Day 298: Psalm 138-141 | Read The Bible In A Year | Bible Study with Commentary by Dr. Manny Arango

Welcome to the Bible Department podcast, powered by Arma. We are walking through the entire Bible in a year. You can go to the description or thebabledapartment.com to download a reading plan and join the journey. (keyboard clicking) - Hey, and we welcome to day 298. We're so close to day 300. We are cruising through the psalms. I'm so proud that you are sticking it out with us. So welcome to day 298. Like every day, we're gonna start the episode with context clues. Then I'm gonna give you as many nerdy nuggets as possible. And then we'll always end the episode off with a timeless truth, 'cause this is not a history lesson. Although history is important, it brings the content to life when you understand the context. And so history and language and all that stuff, all that context is important, but primarily the Bible is not just here to teach you history. It's here to teach you about yourself, about the nature of humanity. So if you haven't done the reading for the day, if you have not read Psalm 138, 139, 140 and 141, I invite you, I implore you. Stop this video, pause the audio, go get the reading done

and come back once you have done the reading. Incredible reading. Honestly, today we've got one of my favorite all time psalms, one of my favorite chapters in the entire Bible and that is Psalm 139, okay? But before we dive in to all of our nerdy nuggets regarding Psalm 139, gotta give you context clues. And we got a lot of David today. Now, no context, but definitely authorship. So got good news and bad news, no context. Like David wrote this when or David was doing this when he wrote none of that. We have that a lot in the Psalms, but none for today. However, all of the Psalms that we have today are gonna be Psalms of David. So I don't have a ton of context for you, but we'll make up for it with our nerdy nuggets and our timeless truth. All right, let's dive into our nerdy nuggets, okay? Psalm 138, let's say Psalm of individual thanksgiving, okay? Here we see David thanking Yahweh for his salvation. Says this in verse three, "On the day I called you answered, okay? "My strength, the strength of my soul, you increased. "My strength of soul, you increased. "The Psalm ends with familiar themes of Yahweh's preservation, "deliverance from enemies and faith in Yahweh's steadfast love. "It is the center of the Psalm, however, that stands out "as the nations are addressed, "but not in the usual Yahweh will defeat our enemies context."

It says this in verses four to six, "All the kings of the earth shall give you thanks O Yahweh, "for they have heard the words of your mouth, "and they shall sing of the ways of Yahweh, "for great is the glory of Yahweh, "for though Yahweh is high, he regards the lowly, "but the haughty he knows from afar." It looks forward to a time when the kings of the world will know Yahweh, when Israel has fulfilled its calling of the priestly nation that leads all the other nations in the knowledge of Yahweh, and all other nations of the world know Yahweh through Israel, the priestly nation, okay? David praises Yahweh as king of the covenant nation of Israel, but he looks forward in faith to a time when all nations will be in covenant with Yahweh. And by the way, time and history that we're living in is the moment that David was looking forward to, which is the moment where all the world has been blessed by the Messiah of Israel being born into the world and the disciples going out into every nation and preaching the gospel to all nations, okay? He looks forward in faith to a time, this time, when all nations will be in covenant with Yahweh, and he, and so he will no longer be alone in his praise, all the kings will join him in praising Yahweh, the true king of the whole earth. That's kind of one of the dopest things about David, not only does David acknowledge that Yahweh is the king of Israel, he acknowledges you're the king of the whole earth.

I long for the day where I'm not the only earthly king that acknowledges you in covenant loyalty and love, but that all the kings of the earth, which means all the nations of the earth, And then we get to the most famous, not the most famous. Psalm 23 is probably more famous than this, but we get to a very, very, very well-known Psalm of David, which tells of the greatness of the presence and knowledge of Yahweh. I love, love, love, love, love, Psalm 139. Oh, Yahweh, you have searched me and known me. You know when I sit down and when I rise up, you discern my thoughts from afar. You search out my path and my lying down. You are acquainted with all my ways. Even before a word is on my tongue, Behold, O Yahweh, you know it altogether. These are the first four verses of Psalm 139. David is aware of the power of the knowledge of Yahweh. He knows that he cannot hide from Yahweh. Yahweh sees and knows all that he does and says, and then he responds, "Such knowledge is too wonderful for me. "It is high, I cannot attain it." That's verse six, but that is not all. He asks, it is a rhetorical question. Where can I go from your spirit? Where can I flee from your presence? It's verse seven. Where shall I go from your spirit?

