Summer Psalms 2022
A Shepherd Leader for God's Wandering Sheep
September 4, 2022 • Pastor Paul Edwards
In the 78th Psalm, the psalmist Asaph has taken us through the history of Israel beginning with the exodus of God's people from Egypt to the anointing of David as King over God's people (Exodus 3 through 1 Samuel 16). The final three verses of this psalm give insight to how God choses His leadership, giving them His own heart to feed and lead His people.
God's Wrath Roused and Restrained
August 14, 2022 • Pastor Paul Edwards
Why does God cast all of his wrath upon the Egyptians in the ten plaques and allow his own people who have provoked him and tempted him and spoke against him to escape his wrath? What accounts for God's own people receiving mercy in response to their sin and the Egyptians receiving wrath in response to theirs? And what is it exactly that make the children of Israel "his own people"?
The Pattern of Spiritual Declension
August 7, 2022 • Pastor Paul Edwards
In an otherwise dark Psalm which details the rebellion of God's people against his law, statutes, and covenant, verses 34 through 42 are an island of hope. These verses reveal the pattern of spiritual decline which is true of all of God's chosen: In the midst of their sinful rebellion, God's people remember God and return to him, God remembers them and turns away his wrath, and God's people turn back from God and do not remember him. The hope comes when the Psalmist reveals that God is not surprised by this pattern of behavior and gives grace upon grace in response.
The Choice of a Contemptuous Generation
July 31, 2022 • Pastor Paul Edwards
The 78th Psalm is a narrative history of God's gracious dealings with the Israelites in leading them out of bondage in Egypt and feeding them in the wilderness. How did Israel respond to these numberless blessings? With insolence and contempt. How do we guard our hearts against the same calloused response to God's gracious and undeserved blessings upon us?
Heart Failure
July 24, 2022 • Pastor Paul Edwards
Psalm 78 is the record of God's overtures of love toward his people and His people reciprocating those overtures with continual rejection and rebellion. Verse 8 is God's epithet for the first generation of Israelites whom God characterizes as "stubborn and rebellious." And the source of this stubborn rebellion is heart failure: "who set not their hearts aright." What were their hearts set on which warranted God's anger toward them?
Shepherdless Sheep, Scattered and Harassed
July 10, 2022 • Pastor Paul Edwards
What does Jesus see when he looks upon the multitudes? The people came to him for remedies to their external concerns, but he saw what only the sovereign, omniscient Son of God can see: their aimless wanderings, their weariness and harassment as a result of the unfaithfulness of their spiritual leaders.
Raging Rulers Against the Reigning King
July 3, 2022 • Pastor Paul Edwards
Behind the turbulence in our culture is the spiritual reality of humanity's rebellion against God. The world is as it is because it has set itself in defiance against God's holy laws. God's response is to hold the world in derision even as sets His only begotten Son, the Lord Jesus, as King over all.