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Opening Prayer
Thank God for the day and his Word, and ask him to bless, care for, and watch over us and give understanding as we read.
Read
Scripture Passage
Psalm 108
Assurance of God’s Victory Over Enemies
A Song. A Psalm of David.
1 O God, my heart is steadfast;
I will sing and give praise, even with my glory.
2 Awake, lute and harp!
I will awaken the dawn.
3 I will praise You, O Lord, among the peoples,
And I will sing praises to You among the nations.
4 For Your mercy is great above the heavens,
And Your truth reaches to the clouds.
5 Be exalted, O God, above the heavens,
And Your glory above all the earth;
6 That Your beloved may be delivered,
Save with Your right hand, and hear me.
7 God has spoken in His holiness:
“I will rejoice;
I will divide Shechem
And measure out the Valley of Succoth.
8 Gilead is Mine; Manasseh is Mine;
Ephraim also is the helmet for My head;
Judah is My lawgiver.
9 Moab is My washpot;
Over Edom I will cast My shoe;
Over Philistia I will triumph.”
10 Who will bring me into the strong city?
Who will lead me to Edom?
11 Is it not You, O God, who cast us off?
And You, O God, who did not go out with our armies?
12 Give us help from trouble,
For the help of man is useless.
13 Through God we will do valiantly,
For it is He who shall tread down our enemies.
Psalm 109
Plea for Judgment of False Accusers
To the Chief Musician. A Psalm of David.
1 Do not keep silent,
O God of my praise!
2 For the mouth of the wicked and the mouth of the deceitful
Have opened against me;
They have spoken against me with a lying tongue.
3 They have also surrounded me with words of hatred,
And fought against me without a cause.
4 In return for my love they are my accusers,
But I give myself to prayer.
5 Thus they have rewarded me evil for good,
And hatred for my love.
6 Set a wicked man over him,
And let an accuser stand at his right hand.
7 When he is judged, let him be found guilty,
And let his prayer become sin.
8 Let his days be few,
And let another take his office.
9 Let his children be fatherless,
And his wife a widow.
10 Let his children continually be vagabonds, and beg;
Let them seek their bread also from their desolate places.
11 Let the creditor seize all that he has,
And let strangers plunder his labor.
12 Let there be none to extend mercy to him,
Nor let there be any to favor his fatherless children.
13 Let his posterity be cut off,
And in the generation following let their name be blotted out.
14 Let the iniquity of his fathers be remembered before the Lord,
And let not the sin of his mother be blotted out.
15 Let them be continually before the Lord,
That He may cut off the memory of them from the earth;
16 Because he did not remember to show mercy,
But persecuted the poor and needy man,
That he might even slay the broken in heart.
17 As he loved cursing, so let it come to him;
As he did not delight in blessing, so let it be far from him.
18 As he clothed himself with cursing as with his garment,
So let it enter his body like water,
And like oil into his bones.
19 Let it be to him like the garment which covers him,
And for a belt with which he girds himself continually.
20 Let this be the Lord’s reward to my accusers,
And to those who speak evil against my person.
21 But You, O God the Lord,
Deal with me for Your name’s sake;
Because Your mercy is good, deliver me.
22 For I am poor and needy,
And my heart is wounded within me.
23 I am gone like a shadow when it lengthens;
I am shaken off like a locust.
24 My knees are weak through fasting,
And my flesh is feeble from lack of fatness.
25 I also have become a reproach to them;
When they look at me, they shake their heads.
26 Help me, O Lord my God!
Oh, save me according to Your mercy,
27 That they may know that this is Your hand—
That You, Lord, have done it!
28 Let them curse, but You bless;
When they arise, let them be ashamed,
But let Your servant rejoice.
29 Let my accusers be clothed with shame,
And let them cover themselves with their own disgrace as with a mantle.
30 I will greatly praise the Lord with my mouth;
Yes, I will praise Him among the multitude.
31 For He shall stand at the right hand of the poor,
To save him from those who condemn him.
The New King James Version (Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 1982), Ps 108–109:31.
A — About
What Is This Passage About?
The transcript genuinely covers both Psalms 108 and 109. Psalm 108 praises God's worldwide mercy and truth and looks to him for victory because human help is useless. Psalm 109 gives an imprecatory prayer against a deceitful, merciless persecutor while pleading that God stand beside the poor, wounded, and condemned servant.
B — Best Verse
A Verse That Summarizes the Passage
Psalm 108:13; Psalm 109:31
Distilled from the devotional exposition; the speaker did not explicitly name a best verse.
The complete transcript contains no explicit Best Verse selection. These two closing verses distill the paired devotion: God gives his people victory over enemies and stands at the right hand of the poor to save the condemned.
C — Called or Christ
C — Called to Do
Praise God among the nations, rely on him rather than human help, and bring persecution and distress honestly before him. Ask him to remember his poor and needy people in mercy, to bless them, and to deal justly with unrepentant evil.
Devotional Study
Transcript of the devotion. Minor transcription errors may remain.
