Psalm 123 | Psalms for Shepherds

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Psalm 123 | Psalms for Shepherds

An audible devotional on Psalm 123

July 6, 2024 • Holly Culhane, Psalms for Shepherds, P4S • Psalm 123

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This is Holly Culhane with Presence Point and welcome you to our Psalms for Shepherds podcast.

We continue this week in the Psalms of Ascent with Psalm 123.

Please join me in reading the four verses of this psalm.

I lift my eyes to you,

O God, enthroned in heaven.

We keep looking to the Lord our God for his mercy,

just as servants keep their eyes on their master,

as a slave girl watches her mistress for the slightest signal.

Have mercy on us, Lord, have mercy,

for we have had our fill of contempt.

We have had more than our fill of the scoffing of the proud

and the contempt of the arrogant.

The psalmist who authored Psalm 123 is a beautiful example to us of a sheep that fully trusts his shepherd. He looks to the Shepherd first, he waits expectantly, knowing the Shepherd has his back, and he trusts the Shepherd fully, communicating his frustrations with him.

There are many lessons in the four sentences of Psalm 123.

First, whenever we encounter troubles of any kind, look first by faith to the throne of God.

Second, look by faith to the hand of God.

Third, in the words of Bible commentator Warren Wiersbe, “Look for God’s mercy and grace.”

“If you find yourself laughed at and criticized because you belong to Jesus Christ,” Wiersbe wrote, “you are part of a very elite group, and you do not have to be embarrassed or start looking for a place to hide! There is grace available at the throne of grace from the God of all grace, so lift your eyes of faith to Him.”

Fellow under-shepherds, take heed to both the psalmist’s example and the commentator’s words: There is grace available at the throne of grace from the God of all grace.

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Psalm 130 | Psalms for Shepherds

October 5, 2024 • Holly Culhane, Psalms for Shepherds, P4S • Psalm 130

This is Holly Culhane with Presence Point and welcome to our Psalms for Shepherds podcast. This week, the journey through the Psalms of Ascent continues in Psalm 130. This song begins with the psalmist in deep distress on behalf of the Jewish community, crying out to God for mercy and, ultimately, placing his hope in the Lord. His perspective changes because he knows that Yahweh will save them in His divine time. Based on that confidence, the psalmist then invites Israel to wait for the Lord. I recently read the Christian allegory The Pilgrim’s Progress by John Bunyan. One of the lessons of the book is that a despairing state cannot actually hurt a pilgrim unless they choose to believe it, because it does not reflect the reality of the truth of our God. That is exactly what the psalmist is illustrating in this song. When in despair – no matter the cause – we must cry to our God for help. It is only He that can lift the burden, fill us with hope, and love us with a love that never betrays, never stops, never collapses, and never disappoints. He then allows us to do the same for others (even the most difficult of sheep). He delivers us from the enemy, whether that enemy is ourselves, one or more of the sheep of our pasture, or the evil one himself. And that deliverance – the deliverance of our Good Shepherd – will come with abundance. My friend, what or who represents despair in your life right now? What do you need to do to move forward with hope? Is there a burden you need to lay down at the foot of the cross to move from being a pilgrim with a heavy load to walking more freely? Is there hope in the Lord you need to claim today, or His love in which you need to dwell, or His redemption and rescue that you need to celebrate? I encourage you to take fifteen minutes right now to seek the Lord’s face, to jot down the answers to those questions, and to spend time with Him. His Provision, His Protection, and His Presence will sustain you. Thank you for joining me this week. I pray that you lighten your load and live even more deeply into your calling as shepherd in the lives of those sheep entrusted to your care.

Psalm 129 | Psalms for Shepherds

September 28, 2024 • Holly Culhane, Psalms for Shepherds, P4S • Psalm 129

This is Holly Culhane with Presence Point and welcome to our Psalms for Shepherds podcast. This week, the journey through the Psalms of Ascent continues in Psalm 129. The psalmist begins: "From my earliest youth my enemies have persecuted me. Let all Israel repeat this: From my earliest youth my enemies have persecuted me, but they have never defeated me. My back is covered with cuts, as if a farmer had plowed long furrows. But the Lord is good..." As the psalmist continues, it seems he is saying, "Accept the suffering allowed by the Father. Be sure you benefit from that suffering. And commit your suffering to the Lord." None of us are strangers to difficult times and remarkably hard circumstances. Some of us have suffered in far greater ways than others. The same is true of those of faith who lived thousands of years ago. Charles Spurgeon prayed this prayer related to Psalm 129: "Lord, number me with Your saints. Let me share their grief if I may also partake of their glory. Thus, would I make this psalm my own and magnify Your name because Your afflicted ones are not destroyed, and Your persecuted ones are not forsaken." We are not forsaken, fellow under-shepherd. Whether the difficulties we face are our own or those of the sheep of our pasture, our Good Shepherd is with us. I pray that today you sense His presence, especially if you are in the midst of a challenging time, a difficult decision, or an especially hard circumstance. And I pray that, with the psalmist, you can say: From my earliest youth my enemies have persecuted me, but they have never defeated me.

Psalm 128 | Psalms for Shepherds

September 21, 2024 • Holly Culhane, Psalms for Shepherds, P4S • Psalm 128

This is Holly Culhane with Presence Point and welcome to our Psalms for Shepherds podcast. This week, the journey through the Psalms of Ascent continues in Psalm 128. This song may be a psalm of ascent, but it feels like a remarkable blessing to me! One resource I read calls this psalm the “The Celebration of Fruitfulness”. Another speaks of how this psalm illustrates that “the godly will know true happiness because the Lord is with them, building their home life and blessing them across generations”. That is exactly how it feels when you read this beautiful prayer and exhortation. When we fear the Lord, when we live as if He truly exists and as if He is who He says He is, when we follow His ways, we will be fruitful! What a beautiful way of life! It is the life the people we shepherd need to see us demonstrate day by day in the tough, in the easy, in the extraordinarily exciting times and in the excruciatingly difficult times, when all is going well, and when it seems that everything around us is falling apart. If that way of life seems foreign to you, fellow under-shepherd, you have some work to do. Maybe spend some time pouring your heart out to the Father, or journaling a prayer to Him, or asking Him why your joy and peace and the sense of blessing in your life have gone and what you need to do to see it return. Remember it is not our circumstances that dictate joy, peace, and blessing in our daily walk with Him, but rather, it is our time with the Father. Thank you for joining me today, as we have looked at the blessing and promise and Psalm 128.