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Table of Contents

Psalms: a survey _____________________________________________________________ 3

Introduction and overview _________________________________________________________ 3

The ‘love and faithfulness’ and related motifs _________________________________________ 6

Types of psalms _________________________________________________________________11

A theology of worship as revealed in the Psalms. ______________________________________13

The Gospel in the Book of Psalms___________________________________________________21

Psalms: selected meditations _________________________________________________ 36

A meditation on Psalm 23: the Gospel Psalm _________________________________________36

A reflection on Psalm 40: a psalm of salvation ________________________________________43

A contemplation of Psalm 73: a confusion resolved ____________________________________46

An appraisal of Psalm 137: the longing for Zion _______________________________________50

Psalms: the practice _________________________________________________________ 55

A practical theology of contemporary congregational worship ___________________________55

Psalms as Therapy _______________________________________________________________58

Praying the Psalms ______________________________________________________________63

Psalms: articles: “The Costly Loss of Lament” (pp. 98-111) and “Bounded by Obedience and

Praise” (pp. 189-213), from The Psalms and the Life of Faith. ________________________ 74

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Psalms: a survey Introduction and overview

Introduction: Perhaps a most suitable introduction to any Psalms study is Patrick Miller’s preface to Interpreting the Psalms where he says,

[T]he psalms belong both at the centre of the life and worship of Christian congregations and in the midst of the personal pilgrimage that each of us makes under the shadow of the Almighty.1

In light of Miller’s conviction, this present series of studies on the Psalter is offered with the prayer that its usefulness may be restored to the contemporary church especially in view of the NT instruction to sing ‘psalms, hymns and spiritual songs’ (Eph 5:19; Col 3:16) and the Early Church use of the book. As Eugene Peterson says, ‘It is not easy to understand how anything so deeply understood and widely practised - the Psalms as the technology of prayer - should have shrunk in our time to a mere remnant’.2 Of course, Peterson’s topic is the Psalms as prayer, a major function among a number of the Psalter’s important purposes. In this introduction, another of the Psalter’s functions will be briefly considered (though later in more detail alongside other purposes), but one which is intrinsic and integral to the book; that of the life of faith tested in the crucible of a confusing world.

Thus, the Book of Psalms, among other important purposes, records God’s people’s struggle with faith, faith in God’s covenant love as revealed in Exodus 34:6-7 (see below). The Psalms end in a doxology of abandoned praise for Yahweh’s faithful love. Noted OT and Psalms’ scholar, Walter Brueggemann, suggests that the book was deliberately arranged to take the worshipper from orientation, through disorientation, to new or reorientation.3 To illustrate, the first psalm lays out an ordered expectation of life lived in obedience to the Torah; for example, those who obey will be blessed, and those who rebel will be judged. However, progress through the Psalms brings another reality into view as faith is severely tested; for instance, the righteous sometimes suffer, while the wicked prosper. The final section arrives at a reoriented situation whereby the worshipper having come through the depths of ‘confusing incongruence’ to rejoice in God’s, now proven, faithful love. This pattern is found in microform in Psalm 73 (see below). In light of this, Brueggemann calls the Psalms, ‘a crisis of God’s hesed (covenant love)’.4

The following is a summary of selected psalms showing Israel’s struggle to trust in God’s covenant love. Some surprising prayers are revealed here. The first group is a selection of psalms that question. They could be called, as per Brueggemann, ‘psalms of disorientation’. The second selection affirms God’s faithful love and mostly fit into the ‘new orientation’ classification.

Psalms that question God’s faithfulness at times of trial:

Psalm 22: Here the psalmist expresses deep trouble that evokes the cry, ‘why have you forsaken me’ (vv. 1-2). To the people of God in OT times, such a cry meant ‘why isn’t God helping me at this time’, rather than ‘why has he left me altogether’, otherwise they would 1 Patrick Miller, Interpreting the Psalms (Philadelphia, PA: Fortress, 1986), vii.

2 Eugene Peterson, Answering God: The Psalms as Tools for Prayer (San Francisco: Harper Collins, 1991), 6.

3 Walter Brueggemann, ‘Bounded by Obedience and Praise: The Psalms as Canon’, in The Psalms and the Life of

Faith (Minneapolis, MN: Fortress, 1995), 189-213. 4

Walter Brueggemann, The Psalms and the Life of Faith (Minneapolis, MN: Fortress, 1995), 196-199.

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likely not pray at all. The believer can still believe and trust and yet feel that God is not acting on his or her behalf. Jesus took up this cry on the cross to express his sense of abandonment (Matt 27:46). It seems to me there was not a corporeal separation or a mystical gulf between him and his Father, but rather an abandonment of God’s ‘present help’ (Psa 46:1) at that period of time – though God is always present. The psalm concludes in confident affirmation and praise.

Psalm 44: This psalm is well ordered in its layout. It is different in that the psalmist struggles with God’s seeming injustice in consideration of the fact that, even though the people of God were faithful and righteous, God was not ‘going out with their armies’ (v. 9). They were being defeated; where was God to be found? The psalm rehearses the previous victories of Israel as well as the spiritual conditions required for these victories (vv. 1-3). The writer then repeats these conditions saying that Israel was fulfilling them all – but God was not with them (i.e., not helping them just then; vv. 4-16). The psalm ends, not with praise or confidence, but with a cry for help on the basis of Yahweh’s covenant love. This is faith; a cry to God when all seems lost. This psalm may be the best and most poignant example of Israel’s ‘struggle with God’s hesed’.

Psalm 73: This central psalm (almost exactly halfway, and beginning the third book) is thought by Brueggemann to be the book of Psalms in miniature. It starts with positive affirmation (v. 1), then runs into ‘confusing incongruence’ (vv. 4-12), ending finally in faith (vv. 17ff).5 It is a psalm of great wisdom for living because it explains that true happiness is not found in material or physical things and that there is no guarantee that believers will live charmed lives when it comes to such things. However, when it comes to the true values in life, believers do have the ultimate. God is with us (vv. 23ff.), is the message of the psalm.

Psalm 77: This psalm is confronting in its statement of desertion. ‘God has deserted his people’ is the sentiment here. The question is even asked, ‘Has God forgotten to be merciful’ (vv. 7-9), suggesting that he has broken his covenant with his people. Such words convey the depth of agony to which his people had come. (In this regard, Brueggemann points out that NT believers have lost the valuable practice of communal lament.)6 The psalmist finds an answer, however, in spite of Yahweh’s seeming desertion. He remembers what God has done; particularly at the Exodus (vv. 10-12). The Exodus was to Israel what the Cross is to Christians. Israel looked back in faith to the Exodus and found in it stability in the face of desperate times; we look back to the Cross and find assurance of faith in our confusing experiences.

Psalms that affirm God’s faithfulness:

Psalm 23: This psalm is everyone’s favourite because it speaks so personally assuring us of the great compassion of God our shepherd who cares for us (see meditation below). It is a psalm not just for trouble, but for all of life because it speaks of provision, direction, joy and comfort. It also includes strength and comfort in times of trouble, even in death. There is a sentiment of deep care and relationship that emanates from the psalmist, which is another reason why the psalm has become a timeless treasure.

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Brueggemann, ‘Bounded by Obedience’, 189-213.

6 Walter Brueggemann, ‘The Costly Loss of Lament’, in The Psalms and the Life of Faith (Minneapolis, MN:

Fortress, 1995), 98-111.

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Psalm 27: This is definitely a psalm of faith; a proclamation of the Lord’s saving and protecting nature. The bulk of the psalm brings testimony to the writer’s devotion to prayer especially his longing for God’s presence which he sees as the real purpose of prayer; that is, God’s presence is the purpose of prayer. The second last stanza is a prayer with the last two verses being a statement of confident expectation coupled with an exhortation. Underlying all that is said is the faithfulness of God; actually his love and faithfulness (see review below on this motif).

Psalm 40: The writer of this psalm had recently experienced a major answer to prayer. He rejoiced at what God had done for him (vv. 1-3). From this point of view, the psalm is a great inspiration to faith in God’s covenant love. It encourages prayer with confidence. In spite of a range of psalms expressing question and confusion, which are an authentic part of life, there are, nevertheless, times of ecstatic joy, which demonstrate that after earnest prayer, God answers. The remainder of the psalm, which is the larger part, is in two main sections; the first is a proclamation of God’s faithfulness (or righteousness) with an exhortation to trust in God (vv. 9-10), followed by a prayer (vv. 11ff.), for although God has done great things for the writer, he still has need. In fact, he is ‘poor and needy’ (v. 17).

Psalm 107: This fascinating psalm presents various scenarios of need, followed by prayer and, in each case, salvation (e.g., vv. 4-9). The range of needs covered by each cameo envelopes many potential human crises and from that point of view is so valuable. At the beginning and end of each section is an exhortation to praise God because of his many benefits that are recalled throughout the psalm (e.g., vv. 1, 8, 15, 21, 31-32). The teaching point is found in the last verse (v. 43) where readers are exhorted to heed the words of the psalm to consider the faithful (covenant) love of the Lord, and to be always thankful for God’s amazing mercies and faithfulness. The psalm is a rich source of encouragement due to its stories of God’s intervention.

Reflection and discussion:

1. Share a positive experience that involved the reading or memory of a psalm.

2. Which psalm do you most frequently recall and why?

3. Discuss the psalmists’ questioning of God and what purpose this might have served and may currently serve?

4. Which aspects of the Psalms trouble or baffle you? How do you try, if you do, to resolve such issues?

5. Reflect on and discuss the place of the Psalter in Scripture; specifically, discuss its nature, content, relationship to the rest of Bible, its original and its historic Christian and contemporary usage.

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The ‘love and faithfulness’ and related motifs

Text: Exodus 34:5-7: ‘Then the LORD came down in the cloud and stood there with him and proclaimed his name, the LORD. 6And he passed in front of Moses, proclaiming, “The LORD, the LORD, the compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness, 7maintaining love to thousands, and forgiving wickedness, rebellion and sin. Yet he does not leave the guilty unpunished; he punishes the children and their children for the sin of the fathers to the third and fourth generation.”’

Introduction: The ‘love and faithfulness’ and associated motifs (other closely related phrases include ‘love and truth’ and ‘mercy and truth’) run like a redemptive river throughout the Scriptures, especially the Old Testament, finally arriving at a destination in the person of the Lord Jesus Christ who is full of ‘grace and truth’ (John 1:16-17; a possible NT rendering of the OT motif, ‘love and faithfulness’). The revelation begins with Moses request for Yahweh to show his glory. In revealing himself to Moses, he presented the magisterial declaration found in Exodus 34:6-7, which became a centre for Israel’s theology, devotion and practice, as evidenced from the citations below. As Newing shows, these Exodus verses are ‘one of the most fundamental statements of God’s character in the Scriptures’ and are central to the Pentateuch and the OT.7 It is vital, therefore, to understand these OT motifs to better comprehend the Psalms, especially in light of Brueggemann’s designation of the book as, ‘A Crisis of God’s hesed.’8 It is also crucial to understand the motifs because, as just noted, they form a significant backbone to the whole Scripture. The revelation of God’s covenant love, especially now in the person of Christ, is fundamental to faith (Eph 1:6-8, 2:5-6).

1. Examples of ‘love and faithfulness’ and associated phrases in Psalms (and Proverbs).

Psalm 36:5: ‘Your love, O LORD, reaches to the heavens, your faithfulness ’.

Psalm 40:10: ‘righteousness in my heart; I speak of your faithfulness and salvation. I do not conceal your love’.

Psalm 40:11: ‘Do not withhold your mercy from me, O LORD; may your love and your truth always protect me.’

Psalm 57:3: ‘God sends his love and his faithfulness.’

Psalm 57:10: ‘For great is your love, reaching to the heavens; your faithfulness’.

Psalm 61:7: ‘in God’s presence forever; appoint your love and faithfulness to protect him.’

Psalm 85:10: ‘Love and faithfulness meet together’.

Psalm 86:15: ‘gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness.’

Psalm 88:11: ‘Is your love declared in the grave, your faithfulness ’.

Psalm 89:14: ‘love and faithfulness go before you.’

Psalm 89:33: ‘but I will not take my love from him, nor will I ever betray my faithfulness ’.

Psalm 89:49: ‘O Lord, where is your former great love, which in your faithfulness you swore’.

Psalm 92:2: ‘to proclaim your love in the morning and your faithfulness ’.

7

Edward G. Newing, Old Testament Theology Lecture Notes, 2:3, 5 (Adelaide, SA: Tabor College, 1996).

8 Brueggemann, The Psalms, 196-199.

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Psalm 98:3: ‘He has remembered his love and his faithfulness to the house of Israel ’.

Psalm 100:5: ‘For the LORD is good and his love endures forever; his faithfulness continues through all generations’.

Psalm 103:8: ‘The LORD is compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, abounding in love.’

Psalm 105:8: ‘He remembers his covenant forever, the word he commanded, for a thousand generations.’

Psalm 108:4: ‘For great is your love, higher than the heavens; your faithfulness ’.

Psalm 111:4: ‘He has caused his wonders to be remembered; the LORD is gracious and compassionate.’

Psalm 115:1: ‘to your name be the glory, because of your love and faithfulness.’

Psalm 117:2: ‘For great is his love toward us, and the faithfulness of the Lord endures forever’.

Psalm 138:2: ‘temple and will praise your name for your love and your faithfulness ’.

Psalm 145:8: ‘The LORD is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and rich in love.’

Proverbs 16:6: ‘Through love and faithfulness sin is atoned for’.

Proverbs 20:28: ‘Love and faithfulness keep a king safe’.

2. In addition to the above, the motifs run like a thread through the OT:

Introduction: Kenneth Barker notes, ‘Exodus 34:6-7: The Lord's proclamation of the meaning and implications of his name in these verses became a classic exposition that was frequently recalled elsewhere in the OT (see Num 14:18; Neh 9:17; Psa 86:15; 103:8; 145:8; Joel 2:13; Jonah 4:2).’9

a. Deuteronomy 5: 9-10 (and 7:9): ‘You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God, punishing the children for the sin of the fathers to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me, 10but showing love to a thousand generations of those who love me and keep my commandments.’ Here in these primary pronouncements of the commandments, momentous in Israel’s identity, covenant love is central. Likewise, the historically significant time of the return of the ark to its resting place in the tabernacle, David composed a psalm which included the words, ‘He remembers his covenant forever, the word he commanded for a thousand generations’ (1 Chron 16:15), and, ‘Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good; his love endures forever’ (1 Chron 16:34).

b. Numbers 14:18: ‘“The LORD is slow to anger, abounding in love and forgiving sin and rebellion. Yet he does not leave the guilty unpunished; he punishes the children for the sin of the fathers to the third and fourth generation.”’ This was the occasion when God threatened to destroy his people for their continued disobedience and stubbornness, but Moses stood in the gap for them. Moses used the revelation of God’s nature from Exodus 34:6-7 as his argument. He said, in Numbers 14:19, ‘In accordance with your great love, forgive the sin of these people, just as you have pardoned them from the time they left Egypt until now.’

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Kenneth Barker, The New International Version Study Bible Notes, rev. edn. (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2002).

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As we know, Yahweh listened to Moses and forgave his people. This was obviously a significant moment in Israel’s history and one in which the Exodus revelation was crucial.

c. 2 Chronicles 30:9: ‘“If you return to the LORD, then your brothers and your children will be shown compassion by their captors and will come back to this land, for the LORD your God is gracious and compassionate. He will not turn his face from you if you return to him.”’ As part of King Hezekiah’s reform of Israel, he invited the whole nation to celebrate Passover, which had not been kept for a considerable time due to national rebellion and idolatry. Here, in what is another landmark in Israel’s history, Hezekiah encouraged repentance with a sure promise of Yahweh’s forgiveness, including restoration from captivity for the exiles. All this was based on the King’s confidence in Yahweh’s grace and compassion as revealed to Moses (Exod 34:6-7). The spiritual restoration under Hezekiah was one of the most significant periods in the life of the nation.

d. Nehemiah, in his prayer of confession (9:17), said, ‘They refused to listen and failed to remember the miracles you performed among them. They became stiff-necked and in their rebellion appointed a leader in order to return to their slavery. But you are a forgiving God, gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and abounding in love. Therefore you did not desert them … 19Because of your great compassion you did not abandon them in the desert 28… And when they cried out to you again, you heard from heaven, and in your compassion you delivered them time after time’. Here Nehemiah, like Moses, appealed to Yahweh on the basis of his nature and in the face of the sinfulness of Israel and their present exile (judgement). The occasion was a major one; the rebuilding of Jerusalem’s gates and walls. These ruins persisted as a symbol of God’s judgement; their restoration being a symbol of Yahweh’s renewed favour. In light of this significant and symbolic event, Nehemiah’s appeal was grounded in the landmark revelation of God’s glory found in Exodus 34:6-7.

i. Consider these verses from the passage as well: Nehemiah 9:32: ‘Now therefore, O our God, the great, mighty and awesome God, who keeps his covenant of love, do not let all this hardship seem trifling in your eyes--the hardship that has come upon us, upon our kings and leaders, upon our priests and prophets, upon our fathers and all your people, from the days of the kings of Assyria until today’; and ch. 9:33: ‘In all that has happened to us, you have been just; you have acted faithfully, while we did wrong.’

e. Psalm 86:15: ‘But you, O Lord, are a compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness.’ The psalmist made his appeal for Yahweh’s assistance on the basis of the Exodus revelation. The request is very personal since enemies were attacking him. However, his troubles seemed to be tied to his faithfulness to God and how his enemies perceived his faith. Since there was more at stake here than personal need, he felt an appeal to the covenant revelation of God’s nature was justified. Note v. 5, which shows that the psalmist had Exodus 34:6-7 firmly in his mind throughout the psalm (e.g., ‘You are forgiving and good, O Lord, abounding in love to all who call to you’).

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f. Psalm 103:8: ‘The LORD is compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, abounding in love.’ This verse is a jewel in the midst of treasure. Psalm 103 is a delightful rehearsal of Yahweh’s compassion, faithfulness, and father-like nature. It also expresses his justice for the poor – a common motif in the Psalms. This psalm particularly emphasises forgiveness, provision, and the vastness of God’s love. It also includes the sentiment of God’s love being with children’s children, reminiscent of Exodus 34:6-7. In fact, as you read through the psalm, you can see that it is really framed around the Exodus passage and helps to show how Israel had anchored its faith life to that passage.

g. Psalm 145:8: ‘The LORD is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and rich in love. 9The LORD is good to all; he has compassion on all he has made.’ The psalmist is evidently thinking of the continuity of faith and testimony through the generations to the present (vv. 4–7)—especially of testimony to God’s wide dominion (vv. 11–13), his care for all that he has made, and his compassion toward the sinful, the fallen, the bowed down, and all who cry to him for help. As Elwell says,

This psalm appears in ancient copies with refrains for antiphonal recitation. God is here known as active, compassionate, faithful, generous, good, gracious, great, judge, king, loving, majestic, near, powerful, righteous, and watchful.10

h. Joel 2:13: ‘Rend your heart and not your garments. Return to the LORD your God, for he is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and abounding in love, and he relents from sending calamity.’ The call of the prophet to Israel to return to its covenant obligations at a time of their backsliding was grounded in the special nature of their covenant God as found in Exodus 34. In recalling God’s nature in terms of the inaugural covenant revelation, would have been a strong incentive for Israel as well as a shame to them since they were rebellious in light of it.

i. Jonah 4:2: ‘He prayed to the LORD, "O LORD, is this not what I said when I was still at home? That is why I was so quick to flee to Tarshish. I knew that you are a gracious and compassionate God, slow to anger and abounding in love, a God who relents from sending calamity.’ The context here is the well-known story of Jonah, but the message of the book is God’s love for all people, just like his covenant love for Israel. It was this extension to other than Israel that irritated Jonah – but he knew that this was God’s nature.

