Chunks: The Book of Psalms

Episode 1: Why read the Psalms?

Cameron Lee — Thu, 14 Aug 2025 12:48:12 -0700

In 2020, the year the COVID-19 pandemic threw my family and the world for a loop, I began my practice of reading and journaling on the Psalms every morning. They have been a source of stability for me in unstable times, as I hope they will be for you. In this podcast, we won’t cover all 150 psalms. My purpose is to invite you to think of the Psalms as songs we can take with us on the journey of life, especially when the road gets long and difficult.

Episode 2: Soundtrack

Cameron Lee — Thu, 14 Aug 2025 12:48:38 -0700

What we call the Old Testament was what Jesus had as Scripture, and he quoted from it frequently, particularly the Psalms and Prophets. In this episode, I propose that we think of the Psalms as the soundtrack to the gospels, indeed to the New Testament itself. Can we begin to think of the Psalms not merely as songs we sing to match what we feel—sad songs, happy songs—but to shape how we see life itself? We’re invited to sing along.

Episode 3: Call to worship

Cameron Lee — Thu, 14 Aug 2025 12:49:13 -0700

Where should we begin our exploration of 150 psalms? We’ll come back to Psalm 1 soon, but here, we’ll begin with Psalm 95. It’s a short psalm that illustrates well some of the elements we’ll see in other psalms. And if you’re used to singing contemporary praise choruses on Sunday morning, some of the psalm should sound quite familiar…

Episode 4: Call to listen

Cameron Lee — Thu, 14 Aug 2025 12:49:41 -0700

Some psalms are songs or poems of praise; others are songs of lament or complaint. And often, both praise and lament are woven together in the same psalm. Psalm 95 is a case in point. If the first part of the psalm is a call to worship, the second is a call to listen to God’s voice—a call that is given against the background of a history of the disobedience of God’s people.

Episode 5: The fork in the road

Cameron Lee — Thu, 14 Aug 2025 12:50:19 -0700

If you were given the task of organizing 150 psalms into a collection, where would you begin? What psalm would you put first? Psalm 1 is the first psalm for a reason. In a mere six verses, it sets forth a foundational worldview that permeates the whole collection: in life, there are two paths from which to choose. One is the path of righteousness that leads to blessing; the other is the path of wickedness that leads to destruction. Which path will God’s people choose?

Episode 6: Inheritance

Cameron Lee — Thu, 14 Aug 2025 12:50:48 -0700

Psalm 1 seems to promise that anyone who is obedient to God’s Law (Torah) will live a blessed and fruitful life. But things don’t always work out that way; sometimes, it’s the wicked who prosper and the righteous who suffer. That disconnect is the subject of Psalm 37, which was written to teach God’s people wisdom. Don’t fret, the psalmist says, even when things seem out of joint. You will still have your inheritance.

Episode 7: When life isn’t fair

Cameron Lee — Thu, 14 Aug 2025 12:51:26 -0700

Psalm 37 raises the question of why the wicked seems to prosper, contradicting the worldview of Psalm 1. It seems unfair. The psalmist tells God’s people not to fret or get angry, but to wait, to be patient, to be still. But can we really do this? What does the psalmist mean by patience and stillness?

Episode 8: Meekness and weakness

Cameron Lee — Thu, 14 Aug 2025 12:51:53 -0700

In the so-called Beatitudes at the beginning of the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus says, “Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth.” It’s a quote from Psalm 37. But what does it mean to be “meek”? The word the psalmist uses is an important one, and it doesn’t mean what we usually mean by meekness.

Episode 9: A story of hope

Cameron Lee — Thu, 14 Aug 2025 12:52:21 -0700

When we face serious ongoing challenges, we feel the need for hope, and the Psalms can help. But we can do more than just turn to the Psalms for a spiritual pep talk; we can learn how the psalmists see life. We’ll explore that theme using Psalm 30 as an example; it’s a song of hope by someone who was ill but by the grace of God recovered.

Episode 10: What chapter are we in?

Cameron Lee — Thu, 14 Aug 2025 12:52:52 -0700

Psalm 30 is not a simple story of hope, as if the psalmist merely fell ill and was healed. The background story is complex enough to be worthy of memoir. Our own stories are similarly complicated. To be hopeful is not simply to expect that God will fix what’s wrong with our stories; it’s knowing that our stories are part of God’s story.

Episode 11: Loving the law

Cameron Lee — Thu, 14 Aug 2025 12:53:18 -0700

Sometimes, as Christians, we prioritize the New Testament in a way that doesn’t properly understand or respect the Old. We may stereotype the Old Testament as being about law, and the New Testament about grace. When we think that way, Psalm 119—the longest psalm and the longest chapter in the Bible!—may seem odd. The psalmist goes on and on about loving God’s Law. If we’re going to appreciate the psalm, we’ll need to understand why it’s so long…

Episode 12: From A to Z

Cameron Lee — Thu, 14 Aug 2025 12:53:54 -0700

Understanding Psalm 119 requires appreciating its artistry. The structure is complex and would be difficult for any poet to achieve. But that complexity serves a symbolic purpose, contributing to the psalm’s message: God’s Law—Torah—applies to all of life, and is so foundational that we should be devoted to learning like we would learn our ABC’s.

Episode 13: The ideal and the real

Cameron Lee — Thu, 14 Aug 2025 12:54:18 -0700

Remember Psalm 1? That psalm taught us that there are two paths in life, one of righteousness and blessing, and the other of wickedness and destruction. The way of blessedness comes through meditation on Torah. In that sense, we might think of Psalm 119 as the sequel to Psalm 1—but one that introduces a realistic perspective that laments how even those who are devoted to Torah still suffer.

Episode 14: Celebrating creation—and its Creator

Cameron Lee — Thu, 14 Aug 2025 12:54:50 -0700

Studying the Psalms can give us some much-needed perspective. Through them, we learn to see a bigger picture of life. Psalms 1 and 119 help us see the world as the psalmists do—and so does Psalm 104. If Psalm 119 is an ode to Torah, Psalm 104 is an ode to creation and its Creator, one that teaches us what it means to declare, “Hallelujah!”

Episode 15: The one who created us is the one who cares for us

Cameron Lee — Thu, 14 Aug 2025 12:55:16 -0700

We live in a world in which the stereotypical understanding of power doesn’t include care. But that’s not the psalmist’s understanding of God. Psalm 104 begins with a portrait of the unimaginable cosmic might of the Creator—but then also portrays God as being intimately involved in caring for his creation. It’s an image that Jesus would later use to teach his hearers to trust God.

Episode 16: Wild kingdom

Cameron Lee — Thu, 14 Aug 2025 12:55:54 -0700

Psalm 104, as we’ve seen, gives a worshipful portrait of God as the one who both creates all that is and then cares for his creation. But seemingly out of the blue, in the midst of rejoicing and praise, the psalmist blurts out one line of cursing. How might we understand these words, which seem so out of place?

Episode 17: Praising God in the darkness

Cameron Lee — Thu, 14 Aug 2025 12:56:19 -0700

As suggested before, there are psalms of praise and psalms of lament, and we don’t have far to look to find the latter. Psalms 1 and 2 are foundational in different ways. Then Psalms 3 to 7 give us five straight prayers for help. Then comes Psalm 8, which begins and ends on the same note: praising God for the majesty of his name.

Episode 18: Feeling small

Cameron Lee — Thu, 14 Aug 2025 12:56:52 -0700

Like Psalm 104, Psalm 8 is a “creation psalm,” a psalm of praise for the marvels of creation and its Creator. Imagine the psalmist gazing up into the heavens on a clear night, in a day before the perpetual haze of city lights existed. Awed by the vast spectacle of the night sky, the psalmist felt small by comparison—which made the psalmist marvel even more that God would pay attention to human beings.

Episode 19: Fingerprints

Cameron Lee — Thu, 14 Aug 2025 12:57:21 -0700

We may be used to speaking of creation as the work of God’s hands—or even “hand” in the singular. We never say that it’s the work of God’s “fingers.” But that’s how Psalm 8 reads. It’s an image of meticulous craftmanship, applied not only to the moon and stars, but to human beings. Might we see ourselves and others as bearing God’s fingerprints?

