Daily Reader for Day 289: Psalms 86 - 93


by Dave Moore

You return man to dust and say, “Return, O children of man!”  For a thousand years in your sight are but as yesterday when it is past, or as a watch in the night.  – Psalm 90:3-4

Psalm 86 is a Psalm of David that breaks neatly into thirds.  The first stanza is a prayer that the LORD will hear and in the conclusion David lays out his concerns.  The Psalm pivots around the middle verses: “There is none like you among the gods, O LORD, nor are there any works like yours… I give thanks to you, O LORD my God, with my whole heart, and I will glorify your name forever.  For great is Your steadfast love toward me; You have delivered my soul from the depths of Sheol.  Pay attention to this pattern throughout the Psalms: whether a cry, a lament, or a celebration, the composers keep their focus on the LORD.

Pay attention also to the wild swings of emotion throughout the next few chapters.  Psalm 87 is a celebration of Zion, while Psalm 88 cries out “O LORD, why do you cast my soul away?  Why do you hide your face from me?”  Listen closely to discern the causes of the writer’s grief, but also notice his belief that this misfortune is a manifestation of the LORD’s wrath.  And Psalm 89 is an exuberant tribute: “I will sing of the steadfast love of the LORD forever…” before turning, again, to the familiar question: “How long, O LORD? Will You hide yourself forever?”

Psalms 91 through 93 are more general verses of praise and thanksgiving, and our reading pivots abruptly around Psalm 90.  This is the first Psalm of Book Four, and it is attributed to Moses, “The Man of God.”  The LORD’s sovereignty stands in the background of this contemplation but foremost on Moses’ mind is man’s mortality.  Listen thoughtfully to this poem, consider its wisdom, and imagine its significance in this book of worship. 

Our verses for this week are Philippians 4:6-7: Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.  And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

Psalms 86 through 93.  Now let’s read it!

Psalms 86 - 93

86:1   Incline your ear, O LORD, and answer me,
    for I am poor and needy.
  Preserve my life, for I am godly;
    save your servant, who trusts in you—you are my God.
  Be gracious to me, O Lord,
    for to you do I cry all the day.
  Gladden the soul of your servant,
    for to you, O Lord, do I lift up my soul.
  For you, O Lord, are good and forgiving,
    abounding in steadfast love to all who call upon you.
  Give ear, O LORD, to my prayer;
    listen to my plea for grace.
  In the day of my trouble I call upon you,
    for you answer me.
  There is none like you among the gods, O Lord,
    nor are there any works like yours.
  All the nations you have made shall come
    and worship before you, O Lord,
    and shall glorify your name.
  For you are great and do wondrous things;
    you alone are God.
  Teach me your way, O LORD,
    that I may walk in your truth;
    unite my heart to fear your name.
  I give thanks to you, O Lord my God, with my whole heart,
    and I will glorify your name forever.
  For great is your steadfast love toward me;
    you have delivered my soul from the depths of Sheol.
  O God, insolent men have risen up against me;
    a band of ruthless men seeks my life,
    and they do not set you before them.
  But you, O Lord, are a God merciful and gracious,
    slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness.
  Turn to me and be gracious to me;
    give your strength to your servant,
    and save the son of your maidservant.
  Show me a sign of your favor,
    that those who hate me may see and be put to shame
    because you, LORD, have helped me and comforted me.

87:1   On the holy mount stands the city he founded;
    the LORD loves the gates of Zion
    more than all the dwelling places of Jacob.
  Glorious things of you are spoken,
    O city of God. Selah
  Among those who know me I mention Rahab and Babylon;
    behold, Philistia and Tyre, with Cush—
    “This one was born there,” they say.
  And of Zion it shall be said,
    “This one and that one were born in her”;
    for the Most High himself will establish her.
  The LORD records as he registers the peoples,
    “This one was born there.” Selah
  Singers and dancers alike say,
    “All my springs are in you.”

