Heart of a Psalmist - Worshipping Christ Through The Psalms

• Praise- “Praise God, who did not ignore my prayer and did not withdraw his unfailing love from me.” (20)

We can think of this psalm as a circle and God’s unfailing love expressed to the individual in this verse leads us back to the beginning phrase: “Shout joyful praises to God, all the earth!”

1 Keil & Delitzsch, page 237

PSALM 67: MAY ALL THE PEOPLE PRAISE YOU The Salvation of Mankind

This psalm was called the Lord’s Prayer of the Old Testament, ‘Paternoster’ by the early church Fa- thers. It shows God’s heart for the nations and their participation in the worship of Yahweh. There are five ‘may’ prayers spoken in this psalm of which the last two are repeated. In the Hebrew language this phrase is used ‘wishfully’ or ‘expectantly’ of the good things that God is going to do in the future. Praise and worship plays an unmistakable part in the grand harvest that is celebrated in this song. The psalm is a prophetic window viewing the conversion of entire nations to the Lord. It is divided into three main thoughts:

I GOD’S WAYS- 1,2 II GOD’S WORSHIP- 3-5 III GOD’S WORLD- 6,7

INTRODUCTION:

“For the choir director: A psalm, to be accompanied by stringed instruments. A song.” This is the fifth psalm to be designated for the stringed instruments, (Neginoth) and most likely would have been given to Jeduthan who was responsible for the stringed instrument section as well as singing. Stringed instruments are well suited to times of prayer. Spurgeon says of this passage: ‘A psalm is a song, but all songs are not psalms; this is both one and the other.’

I GOD’S WAYS - 1,2

“May God be merciful and bless us. May his face shine with favor upon us. Interlude” (1)

Mercy is the beginning virtue where God reaches toward us with undeserved kindness. It is the source of all his activity among humanity. This mercy increases into blessing bringing about a state of prosperity where life is filled with a sense of his presence and enablement. This blessing multiplies into his smiling-favor where God provides opportunities and advantages to those he loves. These virtues are at first spiritual yet they have benefits for our natural lives. Aaron the High Priest was commanded to bless the people with a similar pronouncement in the Old Testament: “May the Lord bless you and protect you. May the Lord smile on you and be gracious to you. May the Lord show you his favor and give you his peace.”(Num. 6:24-26) It is from this 3-fold prayer that God begins his plan of world revival but first there is an ‘interlude’, (Selah). Spurgeon inter- prets it to mean ‘lift up the heart, lift up the voice!’ It is a time to meditate and rejoice in what has just been presented in the previous verse. This is the earliest appearance of an interlude in any of the psalms.

“May your ways be known throughout the earth, your saving power among people everywhere.”(2)

This is prophetic music, looking forward to a day when the entire earth will have the testimony of Christ’s salvation. The teaching of his ways paves the way for his powerful saving grace. “And as the waters fill the sea, so the earth will be filled with people who know the Lord.”(Isa. 11:9)

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