Episode 20: Rulers

Cameron Lee — Thu, 14 Aug 2025 12:57:56 -0700

Many Christians suffer from self-doubt, from a sense of somehow “not being enough.” And in a culture of shame, the words of Psalm 8, wondering why God should even pay attention to human beings, can sound timid or belittling. But the psalmist isn’t done. Human beings may seem small compared to the vastness of the universe, but God has made them to be vice-regents (co-rulers, if you will) over creation. Psalm 8 should teach us humility rather than shame.

Episode 21: We interrupt this praise

Cameron Lee — Thu, 14 Aug 2025 12:58:21 -0700

When we come to church to worship and sing, we expect to be uplifted and encouraged. When we interact with others, we follow an implicit rule of niceness. But some psalms contain brutal words of cursing and hatred. Psalm 139 is one such psalm—and the cursing comes in the context of some of the most beautiful words of humility and praise in Scripture.

Episode 22: Love your enemies—really

Cameron Lee — Thu, 14 Aug 2025 12:58:57 -0700

In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus confronts what his hearers have been taught. While they had been told to love their neighbor and hate their enemy, Jesus taught them to love their enemies instead. Nowhere in Scripture are God’s people taught to hate their enemies—but Psalm 139 comes close. So are we justified in our anger or not?

Episode 23: Think before you speak

Cameron Lee — Thu, 14 Aug 2025 12:59:21 -0700

Even when we’ve been taught to be “nice,” we sometimes get carried away with negative emotion and speak without thinking. As we’ve seen, Psalm 139 contains some rather vehement words of hatred. But the psalmist also lives with a deep sense of being known intimately by God. What would happen if we were able to envision Jesus standing next to us as we speak?

Episode 24: Wherever I go…

Cameron Lee — Thu, 14 Aug 2025 12:59:52 -0700

As suggested in the previous episode, the psalmist who wrote Psalm 139 marvels at the knowledge of being God’s handiwork. Moreover, the psalmist lives with a deep sense of God’s presence. The psalmist isn’t trying to run or hide from God’s presence, but instead is amazed at the constancy of it, and is secure in God’s love and care.

Episode 25: Simply wonderful

Cameron Lee — Thu, 14 Aug 2025 13:00:14 -0700

If Psalms 104 and 8 celebrate the wonders of God’s creation, Psalm 139 celebrates the wonder of being created human. We don’t typically wake up in the morning, look in the mirror, and see someone who is “fearfully and wonderfully made.” But what if we did? What if we saw ourselves and others as being created in God’s image and took that vocation seriously?

Episode 26: Sheepish

Cameron Lee — Thu, 14 Aug 2025 13:00:45 -0700

Sheep are sometimes characterized as stupid; when we talk about people as being “sheep,” we mean that they are mindlessly following some leader. But sheep deserve more credit. True, they’re capable of straying. But they’re also capable of having a relationship of trust with a shepherd. Psalm 23, the so-called Shepherd Psalm, is one of the best-known and most beloved of the psalms. If we want to understand it, we will need to admit the ways in which we are like sheep.

Episode 27: The simple life

Cameron Lee — Thu, 14 Aug 2025 13:01:10 -0700

In our world of ubiquitous advertising, it’s getting harder and harder to tell the difference between a “want” and a “need.” Our homes may be filled with things we thought we needed but never use. The world of the psalmist is simpler, and so is the life of a sheep, as it’s portrayed in Psalm 23. If we’re going to own our sheepishness, are we willing to explore how the things that we really need are the things provided by the divine Shepherd?

Episode 28: The dark valley

Cameron Lee — Thu, 14 Aug 2025 13:01:48 -0700

The year 2020 was one of the most difficult of my life, as it was for some of you. At times, it felt like a long, dark valley. But as Psalm 23 suggests, even though we as sheep must travel through such dark places, we can trust that the Shepherd knows where to lead us. We don’t need to fear, as long as we are in the Shepherd’s company.

Episode 29: Welcome to the banquet

Cameron Lee — Thu, 14 Aug 2025 13:02:16 -0700

Psalm 23 is known as the Shepherd Psalm for an obvious reason. But the relationship between a sheep and a shepherd is not the only metaphor the psalmist uses to portray our relationship to God. We are not just lowly sheep; by the end of the psalm we are honored guests at a banquet given by God. And why? So that all the world can see who really is the one true God.

Episode 30: Blessing God

Cameron Lee — Thu, 14 Aug 2025 13:03:08 -0700

Earlier, we took a close look at Psalm 104—a “creation psalm” that begins and ends with the phrase, “Bless the Lord, my soul” and then adds, “Hallelujah.” That may be the last word of the psalm, but it’s the first “hallelujah” in the Psalter. In this episode, we take a step back to examine Psalm 103—which reads like a prequel to Psalm 104 and gives the reader even more reasons to bless God.

Episode 31: The longsuffering and merciful God

Cameron Lee — Thu, 14 Aug 2025 13:03:34 -0700

Psalm 103 is a summons to bless God; the invitation is issued a full six times. We are to bless God not just for what he’s done, but for who he is. Thinking back to God’s words to Moses after the disastrous episode with Aaron and the Golden Calf, the psalmist calls us to remember how God is merciful, gracious, and slow to anger.

Episode 32: Bless God, fear God

Cameron Lee — Thu, 14 Aug 2025 13:04:11 -0700

Psalm 103, again, repeatedly calls God’s people to bless him for who he is and what he has done. It speaks of God’s love and compassion. But the psalmist also declares—three times—that God’s love and compassion is for those who “fear” him. The fear of God is an important biblical theme, especially in the Old Testament. But how can we understand it, without losing hold of our understanding of God’s grace and mercy?

Episode 33: The fatherhood of God

Cameron Lee — Thu, 14 Aug 2025 13:04:43 -0700

Jesus taught his disciples to pray to God as their Father. The author of Psalm 103 also portrays God as our Father. But the psalmist says that God has compassion for us because he “remembers that we are dust.” That may sound shaming, as if the psalmist were saying that God is everything and we are therefore nothing. But is that what the psalmist means?

Episode 34: Retelling the story

Cameron Lee — Thu, 14 Aug 2025 20:00:47 -0700

We’ve explored Psalms 103 and 104; now we’ll dive into Psalms 105 and 106, which should be read back to back (and after, we’ll look at Psalm 107 as well). Psalms 105 and 106 are both examples of so-called historical psalms, whose purpose is to retell some of the history of God’s relationship to his people. The two psalms are like two sides of a coin, first recounting the history in a positive way, then coming back and humbly adding the negative.

Episode 35: Superstition is not worship

Cameron Lee — Thu, 14 Aug 2025 20:01:19 -0700

When King David brought the ark of the covenant to Jerusalem, he had a song written for the occasion. As mentioned in the previous episode, the song—which can be found in 1 Chronicles 16—gives form and content to Psalms 105 and 106. Psalm 105, again, is celebratory. But in Psalm 106, the psalmist reminds the people of the danger of mistaking superstition for true worship.

Episode 36: Editing the story

Cameron Lee — Thu, 14 Aug 2025 20:01:43 -0700

You’ve heard some of the reasons to read Psalms 105 and 106 together; now it’s time to examine each psalm more closely, beginning with Psalm 105. It begins with David’s song of celebration at the return of the ark, then runs quickly through centuries of history: Joseph’s rise to power in Egypt; Moses and the Exodus; God’s faithfulness to the people in the wilderness. The whole psalm is a celebration of God’s faithfulness. We’ll have to wait for Psalm 106 for the story of the people’s faithlessness.

Episode 37: The whole truth (part 1)

Cameron Lee — Thu, 14 Aug 2025 20:02:16 -0700

If our life story was to be told in front of others, would we want the whole truth to be told? Probably not. But the psalmists knew that the story of God’s faithfulness would not be complete without the story of the human response on the other side of the covenant relationship. Though Psalm 106 begins and ends with a “Hallelujah,” it is an honest confession of the people’s faithless sin. The psalm may have been written during or after the Babylonian exile, when the people’s failure could not be denied.