In conclusion, contrary to popular belief, the OT is based on the compassion of Yahweh and his faithful covenant with his people Israel as initially revealed in Exodus 34:5-7. In addition, Israel’s Lord was careful to reveal himself as the compassionate God of all nations and that he intended Israel to be a light to the nations especially regarding his great love (Jonah 4:2). The fact that the ‘love and faithfulness’ and associated motifs are found most often within the Psalter, the place wherein Israel’s devotional life was expressed, demonstrates how absolutely crucial was this revelation of Yahweh for Israel and through Christ for us. We cannot adequately understand the Psalms, or indeed the Scripture, without understanding this great theological pillar. The Psalms struggle with just this issue; namely, the faithful love of Yahweh. Is not this the precise issue with which our lives most struggle and therefore what tests our faith? Consequently, the Psalms assist us in this struggle to maintain a steady and

10

Walter A. Elwell (ed.), Evangelical Commentary on the Bible (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker, 1989).

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resilient trust and especially now in light of our NT faith regarding Jesus. In fact, when two disciples travelling on the Emmaus road had serious doubts about Jesus, he drew them back to the Psalms (and the Law and Prophets – Luke 24:44). Could this not be a major reason, among others, why we are urged to sing psalms, hymns and spiritual songs (e.g., Col 3:15-16)?

Reflection:

1. How might an understanding of Exodus 34:6-7 and its themes, as outlined above, affect (a) our reading of the Psalms, or any Scriptures, (2) our understanding of God and (3) our personal growth in faith?

2. When life leads us into ‘confusing incongruence’ (i.e., situations which seem to contradict God’s love), how do we maintain our faith in and love for Christ?

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Types of psalms11

The book of Psalms is a collection of prayers, poems, and hymns that focus the worshiper’s thoughts on God in praise and adoration. Parts of the book were used as a hymnal in the worship services of ancient Israel. The book contains 150 individual psalms, which may be grouped into the following types or categories.

1. Individual and communal lament psalms, or prayers for God’s deliverance. Psalms of the type are 3–7; 12; 13; 22; 25–28; 35; 38–40; 42–44; 51; 54–57; 59–61; 63; 64; 69–71; 74; 79; 80; 83; 85; 86; 88; 90; 102; 109; 120; 123; 130; and 140–143. These psalms speak to believers in moments of desperation and despair, when our need is for God’s deliverance.

2. Thanksgiving psalms, consisting of praise to God for His gracious acts. This theme occurs in Psalms 8; 18; 19; 29; 30; 32–34; 36; 40; 41; 66; 103–106; 111; 113; 116; 117; 124; 129; 135; 136; 138; 139; 146–148; and 150. Every prayer we utter should include the element of thanksgiving. These psalms make us aware of God’s blessings and lead us to express our thanks with feeling and conviction.

3. Enthronement psalms, which describe God’s sovereign rule. Psalms of this type are 47; 93; and 96–99. Through these psalms we acknowledge God as powerful Creator and sovereign Lord over all His creation.

4. Pilgrimage psalms, which were sung by worshipers as they traveled to Jerusalem to celebrate the Jewish festivals. Pilgrimage psalms are 43; 46; 48; 76; 84; 87; and 120–134. These psalms can help us establish a mood of reverent worship.

5. Royal psalms, which portray the reign of the earthly king, as well as of the heavenly King of Israel. This theme is evident in Psalms 2; 18; 20; 21; 45; 72; 89; 101; 110; 132; and 144. These psalms can make us aware of our daily need to make Christ the sovereign ruler of our lives.

6. Wisdom psalms, which instruct the worshiper in the way of wisdom and righteousness. Individual wisdom psalms are 1; 37; and 119. These psalms are especially appropriate in times of decision when we are searching for God’s will and direction in our lives.

7. Imprecatory psalms, in which the worshiper invokes God’s wrath and judgment against his enemies. This theme occurs in Psalms 7; 35; 40; 55; 58; 59; 69; 79; 109; 137; 139; and 144. These psalms can help us be honest about our feelings toward people who have done us wrong and work our way through these feelings to a point of forgiveness.

Messianic Psalms12

Many of the psalms specifically anticipate the life and ministry of Jesus Christ, the Son of David, who came centuries later as the promised Messiah. The messianic prophecies in the psalms take a variety of forms and refer to Christ in a variety of ways. (1) Typical Messianic. The subject of the psalm is in some respects a type of Christ (see, e.g., Pss. 34:20; 69:4, 9). (2) Typical Prophetic. The psalmist uses language to describe his present experience, which

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‘Types of Psalms’, in Nelson’s Complete Book of Bible Maps and Charts: Old and New Testaments, rev.edn. (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson, 1996).

12 ‘Messianic Psalms’, in Nelson’s Complete Book of Bible Maps and Charts: Old and New Testaments, rev.edn.

(Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson, 1996).

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points beyond his own life and becomes historically true only in Christ (e.g., Ps. 22). (3) Indirectly Messianic. At the time of composition the psalm refers to a king or the house of David in general but awaits final fulfillment in Christ (e.g., Pss. 2; 45; 72). (4) Purely Prophetic. Refers solely to Christ without reference to any other son of David (e.g., Ps. 110). (5) Enthronement. Anticipates the coming of Yahweh and the consummation of His kingdom, which will be fulfilled in the person of Christ (e.g., Pss. 96–99).

Devotion from C. H. Spurgeon: August 20, Morning, “The sweet psalmist of Israel.”13

Among all the saints whose lives are recorded in Holy Writ, David possesses an experience of the most striking, varied, and instructive character. In his history we meet with trials and temptations not to be discovered, as a whole, in other saints of ancient times, and hence he is all the more suggestive a type of our Lord. David knew the trials of all ranks and conditions of men. Kings have their troubles, and David wore a crown: the peasant has his cares, and David handled a shepherd’s crook: the wanderer has many hardships, and David abode in the caves of Engedi: the captain has his difficulties, and David found the sons of Zeruiah too hard for him. The psalmist was also tried in his friends, his counsellor Ahithophel forsook him, “He that eateth bread with me, hath lifted up his heel against me.” His worst foes were they of his own household: his children were his greatest affliction. The temptations of poverty and wealth, of honour and reproach, of health and weakness, all tried their power upon him. He had temptations from without to disturb his peace, and from within to mar his joy. David no sooner escaped from one trial than he fell into another; no sooner emerged from one season of despondency and alarm, than he was again brought into the lowest depths, and all God’s waves and billows rolled over him. It is probably from this cause that David’s psalms are so universally the delight of experienced Christians. Whatever our frame of mind, whether ecstasy or depression, David has exactly described our emotions. He was an able master of the human heart, because he had been tutored in the best of all schools-the school of heart-felt, personal experience. As we are instructed in the same school, as we grow matured in grace and in years, we increasingly appreciate David’s psalms, and find them to be “green pastures.” My soul, let David’s experience cheer and counsel thee this day.

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Charles Haddon Spurgeon, Morning and Evening (Peabody, MA: Hendrickson, 1991), 466.

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A theology of worship as revealed in the Psalms.

Introduction: The Book of Psalms provided a comprehensive theology of worship, a kind of ‘temple handbook’ for Israel, and to early Christians, their ‘hymn book’.14 The Psalms can provide the same resource for us today. Eugene Peterson says that ‘John Calvin expressed the consensus of the praying church when he wrote that the psalms are “the design of the Holy Spirit ... to deliver to the church a common form of prayer”’.15 In addition, Patrick Miller says that the ‘open language’ of the Psalms ‘opens up the hermeneutical possibilities for the Psalms to be related to the life and experience of the contemporary congregation or the contemporary believer’.16 However, their use has been somewhat neglected by the church in recent times. Especially in relation to prayer, Peterson agrees, saying, ‘It is not easy to understand how anything so deeply understood and widely practised - the Psalms as the technology of prayer - should have shrunk in our time to a mere remnant’.17 Consequently, the aim of this study is to (a) review Israel’s theology of worship in the Book of Psalms, (b) note the Early Church’s inherited practice of the Psalms, and (c) assess the book’s potential value to the contemporary church.

Definition: The term ‘theology of worship’ will be viewed in two ways. First, the term will be used as an understanding of the nature of God revealed in the way his people addressed, approached and generally understood him. In other words, we can learn a great deal about Yahweh through seeing how Israel worshipped. Accordingly, Zimmerli says at least three things are clear about Yahweh in the Psalms.18 First, he is the ‘one’ God always addressed, conforming to the revelation of the first commandment that Israel’s God is ‘one God’. Second, he is not an ‘unknown God’ but one who makes himself known, though at times he may be hidden. Third, Yahweh may be readily called upon at all times. In addition to the Psalms’ revelation of Yahweh’s nature, we discover kernels of the ultimate revelation of God in Christ; a primary reason why the NT draws heavily from this source.19

Second, the term, ‘theology of worship’, will be understood as a theology pertaining to the manner in which Israel approached Yahweh; their congregational worship. Israel’s various methods of approach to Yahweh demonstrate a theology of worship or a way of approaching him. Such theology is important for Christians today since the NT, revealing the Early Church’s practice, encourages the singing of psalms, hymns and spiritual songs in Christian gatherings (Eph 5:18-20; Col 3:15-17) as a primary means of the word of Christ dwelling richly in believers.

Finally, I suspect that these two views of the term ‘theology of worship’ cannot really be separated and will of necessity be intertwined throughout this study. My approach, therefore, will be to investigate forms and ways of approaching God and in doing this uncover features of his nature. Aspects to be reviewed here are the use of psalms in congregational worship, including prayer (lament and intercession), praise, teaching (wisdom and prophetic), confession and repentance, edification and encouragement (declarations of faith and bestowal of blessing). We first review congregational worship. 14

Newing, Old Testament Theology, 10:10. 15

Peterson, Answering God, 7. 16

Miller, Interpreting the Psalms, 52. 17

Peterson, Answering God, 6. 18

Walther Zimmerli, Old Testament Theology in Outline (Edinburgh: T & T Clarke, 1978), 151-152. 19

Miller, Interpreting the Psalms, 27.

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The Psalms were a resource for various kinds of congregational worship. The form of the Psalms makes this somewhat obvious. The fact the psalms were written in poetic form using hyperbole, metaphor, and various literary devices, such as comparison and parallelism, gives the reader obvious clues to their use in Israel’s liturgy. As Zimmerli says, ‘They (the Psalms) have many points of contact with the liturgical life of Israel’.20 Other clues we have are titles or labels included as instructions attached to the psalms but are not part of the text itself. These terms, not understood today, include words such as ‘miktam’ (Psa 16:1, 56:1), ‘maskil’ (Psa 78:1) and ‘selah’ (Psa 3:2, 4, 8). Although debated, there is no real solution to their meaning. However, the existence of these terms points to the fact that the labels were instructions to ancient worshippers as to the form each psalm should take in musical accompaniment and usage. Other indicators are notations preceding various psalms (e.g., Psa 69:1) such as, ‘to the tune of lilies’.

Other interesting facts about the arrangement of the Psalms are first, its division into five books and second, the language in which it is written. In regard to the the five sections or books, Peterson says that the Psalms are really meant to be a response to Yahweh in that their organisation into five books shows them to be a response to the five books of the Torah.21 This fact provides us with a clue as to how worship was to be employed; namely, a response to the teaching of Scriptures through rehearsal, prayer and agreement. For example, the first psalm directs the reader to the law or Torah recommending that the reader or singer ‘meditate in it day and night’ (v. 2). Thus Psalms was written as a part of the whole Scripture and therefore not to be separated from the Torah especially. Each of the five sections ends with a benediction of praise which reinforces the liturgical nature of the Psalms.

Regarding language, Peterson points out they are written in ‘language one’, as he calls it; the language of personal need and directness.22 It is the communication of two people in close relationship who address their words frankly and seriously. It is the language of love and intimacy. Notwithstanding the personal nature of ‘language one’, this does not detract from the communal nature of the Psalms. The intense intimacy of language is set in the context of community. As Sigmund Mowinckel demonstrates, Israel’s use of the ‘I’ is not an individualistic one as in our contemporary understanding but a communal or collective ‘I’.23 The Psalms’ communal setting, therefore, implies corporate use in worship.

Psalms provided for Israel a resource for prayer. For example, Psalm 80 is an example of prayer for restoration, most likely prayed during Israel’s Assyrian captivity. The earnest repeated prayer for restoration is of special interest in vv. 3, 7, 14-15, 19, reminding us of Jesus’ teaching on prayer and the need of importunity (e.g., Matt 7:7-8; Luke 11:7-13; 18:1-8). Yahweh is looked on here as both ‘the Shepherd’ of Israel (v. 1), showing his loving care, and the one who is ‘enthroned’ between the cherubim (v. 1), commanding his armies against Israel’s enemies, although for the present time it seems that he is against his people, as the

20

Zimmerli, Old Testament Theology, 148. 21

Peterson, Answering God, 53. 22

Ibid., 35-43. 23

Sigmund Mowinckel, The Psalms in Israel's Worship, rev. edn. (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdman’s, 1962, 2004), i: 42-80.

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psalmist laments. This psalm has contemporary application since, as Walter Brueggemann observes, the Western church is in an analogous state of exile.24

The Psalms also provide examples of prayers of grief and lament (e.g., Psa 3-7, 12-14, 25-26, 28, 31). Psalm-writers did not shrink from voicing deepest pain, even to the point of questioning Yahweh’s covenant faithfulness, asking, ‘Has God forgotten to be merciful? Has he in anger withheld his compassion (Psa 77:9)?’ In another place the writer asks, ‘Why have you forgotten me? Why must I go about mourning, oppressed by the enemy’ (Psa 42:9)? It may be, as Brueggemann says, that the whole book is a struggle with God’s covenant faithfulness, resolving joyfully with ‘unfettered praise’ in Psalms 145-150.25 He traces a pattern throughout the Psalms, in which laments are integral, of orientation-disorientation-reorientation. Of their value today, Brueggemann says, ‘Real prayer is being open about the negatives and yielding them to God. The lament psalms portray the route by which they may be yielded. What is clear is that they are never yielded unless they are fully expressed’.26 A clue for the use of psalms of lament in the way that Israel expressed its grief, is Jesus’ lament from the cross, quoting Psalm 22:1: ‘My God, My God, why have you forsaken me!’ (cf. Matt 27:46) This use may be compared with the Early Church use of Psalm 2 when complaining about their persecution in Acts 4:24-26 (‘Why do the heathen rage … ?’).

Further, the Psalms provided a source of intercession. For example, Psalm 67 is a missionary prayer for the nations (vv. 2, 4), prayed from Israel’s perspective as ‘a light to the Gentiles’ (Isa 49:6). It is also a prayer for God’s people, who as a light to the nations require God’s empowering blessing (vv. 1, 6,-7). Also revealed is Yahweh’s kingly authority over the world in addition to his care and plan for it (vv. 4, 7). Mowinckel classifies it as a public thanksgiving psalm ‘combined with a prayer for the future’ to be recognised by Israel ‘as empirical reality for the days to come’.27 As such, the psalm may be readily adopted by the church in its prayers for kingdom endeavours.

In summary, these resources for prayers of restoration, renewal, lament, and intercession demonstrate Yahweh’s nature as the divine teacher (see more on this matter below) eager to teach his people to pray. He is also seen as one who is sympathetic to the griefs of his people and will thus accept the outpouring of their anguish. He is also faithful to hear and answer prayer and can be earnestly sought. Also, Yahweh is to be seen as one who will judge evil, accept and answer prayers of warfare. In a similar way, Yahweh is revealed the God who receives, responds to and even delights in the bold, faith-filled prayers of his people on the one hand, and their feeble cries as those who are ‘poor and needy’ (Psa 70:5) on the other.

The Psalms provided for Israel a source of worship and praise. As psalms were crafted to be prayed, they were also designed to be sung. For example, Psalms provide a range of words, verses and sentiments for bouyant and joyful praise. To illustrate, Psalm 145 contains majestic praise in acrostic form; that is, in the orginal Hebrew, each verse begins with a succeeding letter of the Hebrew alphabet. The psalm, as Peterson says, explores ‘the totality of the human condition before God’ and opens the door to the joyful ‘praise psalms’ which

24

Wright, New Baptists, 34; see also Brueggemann, Theology of the Old Testament, 741; Brueggemann, Cadences, ix-x, 1ff.

25 Brueggemann, ‘Bounded by Obedience’, 189-213.

26 Brueggemann, The Message of the Psalms, 66; see also Brueggemann, ‘The Costly Loss of Lament’, 98-111;

Pickerill, Healing in the Psalms, 13. 27

Mowinckel, The Psalms, ii:30.

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conclude the book.28 Further, Psalm 145 provides a comprehensive theology of Yahweh’s nature. Verse after verse describe aspects of his character commencing with his kingship (v. 1) followed by his greatness (v. 3), his abundant goodness (v. 7), his grace and compassion (v. 8), just to name some. As Newing says, regarding verses 8-9, ‘At the centre of the Psalm stands the fundamental declaration of YHWH’s character’.29

One of the liturgical practices that the Book of Psalms has resourced, both in Israel’s worship and Christian churches, is the ‘call to worship’. A famous psalm stands out in this regard; namely, Psalm 100. The invitation to ‘come into his presence’ (v. 2) and to ‘shout to him’ (v. 1) encourages worshippers to approach Yahweh who awaits them gladly. The way into his presence is thus with singing, joy and gladness. What does this approach tell us about Yahweh? It tells us that he is not only glad to welcome his people but he enjoys their laughter and encourages their joy. We also told expressly that he is ‘good’ (v. 5), providing further cause to enter his presence gladly and with sincere praise. This psalm is indeed a happy call to worship so appropriate for this use. Other psalms of this nature are 24, 47, 95, 96, 98, and 99.

Finally, Yahweh is revealed in his people’s worship and praise as one who is eager for them to ‘come into his presence with singing’ (Psa 100:2). He is also seen as a warrior who acts to protect his people against all enemies (e.g., Psa 59:5). Yahweh is further revealed as the high and holy One who deserves supreme respect (e.g., Psa 22:3, 24:3). He is ‘God of creation and life force ... the God of the world’ (e.g., Psa 89:12, 104:24).30 Finally, God is Yahweh who longs for intimate communion with his people (e.g., Psa 100).

Psalms provided a didactic function for worshipping Israel. Indeed, Luther called the Psalms ‘a little bible’ because he perceived the book to be a summary of the whole Bible and therefore rich in instruction.31 To illustrate, the book is a source of revelation about Yahweh himself through the approaches of prayer, worship, confession, repentance and encouragement, as reviewed here. For example, as the response of each psalmist is read, we understand more about Yahweh’s character. This especially seen in the famous 23rd where Yahweh’s shepherd-like nature is described in detail. This psalm reminds us of the words of Jacob in the Pentateuch where he says Yahweh was his shepherd (Gens 48:15, 49.24). But more than that:

Along with accompanying commentary, Israel’s history is outlined for the purpose of instructing successive generations of God’s people. Psalm 78 is a pertinent example among a number of psalms such as 89, 105, 106, 132 and 136. The 78th is a lengthy review of Israel’s history bringing instructive points throughout. The introduction states that its purpose is for teaching (v. 1-7). In recounting Israel’s history, Yahweh’s viewpoint is strongly expressed. The words ‘God’ and ‘he’ are repeated many times. Israel was thus reminded that it was dealing directly with its God and not just recounting a cultural past. Thus, although the psalm rehearses much about Israel’s history, it reveals more about its God. For example, verse 35 says that Israel remembered Yahweh was its ‘rock’ and ‘redeemer’. Verse 38 declares Yahweh to be ‘merciful’, as made known in the nation’s history. Verse 49 declares that

28

Peterson, Answering God, 124. 29

Newing, Old Testament Theology, 10:3. 30

Mowinckel, The Psalms, i:99. 31

J. G. S. S. Thomson and F. D. Kidner, ‘Book of Psalms’, in New Bible Dictionary, eds. D. R. W. Wood and I. H. Marshall (Downers Grove, IL: IVP, 1996), 984; Pickerill, Jesus and the Psalms, 9.

