Ten Minute Bible Talks Devotional Bible Study - Is God Really With You? | The Writings | Psalm 132

Starting point is 00:00:00 Welcome to 10 minute Bible Talks, where we connect the Bible to your life. In the time it takes to get to work. I'm Jeff Parrott. Imagine that you're walking through a vast forest in the dead of winter. It's completely cold outside. There's not much daylight left. The trees and landscape seem barren. Yet in the midst of this seemingly desolate winter, the forest floor is covered with a blanket of white.

Starting point is 00:00:32 Now, from a distance, you may think that this white, covering on the ground is the presence of snow. But you'd be wrong. Upon further investigation, you see that this woodland is covered not with the white of snow, but the white of flowers. This bed of flowers in winter is not only beautiful, but it's significant in the fullest sense of the word, because when this flower sprouts from the ground in the middle of winter, it functions as a sign that spring is coming. This famous white flower is, is the snow drop. In Europe and in parts of Asia, it is one of the first flowers to appear in the new year, sometimes coming up from the ground as early as January. Given its role as the harbinger

Starting point is 00:01:16 of new life in the spring season, many people see the snowdrop as a sign of hope, as a sign that something new, something beautiful is on the horizon. Even in the coldest, darkest winter days, you know that when the snow drops sprout from the forest floor, spring is coming. Psalm 132 functions almost like a snowdrop for God's people in exile, serving as a sign that something new is coming. It's a Psalm that signals back to the past, while also signaling forward to the future fulfillment of God's promises. It's a signpost of hope, reminding us that life can sprout in even the most barren place.

Starting point is 00:02:00 As we approach God's word together, let's pause and ask for His grace to move through our time. Heavenly Father, thank you for the gift of life and breath, and thank you for your word. We bring before you in this time our joys and our sorrows, our anxieties and our excitement, our calendars and our contingencies. Meet us in this time. Jesus help us abide in you as we engage with your truth. Holy Spirit, we ask you to move in and through this time in Psalm 132. As we read these words, let these words read us and restore us with the hope of the gospel.

Starting point is 00:02:40 In Jesus' name, amen. Now, there's a lot going on in Psalm 132 with hyperlinks to the rest of the Old Testament all over the place. But rather than zooming in on every noteworthy observation, we'll look at how the broad strokes of Psalm 132 tap into a lingering question, a lingering longing for God's people. And that question, that longing, is connected to the special presence of God with his people. Is God really with us? Is God really going before us? Or are we stuck forever in the barren landscape of exile?

Starting point is 00:03:18 We see this emphasis on God's presence in the first 10 verses of this Psalm, which function as a kind of appeal or prayer to God. This appeal begins by recalling the past commitment of King David to build a special dwelling place for God in the temple. We read this in verses 3 through 5. I will not enter my house or get into my bed. I will not give sleep to my eyes or slumber to my eyelids until I find a place for the Lord, a dwelling place for the mighty one of Jacob. These words reflect an earnest, tireless desire for God to dwell with his people.

Starting point is 00:03:56 verses 6 through 10 continue this theme by remembering the ark of the covenant which functions as God's throne in the most holy place of the temple by recalling the days of king david and using the language of the ark and the temple Psalm 132 is stirring up memories and historical moments related to a fundamental longing for God to be with his people to dwell with them as their creator as their king. And this is not a peripheral question for the original audience of Psalm 132. It is of primary importance. Because here's the kicker. Those Jewish people living in exile under the rule of other nations, they didn't have an ark to keep in the most holy place of the temple. They had no Davidic king on the throne. In this particular time for God's people, it feels like the

Starting point is 00:04:50 barrenness of winter. No presence, no life, just longing. And that longing is persistent and palpable in Psalm 132. Now, as we notice the longing for God's presence to be felt by his people here in this particular Psalm, let's take just a moment and recognize and stir up that longing in our own lives. Other ways that you're experiencing the barrenness of a spiritual exile in this season? How might you feel trapped in a kind of emotional or mental winter that seems devoid of life? Perhaps that lifeless winter, that lifeless exile, it comes through ways that you've sinned against God or sinned against other people. It could be through something that you've been hiding or been ignoring, yet you need to face with honesty, with God and with other people. That longing may come through ways that you've been sinned against by other people, or it may even be in the ways that you're suffering right now.

