Psalm 94 Summary - 5 Minute Bible Study
Psalm 94 Short Summary:
Psalm 94 contrasts the foolish wicked man with the man who accepts God’s instruction. The foolish man commits evil acts and thinks God does not see. He is a fool because God sees everything, and He will have His day of vengeance. The wise man heeds God’s commands and trusts in God to protect Him from the threats of the wicked.
Psalm 94 Summary
AUTHOR:
The author of Psalm 94 is unknown.
NEW TESTAMENT REFERENCES:
1 Corinthians 3:20
THEMES:
God is fully aware of all the evil that happens on the earth.
God will protect His people from that evil and take vengeance.
DEFINITIONS:
Sojourner (94:6) - The Bible uses the word “stranger” or “sojourner” to describe foreigners (people who weren’t descendants of the 12 sons of Jacob) who lived amongst the Israelites in the Promised Land.
OUTLINE:
NO SIN IS HIDDEN FROM GOD’S EYES AND EARS (94:1-11):
The psalmist called on the “God of vengeance” to judge the earth and punish the proud.
Haughty wicked people were all over the earth, and the psalmist wanted to know when God was planning to judge them.
He wrote, “They crush your people, O Lord, and afflict your heritage. They kill the widow and the sojourner, and murder the fatherless; and they say, “The Lord does not see; the God of Jacob does not perceive” (94:7).
They didn’t believe God was going to do anything about their wickedness, they were so proud that they thought they were going to get away with it forever.
They lived as if God was deaf and blind to all their evil.
The psalm writer called them dull and foolish for living this way.
God made human ears, of course He could hear!
God made human eyes, of course He could see!
God not only heard their schemes and saw their crimes He knew their inner thoughts.
THE LORD WILL NOT FORSAKE HIS PEOPLE (94:12-23):
In contrast to the wicked man who tries to ignore God, the psalmist wrote that a man who is taught and disciplined by God is a blessed man.
God offers him stability and comfort.
He wrote that God would not abandon His people to sinners, He would take His vengeance and give them justice.
The psalmist saw God as His hero, the hero who would rise to save him from evildoers.
He was confident God would “bring back on them their iniquity and wipe them out for their wickedness” (94:23).
APPLICATION:
This chapter explains the purpose and heart of proper discipline, which is very valuable for parents.
In this psalm, the writer blesses the man who is disciplined by God, because he says that that man will avoid “days of trouble.”
God disciplines (chastens, KJV) His people to redirect them away from paths that will lead them into future trouble.
Parents need to discipline their children for the same reason.
We discipline because we love our children, and we want their future to be filled with good days, not troubled days.
Discipline’s goal is to uproot the growth of ungodly behavior in a child as soon as it’s noticed.
Refusing to discipline gives time for those roots to grow deeper and stronger, which will make them all the harder to pull out of the heart later.
We must tend the garden of our children’s hearts every day. Just as weeding a garden isn’t pleasant, so discipline is not always pleasant, but it is necessary to prepare a soul to bear fruit in a bright future.
