It is the wonderful work of the Holy Spirit to bring together an empty sinner and a full Christ. You cannot find salvation in what you do for the Lord, but salvation is secure in what He has done for you. You will never find rest in your prayers to Him. His prayers for you are the only ones that can save your soul and keep you in the circle of His grace for this life and for a better life to come in glory.

Beeke & Beeke, Developing a Healthy Prayer Life, 94.

The central focus of pilgrimage and Ps 84 is Yahweh-God, who bestows grace and glory and good things on those who live lives of integrity (v 12). “Walking” is another positive double entendre: those who walk in pilgrimage and those who “walk” with obedience and faith in the way of Yahweh.

MARVIN TATE, PSALMS 51-100, VOLUME 20 (WORD BIBLICAL COMMENTARY), 360.

The reference [birds who nest in the temple area near the altars of Yahweh Sabaoth (v 4)] must be to the nests of birds located in crevices in the walls of the buildings or in trees in the temple courts . . . The birds are symbols of the life, freedom, and joy of those who dwell close to God. . . . The speaker yearns for a privilege like that of the birds. Driven by inner motivations to build safe nests in which to hatch their young, they seem to be at home in the confines of the temple: “The holy place is the epitome of the undisturbed, fulfilled life” (Kraus, Psalms 60–150, 168). The birds are truly blessed, for they have found a safe residence in the house of the living God. The privileged status of birds recurs in Scripture and perhaps there is a similar longing in Jesus’ lament: “Foxes have holes and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay his head” (Luke 9:58, NIV). Likewise, in his admonition not to worry about tomorrow, Jesus points to the birds: “They do not sow, or reap, or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them” (Matt 6:26, NIV). From their privileged position in the nooks and crannies of the temple precincts, the birds fill the air with joyous song. The birds are like the temple singers, whose hallels to Yahweh Sabaoth—King and God—are never ending.

MARVIN TATE, PSALMS 51-100, VOLUME 20 (WORD BIBLICAL COMMENTARY), 356-358.

καί conjunction (Hom.+), found most frequently by far of all Gk. particles in the NT; since it is not only used much more commonly here than in other Gk. lit. but oft. in a different sense, or rather in different circumstances, it contributes greatly to some of the distinctive coloring of the NT style.

BDAG

But the Reformed never meant the [state and church] distinction to be a separation. . . . But life proved stronger than doctrine. Gradually this absolute position weakened. Already in the sixteenth century some Anabaptists and Socinians insisted that the government should abstain from all intervention in matters of religion . . .

Herman Bavinck, Reformed Dogmatics, IV:411-412

Never process anything of significance by yourself.

Dave Jacobs (smallchurchpastor.com)

The church’s job is not to grow. The church’s job is not to thrive or even to survive. The church’s job is to be the church.

Tim Suttle, Shrink: Faithful Ministry in a Church-Growth Culture, 30.

53. — All these powers are the attributes of Church discipline proper, which the Church herself exercises. But parallel to them is to be considered the power which belongs to the State in Church matters, the State or worldly government; the gubernatio ecclesiae civilis [civil government of the church = “that power which the civil magistrate exercises with respect to the church within his jurisdiction; specifically, a responsibility to protect true worship and the law of God. The power of the magistrate is defined as circa sacra, around the holy, not in sacra, in the holy” (Richard A. Muller, Dictionary of Latin and Greek Theological Terms, 133). — [Johann Heinrich] Heidegger (Med. XXVII, 43): “The government of the Church has been ecclesiastical in the past. It is civil, so far as the believing magistrate, armed with the sword, also cares for the Church along with the State and furthers and protects the pure worship of God, as the custodian of the two tables.”

54. — The State has the right to make laws and to watch over their observance; and all that the State ordains without conflicting with the Law of God, obligates the individual to obey and binds him in his conscience, because government is of God. — [Benedict] Pictet (XIII, 13, 2): “What are the functions of the magistrate? Ans. (1) To institute equitable and just laws and to sanction them with penalties that fit the crime; (2) to administer justice according to the law.” — [Johann Heinrich] Heidegger (Med. XXVII, 46): “The power of the magistrate consists in legislation and in the dispensing of judgments. — But the human laws of the civil power have no validity at all in regard to anything enjoined or forbidden by divine law. They are only valid for things which, where divine laws are not explicit, make for the preservation of order in human society. And so long as they do not sanction anything base or dishonorable, any laws of this kind bind conscience, because obedience depends not only on wrath but also on conscience, Rom. 13. 5 (not only because of the wrath, but also for conscience’ sake). Not because conscience of itself is subject to human laws, but because the magistracy is a divine ordinance and so receive from God who ordains it the power to pass laws. And since the power to legislate is invalid without judgments, judicial power also belongs to the magistrate.”

55. — But the government’s power extends still further. It comprises not only the sphere of civic life but also extends into the Church sphere — but here within quite definite limits, which the government must not pass without hurting the Church. — [Benedict] Pictet (XIII, xiii, 3): “The magistrate deals not only with things civil but also with things sacred, whence to him is entrusted the custody of God’s law.” — [Francis] Turretin (XVIII, xxxiv, 3): “The orthodox — lay it down, that the godly and believing magistrate cannot and ought not to be excluded from all care of religion and things sacred; such care is demanded of him by God; but that this right must be circumscribed within certain limits, to avoid confusion between the functions of ecclesiastical and political order.” — The Christian government, as all dogmaticians agree, is the “custodian of the two tables.”

