A. 22:1-11 – Fervent Prayer of one who is forsaken – Lament and Confidence Cycle One – 22:1-5 – Lament – Pain and Trust Pain is described, followed by affirmation of faith by previous generations Cycle Two – 22:6-11 - Lament – Pain and Confidence Pain is described, followed by an affirmation of David’s faith from childhood. B. 22:12-18 – Lament of …

Psalms 20 and 21 form a pair of royal Psalms. Psalm 20 is a prayer of supplication that LORD will give the king success in battle. Psalm 21 is a prayer of thanksgiving for honoring the request in Psalm 20. Psalm 20 1-5 – The congregation or nation speaking to the king asks the LORD to give the king success in battle. 6-8 – The congregation speaks a…

Psalm 19 celebrates the Torah, the Law of Moses, which sets out the requirements of the Covenant people in relationship with God. In particular, the Law is celebrated as the supreme revelation of God, until of course the incarnation of Jesus Christ. 1-6 – The heavens declare the glory of God: including, his power, wisdom, worthiness of honor and wo…

Psalm 18 is a royal song. It celebrates the way God has shown love for his people by giving the Davidic monarchy and by preserving David through many dangers. The text of this Psalm is almost identical to 2 Samuel 22. 2 Samuel 22 is David’s personal expression of gratitude to the Lord. Psalm 18 is an adaptation of the song for the whole nation to s…

Psalm 17 is an individual lament by a person who is suffering and unjustly accused wrongdoing, similar to Psalm 7, and asks God for vindication to bring the Psalmist innocence to light. 1-2 – This is the request for vindication. 3-5 – Here the Psalmist claims he is innocent of any wrongdoing. He asserts that he is a godly man whose ways are blamele…

Psalm 16 is a hymn praise where those who sing entrust themselves to the Lord in confidence and contentment in his care. 1-2 – The Lord is my refuse, the only one on whom I can rely on for my well-being. 3-4 – My delight is being with the godly, those who also rely on the Lord for their well-being. The saints are the godly, in contrast to the ungod…

Psalm 15 is a hymn celebrating the ideal worshipper of the Lord. The singing congregation does not claim to have all of these ideal qualities, but in describing these qualities, the members yearn to have them more and more. Who will dwell in the house of the LORD? What does the ideal worshipper of God look like? In v:2-5b – The answer is given that…

Psalm 14 is a community lament, in which the people of God mourn the fact that humans in general do not seek after God, and as a result, these godless people treat the people of God cruelly. Psalm 14 is identical to Psalm 53. Likely one was an alternate version before the Psalms were collected into this book, often called the Psalter. Godless peopl…

Psalm 13 is an individual lament, a cry of anguish, for circumstances that have put the faithful one on the verge of despair. This is a prayer of feeling and emotion. How long will you forget me is not a question to God as much as it is an expression of feeling unable to endure any longer. Is this your situation? The Psalm moves from God’s apparent…

Psalm 12 is a community lament when God’s people are dominated by liars and deceivers in positions of authority. Sound familiar? When liars prevail in all aspects of society, it seems as though the faithful have disappeared. The Psalmist asks that the LORD to cut off the liars be removing them from his people and from their positions of authority. …

The immediate crisis is described as the wicked threatening to kill the upright in heart. The wicked have free reign because the foundations of society are being destroyed and there is no one in authority to keep the wicked in check. The natural reaction for the upright in heart is to want to flee like bird. So, the Psalmist asks the obvious questi…

Psalm 10 is a lament over faithless, wicked, wealthy Israelites who hotly pursue the poor and the underprivileged. The lament - O LORD, why do you let the faithless wicked people get away with destroying the poor? The wicked say that there is no God, that he has forgotten, that God does not see their deeds of evil, that God will not call us into ac…

Psalms 9 and 10 taken together are basically an acrostic pattern, where Psalm 9 stops in the Hebrew alphabet, Psalm 10 then picks up in the Hebrew alphabet. Psalm 9 has a title, Psalm 10 does not. The Greek Septuagint and the Latin Vulgate list Psalms 9 and 10 as one Psalm. There are other similarities between the two Psalms but differences also. E…

Psalm 8 is a hymn of praise. God’s people celebrate their privileged place in the created order. This Psalm is covenantal, focused on the Hebrews, the covenant people, yet it speaks of man in general terms, foreshadowing Jesus as the Davidic King, who is crowned with glory and honor, who ultimately will rule all things in creation. The majesty of G…

