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Our guest is Karen Swallow Prior. She’s an English professor at Liberty University. She’s also the author of Booked: Literature in the Soul of Me
and Fierce Convictions: The Extraordinary Life of Hannah More ?Poet, Reformer, Abolitionist
.
This week we’ll be in Psalm 74 for Christ in the Psalms, our annual summer series. Here’s how you can prepare for the service:
God’s people felt abandoned. They were captives in a foreign land. The places where they worshiped God had been totally destroyed. There was no prophet to deliver a word from the Lord. As far as they could tell, God was not going to act to make any of this right. This week we’ll discuss how Psalm 74 points to God’s steadfast love for us, proven in His Son, Jesus Christ. Even when we feel abandoned, even when God feels distant, due to our own wandering or not, His love for us is never-ending.
As you read the passage, consider asking yourself the following three questions:
Beautiful (Phil Wickham)
This Is My Father’s World (Maltbie Davenport Babcock arr. by Gungor)
Almighty and merciful God,
we have erred and strayed from your ways like lost sheep.
We have followed too much
the devices and desires of our own hearts.
We have offended against your holy laws.
We have left undone those things which we ought to have done;
and we have done those things which we ought not to have done.
O Lord, have mercy upon us.
Spare those who confess their faults.
Restore those who are penitent,
according to your promises declared to the world
in Christ Jesus, our Lord.
And grant, O merciful God, for his sake,
that we may live a holy, just, and humble life
to the glory of your holy name.
Amen.
Oh God (Zach Bolen)
No Longer Slaves (Jonathan David Helser, Melissa Helser)
Twenty-Three (Aaron Strumpel)
One Thing Remains (Christa Black, Brian Johnson, and Jeremy Riddle)
We continue our annual Christ in the Psalms summer series this week with Psalm 73. Here’s how you can prepare for the service:
Before we get to Asaph’s well-quoted verse 26, “My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever,” we read his complaint before God about the “prosperity of the wicked.” There are many worthwhile observations here, but among the most prominent is the cause of Asaph’s sudden turn in v. 16–17: upon approaching the Lord in His sanctuary, an issue that seemed complicated and wearisome became quite clear. On its own, that realization helps us, but in context of the rest of the psalm it also reminds us that nearness to God is actual prosperity, and all else is “like a dream when one awakens.”
As you read the passage, consider asking yourself the following three questions:
Rising Sun (Leonard, Lee, Jordan, Mabury)
(73) The Nearness of You (Asher Seevinck, Dave Wilton)
God of everlasting love,
we confess that we have been unfaithful
to our covenant with You and with one another.
We have worshiped other gods: money, power, greed, and convenience.
We have served our own self-interest
instead of serving only You and Your people.
We have not loved our neighbor as You have commanded,
nor have we rightly loved ourselves.
Forgive us, gracious God,
and bring us back into the fullness
of our covenant with You and one another.
Through Christ, our Lord.
Amen.
All I Have Is Christ (Jordan Kauflin)
Be Thou My Vision (Mary Elizabeth Byrne, Eleanor Henrietta Hull arr. by Ascend The Hill)
House Of God Forever (Jon Foreman)
Jesus Is Better (Aaron Ivey, Brett Land)
This week we’ll study Psalm 72 at Park Church, continuing our annual Christ in the Psalms summer series. Here’s how you can prepare for the service:
Psalm 72 was written by either Solomon or David as a blessing over their lineage and its dynasty. However, as with many Psalms, reading it just in this immediate context gives an incomplete picture. On this side of history, we know that the righteous reign of Davidic kings in Israel was relatively short-lived as a result of sin. We also know that, in Jesus, every line in Psalm 72 and every promise of God to David’s descendants is gloriously fulfilled. This is the big picture of Psalm 72.
As you read the passage, consider asking yourself the following three questions:
All Creatures Of Our God And King (William Henry Draper, St. Francis of Assisi)
Rejoice The Lord Is King (Charles Wesley, Joel Limpic)
Righteous God,
You have crowned Jesus Christ as Lord of all.
We confess that we have not bowed before Him
and are slow to acknowledge His rule.
We give allegiance to the powers of this world
and fail to be governed by justice and love.
In Your mercy, forgive us.
Raise us to acclaim Him as ruler of all,
that we may be loyal ambassadors,
obeying the commands of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Your Name Is Good (Psalm 54) (Joel Limpic, Scott Mills)
Good Good Father (Anthony Brown, Pat Barrett)
In Tenderness (Gordon, Garvey, Walton arr. Brian Eichelberger)
King Of My Heart (John Mark McMillan, Sarah McMillan)
This week we’ll study Psalm 71 at Park Church, continuing our annual Christ in the Psalms summer series. Here’s how you can prepare for the service:
We observe in this Psalm that the relationship between the Psalmist’s supplication to and admiration of God is nearly direct, that is, as often as he makes a request of God, he worships Him in the next breath. He can write, “O God, be not far from me; Oh my God, make haste to help me!” before immediately turning to “tell of Your righteous acts, of Your deeds of salvation.” Why? He knows well of the righteous acts of God, and that “their number is past [his] knowledge.” He says to God, “from my youth You have taught me, and I still proclaim Your wondrous deeds.” In remembering the countless, perfect works of God, we can seek His help from a worshipful place of informed trust.
As you read the passage, consider asking yourself the following three questions:
A Mighty Fortress Is Our God (Martin Luther, Matt Boswell)
Ever Be (Strand, Greely, Wilson, Heiligenthal)
Dear heavenly Father,
You alone are worthy of our mind’s attention,
our heart’s affection, and our soul’s adoration.
There is no God as merciful and mighty as You;
no God more holy and welcoming, powerful and present,
compassionate and caring as You.
Because the gospel is true,
we fear You with deep affection and love You with expectant hope.
Hear our confession.
We grieve the ways we loved poorly this past week.
We were often too busy to listen,
too hasty in our judgments,
and too preoccupied to care.
We grieve the ways we blamed others for our discontent,
the ways we didn’t humble ourselves before You,
the ways we didn’t avail ourselves of Your grace.
Father, forgive us of our sins.
Our hope is built on nothing more, nothing less,
and nothing other than Jesus’ blood and righteousness.
In Christ’s name we pray. Amen.
Lord I Need You (Carson, Maher, Nockels, Reeves, Stanfill)
Man Of Sorrows (Matt Crocker, Brooke Ligertwood)
Christ The Sure And Steady Anchor (Matt Boswell, Matt Papa)
Cornerstone (Bradbury, Liljero, Morgan, Mote, Myrin)