88:1   O LORD, God of my salvation,
    I cry out day and night before you.
  Let my prayer come before you;
    incline your ear to my cry!
  For my soul is full of troubles,
    and my life draws near to Sheol.
  I am counted among those who go down to the pit;
    I am a man who has no strength,
  like one set loose among the dead,
    like the slain that lie in the grave,
  like those whom you remember no more,
    for they are cut off from your hand.
  You have put me in the depths of the pit,
    in the regions dark and deep.
  Your wrath lies heavy upon me,
    and you overwhelm me with all your waves. Selah
  You have caused my companions to shun me;
    you have made me a horror to them.
  I am shut in so that I cannot escape;
    my eye grows dim through sorrow.
  Every day I call upon you, O LORD;
    I spread out my hands to you.
  Do you work wonders for the dead?
    Do the departed rise up to praise you? Selah
  Is your steadfast love declared in the grave,
    or your faithfulness in Abaddon?
  Are your wonders known in the darkness,
    or your righteousness in the land of forgetfulness?
  But I, O LORD, cry to you;
    in the morning my prayer comes before you.
  O LORD, why do you cast my soul away?
    Why do you hide your face from me?
  Afflicted and close to death from my youth up,
    I suffer your terrors; I am helpless.
  Your wrath has swept over me;
    your dreadful assaults destroy me.
  They surround me like a flood all day long;
    they close in on me together.
  You have caused my beloved and my friend to shun me;
    my companions have become darkness.

89:1   I will sing of the steadfast love of the LORD, forever;
    with my mouth I will make known your faithfulness to all generations.
  For I said, “Steadfast love will be built up forever;
    in the heavens you will establish your faithfulness.”
  You have said, “I have made a covenant with my chosen one;
    I have sworn to David my servant:
  ‘I will establish your offspring forever,
    and build your throne for all generations.’” Selah
  Let the heavens praise your wonders, O LORD,
    your faithfulness in the assembly of the holy ones!
  For who in the skies can be compared to the LORD?
    Who among the heavenly beings is like the LORD,
  a God greatly to be feared in the council of the holy ones,
    and awesome above all who are around him?
  O LORD God of hosts,
    who is mighty as you are, O LORD,
    with your faithfulness all around you?
  You rule the raging of the sea;
    when its waves rise, you still them.
  You crushed Rahab like a carcass;
    you scattered your enemies with your mighty arm.
  The heavens are yours; the earth also is yours;
    the world and all that is in it, you have founded them.
  The north and the south, you have created them;
    Tabor and Hermon joyously praise your name.
  You have a mighty arm;
    strong is your hand, high your right hand.
  Righteousness and justice are the foundation of your throne;
    steadfast love and faithfulness go before you.
  Blessed are the people who know the festal shout,
    who walk, O LORD, in the light of your face,
  who exult in your name all the day
    and in your righteousness are exalted.
  For you are the glory of their strength;
    by your favor our horn is exalted.
  For our shield belongs to the LORD,
    our king to the Holy One of Israel.
  Of old you spoke in a vision to your godly one, and said:
    “I have granted help to one who is mighty;
    I have exalted one chosen from the people.
  I have found David, my servant;
    with my holy oil I have anointed him,
  so that my hand shall be established with him;
    my arm also shall strengthen him.
  The enemy shall not outwit him;
    the wicked shall not humble him.
  I will crush his foes before him
    and strike down those who hate him.
  My faithfulness and my steadfast love shall be with him,
    and in my name shall his horn be exalted.
  I will set his hand on the sea
    and his right hand on the rivers.
  He shall cry to me, ‘You are my Father,
    my God, and the Rock of my salvation.’
  And I will make him the firstborn,
    the highest of the kings of the earth.
  My steadfast love I will keep for him forever,
    and my covenant will stand firm for him.
  I will establish his offspring forever
    and his throne as the days of the heavens.
  If his children forsake my law
    and do not walk according to my rules,
  if they violate my statutes
    and do not keep my commandments,
  then I will punish their transgression with the rod
    and their iniquity with stripes,
  but I will not remove from him my steadfast love
    or be false to my faithfulness.
  I will not violate my covenant
    or alter the word that went forth from my lips.
  Once for all I have sworn by my holiness;
    I will not lie to David.
  His offspring shall endure forever,
    his throne as long as the sun before me.
  Like the moon it shall be established forever,
    a faithful witness in the skies.” Selah
  But now you have cast off and rejected;
    you are full of wrath against your anointed.
  You have renounced the covenant with your servant;
    you have defiled his crown in the dust.
  You have breached all his walls;
    you have laid his strongholds in ruins.
  All who pass by plunder him;
    he has become the scorn of his neighbors.
  You have exalted the right hand of his foes;
    you have made all his enemies rejoice.
  You have also turned back the edge of his sword,
    and you have not made him stand in battle.
  You have made his splendor to cease
    and cast his throne to the ground.
  You have cut short the days of his youth;
    you have covered him with shame. Selah
  How long, O LORD? Will you hide yourself forever?
    How long will your wrath burn like fire?
  Remember how short my time is!
    For what vanity you have created all the children of man!
  What man can live and never see death?
    Who can deliver his soul from the power of Sheol? Selah
  Lord, where is your steadfast love of old,
    which by your faithfulness you swore to David?
  Remember, O Lord, how your servants are mocked,
    and how I bear in my heart the insults of all the many nations,
  with which your enemies mock, O LORD,
    with which they mock the footsteps of your anointed.
  Blessed be the LORD forever!
      Amen and Amen.

