Covenanter Witness Vol. 54 - Rparchives.org

me"
abode."
means"
speech."
plea."
stands."
melody."
many."
prepare that thou mayest eat the passover"
over"
Lesson Helps for the Week of March 6, 1955
C.Y.P.U. TOPIC
February 27, 1955
WHAT THE PSALMS MEAN TO ME
Psalms 25, 91, 139
Charles McBurney
I guess I should be concerned about
whether others understand the Psalms.
I am. I ask one of the youngsters what
Psalm we should sing, and he says, "The
Lord builds up
Jerusalem."
We sing,
and I wonder if he knows what it means.
An elder is leading
prayer meeting.
He announces Psalm 91 and reads aloud
the first line: "The man who once has
found
know what that
A stranger comes
I ask myself, "Does he
into church. He
doesn't reach for a book when the first
Psalm is announced, so I note with satis
faction, out of the corner of my eye,
that some one near him finds the place
and hands him a Psalter. We stand to
sing, "Praise waits for Thee in Zion."
I am a little anxious. Does he under
stand
Important questions these, perhaps.
Yet none so important as that of to
night's topic, "What do the Psalms mean
to
Singing is communicating. My voice is
a musical instrument. Beauty and feel
ing I can communicate through the
movement, the harmony, the intensity of
music. But singing is more than music.
Singing is saying something: something
worth the time, the practice, the concen
tration necessary to put music and
words together. Something important.
If I do not understand the words of my
song, I am not singing.
Tonight I intend to become a better
Psalm-singer by becoming a better com
municator, by understanding more clear
ly what God has for me to sing about.
Three things I want to do. First, I
want to explain what some of the pre
cious Psalter verses mean to me. Second,
I want to listen to each of you while
you explain some of the verses. Third,
While these meanings are fresh in my
mind, I want to sing them into the words
so I can never forget them.
Here are some lines I want to know
better. Each one means something im
portant to me. Won't you explain how
some of them have impresed you Are
there others that have special meaning
for you Many of my ideas have come
from times when the lines were sung,
from sermons or Psalm explanations,
from reading about the experiences of
the Psalmist, from a study
of settings or
similar lines. Yours may come from
these or other sources. We will all be
richer for sharing and singing together.
104
Psalm 16: "The lines are fallen unto
me in pleasant places."
God's limitations.
I am happy with
Psalm 18: "My High Tower." There
is real safety in the perspective God
gives.
Psalm 19: "Day unto day uttereth
God is ready to talk to me
whenever I look up.
Psalm 23: "He makes me down to. lie
in pastures green."
there is plenty left.
Psalm 40:
hast."
I am satisfied, and
"Mine ear Thou opened
I am ear-marked for God.
Psalm 51: "On Thy grace I rest my
God is willing to give me what I
do not deserve.
Psalm 85: "Righteousness and peace
have kissed each other."
They
are so
affectionate we will never find one with
out the other.
Psalm 98: "Sing a new song to Je
hovah."
Every moment brings another
experience worth singing about.
Psalm 114:
"Like rams the moun
tains and like lambs the hills skipped to
and fro." When God gets ready for His
people to go places, things get out of the
way in a hurry.
Psalm 119, part 13: "More than my
teachers or the old Thy servant under
However godly they are, they
know God through their own experien
ces, not through mine.
Psalm 144: "And on a ten-stringed
instrument to Thee make Joy
ful obedience to all the Ten Command
ments makes the only perfect praise.
What can help me see the meaning in
the Psalms What can help others get
from my singing the meaning which the
Psalms hold for me What makes my
praise acceptable to God
When you have answered these ques
tions, pray for these things. They are
important.
JUNIOR TOPIC
March 6, 1955
by Mrs. Philip W. Martin
LAST FEAST AND FIRST SUPPER
Scripture: Mark 14:10-25
Memory Verse: "And he said unto
them, This is my blood of the new testa
ment, which is shed for
14:24
Psalms
Mark
Memory Psalm for March, Psalm 130 :
1-5, page 325
Psalm 116:8, 9, 11, 12, page 282
Psalm 98:1-4,
Psalm 3:1, 2, 5, page 5
page 235
As the time drew near when Jesus
was to die on the cross for our sins, the
religious leaders of the Jews were get
ting more and more angry because when
Jesus spoke to the people it seemed as if
He always hit at their sins. None of us
like to be told we are sinners. These
leaders got together to discuss how they
might quietly get Jesus out of the way.
They were afraid to kill Him openly be
cause many of the Jews were beginning
to believe in Him. Jesus had twelve dis
ciples but Satan had possession of the
heart of one of these twelve
Judas Is
cariot. Just because Judas went around
with Jesus did not make him a Chris
tian. And it does not make you or me a
Christian just to have our names on the
church roll or on the list of the Juniors.
Judas agreed that if the rulers of the
Jews would give him thirty pieces of
silver, he would show them where Je
sus could be found
lead them to Him!
in fact, he would
Jesus knew that the time was drawing
near when He would be put on the cross.
It was almost the time at which the
Jews celebrated their deliverance from
Egypt back in Moses' time when the an
gel of death "passed
those homes
where blood was put on the top and
two sides of the door. Those who were
behind that blood were saved, but into
those homes which did not have the
blood on the door, the angel of death
entered and killed all the firstborn. This
was a picture of the blood of Jesus
Christ which would save us from our
sins. Every year the Jews were to cele
brate the Passover as they looked for
ward to the coming of Christ.
Jesus, in fulfilling the law, prepared
to eat the passover. His disciples asked
Him, "Where wilt thou that we go and
Jesus had no home of His own
so He sent two of His disciples into the
city and told them they would meet a
man carrying
a pitcher of water. (The
women were the ones who carried wa
ter so it would be easy to pick out the
man whom Jesus meant.) He told them
to follow him and wherever he went in,
there the disciples were to ask the goodman
of the house, "The Master saith,
'Where is the guestchamber where I
shall eat the passover with my disci
ples' "
Jesus said that this man would
show them a large upper room all furn
ished and prepared. There is where the
disciples were to prepare the passover
meal which was to be eaten at mid
night. The disciples did as Jesus told
them and found everything just as He
had said.
They prepared the passover
supper. When everything was ready, Je
sus and His twelve disciples went into
the feast. The table was in the shape of
COVENANTER WITNESS