angela hormberg

Category: Reading Through the Psalms

  • Psalm 91

    Psalm 91

    Commonplace –

    “Because he hath set his love upon ME, therefore I will deliver him: I will set him on high, because he hath known my name.

    He shall call upon ME, and I will answer him: I will be with him in trouble; I will deliver him and honour him.

    With long life will I satisfy him, and shew him MY salvation” (Psalm 91:14-16).

    Psalm 91 is one of my favorite psalms. It is a promise from God to all those who love him; He will deliver, answer and satisfy. Surely, “if God is for us, who can be against us?” (Romans 8:31, emphasis mine).

    Per Matthew Henry,

    “In singing this we must shelter ourselves under, and then solace ourselves in, the divine protection. Many think that to Christ, as Mediator, these promises do primarily belong (Isa 49:2), not because to Him the devil applied one of these promises (Matt 4:6), but because to Him they are very applicable, and, coming through him, they are more sweet and sure to all believers” (Henry 479).

    If Christ is the model of fearless living under God’s protection, then we, too, must live fearlessly under God’s protection. Consider Matthew Henry’s words, “In these verses, we have…a great truth laid down in general, That all those who live a life of communion with God are constantly safe under his protection, and may therefore preserve a holy serenity and security of mind at all times” (479). This is not a guarantee against affliction; we only have to observe the life of Jesus to know that trouble is part of life. “If [God] does not immediately put a period to their afflictions, yet they shall have his gracious presence with them in their troubles; he will take notice of their sorrows, and know their souls in adversity, will visit them graciously by his word and Spirit, and converse with them, and sanctify their afflictions to them, which will be the surest token of his presence with them in their troubles” (Henry 482).

    Works Cited

    Henry, Matthew. “Psalm 91.” Matthew Henry’s Commentary On the Whole Bible: New Modern Edition. Volume 3, Hendrickson Publishers, Inc., March 1996.

    Holy Bible: Giant Print with Study Aids. Dugan Publishers, Inc., 1984.

    © 2025 Angela Hormberg

  • Psalm 90

    Psalm 90

    Commonplace –

    “So teach us to number our days, that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom” (Psalm 90:12).

    “And let your beauty be upon me, establish the work of my hands” (Psalm 90:17).

    The title of psalm 90 includes the subtitle “A prayer of Moses the man of God” (Psalm 90). Matthew Henry notes, “It is supposed that this psalm was penned upon occasion of the sentence passed upon Israel in the wilderness for their unbelief, murmuring and rebellion, that their carcasses should fall in the wilderness, that they should be wasted away by a series of miseries for thirty-eight years together, and that none of them that were then of age should enter Canaan” (Henry 475). Further on, he notes, “Thought it seems to have been penned upon this particular occasion, yet it is very applicable to the frailty of human life in general, and in singing it, we may easily apply it to the years of our passage through the wilderness of this world, and it furnishes us with meditations and prayers very suitable to the solemnity of a funeral” (Henry 475).

    What I appreciate most about Psalm 90 is that despite the punishment of being left to wander in the wilderness, Moses still asks God to teach him. He still asks God to reveal His beauty and to establish his work. Despite knowing he was going to be left to wander in the wilderness, Moses has hope that there is something left for him to do, even in the wilderness.

    Verse 12, begins Moses’ appeals to God. Henry notes,

    “The are the petitions of this prayer, grounded upon the foregoing meditations and acknowledgments [in verses 1-11], Is any afflicted? Let him learn thus to pray”. Four things they are here directed to pray for;

    I. For a sanctified use of the sad dispensation they were now under…..

    II. For the turning away of God’s anger….

    III. For comfort and joy in the returns of God’s favour to them…

    IV. For the progress of the work of God among them notwithstanding…” (Henry 478-479).

    Works Cited

    Henry, Matthew. “Psalm 90.” Matthew Henry’s Commentary On the Whole Bible: New Modern Edition. Volume 3, Hendrickson Publishers, Inc., March 1996.

    Holy Bible: Giant Print with Study Aids. Dugan Publishers, Inc., 1984.

    © 2025 Angela Hormberg

  • Psalm 89

    Psalm 89

    Commonplace –

    “I will sing of the mercies of the Lord for ever: with my mouth will I make known thy faithfulness to all generations. for I have said, Mercy shall be built up for ever: thy faithfulness shalt thou establish in the very heavens. I have made a covenant with my chosen, I have sworn unto David my servant, Thy seed will I establish for ever, and build up thy throne to all generations. Selah” (Psalm 89:1-4).