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Yahweh is angry with and judges evil. Psalm 78 is thus rich in its revelation of Yahweh and in its exhortations to live righteously.

Further, many psalms are doctrinal in an eschatological sense although Mowinckel prefers a ‘prophetic psalm’ type which does not equate with the eschatological. To him the prophetic psalms are Israel’s prayer ‘for the great “turning of the destiny” of Israel to come soon’ and psalms in which ‘the cultic prophet also promises that this turning will take place’.32 Nevertheless, Christ, his church and the future glorious kingdom of God can be readily seen in the so-called ‘eschatological’ psalms. Psalm 2 is one of these among others, such as 8, 16, 18, 22, 31, 35, 40, 41, 45. This psalm speaks of installing Yahweh’s king ‘upon his holy mountain’, and saying to him ‘You are my son, this day have I begotten you’ and ‘ask of me and I will give the nations for your inheritance’ (v. 6-8). These words were obviously intended to describe David and succeeding kings, yet none of them fully met the ideal. David and ensuing kings were representatives of the greater King to come, Messiah, the Lord Jesus Christ (cf. Matt 21:9). Even now the promise is not completely fulfilled and so the psalm has an eschatological element for us too. The kingdom has come in Jesus, but is still coming and is yet to come fully. In this regard, Mowinckel adds that ‘it is not without justification that later Judaism has given them a Messianic interpretation, and the Church has taken the psalms’ pictures of the king as prophecies of Christ’.33

Though not as extensive as in Proverbs, the Book of Psalms contains many practical offerings of wisdom. Even in prayer and worship sources, practical advice on living is proffered. Psalm 15 is an ideal example of a wisdom psalm providing instruction about godly living. It stands in a great company of wisdom psalms including 1, 34, 36, 37, 39, 44, 49, 52, 73, 75 and others. Pickerill, in describing this psalm, speaks of the ‘ten personal manifestations of the obedience of faith’. The Psalm is ‘arranged into ten parts ... which obviously recalls the Ten Commandments’.34

In didactic psalms, Yahweh is seen as the divine teacher, the shepherd who guides with words of instruction and helpful encouragements. The care and trouble to which God has undertaken to provide such teaching, demonstrates his loving-kindness. In relation to the didactic nature of the Psalms, it should be remembered that the Apostle Paul admonished his readers, ‘Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom, and as you sing psalms, hymns and spiritual songs with gratitude in your hearts to God’ (Col 3:16). Thus NT believers regarded psalms as crucial to their teaching practice in their communal worship.

The Psalms provided Israel with an important mode of confession and repentance. Obviously, a number of psalms were used as written to bring to Yahweh confession and repentance of sin. Psalm 51 stands as the most notable of these but it is in good company with 6, 32, 38, 102, 130, and 143. Psalm 51 is virtually a model of how sin may be confessed.35 The psalm can be prayed through verse by verse, whether privately or publicly. David has given us not only a great source of the theology of prayer but of Yahweh himself in his prayer. The psalm commences with an expectation of Yahweh’s mercy because of his unfailing love. Mercy and unfailing love are expressions used many times in the Psalms,

32

Mowinckel, The Psalms, ii:62. 33

Ibid, i:76. 34

Don Pickerill, Notes on the Psalms, 5. 35

Brueggemann, Message of the Psalms, 98; Newing, Old Testament Theology, 10:7.

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telling both of Israel’s expectation and of Yahweh’s nature. In this regard, one is reminded of the revelation to Moses in Exodus 33:19 and 34:5-7. As Newing shows, these Exodus verses are ‘one of the most fundamental statements of God’s character in the Scriptures’ and are central to the Pentateuch and the Old Testament, so it is no wonder that it is also central to a theology of the Psalms and therefore Israel’s worship (see Psa 103:13, 116:5).36

David, in Psalm 51, not only asks for mercy, which undoubtedly implies forgiveness (v. 1-2), but also expects cleansing (v. 7), restoration (v. 12), and future prosperity (v. 18). Such was David’s understanding of Yahweh’s grace. He also acknowledged that his cleansing and restoration was necessary to justify God’s righteousness. Yahweh was not only merciful but also holy and his holiness had to be upheld by the contriteness of David’s confession (v. 4). This aspect of Psalms is particularly enlightening regarding Yahweh’s merciful nature. A reader cannot help but be greatly moved and encouraged at the ‘amazing grace’, the ‘never failing love’ of Yahweh expressed in the words of confession used by the psalmists vis-à-vis his righteous nature being ‘justified’ in and by the process of repentance and confession. The suitability of such psalms of confession, therefore, especially in the later light of the gospel, makes them readily adaptable to our use.

The Psalms provided a rich resource of encouragement and edification. The so-called ‘declaration of faith’ psalms and parts of psalms are included in what Mowinckel calls ‘Psalms of blessing and cursing’.37 They often consist of whole psalms and are most encouraging and affirming to faith, as indeed they were designed to be for Israel. These declarations may also be viewed as intercessions, says Mowinckel, as a matter of ‘personal judgement’.38 A notable example is Psalm 27. Here, as each aspect of Yahweh’s nature was declared, worshippers were at once instructed, affirmed and edified. For example, Yahweh was declared to be the writer’s ‘light and salvation’ (v. 1). He was also affirmed as his ‘stronghold in life’ (v. 1). These declarations brought a corresponding response from the psalmist. Since Yahweh was these things and more to him, he said he would not be afraid (v. 1), his enemies would fall before him (v. 2), he would be confident (v. 3), and he would be kept safe for the rest of his life (v. 4). Such were and are the impact of such psalms. Accordingly, they will mean the same to us and particularly as we use them within the context of communal worship as did Israel. ‘Declaration of faith’ psalms include 19, 23, 27, 93, 103, 111, 113.

Psalms in this category, that we might call ‘bestowal of blessing’ psalms, are also significant. Psalm 20 is a good example, especially verses 1-6. This is a community psalm because it addresses itself to other than the writer (as Mowinckel says, it was originally addressed to the king), conveying unselfish requests for the blessing and particularly for the answered prayers of the one to whom it was addressed.39 This psalm could have been used as a public blessing upon another (other than the king) person or persons in a formal setting, or even in a smaller group setting.40 Psalms 65 and 67 are further examples of these kinds of psalms. This genre of psalms also express the willing-hearted desire of Yahweh to bless his people, consequently revealing more of a theology of his goodness.

36

Newing, Old Testament Theology, 2:3, 5. 37

Mowinckel, The Psalms, ii:51. 38

Ibid. 39

Ibid. 40

See Brueggemann, The Psalms and the Life of Faith, 101, regarding the use of psalms in smaller group settings outside the temple.

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What more can such psalms teach us about Yahweh? They reveal him to be an encourager. They also demonstrate his understanding of our fraility and consequent need of strengthening. They affirm again Yahweh’s grace as one who, rather than condemning, builds up and affirms his people (e.g., Psa 103).

In conclusion, as stated in the introduction, the Book of Psalms provided a unique theology of congregational worship for Israel in the form of prayer, praise, declarations of faith, confessions, and teaching. Secondly, the Psalms provided an exclusive understanding of Yahweh, expressing rich expectations and knowledge of Israel’s God whom it addressed. The theology and practice of worshipping Israel as viewed through the Psalms has also served the church through the centuries beginning with the Apostles. May this exquisite Book of Psalms, brought into fresh brilliance through the gospel, be restored to maximum use within the contemporary community of believers.

Bibliography: Brueggemann, Walter. ‘Bounded by Obedience and Praise: The Psalms as Canon’. In The

Psalms and the Life of Faith. Minneapolis, MN: Fortress, 1995, 189-213.

__________________. Cadences of Home: Preaching among Exiles. Louisville, KY: Westminster, 1997.

__________________. ‘Costly Loss of Lament’. In The Psalms and the Life of Faith. Minneaplis, MN: Fortress, 1995, 98-111.

__________________. The Message of the Psalms: A Theological Commentary. Minneapolis, MN: Augsburg, 1984.

__________________.The Psalms and the Life of Faith. Minneapolis, MN: Fortress, 1995.

__________________. Theology of the Old Testament: Testimony, Dispute and Advocacy. Minneapolis, MN: Fortress, 1997.

Miller, Patrick. Interpreting the Psalms. Philadelphia, PA: Fortress Press, 1986.

Mowinckel, Sigmund. The Psalms in Israel’s Worship. Rev. edn. Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdman’s, 1962, 2004.

Newing, Edward G. Old Testament Theology Lecture Notes. Adelaide, SA: Tabor College, 1996.

Peterson, Eugene H. Answering God: The Psalms as Tools for Prayer. San Francisco: Harper Collins, 1991.

Pickerill, Don. Healing in the Psalms. Perth, WA: LIFE Bible College, 1995.

___________. Jesus and the Psalms. Perth, WA: LIFE Bible College, 1995.

___________. Notes on the Psalms. Perth, WA: LIFE Bible College,1995.

___________. The Psalms. Perth, WA: LIFE Bible College,1995.

Thomson, J. G. S. S. and F. D. Kidner. ‘Book of Psalms.’ In New Bible Dictionary. Edited by D. R. W. Wood and I. H. Marshall. Downers Grove, IL: IVP, 1996, 984.

Weiser, Artur. The Psalms. Rev. edn. Louisville, KY: Westminster, 1962.

Wright, Nigel G. New Baptists, New Agenda. Cumbria, UK: Paternoster, 2002.

Zimmerli, Walther. Old Testament Theology in Outline. Edinburgh: T & T Clarke, 1978.

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Reflection and action:

Discuss the use of the Psalter in private devotions; how you personally make use of psalms and/or how they might be used.

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The Gospel in the Book of Psalms

Since the New Testament (NT) urges believers to sing psalms, hymns and spiritual songs as a means by which the ‘word of Christ’ (the gospel) and the fullness of the Spirit may dwell in us richly (Eph 5:18-19; Col 3:16), it is crucial that we understand how the Psalms portray that ‘word of Christ’ by which we are to be enriched. This is especially the case when we recall that the book of Psalms was the hymn and prayer book of the Early Church, commonly used in its congregational worship and private devotion. Consequently, since the NT urges us to use the Psalms, and the Early Church exemplified the pattern of its use for us, then not only is its use obligatory but the manner of its use is equally crucial if we are to receive the enrichment of the Spirit and the gospel.

Accordingly, the purpose of this study is to uncover the relationship between the gospel and the book of Psalms. If it is true that the Old Testament (OT) is the foundation of the NT and if, as Patrick Miller says, the NT draws from the Psalms above any other OT book, then we would expect to identify early anticipation of gospel teachings there.41 Further, if it is true that in the worship of Israel we may detect its clearest view of itself as God’s people and its understanding of Yahweh, then Psalms is a good place to look for the essence of OT theology from which the seed of the gospel germinated.42 As Walter Brueggemann says, ‘The book of Psalms provides the most reliable theological, pastoral, and liturgical resource given us in the biblical tradition.’43 He further states,

Even as Luther grounded his insights on reformation in the Epistle to the Romans, so he found his primal announcement of ‘the new righteousness’ in the Psalms. That theological tradition concluded that the Psalms articulate the whole gospel of God in a nutshell. This is also true of Calvin, who was not a man of detached rationality (as he is frequently caricatured), but had a profound piety which sought an adequate and

imaginative expression of faith.44

My method here will be first to examine a primary NT term for gospel, namely, ‘grace’, to see if it can be located in any significant way in the Psalms, particularly if its use there is either similar to or impacts upon the NT usage. Following a review of grace, other significant gospel terms associated with grace will be examined in an attempt to discover the origins of the gospel in the Psalms. We begin our investigation, then, by reviewing the significant NT word ‘grace’ (often used by Paul as a synonymn for gospel – see below) which derives from the Greek, charis. Since the word ‘grace’ is noteworthy in the NT, we would expect to find a direct equivalent in the OT to enable us to establish a relationship, through its use, between the gospel and the OT, and the book of Psalms in particular.

Although there is not an exact OT equivalent for grace, two words come close to its meaning. The first is the Hebrew word hen (or chen), and is the most frequently used. Hen is the one usually translated charis in the Septuagint (LXX).45 The other word is the Hebrew hesed (or checed, ‘steadfast covenant love’) and is the most noteworthy in the Psalms since hen is used

41

See Newing, Old Testament Theology, 1:1; Miller, Interpreting the Psalms, 27. 42

So Zimmerli, Old Testament Theology, 148ff. 43

Brueggemann, The Message of the Psalms, 15, 17. 44

Ibid. 45

H. H. Esser, ‘Grace’, in The New International Dictionary of New Testament Theology, ed. Colin Brown, rev. edn. (Grand Rapids, MI: Paternoster, 1986), ii:116.

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only twice whereas hesed is used 129 times.46 Hen, for example, is translated in the NIV as ‘your lips have been anointed with grace’ (Ps 45.2) and ‘the Lord bestows favour and honour’ (Ps 84.11). These examples certainly express the meaning of NT grace but since there are only two references, hen does not help us. So we turn to the Hebrew word hesed. Of the 129 times hesed is used in the Psalms, the predominant translations are mercy, unfailing love, or simply love. Regarding its usage, Thiselton says that ‘in later Gk. charis, grace, comes regularly to replace eleos, mercy, as the standard translation of hesed’ in the OT.47 Brueggemann says the Book of Psalms is actually a ‘Crisis of God’s hesed’.48 Affirming its focal use in Psalms, he says, ‘I take the crisis of God’s hesed to be the central theological issue of the Book of Psalms’. Since hesed is frequently used in the Psalms and is deemed to be its central motif, and since the word most appropriately expresses the NT meaning of grace, we may accept this as a first significant connection between Psalms and the gospel.

Another noteworthy use of the word hesed in the Psalms is its connection to the word faithfulness. With regard to the revelation of God’s glory to Moses in Exodus 34:6, particularly in the phrase ‘love and faithfulness’, the word love is translated from the Hebrew hesed. Throughout the Psalms, love and faithfulness are used in connection with each other.49 For example, Psalm 86:15, quoting Exodus 34:6, says, ‘But you, O Lord, are a compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness.’ This verse was key for Israel in its understanding of Yahweh and is the reason it is referred to throughout the OT, particularly in the Psalms. An added significance for this study is John’s use of the term in John 1:14: ‘The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth’. There is a good case for accepting that John’s grace and truth are the love and faithfulness of the Psalms, reflecting Exodus 34:6. The fact that John spoke of ‘seeing his glory’, as did Moses, and that the nature of his glory was ‘grace and truth’ like Moses words, ‘abounding in love and faithfulness’, makes a strong case that John had Moses’ revelation in mind when he wrote his words.50 John 1:17 further emphasises the connection because it refers directly to Moses saying that the law came through him but ‘grace and truth *second reference+ came through Jesus Christ’.

Now, what is the significance of the love and faithfulness phrase in the Psalms? The term ‘love and faithfulness’ is an obvious reference to the revelation of God’s glory in Exodus 34:6 repeated by John in John 1:14, 17. Thus we may accept that everywhere the Psalms speak of ‘love and faithfulness’, it refers to the grace of God revealed to Moses pointing toward the fuller revelation in Jesus who was ‘full of grace and truth’. As Don Pickerill says,

The equivalent of covenant love (hesed) in the NT is grace. John opens his gospel in chapter 1:14 with the incarnation of hesed … Jesus is the very personification of true

46

John Polhill, ‘Grace’, in Holman’s Bible Dictionary for Windows (Omaha, NE: Parsons, 1994); Quickverse for Windows (Omaha, NE: Parsons, 1992-1994).

47 Anthony C. Thiselton, ‘Truth’, in The New International Dictionary of New Testament Theology, ed. Colin

Brown, rev. edn. (Grand Rapids, MI: Paternoster, 1986), iii: 889. 48

Brueggemann, The Psalms and the Life of Faith, 196-199. 49

E.g., Psalm 36:5, 40:10, 57:3, 57:10, 61:7, 85:10, 86.15, 88:11, 89:1, 89:2, 89:14, 89:33, 89:49, 92:2, 98:3, 100:5, 108:4, 115:1, 117:2, 138:2.

50 Thiselton, ‘Truth’, iii:889.

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love. When we read about God’s love and mercy in the Psalms we should be thinking about Jesus.51

The revelation of the gracious God of Israel, as found in the Psalms and indeed the whole OT, comes to its fullness in Jesus Christ and the Gospel. The OT hesed (mercy, love), therefore, directly relates to the NT charis (favour, gift, grace). Since the Psalms contain numerous occurrences of hesed, we expect that its hesed references will pre-empt gospel teachings and therefore make a solid connection with them.

Regarding the NT use of charis, especially by Paul, the word practically equates with the gospel. Polhill says, ‘For Christians, the word ‘grace’ is virtually synonymous with the gospel of God’s gift of unmerited salvation in Jesus Christ’.52 Esser agrees saying that for ‘Paul charis is the essence of God’s decisive saving act in Jesus Christ, which took place in his sacrificial death, and also of all its consequences in the present and future (Rom 3.24ff.)’.53 So when we speak of grace, we really speak of the gospel. As James D. G. Dunn explains,

It follows that in a very real sense the whole of life is for Paul an expression of grace: all is of grace, and grace is all. This means that the particular manifestations of grace are the more visible embodiments of a power out of which the believer in fact lives all the time; they are that inward power coming to conscious outward expression (conscious in that they are recognised as grace, the gracious action of God). Grace then does not manifest itself only in particular components of the believer’s life; and the particular conscious experiences of grace are not the only operations of grace in his [or her] life. All is of grace and grace is all. At the same time this does not mean that the believer is necessarily different from the unbeliever, as though an aura of ‘grace’ hung always around *the person], or he [or she] had to confine himself [or herself] only to a narrowly subscribed mode of living which could be legitimated as ‘gracious’. As the discussion of 1 Cor 8; 10 and Rom 14 makes clear, grace does not cut [the believer] off from social contact and the life of the market place. The [person] of faith is different, but only in that there is a dimension to *the person’s+ existence which determines all (Rom 5:2; 1 Cor 10:26); there is an energising of *the person’s+ existence whose source is God (e.g., Rom 5:21; 6:14; 2 Cor 12:9; Gal 5:4); there is a direction to existence which is the glory of God (Rom 14:6ff. – ‘he gives thanks *εύχαριστεί+ to God’; 1 Cor 10:31). Grace gives the believer’s life both

its source, its power and its direction. All is of grace and grace is all.54

We conclude from Polhill’s and Esser’s comments, together with Dunn’s summary above, that without doubt, grace equals gospel. Thus given the word’s import and meaning and its proliferation throughout Psalms, we would expect associated benefits of the gospel, as we review below, will be also scattered through the Psalms further establishing the connection we seek between Psalms and gospel.

Before reviewing these gospel benefits, we briefly note that God is a God of ‘all grace’, thus the source of grace, and that through the cross – the means of grace – we have its ultimate mediation. For example, in 1 Peter 5:10, God is identified as the source of grace as well characterising him as possessing the whole expanse of grace both in width and depth. As the image of the Father’s glory (Heb 1:3), Jesus is ‘full of grace and truth’ (John1:14). Since he

51

Pickerill, Jesus and the Psalms, 38. 52

John Polhill, ‘Grace’. 53

Esser, ‘Grace’. 54

James D. G. Dunn, Jesus and the Spirit: A Study of the Religious and Charismatic Experience of Jesus and the First Christians as Reflected in the New Testament (Philadelphia, PA: Westminster, 1975), 204-205.

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came from the Father and shares equal status with the One who is all grace and is himself ‘full’ of grace and truth then in his gift to humankind, he gave from ‘the fullness of his grace’ (John1;16), the lavish bestowment of ‘one blessing after another’ (John 1:16 and Eph 1:7, 8, 2:7). Thus the gracious Father poured his grace through his Son Jesus.

