WEBVTT 00:00:04.040 --> 00:00:06.240 Hey friend, welcome back here to the Seminize 00:00:06.240 --> 00:00:08.439 Seminary. And here we are another week, another 00:00:08.439 --> 00:00:12.339 episode of our Bible study that we call the Bible 00:00:12.339 --> 00:00:16.820 for Grownups. This week, pardon me, this week 00:00:16.820 --> 00:00:19.800 and for the next couple of weeks, we're going 00:00:19.800 --> 00:00:23.539 to be kind of dipping in and out of the book 00:00:23.539 --> 00:00:26.140 of Psalms that we find in Hebrew Scripture and 00:00:26.140 --> 00:00:31.859 introducing ourselves as to what this book as 00:00:31.859 --> 00:00:36.710 a whole, really means. We know some Psalms. A 00:00:36.710 --> 00:00:40.390 lot of us, well, we kind of know a lot of the 00:00:40.390 --> 00:00:44.590 23rd Psalm, but we don't really know much about 00:00:44.590 --> 00:00:48.609 the Psalms as a book and what it means to the 00:00:48.609 --> 00:00:51.609 overall story of the people of God. So we're 00:00:51.609 --> 00:00:53.929 going to spend a couple of weeks kind of investigating 00:00:53.929 --> 00:00:58.130 exactly what the Psalms are. Tonight is just 00:00:58.130 --> 00:01:01.590 a straight up introduction. But one that when 00:01:01.590 --> 00:01:06.750 we look right at Psalm 1, we find ourselves with 00:01:06.750 --> 00:01:11.409 a decision to make. Which path will we choose? 00:01:11.530 --> 00:01:16.390 The righteous or the wicked? I'll see you on 00:01:16.390 --> 00:01:26.129 the other side. You guys ready? We're going to 00:01:26.129 --> 00:01:29.180 spend a couple of... We're going to spend a couple 00:01:29.180 --> 00:01:32.680 of Wednesdays looking at the Psalms, kind of 00:01:32.680 --> 00:01:36.180 examining what the Psalms are. We're going to 00:01:36.180 --> 00:01:38.579 start off very basically tonight with a foundation 00:01:38.579 --> 00:01:41.200 of what the Psalms are when they were written 00:01:41.200 --> 00:01:44.140 and what we can gain out of them. A couple of 00:01:44.140 --> 00:01:47.439 things I think we can learn from really reading 00:01:47.439 --> 00:01:50.340 and meditating on the Psalms. Also, as a foundation, 00:01:50.540 --> 00:01:54.599 we'll look tonight at Psalm 1. The Psalms as 00:01:54.599 --> 00:02:01.560 a book. are a poetic collection of prayers. They're 00:02:01.560 --> 00:02:06.260 part songs, they're part prayers, and they're 00:02:06.260 --> 00:02:11.139 part poems. That's the kind of literary theme 00:02:11.139 --> 00:02:16.139 or genre that we find psalms characterize. There 00:02:16.139 --> 00:02:20.400 are 150 psalms. They're divided into five books. 00:02:21.550 --> 00:02:28.550 73 of the 150 poems or prayers or songs are attributed 00:02:28.550 --> 00:02:34.409 to David. Two of the Psalms are attributed to 00:02:34.409 --> 00:02:38.370 Solomon traditionally, right? And one is believed 00:02:38.370 --> 00:02:41.469 to have been written by Moses. So that leaves 00:02:41.469 --> 00:02:45.110 approximately one -third of the Psalms written 00:02:45.110 --> 00:02:49.949 anonymously. Psalms were also compiled. by the 00:02:49.949 --> 00:02:52.490 people of God after they were taken away from 00:02:52.490 --> 00:02:56.009 the promised land and what we known as the Babylonian 00:02:56.009 --> 00:02:59.689 captivity or the exile, right? You might've heard, 00:02:59.750 --> 00:03:03.610 we've talked about what the exile is. So let's 00:03:03.610 --> 00:03:05.610 just do our little history lesson real quick 00:03:05.610 --> 00:03:12.789 with context. So we have David, we've Saul first, 00:03:12.889 --> 00:03:18.120 David, it comes into power