    What an answer we have here to the lamentations to Psalm 88. Yet, even though Psalm 89 begins with praise, it ends with a cry for help. By the end of the psalm, the psalmist is crying out to God in the final verses. In verse 46, he asks, “How long, Lord? wilt thou hide thyself for ever? shall thy wrath burn like fire?” and, again, in verse 49, “Lord, where are thy former lovingkindnesses, which thou swarest unto David in thy truth?”

    Yet, we, the recipients of the New Testament, don’t have to wonder about these things. God’s wrath knew a limit. God’s lovingkindness was revealed in Christ. Now, we have the full revelation. Praise God!

    Matthew Henry responds to the opening of Psalm 89 with the following suggestion:

    “In singing this psalm we must have high thoughts of God, a lively faith in his covenant with the Redeemer, and a sympathy with the afflicted parts of the church” (Henry 468).

    Henry offers the following insight into verses 1-4:

    “The psalmist has a very sad complaint to make of the deplorable condition of the family of David at this time, and yet he begins the psalm with songs of praise; for we must, in every thing, in every state, give thanks; thus we must glorify the Lord in the fire. We think, when we are in trouble, that we get ease by complaining; but we do more – we get joy, by praising. Let our complaints therefore be turned into thanksgivings; and in these verses we find that which will be matter of praise and thanksgiving for us in the worst of times, whether upon a personal or public account,”

    1. However it be, the everlasting God is good and true, v.1. Though we may find it hard to reconcile present dark providences with the goodness and truth of God, yet we must abide by this principle, That God’s mercies are inexhaustible and his truth is inviolable; and these must be the matter of our joy and praise: “I will sing of the mercies of the Lord for ever, sing a praising song to God’s honour, a pleasant song for my own solace, and Maschil, an instructive song, for the edification of others.” We may be forever singing God’s mercies, and yet the subject will not be drawn dry. We must sing of God’s mercies as long as we live, train up others to sing of them when we are gone, and hope to be singing them in heaven world without end; and this is singing of the mercies of the Lord for ever. With my mouth, and with my pen (for by that also do we speak), will I make known thy faithfulness to all generations, assuring posterity, from my own observation and experience, that God is true to every word that he has spoken, that they may learn to put their trust in God, Ps 78:6, 2.

    I affirm through my own observation and experience that God is TRUE to EVERY word that He has spoken!

    Works Cited

    Henry, Matthew. “Psalm 89.” Matthew Henry’s Commentary On the Whole Bible: New Modern Edition. Volume 3, Hendrickson Publishers, Inc., March 1996.

    Holy Bible: Giant Print with Study Aids. Dugan Publishers, Inc., 1984.

    © 2025 Angela Hormberg

  • Psalm 88

    Psalm 88

    Commonplace –

    “O Lord God of my salvation, I have cried day and night before thee: Let my prayer come before thee: incline thine ear unto my cry; For my soul is full of troubles: and my life draweth nigh unto the grave” (Psalm 88:1-3).

    Matthew Henry points out that Psalm 88 “is a lamentation, one of the most melancholy of all the psalms; and it does not conclude, as usually the melancholy psalms do, with the least intimation of comfort or joy, but, from first to last, it is mourning and woe” (Henry 465). So, why read such a mournful psalm? Henry points out that “[t]hose who are in trouble of mind may sing this psalm feelingly” (465), meaning that, if your heart is troubled, this psalm can be sung as a cry to the Lord, joining your voice to the voices of the past, who also experienced troubled hearts. But, as Henry points out, those who are not troubled “ought to sing [this psalm] thankfully, blessing God that it is not their case” (Henry 465).

    In regard to the opening verses, Henry notes,

    “The very first words of this psalm are the only words of comfort and support in all the psalm. There is nothing about [the psalmist] but clouds and darkness; but, before he begins his complaint, he calls God the God of his salvation, which intimates both that he looked for salvation, bad as things were, and that he looked up to God for the salvation and depended upon him to be the author of it” (Henry 465).

    This is helpful to consider as we travel our own road of sanctification.

    Further on, Henry notes,

    “Inward trouble is the sorest trouble, and that which, sometimes, the best of God’s saints and servants have been severely excercised with. The spirit of man, of the greatest of men, will not always sustain his infirmity, but will droop and sink under it; who then can bear a wounded spirit?” (Henry 465).

    Henry connects this sorrow with that of Christ.