Starting point is 00:05:49 you and your particular story. Maybe for you it's a severe sickness or the lingering effects of chronic anxiety or chronic depression. God, we bring before you our whole selves, all of who we are, and we recognize that the deepest longings we have point to a longing for you, for your presence, your kingdom, your goodness, your truth and righteousness, beauty, and justice. We see that much of our world in our lives is like a barren landscape, a need of your life-giving presence. Help us to not ignore or hide these things, but to face them, to face them with honesty and with hope. In the first 10 verses of Psalm 132, we see a kind of appeal for God to be present. And then in verses 11 through 18, they kind of function as a response to that prayer.

Starting point is 00:06:39 verses 11 through 12 are a shout out to God's promises to David and 2 Samuel 7 of the historical books. These are promises to provide a king and a kingdom that will last forever. Verses 13 through 18 continue this flow of thought and they pack such a punch that will read all of it together. I want you to notice as we read this, notice the priority of God dwelling with his people here. Let's pick him in verse 13. For the Lord has chosen Zion. He has desired it for his dwelling place. This is my resting place forever.

Starting point is 00:07:15 Here I will dwell, for I have desired it. I will abundantly bless her provisions. I will satisfy her poor with bread. Her priests, I will clothe with salvation. And her saints will shout for joy. There I will make a horn to sprout for David. I have prepared a lamp for my anointed. His enemies I will clothe with shame, but on him his crown will shine.

Starting point is 00:07:43 There's so much cool stuff happening here in these verses, but let's emphasize verse 14. Remember, this is to God's people in exile, in the barren landscape, in the lifeless place. And God says, this is my resting place forever. Here I will dwell, for I have desired it. This is God's way of saying, yes, I know that you're just trying to survive. the winter right now. But this winter that you're surviving, it's just a season. Because I'm coming to dwell with you. And I'm not just coming to dwell with you again. I'm coming to dwell with you forever. Now, this is a fabulous promise, but it begs another question. How? How is that going to happen?

Starting point is 00:08:28 Given the ripple effects of sin in our broken world, how will the exile possibly end? verse 17 gives us the how there I will make a horn to sprout for David in the Old Testament a horn is an image of strength and the Hebrew at play here really gives us the image of this horn this strength sprouting up from the ground springing up from the earth like a plant verses 17 through 18 say that this strength will sprout up

Starting point is 00:08:57 it will be God's anointed one it will be a king who will wear a shining crown These verses are like the snowdrop emerging from the barren landscape, sprouting from the ground. This is the signpost of hope, reminding us that life can sprout from even the most lifeless places. In the gospel accounts, we see how this hope becomes a reality in the person of Jesus. In Luke 1, verse 68 through 69, Zechariah draws on this image of hope to describe the arrival of Jesus as the heavenly king who is with us. This is what Zachariah says. Blessed be the Lord God of Israel, for he has visited and redeemed his people and has raised up a horn of salvation for us in the house of his servant, David.

Starting point is 00:09:47 Like the snowdrops sprouting up as a sign of spring, Psalm 132 portrays the strength of God sprouting up in the barren landscape of exile to create life. It's a sign pointing us to King Jesus to the hope that God's strength and God's presence have come in Him and will come again when he returns to make all things new. In this season of Advent, Psalm 132 gives us a picture of God's promise that spring is coming. Life is coming because King Jesus is coming into our world, into our lives, and into our hearts. Heavenly Father, we do bring the lifeless places of our stories to you. Many of us are simply trying to get through this week, through this day, or through this hour. Would you help us see that the winter, that the exile lasts only for a season?

Starting point is 00:10:46 Help us see that your presence with us lasts forever. Jesus, we praise you that you have made a way to dwell with us through your life, your death, your resurrection, and your reign today. Holy Spirit, give us the hope that comes in knowing that new life sprouts up and even the most barren places of our world and our lives. God, we need you, and we love you. In Jesus' name, amen.

Ten Minute Bible Talks Devotional Bible Study - Is God Really With You? | The Writings | Psalm 132

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