Or where shall I flee from your presence? That's the question that David is asking Yahweh. This is Psalm 139 verse seven. He goes on to answer. Nowhere, that's the answer. Nowhere, if David goes to heaven, guess what? Yahweh's there. If David goes to Sheol, guess what? Yahweh's there. If David dwells in the uttermost parts of the sea, guess what? Yahweh still finds him. If he hides in utter darkness, Yahweh still sees him. Even before he was born as he grew in the womb, Yahweh saw him, knew him. Yet this does not terrify David, but instead, here's David's response in verses 17 and 18, how precious to me are your thoughts, O God. How vast is the sum of them? If I were to count them, they are more than the sand. I awake and I'm still with you. Yahweh's constant presence is not a thing to be feared, but glorious. And if Yahweh is with David to this degree, then David's response is asking that Yahweh would be with him in defeating his enemies, all right? This is where this and then the next couple of psalms get really, really interesting. Now, David understands that he has two enemies that Yahweh's presence with him will defeat, okay?

So David understands, I don't just have one enemy, I've got two. His natural enemies in verses 19 through 22, okay? But also his greatest enemy in verses 23 and 24. So let's start reading verse 19. I've got it in my iPad. I've got it in my physical Bible, starting in verse 19, okay? It says this, if only you, Lord, would slay the wicked away from me, you who are bloodthirsty, they speak of you with evil intent. Your adversaries must use your name. Do I not hate those who hate you, Lord, and abort those who are in rebellion against you? I have nothing but hatred for them. I count them my enemies, okay? So from verse 19 to verse 22, David is talking about his enemies, Yahweh's adversaries, his enemies, the people that he hates, okay? He hates the people who hate the Lord, okay? He hates people who misuse Yahweh's name, okay? So David realizes that if God's presence is an available power in force, that there are some real enemies that David has and beseeches the Lord. Hey, can we deal with these enemies? But I love this, where's 23? David realizes that his biggest enemies are not external, but his biggest enemies are internal. So starting in verse 23, it says this,

"Search me, God, and know my heart. Test me and know my anxious thoughts. See if there is any offensive way in me and lead me in the way everlasting." Wow, this is David acknowledging that his internal enemy is worse or more dangerous than his external enemy. David recognizes that his own sin and his own failure and his own habits and his own intrusive thoughts or toxic thoughts have always been a greater enemy to his destiny and purpose than any Philistine army, than any Philistine giant, that any Philistine enemy or any other people group that have opposed him or God's army or the Israelites. But the concept presence of Yahweh will defeat his own sin and lead in the way everlasting. We're gonna come back to this because honestly, Psalm 140, this is an individual lament, is a return to a major theme in David Psalms. His cry outs a Yahweh for deliverance from the wicked. It highlights David's faith and confidence in Yahweh for salvation. Verses six through eight says this, I say to Yahweh, you are my God. Give ear to the voice of my please for mercy. Oh Yahweh, oh Yahweh, my Lord, the strength of my salvation. You have covered my head in the day of battle. Grant not, oh Yahweh, the desires of the wicked. Do not further their evil plot

or they will be exalted, Selah. Now in this individual lament, what enemy is being focused on? It's right, external enemies. So Psalm 139 has introduced, David's got two enemies, internal and external. And so Psalm 140 is going to deal with the external enemy, okay? The external threat. It says this, you have covered my head in the day of battle. What is David praising Yahweh for in terms of salvation? Salvation from physical, natural enemies. Now Psalm 141 is where it gets fun. This is another individual lament of Yahweh. I mean of David. So we've got two individual amends back to back. It is times like this when you read through the Psalms and not look at them individually, okay? But you begin to see the care in which these Psalms were put together. Psalm 139 looks at the sovereign presence and power of Yahweh and how David knows it will mean victory over his enemies, both internal and external. Psalm 140 then looks in more detail on how Yahweh's presence with David means the defeat of his external enemies and their plots against him. Now Psalm 141 looks at the internal enemies of David.

