoned him. The Psalmist cries out to be defended against these people. The opening line is,  “In you, O Lord, do I take refuge” (v1)  (which would be a good breath prayer to repeat). … What does it mean to

Psalm 80 Today we are looking at the Psalms again. We are looking at Psalm 80 this morning. It is called a Psalm of lament. It is a Psalm where the people are making a complaint to God. It is a bold song to sing. The prescript says, “to the choirmaster” so this Psalm was probably a song. And the name of the tune might also be given- “according to lilies”. I’m not sure how many laments we sing to God anymore- maybe during Lent. I love how the Psalms are so open and honest towards God. I think that is evidence of good prayer- honesty before God. … Have you ever just wanted to call out to God, “why is this happening to me?” The Psalms show an amazing honesty with God. … Out of a sense of piety, we might be less inclined to pray that way, but the Psalms teach us to be honest in our prayer- even if we are complaining to God. The Psalm opens with a description of God who they are lamenting to. … Sometimes it is helpful to remind ourselves who we are praying to, so we will

Psalm 50 Luke 12:32-40   I wanted to spend some time focusing on the Psalms in the next few weeks. The assigned readings for each Sunday always give us a reading from the Psalms. We often leave them out to shorten the service a bit. I’m not sure that is a good enough reason to leave them out. Regardless, (maybe out of guilt for neglecting them) I figured we could focus on the Psalms for the next while. Of course. the Psalms are very connected to King David. David was said to be a musician and is first introduced into the King’s court as a musician. But, not all the Psalms are written by David. For example, today’s Psalm 50 is a “Psalm of Asaph” who was a priest at the time of King David. We know that Jesus knew the Psalms intimately. Some Psalms are so associated with Jesus we can’t imagine them apart from him. For example, when we hear the words,  “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”  we think of Jesus on the cross. But Jesus is quoting Psalm 22.

Psalm 107:1-9, 43; Colossians 3:1-11; Luke 12:13-21 The Bible is filled with calls for gratitude. Our Psalm reading from Psalm 107 instructs us:  “give thanks to the Lord, for he is good; for his steadfast love endures for ever”.  This kind of call is all through the Bible. It is so common it is easy to ignore as being uninterestingly common. Just to give a few examples, Psalm 100 says,  “Enter into His gates with thanksgiving, / And into His courts with praise. / Be thankful to Him, and bless His name.”  In the New Testament, Paul instructs Christians,  “In every thing give thanks, for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you” (1 Thessalonians 5:18).  In the letter to the Ephesians we read,  “Be filled with the Spirit; speaking one to another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody with your heart to the Lord; giving thanks always for all things in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ to God” (Ephesians 5:18-20).  And again i