Sermon and Worship Resources

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1. “As the Deer Pants for Streams of Water, So My Soul Pants for You, My God”

Psalm 42:1-11, Psalm 43:1-5

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C. Hassell Bullock

Big Idea: Even in adverse circumstances of place, atmosphere, and our own troubled thoughts, we can rally our hearts to joy and hope in God. Understanding the Text Psalms 42 and 43 are distinct psalms in the Hebrew (MT), Greek (LXX), Syriac, and Vulgate, which suggests that they were separate compositions. Yet the seamless relationship of the two poems is indicated by these factors: (1) they share...

2. “Ascribe to the Lord the Glory Due His Name”

Psalm 29:1-11

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C. Hassell Bullock

Big Idea: God has many voices, sometimes proclaiming his majesty and power through nature, while his people acclaim the message in worship. Understanding the Text In this beautiful psalm of praise, the “voice of the Lord,” the central thrust of Psalm 29, heard in the frightful storm, announces in nature’s accent the lordship of Yahweh, ending in the peaceful lull of the storm. In Psalm 96 (v. 10...

3. “Be Exalted, O God, above the Heavens; Let Your Glory Be over All the Earth”

Psalm 57:1-11

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C. Hassell Bullock

Big Idea: In our deepest conflicts God’s emissaries of love and truth will guide us into safe harbor. Understanding the Text Psalm 57 is generally recognized as an individual lament. Some commentators, including Dahood, also see a royal element, and he calls it a “lament of a king.”1This view is largely based on the title’s association of David with the psalm and the description of persecution tha...

4. “Blessed Are Those Who Have Regard for the Weak; the Lord Delivers Them”

Psalm 41:1-13

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C. Hassell Bullock

Big Idea: Irrespective of the cause of our illnesses, the Lord cares for us in our vulnerability. Understanding the Text The literary type of Psalm 41 has been the topic of much discussion, since the poem does not seem to fall easily into any single type. Perhaps Kraus’s “prayer song of the sick”1 is appropriate for this psalm, although we might simply designate it as an individual lament. The psa...

5. “Blessed Is the One Whose Transgressions Are Forgiven”

Psalm 32:1-11

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C. Hassell Bullock

Big Idea: The story of saving grace begins with the confession of a repentant heart and climaxes with joyful witness in the congregation of God’s people. Understanding the Text Psalm 32 is generally classified as an individual psalm of thanksgiving, a genre that incorporates the report of a crisis and the account of deliverance as an accomplished fact.[1] The crisis (32:3–4) is nondescript and c...

6. “Cast Your Cares on the Lord and He Will Sustain You”

Psalm 55:1-23

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C. Hassell Bullock

Big Idea: When our trusted friends have betrayed us and the moral substructure has eroded, we can cast our cares on the Lord. Understanding the Text Psalm 55 is generally considered an individual lament. The suppliant has suffered slander and threats from his enemies and, worst of all, betrayal by his trusted friend. We have observed previously that often the Psalms do not propose ultimate solutio...

7. “Come and See What God Has Done”

Psalm 66:1-20

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C. Hassell Bullock

Big Idea: God’s redeeming work in our lives is the extension of his great redeeming acts in history. Understanding the Text This psalm appears to be a hybrid of a hymn, a community psalm of thanksgiving, and an individual psalm of thanksgiving.1It only hints at the adversity that has prompted the psalmist to make and pay his vows of thanksgiving to God in the temple (“when I was in trouble,” 66:14...

8. “Create in Me a Pure Heart, O God, and Renew a Steadfast Spirit within Me”

Psalm 51:1-19

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C. Hassell Bullock

Big Idea: God delights in the spiritual transaction of repentance that begins in the human heart. Understanding the Text Bernhard W. Anderson calls Psalm 51 “one of the pearls of the Psalter.”1Among the seven penitential psalms,2this one, in Weiser’s estimation, is the most important because it “demonstrates the essence of true penitence.”3This psalm falls generally under the classification of the...