Christ mediated these blessings of grace and the Spirit through the gospel, which includes all that pertains to our salvation, restoration and glorification. He did this primarily through the cross (Eph 1:7; see quote by Esser above). The cross is central and essential as the doorway to God’s bestowment of grace, his gift not being the bestowment of ‘cheap grace’ but that which upholds the justice and holiness of God (Rom 3:4). As Dietrich Bonhoeffer said, it is costly grace ‘because it cost God the life of his Son’.55 But the cross itself is an act of grace, really the central act of grace through which all God’s blessings flow to us (Rom 3:24-26, 5:15-17). In fact, all New Covenant blessings flow through the cross (Heb 9:15) since without it there can be no approach to God because of our sinfulness (Heb 9.22). Leon Morris, speaking about Paul’s writings and the centrality of the cross says, ‘There cannot be the slightest doubt about the centre of the Christian gospel as Paul understood it’.56 It may be concluded, then, that any NT reference to God’s grace is a benefit of the cross and therefore part of the gospel (Gal 1:6), and is foreshadowed in the Psalms’ use of hesed. Consequently, given the central role of the cross as the conduit of grace in salvation, we would expect the Psalms to anticipate it and, in turn, the anticipations quoted in the NT. Further, we would expect that the benefits of the cross (salvation which derived from the cross) would be identifiable in embryonic form in the Psalms in sufficient quantity and quality to demonstrate an association between Psalms and gospel. It is to these expectations that we now direct our attention.

The benefits or blessings of grace may be all included under the one NT heading of salvation for which we now seek evidence in the Psalms. The idea of salvation was developed from the OT concept of Yahweh the ‘deliverer’. Israel looked to Yahweh to bring salvation at times of personal or national threat as well as for salvation from spiritual danger. The Hebrew word yasa, which carries the idea of salvation, means width, spaciousness, freedom from constraint, and consequently, deliverance. This word ‘obviously lends itself to the broadest development in application’. The theology of salvation comes into the NT with this wide application although the word soteria is confined to gospel salvation as discussed below.57 The theology of salvation is also seen in its widest OT meaning in the NT. For example, Paul says, ‘He has delivered us from such a deadly peril’ (2 Cor 1:10), meaning physical peril. Other examples may be found in Philippians 1:19; 2 Thessalonians 3:2 and 2 Timothy 4:17 which examples refer to God as deliverer from physical danger. This revelation of God as salvation is clearly the OT view brought over into the NT. However, as mentioned above, the actual use of the word soteria (salvation) in the NT is confined to its gospel meaning. For instance, of the 42 times in 40 verses the word is used it is doubtful that even one use refers to anything but salvation obtained through Christ’s saving work.58

The NT understanding of salvation in Christ does indeed focus on the gospel but is also comprehensive in its meaning in line with the OT especially as it is revealed in the Psalms. On

55

Dietrich Bonhoeffer, The Cost of Discipleship (London: SCM, 1959), 37. 56

Leon Morris, New Testament Theology (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 1986), 67. 57

R. E. O. White, ‘Salvation’, in Evangelical Dictionary of Theology (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker, 1984), 967. 58

Quickverse.

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the other hand, the comprehensive OT meaning does have substantial soteriological (salvation through Christ) focus in the Psalms as we shall see. We will examine first the benefits of salvation as informed by our NT understanding, after which each benefit will be compared with psalmic references.

First, as part of salvation, we have acceptance in Christ (Rom 15:7). Perhaps the first thing that enters the mind when discussing the subject of grace is Christ’s unconditional acceptance of sinners. This, and the fact we are saved by grace (Eph 1:8-9) is the extent of many believers understanding about grace. Although this blessing of grace is astonishing in itself, grace includes much, much more, as we will see. Unconditional acceptance was beautifully displayed in Christ in instances where he was accused of ‘receiving sinners’ (Luke 15:2) or being a ‘friend of sinners’ (Matt 11:19). Jesus’ own words confirm his gracious acceptance of all who came to him (John 6:37, 8:11). Unconditional acceptance is also clearly seen in the Epistles (e.g., 1 Cor 6:11, Eph 1:6). A key thought in Paul, for example, and one which is a theme of his writing is that God ‘gives his love unstintingly’ even to those who are sinful or ignorant of him.59 Consequently, if we can find such an outstanding NT benefit as unconditional acceptance in the Psalms, as sought below, we will in this regard have uncovered a considerable connection between Psalms and gospel.

Justification through Christ is another vital facet of salvation and one which we hope to find anticipated in Psalms. Justification is a gift of God’s grace and may be defined as being ‘declared righteous’ before God.60 It is the eschatological declaration of ‘not guilty’ brought forward to the present from the final judgement (Rom 3:24; Tit 3:7).61 Indeed many scholars see justification by faith so fundamental that along with the reformers, believe it to be the centre of Paul’s theology. Packer comes close to this position saying it is ‘basic to his soteriology’.62 He further describes justification by faith, as understood by Paul, saying it is

God’s act of remitting the sins of guilty men, and accounting them righteous, freely, by his grace, through faith in Christ, on the ground, not of their own works, but of the representative law-keeping and redemptive blood-shedding of the Lord Jesus Christ on

their behalf.63

Whilst justification declares the believer not guilty and restores relationship with Christ, many think it does not necessarily purify character. The gift of sanctification does this. Sanctification essentially means being separated to God for his purposes through the Spirit of Christ.64 Further, it means being cleansed and separated from sin through the sanctifying work of the Spirit (1 Thess 5:23, 24; 1 Pet 1:2). Ladd agrees with this but feels that sanctification has less to do with ongoing growth in character.65 He sees it as more of an immediate state resulting from the initial act of saving faith in Christ, more of a cleansed state, but does allow that it includes ongoing growth in ethical morality or holiness. Both White and K. E. Brower rather see sanctification as ‘growing maturity in Christ’, conforming

59

Morris, Theology, 30. 60

J. I. Packer, ‘Justification’, in The New Bible Dictionary, ed. J. D. Douglas (Downers Grove, IL: IVP, 1980), 841. 61

George Eldon Ladd, A Theology of the New Testament, rev. edn. (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 1993), 482-484.

62 Packer, ‘Justification’, 842.

63 Packer, ‘Justification’, 842.

64 Lorin L. Cranford, ‘Sanctification’, in Holman’s Bible Dictionary for Windows (Omaha, NE: Parsons, 1994).

65 Ladd, A Theology, 563-564.

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believers to Christ’s image and thus to God’s will.66 Whether any of these views of justification and sanctification are detected in pre-Christian form in the Psalms, remains to be seen.

Another benefit of God’s grace integral to the gospel and for which we seek any root in the Psalms is mediation, or intercession. Christ is our mediator through his blood providing us with access into the presence of God with confidence and even boldness (Eph 3:12). This approach is most significant in the exercise of prayer. When we approach God’s throne in prayer we are said to be coming to a ‘throne of grace’ (Heb 4:16). Our unworthiness to enter, ask and receive from Christ is eclipsed by his grace through the cross so that we enter by his merit (Rom 5.2, Eph 2.18, Heb 4.16). We should not just think of Christ’s mediation in the light of the one act of the cross because Christ continually mediates on our behalf before the Father in perpetual intercession (Heb 7:25). As the late J. Murray pointed out, our initial access into the grace of God, our continued growth in grace, as well as our continued access to God as we pray and worship, are all through the continuing mediatory work of Christ.67 Our quest regarding this priceless benefit is for any clear psalmic reference to intercession which anticipates the gospel.

Motivation or empowerment for life and service through the Holy Spirit is another benefit of salvation in Christ and, again, one we anticipate discovering in embryonic form in Psalms. Spirit empowered enablement for service is the motivation we have for works we do in his name. This inner power for service is even labelled ‘grace’ by Paul. The gifts we receive for service are also called gifts of grace, charisma, in the Greek (e.g., Rom 12:3-6; 1 Cor 3:10, 15:10; 2 Cor 9:8; Eph 4:7). Regarding the word charisma, A. B. Luter, notes that, in relation to spiritual gifts, the word means ‘a personal endowment with grace’ and occasionally it is used ‘probably to emphasise the source of divine grace providing and empowering the gifts’.68 This latter idea of grace as empowerment is one of the blessings of salvation in Christ that we pursue in this study to establish any linkage in Psalms. Thus our question is, will we discover in the Book of Psalms, grace as empowerment or any other benefits of salvation, as enumerated above, and in a way that anticipates or connects with the gospel notwithstanding David and the other writers’ limited view of Christ? It is to the Psalms that we now look for our answer.

Salvation is a common theme throughout Psalms. Yahweh was obviously seen by Israel to be saviour and deliverer. Before the various aspects of salvation are examined below, the general theme of salvation will be surveyed. The word salvation is mentioned 44 times throughout the Psalms (e.g., Psa 9:14, 13:5, 14:7, 18:2, 27:1, 35:3, 9). Salvation, which is God’s gracious intervention at times of danger to rescue and preserve, was expected by Israel since the nation knew Yahweh to be a gracious God (Psa 67:1, 2). Salvation is an act of grace and probably one of the greatest acts of grace revealed in the Psalms.

Brueggemann, in seeing salvation as a key theme of the Psalms, loosely arranges them into three groups.69 They are the psalms of orientation, psalms of disorientation and psalms of

66

White, ‘Salvation’; K. E. Brower, ‘Sanctification’, in The New Bible Dictionary, ed. J. D. Douglas (Downers Grove, IL: IVP, 1980).

67 J. Murray, ‘Mediator’, in The New Bible Dictionary, ed. J. D. Douglas, rev. edn. (Downers Grove, IL: IVP, 1996).

68 A. Boyd Luter, ‘Grace’, in Dictionary of Paul and His Letters, eds. Gerald F. Hawthorne, Ralph P. Martin and

Daniel G. Reid (Downers Grove, IL: IVP, 1993), 372-374. 69

Brueggemann, The Psalms and the Life of Faith, 24.

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new orientation. Psalms of orientation deal with seasons of life which are full of good things; the peaceful times of life (e.g., Psa 15, 24, 37). Psalms of disorientation represent those times of great grief and distress when the soul cries out in anguish to God (e.g., Psa 13, 35, 86). The third group, psalms of new orientation, reveal the surprising works of God in salvation and deliverance which bring the soul into a new place of blessing, making ‘all things new’ (Psa 30, 40, 138). These psalms, he says, correspond to the ‘surprise of the gospel’.70 The whole idea of God intervening for the salvation of needy souls placing them upon a ‘rock’ and giving to them a ‘new song’ (Psa 40:2, 3) is wholly an act of grace revealed through salvation. In the NT this theme is focused and enlarged upon particularly dealing with eternal salvation through Christ. In the Psalms, salvation is also very prominent though not carrying the full revelation of eternal salvation. The prominence of the theme does make it easy to see the gospel reflected in them as noted by Brueggemann.

Take Psalm 40 as an example. David described himself being in the dark slimy pit from which there was no escape (Psa 40:2). He said he waited patiently on Yahweh, crying out for rescue (v. 1). The Lord heard him and answered so dramatically that he was not only freed from the pit but lifted onto a rock and given a new song of praise. The result was a testimony to Yahweh’s honour, for many would ‘see and fear’ him (vv. 2, 3). The gracious hand of God is obvious in this psalm as well as a graphic pre-understanding of the gospel. For the psalmist to be lifted from certain death to such a secure place of safety accompanied by the joy and the witness of the event easily foreshadows the gospel. In relation to verse five which is a praise to Yahweh for this and his many salvation acts, Weiser says, ‘The incomparable majesty of God is revealed in the divine saving will - in other words in his grace’.71 It is not hard to see why Paul used the theme of salvation throughout his epistles when speaking of the gospel since ‘God as salvation’ was so essential to his tradition.

In relating the Psalms to the salvation theme, Claus Westermann says they ‘point unambiguously to what has happened in Christ’.72 In Psalm 113:56, the theme of God’s ‘condescension’ he sees directly linked to Christ who ‘emptied himself, taking the form of a servant’ (Phil 2:7). He further sees Psalm 22 as God sharing in human suffering (Mark 15:34). But even further, Westermann says the whole of Psalm 22 must be taken into account. The last part of the psalm clearly anticipates the resurrection (Psa 22:24). Thus in the condescension, the suffering and the deliverance is seen the ‘unambiguous’ picture of salvation in Christ.73 Consequently, the central work of the cross is anticipated in the Psalms and is referred to in the NT, including the soteriological aspect of salvation.

Regarding acceptance, the Psalms reflect unconditional acceptance in a remarkable example, among many others, in Psalm 87. In verse 5, the psalmist says ‘this one and that one were born in her’ referring to the glorious things to be spoken of Zion, the city of God. When one examines which people were born in her, an extraordinary discovery is made. The ones stated as being born into Zion and thus becoming part of her glory were the worst enemies of Israel (v. 4)! The first enemy of Israel is there, Egypt (Rahab). The thorn in Israel’s side is there, the Philistines. The final OT enemy who was responsible for Israel’s exile, Babylon, is

70

Brueggemann, The Message of the Psalms, 19. 71

Weiser, The Psalms, 337. 72

Claus Westermann, The Psalms, Structure, Content and Message (Minneapolis, MN: Augsburg, 1980), 123ff. 73

Ibid.

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there too! This psalm, among all the Psalms, stands as a stunning example of unconditional acceptance.

Further, Psalm 87 is entitled ‘of the sons of Korah’. It may be that the title meant the psalm was written by or dedicated to the sons of Korah. The sons of Korah were obviously enjoying an honoured place in Israel at the time of writing, in spite of their dishonourable ancestry. Korah was one of the rebellious leaders swallowed up by the earth in a terrible judgement (Num 16.32). Spurgeon accepts that the sons of Korah are the descendants of this rebellious leader. About them he says their escape from the judgement on their father was due to ‘sovereign grace. Preserved we know not why by the distinguishing favour of God’.74 The unconditional love of God is seen also in the name, Korah, which suggests ‘the state in which trees are during winter’ and is a ‘lively picture of fallen man’.75 Thus the title of this psalm of acceptance is connected to a family whose ancestors were rejected and who carried a name which indicated barrenness and rejection.

There seems to be little doubt that Psalm 87 is a prophetic picture of the church, the spiritual Zion, which would embrace people of every race and background.76 Or as Artur Weiser put it,

The peculiar character of the psalm lies in the fact that starting from belief in God it makes manifest the foundation from which Christianity has set out on its way into the world; the psalm shows how the ground was prepared so that the Christian seed could

sprout and grow therein.77

The church, which was born through the unconditional acceptance of Christ through the cross, is able to embrace everyone, including God’s enemies. God has certainly ‘broken down the middle wall of partition’, and has ‘made both one’ (Eph 2:14) through the cross. Thus Psalm 87 is a picture to us of the grace of God and especially of unconditional acceptance.

The next benefit of salvation, justification, is highlighted in Romans 4:7, 8 being quoted directly from Psalm 32:7, 8, which says, ‘Blessed are they whose transgressions are forgiven, whose sins are covered. Blessed is the man whose sin the Lord will never count against him.’ This shows considerable insight on the psalmist’s part for him to recognise that Yahweh will forgive sins, not counting them against or reckoning them against a person. Paul identified this as justification, that is, the forensic declaration by the Judge of the earth that a person is not guilty. This forensic act of justification was not unknown in the OT so it is not surprising to see it in the Psalms.78

More fundamental, and what led to this point in Paul’s quotation was his argument that David was demonstrating a righteousness apart from doing good works. He said that David knew of such a righteousness. David had sinned greatly and knew his sins could not be covered through his compensating good deeds or even ritual sacrifices (Psa 51:16-17). He knew that only God could forgive him, ‘not counting his sins against him’ (Psa 32:2; 2 Cor 5:19). Thus, Paul concluded that if David knew his sins were forgiven, Yahweh not counting them against him, that it must be solely through David’s trust and acceptance. Thus David

74

Charles Haddon Spurgeon, The Treasury of David (Peabody, MA: Hendrickson, n.d), i:270. 75

Romaine quoted in Spurgeon, Treasury, ii:480. 76

G. Rawlinson, H. D. M Spence and J. S. Exell, (eds.), The Pulpit Commentary (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 1984), Psalm 87.

77 Weiser, The Psalms, 584.

78 Ladd, A Theology, 481-484.

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was justified by faith.79 But the cause or source of this was God’s free grace in choosing to forgive him. In his summary of this psalm, Weiser says,

And the grace of God made manifest in the forgiveness of sins prepares the way to that lofty goal for anyone for whom truth in the sight of God is at stake. Thus the psalm is one of the most impressive OT testimonies to the truth which the NT expresses in 1 John

1.8f.80

Now the question is, how did David know that God possessed this grace of forgiveness? He would have undoubtedly known how that God reckoned righteousness to Abraham through his faith (Gen 15:6), thus giving David a biblical precedent. Perhaps a greater precedent is the revelation to Moses of God’s character in Exodus 34:6, 7. Some feel that this self-disclosure by Yahweh to Moses is a key to OT theology and of the Pentateuch.81 This revelation, either implied or repeated, is found in a number of places in the OT and particularly in the Psalms (as mentioned earlier).82 It becomes obvious to a student of Scripture that there is indeed something fundamental and central about this revelation of God. David knew this well. Secondly, David had a heart after God’s own heart (Acts 13:22 referring to 1 Sam 13:14). If this meant David had a heart which was the same in kind and nature as God’s, then it meant that David would have had an understanding of the gracious nature of God. Thirdly, David’s own experience with sin and his subsequent forgiveness would have given him first hand experience of the gracious nature of God in not counting his sins against him (2 Sam 12:13).

Another reference to David’s highly developed understanding of God’s grace in forgiveness apart from works is found in his famous prayer in Psalm 51:16-17. Here he declared that God did not ‘delight in sacrifice’ or ‘burnt offerings’. This is quite remarkable since the law required that anyone who sinned must bring the appropriate sacrifice for forgiveness. In this, says Spurgeon, he ‘was so illuminated as to see far beyond the symbolic ritual; his eye of faith gazed with delight upon the actual atonement’.83 Not that David could have seen the exact nature of the cross but rather the principle of a perfect atonement yet to come. Calvin puts it another way saying that the law actually contained no sacrifice appropriate to murder and adultery which David had committed.84 David was therefore cast completely upon God’s judgement without any hope of escape except his knowledge of God’s mercy and grace in justification through faith, and we can accept an anticipation of the cross.

Faith in this and every case implies a contrite and repentant heart, as David goes on to say in Psalms 51:17: ‘The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise.’ That faith implies a dependant and contrite heart, belies the very nature of faith. Faith says that no work can prevail before God therefore the soul is cast wholly upon God in humble dependence. David was not implying that contriteness and brokenness of heart are works producing forgiveness but rather he meant that these

79

James R. Edwards, Romans: The New International Biblical Commentary (Peabody, MA: Hendrickson, 1992), 116.