about 1000 BC. Then 00:03:18.120 --> 00:03:24.120 about 930 BC, the unified kingdom splits into 00:03:24.120 --> 00:03:28.020 two. And we get the northern tribes revolting 00:03:28.020 --> 00:03:31.800 against Judah. And now instead of one nation, 00:03:31.879 --> 00:03:35.060 we actually have two. The northern kingdom of 00:03:35.060 --> 00:03:38.919 Israel and the southern kingdom that was known 00:03:38.919 --> 00:03:46.379 as Judah. Okay? After about 200 years, The Assyrian 00:03:46.379 --> 00:03:53.460 Empire comes from the west to the east and invades 00:03:53.460 --> 00:03:55.879 and takes out the northern tribes in Israel, 00:03:56.020 --> 00:04:01.219 okay? So 930 BC is when we get the second, the 00:04:01.219 --> 00:04:04.919 kingdom split. About 200 years go by, then the 00:04:04.919 --> 00:04:08.280 Assyrians next door to their west attack them, 00:04:08.379 --> 00:04:12.620 okay? Take them over. That's when many of the 00:04:12.620 --> 00:04:16.079 Israelites, Kingdom of Israel. So many of the 00:04:16.079 --> 00:04:19.519 Israelites were then transported to the east 00:04:19.519 --> 00:04:23.480 in Assyria. Then a hundred years after that, 00:04:23.600 --> 00:04:28.319 the Babylonian Empire, which is today modern 00:04:28.319 --> 00:04:34.439 -day Iraq, about a hundred years go by, and the 00:04:34.439 --> 00:04:38.180 Babylonian Empire knocks off the Assyrian Empire. 00:04:39.649 --> 00:04:43.069 And so now everybody that was under the control 00:04:43.069 --> 00:04:47.089 of the Assyrians are now under the control of 00:04:47.089 --> 00:04:52.750 the Babylonians. And then we find that in 587 00:04:52.750 --> 00:04:59.490 BC, we see the fall of Jerusalem, and that's 00:04:59.490 --> 00:05:03.629 really what's completely known as the exile. 00:05:04.689 --> 00:05:09.189 That's the loss. of the temple and the deportation 00:05:09.189 --> 00:05:11.769 of many of the residents of these two kingdoms 00:05:11.769 --> 00:05:16.870 into these foreign enemy kingdoms. Okay, the 00:05:16.870 --> 00:05:26.910 exile. In this moment, right here, the people 00:05:26.910 --> 00:05:31.490 of God had lost everything. Everything they'd 00:05:31.490 --> 00:05:34.670 ever known. Their homes, their businesses, their 00:05:34.670 --> 00:05:38.660 farms. They've lost their loved ones. Their loved 00:05:38.660 --> 00:05:42.639 ones have also lost family members and friends. 00:05:42.779 --> 00:05:45.240 They find themselves now scared, vulnerable, 00:05:45.540 --> 00:05:50.399 and enslaved in a foreign land. And it's from 00:05:50.399 --> 00:05:54.839 this place of slavery in a foreign land that 00:05:54.839 --> 00:05:56.839 the people of God began to put together this 00:05:56.839 --> 00:06:00.579 book known as the Psalms, this text that we have 00:06:00.579 --> 00:06:04.790 in front of us this evening. So again, there's 00:06:04.790 --> 00:06:07.329 many different writers of these Psalms written 00:06:07.329 --> 00:06:11.610 at many different times. But it's during this 00:06:11.610 --> 00:06:16.490 time of exile that people begin to compile and 00:06:16.490 --> 00:06:22.110 put these 150 poems together to make what will 00:06:22.110 --> 00:06:27.490 eventually become the book of Psalms. Now, we'll 00:06:27.490 --> 00:06:31.670 also note that the compiler sets apart two poems 00:06:31.670 --> 00:06:33.759 at the beginning. Next week, we're going to look 00:06:33.759 --> 00:06:37.839 at Psalm 2, another poem. Psalm 1, Psalm 2, and 00:06:37.839 --> 00:06:43.319 then the last five psalms come together as a 00:06:43.319 --> 00:06:47.740 type of conclusion. So the first two psalms aren't 00:06:47.740 --> 00:06:51.000 necessarily song, prayers, or poems. They're 00:06:51.000 --> 00:06:54.420 poems, but they're not song, prayers. This is 00:06:54.420 --> 00:06:58.800 an introduction. This is going to tell you about... 