God's Way Is Best Series

Principles from Psalms—Part I

“God’s Way is Best!”

April 7th, 2002

Psalm 37:3-6

Intro:

Today we begin a five part series titled, “Principles From Psalms”

As we look into the Psalms for incredible principles, we’ll find great application to our lives today.

- I think we’ll all be very encouraged by this series as well.

Story:

When I was growing up, my mother would administer morning devotions before we went to school.

 We always had our morning devotions and prayer.

 It would start off with the Proverb for the day, then we would march through one or two Psalms.

 After that we would all pray and rush out the door!

Much of what we talk about this morning found its roots in those small, simple, and sometimes powerful devotions.

Background:

Interesting Facts:

1. Psalms is a collection of 150 spiritual songs and poems used by the church in all ages of worship and devotional exercises.

2. It became the hymn book of the second temple (Jesus’ time)

3. The Psalms is quoted more frequently in the New Testament than any other book except Isaiah.

4. The two predominant themes are prayer and praise.

Writings &Authors

King David: is responsible for writing 44-45 of the 150 Psalms.

 This is why the Psalms is called the “Psalms of David.”

- Asaph: (Chief musician to David) is responsible for writing 12 Psalms.

- The Sons of Korah: (The family of main singers) is responsible for writing 11chapters of poetry.

- Solomon: is responsible for writing 2 of the Psalms (Chapters 72 & 127)

- Jeremiah: (The prophet) is responsible for writing 8.

Historians and theologians know for certain, that various people author 78 chapters of spiritual songs and poetry.

 The other 72 chapters are collections of poetry and songs written throughout different historical periods of Israel’s history.

Division into Five Books:

Book One: Consists of chapters 1-41

Book Two: Consists of chapters 42-72

Book Three: Consists of chapters 73-89

Book Four: Consists of chapters 90-106

Book Five: Consists of chapters 107-150

Point: The chapter we are discovering this morning has been written by—King David

Pause:

One more interesting fact: This Psalm is an acrostic poem, which means the

stanzas (or lines) begin with the successive letters of the Hebrew alphabet.

Psalm 37:3-6:

Pray:

I. God’s Way Requires Trust.

I am learning that at the core of every relationship is trust.

- With trust you can depend on a person.

- Without trust, you cannot depend on them.

 When trust is broken, it is very hard to earn it back.

Proverbs 18:19 says,

“An offended brother is more unyielding than a fortified city”

 Like any other relationship, God asks that we trust Him.

What kind of trust does he desire?

 We all know various kinds of trust, but which one does God require of us?

I can best illustrate it this way:

• My daughters love to jump into daddy’s arms.

• When they were younger, which wasn’t very long ago, they would perch themselves on the highest object they could find and say;

“Daddy Dump! Daddy Dump!”

• Each time my job was to catch them as they leaped into my arms.

• They possess a blind trust of me.

One Time:

- I was walking by my daughter who was standing on a chair, and she leaped out towards me unexpectedly.

- Had I not spun around and caught her, she would have been seriously hurt.

Point:

- God is the same way with us. We should always be able to take a leap of faith when he tells us something.

- I guess what God is asking is that we have “Implicit Trust” of Him.

Simply Put: God requires that our relationship with him, displays an attitude of blind

trust; to the point where we can leap into his arms at any moments notice.

Trust Helps:

- There are some things that trust helps one to achieve.

1. Trust helps one to do ________good________.

Think about it…

o If a person can trust in a relationship, there is great possibility that only good can come from the relationship.

2. Trust helps one to ___________Dwell_______.

The phrase “Dwell in the Land” here refers to the promised land or blessing God gave to the nation of Israel.

• In OT times the land was associated with an ongoing relationship with God.

God said in 1 Kings 9:6-7,

"If you or your sons turn away from me and do not observe the commands and decrees I have given you and go off to serve other gods and worship them, then I will cut off Israel from the land I have given them.”

• Simply put: “to dwell” here in the Psalms, means to remain in a relationship with God.