    “[The psalmist] was a man of sorrows, and therefore some make him, in this psalm, a type of Christ, whose complaints on the cross, and sometimes before, were much to the same purport with this psalm. He cries out (v.3): My soul is full of troubles, so Christ said, Now is my soul troubled” (Henry 465).

    Yet, we are not to forsake prayer.

    “My eye mourneth by reason of affliction. Sometimes giving vent to grief by weeping gives some ease to a troubled spirit. Yet weeping must not hinder praying; we must sow in tears: My eye mourns but I cry unto thee daily. Let prayers and tears go together, and they shall be accepted together. I have heard thy prayers, I have seen thy tears” (Henry 465).

    Works Cited

    Henry, Matthew. “Psalm 88.” Matthew Henry’s Commentary On the Whole Bible: New Modern Edition. Volume 3, Hendrickson Publishers, Inc., March 1996.

    Holy Bible: Giant Print with Study Aids. Dugan Publishers, Inc., 1984.

    © 2025 Angela Hormberg

  • Psalm 87

    Psalm 87

    Commonplace –

    “Glorious things are spoken of thee, O city of God. Selah” (Psalm 87:3).

    Church is not always easy; it’s full of people. People sin, and they sin against one another, even in church. Yet Matthew Henry makes an important point about church,

    “glorious things are spoken of the gospel-church. It is the spouse of Christ, the purchase of his blood; it is a peculiar people, a holy nation, a royal priesthood, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. Let us not be ashamed of the church of Christ in its meanest condition, nor of any that belong to it, nor disown our relation to it, though it be turned ever so much to our reproach, since such glorious things are spoken of it, and not one iota or tittle of what is said shall fall to the ground” (Henry 464).

    Works Cited

    Henry, Matthew. “Psalm 87.” Matthew Henry’s Commentary On the Whole Bible: New Modern Edition. Volume 3, Hendrickson Publishers, Inc., March 1996.

    Holy Bible: Giant Print with Study Aids. Dugan Publishers, Inc., 1984.

    © 2025 Angela Hormberg

  • Psalm 86

    Psalm 86

    Commonplace –

    “Bow down thine ear, O Lord, hear me: for I am poor and needy” (Psalm 86:1).

    God is amazing! Currently, I am working through a church wide prayer guide. Today is about seeking the Lord. Psalm 86 just ‘happened’ to be the next psalm on my list. So, for this specific day, when I am going through a guide, which I had nothing to do with creating, the devotional is about prayer. And, for this specific day, when I am just continuing through the psalms in order, I have a psalm all about prayer. It’s easy to consider this convergence between what the guide is suggesting and what the psalm is providing as coincidence. But God, friends. But God! He is pointing me to making prayer my first response in all situations, and He has provided a prayer, which Matthew Henry calls a prayer for use “especially in a day of affliction” (Henry 460).

    Per Matthew Henry,

    “This psalm was published under the title of a prayer of David; not as if David sung all his prayers, but into some of his songs he inserted prayers; for a psalm will admit the expressions of any pious and devout affections. But it is observable how very plain the language of this psalm is, and how little there is in it of poetic flights or figures, in comparison with some other psalms; for the flourishes of wit are not the proper ornaments of prayer” (Henry 460-461).

    How aptly Henry notes that ‘flourishes of wit are not the proper ornaments of prayer’. This plain language is seen from the very outset of the psalm. The psalmist asks the Lord to lend his ear, because he, the psalmist, is poor and needy.

    It reminds me very much of the Lord’s prayer and the counsel, which Jesus offered to the disciples in regard to prayer in Matthew 6.

    “But when you pray, use not vain repetitions, as the heathen do: for they think they shall be heard for their much speaking, Be not ye therefore like unto them: for your Father knowest what things ye have need of, before ye ask him” (Matthew 6:7-8).

    After this counsel, Jesus gives the Lord’s prayer. It is a simple prayer without ‘flourishes of wit’.

    Praising God for this timely counsel in my own prayer life.

    Works Cited

    Henry, Matthew. “Psalm 86.” Matthew Henry’s Commentary On the Whole Bible: New Modern Edition. Volume 3, Hendrickson Publishers, Inc., March 1996.

    Holy Bible: Giant Print with Study Aids. Dugan Publishers, Inc., 1984.

    © 2025 Angela Hormberg

  • Psalm 79

    Psalm 79

    Commonplace –

    “Help us, O God of our salvation, for the glory of thy name: and deliver us, and purge away our sins, for thy name’s sake” (Psalm 79:9).