80 Weiser, The Psalms, 287.

81Newing states that this passage (Ex 34.6-7) "pronounces his Name in one of the most fundamental statements

of God's name in the Scriptures" This he connects with Ex 32-34 which he believes to be the theological centre of the Hextateuch/Pentateuch. (OT Theology, 2:5)

82See Psalms 86:15, 103:3 - both psalms of David

83 Spurgeon, Treasury, i: 407.

84 Ibid., i: 422.

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qualities are the nature of faith. As Matthew Henry says, ‘there is no true repentance without faith in him’.85 Brueggemann, in summarising the whole psalm, says that

it underscores both moments in the life of faith, the seriousness of the disorder, for which responsibility must be taken, and the possibility for new life, which cannot be coerced from God, but only freely given. These two affirmations together constitute the heart of evangelical faith, in which this psalm is so firmly rooted.86

Yet another example of justification is found in Psalm 25:9-12. Here we are told that ‘He does not deal with us according to our sins, nor requite us according to our iniquities. For as the heavens are high above the earth, so great is his steadfast love (hesed) toward those who fear him’. About this passage, Brueggemann says,

To be sure this remarkable offer of steadfast love is ‘to those who fear him’... In the end, however, it is not human righteousness, but the abiding hesed of Yahweh which matters decisively ... It is remarkable that in this Psalm addressing issues of guilt and death, the decisive reality about which Israel is confident is the hesed of Yahweh.87

In regard to sanctification, Psalm 23:3, says, ‘He guides me in paths of righteousness for his name’s sake’. David spoke here not of justification but of the cleansed state and ongoing walk in righteousness which belongs to the subject of sanctification. This has to do with being ethically righteous and living in righteousness. It consists of being holy and godly in character and obedience to God. Spurgeon connects this verse with sanctification calling it ‘one of the sweetest gifts of the covenant’.88 Notice that the work is God’s? He leads me into paths of righteousness. He does it for his own honour and if so then how committed must he be to do it? Thus we see that our perfection is God’s work within each person. The fact that it is his work, demonstrates the grace basis for sanctification as opposed to works. The words ‘for his name’s sake’ are also an indication of God’s grace, for as Patrick Miller says, ‘It is out of God’s character and for God’s just and loving purposes, that is, ‘for your name’s sake,’ that right paths are set for the human journey’.89

Another example of sanctification is found in Psalm 51:2, 7. In these verses David prayed for cleansing. It is important to realise that David had probably been declared forgiven by Nathan the prophet prior to this psalm according to our knowledge of the story (2 Sam 12.13). Even though declared forgiven (forensic justification), David knew he needed cleansing and purifying inwardly from his sin and the weakness connected with it. This is the work of sanctification which is done solely by the Holy Spirit. David asked God to do it because he knew that only God was able. It was God’s work and God’s alone.

Psalm 51:7 is particularly interesting since it implies cleansing through atoning blood. David’s use of the words ‘cleanse me with hyssop’ indicates a spiritualisation of the sacrifices with which he would be well acquainted. He was asking for a cleansing that could only be imparted through the blood sacrifice even though he acknowledged in verse 16 that God did

85

Matthew Henry, A Commentary on the Whole Bible (Peabody, MA: Hendrickson, 1998), iii:435. 86

Brueggemann, The Message of the Psalms, 102. 87

Brueggemann, ‘Costly Loss of Lament’. 88

Spurgeon, Treasury, i: 355. 89

Miller, Interpreting the Psalms, 115.

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not require sacrifice. David looked beyond the physical symbol to what it represented. He desired to be cleansed through the spiritual and perfect sacrifice. Whether or not he clearly saw the cross, he evidently saw that the inadequate animal sacrifice represented something real and efficacious and for this he prayed. David’s confidence in the power of the cleansing process is seen in his words, ‘and I shall be clean’ (v. 7). He knew that the reality represented in the blood sacrifice was more than sufficient to do the work. He thus exercised wholly dependant faith in the sanctifying work of atonement.90 Here is yet another indication of David’s awareness of grace and in this he anticipates the cross.

In Psalm 40, the psalmist expressed his overwhelming sense of sin and cried out for God to save him (vv. 12-13). Here we note a development of the idea of salvation from sin more congruent with NT soteriology. There was not only the need for forgiveness, which he did not mention, but cleansing and freedom from the power of sin. All this is implied in his cry. In verse eleven, the writer approached his prayer with a plea for mercy. Here again we see that he knew that it was only by God’s grace he could and would be sanctified from his sins and led in the path of righteousness.91 This was a genuine prayer for sanctification because it was a plea for separation from his overwhelming sins to a place of protection in God. The psalmist showed again that his sanctification depended on God’s grace alone. Another feature of this psalm which demonstrates this is the mention again, as in Psalm 51, of the inadequacy of ‘sacrifice and offering’ (Psa 40:6). The writer’s enlightened view of God’s grace thus shines through this psalm as in others.

Regarding mediation or intercession, like Esther of old who could only approach the king when his sceptre was outstretched to her (5:2), no-one can approach God unless he personally provides the access (Heb 9:8, 9). Under the New Covenant, access has been provided through the cross of Jesus, the supreme act of grace (Heb 9:15). Under the Old Covenant, prior to the cross, the sacrifices provided a temporary approach to God in anticipation of the cross (Heb 9:7, 8). In either case, the mediation was provided by God and was solely through his grace and mercy (Heb 4:16). The Psalms show clearly this mediating mercy of God as the sole means of approaching him. They show this in the common exercise of prayer which forms a major component of the Psalms.

As an example of such prayers, Psalm 5:7, says, ‘but I, by your great mercy, will come into your house’. In this psalm, the writer very clearly showed his approach to God was through his mercy. The word mercy in this case is the Hebrew hesed, described by the psalmist as great. In verses 4-6 of the same psalm, he described the nature of the wicked who cannot come into God’s presence and with whom God ‘cannot dwell’. An interesting feature of this psalm is that if David was the author, he committed every one of the listed sins. If written after David’s sin, assuming he was the author and bearing in mind that he was guilty of everything on his list, the psalm takes on new significance. It would be as though David was emphasising the fact that God cannot dwell with evil or in any way accept the guilty thus disqualifying them, including David. How then could he come to God? Through God’s mercy alone. The word but in verse 7 may be David saying, ‘I can’t come to you on account of my guilt, but I can come on the basis of abundant mercy’. As Weiser says,

His affirmation of being able to draw near to God in the sanctuary is not the outburst of a feeling of stiff-necked self-righteousness, but, as the psalmist

90

Spurgeon, Treasury, i:403. 91

Weiser, The Psalms, 339f.

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himself confesses, an undeserved gift of the divine grace in which he may partake in all humility and with gratitude in his heart.92

If David was not the author, the writer nevertheless intended the same meaning, as Spurgeon agrees, saying in a paraphrase, ‘But I will not come there by my own merits; no, I have a multitude of sins, and therefore I will come in the multitude of thy mercy.’93

The pathway to God in prayer is often mentioned by psalm-writers in connection with mercy. Psalm 4:1, for example, says, ‘be merciful to me and hear my prayer’. Other almost identical verses are Psalms 6:9, 27:7, 30:10. Psalm 66:20, for example, says, ‘Praise be to God, who has not rejected my prayer or withheld his love (or mercy - hesed) from me!’ Likewise, Psalm 69:13 says, ‘But as for me, my prayer is unto thee, O LORD, in an acceptable time: O God, in the multitude of thy mercy (hesed) hear me, in the truth of thy salvation.’ And a final example is Psalm 109:26 which says, ‘Help me, O LORD my God: O save me according to thy mercy’. As can be seen from these examples, the theology and practice of prayer on the basis of God’s mercy is highly developed.

Indeed, repetition of the plea for mercy is found everywhere in the Psalms. Although in some places, psalm writers claimed their integrity as a basis for answered prayer (eg: Psa 7:8, 25:21, 41:12, 78:72), it is very plain that they saw mercy as the only true ground of approach to God. They not only saw it, but expected God to give it because of confidence of the merciful nature of God. Psalm 6:9, for example, clearly shows this, saying, ‘The LORD has heard my cry for mercy; the LORD accepts my prayer.’ Psalm 40:11 connects the grace and truth expression, as quoted in John 1:14 from Exodus 34:6, saying, ‘Do not withhold your mercy from me, O LORD; may your love and your truth always protect me.’ The word ‘mercy’ occurs 100 times in 99 verses demonstrating the insight that psalm writers had into this subject.94 The most famous example is Psalm 136 where the term mercy is repeated in every one of its 26 verses.

An apparent contradiction is found in Psalm 18:20-24, where the psalmist said that God heard him because of his righteousness. Does this contradict the ground of mercy? How is this to be explained? Here and in other places where writers maintained their integrity or righteousness as the reason that God acted for them, it is the righteousness imparted by faith of which they spoke. We know this because of passages such as Psalm 32:1-2. All that they were doing here was to declare that which they had been given through the grace of God. Since they readily declared sin in other places in the Psalms, we know that they did not make a plea of self-righteousness but rather, righteousness which is by faith; that which God imputed. As seen in this study, psalm writers attributed everything they received as given by God so it would be totally out of character for writers like David to make claims of self-righteousness. Spurgeon comments on this seeming paradox as something which has perplexed Christians, although it need not at all. He said,

David’s early troubles arose from the wicked charges brought against the character of ‘the man after God’s own heart’. These charges David declares to have been utterly false,

92

Weiser, The Psalms, 127. 93

Spurgeon, Treasury, i:46. 94

Quickverse.

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and asserts that he possessed a grace-given righteousness which the Lord had graciously rewarded in defiance of all his calumniators.95

Weiser agrees with these sentiments but explains, first of all, that the king’s ‘protestation of innocence’ may simply apply to the requirements of the ‘moral and ritual aspects of the ordinances of the Covenant’. The conclusion is that it is ‘not a question of protestation of innocence ... but of an affirmation of faith in the covenantal faithfulness of God.’96

In the Psalms, motivation for service, our next benefit of salvation, is by God’s enabling grace. For example, Psalm 18 shows that it is God who empowers for action. See examples of this in verse 29 where David (and there is no real reason to dispute David’s authorship here) said he could ‘advance against a troop’ and ‘scale a wall’.97 He said, ‘It is God who arms me with strength, and makes my way perfect’ (v. 32), and ‘He makes my feet like the feet of a deer; he enables me to stand on the heights (v. 33)’. Also David said, ‘He trains my hands for battle’ (v. 34) and similarly in verses 35, 36, 39, 40, 43. There is no doubt David had an enlightened view of God as the One who motivated and energised him. He certainly believed that ‘it was God who worked in him to will and to act’ (Phil 2:13).

This particular principle of NT grace is therefore witnessed in David and other psalm writers but was it connected with the OT word hesed? The connection with hesed can be readily demonstrated in Psalm 18:50. Here, as a summary to all God had done and given him, David declared, ‘He gives his king great victories; he shows unfailing kindness (hesed) to his anointed, to David and his descendants forever’. In Psalm 57:2-3, the writer declared that it was God who fulfilled his purposes in him in similar language to Philippians 2:13. Actually, in the KJV the verse translates closely to the meaning of Philippians 1:6, saying, ‘who performs all things for me’. He then explained that God did this through sending his ‘love (hesed) and faithfulness’. Here we see the direct connection between God’s willing and acting and the covenant word, hesed. Even more telling is the use of the famous phrase love and faithfulness or ‘grace and faithfulness’ which are ‘the fundamental attributes of God’, harking back to the revealed nature of God in Exodus 34:6 and God’s covenant with Israel.98 God’s purposes in the Old Covenant are thus more perfectly fulfilled through New Covenant grace having been majestically anticipated in the Psalms, at times with laser-like clarity.

In conclusion, although in the Psalms we ‘see through a glass darkly’ (1 Cor 13:12), as far as the full revelation of NT grace is concerned, the depth of insight is nevertheless very rich. To quote Patrick Miller:

What happens, therefore, as we read the psalms with the New Testament is that they interact with one another. The Psalms draw us to Jesus, make us think of him; they gain their specificity, the reality for us, their concreteness, in the revelation of Jesus. But it is the case, also, that that interaction works the other way, and our thinking and interpretation and our preaching about Jesus of Nazareth needs to be conversation with the psalms, for the psalms provide some

95

Spurgeon, Treasury, i:242. 96

Weiser, The Psalms, 192f. 97

Ibid., 185f. 98

Ibid., 427.

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of the fundamental content for what the reality of Jesus is as salvation, light, hope, deliverance, shepherd.99

We cannot expect that the psalm-writers could see the gospel clearly, but it is a wonder so much was perceived by them. With our clearer understanding of NT revelation, we are able to recognise in the Psalms an extensive expectation of NT grace. NT writers used the Psalms more than any other OT book because of this. Jesus himself quoted from it more than any other. Miller says ‘They (the Psalms) have an anticipatory character that presses them forward toward the New Testament.’100 It is indeed as Luther and other reformers believed; that the Book of Psalms is ‘the whole Gospel of God in a nutshell’. These views which have been precious to the church for centuries, therefore, must not be detracted from by the ‘gains of later critical scholarship’.101

Bibliography: Bonhoeffer, Dietrich. The Cost of Discipleship. London: SCM, 1959.

Brower, K. E. ‘Sanctification’. In The New Bible Dictionary. Edited by J. D. Douglas. Downers Grove, IL: IVP, 1996.

Brueggemann, Walter. The Message of the Psalms: A Theological Commentary. Minneapolis, MN: Augsburg, 1984.

__________________. The Psalms and the Life of Faith. Minneapolis, MN: Fortress, 1995.

Calvin, John., Spurgeon, C.H., (ed.), The Treasury of David, (Peabody, MA: Hendrickson, n.d.).

Cranford, Lorin L. ‘Sanctification’. In Holman’s Bible Dictionary for Windows. Omaha, NE: Parsons, 1994.

Dunn, James D. G. Jesus and the Spirit: A Study of the Religious and Charismatic Experience of Jesus and the First Christians as Reflected in the New Testament. Philadelphia, PA: Westminster, 1975.

Edwards, James R. ‘Romans’. In New International Biblical Commentary. Peabody, MA: Hendrickson, 1992.

Esser, H.H., ‘Grace’. In The New International Dictionary of New Testament Theology. Edited by Colin Brown. Grand Rapids, MI: Paternoster, 1986.

Fee, Gordon D. God’s Empowering Presence: The Holy Spirit in the Letters of Paul. Peabody, MA: Hendrickson, 1994.

Henry, Matthew. A Commentary on the Whole Bible (World Bible Publishers, n.d.)

Hughes, P.E., Elwell, W.A.(ed.), Evangelical Dictionary of Theology. Baker, 1984.

Kidner, F.D., Douglas, J.D. (ed.), The Illustrated Bible Dictionary. IVP Tyndale House Publishers, 1980.

Ladd, George Eldon. A Theology of the New Testament. Rev. edn. Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 1993.

99

Miller, Interpreting the Psalms, 28. 100

Ibid., 27. 101

Brueggemann, The Message of the Psalms, 17.

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Luter, A. Boyd. ‘Grace’. In Dictionary of Paul and His Letters. Edited by Gerald F. Hawthorne, Ralph P. Martin and Daniel G. Reid. Downers Grove, IL: IVP, 1993, 372-374.

Miller, Patrick D., Interpreting the Psalms.Minneapolis, MN: Fortress, 1986.

Morris, Leon. New Testament Theology. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 1986.

Murray, J. ‘Mediator’. In The New Bible Dictionary. Edited by J. D. Douglas. Rev. edn. Downers Grove, IL: IVP, 1996.

Newing, E.G., Old Testament Theology, Lecture Notes, Section 1, (Adelaide, SA: Tabor College, 1996).

Packer, J. I. ‘Justification’. In The New Bible Dictionary. Edited by J. D. Douglas. Downers Grove, IL: IVP, 1996.

Peterson, Eugene. Answering God: The Psalms as Tools for Prayer. San Francisco: Harper Collins, 1991.

Pickerill, Donald. Jesus and the Psalms. Perth, WA: LIFE Bible College, 1994.

Polhill, J. Holman’s Bible Dictionary for Windows. Omaha, NE: Parsons, 1994.

Rawlinson, G., H. D. M. Spence and J. S. Exell (eds.). The Pulpit Commentary. Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 1984.

Romaine, W. In The Treasury of David. Edited by C. H. Spurgeon. Peabody, MA: Hendrickson, n.d.

Spurgeon, Charles Haddon. The Treasury of David. Peabody, MA: Hendrickson, n.d.

Thiselton, Anthony C. The New International Dictionary of New Testament Theology. Edited by Colin Brown. Grand Rapids, MI: Paternoster Press, 1986.

Weiser, Artur. The Psalms. Philadelphia, PA: Westminster, 1962.

Westermann, Claus. The Psalms, Structure, Content and Message. Minneapolis, MN: Augsburg, 1980.

White, R. E. O. ‘Salvation’. In Evangelical Dictionary of Theology. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker, 1984, 967-969.

Quickverse for Windows. Omaha, NE: Parson’s, 1992-4.

Zimmerli, Walther. Old Testament Theology in Outline. Edinburgh: T & T Clarke, 1978.

Reflection and discussion.

1. How would you summarise NT teaching? Under which two or three headings would you group and describe the teachings of gospel?

2. What clues assist us to identify these elements from point 1 in the Psalms?

3. Why do you think the Psalter anticipates so clearly the Messiah and the gospel?

4. If we are to read the Psalter correctly in its historical and cultural setting, how can we then apply it to the gospel and our own situation? Can you think of a feature in the design of the Psalter which makes it available to all believers?

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Psalms: selected meditations A meditation on Psalm 23: the Gospel Psalm

At the beginning of 1995, I felt that I should devote more attention to teaching the Scripture. Within a week of this ‘guidance’, the phone rang and a colleague asked whether I would be free to undertake a series of teaching programs at Perth’s 98.5 Sonshine FM. I agreed to do a half hour program each Monday evening on the station’s weekly Bible study slot. The programs continued until some eighty had been broadcast. Each study consisted of a devotional teaching from one psalm. Psalm 23 was one of those and it is here presented, based on the radio script with some necessary editing.

Psalm 23:1: ‘A Psalm of David. The LORD is my shepherd, I shall not be in want.’

The focus of this psalm, as established in verse 1, is ‘the Lord’ – Yahweh. As Walter Brueggemann notes, God’s name, ‘Yahweh’, is used only twice in the psalm, here in verse 1, then at the end (v. 6), with the centre (v. 4) featuring a prominent ‘you’. Therefore, we might say that the ‘poem, like this trustful life, is lived fully in the presence of this name which sets the parameters for both life and speech’.102 Thus the psalm is not a description of what David (we will assume David’s authorship) did but of what God does and the anticipated outcomes. For example, throughout the psalm we find the phrases, ‘he makes me’, ‘he leads me’, ‘he restores’, ‘he guides’, ‘he is with me’, ‘he prepares’, ‘he anoints’, as well as related sentiments, stated and implied. The whole psalm, therefore, tells about what God the Shepherd meant to David and by implication to his people. Truly the Lord was David’s shepherd, but he is also our shepherd since the Book of Psalms was written for the benefit of God’s people Israel, and subsequently through Christ, for the Church (e.g., Col 3:15)!

Regarding the character of a shepherd, David knew this by experience, and also understood the cost involved. For example, he confronted a bear and lion to protect his sheep (1 Sam 17.34-37). He placed his life on the line for them; he was willing to provide everything for his sheep. Here is more than a glimpse of the Good Shepherd, the Lord Jesus, who paid the full price of our redemption on the cross. As Jesus said, ‘I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep’ (John 10:11). Because ‘the good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep’, David understood that nothing would be withheld from him. God’s sheep have everything they need (cf. Rom 8.32). Therefore David knew that he would never lack. The nature of the need to which David referred was neither wholly material nor wholly spiritual but that which impacted his total well-being. This fact can be easily seen as the psalm progresses, wholeness being David’s particular theme. As Brueggemann says, ‘Israel refuses to split things into spiritual and material. It affirms that Yahweh is the satisfaction of all wants and needs.’103 This is the focus of the gospel too. If we follow the Shepherd, he will supply all of our need ‘according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus’ (Phil 4:19), so that we, like David, will never lack. After all, it is God’s desire and intention that our joy is complete (John 17:13).

In addition to describing Yahweh and his work, David from the outset highlighted his relationship with God, saying, ‘The Lord is my shepherd’. He had vital personal connection. A shepherd in David’s time knew each sheep intimately and was known by them. All of the

102

Walter Brueggemann, The Message of the Psalms: a Theological Commentary (Minneapolis, MN: Augsburg, 1984), 154-155.

103 Ibid., 155.

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psalm’s promises, therefore, were given to one who belonged to the Shepherd. However, since sheep do not choose their masters, but rather shepherds the sheep, how did a person come to belong to Yahweh? David knew, of course, that since God had chosen his people Israel (e.g., Isa 43:1), accordingly he was chosen. Additionally, his anointing as king, mentioned later in the psalm (v. 5), provided him with further assurance. Likewise for us, the good news is that Jesus has chosen us (John 15:16), making our relationship to him, like David’s, the choice of the Shepherd. In addition, echoing David’s selection, we are even called ‘kings and priests’ through the electing grace of God (e.g., Rom 8:17; 1 Cor 4:8; 1 Pet 2:5; Rev 1:6, 5:10). His choice is reassuring since in choosing us, he guarantees our ongoing care (cf. Eph 1:3-6).