00:06:59.000 --> 00:07:01.860 some of the truth that you will encounter in 00:07:01.860 --> 00:07:05.360 your life, that sometimes bad things happen to 00:07:05.360 --> 00:07:08.180 good people and sometimes bad things happen to 00:07:08.180 --> 00:07:10.379 bad people because they deserve it and they sin. 00:07:11.240 --> 00:07:14.879 That happens. And there's a lament that comes 00:07:14.879 --> 00:07:16.740 along with that with the people of God. There 00:07:16.740 --> 00:07:24.110 is a reluctance. To continue on their idolatrous 00:07:24.110 --> 00:07:26.910 ways. There is a decision by the people of God 00:07:26.910 --> 00:07:34.110 to turn back to God. And in their lament, in 00:07:34.110 --> 00:07:37.029 their suffering, in their recognition of what 00:07:37.029 --> 00:07:39.970 had brought them to this place, the words of 00:07:39.970 --> 00:07:42.930 the Psalms are often written in reflection to 00:07:42.930 --> 00:07:47.569 that sadness. Okay? But these first two and the 00:07:47.569 --> 00:07:50.269 last five are kind of set apart for themselves. 00:07:50.670 --> 00:07:53.470 Again, like I said, Psalms 1 and 2 aren't prayers. 00:07:53.709 --> 00:07:56.769 They're an introduction. And these two Psalms 00:07:56.769 --> 00:08:00.589 work together to characterize two things, two 00:08:00.589 --> 00:08:05.470 things about the people of God. One, that the 00:08:05.470 --> 00:08:07.509 people of God are those that are faithful to 00:08:07.509 --> 00:08:11.629 God's teaching. And two, the people of God are 00:08:11.629 --> 00:08:15.860 characterized, are known by. Those who await 00:08:15.860 --> 00:08:22.720 the Lord's promised king. These are actually, 00:08:22.800 --> 00:08:26.600 although they're deeply rooted in sadness, these 00:08:26.600 --> 00:08:30.860 psalms are actually an exclamation of joy. This 00:08:30.860 --> 00:08:33.539 is encouraging words for the people of Israel. 00:08:34.360 --> 00:08:38.460 But what do they have for us in the 21st century? 00:08:39.220 --> 00:08:43.190 These aren't the stories of our... forefathers, 00:08:43.230 --> 00:08:46.370 maybe spiritually, but more than likely not. 00:08:46.450 --> 00:08:48.330 This isn't of the story of our grandparents. 00:08:49.309 --> 00:08:54.610 Well, one, I think the Psalms can teach us a 00:08:54.610 --> 00:08:59.429 shared language of prayer. The Psalms are spoken 00:08:59.429 --> 00:09:02.929 in a language of grief and sorrow and pain, as 00:09:02.929 --> 00:09:07.129 well as thanksgiving and praise and joy. I'm 00:09:07.129 --> 00:09:13.080 sorry? And beauty, absolutely. spoken with words 00:09:13.080 --> 00:09:16.899 of lament, sadness, are also words rooted in 00:09:16.899 --> 00:09:21.399 faith. The Psalms, sometimes in their emotion, 00:09:21.559 --> 00:09:26.879 are raw but honest. In other words, the Psalms 00:09:26.879 --> 00:09:29.200 are written in a language that describes our 00:09:29.200 --> 00:09:32.399 shared human existence and it tries to connect 00:09:32.399 --> 00:09:39.659 us and cleave us to God in relationship. Number 00:09:39.659 --> 00:09:43.769 two. The Psalms also help us to initiate a conversation 00:09:43.769 --> 00:09:47.870 with God. So often people don't connect with 00:09:47.870 --> 00:09:52.690 God because they're scared. Why? Because they 00:09:52.690 --> 00:09:56.950 don't know what to say. We don't know how to 00:09:56.950 --> 00:09:59.870 describe how we feel about God. We don't know 00:09:59.870 --> 00:10:02.950 if it's all right to tell God we're mad at God. 00:10:03.320 --> 00:10:05.940 It is, by the way, okay to tell God that you're 00:10:05.940 --> 00:10:08.759 mad at him. But sometimes we don't know. We don't 00:10:08.759 --> 00:10:11.679 have that confidence, and it scares us. It frightens 00:10:11.679 --> 00:10:14.980 us to the point that we just choose not to communicate. 