Psalm 7 is an individual lament, David calls on God for help because David has been unfairly slandered and persecuted by a man from the Tribe of Benjamin, the same tribe that King Saul came from. Psalm 7 starts out with a cry for safety because of the desperate circumstances that David finds himself in. In the 1st verse, David calls for refuge and …

Psalm 6 begins with a plea for mercy from some life-threatening situation, which comes from God’s displeasure for a particular sin of David. While not all life-threatening situations/illnesses are the result of sin, this one certainly was caused by sin, which David acknowledges. Notice that David pleads to God’s love and mercy. If this sin is not f…

Psalm 5 is an individual lament, a plea for help. This is also an imprecatory prayer that prays for the personal downfall of the enemies. These foes are bloodthirsty and deceitful persecutors. The Psalm begins with a calling out to God, followed by praise that God loves justice and hates the wicked, the proud, the evildoer, the liar, and the bloodt…

Psalm 4 is an individual lament, a plea for help. David appeals to the righteousness of God. Again, David recollects a past experience, where God has rescued him, much like Psalm 3, which emboldens his faith to pray confidently in the present. David then has a word of rebuke for those faithless people who mock the godly man. Psalm 4 states with cer…

Psalm 3 is the first Psalm with a title. Psalm 3 is an individual lament, a plea for help. David seeks salvation from God for the foes that have come against him, apparently the forces of his rebelling son, Absalom. David models genuine faith amidst his dire straights. David remembers past experiences where God has rescued him, and to these past ex…

Psalm 2 is a royal Psalm celebrating the kingship of David and his descendants as God’s anointed representative to rule the people of Israel. The nation’s prosperity is tied to the rule of the Davidic King. But it also has a future application. The Davidic king figuratively is God’s Son, yet ultimately in Jesus Christ, the King will indeed be the S…

Psalm 1 states that there are only two ways to live, the way of righteous, those who obey the law and instruction of God, and the way of the wicked, those who deny God. The way of the righteous, who follow God’s law, will flourish. But the way of the wicked will perish.By Cogworks Media

An introduction to the Psalms with host Andrew. We unpack what we are in for in this length but insightful season on Biblical Reflections. You are encouraged to read each with with host Andrew and keep a prayer journal as you go.By Cogworks Media

This is the longest episode in the series and will be split into 4 parts. It is almost two-hours long. Where we find the gospel message in the book of Revelation is pretty, straight forward, and I do that at the beginning of the episode. Trying to understand the Book of Revelation, well that’s another matter. In keeping with my rather, unique story…

This is the longest episode in the series and will be split into 4 parts. It is almost two-hours long. Where we find the gospel message in the book of Revelation is pretty, straight forward, and I do that at the beginning of the episode. Trying to understand the Book of Revelation, well that’s another matter. In keeping with my rather, unique story…

This is the longest episode in the series and will be split into 4 parts. It is almost two-hours long. Where we find the gospel message in the book of Revelation is pretty, straight forward, and I do that at the beginning of the episode. Trying to understand the Book of Revelation, well that’s another matter. In keeping with my rather, unique story…

Part 2 - I cried when I recorded this episode. We all know the simple children’s stories of faith and rescue in Daniel. But there is another faith story in this book; it a very dark, very bitter story. You will quickly understand why we don’t tell this story to children, but why we need to hear it.By Cogworks Media

I cried when I recorded this episode. We all know the simple children’s stories of faith and rescue in Daniel. But there is another faith story in this book; it a very dark, very bitter story. You will quickly understand why we don’t tell this story to children, but why we need to hear it.By Cogworks Media

The church in Philippi was the Apostle Paul’s favorite church. Yet, this favorite church, with his favorite people, had what looked like a small problem on its face, yet it was tearing the church a part. How do you talk gently to people you love that they need to fix something? Along the way, Paul gives the clearest expression of the incarnation, t…

Psalm 22 is the most quoted Psalm in the New Testament. Although written by King David 1,000 earlier, Jesus refers to this Psalm moments before he dies on the cross. Psalm 22 is beautifully written in poetry and takes some time to unfold. But you understand why Jesus calls Psalm 22 to our attention before he dies.…

This episode unfolds the narrative of Genesis culminating in the Substitutionary Sacrifice of Isaac in Chapter 22. It is the account of Abraham, Isaac’s father. Abraham was a deeply flawed man, yet he was a man of faith. Through Abraham, the man of faith, God’s plan of salvation is offered to all the peoples of the world.…

