John Mark Hicks

Why “go to church”? Or, better, why participate in the assembly of fellow-believers? Psalm 40 provides a response. We go to tell the story, to proclaim the good news of God’s righteousness, God’s saving work. To rehearse the story of God’s steadfast love and faithfulness. We go to present our living sacrifices to the Lord […]

Ever feel like life is not exactly the way it is supposed to be, and you wanna’ say something? Psalm 39 is for you. Functioning like Job and Ecclesiastes, the Psalmist cannot keep silent. The fire in the Psalmist ‘s bones protests and groans over the brevity of life, its trouble and seemingly pointlessness. Nevertheless, […]

Psalm 38: A Penitential Psalm. As the Psalmist approaches Yahweh with a memorial offering, the petitioner confesses sin and laments the suffering. “There is no shalom in my bones, and family, friends, and neighbors have distanced themselves from me.” The memorial offering seeks God’s forgiveness, healing, and communal reconciliation. One of the Penitential Psalms, the […]

Psalm 35 is a passionate lament that contains a strong contrast between human injustice and divine righteousness. Though the Psalmist empathetically prayed and fasted for those who seek to do the Psalmist harm when they were weak and needy, now they devise evil and hate him without cause. The Psalmist prays for justice according to […]

May one lament and trust at the same time, even in the same moment? Psalm 31 does, and Jesus quotes this Psalm as his last words on the cross. What does trust look like when surrounded by mockers, predators, and living on the verge of death? How does one trust in such circumstances? This is […]

Psalm 30 narrates a testimony of God’s deliverance, but the narrative involves God’s hiddenness, and the petitioner struggles with God. The Psalmist asks, “What profit is there in my death?” Though once prosperous, the Psalmist experienced God’s hiddenness, and then God’s grace. The Psalmist has come to the temple to testify, give thanks, and invite […]

Psalm 26 is a plea for grace and a thanksgiving for God’s response. The heart that trusts God rather than the heart that devises evil is heard, and the people who meditate on the works of God rather than those who pursue their own evil works are heard. God is not silent. God responds, evil […]

Psalm 22 is the lament and confession of a righteous sufferer in the expectation of God’s righteous deliverance. The Psalmist identifies with the story of Israel, and Jesus himself appropriates this Psalm for his own lament and confession in the hope of his own vindication. This is not a Psalm about divine wrath or punishment […]

How does one ask, “Why, O Lord, do you hide yourself in times of trouble?” and also confess, “The Lord is King . . . and you will hear the desire of the afflicted”? This is Psalm 10 Bobby Valentine and John Mark Hicks discuss the significance of this Psalm as the voice of the […]

Bobby Valentine and John Mark Hicks walk through the meaning of Psalm 9, which both remembers God’s mighty deeds for Israel in the past with gratitude and cries out to God to renew those mighty deeds in the present. It is a Psalm of both thanksgiving and lament. The Psalm remembers God’s justice for the […]