Praise the God of Shelter and Strength

Introduction

Think of an illustration to introduce the main idea.

Context

The Psalmist writes with the invasion by Sennacherib (King of Assyria) in mind.

A time of great turmoil and fear [ILLUS. Impending war (WWII, 9/11)]

A time where feeling completely helpless and powerless is very real

The Psalmist will poetically declares to Israel (and us) why those who belong in the City of God (family) need not fear

Structure

The Psalmist writes his poem using a classic poet structure called Chiasm.

It’s a structure of creative arguments that leads the reader towards the climax

Then exits the poem in the exact same way (reinforcing the same arguments)

Essentially it’s a symmetrical structure [SHOW VISUAL EXAMPLE]

[SHOW VISUAL EXAMPLE]

Exegesis

I know this setup takes sometime, but I bring all of this up in order that you understand how to approach this poem. Understanding the context and structure offers so much more richness to the text and helps us arrive at the original poets meaning and intent.