Chapter 115

1st, Intro, let the glory be to God.

2nd, 2 verses, God is in heaven.

3rd, Idols are just things, that don't have any power even to speak or see, or hear.  Those who worship idols become like idols.  Putting in all the verses:

4 Their idols are silver and gold, the work of human hands. 5 They have mouths, but do not speak; eyes, but do not see. 6 They have ears, but do not hear; noses, but do not smell. 7 They have hands, but do not feel; feet, but do not walk; and they do not make a sound in their throat. 8 Those who make them become like them; so do all who trust in them. [Psa 115:4-8 ESV]

Look what this says!  Idols - the things that get worshiped as substitutes for God - are completely impotent.  They can't hear your prayers, they can't act on your prayers.  They have no influence or purpose or use in the universe.  And if you trust these idols, you become just as purposeless as they are.  If we feel purposeless, directionless, at a loss to "be somebody", maybe it is because we are to busy worshiping idols.

This is a FB post for sure.  Noted on 7/23/20.

4th, Trust in the Lord, He is our help and shield.  Written kind of like a chorus to a song would be.

5th, The Lord will bless those who fear him, both small and great.

6th, 2 verses, a blessing pronounced, presumably on the hearers of the Psalm.  A good benediction at the end of a class, a Bible study, or lunch with a good Christian friend.  The end of a text, an email, a letter.  Many places for this little blessing:

14 May the LORD give you increase, you and your children! 15 May you be blessed by the LORD, who made heaven and earth! [Psa 115:14-15 ESV]

7th, These last three verses:

16 The heavens are the LORD's heavens, but the earth he has given to the children of man. 17 The dead do not praise the LORD, nor do any who go down into silence. 18 But we will bless the LORD from this time forth and forevermore. Praise the LORD! [Psa 115:16-18 ESV]

A verse that could be used to show that heaven is free of Satan and his followers.  They could not be in the presence of God.  And then 17 says praise Him while you breath.  It is the basis for David's prayers asking that his life continue, so that he could praise God on the earth, and proclaim God on the earth.

2021 - So, space exploration, telescopes, astronomy, astrophysics....all those things and more are about man exploring the realm of God.  Geology, oceanography, meteorology, volcanology...all those are about man exploring his own realm.  Surely there are some implications to this.  Contrast them...the heavens are so vast we cannot explore directly but we must use remote means.  The earth we can explore with our own senses.  We cannot confirm our hypotheses about the heavens because the time scales are too long for experimentation.  We can experiment and confirm many - maybe even most - of our earthly hypotheses.  Still, even on earth we have hypotheses that also require this tremendously long time to be true.  Maybe the fact that the only way we can "explain" these things is to attribute time beyond comprehension to them is the stamp God put on them to identify them as His doing?  ((I really like that phrase!)))

Possible FB post.