Episode 38: The whole truth (part 2)

Cameron Lee — Thu, 14 Aug 2025 20:02:40 -0700

Try to imagine the enormity of the miracle God did through Moses at the Red Sea. Could anyone experience that and not believe in God, in God’s power and compassion? After that, could any of God’s people forget what they owed to God? If we only read Psalm 105, we’d think the answer would be no. But Psalm 106 recalls the events of Exodus 16 and 17, and how quickly the people forgot God’s mercy.

Episode 39: The last word

Cameron Lee — Thu, 14 Aug 2025 20:03:17 -0700

God’s history of faithfulness to his people demands their faithful response in return. But Psalm 106 recalls episode after episode of sin and rebellion, culminating in the people being conquered by Assyria and Bablyon and taken away into captivity. But that is not the end of the story. The psalmist still believes in and prays for God’s mercy, and in hope, the psalm ends on a note of praise.

Episode 40: Insert trouble here

Cameron Lee — Thu, 14 Aug 2025 20:03:49 -0700

The Psalter is divided into five books. Psalm 106 is the last psalm of Book IV. Psalm 107 then sets the tone for Book V by repeating the opening words of Psalm 106: “Give thanks to the LORD for he is good; his love endures forever.” God is to be praised as the Redeemer, and the psalm presents four paradigmatic stories in which God redeemed people from trouble. Whatever tale our own stories may tell, can we imagine ourselves as part of the story of The God Who Redeems?

Episode 41: Let the redeemed tell their story

Cameron Lee — Thu, 14 Aug 2025 20:04:21 -0700

Psalm 107 presents four stories of redemption. We’ll begin with the fourth, which takes place at sea. Sailors on a merchant vessel are caught in a terrible storm, and fearing for their lives, they cry out to God and are rescued. But as in so many psalms, the people are called not merely to praise God for what he has done, but for who he is: a God of unfailing love.

Episode 42: Grace and mercy

Cameron Lee — Thu, 14 Aug 2025 20:04:42 -0700

In the previous episode, we explored the fourth of Psalm 107’s four stories. Here, we look at the second and third, which share something unusual in common. One is a graphic story about people crying out to God from prison; the other is about people crying out in the midst of life-threatening illness. But all the people are described as justly deserving their suffering. And yet, when they turn and call upon God, he answers with grace and mercy.

Episode 43: Homeless and hungry

Cameron Lee — Thu, 14 Aug 2025 20:05:19 -0700

Homelessness is not just a modern problem; some form of it has probably existed throughout history. The first of the four stories of redemption in Psalm 107 seems to describe such a situation. Those who are hungry, thirsting, and wandering without a home are rescued from their distress by God and blessed. The imagery is reminiscent of the teaching of Jesus…

Episode 44: A choir of cursing?

Cameron Lee — Thu, 14 Aug 2025 20:05:45 -0700

When we sing words from the Psalms in church, we typically sing praise songs, not laments. And we do not sing songs of cursing, known as imprecatory psalms. But much of Psalm 109, a psalm that was apparently meant to be sung, is a prayer for the complete destruction of the psalmist’s enemy. In this episode, we’ll cautiously examine the psalmist’s lament.

Episode 45: Cursing, with a vengeance

Cameron Lee — Thu, 14 Aug 2025 20:06:19 -0700

In Psalm 109, the psalmist has been the victim of injustice. One or more people have brought charges against the psalmist, and are willing to tell any lie to get a conviction. In response, the psalmist prays for vengeance and divine retaliation, not only against the psalmist’s enemies, but their families and future descendants. What is one to do with such a psalm? Here, we’ll compare it to Psalm 37, which we explored in previous episodes.

Episode 46: You are what you speak

Cameron Lee — Thu, 14 Aug 2025 20:06:43 -0700

As an example of an imprecatory psalm, Psalm 109 shows the depth to which the psalmists will sometimes go to call for God’s justice and curse their enemies. Read another way, however, it is also a cautionary tale about the psalmist’s enemies. They have not only cursed the psalmist, but have made cursing a way of life—and it has corrupted their character to the core.

Episode 47: Bless, don’t curse

Cameron Lee — Thu, 14 Aug 2025 20:07:14 -0700

If you’ve ever been unjustly accused, you may understand the sentiment of Psalm 109. But given the teaching of Jesus, and even of Paul, is it ever appropriate for a Christian to pray this way? The psalmist’s enemies deserved to be punished—but because of Jesus, Christians have a new way of understanding God’s justice. How might the psalmist have taken this?

Episode 48: Why sing “hallelujah”?

Cameron Lee — Thu, 14 Aug 2025 20:07:41 -0700

The gospel of Matthew tells us that when Jesus and his disciples finished their Passover meal in the Upper Room, they sang a hymn before leaving for the Mount of Olives. After what Jesus had told them, was anyone in the mood for singing? And what would they have sung? Probably Psalms 113 to 118, which are collectively known as The Egyptian Hallel. Here, we’ll begin our exploration of the Hallel with Psalm 113.

Episode 49: The prayer of a grateful mother

Cameron Lee — Thu, 14 Aug 2025 20:08:14 -0700

Psalm 113 comes to us in three parts. In the first, we’re directed to praise God forever and everywhere. In the second, we’re told to praise God for who he is. But at the end of the second part and continuing into the third, we’re also told to praise God for what he has done. Here, we’ll focus on the third part, where the psalmist quotes a song from the past and thereby honors the woman who sang it.

Episode 50: Let the earth tremble

Cameron Lee — Thu, 14 Aug 2025 20:08:40 -0700

The Hallel is sometimes known as the Egyptian Hallel because of Psalm 114, a short psalm which begins with a reference to the exodus from Egypt. The verses that follow briefly refer to the history that followed, including the conquest of Canaan. But the story is told in a way that draws attention to the power of God, reminding us that we are first at God’s mercy before we are recipients of it.

Episode 51: Not to us

Cameron Lee — Thu, 14 Aug 2025 20:09:16 -0700

In the Old Testament, a war or other conflict between nations was war between their gods. The second verse of Psalm 115 sets forth the question with which the psalm as a whole wrestles: “Why do the nations say, ‘Where is their God?’” Whether the question was asked in mockery or not, it implies that the God of Israel is insignificant. The psalmist’s response, however, is not belligerent. It begins by humbly reminding God’s people of who God is and how the glory belongs only to him.

Episode 52: You are what you worship?

Cameron Lee — Thu, 14 Aug 2025 20:09:42 -0700

In Psalm 115, the nations have questioned Israel’s God. The psalmist responds by saying not only that God is the one who rules from heaven, but that the gods of other nations are merely idols, made by human hands. In stark contrast to God, they can do nothing. But even more than this: the psalmist warns that those who worship idols will become like what they worship.

Episode 53: In God we trust

Cameron Lee — Thu, 14 Aug 2025 20:10:25 -0700

The writer of Psalm 115 insists that it’s useless to worship and put your trust in mere idols, which are completely impotent. By contrast, in what reads like a liturgy, the psalmist insists that all God’s people can and should put their trust in God. He alone is their refuge and the one whom the people should glorify and fear.

Episode 54: Maker of heaven and earth

Cameron Lee — Thu, 14 Aug 2025 20:10:46 -0700

In earlier episodes, we’ve explored creation psalms the celebrate the sovereignty and majesty of God. By contrast, Psalm 115 declares the “gods” of other nations to be no gods at all. The one who made heaven and earth blesses his people. It is their vocation to trust and praise him.

Episode 55: The cup of salvation

Cameron Lee — Thu, 14 Aug 2025 20:11:22 -0700

As I’ve suggested, Jesus would probably have sung all or part of the Hallel with his disciples at the Last Supper. The link between the Passover and the Hallel may be because of Psalm 116, which explicitly refers to “the cup of salvation,” probably a drink offering. The psalm itself speaks of the psalmist’s own deliverance from death and the grave. How might the disciples have heard the psalm differently when they celebrated the Passover after Jesus’ death and resurrection?