This episode unfolds the narrative of Genesis culminating in the Substitutionary Sacrifice of Isaac in Chapter 22. It is the account of Abraham, Isaac’s father. Abraham was a deeply flawed man, yet he was a man of faith. Through Abraham, the man of faith, God’s plan of salvation is offered to all the peoples of the world.…

Mary, Martha, and Lazarus are siblings who run a lucrative bed-and-breakfast, in the town of Bethany, a two-mile walk outside of Jerusalem. This is where Jesus and his entourage stayed when they visited Jerusalem for the three-annual festivals at the Temple. These are three different people, and Jesus presents the gospel to each of them, but in way…

The Book of Isaiah is challenging, one could say difficult, to read and to understand. Most Isaiah is written in poetry, including the 4th Servant Song, which foretells the death and resurrection of the suffering servant, who suffers and dies for the sins of others. This will be an interesting look at poetry.…

The Book of Hebrews is written in the most excellent Greek of the New Testament. It presents the gospel, but it does so by comparing the sacrifice of Christ on the cross to the sacrificial system of the Old Testament. Hebrews was written to Jewish Christians, who would have understood the Old Testament sacrifices. In order for us to appreciate the …

The letter to the Romans is the Apostle Paul’s magnum opus, or great work. Here Paul gives a complete and thorough doctrinal basis for the gospel message and for how that should be applied in a person’s life after believing in faith. Many people witness the gospel from Romans by citing several verses that make statements. This practice is known as …

The Gospel of Luke is written by the only non-Jewish, non-Hebrew writer in the Bible. Luke is the gospel of inclusion, specifically calling to women, underprivileged, and non-Jewish gentiles. The key verse in Luke is 19:10, for the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.By Cogworks Media

The Gospel of Mark is short and full of action scenes. Unlike Matthew, who presents Jesus giving five great oral teaching dissertations, Mark presents Jesus saying very little, and with no long sermons. Rather than what Jesus says, we learn who Jesus is and why he came by what he does. Mark and Matthew are two diametrically opposed teaching methods…

The Gospel of Matthew is the transition between the Old and the New Testaments. Matthew is writing to Jews living outside of Israel to tell them that in Jesus all of the prophecies and the promises of the Old Testament have been fulfilled. The key verse for Matthew is 5:17, where Jesus says that he did not come to abolish the law and the prophets b…

Paul’s Letter to the Galatians is likely his earliest letter in the New Testament and his most stern letter. He is upset that people in the churches in Galatia are turning from a gospel of “grace through faith” to a different gospel of “grace through faith plus obedience to the Law of Moses” in order to be saved. This is an intense presentation of …

The Gospel of John is a deep, deep book, that is exquisitely written. While we focused on the person of the Apostle John and his first epistle, 1 John, in Episode 1 of this series, here we take a look at the Gospel of John. John says that he wrote this Gospel so that we, the readers, would believe that Jesus is the Christ, that is the Messiah, God …

The testimony of the Angels is reported to us in scripture by Mary, the Mother of Jesus. Mary tells us that the Angel Gabriel told her she would give virgin birth to the Messiah. Mary reported what the shepherds told her that the angels had said to them on the night Jesus was born. Mary told us what the angel of God said to her betrothed, Joseph, t…

The testimony of the Gospel of Jesus Christ by the early church is recorded in 1 Corinthians 15:1-11. Taken on its face, it is a masterful, legal presentation of concentric rings of evidence, consisting of different witnesses, with different perspectives, sympathies, indifference, and even opposition, yet who all testified that Jesus is God come in…

The Apostle Paul was a Type A++++ personality, who always graduated first in his class. Unlike Peter, Paul, as a Pharisee, thought that if he could work hard enough, he could get to heaven on his own merit. And so, God broke Paul, over and over and over. Finally, in his old age, Paul could say with confidence in his letters, it is not my work or my…

The Apostle Peter was the oldest of the disciples. He was not an ignorant fisherman. He could read and speak four-languages; he ran a small business; he was an accomplished speaker; and he wrote two of the letters in the New Testament. Unlike the other disciples, Peter knew that he was not good enough. Peter constantly failed, yet our Lord in his m…

The Apostle John is the most credible, unimpeachable witness to the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. He was one of the first disciples to be called by Jesus. He witnessed every major event and miracle in the ministry of Jesus, including the transfiguration and the resurrection, and he was the only disciple to witness the crucifixion. …