Psalms 40-45

[wolfpurplemoon]

Psalm 40: More prostrating before God and thinking yourself worthy of his thoughts
Psalm 41: A blessing for those who consider the poor but have still sinned
Psalm 42: Someone who seems to be pining after God
Psalm 43: Praying for God to judge you
Psalm 44: Crediting more human achievement to God (conquering your enemies and taking their land is a kind of achievement, especially when natural resources are short) but then also blaming him when they aren't winning, at least that's consistent.
Psalm 45: A description of the smell of God's clothing and something about a king's daughter who wears clothes of gold.

Comments

[bill_sheehan.livejournal.com]

Psalm 42 - another favorite. I sang a choral version in school, a very long time ago, then ran into it again in Basic Training. I was impossibly young, I'd never been away from home before, I was lonely and frightened and homesick.

All recruits were given a pocket-sized New Testament and Psalter, provided by the same people who leave Bibles in hotel rooms, the Gideons. In the front was a little index with things like: Feeling Sad? Ps. 42.

"Why art thou cast down, O my soul?" Soothing, familiar words in a strange place, and I could (and can) still hear the haunting harmonies. It did make me feel better.

The poet must have liked that line, too, because he used it again in Psalm 43.

[musical-autumn.livejournal.com]

"For much of my life I was a skeptic. In fact, I considered myself an atheist. To me, there was far too much evidence that God was merely a product of wishful thinking, of ancient mythology, of primitive superstition. How could there be a loving God if he consigned people to hell? How could miracles contravene the basic laws of nature? Didn't evolution satisfactorily explain how life originated? Doesn't scientific reasoning dispel belief in the supernatural?"

A paragraph from a book worth reading by Lee Strobel entitled The Case For Christ. Lee set out to use his investigative journalism skills to seek out answers to some tough questions about faith in God, a journey precipitated by his wife deciding to become a Christian (which he was none too happy to hear).

"Setting aside my self-interest and prejudices as best I could, I read books, interviewed experts, asked questions, analyzed history, explored archaeology, studied ancient literature, and for the first time in my life picked apart the Bible verse by verse."

The book is the result of all of that investigating...a very good read. He did write some follow-ups when more questions arised: The Case For Faith & The Case For a Creator. The former addresses issues/questions such as miracles contradicting science, if evil and suffering exist then a loving God cannot, how can a loving God kill innocent people or send them to hell, church history is littered with violence, and other such things...some questions that I've also seen come up in my perusings of your blog. The latter book, as you can tell from the title, addresses how modern scientific research and facts point to an origin of a creator.

Lee Strobel is a man who refused to throw intellect out the window in his search about God and Jesus Christ. And he found out that faith and intellect are by no means mutually exclusive. His writings reflect that. I fully believe that the bible reflects it, too, but it's easy to get tripped up in the figurative language that ancient Hebrew uses to describe things. And unless you read from a study bible with background info about what was going on at the times of the writings (since scripture canon as you are reading it-Genesis to Revelation-is not in chronological order) it's hard to fully understand the context. But I applaud your efforts in reading it through...something that sadly far too many professing "Christians" don't do. I'm by no means a scholar (just diligent student of God's word), but no matter how many times I've read the bible through, I still see new things to apply in my life. Sorry for the long post, but I just wanted to share those books with you...and offer an open ear if you had any questions :)

Very Interesting!

[(Anonymous)]

Wow, I just found this website and I really like it! I find it very interesting that we get to read your comments on verses. I think it is great too that you have decided to read the whole Bible. I didn't do that until I was in my 40's and I just thought it is something a believer should do. It was hard, but I kept going. I have read other comments on other sites from nonbelievers and they always seem to be mean spirited. I think you are truly not that way so I will be checking in every once in a while. I wish you well in your endeavor to read the Bible!