00:10:16.220 --> 00:10:21.720 Or we do know how we feel, and again, we're just 00:10:21.720 --> 00:10:25.460 afraid to express it. The Psalms show us. They 00:10:25.460 --> 00:10:30.600 teach us how with a language to start with. So 00:10:30.600 --> 00:10:36.059 let's look at the first Psalm. Psalm 1. Psalm 00:10:36.059 --> 00:10:38.700 1, verse 1. Blessed is the one who does not walk 00:10:38.700 --> 00:10:41.960 in step with the wicked, or stand in the way 00:10:41.960 --> 00:10:44.820 that sinners take, or sit in the company of mockers, 00:10:44.980 --> 00:10:51.659 but rather those who delight, those whose delight 00:10:51.659 --> 00:10:56.000 is in the Lord, and who meditates on his law 00:10:56.000 --> 00:11:02.509 day and night. That person is like a tree. planted 00:11:02.509 --> 00:11:05.950 by streams of water, which yields its fruit in 00:11:05.950 --> 00:11:10.230 season, whose leaves do not wither. Whatever 00:11:10.230 --> 00:11:16.350 they do prospers. Not so the wicked. They are 00:11:16.350 --> 00:11:20.190 like chaff that the wind blows away. Therefore 00:11:20.190 --> 00:11:22.909 the wicked will not stand in judgment, nor sinners 00:11:22.909 --> 00:11:25.710 in the assembly of the righteous. Why? For the 00:11:25.710 --> 00:11:27.970 Lord watches over the way of the righteous, but 00:11:27.970 --> 00:11:35.129 the way of the wicked leads to sin. Two paths 00:11:35.129 --> 00:11:42.169 of life. Psalm 1, in its five, six verses, presents 00:11:42.169 --> 00:11:48.330 to us as believers, fork in the road. The path 00:11:48.330 --> 00:11:51.870 of the righteous versus the path of the wicked. 00:11:52.970 --> 00:11:55.490 What we see here is a theme that is expressed 00:11:55.490 --> 00:11:59.870 throughout the whole of the Bible. That people... 00:12:00.440 --> 00:12:04.919 or rather the people of God are defined by their 00:12:04.919 --> 00:12:08.659 relationship with God and by their relationship 00:12:08.659 --> 00:12:14.600 with other people. At its most basic, people 00:12:14.600 --> 00:12:17.700 who are people of God can be defined as such 00:12:17.700 --> 00:12:22.679 by looking at their relationship with God and 00:12:22.679 --> 00:12:25.220 looking at their relationship with other people. 00:12:25.460 --> 00:12:31.860 And in this psalm is really... embedded a question. 00:12:33.019 --> 00:12:37.039 It's hidden, but it's hidden in plain sight if 00:12:37.039 --> 00:12:40.179 we know how to see it. I mean, as we read this 00:12:40.179 --> 00:12:44.360 psalm, we could hear it asking this question, 00:12:44.480 --> 00:12:51.220 right? Which path will you choose? Now, the author 00:12:51.220 --> 00:12:53.000 could have just said the path of the righteous 00:12:53.000 --> 00:12:55.919 leads to prosperity and the path of the wicked 00:12:55.919 --> 00:12:59.759 leads to destruction. I mean, that's the point 00:12:59.759 --> 00:13:03.700 here, right? But because this is a psalm and 00:13:03.700 --> 00:13:07.179 not a proverb, it's not written that way. It's 00:13:07.179 --> 00:13:09.559 written in a poetic way, but it does kind of 00:13:09.559 --> 00:13:12.840 sound like a proverb, doesn't it? Because