9. “Do Not Drag Me Away with the Wicked”

Psalm 28:1-9

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C. Hassell Bullock

Big Idea: The menaces of leadership are myriad, sometimes posed by cordial faces with malicious intentions, and we pray that God will be the real Shepherd. Understanding the Text Gunkel lists Psalm 28 among the individual complaint songs, the genre that, in his view, forms the basic material of the Psalter.[1] Gerstenberger, based on the elements of petition, thanksgiving, and intercession, agre...

10. “Endow the King with Your Justice, O God”

Psalm 72:1-20

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C. Hassell Bullock

Big Idea: Prayer for the blessing of the nations is also a prayer for the poor and needy of the world. Understanding the Text Psalm 72 is generally classified as a royal psalm. This means its focus is on the king and his kingdom. Some commentators view it as a coronation psalm, which is a little difficult to see because it does not have the same references to the establishment of the kingship as d...

11. “Even When I Am Old and Gray, Do Not Forsake Me, My God”

Psalm 71:1-24

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C. Hassell Bullock

Big Idea: When our strength ebbs with age, our spiritual inclination is to pray that God will not forsake us. Understanding the Text Psalm 71 has no title, evoking the idea that Psalms 70 and 71 might be viewed as a single unit. In view of their verbal affinities (see “Additional Insights: Corresponding Verbal and Thematic Connections in Psalms 69–72,” following the unit on Ps. 72), the latter psa...

12. “For Your Sake We Face Death . . . as Sheep to Be Slaughtered”

Psalm 44:1-26

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C. Hassell Bullock

Big Idea: Sometimes when we have been faithful to God and bad things still happen to us, the best and only explanation is that it is for God’s sake. Understanding the Text Psalm 44 is a community lament that follows some national defeat of Israel’s army (44:9), even though the psalmist, speaking on behalf of the king, cannot understand why this has happened, since Israel has not forgotten God or “...

13. “God Is Our Refuge and Strength, an Ever-Present Help in Trouble”

Psalm 46:1-11

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C. Hassell Bullock

Big Idea: Human effort is necessary to build God’s kingdom, but the final word is that we should “be still” and recognize that God is the real Builder. Understanding the Text Psalm 46 is a type of poem that challenges form criticism’s assumptions. Gunkel has identified it as a subtype of the hymn, which he labels “Zion Songs.”1 Goldingay helpfully lays out the features of this psalm that overlap w...

14. “God Looks Down from Heaven . . . to See If There Are Any Who Understand”

Psalm 53:1-6

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C. Hassell Bullock

Big Idea: History repeats itself in periodic unbelief, and God’s judgment falls upon humankind, as it did in the generation of the flood. Understanding the Text Psalm 53, an adaptive version of Psalm 14, is considered by some to be an individual lament, even though it is one of those genre-defying psalms that enjoy a noble company in the Psalter. Psalm 52:1 addresses the “mighty hero,” who, in his...

15. “Have Mercy on Me, Lord, for I Am Faint”

Psalm 6:1-10

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C. Hassell Bullock

Big Idea: Either an illness or the psalmist’s enemies, or both, have driven him to pray for God’s mercy, out of which a robust faith bursts forth. Understanding the Text Generally Psalm 6 is considered an individual lament, and it is the first of the penitential psalms of the ancient Christian church (6; 32; 38; 51; 102; 130; 143). While the element of penitence seems elusive, this psalm certain...

16. “His Anger Lasts Only a Moment, but His Favor Lasts a Lifetime”

Psalm 30:1-12

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C. Hassell Bullock

Big Idea: Life’s pendulum swings from sorrow to joy, and faith’s lintel is inscribed with “weeping may stay for the night, but rejoicing comes in the morning” (30:5). Understanding the Text Like other psalms that straddle two or more genres, Psalm 30 is sometimes classified as an individual psalm of thanksgiving, or, as Kraus advocates, a prayer song of the sick (30:1–3, 8–9).[1] The more tradit...

