From a devotional for Tuesday, 5-4-2021

1. Seeing and savoring Jesus in Book 2 of the Psalms (Ps 42 - 72)
Good morning. Thisweekwe will try(DeoValente)tolookatJesusinthe book of Psalms,givingashort
and very incompleteglimpse. Thiswill coveralotof groundand writtenwithanearlyexitsoyoucan
bail afterpsalms42-47 or set itaside.
Book1 endedwithablessedbutpoorand rejectedman. Book2 will beginwithsomeone tryingto
shake off depressionwithGod’shelp. The mostcommon wayto addressbeingcrushedordepressedin
Psalmsisto preachtruth to self andPsalmswill be filledwith muchpreachingto self We see this by
example inPsalm42.
Section 1: Psalm 42-47 Depression, persecution, and a wedding at the
end of history
A new group of Psalmists start tosing, the Sons of Korah. They represent us.
Korah opposed Moses. The ground opened and swallowed Korah and his own but
Numbers 26:11 says, “notall the Sons of Korah died”. And here they are. When
David moved the ark to Jerusalem, he put them in charge of guarding it. Musical
bouncers in the temple writing Psalms. They should be in the gravebut are not.
Instead of opposing God’s holiness, they protect it. The Sons of Korah are a
stunning picture of grace but clearly not without problems in this world.
We will alsosee Jesus as King in his wedding in Psalm 45. Book 1 ended with
the blessed, rejected, and poor man but here he is a King and at his wedding in a
‘love song’ and nothing shall separateus fromHis love.
Psalm 42,43 Jonah’s prayersshowed us hethought about Psalm3, he also was
thinking about Psalm42 and the tiny Psalm43 which is like an additional stanza.
Clearly Jonah had plenty of water, but desperatefor God and as Jesus said,
‘blessed are those who hunger after righteousness” and hunger or thirst for God a
good thing.
Psalm 44 Problems not ended Psalm44 has someof the worsepictures of
persecution in the Psalms. We see this Psalmeven quoted in Romans 8. Where
we were led by still waters ‘for your name’ sakein Psalm 23, here weare led like
sheep to slaughter in Psalm44 also ‘for your sake’. (It’s notall about us. God’s
passion is for God’s glory butshowing mercy is near the apex of God’s glory and
we are happy recipients of that. 😊) The Psalms ends with an appeal for help ‘for
your loving-kindness sake’, appealing to God’s character a good way to pray.

2. Psalm 45 There is a huge upturnand by title ‘alove song’ in Psalm 45. A
wedding song of a Jewishking and why not since the troubles of this world are
followedby the marriage supper of the lamb. Psalm45 is quotedin Hebrews
1:8 and yet another argument why Jesus is better thanthe angels. “Thy throne,
Oh God, is forever and ever and the righteous scepter is the scepter of your
kingdom”
Psalm 46”. A song of hope in God following a “LoveSong” “Wedding Song” is
stronger if the Bridegroom is God the Son poetically represented as Jewish King.
“Though the earth give way” in Ps 46 as wroteby the Sons of Korah is also a
reminder of where they could have been had it not been for grace.
Theologian Michael Reeves points out “according to lilies/according to Alamoth”
in the title can mean sung ‘in high voices’ and may representthe women chorus
singing after the wedding. Possibly. David Guzik also agrees, saying to the
Chief Musician. ... “An ode upon Alamoth or concerning the virgins: possibly
meaning a choir of singing girls. The Psalm inspired ‘A mighty Fortress is our God
Psalm 47 has the gospel going to gentiles in somesense as ‘the princes are
gathered as the people of Abraham” and the invitations for this wedding to ‘join
the party’ sentnear and far.
This is where I give an earlyexit and hope you have a blessedday! If you preferthe short versionstop
here. Have a blessedday and look forward to the marriage supper of the lamb!!!

3. That was a lot. Ifyou want to read more on Psalms book 2 and how Jesusis seeninit, read on, or set
it aside and come back to it another time. Feel free tostop.
And for those pressingon a little farther,Psalms 49-53 isworth dwellingon. A call to the worldto be
aware of the needof redemptionandDavid’s model prayer for mercy in the center,Ps 51.
Section 2: Psalm 49-53 The right response to the coming judgement is
a plea to “Create in me a clean heart”
“There is no one righteous no not one” from Psalm 14 comes back
expansively”. David gives a model prayer of mercy
Psalm 49 God calls to the world, at large, the gentiles, young, old, rich, poor about
the need for redemption and it is too costly for a man to redeem himself
Psalm 50 God calls to his people warning about wrong sacrificeand wrong
worship
Psalm 51 David’s prayer is the centerpiece. Davidappeals to Gods character of
“Loyal lovingkindness”for mercy having nothing else tostandon and at the
center verse is “createinme a cleanheart”. He appeals to the God who can call
light out of darkness.
Psalm52 Doeg the Edomite who killed the priests who shared bread with David is
the poster child of the wicked and headed for judgement
Psalm53 The problem doesn’tstop with ‘the worseof society’ like Doeg. We are
all in the samelarge boat. Psalm 53 starts word for word like Psalm14 and
reminds us how expansivethe problem is ‘no one is righteous, no not one.
Together they have become corrupt” and quoted in Romans and applied
mankind.
Section 3: A victorious ascension made possible by Jesus Suffering
Psalm 68 Jesus ascensionseeninthe ark going up Mount Zion. “Let God arise, and
his enemies be scattered” is what Moses said as the ark moved. God is on the move and moves
through the wilderness and history in the form of the ark, God arising, and his enemies being
scattered. The ark moves up Mount Zion (aka Jerusalem) and stays, ascending and bringing

4. captives with it on high. Perhaps surprisingly this is quoted in Ephesians as representing Jesus
ascension, bring us with and giving gifts to men.
It saysa lotaboutJesusthat the ark can figurativelyrepresentJesusatall. The ark stoodfor the
presence of Godwithus. The ark,like the tabernacle,wasmade of bothpreciousmetalssuchasgoldas
well ascommonsuch as wood. Thisis fittingof JesuswhoisbothfullymanandfullyGod.
Psalm 69 Jesus rejected, opposed, betrayed This is another look at the sufferings and
betrayal of Christ We see more details about Jesus death and betrayal by ‘the anti-friend’
character Judas who we also saw before in Psalm41. A highlighted attribute of God is God’s
loyal loving-kindness and the anti-friend Judas figure is anything but in Ps 69.
Some versesinthisPsalmfamiliarlike “Zeal foryourhouse hasconsumedme” and some familiarin
anotherway “More that the hairsof myheadare those whohate me” describe the rejection of Jesus
thiscontrastswiththe comfortingstatementof Jesusthat “The Father knowsthe numberof the hairs
on yourhead”. The anti-friedwill betrayJesusand‘mayhistable become asnare’as quotedabout
Judasin Actsremindusit isour wronglyplaceddesiresandinclinationsof the heartthattrap us and we
needbetterpleasuresandbettertreasures.We needaworkof God to getnew hearts.
Section 4: David the son of Jesse, the kid from Bethlehem’s prayers
are ended as King Jesus reigns
Solomon is blessed in this closing Psalmbearing his name in the title. His rule covers the earth.
The fruitfulness is so great that wheat grows on mountain tops not just plains And the Prayers
of David son of Jesse, the kid from Bethlehem are ended with the thought. David doesn’t refer
to himself as king here and why would he if the King is Jesus. Figuratively and hyperbolically
Solomon, most literally and fully King Jesus.