Episode 56: With love and thanks

Cameron Lee — Thu, 14 Aug 2025 20:11:46 -0700

How many psalms begin with a personal declaration of love for God? Just one: Psalm 116. The psalmist was in dire distress, cried out for mercy, and was rescued by God. The psalmist therefore pours out words of gratitude—and apparently, intends to go to Jerusalem to pour out a drink offering before God as well. The psalm ends with a call to God’s people to join the psalmist in praise.

Episode 57: Blessed to be a blessing

Cameron Lee — Thu, 14 Aug 2025 20:12:17 -0700

Psalm 119, which comes right after the Hallel, is the longest chapter in the Bible. Psalm 117, which comes just before the final psalm in the Hallel, is the shortest, at just two verses long. It’s not surprising that the psalmist praises God for his love and faithfulness to his people. What is a little surprising, however, is that the psalmist also calls other nations to praise him as well.

Episode 58: The cornerstone

Cameron Lee — Thu, 14 Aug 2025 20:12:41 -0700

In the days just before his crucifixion, Jesus was publicly debating the Pharisees in the temple courts. He asked them if they had read the verse about the stone which was rejected and then became the cornerstone. Of course they had: it was from Psalm 118, and everyone was in Jerusalem for the Passover, at which that psalm would be sung. Later, the apostles Peter and Paul would refer to Jesus as the cornerstone as well. What does this mean?

Episode 59: A call to worship

Cameron Lee — Thu, 14 Aug 2025 20:13:16 -0700

On the one hand, Psalm 118 is a personal prayer of gratitude. On the other hand, it is also a summons to God’s people to join in praise and thanksgiving; the psalm contains what seem to be liturgical elements. In a manner reminiscent of Psalm 115, the psalmist calls first all Israel, then the house of Aaron, then those who fear the LORD to praise him for his everlasting love. And as we’ll explore here, it may be that the psalmist means for that praise to be embodied.

Episode 60: God is my refuge

Cameron Lee — Thu, 14 Aug 2025 20:13:44 -0700

We don’t know who wrote Psalm 118, but parts of it read as if written by a king. There is language reminiscent of battles between nations; there is language reminiscent of David. But whoever wrote the psalm, the message is clear: God is the one to trust in the midst of trouble, for he is the place of refuge for the faithful.

Episode 61: A joyous procession

Cameron Lee — Thu, 14 Aug 2025 20:14:18 -0700

Most of us probably go to church in our own cars, by ourselves or with our families. We enter the sanctuary, perhaps greet some friends, and find a seat. But what if everyone gathered in one place, then went together in a procession into the sanctuary instead? The second part of Psalm 118 pictures something like this. The passage contains words that will be familiar to readers of the gospels, and we’ll examine those more closely in the next episode.

Episode 62: Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord

Cameron Lee — Thu, 14 Aug 2025 20:14:39 -0700

In this episode, we come to the end of our examination of the Egyptian Hallel. We don’t know for certain who wrote Psalm 118 or why. But apparently, by the time of Jesus, it was understood as pointing forward to the coming Messiah. This is important to understanding why Jesus quoted the psalm to the Jerusalem leaders—and what he seems to have intended by doing so.

Episode 63: Forgiven and free

Cameron Lee — Sat, 16 Aug 2025 16:31:36 -0700

Some psalms emphasize the psalmist’s confession of sin; these are known as penitential psalms. Psalm 32 is a good example of this type. The first part reads like a wisdom psalm, and is quoted by the apostle Paul. These early verses raise an important question: why do we stay silent about our sin, and what happens when we do?

Episode 64: It’s covered

Cameron Lee — Sat, 16 Aug 2025 16:32:15 -0700

Like the author of Psalm 32 (it’s attributed to David), we probably all have our private sins, things we’ve done that nobody about knows except God. He tried to cover it up, but suffered when he did. Finally, he confessed his sin to God—and in grace and mercy, God covered it.

Episode 65: Hiding place

Cameron Lee — Sat, 16 Aug 2025 16:32:39 -0700

You may know the story of Corrie ten Boom, the Dutch evangelist who miraculously survived a Nazi concentration camp. Her biography, The Hiding Place, echoes the Psalms, including Psalm 32. Throughout the collection, God is described as place of shelter and safety. The psalm is not just about confessing sin; it’s about running to God to security.

Episode 66: Don’t be so stubborn!

Cameron Lee — Sat, 16 Aug 2025 16:33:15 -0700

When we were two years old, we may have gone through a period of stubborn rebellion. And even as adults, some of us may not be done rebelling. We don’t know why the author of Psalm 32 hid his sin from God. But he learned a great lesson from the love and grace he found after he confessed. The final verses read like a wisdom psalm, in which the psalmist tries to help God’s people to not make the same mistake he did.

Episode 67: Lord, have mercy!

Cameron Lee — Sat, 16 Aug 2025 16:33:46 -0700

Psalm 51 is one of the few to begin with a heading that associates it with a specific historical event; in this case, it’s David’s sin with Bathsheba. Some tellings of that story get it drastically wrong. We need to tell the story rightly to understand the depth of David’s guilt, and the corresponding depth of his repentance and the grace of God that met it.

Episode 68: Broken

Cameron Lee — Sat, 16 Aug 2025 16:34:30 -0700

Some Old Testament texts critique what the whole system of ritual sacrifice had become: an exercise in piety that’s without true repentance. But in Psalm 51, the psalmist acknowledges that God doesn’t want sacrifices; he wants the psalmist’s broken heart.

Episode 69: Pointing forward, pointing back

Cameron Lee — Tue, 19 Aug 2025 13:13:01 -0700

Even a casual reading of Psalm 22 may make you want to say, “This is about Jesus.” Many of the lines of the psalm seem to describe a scene from the crucifixion. For that reason, Psalm 22 has been considered “prophetic,” as if the psalmist had a vision of the future and wrote it down. But is that the best way to understand the relationship between this psalm and the life and death of Jesus?

Episode 70: The lowest low to the highest height

Cameron Lee — Tue, 19 Aug 2025 13:13:29 -0700

As he hung dying on the cross, Jesus cried out to God in anguish. It was the opening line of Psalm 22: “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” We usually take that as an outcry of abandonment and suffering, and rightly so. But is that all it is? A closer look at the psalm suggests another possibility.

Episode 71: A mighty fortress

Cameron Lee — Tue, 19 Aug 2025 13:14:04 -0700

The opening lines of Psalm 46 inspired Martin Luther’s classic hymn, “A Mighty Fortress.” God is characterized as a place of refuge, like a stronghold built high on a rock. Have you ever had the sense of having been rescued from trouble by God? The psalm suggests that we should expect to encounter God at such times.

Episode 72: When the world is falling apart

Cameron Lee — Tue, 19 Aug 2025 13:14:33 -0700

I have always lived in a place where earthquakes are a fact of life. Until you’ve been through one, you may not realize how much we take the stability of the ground beneath our feet for granted. But it can feel like the world has been shaken in other ways. Psalm 46 declares that we needn’t fear, because God is our security.

Episode 73: Drop your sword!

Cameron Lee — Tue, 19 Aug 2025 13:15:07 -0700

That’s a famous line from one of my favorite movies, The Princess Bride. Here, I will suggest that it’s also the way we should probably read a famous line from Psalm 46.

Episode 74: Traveling mercies

Cameron Lee — Tue, 19 Aug 2025 13:15:34 -0700

I sometimes think of Psalm 25 as the “everything pizza” of the Psalms; it’s another acrostic poem (like Psalm 119), and it has many of the stylistic elements of other psalms. We’ll explore the structure of the psalm, which seems designed to suggest that humility is at its heart—indeed, that humility is at the heart of prayer.

Episode 75: When stuff happens

Cameron Lee — Thu, 21 Aug 2025 20:31:24 -0700

Stuff happens—anything from minor inconveniences to major crises. And when bad things happen, it’s good and right to go to God in prayer. What Psalm 25 teaches is that inside that prayer should also be a prayer for wisdom, sometimes of repentance, and always with humble trust and confidence in the goodness of God.

