sermon: Psalms for the Winter Blues
Songs of Hope and Praise
Richard T. Ritenbaugh
Given 07-Jan-12; Sermon #1082; 77 minutes
Description: (hide)
Richard Ritenbaugh reflects that winter is a time of cold, darkness, and sadness. In fact, as many as 10% of people in northern areas have Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD). Winter can be responsible for melancholy dispositions, especially when people are confined indoors. There may be a link between a certain section of the Psalms and help for this gloomy time of the year. Activating God’s Spirit by singing psalms will give us fortification, as the Psalms instruct us how to walk in wisdom. Meditating on the Psalms may be more important than we have thought. The poetic, song-like aspect of the Psalms makes Scripture memorable as well as memorizable. We find it easier to commit verse and music to memory, as opposed to prose alone. Many chapters and even full books of the Bible are songs, including Lamentations, Habakkuk 3, and large sections of the prophecies. The principle of gematria, in which each letter of the alphabet is assigned a numerical equivalent, seems to show that the number five designates divine grace and implies an association between Deuteronomy (the fifth book of the Law), Esther (the fifth of the Festival Scrolls), winter (the fifth season of the sacred year), and Book V of the Psalms (Psalms 107-150). We derive similar themes in these works, namely God’s triumph in accomplishing salvation.
Topics: (show)
Abib Adar Allow God’s Spirit to guide you Antiphonal choir Biblical Numerology Gematria Blessed and happy is the man Charis Chesed Christmas Creed Ninth of Av Depression Deuteronomy 3:24 Difficulty waking up Dirge Divine grace Dissipation Easter Ecclesiastes Ephesians 5:15-21 Esther Eternity Fall Five festival scrolls seasons Four I Timothy 3:16 God’s creativity God’s triumph in accomplishing salvation God’s spiritual creation Hallelujah Hallal Halloween Hashem mayim Hesed Jude 24-25 Listlessness Matthew 25 Megilloth Memory Multiple of five Parable of the minas Parable of the ten virgins Passover Pentecost Pessimism Poem Prayer of Hannah Psalms for the winter blues Psalm 92; 107:1-9; 113-118; 119; 120-134; 145; 150 Praise the Lord Preparing for cold Psalms of Ascents Rainy season Seasonal Affective Disorder II Timothy 2:11-13 Sleepiness Song of Songs Solomon Sunlight Winter Withdrawing
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