17. “Human Help Is Worthless”

Psalm 60:1-12

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C. Hassell Bullock

Big Idea: When life’s defeats have no explanation, we must affirm victory by God’s help, for all human help, without God, is worthless. Understanding the Text Psalm 60, judging from the first-person plural pronouns (“us,” “our,” “we”), is a community lament, prayed by the congregation after Israel’s daunting defeat in battle, perhaps by the Edomites (60:8b). In the psalms of lament, the complaint ...

18. “I Confess My Iniquity; I Am Troubled by My Sin”

Psalm 38:1-22

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C. Hassell Bullock

Big Idea: When our sins and their consequences are misconstrued by our adversaries, God will dispense his discipline without malice. Understanding the Text Psalm 38 is an individual lament (esp. 38:2–14) about the psalmist’s sickness that, in his view, has been caused by his sin, which he confesses (38:3–4, 18). Generally this genre includes, according to Westermann, complaints against God, agai...

19. “I Love You, Lord, My Strength”

Psalm 18:1-50

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C. Hassell Bullock

Big Idea: In David’s life, as in ours, God shows himself to be powerful in deliverance and intimate in grace. Understanding the Text Psalm 18 is generally classified as a royal psalm because it is attributed to King David and deals with his political and military victories. It has the features of an individual psalm of thanksgiving, including the report of the crisis, which has passed (18:4–19),...

20. “I Waited Patiently for the Lord; He Turned to Me and Heard My Cry”

Psalm 40:1-17

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C. Hassell Bullock

Big Idea: Waiting on the Lord through trouble and opposition opens our hearts to doing God’s will. Understanding the Text Psalm 40 is an individual psalm of thanksgiving, which is typically composed of the report of a crisis (40:12) and the celebration of deliverance (40:1–3), and these elements do not necessarily occur in that order.1Some commentators insist that this psalm is a combination of tw...

21. “I Will Not Fear Though Tens of Thousands Assail Me”

Psalm 3:1-8

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C. Hassell Bullock

Big Idea: Sadly, life’s conflicts become the baseline of our existence, when it ought to be our trust in the Lord. Understanding the Text The essential elements of lament, according to our definition, are the lament itself and the reason for lamenting. Further, the lament of the individual will generally include one or a combination of three complaints: against one’s enemies, against God, or aga...

22. “I Will Praise Your Name, Lord, for It Is Good”

Psalm 54:1-7

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C. Hassell Bullock

Big Idea: Faith affirms God and worships, and in that context confronts the ongoing conflict between truth and evil. Understanding the Text Psalm 54 contains most of the characteristics of an individual lament, including an address to God, petition, lament/complaint, confession of trust, vow to praise, and assurance of being heard.1 It is another of the thirteen psalms that have historical titles ...

23. “I Will Sing the Lord’s Praise, for He Has Been Good to Me”

Psalm 13:1-6

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C. Hassell Bullock

Big Idea: Faith has its personae, from skepticism to personal conflict, but trust, its true persona, sings its way into the joy of God’s goodness. Understanding the Text Psalm 13 is an individual lament that leaves the cause of lament uncertain (see below) but calls attention to the joy of buoyant faith (13:5). The biblical laments always hover near words of trust and assurance, and such a questio...

24. “If I Were Hungry I Would Not Tell You, for the World Is Mine, and All That Is in It”

Psalm 50:1-23

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C. Hassell Bullock

Big Idea: One of the great dissimilarities between humanity and God is that we are needy people, but God needs nothing. Understanding the Text Psalm 50 is a perfect example of the kind of liturgical piece that might be recited in the seventh year when the Torah was read at the Feast of Tabernacles (Deut. 31:9–13).1Yet when the Book of the Covenant was discovered in the temple during Josiah’s reign...

25. “In God I Trust and Am Not Afraid. What Can Mere Mortals Do to Me?”

Psalm 56:1-13

Teach the Text

C. Hassell Bullock

Big Idea: To ask God to store our tears “in his bottle” is to affirm our trust in God’s attentive care to the detail of our miseries. Understanding the Text Psalm 56 is an individual lament that, suggested by the Greek and Aramaic translations of “A Dove on Distant Oaks,” came to be used as a community lament (see the comments on the title below). As is often the case with laments, the psalm is te...

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