Consequently, David experienced Yahweh’s blessings because he belonged to his Shepherd. In the same manner, God’s blessings in Christ are given to those who belong to him. As Jesus said, ‘I am the good shepherd; I know my sheep and my sheep know me’ (John 10:14). Accordingly, if we know Jesus, then he also knows us and gives us his blessings (cf. John 1:16). In light of this, it is important to respond in faith and love to the One who chose us. It is still possible, after all, to resist the Good Shepherd by wilfulness, even though he is determined to benefit us (Luke 12:32). There are sheep, we are told, that are contrary.104 They resist the generous benefits of their owner to their detriment. May we not be like these sheep. Rather, may we respond in gratitude to the gracious love of our Shepherd and let him do his wonderful work of providing for us (cf. 1 Thess 5:23-24).

Psalm 23:2: ‘He makes me lie down in green pastures, he leads me beside quiet waters.’

Note the emphasis here on the Shepherd’s initiative in the words, ‘he makes me’. David said, in effect, that God, his Shepherd, fed him. This language is similar to Jeremiah’s and Ezekiel’s prophetic announcement of the New Covenant. For example, Jeremiah predicted, ‘“This is the covenant I will make with the house of Israel after that time,” declares the LORD. “I will put my law in their minds and write it on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people”’ (31:33). Similarly, Ezekiel said, ‘I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit in you and move you to follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws’ (Ezek 36:26, 27). Thus in Christ, it is God who wills and acts in his people as our psalm-writer anticipated by saying, ‘he makes me’.

It is so easy to forget that as Christians we do not subscribe to a religion of works but to one in which God, through Christ, has accomplished the salvation in which we participate. It is crucial that we do not forget this for several reasons. First, there is no way that we can earn anything from God, nor is there any work that can engender spirituality (John 1:12; Gal 3:16). It is simply impossible, which is why God must provide it. Second, ours is a supernatural faith. We are not merely following a human system of beliefs, but one which is divine from first to last. When we revert to works to attain spirituality, we short-circuit the power of the gospel (Gal 3:1-5). Thus we too often miss the purpose of our faith and fail to live in the grace of God (Heb 12:15). A major reason that we have so many struggles and failures in our Christian journey is neglect of the revelation found in this psalm; specifically, that the Lord is our Shepherd and that ‘he makes me lie down’ – he makes me! May we allow him to ‘make us lie down’, that is, to cease from our own works and enter into the ‘rest of faith’ (Heb 4:9-11);

104

See Phillip Keller, A Shepherd Looks at Psalm 23 (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 1970), 33-34.

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namely, our completed salvation! As Paul said, ‘it is God who works in you to will and to act according to his good purpose’ (Phil 2:13).

The green pastures about which David next spoke describe copious provision and the fact it is received through rest (trust), not through struggle (cf. Heb 4:9-11). The phrase, ‘He makes me lie down in green pastures’, also suggests to us the completed work of the cross. The prepared pastures and the rest within them, indicates a planned and accomplished work since the generous provision was and is readily available (Heb 1:3, 2:9). When the Apostle Paul described the incredible inheritance we have in Christ, he said it was so immense that it required supernatural insight to grasp (e.g., Eph 1:16-20, 3:16-20).

The ‘quiet waters’ of this verse describe a safe place in which sheep may drink. The Shepherd provided not only rich food but plentiful water supplies and a safe haven in which to drink. To David, and to us, the ‘waters’ represent the refreshing Spirit of God who is discovered in the ‘quiet’ places. In the quiet places of waiting on God (this was the temple for David), the supplies of the Spirit’s refreshing are found. Where there is noise, restlessness and activity, we should be cautious, preferring quiet places where we may drink of the Spirit (John 7:37-38). Further, the effect of the gospel in our lives is peace (Isa 32:17; Rom 5:1; Phil 4:6-7). It is his promise and commitment to lead us into peace (John 14:1, 27). Therefore, an outcome of the Lord’s continual operation in our lives (John 5:17), is guidance, direction and peace. Our part is to understand his role of initiating, constructing and sustaining our salvation, and then trust him for its accomplishment. Even the trust by which we rely in his initial and ongoing salvation speaks of the ‘still waters’; ours is to trust and drink, his is to work and perfect.

Ps 23.3: ‘... he restores my soul. He guides me in paths of righteousness for his name’s sake’.

The Shepherd, said the psalmist, is attentive to the condition of his sheep. Any who are sick or weak, he tenderly restores with the ultimate aim of the good health and condition of all his sheep. When we became Christians, a new birth took place and restoration began and will continue throughout our lives (1 Cor 1:18; 2 Cor 2:15). God is continually and literally putting us back together again as we grow toward the ‘whole measure of the fullness of Christ’ (Eph 4:13). Some mistakenly think that as soon as a person is born-again, he or she is immediately and totally restored. Well, we are totally and immediately forgiven and justified but there is restorative work to be done. Thank God, our Good Shepherd restores souls. The process of bringing us to perfection, and of being whole persons made in his likeness (Rom 8:29), is his responsibility. He is our salvation and restoration (Psa 27:1). In addition, any loss we may have sustained, including loss of spiritual blessing, God labours to restore. We can depend upon this restoration but need to be open and responsive to his activity so that we do not quench the operation of his Spirit (1 Thess 5:19).

Along with restoration, David said that his Shepherd guided him into righteousness. In saying this, he attributed his righteousness to Yahweh in a manner that anticipated the gospel. The New Covenant distinction, however, is that Jesus not only guides us into and provides righteousness, but he actually is our righteousness, justification and holiness. We obtain this gift of righteousness through faith and particularly through our union with Christ, not through self-effort or self-discipline. As Paul declared, ‘It is because of him that you are in Christ Jesus, who has become for us wisdom from God--that is, our righteousness, holiness and redemption’ (1 Cor 1.30).

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This righteousness is for ‘his name’s sake’, said the psalm-writer, meaning that his Shepherd was glorified through a righteous life. Likewise, our righteousness, that is, his righteousness shared with us through our union with him and displayed in our lives, greatly honours Jesus (e.g., 1 Cor 6:20). It honours him, because it is his glory displayed through us. Furthermore, he leads us in paths of righteousness for ‘his name’s sake’, because it is in his best interest. Consequently, he will see to it that the goal of righteousness is vigorously pursued, giving us additional assurance of his purposes being completed in us (cf. Phil 1:6; Phil 2:13; 1 Thess 5:23).

Psalm 23:4: ‘Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me.’

David knew well the valley referred to here. One of many extreme valley experiences through which he passed was the time an enemy absconded with David’s and his band’s every possession and family member. At this time, even his loyal followers spoke of killing him. Nevertheless, on this bitter occasion he found his encouragement in the Lord’s presence (1 Sam 30:6). Like the psalmist, we also walk through valleys, some of which last for a considerable time. These times of difficulty may include losses of different kinds, disappointments, un-met expectations, rejection in various forms, failures and loneliness. Needed help during these periods, said David, may be found in the presence of the Shepherd. Phillip Keller describes the calming effect of the shepherd’s presence on an agitated flock, saying that nothing else is adequate. He said, ‘I came to realise that nothing so quieted and reassured the sheep as to see me in the field. The presence of their master … put them at ease as nothing else could do’.105 Likewise, the presence of our Shepherd subdues our fears.

Valley experiences are often accompanied by fear. In fact, they may produce fear or play on existing fears exacerbating them. For example, if we have a failed relationship, we will usually fear failure for a future relationship and so on. Consequently, coupled with a suffered loss is the fear that accompanies it. What is it that protects us from fear? Like David said, it is nothing less than the comfort of God’s presence. The saying, ‘You are with me’, is a believer’s saving grace in times of such need. Indeed, it is ‘God’s companionship that transforms every situation’.106 As Moses prayed, ‘If your presence does not go with us, do not send us up from here’ (Exod 33:15). Similarly, David said ‘I have set the LORD always before me. Because he is at my right hand, I will not be shaken’ (Psa 16:8). He also said, ‘You have made known to me the path of life; you will fill me with joy in your presence, with eternal pleasures at your right hand’ (Psa 16:11). The companionship of the Lord is tangible and essential, and is the very fulfillment of the gospel, fittingly portrayed in this psalm. Jesus’ specific promise was that he would not leave us comfortless but would come to us and remain with us (John 14:18).

The rod and staff that David mentioned were evidences to the sheep of the shepherd’s presence; the staff to physically keep a sheep on the path or lift one that had fallen, and the rod to protect against enemies.107 Likewise, tangible evidences of God’s presence are a concrete comfort in our valleys. Valleys are low places where the sun shines for the briefest time and as a result can be cold and lonely. Nevertheless, valleys may also be the most beautiful places. They contain rich soils and picturesque vistas. Indeed, God reveals his treasures in such dark places (Isa 45:3)! Much of that treasure is the reality of God’s

105

Keller, A Shepherd Looks at Psalm 23, 37. 106

Brueggemann, The Message of the Psalms, 156. 107

Keller, A Shepherd Looks at Psalm 23, 92-103.

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presence. Thus ours is not solely a religion of words and creeds, but one of the presence and intimacy of Jesus.

Psalm 23:5: ‘You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies. You anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows.’

David’s table can be understood as a metaphor for the rich pastures mentioned earlier, given the lavish spread. But his was a special table; it was a banquet table of victory! This was so because it was prepared in the presence of enemies and suggests triumph! We glimpse here the communion table of the Lord, which is also a banquet table of victory because it celebrates what Jesus has achieved for us! Indeed, he has conquered every power in the heavenly realm (Col 2:15). The table of victory of which we partake is provided for us by our Shepherd! The salvation endeavour is finished; it is his accomplishment alone. We share and celebrate, therefore, a completed work!

The outcome of this completed work is that opposing powers are unable to cut off our source of strength and sustenance (1 John 4:4). We have access to the plenty God provides for us and not just meagre crumbs that we might try to scratch out for ourselves through self-initiated spirituality or religion. Herein is the covenant of grace vis-à-vis the covenant of works. As John said, ‘From the fullness of his grace we have all received one blessing after another’ (John 1:16). Such is our ‘banquet table of triumph’.

The anointing oil that David mentioned, reminds us of his kingly anointing. He was chosen for his life’s work through anointing at Samuel’s hand (1 Sam 16:13). In saying that his cup overflowed, David symbolised empowering for his royal calling perhaps alluding to a ‘double portion’ (2 Kings 2:9). This has God in Christ given to us as well. Our cup of destiny overflows because he has poured out his Spirit upon us for the task to which we have been called (Rom 5:5; Eph 1:13).

Anointing oil also represents oil applied to sheep to protect them from parasites that cause deafness, blindness and even death, thus preserving their health.108 Similarly, the oil of the Spirit preserves our spiritual health from parasites which threaten to creep into our minds unnoticed. Examples of these bacteria of the soul are negative attitudes, critical thoughts, fearful reactions or lustful imaginations. Since anointing oil is a picture of the Spirit who is lavishly bestowed to preserve our health from these enemies, it is no wonder that Paul said it is through the Spirit that we ‘put to death’ the works of flesh (Rom 8:13) and therefore he urged the constant fullness of the Spirit (Eph 5:19).

The ‘overflowing’ of which David spoke is also indicative of the excessive and lavish manner in which God accomplishes his work. The salvation he brings and the blessings he pours out are far above all we could ever ask or think (Eph 3:20). For example, the disciples at Pentecost when filled with the Spirit, experienced such excess that they were accused of being drunk (Acts 2:13)! They were, in fact, filled or overwhelmed by the Spirit’s power. David captured this kind of profusion in his words, ‘my cup overflows’. Similarly, the gospel provides God’s overflowing blessing for us in Christ.

In addition, David undoubtedly referred to the joy of God’s presence when he said that his cup overflowed. To quote Artur Weiser:

108

See Keller, A Shepherd Looks, 114-126.

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At this very point, as *the psalmist’s+ delight in God reaches its climax and throws him into raptures, the experience of the hour which he spends in the house of God in the direct presence of the Lord symbolically transcends the barriers of space and time. By virtue of the power of his faith the experience of the divine presence is transformed into the experience of the eternal future.109

Such joy in God is the sustaining power in life (Neh 8:10). Since oil is a symbol of the Spirit who brings joy (cf. Luke 10:21), we are brought again to the Spirit as source. The Holy Spirit is the gift of the New Covenant whom Jesus promised to his followers according to the pledge made in the OT (e.g., Ezek 36:27; Joel 2:28). The gospel opened the way for the outpouring of the Spirit upon all flesh including us (Joel 2:28). From the Spirit comes the overflow of joy enabling us to say that ‘the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking, but of righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit’ (Rom 14:17).

Psalm 23:6: ‘Surely goodness and love will follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the LORD forever.’

David was certain of his eternal dwelling place in Yahweh. In saying ‘surely’, David had an unshakeable confidence of eternity that undoubtedly anticipated the gospel and the assurance it brings (e.g., 2 Tim 1:12; 1 John 3:24). ‘Surely’ is a comforting word indicating absence of doubt, certainty. The certainty of the psalmist is ours too. We are promised such a work of the Spirit in our hearts that we can be certain of spiritual realities (Rom 8:16; Gal 4:6). For example, we can be sure that we are Christians and possess eternal life; we can be certain that we are forgiven of our sins; we can know that we possess the gift of the Spirit, and we can be assured of the companionship of the Lord Jesus. Of these things we can be certain, not by taking truths and trying to convince ourselves of their validity, but because the work at the cross is concretely applied in our lives by the Spirit (1 Cor 2:10; Eph 2:1-6). He does and will do this work (1 Thess 5:23-24)!

David anticipated another NT truth in his use of the words, ‘goodness and mercy’. The goodness of God referred to the blessings mentioned in the psalm, summarised by the one word, ‘goodness’. Further, God’s mercy, ‘unfailing love’ or grace, is God’s ‘goodness’, which comes to us undeserved. Mercy (usually expressed as ‘grace’ in the NT) is the essence of the gospel at which we often stumble. We find it perplexing to see how we can enter solely through grace into Christ’s accomplishments instead of trying to produce a righteousness of our own. Nevertheless, this is the very core and life of the gospel of grace. Along with David, who foreshadowed the NT, goodness and mercy follow us who now live in the grace of God in Christ.

In saying, ‘the house of the Lord’, David referred to an eternal house, not merely the physical temple at Jerusalem. As Brueggemann says, ‘The end of forlornness is access to the temple, where life is ordered anew. Yet it is not the place but the vitality of the relationship which transforms.’110 Weiser agrees, saying, ‘The main emphasis of these words does not lie on the fact of his external nearness to God in the Temple, but on the spiritual aspect of his communion with God’.111 Nevertheless, continues Weiser, ‘we must not overlook the fact

109

Artur Weiser, The Psalms: a Commentary (Philadelphia, PA: Westminster, 1962), 231. 110

Brueggemann, The Message of the Psalms, 156. 111

Weiser, The Psalms, 231.

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that for the poet the worship in the house of God is the place where this fair fruit of the blessed knowledge that comes by faith was granted him’.112

Finally, the psalmist’s phrase, ‘goodness and love will follow me all the days of my life’, expressed security in this life with the same expected in eternity. Likewise in this gospel age we need not fall or be lost but preserved for his heavenly kingdom (2 Tim 4:18). We can trust him to keep us. The same gospel that saved us will also keep us from falling (Jude 1:24). To be forever in the ‘house of the Lord’ was the psalmist’s expectation and one senses his delight in this. Herein is a twofold blessing. David expected the continued enjoyment of the presence of the Lord. It was indeed his sustaining strength and joy. The second was the continuing presence of the Lord that he expected would carry and accompany him into eternity (cf. Psa 73:23-28).

May we let the Lord be our Shepherd so that we will be led into all the blessings of the New Covenant described in this psalm. May we cease from striving and struggling and from any of our efforts. May we fully enter into the rest of faith and truly be NT believers allowing God to keep us, make us holy, empower us for service, and fill us with his love. Amen!

A method for weekly reflection:

1. Read through the psalm prayerfully. 2. Ask what are the main features of the psalm: i.e., what is the writer’s main point/s,

what is his difficulty, what is his consolation or refuge, to what does he appeal for help, etc.

3. Ask how the psalm relates to you: i.e., have you asked the same questions as the psalmist, what have you experienced that is similar to the psalmist, how were you helped, etc.

4. Ask how the psalm relates to Jesus and through Jesus to us. 5. Pray through a psalm, thought by thought, or verse by verse. 6. Pray for one another.

112

Ibid.

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A reflection on Psalm 40: a psalm of salvation

Passage: Psalm 40:1-5.

Text: Psalm 40:1-3: ‘I waited patiently for the LORD; he turned to me and heard my cry. 2He lifted me out of the slimy pit, out of the mud and mire; he set my feet on a rock and gave me a firm place to stand. 3He put a new song in my mouth, a hymn of praise to our God. Many will see and fear and put their trust in the LORD.’

Introduction:

The writer of this psalm had recently experienced a significant answer to prayer. He rejoiced with justifiable delight at what God had done for him (vv. 1-3). From this point of view, the psalm is a great inspiration for our faith in God. It encourages prayer with confidence (cf. 1 John 5:14-15). Although Psalms of disorientation reflect an authentic part of the life of faith, there come times of reorientation wherein ecstatic joy occurs through answered prayer. The remainder of the psalm, which is the larger part, is in two main sections, the first is a proclamation of God’s faithfulness (or righteousness) with an exhortation to trust in God (vv. 9-10), followed by a prayer (vv. 11ff.), for although God has done great things for the writer, he still has need. In fact, ‘he is poor and needy’ (v.17).

Comment:

Psalm 40:1: ‘I waited patiently for the LORD; he turned to me and heard my cry.’

Waiting for the Lord in this verse means waiting ‘only’ or solely for the Lord. It is more of an expression of perseverance and faith than patience, although patience is required. To wait perseveringly and solely upon the Lord is certainly an expression of pure trust in God. The psalmist’s depth of need confirms this, since in his case – trapped in a slimy pit – impatience and panic would have been a more natural response.

The psalmist’s manner of persevering prayer is recommended by Jesus in several of his parables and teachings (e.g., Matt 7:7-11; Luke 11:5-13, 18:1-8). ‘Importunity’ (KJV) is the word Jesus used and means ‘shameless persistence’. The phrase in v. 1 may literally be translated ‘I waited, waited’, or ‘waiting, I waited’.

The psalmist then tells us that God heard and answered. The phrase ‘turned to me’ means ‘leaned toward me’. It is thus a personal and touching expression showing Yahweh’s gentle compassion. The simple message here is Yahweh’s faithfulness. He will ‘lean toward us’ as we wait on him with focus and perseverance.

Psalm 40:2: ‘He lifted me out of the slimy pit, out of the mud and mire; he set my feet on a rock and gave me a firm place to stand.’

The idea here of being stuck in a slimy pit is one of being trapped with no way out – being left to perish. It is also a picture of a worsening situation because of sinking into an unstable substance. The words, ‘mud’ and ‘mire’, convey an idea of confusion and messiness.

The last part of the verse says that God set the writer’s feet on a solid rock, giving him a firm place to stand. In other psalms we read that Yahweh is the Rock (18:2, 46, 19:14, 28:1). God himself is the psalmist’s and our firm place to stand and upon which to rest our lives. Even though, as Psalm 73:26 says, ‘My heart and my flesh may fail’, ‘God is the strength of my life and my portion forever’.

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God has also given us a firm place to stand in that we have someone constantly with us to support us. Jesus called him the Comforter or the Counsellor; the Spirit of Christ (John 14:16-18; 16:7). Companionship and relationship with Christ through his Spirit are our primary foundation.

