(To view the video teaching on Psalm 92, click here)
The season of Covid-19 has been a hard season. And from the time of this writing, it is not yet over. The worst may still be to come.
Unfortunately, one of the things Covid has done is to bring out the worst in people. The sins we thought we were so good at hiding have suddenly been exposed in the face of trial and hardship. This isn’t always a bad thing and it’s certainly a good reminder that everyone is battling something during this difficult season. We will all bear a Covid scar of one sort or another once the pandemic has ended.
One of the most difficult challenges I’ve faced is figuring out how to flourish in quarantine. The truth is, I still haven’t figured it out. The success and productivity I saw in January vanished in the middle of March and has yet to reappear late into August. Some days I’m just barely making it through and I suspect others feel much the same way.
This begs the question: what does it truly mean to flourish as a believer in Jesus? Does flourishing look like clean houses and tidy children, healthy home-cooked meals and crushing our work goals? Does flourishing mean always having our act together and never appearing to need help?
If this is what flourishing looks like, then friends, none of us are flourishing.
Psalm 92 paints a different picture of what it looks like to flourish as a believer. Nowhere are clean houses and work goal successes mentioned. In this Psalm, flourishing is not counted in successes but in praises.
Today we’re going to look at Psalm 92, the song for the Sabbath, and consider what it means to flourish in the house of the Lord.
The Song for the Sabbath
Psalm 92 is the only song in the Psalter that is described as a song for the Sabbath. The author is unknown, but we are told at the beginning that the Psalm was written to be sung on the day the Lord prescribed as the day of rest and worship (Leviticus 23:3).
Today, we who are in Christ, no longer observe the Sabbath on the last day of the week. Instead, we set aside the first day of the week, the day when Jesus rose again from the grave, for rest and worship. So what the Hebrews might have sung on Saturday, we might sing on Sunday. And Psalm 92 is an appropriate song to sing on a day dedicated to corporate worship.
Before we can understand why Psalm 92 is an appropriate “Sabbath” song, we need to understand the main themes of the song and how they flow throughout the 15 verses.
Derek Kidner 1 breaks Psalm 92 up into three parts and describes each part as follows:
Part 1: Tireless Praise (verses 1-4)
Part 2: Heedless Arrogance (vs. 5-9)
Part 3: Endless Vitality (vs. 10-15)
The Psalm begins with an exhortation to praise God at all times and ends with a picture of people in their old age who have done just that. Verses 1-4 teaches how to flourish and verses 10-15 use images to show what a flourishing life looks like. Verses 5-9 show the antithesis of truly flourishing in the Lord.
Can you see why Psalm 92 is a good song for the Sabbath? When you’re standing on the precipice of a new week, singing to God in worship, laying the coming week at his feet, and asking him to help you use it well, may the flourishing described in Psalm 92 come to mind. A flourishing life is a life lived in praise to God, a life that bears fruit even in old age. And Psalm 92 shows us how to go about living a flourishing life.
It is Good to Give Thanks
It is good to give thanks to the Lord,
to sing praises to your name, O Most High;
to declare your steadfast love in the morning,
and your faithfulness by night,
to the music of the lute and the harp,
to the melody of the lyre.
For you, O Lord, have made me glad by your work;
at the works of your hands I sing for joy. (vs. 1-4)
Why does the Psalmist say it is good to give thanks to the Lord? Who benefits when we sing the Lord’s praises? Certainly, God is glorified when we do so, but singing God’s praises in the morning and by night (vs. 2), makes us glad and brings us joy (vs. 4). Praising God is incredibly satisfying. His glory and our gladness are intricately and irrevocably linked. The Westminster Shorter Catechism asks, “What is the chief end of man?” and answers the question with, “The chief end of man is to glorify God and enjoy him forever.” Desiring God, the ministry founded by John Piper, puts it like this: “God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in Him.”
What does all this mean? It means that Psalm 92 reveals in its first four verses the key to a satisfying, joyful, flourishing life. The key to a life lived well is a life lived in constant praise of God. Not only is a life lived in praise to God purposeful, but a life lived in praise to God is deeply satisfying.