Episode 76: Finding our way

Cameron Lee — Thu, 21 Aug 2025 20:32:09 -0700

Do you know the feeling of having lost your way? I suspect the psalmist did too. In the middle of Psalm 25, the psalmist prays repeatedly to be taught God’s way. This is reminiscent of Psalm 1, which teaches God’s people to see life as a choice between the way of righteousness and the way of wickedness.

Episode 77: A covenant God

Cameron Lee — Thu, 21 Aug 2025 20:32:34 -0700

Covenant is an important theme in Psalm 25; it would have been intrinsic to the psalmist’s understanding of God’s relationship to his people. Covenants are not the same as contracts; they demand a greater degree of loyalty. The psalm reminds us that throughout the Old Testament story, God remains true to his covenant promises even when his people don’t live up to their side of the covenant commitment.

Episode 78: Fear and friendship

Cameron Lee — Thu, 21 Aug 2025 20:33:16 -0700

Psalm 25 mentions another important biblical theme: the fear of God. It’s not a concept that comes easily to Christians who have only heard about God’s love and grace—but we can see it even in the gospels. This is not the fear of abuse, but awe at the recognition of God’s holiness and power. And the psalmist teaches that God draws near to those who fear him.

Episode 79: Don’t let me be put to shame

Cameron Lee — Fri, 22 Aug 2025 09:37:04 -0700

Though shame and guilt are often intertwined or even mistaken for each other, they are not the same. Brené Brown suggests that shame can leave one feeling “trapped, powerless, and isolated.” Likewise, in Psalm 25, the psalmist prays to be saved from shame, and uses imagery that suggests being trapped, powerless, and isolated.

Episode 80: A trustworthy haven

Cameron Lee — Fri, 22 Aug 2025 09:37:40 -0700

The author of Psalm 25 has been set upon by powerful and treacherous enemies, and prays that they will not put him to shame. Yet the psalm still includes a note of hope and begins and ends in a spirit of trust. In this episode, I’ll suggest the kinds of prayers the psalm might encourage: prayers for help, but also prayers of trust.

Episode 81: In a dry and parched land

Cameron Lee — Thu, 04 Sep 2025 11:18:32 -0700

Psalms 42 opens with a line made famous by a contemporary worship song: “As the deer panteth for the water, so my soul longeth after thee.” The language of the psalm, together with its companion, Psalm 43 (which should be read with it, back to back), suggests that the psalmist is suffering from a kind of spiritual depression and feeling alienated from God.

Episode 82: Hope in a season of drought

Cameron Lee — Thu, 04 Sep 2025 11:19:13 -0700

In Psalms 42 and 43, the psalmist is longing desperately for God’s presence. Nevertheless, the psalmist cultivates hope by choosing to remember past times of God’s faithfulness, then anticipating that God will continue to be faithful.

Episode 83: To sing and be sung

Cameron Lee — Thu, 04 Sep 2025 11:19:44 -0700

Psalms 42 and 43, taken together, gives us a portrait of someone feeling neglected by God and praying earnestly to know his love and care again. The psalmist anticipates being able to celebrate God’s answer in music and song. What role do songs play in a life of faith and worship?

Episode 84: Hear me, heal me (part 1)

Cameron Lee — Wed, 10 Sep 2025 15:13:05 -0700

Psalm 1 seems to promise a peace-filled life to all God’s faithful—but the trials we all experience seem to suggest that the truth is more complicated. That complexity can be found throughout the Psalter. Psalm 6, a prayer for healing from what appears to be a life-threatening condition, is a good example of the depth of suffering expressed in many psalms of lament.

Episode 85: Hear me, heal me (part 2)

Cameron Lee — Wed, 10 Sep 2025 15:13:51 -0700

When people tell their story of suffering, they need to feel heard. In Psalm 6, the psalmist pours out an intense complaint of physical and emotional suffering. At the same time, however, the psalmist is confident that God hears and draws comfort from that fact. Do we have a similar confidence that God is attentive to our prayers?

Episode 86: On a first-name basis

Cameron Lee — Wed, 10 Sep 2025 15:14:19 -0700

God revealed himself by name to Moses at the burning bush; in English translations of the Old Testament, that name is rendered as “the LORD.” But when we read that in the Psalms, we should remember that this is the psalmist addressing God personally by name. Psalm 6 is a deeply personal plea, and it’s striking how many times the name of God is used.

Episode 87: Why should God act?

Cameron Lee — Wed, 10 Sep 2025 15:14:48 -0700

Psalms of lament often include reasons as to why God should grant the psalmist’s prayer. Psalm 6 gives two reasons. The first one is straightforward: God should do this because of his “unfailing love.” But the second is more obscure: the psalmist asks to be saved because the dead don’t praise God. How should we understand this?

Episode 88: But I’m innocent! (I think…)

Cameron Lee — Wed, 10 Sep 2025 15:15:11 -0700

Earlier, we saw how Psalm 51, attributed to David after he had been confronted by the prophet Nathan, was filled with words of remorse and repentance. But other psalms, like Psalm 7, protest the poet’s innocence while calling upon God to wipe out their adversaries. It’s a dangerous prayer. Is it possible to pray it with honesty and humility?

Episode 89: Giving birth to sin

Cameron Lee — Wed, 10 Sep 2025 15:15:45 -0700

In Psalm 7, the psalmist prays for an end to violence in a way that itself sounds violent. And along the way, the psalmist describes sin in a way that suggests a perversion of the way things should be. In this episode, I’ll illustrate this with a reference to…the sci-fi horror classic, Alien.

Episode 90: Boomerang

Cameron Lee — Wed, 10 Sep 2025 15:16:10 -0700

Throughout the Psalms, the psalmists' enemies are portrayed as godless people who lie, scheme, and use violence to get their way. But the psalmists give us a vision of a world in which God, in righteousness and justice, must have the last word. And as Psalm 7 suggests, that means that sometimes the violence of the wicked will backfire and bring violence upon themselves.

Episode 91: Sometimes, you want to scream

Cameron Lee — Wed, 10 Sep 2025 15:16:52 -0700

It’s one thing to complain to God about our personal troubles like persecution or illness. But it’s another to see beyond these to the sorry and broken state of humanity as a whole. Psalm 14, together with its near-twin Psalm 53, laments over the foolishness and corruption of the human race.

Episode 92: Spoiled rotten

Cameron Lee — Wed, 10 Sep 2025 15:17:17 -0700

The psalmists clearly display negative emotions in their writing, but seldom name those emotions, leaving them open to interpretation. Often, their words seem to express anger or fear, particularly with regard to their enemies. I suspect, however, that one of the main emotions expressed in Psalms 14 and 53 is disgust—disgust at the sinful and corrupt state of humankind.

Episode 93: Beyond us and them

Cameron Lee — Wed, 10 Sep 2025 15:17:46 -0700

The poet who wrote Psalm 14 (and perhaps Psalm 53 as well) says that there isn’t a single person in the world who does good—but also suggests that God is present among the righteous. Is the psalmist saying that everyone is corrupt, including God’s people? Or is he only talking about the people’s enemies? Here, we’ll explore how the apostle Paul might read it, as he quotes Psalms 14 and 53.

Episode 94: Waiting, waiting, waiting

Cameron Lee — Wed, 10 Sep 2025 15:18:16 -0700

“How long, LORD?” It’s a common complaint in the Psalms. We’re not always told what the psalmists are suffering, nor how long they’ve had to prayerfully endure, waiting for God to do something. But at some point, the psalmists have to express their anguished impatience—and they sometimes do so in a no-holds-barred fashion. Psalm 13 is a short and excellent example of this, illustration the necessary tension between praise and lament in the psalms.

Episode 95: With friends like these…

Cameron Lee — Wed, 10 Sep 2025 15:18:46 -0700

Some scholars, in reading Psalm 55, have found it to be incoherent. At first, the psalmist seems to be complaining about being persecuted by enemies. But there’s a sudden shift halfway through the psalm: now the complaint seems to be about being betrayed by a friend. There are no easy answers here, but there is much to learn about the reality of betrayal and how we might respond.

