Series: Give Thanks!
Psalm 92:1-3 ESV
I Samuel 21:10 MSG
I Samuel 22:17-21 MSG
I Samuel 31:4 Saul Died
Great music really does soothe the soul and warm the heart.
It can lift your day to the highest high or it can allow you to sit for hours with your melancholy.
Great music can wake up both the right and the left brain. Music lovers and musicians often utilize the occipital cortex to visualize the music.
Music can take you to another place and time in seconds. I do not listen to heavy metal rock and roll but whenever I hear it I remember two people from my past who loved it.
I love movies, especially musicals and hearing songs from a different decade can instantly transport you back in time.
While the psalms are still a song today for many, the history of the psalms tells a story.
Psalm 92:1-3 tells us, “It is good to praise the Lord and make music to your name, O Most High,
proclaiming your love in the morning and your faithfulness at night,
to the music of the ten-stringed lyre and the melody of the harp.”
While Psalm 92 was not signed by an author, experts believe it was written by David. They believe it is consistent with the style of David’s other works, the same instruments David used are mentioned in the psalm, and they are musical instruments from David’s era.
What we notice from the introduction of this psalm is the writer immediately names the focus of the psalm. Praise is offered to the Lord. The music is offered as a gift of worship to the Most High God.
The psalmist speaks of God’s love in the morning and faithfulness at night. Often my first recollection from a restful night’s sleep is God’s love and care for me. Even before I opened my eyes this morning I had a sense of deep peace that only comes from the Spirit. I hadn’t a sense I had been surrounded and protected as I slept. It was such a sense of peace that I delayed opening my eyes to face the day.
Moments like that are worth capturing and holding onto.
Clearly, the writer of this psalm understood the import of God’s constant love and protection. Once again, we think of David who spent years running from King Saul’s men. We know from I Samuel 21 that David went to the priest in Nob while he was on the run from Saul’s men. He was looking for bread for his men and for a weapon. The priest had the sword of Goliath that David had left there. We are told in I Samuel 21:10 David said, “there’s no sword like that! Give it to me!” And at that, David shot out of there, running for his life from Saul.”
David had good reason to run from king Saul and his men. In I Samuel 22:17-21 Saul,
“The king ordered his henchmen, “Surround and kill the priests of God! They’re hand in glove with David. They knew he was running away from me and didn’t tell me.” But the king’s men wouldn’t do it. They refused to lay a hand on the priests of God. Then the king told Doeg, “You do it—massacre the priests!” Doeg the Edomite led the attack and slaughtered the priests, the eighty-five men who wore the sacred robes. He then carried the massacre into Nob, the city of priests, killing man and woman, child and baby, ox, donkey, and sheep—the works. Only one son of Ahimelech son of Ahitub escaped: Abiathar. He got away and joined up with David. Abiathar reported to David that Saul had murdered the priests of God.”
That’s how bad it was for them. King Saul was so evil that his intent was only focused on killing anyone (even priests) who helped David. They also massacred every man, woman, child baby, ox, donkey, and sheep in the city of Nob!
Clearly Saul had lost his way!
In I Samuel 24:8-13 David and Saul met. “Then David stood at the mouth of the cave and called to Saul, “My master! My king!” Saul looked back. David fell to his knees and bowed in reverence. He called out, “Why do you listen to those who say ‘David is out to get you’? This very day with your very own eyes you have seen that just now in the cave God put you in my hands. My men wanted me to kill you, but I wouldn’t do it. I told them that I won’t lift a finger against my master—he’s God’s anointed. Oh, my father, look at this, look at this piece that I cut from your robe. I could have cut you—killed you!—but I didn’t. Look at the evidence! I’m not against you. I’m no rebel. I haven’t sinned against you, and yet you’re hunting me down to kill me. Let’s decide which of us is in the right. God may avenge me, but it is in his hands, not mine. An old proverb says, ‘Evil deeds come from evil people.’ So be assured that my hand won’t touch you.”
Ultimately, as Saul and his men continued to pursue David and God continued to promise David he was with him and his men. As I Samuel closes out we know from I Samuel 31:4 that Saul died by his own hand.
Through it all, after years of running from Saul, David was free.
God was with David and he sang praises to God.
So, while we do not know who wrote Psalm 92 we are reminded that through his trial with Saul, David sang praises to God.
David did praise God in the morning and at night.
God promised David he would be with him, and God was with David.
And so in the morning before we open our eyes, we can pause and take time to realize that we are surrounded by the Spirit of the Most High God.
We are in God’s hand.
We proclaim God’s love in the morning and protection at night while we sleep. We sing of love to God thanking God for the music…the song of protection God sings to us.
Spiritual Practice: Listen
Listen for God’s song…a soothing promise of protection.
In God, Deborah