90:1   Lord, you have been our dwelling place
    in all generations.
  Before the mountains were brought forth,
    or ever you had formed the earth and the world,
    from everlasting to everlasting you are God.
  You return man to dust
    and say, “Return, O children of man!”
  For a thousand years in your sight
    are but as yesterday when it is past,
    or as a watch in the night.
  You sweep them away as with a flood; they are like a dream,
    like grass that is renewed in the morning:
  in the morning it flourishes and is renewed;
    in the evening it fades and withers.
  For we are brought to an end by your anger;
    by your wrath we are dismayed.
  You have set our iniquities before you,
    our secret sins in the light of your presence.
  For all our days pass away under your wrath;
    we bring our years to an end like a sigh.
  The years of our life are seventy,
    or even by reason of strength eighty;
  yet their span is but toil and trouble;
    they are soon gone, and we fly away.
  Who considers the power of your anger,
    and your wrath according to the fear of you?
  So teach us to number our days
    that we may get a heart of wisdom.
  Return, O LORD! How long?
    Have pity on your servants!
  Satisfy us in the morning with your steadfast love,
    that we may rejoice and be glad all our days.
  Make us glad for as many days as you have afflicted us,
    and for as many years as we have seen evil.
  Let your work be shown to your servants,
    and your glorious power to their children.
  Let the favor of the Lord our God be upon us,
    and establish the work of our hands upon us;
    yes, establish the work of our hands!

91:1   He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High
    will abide in the shadow of the Almighty.
  I will say to the LORD, “My refuge and my fortress,
    my God, in whom I trust.”
  For he will deliver you from the snare of the fowler
    and from the deadly pestilence.
  He will cover you with his pinions,
    and under his wings you will find refuge;
    his faithfulness is a shield and buckler.
  You will not fear the terror of the night,
    nor the arrow that flies by day,
  nor the pestilence that stalks in darkness,
    nor the destruction that wastes at noonday.
  A thousand may fall at your side,
    ten thousand at your right hand,
    but it will not come near you.
  You will only look with your eyes
    and see the recompense of the wicked.
  Because you have made the LORD your dwelling place—
    the Most High, who is my refuge—
  no evil shall be allowed to befall you,
    no plague come near your tent.
  For he will command his angels concerning you
    to guard you in all your ways.
  On their hands they will bear you up,
    lest you strike your foot against a stone.
  You will tread on the lion and the adder;
    the young lion and the serpent you will trample underfoot.
  “Because he holds fast to me in love, I will deliver him;
    I will protect him, because he knows my name.
  When he calls to me, I will answer him;
    I will be with him in trouble;
    I will rescue him and honor him.
  With long life I will satisfy him
    and show him my salvation.”

92:1   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.
  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.
  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.
  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.

93:1   The LORD reigns; he is robed in majesty;
    the LORD is robed; he has put on strength as his belt.
  Yes, the world is established; it shall never be moved.
  Your throne is established from of old;
    you are from everlasting.
  The floods have lifted up, O LORD,
    the floods have lifted up their voice;
    the floods lift up their roaring.
  Mightier than the thunders of many waters,
    mightier than the waves of the sea,
    the LORD on high is mighty!
  Your decrees are very trustworthy;
    holiness befits your house,
    O LORD, forevermore.

(ESV)


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