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Looking at psalms 90 through 95, there are a number of verses that fall under the general theme of help. Psalm 90 Overall this psalm talks of the return of God’s favor. Using the Oxford Annotated Version of the bible starting with verse 13 threw verse 16 it says,” Turn Oh Lord! How long! Have compassion on your servant, Satisfy us in the morning with your steadfast love so that we may rejoice and be glad all our days, Make us glad as many days as you have afflicted us, and as many years as we have seen evil, let your work be manifest to your servants, and your glorious power to their children.” Verse 15 is a key in showing how the Lord’s favor can not only extend threw days like days of sunshine but threw years without any seeming drop off in the favor. People might think maybe I can get one good day here and there, but these verses speak of the Lord’s favor for days on end and year’s unending. A correlate verse to this is from Joel Chapter 4 verse 25 which says,” I will repay you for the years that the swarming locust has eaten.” Verse 16 speaks of the manifestation of his will and council, where the favor of the Lord will show up front and center. There would have to be a power behind this, and it arrives from and it arises from a source that cannot be identified as man’s doing. We can see this is the wondrous sights that suddenly arise in nature such as a spectacular sunset, its source isn’t from anything that man does yet it becomes manifest. Psalm 91 The key verse to this psalm is verse 15 which says,” When they call me I will answer them, I will be with them in trouble, I will rescue and honor them.” The Lord will be actual with them in their troubles and not only not hold it against them, he will actually honor them from that place of trouble. There are ways in which the Lord’s power overrides and a big way is how angels are send to overlook an individual person in all his ways, not some of his ways. Verse 11 says, “ He will command his angels concerning you, to guard you in all your ways. Verse 12 and 13 say, “ on their hands they will bear you up, so that you will not dash your foot against the stone, you will tread on the lion and the adder , the young lion and the serpent you will trample underfoot.” The angelic help is not just for one area, but for all the possible areas that are in need of help. The importance of this help is emphasized in this psalm in that thousands of others are falling by the wayside by whatever means they are trying to work with, and it may also be that they are trying to do things a thousand different ways, but absent of the help of the Lord’s angels they are falling and the key difference is they do not have the angelic help. Whatever means they are appropriating towards their troubles, it isn’t working by the thousands. By contrast a single individual with angelic help escapes all this. That he is treading on the lion, indicates that he is indeed moving about, and he protection doesn’t equate with just hiding in the corner. But the key is that the Lord and his angels are with you and the prayers of thanksgiving should be that acknowledgment that the Lord is with you in the specifics of the type of trouble you are in. Psalm 92 This is a very optimistic psalm. Verses 12 threw 14 says, “The righteous flourish like a 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, In old age they still produce fruit, and they are always green and full of sap. “ Like an older palm or cedar tree, the one who is right with the Lord, the righteous, can retain the actual fullness of youth. Verse 14 says they are always green and full of sap. Verse 5 says, “ How great are your works, O Lord your thoughts are very deep!” These verses in showing the deepness of the Lord’s thoughts, shows that the Lord isn’t just giving just a shallow or faint observation to your troubles, or just a surface look see to his followers or faithful righteous ones, but he comes to individuals with the depth and wide breath of thoughts towards them and this is how the relationship potentially reverberates, the you of this psalm in praying into the deep thoughts of the Lord for him. Verse 10 says, “ but you have exalted my horn like that of a wild ox, you have poured over me fresh oil” The fresh oil or freshness is poured over him, The ox represents strength with freedom of the wilds. This isn’t just a touch of freshness but a fullness of blessings and of a fresh start, It is a complete fresh start for you and the Lord can pour out this freshness over yor deepest troubles, and with this fresh oil, you can begin anew with the strength and freedom of the wild ox. Psalm 93 This psalm speaks of an issuance, that the Lord is the majestic powerful presence for anything, and a watch of the seas and its roaring waves is just a small sign of the powerful presence behind these waves. Verse 5 says,” Your decrees are very sure, holiness befits your house, O lord forever more.” Verse 1 says, “The Lord is king, he is robed in majesty, the Lord is robed, he is girded in strength, He has established the world, it will never be moved.” An example of this is how the earth remains a certain distance from the sun at 91 million miles plus. Psalm 94 Verses 11 and 18 go together. Verse 11 says, “the Lord knows our thoughts, that they are just empty breadth” Verse 18 says, “ When I thought,”My foot is slipping, your steadfast love,Lord helps me up,” And verse 19 continues,” When the cares of my heart are many your consolations cheer my soul.” The Lord knows our specific thoughts and addresses them. At the same time he knows our thought power and our applied thought to given matters can amount to very little and his outside help comes in to rescue us as he reads our thoughts and gives help that is just not obtainable otherwise through our own creative thinking. The psalmist recognizes his weakness and weakened state, and sees that he was slipping either spiritually or even physically. Think of the hiker on a ledge thousands of feet above the valley and on loose shale, and if his foot slips to much then the consequences could be dire. You might find yourself slipping on your ability to execute your dreams, to go successfully into your hope and vision for your future. The Lord will meet you right there, at your point of slipping and lift you up and specifically help you into your dreams and hopes. The cares of the heart can be many and begin to pile up like a ledger against what you want to do. But the cares can never outnumber the consolations of the Lord, which oppose these very cares specifically and for what you care about, the Lord has very specific consolations. Verse 21 speaks of how he wicked band together, but the Lord will quickly repay this with his vengeance. Psalm 95 Verse 7 and 8 and 9 read as follows, “ For he is our God and we are the people of his pasture, and the sheep of his hand. Oh that today you would listen to his voice, do not harden your hearts as at Meribah, as on the day at Massah as in the wilderness, when your ancestors tested me, and put me to the proof even though they had seen my work. This psalm speaks of how the Lord made the sea and owns the mountaintops. The ancestors ask for proof in the wilderness despite surrounding miracles and the turning away of their hearts had elements of ungratefulness. The thanksgiving which is mentioned in verse 2 is a way of regarding the Lord’s ways, which was not done by those who had hardened their hearts and must have disregarded his ways. Thanksgiving is then a way of entering and staying in the pastureland of the Good Shepherd. The vision of this psalm is showing that ultimately there really isn’t much else as far as a habitable place for the sheep to go, they can really only hear the voice of the shepherd and that is the only real saving grace. The other elements presented in the psalm, the heights of the mountains, the seas, are not a place of perpetual habitation for sheep. It can be ventured into but cannot be stayed upon. Verse 6 says, “ O come , let us worship and bow down let us kneel before the Lord, our Maker.” Part of the drift away in this psalm is a losing sight of the truth that the Lord is the actual maker of those who are not regarding his ways.” Even today, a study of the earth itself shows that places of extremes, like the North Pole, the middle of the ocean, like the sands of the Sahara, can only be ventured into but not habituated, that all the earth is not representative of pasture land or livable land. Verse 2 says,” Let us come into his presence with thanksgiving; let us make a joyful noise to him with songs of praise.” The best pastureland can be found through the voice of thanksgiving to the shepherd.
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