Episode 96: Surrounded

Cameron Lee — Tue, 25 Aug 2026 08:24:52 -0700

Most people probably know the basics of the story of David and Goliath, even those who know nothing else about the Bible. Goliath’s home was the Philistine city-state of Gath, and ironically, David was forced to flee there more than once to escape the clutches of King Saul. The heading of Psalm 56 vaguely refers to David’s time in Gath, as if inviting readers and worshipers to imagine what it might be like to be surrounded—literally—by people who considered you their mortal enemy.

Episode 97: What can they do to me?

Cameron Lee — Tue, 25 Aug 2026 08:25:30 -0700

If one pictures David in Gath, the home of the Philistine warrior Goliath whom he had so famously defeated, it’s easy to imagine the paranoia that might set in. And Psalm 56 does indeed seem to suggest that the psalmist feared that people were secretly hatching conspiracies against him. What can the psalmist do? The psalmist deliberately puts his trust in God’s word, seeming to gain in confidence as the psalm progresses, knowing that God is greater than any human threat.

Episode 98: The tracks of my tears

Cameron Lee — Tue, 25 Aug 2026 08:26:10 -0700

Psalm 56 is in many ways a typical lament, but one with verses of encouragement. Verse 8, for example, suggests that God pays attention to the psalmist’s suffering and tears. Translations differ because the Hebrew is a bit ambiguous. But the encouragement is that God knows every tear we shed, even when our prayers aren’t answered in the way we might wish.

Episode 99: Sometimes we need a mother hen

Cameron Lee — Tue, 25 Aug 2026 08:27:27 -0700

One of the most poignant passages of the New Testament is Jesus’ lament over the city of Jerusalem. Knowing what was about to happen, he could have railed at the city for its refusal to believe. But instead, he spoke with sorrow, as a mother hen who wanted to gather her chicks together for protection, only to be refused. The opening line of Psalm 57 seems to use the same imagery: the psalmist seeks refuge under the shadow of God’s wings. But is the psalmist using the same metaphor as Jesus?

Episode 100: Man cave

Cameron Lee — Tue, 25 Aug 2026 08:29:09 -0700

Like Psalm 56, Psalm 57 is another whose heading grounds the song in the story of David, referring to when David sought refuge in a cave while fleeing the murderous Saul. But again, it’s not clear which cave is meant. Here, we’ll use the story in 1 Samuel 24 as the backdrop, then go back to the question we asked before: what does the psalmist mean by God’s “wings”? How was it a place of refuge? And where might that place of refuge be for you?

Episode 101: Guardian angels

Cameron Lee — Tue, 25 Aug 2026 08:30:28 -0700

Many of us, at one time or another, have either wished for a guardian angel, or have called someone that because they’ve somehow helped save us from disaster. The psalmist who wrote Psalm 57 could certainly have used one, being threatened by people who were pursuing him to kill him. But even in the face of that threat, the psalmist speaks of God’s love and faithfulness as if they were the very emissaries of God, sent for the psalmist’s protection. And because of this, the psalmist sings joyfully, with a song loud enough to awaken the dawn.

Episode 102: To exult and exalt

Cameron Lee — Tue, 25 Aug 2026 08:30:55 -0700

Twice in Psalm 57, the psalmist writes: “Be exalted, O God, above the heavens; let your glory be over all the earth” (verses 5 and 11). As suggested in the previous episode, the psalmist exults in God, but that exultation also turns to exaltation in the closing verses. God’s love and faithfulness are again the reasons for the psalmist’s celebration, and the psalmist will not only praise God to the nations, but to the very skies.

Episode 103: Finding confidence

Cameron Lee — Tue, 25 Aug 2026 08:31:43 -0700

Sometimes it seems as if the challenges of life will never end. I think back to the global pandemic that began in 2019, leaving us all wondering how long it would drag on and what new complications might lurk just around the corner. We needed a boost of confidence in the future. For believers, that means confidence in God. Psalm 27 seems to promise that; in the New Revised Standard Version, the heading for the psalm is “A Triumphant Song of Confidence.” And the psalm certainly seems to be just that…until it doesn’t.

Episode 104: The face of God

Cameron Lee — Tue, 25 Aug 2026 08:32:11 -0700

Those who have taken introductory survey courses in psychology may be aware of two classic sets of experiments, one using a “visual cliff” and the other a mother’s “still face.” Both shed light on how important a mother or father’s facial expressions are to a child who can’t yet speak. And to me, that recognition deepens the sense of lament when the poet who wrote Psalm 27 complains that God has hidden his face.

Episode 105: A holy ellipsis

Cameron Lee — Tue, 25 Aug 2026 08:32:45 -0700

At some point in your early education, a teacher probably told you that sentence fragments were unacceptable. Your sentences needed to express complete thoughts and end with a period. And Bible translators try to do the same as they work with the original languages in which the books of the Bible were written. But verse 13 of Psalm 27 is notoriously difficult to translate, because it’s a fragment that trails off, leaving the psalmist’s thought incomplete. Should we try to complete the psalmist’s thought, or leave it open-ended? I believe there’s virtue in the latter…

Episode 106: Is it safe to struggle here?

Cameron Lee — Tue, 25 Aug 2026 08:33:18 -0700

Verse 13 of Psalm 27, as we’ve seen, is ambiguous and open-ended. And one of the reasons I want to leave it that way is because that open-endedness, that lack of resolution, is a better reflection of how life actually is. We need communities that don’t try to prematurely pin happy endings on every story of suffering. So imagine this: what would happen if congregations were to sing the whole of Psalm 27 together? Would those congregations become places where it was safer for people to admit when they were struggling to find their confidence in God?

Episode 107: Waiting for patience

Cameron Lee — Mon, 14 Sep 2026 07:53:22 -0700

How patient of a person would you say you are? More specifically, when we pray to God for help, how patiently do you wait for a response? And what does it mean to be “patient,” anyway? Psalm 40 opens with the declaration, “I waited patiently for the LORD” (vs. 1). Those words can make it sound like the psalmist is walking through life with calm and confidence, unperturbed by the troubles that press in from every side. But as we’ve already seen throughout our study of the Psalms, the biblical picture is more complicated than that.

Episode 108: The pit of despair

Cameron Lee — Mon, 14 Sep 2026 07:54:08 -0700

Yes, that’s another reference to The Princess Bride. But many people found themselves in the pit of despair during the COVID-19 pandemic, and there are other reasons why we might struggle with feelings of hopelessness. Psalm 40 contains a cry for help, but not before the beginning with memory of how God rescued the psalmist from something like emotional and spiritual quicksand. At the same time, however, the psalm is left unresolved at the end, as the psalmist continues to wait.

Episode 109: Permission to lament, permission to praise

Cameron Lee — Mon, 14 Sep 2026 07:54:54 -0700

You know the social ritual. When someone greets us, they often ask how we’re doing; in response, we usually say, “Fine”—and may feel like it would be bad manners to say anything else. But of course, we’re not always “fine.” The psalms teach us that the emotional side of the life of faith doesn’t classify neatly into praise or lament; sometimes we praise in the midst of lament, and sometimes we lament in the midst of praise. Psalm 40 is instructive in that regard: the psalmist remembers God’s past goodness and continues to find refuge in God even when crying out for help.

Episode 110: A better sacrifice

Cameron Lee — Mon, 14 Sep 2026 07:55:44 -0700

You may already be familiar with the worship song, “We Bring the Sacrifice of Praise.” The title is drawn from the book of Hebrews 13:15: “Through Jesus, therefore, let us continually offer to God a sacrifice of praise, the fruit of lips that openly profess his name.” In saying this, the author is also drawing upon the ancient prophetic tradition that criticized God’s people for turning sacrifice into a soulless religious ritual. A similar idea can be found in Psalm 40—words which are quoted by the writer of Hebrews and put into the mouth of Jesus.

Episode 111: Where’s my happy ending?

Cameron Lee — Mon, 14 Sep 2026 07:56:19 -0700

As human beings, we have an innate fondness for stories. And we love stories with happy endings. In some ways, it might be lovely to have every psalm of lament, every cry for help, end with praise for what God has done to answer the psalmist’s prayer. Some psalms do, in fact, end that way, but Psalm 40 does not. The psalmist is still surrounded by troubles; there are even people who want to take the psalmist’s life. Yet the psalmist still trusts that God is the one who helps and cares for the poor and needy.