it's 00:13:12.840 --> 00:13:16.980 a psalm, it's going to use metaphor and imagery 00:13:16.980 --> 00:13:23.659 so that we as the readers can't just know what 00:13:23.659 --> 00:13:27.840 the words have to say, but in some way we... 00:13:28.059 --> 00:13:32.840 feel the words that are said, and to be able 00:13:32.840 --> 00:13:35.740 to experience the difference between those two. 00:13:36.899 --> 00:13:43.419 So play along with me. Close your eyes. Imagine 00:13:43.419 --> 00:13:49.659 a tree in a meadow. It's strong. It waves in 00:13:49.659 --> 00:13:55.730 the wind. A stream runs beside it. Now, allow 00:13:55.730 --> 00:13:59.429 your imagination to go beneath the ground, underground, 00:13:59.549 --> 00:14:03.649 and see the roots and their complexity, seeking 00:14:03.649 --> 00:14:09.649 after and finding the water. Strong, grounded, 00:14:09.909 --> 00:14:16.250 weighty, alive. That's the way of the righteous. 00:14:17.850 --> 00:14:24.049 Now, imagine a corn husk. that's been peeled 00:14:24.049 --> 00:14:29.330 off of a dead corn stalk. It falls to the ground 00:14:29.330 --> 00:14:32.929 and it quiveringly barely touches the ground. 00:14:33.049 --> 00:14:39.029 It's so light and dry. The wind blows and it 00:14:39.029 --> 00:14:42.509 wisps the husk into the air and carries it a 00:14:42.509 --> 00:14:46.769 few feet. And wherever the wind will blow, this 00:14:46.769 --> 00:14:52.860 dry, frail husk will be taken away. It's frail. 00:14:53.580 --> 00:14:58.720 It's unattached. It's easily broken. The way 00:14:58.720 --> 00:15:04.200 of the wicked. Okay, you can open this. So which 00:15:04.200 --> 00:15:09.240 will we choose? Now, let me talk briefly about 00:15:09.240 --> 00:15:12.100 what the psalm is saying and what the psalm is 00:15:12.100 --> 00:15:15.980 not saying. Okay? This is one thing that I think 00:15:15.980 --> 00:15:19.100 is super important right up front. To grasp, 00:15:19.259 --> 00:15:21.220 to understand about this particular psalm, this 00:15:21.220 --> 00:15:26.159 psalm is saying the final outcome for the righteous 00:15:26.159 --> 00:15:31.440 is prosperity. It's saying that the final outcome 00:15:31.440 --> 00:15:36.559 of the wicked is and always will be destruction. 00:15:37.740 --> 00:15:41.899 Final outcome. The psalm doesn't say anything 00:15:41.899 --> 00:15:48.419 about the present. No. In fact, We see this truth 00:15:48.419 --> 00:15:52.639 all the time. We see all of the time wicked people 00:15:52.639 --> 00:15:55.580 who have no concern for God, those who have no 00:15:55.580 --> 00:15:58.240 concern for their fellow man or fellow woman. 00:15:58.379 --> 00:16:02.100 They seem to get ahead all of the time in the 00:16:02.100 --> 00:16:05.980 present, while the righteous seem to struggle 00:16:05.980 --> 00:16:08.480 and suffer. And it seems like every time they 00:16:08.480 --> 00:16:10.600 turn around, they're taking another beating. 00:16:11.379 --> 00:16:16.019 But because their roots... are well -grounded 00:16:16.019 --> 00:16:21.679 and well -watered, they can take it. The psalmist 00:16:21.679 --> 00:16:23.580 also points something out, I think, here that's 00:16:23.580 --> 00:16:26.940 very important, how easy it is to follow the 00:16:26.940 --> 00:16:31.120 path of the wicked. Notice the progression in 00:16:31.120 --> 00:16:38.919 verse 1 of action. First, the wicked walks, then 00:16:38.919 --> 00:16:46.049 it stands, then it sits. Walk in the world, maybe 00:16:46.049 --> 00:16:49.110 stand around for a bit to make ourselves comfortable, 00:16:49.190 --> 00:16:56.389 and then maybe sit. It's subtle. It's tricky 00:16:56.389 --> 00:17:00.470 in the change. And we've talked about this the 00:17:00.470 --> 00:17:04.349 last three or four weeks. That trick is a lie. 00:17:06.009 --> 00:17:09.410 The lie isn't that the way of the wicked is better. 