We also have a firm place to stand in our access to the Father through Jesus’ atoning work even though we have and do sin against him and each other (Heb 6:19). We sink into the mire of our own weakness and sinfulness without the help of Christ who has leaned toward us and lifted us out of our sin through his death and resurrection. We are indeed ‘risen with Christ’ if through faith we have accepted his loving hand of rescue (Eph 2:1-8).

Psalm 40:3: ‘He put a new song in my mouth, a hymn of praise to our God. Many will see and fear and put their trust in the LORD.’

The freshness of the song came about because of the new experience of God’s salvation. Songs and testimonies of God’s goodness are kept fresh and new when worshippers continually live in Christ’s resurrection presence, and are not depending on a long-past knowledge of God. In other words, if our relationship with Christ is current, then our songs and testimonies of his grace will be vibrant and heartfelt.

It is a natural thing, in the circumstance of a ‘new song’, for people to ‘see’, ‘fear’ and ‘put their trust in the Lord’. Those who experience the current work of God in their lives are genuine ‘witnesses’ because they are experiencing – not merely ‘have experienced’ – the living Christ. Hence their song and testimony are ‘new’ or fresh and those listening and watching receive an authentic ‘witness’ (i.e., testimony to that which is seen and heard – 1 John 1:1).

Further, when God works in a person’s life, ‘hymns of praise’ are a natural outflow. Scripture records numerous instances of people singing the praises of God especially as a result of Yahweh’s or Christ’s salvation (Exod 15:1-18; Psa 18:49)! This is precisely why Christianity is a singing faith (Eph 5:18-20; Col 3:15-17)! When the wells dry up, singing is the first to suffer! Contrariwise, when God works among his people, it is noticed early in their singing.

A noteworthy feature in the first three verses is the emphasis on God’s initiative. ‘He’ turned and answered, ‘he’ lifted the writer, and ‘he’ set his feet on a firm place, and ‘he’ put a new song in his mouth. In a similar fashion to the famous Psalm 23, it is Yahweh who takes the initiative so that the work of salvation is his. Although, the NT more fully reveals this grace-based salvation through Christ (John 1:13; Eph 2:10; Phil 1:6, 2:13), the OT frequently shows the gracious nature of God in this regard (e.g., Psa 37:4-7, 34; 44:3).

Psalm 40:4-5: ‘Blessed is the man who makes the LORD his trust, who does not look to the proud, to those who turn aside to false gods. 5Many, O LORD my God, are the wonders you have done. The things you planned for us no one can recount to you; were I to speak and tell of them, they would be too many to declare.’

Verse 4 reflects on verse 1 and the writer’s reward for waiting on his God. In view of such an answer, he affirms that trust in Yahweh is an essential posture and practice, to the exclusion of all other avenues of dependence, particularly the ‘false gods’ which abounded at that time (cf. Psa 20:7).

A question to ask about our church milieu is whether we have any fewer gods than in ancient times? Perhaps our gods are more subtle, sophisticated and intellectual. Perhaps our gods are found in the schemas and methodologies; the sciences of spirituality and church health

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and growth that abound (1 Cor 2:1-5; Col 2:8). A certain gauge of this is whether or not God’s people rely on him through prayer (Col 4:2-4). Prayerfulness is a significant indicator of trust in the Lord.

Since we all desire God’s blessing, let us pay attention to the sound advice of verse 4 to ‘make the Lord our trust’. Making the Lord our trust is much stronger than putting trust in the Lord. If the Lord is our trust then he is where our trust permanently resides. He is the one to whom we turn at every opportunity. In this case, our ‘eyes are ever toward the Lord’ (Psa 25:15). The people who do this will be blessed!

To reinforce the blessedness of the promise just made, the psalm-writer explains the kind of God we have; one who does great wonders for his people and who has many plans for them (cf. Jer 29:11). The plans that God has for his people are numerous; too many, in fact, to consider. In other words, God’s considerations for us are beyond our consideration (Eph 3:20)! In this case, why would we do anything less that ‘make the Lord our trust’!

Summary: In the light of the psalm-writer’s wonderful experience of rescue, it is easy to be triumphalistic by understating the realities of life and believe that in turning to God in difficulty all will be well, every time. The remainder of the psalm tells us that this is not the case because the last verse describes the writer as ‘poor and needy’. Regardless, the truths of the psalm remain: making the Lord our trust is the only blessed way to live despite ‘confusing incongruence’ noted in such psalms as 73. Nothing can diminish the salvation of the Lord, the glorious plans that he has for his people, and the thoughts for us that are truly beyond consideration.

Discussion questions:

1. What event from your life resonates with the psalmist’s deliverance?

2. What does the emphasis on the word ‘he’ in the first three verses mean to you?

3. Have you experienced a ‘new song’ as a result of God’s work in your life? Share your story with the group.

4. Share your struggles, experiences and / or blessings relating to ‘making God your trust’.

5. What other thoughts from this study inspire you and what do you think God may be saying to you?

6. Prayer: Thank you, Lord, for the many good thoughts and plans that you have for me. Help me to accept your love, allowing you to do whatever you wish. In addition, help me to encourage others with your mindfulness for them. Amen.

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A contemplation of Psalm 73: a confusion resolved

Passage: Psalm 73.

Text: Psalm 73:28: “But as for me, it is good to be near God. I have made the Sovereign LORD my refuge; I will tell of all your deeds.”

Introduction:

The Book of Psalms may be called Israel’s hymn and prayer book, but it is also a record of the nation’s struggle with faith, faith in God’s covenant love as revealed in Exodus 34:6-7 and other places. The Psalms end in a doxology of ‘unfettered praise’ for Yahweh’s faithful love. For example, Psalms 145–150 are each unbounded praise to God, like the Coda on the end of a major musical work (a formal and fitting ending to the whole matter). OT scholar, Walter Brueggemann, suggests that the Psalms is deliberately arranged to take the worshipper from orientation, through disorientation, to reorientation. Psalm 1 starts positively but further progress reveals severe testing of faith. The last section of the Psalms consists mainly of rejoicing in God’s faithful love. Accordingly, Brueggemann calls the Psalms, ‘a crisis of God’s hesed (covenant love)’.113 He also points out that the ‘orientation-disorientation-reorientation’ pattern is found in microform in Psalm 73.

This central psalm (almost exactly halfway and beginning the third book) may be regarded as the book of Psalms in miniature. It starts with positive affirmation (v. 1), and then runs into confusing incongruence (vv. 4-12), ending finally in faith (vv. 17ff). It is a psalm of great wisdom for living because it explains that true happiness is not found in material or physical things and that there is no guarantee that believers will live a charmed life when it comes to such things. However, regarding the true values of life, believers possess the ultimate. ‘God is with us’ (vv. 23ff.), is the message of the psalm.

From Bounded by Obedience: ‘the way from torah obedience to self-abandoning doxology is by way of candour about suffering and gratitude about hope (p. 72).’ ‘Thus it is my thesis that Israel’s struggle with God’s hesed, in suffering and hope, in lament and in hymn, in candour and in gratitude, and eventual acceptance of God’s hesed as the premise of life permits Israel to make the move from the obedience of Psalm 1 to the doxology of Psalm 150 (p. 78).’ ‘The large move of the drama of the Psalms from innocent obedience to unencumbered doxology is by way of the suffering voiced in the complaints and the hope sounded in the hymns (p. 89).’ ‘Rather, Israel’s life of faith consists in an abrasive, buoyant conversation about God’s hesed which fails and then reappears with power (p. 91).’

Comment:

Psalm 73:1: ‘A psalm of Asaph. Surely God is good to Israel, to those who are pure in heart.’

This is the first ‘surely’ of three to be found in the psalm and is thus a key word to be carefully noted. The first ‘surely’ affirms that God will certainly, beyond a shadow of doubt, be good to Israel and to those who are pure in heart. The rest of the psalm grapples with this confident statement. Is God really good to the faithful?

Psalm 73:2: ‘But as for me, my feet had almost slipped; I had nearly lost my foothold.’

After making such a positive declaration about God’s goodness to Israel and to the pure in heart, this verse begins with ‘but’. Surely God is good – but (‘the disruptive conjunctive’ –

113

Walter Brueggemann, ‘Costly Loss of Lament’, JSOT 36 (1986), 57-71; ‘Bounded by Obedience and Praise: The Psalms as Canon’, JSOT 50 (1991), 63-92 (also see these articles in The Psalms and the Life of Faith).

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Brueggemann). The psalmist’s disorientation about the incongruence between the positive affirmation of verse 1 and his observation of life almost caused his fall (loss of faith).

Psalm 73:3-12:

The psalmist observed that the ungodly were carefree and increased in wealth. Herein is a problem. Why do unbelievers appear to have the best of everything? They have health and strength, freedom from care and human troubles. They live such charmed lives that they become arrogant imagining that they can challenge God in heaven and dominate the earth as well. If God surely blesses his people, why do the godless seem to have best? No-one makes them accountable.

Psalm 73:13-16: ‘Surely in vain have I kept my heart pure; in vain have I washed my hands in innocence.’

The first ‘surely’ was about God’s faithful goodness to his children. Now the author compares that ‘surely’ with one of his own, which questions deeply the first by strongly stating the futility of being a sincere believer. He was really saying that he was now quite sure it was useless to follow God because life had taught him that God was not at all good to his people. The Psalms do not hide what is in the human heart but expose it fully and realistically. Is not the psalmist’s conclusion the one to which we sometimes come?

In verse 14 there is a complaint about being plagued daily with punishment! Life was so bad for the author that he was on the verge of breaking his covenant ties with Israel and with Yahweh. He said he would have betrayed God’s children if he had spoken what he was thinking. So he kept quiet. However, wisely, he did open his mouth to God, telling him about the injustice of life, particularly his own.

Trying to understand these mysteries oppressed the psalmist. Earlier, he said he nearly fell from his covenant relationship with Yahweh. He had been envious of the pleasant life of the unbeliever. He resented the life of righteousness, wondering why it was necessary to pay its price. He complained of constant trials and difficulties. As he tried to sort all this out in his own mind, it nearly drove him mad. He could not see reason. He was so perplexed, it depressed him, or worse, it oppressed him.

Psalm 73:17-22: ‘till I entered the sanctuary of God; then I understood their final destiny.’

The psalmist’s dilemma derived from his contemplation of his troubled condition. His answer came as his eyes were opened to see the real condition of unbelievers compared to his privileges. Verses 18 to 20 describe the slippery path on which unbelievers travel and how suddenly they are swept away. They are likened to dreams or fantasies which seem so concrete, but are blown away like wisps of smoke. Of course he is really speaking about the fragility of life and its uncertain future to which all of us are subject. On the other hand, although believers are also subject to life’s uncertainties, they possess something eternally and tangibly significant.

At the beginning of verse 17, the author said that he came to his new understanding as he entered the sanctuary. He would not have mentioned this if it did not have importance. The temple was the place of worship where every article including the furniture pointed heavenward. More importantly, the temple was a place of the presence of God. It was here the soul could gaze in awe at the majesty of Yahweh and the genuine spiritual values upon which life is based. The encouragement for us here is to come before God and look fully into the face of Christ (cf. 2 Cor 3:17-18). As we do, we will see and understand the authentic

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foundations of life and will not be stumbled by its mysteries. As the Hebrew’s author said (12:2-3), ‘Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. 3Consider him who endured such opposition from sinful men, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.’ To look to Jesus takes a deliberate entry into the ‘sanctuary’. At times this means literally entering the fellowship of God’s people, but it always means coming before God in prayerful worship. In that ‘sanctuary’ many things change. Attitudes change, fears turn to faith, resentment turns to forgiveness, grief turns to comfort, anxiety turns to peace, and confusion turns to guidance. So, let us not delay to go to the place of worship so that our weary and burdened soul can find rest.

Psalm 73:23-28: ‘Yet I am always with you; you hold me by my right hand. 24You guide me with your counsel, and afterward you will take me into glory. 25Whom have I in heaven but you? And earth has nothing I desire besides you. 26My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever. 27Those who are far from you will perish; you destroy all who are unfaithful to you. 28But as for me, it is good to be near God. I have made the Sovereign LORD my refuge; I will tell of all your deeds.’

What can be compared to always being with God? Whatever injustices we suffer and whatever troubles come our way, for which we have no answers, to be with God is to have everything that is worth having for time and eternity! What value can be placed on keeping company with the Creator and Saviour of the world? And what comfort could be more satisfying that his divine companionship? This is our answer! The answer sought at the beginning of the psalm is found here. However, you will notice that it is not the kind of answer that dissolves the dilemma. The mystery may remain and therefore has to be ‘lived’.

Verse 26 ties the previous three verses together because it shows why God’s companionship is to be valued above even life itself; namely, because he is the strength of life and our portion forever. Life cannot be lived without strength from outside ourselves. The kind of severe troubles we have already thought about require more resources than you or I possess. That power beyond and above us is the power of Christ though his Spirit. We have the promise and reality of Christ in us (Col 1:27). To have the Spirit as companion and counsellor means that his strength is always present since he holds us by his right hand. The right hand of God, by the way, means his active power to help. The fact that he holds us by that hand means we are eternally connected to divine power.

In summary, the writer makes the declaration in verse 28, ‘But as for me’. The writer laid out a number of possibilities through the psalm including that of his own fall. But after reviewing the whole matter, he came to a three-part conclusion. First, it is good to be near God. To walk in companionship with God through Christ (‘God with us’ – Matt 1:23) is the joy of life. Second, the Lord is our refuge in life (i.e., abiding in Christ and his love – cf. John 15ff). Throughout the turmoils of life, Christ is our protection and shelter. Christ our refuge also means eternal life for us (John 17:3). Third, a goal of life is to tell of the wonderful deeds of the Lord. In our context, having experienced new life in Christ, we become his witnesses who constantly proclaim his salvation (Col 3:15-17).

Discussion questions:

1. Share an experience of disorientation (conflict between faith and experience). What situations do you struggle with still?

2. What comfort, refuge, or peace have you discovered in your disorientation?

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3. Which of the psalmist’s resolutions means most to you?

4. What do you think that God is saying to you though this psalm and study?

5. Prayer: Dear Father, may we find in you our chief joy through Jesus Christ our Lord. Show us how wonderful it is to walk with you. Open our eyes to the delights of your presence. May our Christian life be a joy and not be a burden to us. Fill us with your peace and your joy that we may declare our personal experience of you with others. Thank you, dear Lord. Amen.

Additional information: journal article excerpt by Walter Brueggemann.114

‘Psalm 73. Self-analysis can be wonderfully healing and nurturing, given sufficient honesty. The poet recognizes that while it is good to belong to the people of God, who (it is said) rewards the innocent, yet one’s own heart may still be far from him. He frankly acknowledges, too, that the cause of his slipping away is plain envy. Verses 4–14 reveal how he had dwelt upon the careless ease and prosperity, the peace and pride, of the wicked, compared with his own self-torturing conscientiousness, rewarded only by chastening.’

‘Such contradiction of all morality oppresses the psalmist. He keeps silent, lest he injure the childlike faith of those who believe that godliness brings gain and wickedness causes ruin. At length, entering the house of God brings understanding—not a malicious anticipation of coming destruction, but a realization of the insecurity of the sinners’ position compared with his own immeasurable and permanent blessings. He has been senseless and brutish not to value privileges rightly. For he possesses God’s constant presence, guidance, and hope. In heaven or on earth, nothing can surpass the privilege of knowing God, his strength now, his inheritance forever.’

‘Which would he choose: a life prosperous but far from God, or a life near to God, filled with goodness, security, and a faith worth sharing?’

114

Brueggemann, ‘Costly Loss of Lament’, and ‘Bounded by Obedience and Praise.

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An appraisal of Psalm 137: the longing for Zion

Text: Psalm 137:5-6: ‘If I forget you, O Jerusalem, may my right hand forget its skill. 6May my tongue cling to the roof of my mouth if I do not remember you, if I do not consider Jerusalem my highest joy.’

Reading: Psalm 137

Introduction: This psalm of longing for Zion in Babylonian captivity may be regarded as particularly Jewish with little application to Christians. On the contrary, there is much here to guide a contemporary church caught in a similar ‘Babylonian captivity’.

Comment:

Psalm 137:1: ‘By the rivers of Babylon we sat and wept when we remembered Zion.’

The psalmist remembered Israel’s bitter captivity in Babylon – modern Iraq – and, as a consequence, the pining for Zion. The captivity was bitter in the sense of distance from the land of Israel’s inheritance and from its centre of worship – Jerusalem. In sum, God’s people were separated from everything that was promised and provided for them by their covenant-keeping God, Yahweh. This was painful and mystifying although they knew that their sin was responsible.

On the other hand, their conditions were acceptably good since they were accorded reasonable freedom and enjoyed the rich pastures of a well-irrigated land as indicated by the words, ‘rivers of Babylon’. The prophet Jeremiah had encouraged the captives to settle down and seek the peace and prosperity of their new country for in doing so they would have peace and prosperity (Jer 29:7).

Scholars, like Walter Brueggemann, find a parallel with Israel’s situation and contemporary Western Christianity, calling the latter a ‘church in exile’.115 The Western church, for example, once knew ascendancy within its society with churches dominating the landscape, its influence felt evangelistically and its voice heeded and generally respected. In addition, the church-going percentage of the population was considerably high although this varied from place to place. Take the Methodists of Newfoundland as an example. In 1900 they numbered one third of the population. This scenario was not uncommon although percentages may have been lower such as in Australia where at the same period one in nine people were Methodist.

Today, the church is a minority group with a voice to match. The church’s message is often ridiculed due to scandals and perceived outdated attitudes. Churches who act as though they are still ascendant have not recognised the true situation; we are exiles in a secular society which is generally not interested in what we have to say. So, how should we act in this existence? A starting point for us might be, like the psalmist, to weep for the church. Israel’s experience and this Psalm have some pointers for us.

Psalm 137:2-4: ‘There on the poplars we hung our harps, 3for there our captors asked us for songs, our tormentors demanded songs of joy; they said, “Sing us one of the songs of Zion!” 4How can we sing the songs of the LORD while in a foreign land?’

115

Nigel G. Wright, New Baptists, New Agenda (Carlisle, UK: Paternoster, 2002), 34; See also Walter Brueggemann, Theology of the Old Testament: Testimony, Dispute and Advocacy (Minneapolis, MN: Fortress, 1997), 741; Brueggemann, Cadences, ix-x, 1ff.

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The request to sing Zion songs was a torment, not one of casual interest in ‘strange’ foreigners. It was a taunt which demeaned the power of Jewish religion and their God. Singing under such circumstances would be obscene; they refused to do so.

In a similar manner, when the church presents it songs and message in a manner that assumes that society will understand or love what it is doing, it may rather find that society ridicules such efforts. The church’s response to this has been to make the message more palatable and ‘relevant’ to society. But is this an appropriate approach? If we examine the outcome of such a strategy, we will find that the church’s internal integrity has suffered drastically. For example:

The preaching and understanding of the gospel and the centrality of Christ have markedly diminished.

Our songs are often diluted so that they bear little resemblance to the songs of Zion.

Our life-styles are too frequently indistinguishable from those of the society in which we live.

There is less actual knowledge (experience) of God along with little knowledge of the teachings of the Scripture.

The church’s prayer life has waned.

‘How can we sing the songs of the Lord while in a foreign land’ is a good question for the contemporary church to answer. We may put it this way: ‘How can we live our Christian faith as well as sing our songs in the land of our captivity?’ We certainly should cease from old ascendancy language, such as ‘Christian country’ and immodest claims of ‘taking cities for God’, whatever our hopes. Different tactics are required, but what might these be?

Psalm 137:5: ‘If I forget you, O Jerusalem, may my right hand forget its skill. 6May my tongue cling to the roof of my mouth if I do not remember you, if I do not consider Jerusalem my highest joy.’

Israel’s strategy for dealing with captivity sprung from its determination to remember. Indeed this determination included the strongest language in which curses were invoked if Israel’s memory failed. Memory is crucial in the maintenance and propagation of our faith. But what did Israel remember and what should we, the church, remember?