His own sins. It says this, starting in verse three, Set a guard, oh Yahweh, over my mouth, keep watch over the door of my lips. Do not let my heart incline towards any evil to busy myself with wicked deeds and company with men who work iniquity and let me not eat of their delicacies. Let a righteous man strike me. It is a kindness. Let him rebuke me. It is oil for my head. Let my head not refuse it. That Psalm 141 verses three to five. The Psalm also contains some strange language and we'll get into that in just a second. But David is aware that it's the internal threats that are more dangerous than external threats. And you can see how Psalm 139, 140 and 141, weave all of these themes together. And I'm still in my thunder because this is going to be part and parcel of how we're gonna get to our Thomas truth. For the day. All right, family, the wait is over. My brand new book, "Crushing Chaos" is out now and available everywhere books are sold. Literally today, I walked into a Barnes and Noble and I signed a bunch of copies at a physical location. So you can grab this book at a physical Barnes and Noble

or you can go to a books a million or Amazon or anywhere books are sold and grab a copy. If you enjoy reading the Bible from an ancient perspective, if you understand that the beauty of scripture is actually knowing it in context, then you'll love this book. And if there's any chaos in your personal life, I think that reading the Bible from an ancient perspective can actually help to crush the chaos in your life. I think this book is gonna be a New York Times bestseller. I really do. I think we wrote a good one. I think you should get a copy today. All right, back to the episode. One more little nerdy nugget, okay? When we look at Psalm 141, okay? Verses 6-7 gives us some strange language. It says this, "When their judges are thrown over the cliff, then they shall hear my words for they are pleasant. As when one plows and breaks up the earth, so shall our bones be scattered at the mouth of Sheol." Now, these verses have a long puzzled Bible interpreters, especially Bible interpreters of the Psalms, to what on earth David is talking about. A hint for the confusion can be found in the footnotes. In most Bibles, it should say this, "Meaning of Hebrew uncertain." This is one of those times, and it doesn't happen a lot. When the reality of dealing with an ancient dead language

becomes very, very apparent. There are parts of scripture where we simply do not know. And a lot of times, I don't like we don't know as a cop-out, but sometimes you just gotta admit when we don't know, there is nothing to compare these words with. And so the word is also lost to time. We do not know, but it should make us appreciate even more the linguistic scholars who have worked so hard over the centuries so that we can read this dead language as accurately as we're able to. All right, with no further ado, let's get into our timeless truth, okay? Our timeless truth for the day is that it is the presence of Yahweh that gives us the power to overcome our internal threat which is sin, sin, chaos, confusion, rebellion, habits, toxic thoughts, whatever you wanna call it, your internal enemies are always a bigger threat than your external enemies. I know everybody thinks they got haters, but I'm here to tell you right now, the thing that hates you is sin, sin hates you. The thing that's got your, you in crosshairs is not any external threats, it's an internal threat. And I don't even wanna mean this as like, you know, political statement or a social statement, I really don't, like that's not my goal, but I did see a very, very fascinating clip recently. It was Jamal Bryant, he was actually talking to