    Our church is in a time of prayer and fasting. This verse was timely as today is about personal confession. If we desire deliverance, we must first confess our sins and repent of them. In Noah Webster’s 1828 dictionary, he gives the following definition of repentance, as it specifically relates to repentance in theological terms.

    “In theology, to sorrow or be pained for sin, as a violation of God’s holy law, a dishonor to his character and government, and the foulest ingratitude to a Being of infinite benevolence” (Webster).

    Matthew Henry notes the following in regard to Psalm 79,

    “In times of the church’s peace and prosperity this psalm may, in the singing of it, give us occasion to bless God that we are not thus trampled on and insulted. But it is especially seasonable in the day of treading down and perplexity, for the exciting of our desires towards God and the encouragement of our faith in him as the church’s patron.

    Works Cited

    Henry, Matthew. “Psalm 79.” Matthew Henry’s Commentary On the Whole Bible: New Modern Edition. Volume 3, Hendrickson Publishers, Inc., March 1996.

    Holy Bible: Giant Print with Study Aids. Dugan Publishers, Inc., 1984.

    Webster, Noah. “Repent”. An American Dictionary of the English Language. Facsimile Edition, R. R. Donnelley, Ohio, 1995.

    © 2025 Angela Hormberg

  • Psalm 78

    Psalm 78

    Commonplace –

    “Give ear, O my people, to my law: incline your ears to the words of my mouth. I will open my mouth in a parable: I will utter dark sayings of old: Which we have heard and known, and our fathers have told us. We will not hide them from their children, shewing to the generation to come the praises of the Lord, and his strength, and his wonderful works that he hath done. For he established a testimony in Jacob, and appointed a law in Israel, which he commanded our fathers, that they should make them known to their children: That the generation to come might know them, even the children which should be born; who should arise and declare them to their children: That they might set their hope in God, and not forget the works of God, but keep his commandments: And might not be as their fathers, a stubborn and rebellious generation: a generation that set not their heart aright, and whose spirit was not stedfast with God” (Psalm 78:1-8).

    Matthew Henry notes the following related to Psalm 78,

    “This psalm is historical; it is a narrative of the great mercies God had bestowed upon Israel, the great sins wherewith they had provoked him, and the many tokens of his displeasure they had been under for their sins” (Henry 433).

    Further on, Henry notes,

    “These verses, which contain the preface to this history, show that the psalm answers the title; it is indeed Maschil – a psalm to give instruction; if we receive not the instruction it gives, it is our own fault” (Henry 434).

    Praise God for the psalmist, who inspired by God, passed down this important instruction.

    In this history of Israel, the psalmist records the response of the people to God’s loving care and protection of them:

    “For all this they sinned still, and believed not his wondrous works.

    Therefore their days did he consume in vanity, and their years in trouble” (Psalm 78:32-33).”

    So, God, left them to their sin. But not forever!

    “Then the Lord awaked as one out of sleep, and like a mighty man that shouteth by reason of wine. And he smote his enemies in the hinder parts: he put them to a perpetual reproach” (Psalm 78:65-66).

    And out of His tender mercy, God did the following: 1) He “chose the tribe of Judah, the mount Zion which he loved” (Psalm 78:68), 2) He “built His sanctuary like high palaces, like the earth which he hath established for ever” (Psalm 78:69), and, most importantly, 3) “He chose David also His servant, and took him from the sheepfolds: From following the ewes great with young He brought [David] to feed Jacob His People, and Israel His inheritance” (Psalm 78:70-71). God chose a shepherd for his people.

    How much does this testimony of Israel mirror the testimony of Christian life? David was a picture of the Good Shepherd He would send later. He sent an eternal Savior, Jesus, to save us from our sins. I love how the song ends.

    “So he fed them according to the integrity of his heart; and guided them by the skillfulness of His hands” (Psalm 78:72).

    Praise God for His provision!

    Works Cited

    Henry, Matthew. “Psalm 78.” Matthew Henry’s Commentary On the Whole Bible: New Modern Edition. Volume 3, Hendrickson Publishers, Inc., March 1996.

    Holy Bible: Giant Print with Study Aids. Dugan Publishers, Inc., 1984.

    © 2025 Angela Hormberg

  • Psalm 77

    Psalm 77

    Commonplace –

    “I cried unto God with my voice, even unto God with my voice” (Psalm 77:1a).