00:17:10.539 --> 00:17:15.220 The lie is that we can convince ourselves. We 00:17:15.220 --> 00:17:18.640 are superior at convincing ourselves that we 00:17:18.640 --> 00:17:22.599 can be a tree, and we can be strong, and we can 00:17:22.599 --> 00:17:28.259 be tall, but I don't need the water. Verse 2, 00:17:28.420 --> 00:17:32.380 this, friends, is the fork in the road. Streams 00:17:32.380 --> 00:17:36.279 of water are the delight of the law, the meditation 00:17:36.279 --> 00:17:42.000 on the law. The taking on board the word of God. 00:17:43.359 --> 00:17:46.599 The lie is I don't need to be planted in the 00:17:46.599 --> 00:17:50.119 word of God. Maybe I don't even need God at all, 00:17:50.200 --> 00:17:55.079 right? I don't need church. I'm a good person. 00:17:55.859 --> 00:18:01.059 Or, hey, I go to church. What do you want? Besides, 00:18:01.180 --> 00:18:05.180 who has time for Bible study? Not only that. 00:18:05.849 --> 00:18:08.210 I already know everything there is to know about 00:18:08.210 --> 00:18:09.950 the Bible. If I went down there on Wednesday 00:18:09.950 --> 00:18:11.329 night, you wouldn't be able to teach me anything 00:18:11.329 --> 00:18:19.509 I don't already know. Right? The lie is I can 00:18:19.509 --> 00:18:23.250 be a tree, but I really don't need the water. 00:18:24.930 --> 00:18:29.670 Now, knowing, as I think you all do, the cultural 00:18:29.670 --> 00:18:33.730 and historical and geographic... realities of 00:18:33.730 --> 00:18:35.930 the people of God and where they lived and when 00:18:35.930 --> 00:18:38.809 they lived, you know that water to these people 00:18:38.809 --> 00:18:46.230 is super important. Water is no more important 00:18:46.230 --> 00:18:49.210 to their lives than water is to our lives today, 00:18:49.309 --> 00:18:52.970 except to say it was a lot more difficult to 00:18:52.970 --> 00:18:55.349 get plenty of water then than there is today, 00:18:55.650 --> 00:18:59.460 right? The need for water for humans. This is 00:18:59.460 --> 00:19:02.460 one of those things that we all can relate to. 00:19:03.200 --> 00:19:06.940 You don't have to live in the Middle East. Spend 00:19:06.940 --> 00:19:09.059 three or four days without drinking any water 00:19:09.059 --> 00:19:14.980 and see how you feel. We all need water. And 00:19:14.980 --> 00:19:17.799 this issue of water and God being the representation 00:19:17.799 --> 00:19:22.700 of the living springs of water is also something 00:19:22.700 --> 00:19:26.930 that the prophet Jeremiah. talks about now jeremiah 00:19:26.930 --> 00:19:30.329 also is a prophet that's right in here during 00:19:30.329 --> 00:19:33.869 this time period the time period that when jerusalem 00:19:33.869 --> 00:19:37.509 is about to fall he's making the same arguments 00:19:37.509 --> 00:19:40.950 to the people about you're you're you're not 00:19:40.950 --> 00:19:43.670 crying now because you're going after false gods 00:19:43.670 --> 00:19:47.930 but when god reckons you you will be crying he 00:19:47.930 --> 00:19:51.029 also wrote the his companion book of prophecy 00:19:51.029 --> 00:19:54.980 that's called the lamentations It's a whole book 00:19:54.980 --> 00:19:59.700 about crying about the people of Israel. And 00:19:59.700 --> 00:20:04.539 he uses this same metaphor in his prophecy in 00:20:04.539 --> 00:20:10.940 2 and 13. He says, my people, he's saying God 00:20:10.940 --> 00:20:13.619 has spoken to me and I'm repeating God's words 00:20:13.619 --> 00:20:16.920 to you, okay? My people have committed two sins. 00:20:17.920 --> 00:20:22.539 They have forsaken me, the spring of living water. 