in Christ: Andrew Fountain's blog

Did the young shepherd-boy David sit down under a tree one day, his sheep all around, and start to compose “The Lord is my Shepherd”? Or was it written at the end of his life as he contemplated God’s faithful care?

I like to think that it was both—the first draft composed as a teenager, and then as the years went by, more life experiences were woven in until the final word, “forever”.

In this talk I speculate about what events might have been the inspiration for each line. Check it out:

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Today I preached on Psalm 90
At first sight this seems like a very depressing Psalm:

7. Yes, we are consumed by your anger,
   
   and by your wrath we are terrified.

Not very encouraging. Let's see how it continues...

8. You have set our iniquities before you,
   
   our secret sins in the light of your presence.

...But it gets worse:

9. All our days pass away under your wrath,
   
   we finish our years with a moan.
   [literal translation]
10. The length of our days is seventy years
    
    or if we have strength, eighty;
    

    yet their best is but trouble and oppression;
    

    for they quickly pass and we fly away.

I am teaching a course on the Psalms right now, so I have been looking around to see what material is available on the internet. There are two excellent resources which I can highly recommend and they are both free.