Kam Newton, a retired football player who used to play with the quarterback for the Panthers. And Jamal Bryant, Kam Newton, you're talking, and Jamal Bryant is really known, especially in, I would say, Christian space as probably a social justice preacher. You know, Jamal Bryant is a black pastor and really kinda is a voice against racism in America. It has a lot to say in condemning the white evangelical church. I'm not here to agree or disagree with anything. Jamal Bryant has to say that's not a Hindu there. Totally irrelevant, just wanted to give context. And so Jamal Bryant is very, very, very outspoken about anything that comes across racist or white supremacist leaning. Just that's kinda his platform. And that's the tenor and tone of kinda the stuff that he has to say. And it's funny because he's getting interviewed by Kam Newton and Jamal Bryant just throws a curve ball. I mean, I was shocked that he said it. I almost thought it was AI. I was like, this gotta be AI. This can't even be real. He said these words. He said, my own sexual sin has been more of an issue in my life than racism. He said, it is my inability to have sexual discipline that has done more to damage my ministry

than white America, than white supremacy, than racism, than any of that. And I was shocked, like, and this is where it's helpful to not put people in boxes because that sounds like a very conservative thing to say. But Jamal Bryant is not like a politically conservative figure at all. But what he's saying is just true. It's straight up true that his own lust and his own inability to control his sexual reproductive organs has been more of a problem for him than white people hating him or prejudice, prejudice act actions towards him or racism or red lying or anything. Like it's his own inability to control himself. There's been the biggest problem. And that's his words, like, and man, if that's not the heart of what's happening here in Psalm 39, and then 140 and 141, it's like David is realizing, yeah, there's some external threats, the Philistines are real, but man, my own internal enemies are a bigger threat. My own sin, my own habits, my own shortcomings, my own thoughts, my own inclinations, my own proclivities, and not only are those internal realities a bigger threat than any external reality, I'll say this, what Psalm 39 is teaching is that it is the presence of God that breaks the power of both external and internal enemies.

So this is counterintuitive because a lot of times when we're dealing with sin and we're dealing with habits, addictions, toxicity, we have this tendency to run away from God. We fully His presence. It's almost like His presence can make us uncomfortable. It's like shame can get so, can cover us, and attach itself to us so deeply that instead of running towards the one whose presence can conquer sin. that sin is dominating us even more than it was before. And so there's this counterintuitive nature that when I'm dealing with sin, I don't run away from God and shame, but I run towards him in humility. And when I begin to run towards him, his presence gives me an ability that I don't in my own self possess to begin to overcome sin. So I don't overcome sin on my own and then appear before God. Like, all right, God, I handled it. We're good now, no. And desperation, independence, I go to God. I let him help me with his presence, dominate and overcome and conquer my sin. And then I walk out in the freedom that he's given me in his presence. But for a lot of us, we wanna fix it on our own. We wanna DIY our own holiness and then go to God

and show God what we accomplished. And overcoming sin doesn't work that way. His presence is a requirement for overcoming sin. And I know if you're battling with sinful addictions or habits or thoughts or behaviors, maybe like you wanna avoid God. But I would tell you like you need to walk boldly in the God's presence to receive grace because it is only by the power of his presence that you will ever break the stronghold of sin, addiction or habits in your life. And that's not just true for David. That's not just true for Psalm 139, Psalm 140 and 41. That's true for me and that's true for you because as long as we are alive and breathing, we are gonna have sin issues and God has a formula for how to conquer sin. And it is impossible to conquer sin on your own because the moment you go to God, proud of the sin you conquered, guess what? Pride is a sin. So it's a vicious cycle. You're never gonna be able to conquer sin 'cause the moment you're proud that you did it, you're now back in sin 'cause pride's a sin. And so it's actually humility that drives us to God that says God, I don't have the power to do it with this on my own. I need your presence to break the power of sin in my life and God begins to be the hero of your story, not you.

And that is timelessly true, especially on this side of eternity. All right, tomorrow we've got day 299. We're gonna be looking at Psalms 142, 143, 144 and 145. Guys, only a couple days left in the book of Psalms. I cannot believe it. We've got I think 66 days or maybe 67 days left total for the rest of the year. What a year it's been. I love you, I'm proud of you. I'll see you right here tomorrow for day 299. It's gonna be the last day of book five. I cannot wait to see you tomorrow. Love you, proud of you. Peace. - Thanks so much for joining us on the Bible Department podcast. If this episode was helpful, how about you leave a comment, share with a friend and subscribe so that you never miss an episode. To learn more about the show, head to thebibledepartment.com. We'll see you right back here tomorrow.