00:20:23.599 --> 00:20:27.680 And they have dug their own cisterns, broken 00:20:27.680 --> 00:20:33.819 cisterns, that cannot hold water. Now, we think, 00:20:34.039 --> 00:20:38.079 okay, all right, what's that mean? Because I 00:20:38.079 --> 00:20:40.839 don't, a cistern? Like, I don't even know what 00:20:40.839 --> 00:20:43.420 a cistern is. I think I might know, but I don't 00:20:43.420 --> 00:20:46.480 know. What's that? So springs of living water, 00:20:46.680 --> 00:20:53.690 right, they flow naturally. They often flow continually. 00:20:55.309 --> 00:20:59.910 They're also moving water. We know something 00:20:59.910 --> 00:21:02.750 about moving versus stagnant water, don't we, 00:21:02.750 --> 00:21:05.730 right? Moving water. Water that can bring life 00:21:05.730 --> 00:21:09.309 to us. Stagnant water. Water that comes, that 00:21:09.309 --> 00:21:11.789 we store perhaps in a cistern. So they would 00:21:11.789 --> 00:21:15.809 dig these big holes in the ground. And they would 00:21:15.809 --> 00:21:19.410 try to waterproof them by plastering them, doing 00:21:19.410 --> 00:21:23.009 stuff like that. And then they would use them 00:21:23.009 --> 00:21:24.809 for one of two things. They would either use 00:21:24.809 --> 00:21:28.509 them for grain, the storage of grain, or they 00:21:28.509 --> 00:21:33.769 would use them to store rainwater. But this water, 00:21:33.869 --> 00:21:38.230 because it's not living and free -flowing, this 00:21:38.230 --> 00:21:42.029 water becomes stagnant. It becomes full of bugs. 00:21:43.309 --> 00:21:48.789 It becomes not life -giving. But with dangerous 00:21:48.789 --> 00:21:51.450 bacteria that might lurk in the brackish water, 00:21:51.549 --> 00:21:55.849 it might be life -threatening. Do we see the 00:21:55.849 --> 00:22:00.210 perhaps metaphor here between God's truth being 00:22:00.210 --> 00:22:04.569 springs of fresh, life -giving, running water 00:22:04.569 --> 00:22:10.549 and this man -made alternative that's really 00:22:10.549 --> 00:22:14.890 just a hole in the ground and full of stagnant, 00:22:14.890 --> 00:22:21.700 dirty... And Jeremiah is saying, and the psalmist 00:22:21.700 --> 00:22:27.740 is saying, you cannot replace the life giving 00:22:27.740 --> 00:22:32.740 water of God with any other substitute. Now, 00:22:32.759 --> 00:22:35.920 Jeremiah here in his particular instance, Jeremiah 00:22:35.920 --> 00:22:38.839 is actually specifically talking about. He's 00:22:38.839 --> 00:22:42.019 saying God is the living springs of water and 00:22:42.019 --> 00:22:44.759 the idols that you're now worshiping, those are 00:22:44.759 --> 00:22:49.819 just man -made alternatives that are counterfeit 00:22:49.819 --> 00:22:53.380 at best. And what's going to end up happening 00:22:53.380 --> 00:22:56.599 is you're going to go out one day and you're 00:22:56.599 --> 00:22:59.740 going to depend on the water that's in the cistern, 00:22:59.779 --> 00:23:03.339 but because it's broken and it doesn't hold water 00:23:03.339 --> 00:23:06.640 efficiently, you may go and while depending on 00:23:06.640 --> 00:23:09.039 the water that's there, you might not find anything. 