Philip Dampier's Blog

“Give thanks to the Lord for he is good, for his steadfast love endures forever.” (Psalm 136:1) A major theme of this psalm is God’s love which is both steadfast and eternal. It is repeated over and over in the psalm and enlarged in its explanation. Perhaps we need to…

“Those who make them become like them, so do all who trust in them.” (Psalm 135:18) This is a profound verse. If we are not careful, we might miss its impact. The subject, of course, is the making of idols. Idols are made by humans not the other way around.…

“May the Lord bless you from Zion, he who made heaven and earth.” (Psalm 134:3) When I read this verse, it reminds me that I often am looking for blessings from the earth, not heaven. It reminds me that God promised to open the windows of heaven to rain blessings…

“Behold, how good and pleasant it is when brothers dwell in unity.” (Psalm 133:1) The first and last verses of this three-verse psalm are very interesting when considered together. The first verse states how pleasant unity is and the third suggests that it is the root of the Lord’s blessing…

“Let us go to his dwelling place; let us worship at his footstool.” (Psalm 132:7) For the Jewish nation, the dwelling place for God was the temple in Jerusalem. The apex of their faith was to be able to make the trip to Zion, the glorious city of God. Jerusalem…

“But I have calmed and quieted my soul, like a weaned child with its mother; like a weaned child is my soul within me.” (Psalm 131:2) I look back over the majority of the eighty years of my life and realize that of all the needs I saw in people…

“I wait for the Lord, my soul waits, and in his word I hope.” (Psalm 130:5) Waiting is one of the difficult tasks of life. The more we anticipate the thing waited for, the harder it becomes. Perhaps all of us have a moment of, “How long, O Lord?” Even…

“The Lord is righteous; he has cut the cords of the wicked.” (Psalm 129:4) What is meant by righteous? Is it the quality of being right? If being righteous is being right and by that, we understand right all the time, then to be righteous as applied to God means…

“Blessed is everyone who fears the Lord, who walks in his ways!” (Psalm 128:1) All things come out well for those who fear God and obey his commands. It’s a constantly repeated promise from God and a repeated statement from His followers. What a wonderful thing the psalmist predicts, that…

“Unless the Lord builds the house, those who build it labor in vain. Unless the Lord watches over the city, the watchman stays awake in vain.” (Psalm 127:1) In a time and place of unrest and tribal wars, this was an important consideration. Time and time again walls were overrun…