Episode 112: Grace, from the beginning

Cameron Lee — Mon, 14 Sep 2026 07:56:58 -0700

The poet who wrote Psalm 40 (the psalm is attributed to David) is surrounded by trouble. But the psalmist knows that their own sin is partly to blame. Does the psalmist therefore turn to a prayer of repentance? No: the psalmist still cries out for deliverance and even vengeance against the people causing the psalmist’s distress. How will God respond to such a prayer? Again, the psalm is left open-ended; we don’t know the outcome of the story. But even if the psalmist still has things to learn, we might imagine God as a loving parent who cares about their child’s safety and well-being, even when they’ve done wrong.

Episode 113: Singing in silence

Cameron Lee — Mon, 14 Sep 2026 07:57:34 -0700

Most people who read their Bibles, I suspect, have one translation they favor, perhaps reading only that translation and no others. But it can be valuable to read more than one, because the differences can jar us into new insights. The beginning of Psalm 65 is a good example; contemporary translations of the very first verse differ enough to make you scratch your head in confusion. Part of the challenge for translators is figuring out what the psalmist means by using the word “silence.” And the challenge for us is in knowing what it might mean to be still and silent before God, even in our praise.

Episode 114: Joining the chorus

Cameron Lee — Mon, 14 Sep 2026 07:58:06 -0700

Psalm 65, as we've seen, invites us to imagine a song of silent praise. The faithful are encouraged to reflect gratefully upon the gracious forgiveness of God and the powerful and righteous ways in which God answers their cries for help. As they enter God’s house, they’re filled with a sense of coming into the presence of God’s goodness and holiness. But the psalmist's vision of God's goodness extends far beyond the temple; we’re invited to join a much larger chorus of praise.

Episode 115: Who is this guy?

Cameron Lee — Mon, 14 Sep 2026 07:58:37 -0700

One of the most definitive—and to the disciples, frightening!—demonstrations of Jesus’ power was his ability to calm a raging storm at sea merely by rebuking the wind and waves. They had not yet fully understood who Jesus was, and the miracle left them asking, “Who is this guy?” But I also wonder whether they knew and remembered the words of the psalmist, in which God is described as the one “who stilled the roaring of the seas, the roaring of their waves, and the turmoil of the nations” (Psalm 65:7).

Episode 116: Love, forever

Cameron Lee — Mon, 14 Sep 2026 07:59:11 -0700

Psalms 135 and 136 have to be read together; they’re like two sides of the same poetic coin. Together, they form a tribute to the faithful love of God—a theme that’s especially obvious in Psalm 136. That psalm reads like a liturgical call and response, in which a worship leader would call out a piece of Israel’s history, a reminder of God’s goodness to his people, and the congregation responds in unison, “His love endures forever.” We may sometimes struggle to be faithful to our own promises to love, but faithful love is intrinsic to God’s very nature.

Episode 117: Family stories

Cameron Lee — Mon, 14 Sep 2026 07:59:39 -0700

Telling family stories can be what some have called a “performance of identity”: no matter how many times the stories have been told, retelling them reminds of who we are as a family. Something similar might be said about Psalms 135 and 136. Some parts of the history recited there may be unfamiliar to us, such as the references to kings named Sihon and Og. But the stories would have been familiar to the people assembled to worship, giving them yet one more reason to say, “His love endures forever.”

Episode 118: You are what you worship

Cameron Lee — Mon, 14 Sep 2026 08:00:13 -0700

For many of us living in the modern world, the very idea of idolatry may sound a bit quaint; who, for example, has a little statue of a fertility goddess sitting in their living room? But every culture in every age has its own form of idolatry. In Psalm 135, we may not be able to relate to the psalmist’s description of handmade statues of silver and gold, but we should pay attention to the warning that follows: “Those who make them will be like them, and so will all who trust in them” (vs. 8). Here, we’ll explore in practical terms what idolatry might mean in our high-tech Information Age.

Episode 119: Breaking free from family history

Cameron Lee — Tue, 29 Sep 2026 06:53:18 -0700

Eleven psalms in the Psalter are attributed to the sons of Korah, including Psalm 84, a song that expresses a deep yearning for the temple. Who were the Korahites? Their tragic story of ambition, rebellion, and divine retribution is told in Numbers 16—a story that tainted the family name. But that reputation would eventually be redeemed. Whereas before, the Korahites weren’t content to be Levites, Psalm 84 reflects instead their joyous return to Levitical duty.

Episode 120: Living temples

Cameron Lee — Tue, 29 Sep 2026 06:54:06 -0700

Typically, we speak casually of “going to church” without thinking about the meaning of what we’re saying. As you may already know, however, the New Testament word that’s translated as “church” doesn’t refer to a building; it refers to a people. Still, how should we understand a song like Psalm 84, in which the psalmist aches to be in the temple? The psalmist isn’t longing for the building per se, but for the presence of God. And that should give us pause when we think of the New Testament image of believers as temples of the Holy Spirit…

Episode 121: His eye is on the sparrow

Cameron Lee — Tue, 29 Sep 2026 06:54:57 -0700

When reading Psalm 84, one gets the sense that the psalmist feels a bit rootless when away from the temple, almost envying those who get to spend more time there. That includes not only those with priestly duties, but…the birds. Sparrows and swallows have made their nests there. Did the Korahites think of their twittering as praise? We might also think of how Jesus used the image of tiny sparrows to teach his followers about the tender care of God.

Episode 122: Strength for the journey

Cameron Lee — Tue, 29 Sep 2026 06:56:01 -0700

Some of the language of Psalm 84 suggests that it may have been sung by God’s people as they made pilgrimage to Jerusalem; the pilgrimage may even have been led by the king. One of the places the people pass through on the way to the temple is “the valley of Baka,” which can be translated as “The Valley of Tears.” It may have been a literal place, or a metaphorical reminder of the people’s suffering. But either way, the song reminds those who sing it of the beauty that can spring up along the way.

Episode 123: When good things happen to bad people

Cameron Lee — Wed, 21 Oct 2026 07:00:34 -0700

Rabbi Harold Kushner’s book, When Bad Things Happen to Good People, was first published in 1981. It became a bestseller, and is still in print decades later. It was his attempt to answer the age-old question of why seemingly good people suffer. But the psalms also deal with the opposite question: why do good things happen to bad people? In Psalm 73, the psalmist struggles with the sense of injustice, seeming to nearly give up hope—but somehow manages to cling to the belief that God will not let that injustice stand.

Episode 124: Gazing outward, inward, and Godward

Cameron Lee — Wed, 21 Oct 2026 07:01:16 -0700

We believe that God is good, loving, and all-powerful. But then we see people suffering from injustice and wonder how this can be. Rabbi Kushner solves the problem by denying that God has the power to prevent suffering. But that’s not, of course, the psalmist’s answer. At first, in Psalm 73, the psalmist is bitter and confused; the psalmist resentfully gazes outward at the wicked who prosper and gazes inward in self-pity. It’s only after coming into the presence of God in the sanctuary that the psalmist’s gaze turns Godward. That doesn’t right the injustice, but it restores the psalmist’s hope.

Episode 125: Humiliation (part 1)

Cameron Lee — Wed, 21 Oct 2026 07:01:50 -0700

Much has been written in recent years about the prevalence of shame. In the ancient world, shame wasn’t simply an individual experience. It could be shared by an entire people, particular those who had been vanquished by an enemy. Psalm 74 seems to have been written in response to the humiliation the Babylonians brought upon God’s people. The psalm is filled with the typical laments wondering how long God can let the situation continue. Yet the psalmist somehow continues to believe that God is on the side of the “poor and needy”—as Jesus himself taught.

Episode 126: Humiliation (part 2)

Cameron Lee — Wed, 21 Oct 2026 07:02:20 -0700

Psalm 74 gives voice to the deep humiliation of God’s people at the hands of the Babylonians. It begins with deep lament and the feeling of rejection, and ends by calling repeatedly upon God to take the invaders’ mockery personally and respond. But in between, the psalmist pauses to remember and recite the ancient stories and cosmic images of God’s power to create and save. There’s a lesson here for how Christian communities should respond to the laments of individuals in their midst. Instead of shaming them further, how might we remember and inhabit the kind of stories the psalmist tells?