56. — Church government proper does not belong to the State. — [Francis] Turretin (XVIII, xxix, 20): “The power of the magistrate in sacred things ought not to abrogate the power which belongs to the rulers of the Church, because although they deal with the same object materially, it is not the same formally. The power of the magistrate is outward, that of the pastor inward. The former is compulsory and corporal, armed as it is with the right and power of the sword; the latter is spiritual, coercing and convincing with spiritual weapons, i.e., with the word of God, and with censures applied to conscience. The former includes dominium, the latter only ministerium. The former is concerned with the Church and holy things kata to exo [according outside], the latter resides in the actual Church and is concerned kata to eso [according inside]. The former is called ecclesiastical objectively only and improperly; the latter formally and strictly.”

57. — The civil government’s power extends only circa sacra (not in sacra); as God’s servant it is entitled, or more correctly, bound to further the well-being of the Church in every connection; especially to give her the outward means for achieving her purposes, to support the Church’s outward means for achieving her purposes, to support the Church’s servants in the exercise of their office, to take measures for upholding Church order, to remove unworthy servants of the Church, to lead the more comprehensive Synods, to found schools, to take up oppressed communions of related faith: on the other hand to prevent the outcropping of false doctrines, and also to give protection against the misuses of Church authority. — [Johann Heinrich] Heidegger (Med. XXVII, 52): “Anything but simple is the care and power which belongs to the magistrate in religion and the Church. In that case the magistrate’s power as such regarding the Church consists in his being able and not able only but also bound to do that, by which he can serve Christ and His kingdom by the power granted him by God and to expand that kingdom. He is God’s minister alike to the individuals under him and also to the Church subjected to his imperium. — Therefor as regards Christ it is not power but diakonia [service] and kedemonia [guardianship] (ministerium et procuratio, ministry and delegated rule).

Heinrich Heppe, Reformed Dogmatics, 691-694.

Ps 82 opens abruptly, without an introduction, with an immediate focus on God (Yahweh) having taken his stand in the midst of a council, or assembly, of divine beings while he pronounces judgment (v 1). He is clearly in charge, presiding over the meeting. “God” is not further identified, but he is surely Yahweh, the “Great God” who is designated as the “Great King over all the gods” . . . The “gods” . . . are the divine beings who function as his counselors and agents. cf. v 6; Pss 8:6; 29:1 (“sons of gods”); 89:6–7; Exod 15:11; Job 1:6; 2:1; Gen 6:2. The scene is pictured as that of a divine assembly in which the great king pronounces sentence on some of the gods who have failed in their duties. . . .

Yahweh expects judges and leaders to protect the marginalized people in society: the poor, the oppressed, and those without family support. Thus Job in his days of power and wealth testified that he went into the gate (where legal cases were tried) and “delivered the poor who cried, / and the orphan who had no helper. / The blessing of the poor came upon me, / and I caused the widow’s heart to sing for joy” (Job 29:12–13, NRSV). Further he declared: “I was eyes to the blind, / and feet to the lame. / I was a father to the needy, / and championed the cause of the stranger. / I broke the fangs of the unrighteous / and made them drop their prey from their teeth” (Job 29:15–17, NRSV).

MARVIN TATE, PSALMS 51-100, VOLUME 20 (WORD BIBLICAL COMMENTARY), 334, 336.

[Psalm 58] is a vehement denunciation of the corruption of leaders and judges and an equally vehement call for their judgment. It concludes with an affirmation of the justice of God. . . . The background of the address to the . . . “mighty ones/gods,” in v 2 is that reflected in Deut 32:8–9 and Ps 82, which is the concept of the apportioned assignment of divine beings, or angels, to support and establish justice among the people to whom they were assigned. In Ps 82, the divine beings are put under the judgment of Yahweh because of their failure to maintain justice for the weak and dependent people of their realms (see Comment, Ps 82). The actual functions of the divine beings were exercised, of course, by human agents: kings, leaders, judges. It is clear in Ps 58 that immoral leaders are attacked and that they are the . . . “mighty ones/gods,” of v 2a. Thus the expression is sarcastic, addressing leaders who are supposed to function as agents of divine beings (probably claiming divine ordination for their powers) but who are in reality . . . “wicked ones” (v 4), whose true nature is described emphatically in v 3. There is probably an intended contrast between the “Mighty Ones” and the “sons of mankind” (translated “people” above). The leaders have the means and the responsibility to care for the common people, who have little defense against the oppression of those who have power. The Mighty Ones plot evil in their minds (“hearts”) and then carry it out in the land (v 3; cf. Ps 36:5), as in Mic 2:1:

Woe to those who desire wickedness and work evil upon their beds! When the morning dawns, they perform it, because it is in the power of their hand. (RSV)

The condemnation of unjust judgments and the evasion of the responsibility for justice on the part of leaders is a rather common subject in the prophetic literature: e.g., Amos 5:7; 6:12; Isa 1:23; 5:23; 10:1–4; Mic 3:11; Jer 5:26–29.

MARVIN TATE, PSALMS 51-100, VOLUME 20 (WORD BIBLICAL COMMENTARY), 83-85.