    Yesterday was a particularly difficult day for me, so reading these words is an encouragement. Like the psalmist, I cried unto God. I looked for comfort from Him, and the words that came to me as comfort were from Psalms 57:7: “My heart is fixed, O God, my heart is fixed: I will sing and give praise.” In my hour of need, the encouragement I received in my prayers was to remain focused on God and not my circumstances. So, when I remark that Psalm 77:1 is an encouragement, it is because I understand what it is like to cry out to God. And, even more so, I understand what the Psalmist means, when he says,

    “and he gave ear unto me” (Psalm 77:1b).

    I cried, God heard, and He responded. He gave ear to me and sent me encouragement by reminding me of the words of Psalm 57:7. In the rawness of the pain I felt, I said those words aloud to God in the company of Christian friends. Praise God that He is always faithful.

    In Psalm 77, the Psalmist cries out to God for a few verses,

    “In the day of my trouble I sought the Lord: my sore ran in the night, and ceased not: my soul refused to be comforted.

    I remembered God, and was troubled: I complained, and my spirit was overwhelmed. Selah” (Psalm 77:2-3).

    After a few verses of expressing his trouble, the Psalmist teaches us what to do, when we are in need:

    “I have considered the days of old, the years of ancient times.

    I call to remembrance my song in the night: I commune with mine own heart: and my spirit made diligent search.

    Will the Lord cast off for ever? and will He be favourable no more?

    The Psalmist acknowledged his own struggle, and, instead of wallowing in it, he searched for a solution. He started asking questions and moved to answers.

    “And I said, This is my infirmity: but I will remember the years of the right hand of the most High.

    I will remember the works of the Lord: surely I will remember thy wonders of old.

    I will meditate also of all thy work, and talk of thy doings” (Psalm 77:10-12).

    The Psalmist shifted His focus from His circumstances to God. The Psalmist answered his own question of whether God was still present in his life by telling himself to remember what God has done. When he began to do this, he recalled

    “Thou art the God that doest wonders: thou hast declared thy strength among the people” (Psalm 77:14).

    Then, the Psalmist recounted specific instances where God brought victory out of what appeared to be defeat; he recalled God leading the Israelites safely and successfully out of Egypt against what seemed like insurmountable circumstances, including the problem of how they were going to get to the other side of the Red Sea, which was blocking their path. The Psalmist reminds us that even nature is subject to God.

    “The waters saw thee, O God, the waters saw thee; they were afraid: the depths also were troubled” (Psalm 77:16).

    The Psalmist ends with the comfort that God led the Israelites, therefore, He will be faithful and lead me in my time of trouble, too.

    “Thou leddest thy people like a flock by the hand of Moses and Aaron” (Psalm 77:20).

    Matthew Henry sums it up beautifully.

    “This psalm, according to the method of many other psalms, begins with sorrowful complaints but ends with comfortable encouragements” (Henry 430).

    Works Cited

    Henry, Matthew. “Psalm 77.” Matthew Henry’s Commentary On the Whole Bible: New Modern Edition. Volume 3, Hendrickson Publishers, Inc., March 1996.

    Holy Bible: Giant Print with Study Aids. Dugan Publishers, Inc., 1984.

    © 2025 Angela Hormberg

  • Psalm 76

    Psalm 76

    Commonplace –

    “In Judah is God known: his name is great in Israel” (Psalm 76:1).

    Matthew Henry notes,

    “The psalmist, in the church’s name, triumphs here in God, the centre of all our triumphs.

    1. In the revelation God had made of himself to them, v.1. It is the honour and privilege of Judah and Israel that among them God is known, and where he is known his name will be great. God is known as he is pleased to make himself known; and those are happy to whom he discovers himself – happy people that have their land filled with the knowledge of God, happy persons that have their hearts filled with that knowledge. In Judah God was known as he was not known in other nations, which made the favour the greater, inasmuch as it was distinguishing, Ps. 147:19, 20.

    This comment by Matthew Henry gets to the heart of why I thoroughly enjoy reading his commentary. He takes a verse, which I would simply gloss over, and delves deep into the meaning. In doing so, he highlights the importance of pondering each verse.

    Works Cited

    Henry, Matthew. “Psalm 76.” Matthew Henry’s Commentary On the Whole Bible: New Modern Edition. Volume 3, Hendrickson Publishers, Inc., March 1996.

    Holy Bible: Giant Print with Study Aids. Dugan Publishers, Inc., 1984.

    © 2025 Angela Hormberg