Episode 127: Fruitless faith?

Cameron Lee — Wed, 21 Oct 2026 07:02:55 -0700

The Psalter is filled with words of lament and complaint, in which the psalmists plead with God to rescue them. In such cases, the psalmists often turn to meditating upon God’s character and the stories of his past deeds, as we can see in Psalm 77. What that psalm also gives us, though, is an portrait of how the psalmist’s meditations seem fruitless; they fail to bring any relief to the psalmist’s suffering. Spoiler alert: relief does come. But the psalm can help us learn the patience we need to persist in the meditation we need.

Episode 128: The invisible work of the invisible God

Cameron Lee — Wed, 21 Oct 2026 07:03:22 -0700

The well-known poem "Footprints in the Sand" portrays the poet journeying through life with Jesus as if walking along the beach together, leaving footprints behind them. When she notices that at the times of greatest suffering there’s only one set of footprints, Jesus reassures her that it was at these times that he carried her. But as Psalm 77 suggests, sometimes God seems completely absent; in anguish, the psalmist repeatedly questions where God has gone. And still the psalmist clings to the memory of God’s past faithfulness, as in the exodus from Egypt, when the people escaped through the sea even though God’s footprints couldn’t be seen.

Episode 129: Savior, like a shepherd lead us

Cameron Lee — Wed, 21 Oct 2026 07:03:53 -0700

Back near the beginning of this podcast, we explored Psalm 23, which begins with the well-known words, “The LORD is my shepherd.” Other psalms, like Psalm 77, pick up the same imagery. In the face of suffering and feeling abandoned by God, the psalmist persists in remembering the mighty works of God, particularly the exodus from Egypt. The psalm ends with the imagery of Moses and Aaron leading the people through the Red Sea as shepherds. Can we imagine the terror of the that experience?

Episode 130: A surprising birthright

Cameron Lee — Wed, 21 Oct 2026 07:04:23 -0700

The first people to believe in Jesus as Messiah were Jews. But even believing Jews were sometimes an obstacle to the apostle Paul’s mission among the Gentiles. They were heir to centuries of tradition that made a clean distinction between Jews and Gentiles, and struggled to see things Paul’s way. But the idea shouldn’t have been a new one; it’s already there in the Hebrew Scriptures. Psalm 87 is a short but stunning example of this. As the psalmist calls the roll of those who were born of the beloved holy city, Jerusalem, there are some surprising names on the list.

Episode 131: Ugly prayer

Cameron Lee — Wed, 21 Oct 2026 07:04:51 -0700

When we pray, especially in front of other people, we can feel the pressure to use more formal language. When we sing together in church, we want to sing encouraging songs. And then we read Psalm 88, which may be one of the most depressing songs ever written. It begins with the psalmist desperately crying out to God and feeling near death; it ends with the psalmist feeling friendless and alone. This is ugly prayer at its ugliest. And yet, somehow, the psalmist still believes, still persists in prayer…

Episode 132: A broken promise

Cameron Lee — Wed, 21 Oct 2026 07:05:22 -0700

Sometime around 1900, a man named James Fillmore wrote a worship song inspired by the opening verse of Psalm 89, a bouncy tune named, “I Will Sing of the Mercies of the Lord Forever.” On the basis of that song, you might expect the rest of the psalm to be equally joyous. But it isn’t; Psalm 89 may be one of the most depressing psalms in the whole collection. It begins by speaking majestically about the love and faithfulness of God, especially with respect to the promises made to David. But surprisingly, it ends with the language of darkness and death.

Episode 133: Singing from the depths

Cameron Lee — Wed, 21 Oct 2026 07:05:48 -0700

Psalm 89, as we’ve seen, is a lament over what seems like a broken promise. Despite the opening verses of praise, the psalmist feels rejected, abandoned, desperate, and the psalm ends on that note without resolution. But thousands of years later, we have the benefit of hindsight; we can see that God has not, in fact, reneged on his promise to David. The lesson for us is twofold: first, we must be careful as to what we take as promises in Scripture; and second, all legitimate promises of God will be fulfilled on his timetable, not ours.

Episode 134: When chaos thunders

Cameron Lee — Wed, 21 Oct 2026 07:06:13 -0700

Some of us are blessed to have relatively predictable and stable lives. But even then, there are days or seasons in which we feel surrounded by chaos; we’re dog-paddling in a sea of trouble, wondering if we’ll drown. Such is the tone of Psalm 93, a short psalm which uses the metaphor of the roaring of mighty waves to symbolize chaos. And yet the psalmist brackets that imagery with declarations of God’s sovereignty, as represented in the firmness of both creation and his statutes. Can we, like the psalmist, see through the chaos to the might and majesty of God?

Episode 135: The view from above (part 1)

Cameron Lee — Wed, 21 Oct 2026 07:06:46 -0700

The heading of Psalm 59 attributes it to David, pointing back to the story in 1 Samuel 19, in which King Saul posts men to watch David’s house at night, in order to kill him in the morning. In that vein, the psalm begins with a prayer for deliverance from the enemies who are lying in wait for the psalmist. But even so, the song declares God to be the psalmist’s fortress and refuge, a place of safety and security.

Episode 136: The view from above (part 2)

Cameron Lee — Wed, 21 Oct 2026 07:07:10 -0700

In Psalm 59, as we’ve seen, the psalmist, surrounded by enemies, prays to God for deliverance. God is the psalmist’s fortress and refuge. The language suggests a mountainous stronghold, a higher vantage point from which we might look down upon our troubles and see them from a different perspective. That’s one lesson we can take away from the psalm: we can endure trouble more readily when we can see beyond what we want and desire in the moment, and see things from God's perspective.

Episode 137: That’ll teach you!

Cameron Lee — Wed, 21 Oct 2026 07:07:40 -0700

Before we leave Psalm 59, I want to use it to reflect upon something I’ve often heard Christians ask when they suffer difficulties: “What is God trying to teach me?” On the one hand, it’s good to be teachable, because there’s always something to learn. But on the other, the question often presumes that if we learn some specific lesson, the suffering will end—which is not to be taken for granted. Suffering can deepen our faith and help us endure, even if the suffering continues.

Episode 138: Shadow of the Almighty

Cameron Lee — Wed, 21 Oct 2026 07:08:07 -0700

Elisabeth Elliot’s account of her husband Jim’s missionary career—a career which ended with his martyrdom—is entitled, The Shadow of the Almighty. The title is taken from the opening line of Psalm 91, which uses imagery reminiscent of the opening of Psalm 57. Unlike Psalm 57, however, Psalm 91 is neither a lament over the psalmist’s troubles nor a plea to be rescued. The psalmist is confident that God will protect his people from all harm. Still, one might ask, “If Jim Elliot lived in the shadow of the Almighty, why did he die at the point of a spear?”

Episode 139: The Jim Elliot test

Cameron Lee — Wed, 21 Oct 2026 07:08:42 -0700

Psalm 91 contains some of the most confident statements of God’s protection to be found anywhere in the Psalter; such words have been a comfort to countless believers through the centuries. But as I’ve suggested repeatedly, I'm concerned about how people treat verses like these as inviolable "promises" from God, even to the point of teaching that faithful Christians shouldn't suffer, or at least suffer too much. Counter to that way of thinking, I propose the “Jim Elliot test”: would someone who drew encouragement from Psalm 91 still believe in the faithful love of God even in martyrdom?

Episode 140: Readers of the lost ark

Cameron Lee — Wed, 21 Oct 2026 07:09:10 -0700

As we’ve seen, in both Psalms 91 and 57, the psalmist finds refuge under God’s “wings,” a probable reference to the wings of the cherubim that sit atop the ark of the covenant. This may sound like a bit of a stretch, but I think there is a lesson to be learned from the story of the 1981 film Raiders of the Lost Ark; it shows what happens when people take the ark as source of power to be exploited for their own purposes. Do we do something similar when we treat Psalm 91 as an absolute promise that God must keep us from all harm?