Wonderful. Well, good morning and welcome to coffee and devotions. This is where every day we get together We get into God's words and we grow in our love for the Lord together and this year 2021 We'll make it through all of the wisdom literature this morning We are going to do two Psalms Psalm 108 109 couldn't connect to the internet last night. Sorry about that So why don't we go ahead and we'll have some coffee. We'll pray and we'll get into God's Word Ready to have some coffee All right, coffee done. Let's pray. You ready to pray?
All right. Father, thank you so much for this day. Thank you for your word. Father, we pray that as we read your word, you might bless us and care for us, watch over us, and let us understand it. In Jesus' name, amen. All right, Psalm 108 and Psalm 109. You ready, Devin? A song, a psalm of David. Oh God, my heart is steadfast. I will sing and give praise, even with my glory. Awake, lute and heart, I will awaken the dawn. I will praise you, O Lord, among the peoples, and I will sing praises to you among the nations. For your mercy is great above the heavens, and your truth reaches to the clouds.
Be exalted, O God, above the heavens, and your glory above all the earth, that your beloved may be delivered, save with your right hand. hear me I'm gonna read verses seven through nine It's a coffee Gilead is mine. Manasseh is mine. Ephraim is also the helmet for my head. Judah is my log, if ever. Moab is my washcloth. Over Edom I will cast my shoe. Over Philistia I will triumph.
Who will bring me into the strong city? Who will lead me to Edom? Is it not you, O God, who cast us off? And you, O God, who did not go out with our armies? Give us help from trouble, for the help of man is useless. Through God we will do valiantly, for it is He who shall tread down our enemies." What do you think this is talking about, Debra? What is this about? It's David saying that he'll rejoice in God.
He'll divide Shechem and measure out the valley of Shechem. That's right. He's saying Gilead is mine, Manasseh is mine, Ephraim is also the helmet for my head. Yeah, well that's what God said, right? Yeah, verse 7, that's what God said. Judah is my lawgiver, and Moab is my washpot. That's right. Are all of them the Lord's? Yeah, all of them are God's. And so is he asking God to go out with the army? That's right. Okay, ready to do 109? Okay, to the chief musician, a Psalm of David.
Do not keep silent, O God of my praise, for the mouth of the wicked and the mouth of the deceitful have opened against me. They have spoken against me with a lying tongue. They have also surrounded me with words of hatred and fought against me without a cause. In return for my love, they are my accusers, but I give myself to prayer. Thus, they shall reward me evil for good. and hatred for my love.
Set a wicked man over him. Let an accuser stand at his right hand. He is judged. Let them be found guilty. And let his prayer become sin. Let his days be few. and let another take his office. Let his children be fatherless as his wife, a widow. Let his children continually be vagabonds and vague. Let them seek their bread also from their desolate places. the creditor sees all that he has and let strangers plunder his labor.
Nor let there be none Let there be none to extend mercy to him, nor let there be any favor to his fatherless children. Oh boy, he's asking for God to ruin his family, isn't he? Let his prosperity be cut off and the generations following let their names be blotted out, let the iniquity of his fathers be remembered before the Lord, and let not the sin of his mother be blotted out. Bless you. Let them be continually before the Lord, that he may cut off the memory of them from the earth, because he did not remember to show mercy, but persecuted the poor and needy man, that he might even slay the broken in heart, As he loves cursing, so let it come to him. As he did not delight in blessing, so let it be far from him. As he clothed himself with a cursing as a garment, so let it enter his body like water and like oil into his bones. Let it be to him like the garment which covers him. and for a belt with which he girds himself continually.
Let this be the Lord's reward to my accusers and to those who spoke evil against my person." Oh boy, does this guy sound like he's a good guy? No. Why is the psalmist praying for these bad things to happen to him? To who? To his enemy. Is his enemy a righteous guy? Yeah. Or is he an evil guy? That's right. You want to read verse 21 through 25? 21 through 25? But you... But you, O God the Lord, deal with me for your name's sake, because your mercy is good.
Deliver me, for I am poor and needy. And my heart is wounded within me. I am gone like a shadow when it lengthens. I am shaken off like a lotus. My knees are weak through fasting. My flesh is feeble from the lack of fatness. I also have become a reproach to them. When they look at me, they shake their heads.
Help me, O Lord my God, O save me according to your mercy, that they may know that it is your hand that you, Lord, have done it. Let them curse, but you bless. When they arise, let them be ashamed, but let your servant rejoice. Let my accusers be clothed with shame and let them cover themselves with their own disgrace as with a mantle. I will greatly praise the Lord with my mouth. Yes, I will praise him among the multitude for he shall stand at the right hand of the poor to save him from those who condemn him.
Well, that was a really long one. Why don't we go ahead and pray for today? You guys ready? Let's go ahead and pray. Father, we thank you so much that we know that you hear us in our distress. Lord, we pray that you might care for us, that you might remember us in your mercy, and that you would bless us. Thank you for this time in your word, even with hard things, with imprecatory psalms, difficult psalms, Lord, but we pray that you would remember us in your mercy, and that you might be with us today. In Jesus's name, amen. May the Lord bless you today. May he fill you with joy and peace, and we'll see you tomorrow. You wanna say goodbye? Bye. Bye, see you tomorrow.