00:23:09.140 --> 00:23:18.519 That cistern is empty. We all need water. Psalm 00:23:18.519 --> 00:23:22.759 1 describes the people of God. As a people who 00:23:22.759 --> 00:23:27.359 depend on living water. And Psalm 1 teaches us 00:23:27.359 --> 00:23:29.400 that nothing else can flourish without being 00:23:29.400 --> 00:23:33.420 rooted in the word of God. Maybe you're well 00:23:33.420 --> 00:23:35.900 rooted. Maybe you're growing. But maybe it's 00:23:35.900 --> 00:23:39.420 been quite some time since we felt that way with 00:23:39.420 --> 00:23:43.180 God. And honestly, maybe it's felt more like 00:23:43.180 --> 00:23:47.660 a drought than anything else. Maybe we're confused. 00:23:48.039 --> 00:23:52.059 Maybe we're disappointed. Maybe we don't even 00:23:52.059 --> 00:23:54.660 have the right words to say. We're just plain 00:23:54.660 --> 00:23:57.099 tired of the brokenness that we seem to see every 00:23:57.099 --> 00:24:03.839 day. And God can feel so distant. And just like 00:24:03.839 --> 00:24:07.980 that corn husk, we start to drift with the wind, 00:24:08.079 --> 00:24:14.660 wherever the wind takes us. And we start to dig 00:24:14.660 --> 00:24:21.200 our own cisterns. So. We're at a fork in the 00:24:21.200 --> 00:24:26.940 road. The righteous or the wicked. Which way 00:24:26.940 --> 00:24:41.720 do you choose? Amen? Any questions? You know, 00:24:41.759 --> 00:24:43.759 when I look at the Psalms, I hope this will bear 00:24:43.759 --> 00:24:46.740 out not only in tonight's episode, but... But 00:24:46.740 --> 00:24:48.819 over the next couple of weeks, when I look at 00:24:48.819 --> 00:24:52.119 the Psalms, and if you've been listening to any 00:24:52.119 --> 00:24:55.119 of these podcasts before, you know that for me, 00:24:55.160 --> 00:24:57.779 the historical context in which those words were 00:24:57.779 --> 00:25:04.099 written mean everything. And finding these words 00:25:04.099 --> 00:25:08.319 being compiled, put together as words of inspiration 00:25:08.319 --> 00:25:12.559 and joy and a way to communicate with God in 00:25:12.559 --> 00:25:17.240 one of the worst. periods of time in the people 00:25:17.240 --> 00:25:23.680 of God during the Babylonian exile really really 00:25:23.680 --> 00:25:30.119 gives us I think hope because our lives so far 00:25:30.119 --> 00:25:36.500 have often very much felt like some sort of exile 00:25:36.500 --> 00:25:43.700 for those of us that that might be really dedicated 00:25:43.700 --> 00:25:49.359 believers We might wonder why we aren't closer 00:25:49.359 --> 00:25:54.299 to God and why do we see all of the horrible 00:25:54.299 --> 00:25:59.099 things happening in our world. Maybe we're further 00:25:59.099 --> 00:26:04.799 from God. And we think there can't possibly be 00:26:04.799 --> 00:26:08.500 a God that loves us. And this is a lost world 00:26:08.500 --> 00:26:12.059 because look at all the bad things that happen 00:26:12.059 --> 00:26:18.720 in this world. Psalms give us a long -term view 00:26:18.720 --> 00:26:24.640 of God's plan for us. But even in the midst of 00:26:24.640 --> 00:26:30.079 calamity, there's hope. There's hope because 00:26:30.079 --> 00:26:35.279 of God's faithfulness. Something that the people 00:26:35.279 --> 00:26:40.559 of God recognized in the throes of one of their 00:26:40.559 --> 00:26:44.500 worst episodes. Something that caused their hearts 00:26:44.500 --> 00:26:48.700 to turn back towards God and completely change 00:26:48.700 --> 00:26:54.420 the story of humanity. Now that's something to 00:26:54.420 --> 00:26:58.319 think about. Anyway, I hope until next week, 00:26:58.339 --> 00:27:00.680 I hope you'll continue to join us as we look 00:27:00.680 --> 00:27:02.599 here at the Psalms. Until next week, friend, 00:27:02.740 --> 00:27:04.059 be blessed.