How do we grasp this flourishing life? Psalm 92 lists several ways: we give thanks to the Lord and sing praises to [His] Name (vs. 1) with music (vs. 3). Colossians 3:16-17 fleshes out what this looks like:
Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God. And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.
To do everything in his name is to sing praises to his name. This is the goal, the prize, the joy, the privilege of the flourishing life.
The Flourishing of Fools
After describing the means by which we obtain a flourishing life, the Psalmist describes what happens when we reject the life that God offers to us:
How great are your works, O Lord!
Your thoughts are very deep!
The stupid man cannot know;
the fool cannot understand this:
that though the wicked sprout like grass
and all evildoers flourish,
they are doomed to destruction forever;
but you, O Lord, are on high forever.
For behold, your enemies, O Lord,
for behold, your enemies shall perish;
all evildoers shall be scattered. (vs. 5-9)
The Hebrew word used for “stupid man” means brute beast. People who reject God are content to be simple-minded like a beast. They can’t comprehend the deep thoughts of God and they don’t care to. Thus, they are fools with no understanding.
Unfortunately, these fools have a way of flourishing without God. The Psalmist says they sprout like grass (vs.7). They are successful because they are in good company. Their strength is in their numbers. This is not, however, the kind of flourishing that leads to abundant life. To flourish in foolishness is to be doomed to destruction forever (vs. 7). The enemies of God, although they may enjoy success during their time on earth will perish and be scattered (vs. 9).
The Psalmist then goes on to relate his own experience with foolish people:
But you have exalted my horn like that of the wild ox;
you have poured over me fresh oil.
My eyes have seen the downfall of my enemies;
my ears have heard the doom of my evil assailants. (vs. 10-11)
These two verses are what make Psalm 92 a Psalm of Thanksgiving. The Psalmist is specifically thanking God for the success God has given him over his enemies. In the Bible, the horn of an animal represents power. For God to exalt the horn of the Psalmist is to empower him. He has also been anointed with oil – set apart to do the will and work of God. This has given him victory over his enemies.
God has adopted the Psalmist into His family. He has empowered him and anointed him to experience the flourishing life he intends for him to lead.
Flourishing in the House of the Lord
If you’ve been in this Psalms study with me since the beginning, then you may have noticed that we have now come full circle. We began in Psalm 1 looking at the two ways of life presented in its verses: the way of the fruitful tree and the way of the dead useless chaff, the path that leads to life and the path that leads to destruction. And here we are the end of our study looking once again at the image of a flourishing tree.
The righteous flourish like the palm tree
and grow like a cedar in Lebanon.
They are planted in the house of the Lord;
they flourish in the courts of our God.
They still bear fruit in old age;
they are ever full of sap and green,
to declare that the Lord is upright;
he is my rock, and there is no unrighteousness in him. (vs. 11-15)
Those who have been anointed and empowered by God, who live their lives in praise of him are like a graceful palm tree and a strong cedar. They flourish because they are grown and cared for in the presence of the Lord, in his very courts. And even though they age, they have not lost their vitality for they still bear fruit and are full of everything needed for life. Why do they have this vitality? Why do the aged trees still bear fruit? So that they can continue to declare the praises of God. So, they can proclaim his uprightness and righteousness to all who will hear. They bear fruit so that others might turn from the way of the foolish and be saved. They are held fast because the Lord is their rock and he keeps them firm and assures their footing.
This is a beautiful picture of the flourishing life. A life lived in praise to God, whose vitality is assured by his care that we might continue to praise him to the end of our days.
Wrapping Up Psalms
If you’ve made it through the entire Psalms study, congratulations! My prayer is that it blessed you to learn the Psalms as much as it blessed me to teach them.
I hope you have a deeper appreciation for the book of Psalms and their usefulness in expressing the desires and cries of our hearts.
So, what comes next?
More Encourage My Hope Bible study e-courses will be coming soon, but until then, you can visit the Bible Studies page and walk through the posts teaching you how to study the Bible inductively on your own (free printables included!) OR you can head to the printable resource library and download a new Inductive Study Workbook on several different books of the Bible. You will find the password at the bottom of any one of my emails. If you aren’t yet signed up to get the emails, click here!
May God bless you richly as you seek to know and love him better through the pages of his Word!