1. The first few verses of this psalm present words of thanksgiving. Those words begin with praising and thanking God for listening to the thoughts of the writer, David. 2. Verse 2’s language speaks of a completely hopeless situation for David (“pit of destruction,” “miry clay), but nothing is impossible with God. He was able to rescue David from even this situation that seemed to have no hope. 3. Verse 3 is a great verse of faith. Because God rescued David, he says that he will praise God so that others may hear, too. God has rescued me; do others know about it? 4. We are blessed (truly happy) if…

The 9th Avenue church of Christ will be having her annual Vacation Bible School next week. We will meet from 6:30-8:00 each evening Sunday (July 22) through Wednesday (July 25). Our theme is “Can You Dig It?” and we will be looking at some great stories from the life of Jesus. We have classes for each age, from cradle roll through adults. If you need more information, please call our church office at 205-486-9247. We hope you will join us for this great week of Bible study!

1. In verse 1, David gives us one very good way to avoid sin. When we are around those who are evil, we need to guard our way and muzzle our mouth. If we can keep our head on our shoulders and truly guard what we say, we will avoid many sins. 2. However, David admits in verse 2 that this silence, in many ways, caused his suffering to get worse. While it might have been the right thing to do, it wasn’t the easy thing. 3. Verse 4 is not asking to die, rather it is a prayer of reminder. David wants to make sure he remembers how brief…

1. This psalm consists of a prayer (verse 1), followed by a series of laments (verses 2-20). It then concludes with another prayer (21-22). John MacArthur outlines the psalm in this way: I. Introductory Prayer (1-2), II. First Onslaught: The Enemy Within (verses 3-10), III. Second Onslaught: The Enemy Without (11-20), IV. Concluding Prayers (verses 21-22). (The MacArthur Study Bible, page 763) 2. In the opening prayer, David is asking for God to be merciful. While David knows he deserves punishment from time-to-time, he also seems to understand that God often shows mercy by not punishing too harshly. 3. David admits in verse 3 that he has sinned, but he…

1. Verses 1-2 are a statement that so many Christians need to “file away.” We often worry about those who are sinful, wondering what they will do to us. Instead, we need to remember that, either soon or in eternity, they will suffer for their sins. That should not be a joyful thing for us, but it should cause us to remember that God will punish the wicked. 2. Verses 3-6 say, in so many words, that our delight and joy should be in God. He will bless us with peace and prosperity (spiritual prosperity) if we will simply put Him first. 3. Verses 7-8 basically repeat what verse 1…

I thought you might want some good stuff to read this weekend, so I’ve put together a little set of links for you to see. First, here are some links to some good articles posted this week on some of my favorite blogs: My brother-in-law, Jeremiah Tatum, presents the brief article “What, Not When” on his blog: Ancient Words (which is doing very well in its first few weeks). Joey Sparks writes an excellent article on “An Attendance Problem” that really gets to the point of why people will willfully miss worship privileges. Dale Jenkins reminds us to “Not Waste Blood” in a thought-provoking article. Next, I thought I’d share…

1. Verses 1-4 sound much like some things written in the book of Proverbs. These verses read much like statements of fact that are, in truth, sending a warning to one who is beginning to turn from God. When we see some of the things in these verses happening to us, we need to be extra careful that we do not fall any further into temptation. 2. In contrast to the confining nature of temptation and evil, God’s lovingkindness “extends to the heavens” and His “faithfulness reaches to the skies” (verse 5). 3. Verses 5-9 give us more words of praise about God. The verses seem to overflow with words…

1. In verse 1, David seems to use two different word pictures as he asks for God’s help. In the first part of the verse, he asks God to “contend;” using a legal word. Then, he asks God to “fight;” soliciting the help of God as a warrior, or defender. 2. Verse 2 and the first part of 3 are asking for God to help in any way–even in almost extreme ways, but they lead up to the overall thought, given at the end of verse 3: “Say to my soul, ‘I am your salvation’.” David is seeking peace by reassurance. 3. Verses 4-8 are statements trying to show that…

We’ve added a(nother) new feature. This feature is just a quick way to say “thank you” to everyone who has ever linked to Faughnblog. At the bottom of this page, there is a new series of links. These are the blogs that have, at any time, linked to our blog. Obviously, some blogs linked because they disagreed. Others linked because they agreed. Some linked because, well, because we asked them to! Linking back to these blogs helps increase their “authority” on Technorati, just as they have helped increased ours. So, we are simply saying “thank you” in a techy-sort-of way.

I came across the following on YouTube a while back. Please watch this short video, then look at my comments below. 1. I like the idea behind this series of lessons (and I think the Mac vs. PC commercials are long overdue for a parody!). We all need to be more like Jesus to everyone around, BUT… 2. I don’t like the idea that the guy who is striving to be more scholarly is portrayed as stuck up. We also should strive to know more about the Bible, SO 3. Can’t we do both? Is it not possible to study the Bible and also be kind and generous to our…