Israel’s memory centred on Jerusalem. The city was paradigmatic for many things not the least of these being the presence of God. Jerusalem, particularly the temple was the place Yahweh designated wherein his name would reside and his presence rest (Psa 132:13-14). Jerusalem also represented the covenant made with Israel’s patriarchs and the associated Torah (Mic 4:2). Jerusalem also spoke of the worship of Israel including its rituals and most importantly, the psalms (e.g., Psa 102:21, 116:19).

So what should the church remember?

We should remember the presence of God. The core of NT teaching is ‘God with us’ and God, through Jesus, within us, ‘the hope of glory’ (Matt 1:23; Col 1:27). As Israel treasured Yahweh and his presence, so must we hold Christ central and value his presence through the Spirit. We should not only remember how the church was promised, has enjoyed and manifested the presence of God in the past, but by all means seek the face of God for the recovery of his manifest presence among us again.

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We should also remember the covenant. The NT teaching of grace, indeed the whole span of the gospel and its meaning should be diligently remembered, rehearsed and lived. Our worship will be affected by this memory because we will begin to preach and sing again the grand truths of the Scripture instead of indulging in shallow topical themes to try to relate to our ‘captors’ and be ‘relevant’.

These former two points presuppose that we will remember church history and the writings of our forefathers and mothers. We have as rich a heritage as any people on the face of the earth at any time of history. The tragedy is that we paddle around in the shallows of poor theology and practice which have absolutely no root in history and often flow from the pen and heart of sincere but very green writers who have little understanding of history or theology. We must recover our history if we are to recover our strength.

Psalm 137:7-9: ‘Remember, O LORD, what the Edomites did on the day Jerusalem fell. "Tear it down," they cried, "tear it down to its foundations!" 8 O Daughter of Babylon, doomed to destruction, happy is he who repays you for what you have done to us-- 9he who seizes your infants and dashes them against the rocks.’

These final verses are scandalous to many people and difficult to understand for most in the light of Christ’s command to love our enemies (Matt 5:44). At face value, what we have here is burning desire for justice against Israel’s oppressors in line with other prophecies (cf. Isa. 13:16f.; 14:22). Edom and Babylon were particularly brutal as these verses indicate. The psalmist is simply asking that what was done to them would in turn be done to their enemies in an ‘eye for eye, tooth for tooth’ judgement with which Israel was familiar (Matt 5:38). This note from Willem VanGemeren is helpful:

C.S. Lewis, too, was sensitive to the piety of the psalter when he wrote on the place of justice and judgment in the Psalms. He observes that the cry of the psalmists may be explained, because they ‘took right and wrong more seriously’ (Reflections on the Psalms, p. 31). Thus the imprecatory psalms focus on the reality of evil and the hope of restoration. This is a very relevant question. C.S. Lewis rightly asks us to use the Psalms as a way of seeing this world as it is: ‘Against all this the ferocious parts of the Psalms serve as a reminder that there is in the world such a thing as

wickedness, and that it ... is hateful to God’ (ibid., pp. 19, 33).116

It should be noted that neither the psalmist nor Israel were intending to carry out vengeance; they were placing it in God’s hands. Bringing burning desires for vengeance to God is a wise practice. In addition, any hatred that we harbor is best brought to God and left with him. Let us be honest about these desires, rather than covering them to fester and cause damage. ‘“Vengeance is mine”, says the Lord’ (Heb 10:30). As Brueggemann wisely observes:

On reflection it [Ps 137] may be the voice of a seasoned religion which knows profoundly what it costs to beat off despair ... It is an act of profound faith to entrust one's most precious hatreds to God, knowing they will be taken seriously" (Message of the Psalms, p. 77).117

Also, let us remember that judgment upon the enemies of the Gospel is a prayer in the book of revelation where the martyred saints ask for blood to be avenged (6:10). There is a place

116

Willem A. VanGemeren, ‘Psalms’, in The Expositor’s Bible Commentary (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 1991), v: 831-832.

117 Brueggemann, The Message of the Psalms, 77.

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for God’s judgement in such extreme cases, which may be prayed for, but then left with God. We do not shrink from the reality of justice and judgement.

Other ways of looking at these two verses, especially the reference to ‘infants’’ destruction, include:

o Prayer that there will be no further generations of brutality such as that perpetrated by Edomites and Babylonians; that the seed of evil be cut off. Current examples would be terrorist leaders, or in former days, Hitler and Stalin.

o C. S. Lewis, in an allegorical interpretation, says that the most ‘infantile’ evil that rises within our hearts should be shown no mercy but cut off early so that it will not grow to do serious damage.118 We should pray that this be the case.

Finally, how can these startling verses assist the church? In the way Lewis mentioned in the previous paragraph is one means because the church often resembles too closely the standards of the society in which it exists. In other words, may we be filled with passionate antipathy toward Edom-like intrusions into the holy nature of the church. Also, in words of Jude, may we earnestly ‘contend for the faith that was once for all entrusted to the saints’ (1:3). That faith consists of sound biblical understanding as well as intimate knowledge of the presence of God. It is for such things that we need to be most passionate.

Discussion questions:

1. Discuss other ways that the analogy of the church as Israel in Babylon may be helpful.

2. What lost things – not just sentimental or nostalgic things – do you pray will be recovered for the church? Do you sense any lost things in your life that need recovering?

3. How may we preserve the memory of the precious aspects of our faith? Name some practical ways.

4. What lessons can you glean from the difficult verses 7-9?

5. Prayer: Lord, please recover our ‘memory’ of a biblical and faithful church. May you, Jesus, renew our personal experience of yourself so that we may not be part of the problem, but rather contribute to the answer.

Here are some of Eugene Peterson’s thoughts on Psalm 137:

This is raw hate. … our hate needs to be prayed, not suppressed. Hate is our emotional link with the spirituality of evil. It is the volcanic eruption of outrage when the holiness of being, ours or another’s, has been violated. It is also the ugliest and most dangerous of our emotions, the hair trigger on a loaded gun. Embarrassed by the ugliness and fearful of the murderous, we commonly neither admit or pray our hate; we deny it and suppress it. But if it is not admitted it can quickly and easily metamorphose into the evil that provokes it; and if it is not prayed we have lost an essential insight and energy in doing battle with evil.

… This hate arises in a context of holiness: meditating on the holy word of God, expecting the holy messiah of God. Before we prayed we would sit peacefully for two or three hours reading about suffering and cruelty as if we were reading about long extinct dinosaurs, a

118

C. S. Lewis, Reflections on the Psalms (Glasgow: Collins, 1961), 113-114.

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knowledgeable but detached acquaintance. But immersed by prayer in this holiness, we see clearly what we never saw before, the utter and terrible sacrilege of enemies who violate a good creation, who brutalise women and men who are made, every one of them in the image of God. There is an enormous amount of suffering epidemic in the world because of evil people. The rape and pillage are so well concealed in polite language and courteous conventions that some people can go years without seeing it. And we ourselves did not see it. But now we see it. We are ejected from our cushioned private religion into solidarity with ‘the Silent Servants of the Used, Abused and Utterly Screwed up’.

Just as the hurt is the usual human experience that brings us to our knees praying for help, provoking the realisation that we need God, so hate is frequently the human experience that brings us to our feet praying for justice, catalysing our concern for the terrible violations against life all around us. Hate is often the first sign that we care. If we are far gone in complacency, it is often the only emotion with enough velocity to penetrate our protective smugness and draw red blood. That does not mean that prayer legitimises hate – it uses it. ‘Surely the wrath of men shall praise thee’ (Psalm 76:10). Neither is hurt good, but it wakes us to our need for help. Human hurt is not a very promising first step to the accomplishment of our wholeness; human hate is not a very promising first step to the establishment of righteousness. Nevertheless, when prayed, they are steps, first steps into the presence of God, where we learn that he has ways of dealing with what we bring him that are both other and better than what we had in mind. But until we are in prayer, we are not teachable. It is better

to pray badly than not to pray at all. A ship that is dead in the water can’t be steered.119

119

Peterson, Answering God, 96-101.

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Psalms: the practice A practical theology of contemporary congregational worship

Introduction: Worship in its fullest understanding is the devotion of our entire lives and service to God (Rom 12:1-2; Col 3:17). Such worship may only be offered through Jesus Christ and empowerment of the Spirit of God (John 4:23-24; Phil 3:3; Heb 13:15). Included in our definition of worship is what we usually call worship, that is, congregational worship in a regular church gathering. Regarding congregational singing, we believe that the Spirit of Christ is presently restoring to the church the meaning of public worship as revealed in the Psalms and the NT (e.g., Eph 5:18-20; Col 3:15-17). The reason that we need restoration is a general departure from a biblical worship practice, which has taken place gradually over the last two or three decades. At the same time, we believe that our music style must be contemporary to speak to the present generation but without discarding our rich heritage. Our inclusion of a hymn in each service, for example, is usually done in a contemporary manner.

The first point we note from Scripture about congregational worship is that it is directed to one another, not to God alone (Eph 5:18-20; Col 3:15-17). This does not mean that songs are sung literally to each other (although at times this may happen, as in special items or responsive readings and songs) but that we are aware of our corporate unity as we sing to God (cf. Rom 15:5-6). The way we do this is by singing words that enrich each another; specifically, words magnifying Christ and the gospel. Our worship to God in song will serve to strengthen everyone present through declaring scriptural truths about Jesus as Lord and his saving work. Second, congregational worship is an activity of the Spirit. Believers offer worship together in their gatherings because the Spirit of Christ inspires them. This inspiration begins at conversion when Christ and the gospel are made real, inspiring songs of salvation (Psa 32:7). Further, the immediacy of the Spirit’s inspiration is available in congregational worship. Hence it is crucial to invite and depend on the Spirit to motivate one another, inspiring the songs (1 Cor 12:3, 14:15-16; Heb 13:15). This kind of singing will result in spontaneity and enthusiasm. Public worship is joyful praise, not a dreary affair! It is affirmation of Jesus as Lord and involves warm hearts and faculties, including emotional engagement, and upraised hearts, hands and heads (e.g., Psa 3:3, 25:1, 28:2, 63:4, 1 Tim 2:8).

Since the Spirit’s work is to glorify and show Jesus to his people, the practice of public worship will reveal Christ (John 15:26, 16:13-15; Col 3:15-17). Inspired by the Spirit, a congregation sings about the nature and work of Christ and in doing so, he will be revealed in the midst. Congregational worship, therefore, will be an encounter with the living Christ, a spiritual experience. Engagement with the living Christ involves the emotions but the focus is not on feelings but on transformation by the inward power of the Spirit. As Jesus’ glory is seen, believers will be transformed being strengthened in faith, hope and love (2 Cor 3:17-18).

In this regard, the so-called enthronement psalms (e.g., Psa 48, 93, 96, 98) provide us with a significant example. These psalms were used periodically to proclaim the ‘enthronement of Yahweh’ in the midst of Israel’s congregational worship. Israel thus proclaimed Yahweh enthroned afresh in its worship and did so with ecstatic joy and enthusiasm. For example, Psalm 93:1 declares, ‘The Lord reigns’, or more accurately, ‘Yahweh has *just+ become

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king’.120 In other words, Yahweh was not merely being proclaimed here as Israel’s covenant king, but that his re-enthronement had just been experienced by the congregation. As Christians who have been urged to ‘sing psalms’ (Eph 5:19; Col 3:16), we have even more reason to expect a manifestation of the kingdom in our worship in the person of the king, Jesus Christ. Can our worship, then, be anything less than celebratory, buoyant and transforming?

Fourth, since public worship (as all worship) is an activity of the Spirit, the songs will be about Jesus and his love (e.g., Psa 59:16, 89:1, 118:14, 119:54). The Holy Spirit’s role, now that Jesus has returned to the Father, is to glorify and reveal Jesus (John 15:26, 16:13-15)! Therefore, the Spirit will point us singularly and relentlessly to Christ and his cross. Our songs will reflect this inspiration of the Spirit in an unmistakeable manner. Our songs will not just be about ‘God’, ‘me’ or ‘works’, but about Jesus and his works. We believe this area requires serious attention in churches today. For this reason, traditional hymns are not abandoned because they are so rich in Christ-centred doctrine. We aim to sing at least one hymn in each of our gatherings.

Fifth, Spirit-engendered worship will use a key provision of the Spirit, namely, the Book of Psalms (Eph 5:18-19; Col 3:15-17; James 5:13). In the Scripture we have a God-provided hymn book. Consequently, a current and crucial need exists to restore the Book of Psalms for contemporary worship, using psalms as did the Early Church but in a manner suitable for contemporary congregations. In addition, we need to recover the genius and the wisdom of the Psalms as teaching tools and as instruments of lament and complaint both for the building up of the church and its healing. While it may take time for us to write or find songs that reflect this scriptural calling and see this fully realised, it is a challenge our creative ministries are excited to be embracing. Please pray for them as they look to the Holy Spirit to impart this creative revelation amongst them.

In summary, our congregational worship – specifically our music and singing – on one hand is directed to one another for mutual teaching and strengthening, specifically regarding the person and work of Christ (Eph 5:19; Col 3:16). On the other hand, our singing is directed to God, giving honour and glory to him especially for the work accomplished through Jesus’ life, death and resurrection (Eph 5:19-20; Phil 2:6-11; Col 3:16-17). Both of these facets of public worship, like all worship, must be motivated by the Spirit of God. Further, our worship is contemporary whilst at the same time welcomes and accommodates treasured hymns.

SUMMARY:

1. Worship is the dedication of our lives and service to God (Rom 12:1-2).

2. Worship includes congregational worship, particularly, for the purposes of this study, music and song (Rom 15:9, 11; Eph 5:19-20; Col 3:16; Heb 2:12; James 5:13).

3. The NT indicates that public singing is directed to one another, not only to God (Eph 5:18-20; Col 3:15-17).

4. True worship, including our music and song, is motivated by the Spirit of Christ (John 4:23; Eph 5:18; Phil 3:3).

5. We meet with Christ in our public worship because our congregational worship is a

120

Mowinckel, The Psalms, i:107-116; Brueggemann, Cadences, 85-87.

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product of the Spirit and encourages enrichment through the Spirit and the word (1 Cor 12:3, 14:15-16; Heb 13:15).

6. Public worship, inspired by the Spirit, will be spontaneous, alive and enthusiastic (Acts 16:25; Eph 5:19), a veritable re-enthronement of Christ in the midst.

7. Congregational worship will use a key provision of the Spirit, namely, the Book of Psalms with the focus on Christ and his redemption (Eph 5:18-19; Col 3:15-17; James 5:13).

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS:

1. Explain the fuller meaning of the word ‘worship’.

2. What focus on the word, ‘worship’, did we give in our study and how may this focus be related to its fuller meaning?

3. Is our congregational singing directed solely to God? If not, where else might we direct it, for what reason and how may we practise this?

4. Describe the ways in which the Spirit inspires our singing?

5. Who and what is the central theme of congregational worship and what will be the fruit of this in the congregation?

6. What facets of congregational worship need to be recovered to achieve a more biblical model?

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Psalms as Therapy

Introduction: The thesis of this article is that God has given the Psalter, among other important reasons, as a therapeutic tool for the ‘soul cure’ of his people.121 However, although it is used this way in an ad hoc manner, the Psalter has not been presented to us as a major source of soul cure. Nevertheless, some examples exist, such as Eugene Peterson’s, Answering God: using the Psalms as Tools for Prayer122 and Walter Brueggemann’s Psalms and the Life of Faith123 (which contains an excellent article on lament). My contention is that the use of psalms as therapy is a neglected field awaiting serious investigation. In the meantime, however, there are some practical ways we can use the Psalms as soul therapy.

Jesus and the Psalms, the church and the Psalms by Don Pickerill.124

The Index of Quotations in the Greek NT lists over 400 quotations and verbal allusions from 108 different Psalms. This totals more than 40% of all OT quotations. Scroggie points out that the Psalms are quoted in 23 of the 27 NT books, the exceptions are 1 Thess, Phil, II John and Jude.

Jesus would have known the Psalms by heart.

It’s helpful to think of the Psalms as Jesus before God.

Jesus quoted, prayed and taught from the Psalms.

Jesus felt all the emotions of the Psalms.

The great events of Jesus’ life unfolded in the light of the Psalms.

The choice of a replacement Apostle to Judas, Peter’s Pentecostal sermon and the great prayer for boldness in Acts 4, all drew from the Psalms (e.g., 1:16-20, 2:25-28, 31, 34, 35, 4:25-26.

NT instructions of individuals coming with a prayer or a praise from the Psalms, according to 1 Cor 14:26, ‘What then shall we say, brothers? When you come together, everyone has a hymn [Psalm], or a word of instruction, a revelation, a tongue or an interpretation. All of these must be done for the strengthening of the church.’ See also Eph 5:19 and Col 3:16. ‘Psalms, hymns and spiritual songs’ most likely means all the various Psalm types.

Col 3:16 connects the word of Christ dwelling richly in our hearts with the singing of psalms, hymns and spiritual songs to each other in corporate worship – perhaps a house church type worship.

James may have had the Psalms in mind as the context of 5:13-16.

(The word for ‘sick’ in James is the same one used in Heb 12:3 and includes ‘heart or soul sickness’. It has the idea of the soul coming apart. The biblical therapy covers both physical and personal healing - Hebrew word ‘terupah’ which is literally our word ‘therapy’.)

121

For an excellent coverage of the subject of ‘soul cure’, see the classic by Kenneth Leech, Soul Friend: Spiritual Direction in the Modern World, rev edn. (London: Darton, Longman and Todd, 1977, 1994).

122 Peterson, Answering God.

123 Brueggemann, The Psalms.

124 Don Pickerill, Jesus and the Psalms (Perth, WA: LIFE Bible College, 1995); Don Pickerill, Notes on the Psalms

(Perth, WA: LIFE Bible College, 1995);

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How do the Psalms help us in our need?

(See attached articles by Walter Brueggemann; namely, Costly Loss of Lament, JSOT 36 [1986], 57-71125 and Bounded by Obedience and Praise: The Psalms as Canon, JSOT 50 [1991], 63-92126 and Pickerill’s handout, Theological Therapy: Psalm 107.)

‘Costly Loss of Lament’

In this paper I will explore the loss of life and faith incurred when the lament Psalms are no longer used for their social function (p. 57).

In these Psalms [laments], Israel moves from articulation of hurt and anger to submission of them to God and finally relinquishment. Functionally and experientially, the verbal articulation and faithful submission to God are prerequisites for relinquishment. Only when there is such relinquishment can there be praise and acts of generosity (p. 58).

Gerstenberger ... [says] the laments are genuine pastoral activities (p. 59).

Scholars have only walked around the edges of the theological significance of the lament Psalm (p. 59).

As the lesser petitionary party (the Psalm speaker) is legitimated, so the unmitigated supremacy of the greater party (God) is questioned, and God is made available to the petitioner (p. 59).

Where lament is absent, covenant comes into being only as a celebration of joy and well-being ... Since such a celebrative, consenting silence does not square with reality, covenant minus lament is finally a practice of denial, cover-up, and pretence (p. 60).

the lament partakes in something of a claim filed in court in order to ensure that the question of justice is formally articulated (p. 62).

‘Bounded by Obedience’

the way from torah obedience to self-abandoning doxology is by way of candour about suffering and gratitude about hope (p. 72).

Thus it is my thesis that Israel’s struggle with God’s hesed, in suffering and hope, in lament and in hymn, in candour and in gratitude, and eventual acceptance of God’s hesed as the premise of life permits Israel to make the move from the obedience of Psalm 1 to the doxology of Psalm 150 (p. 78).

The large move of the drama of the Psalms from innocent obedience to unencumbered doxology is by way of the suffering voiced in the complaints and the hope sounded in the hymns (p. 89).

Rather, Israel’s life of faith consists in an abrasive, buoyant conversation about God’s hesed which fails and then reappears with power (p. 91).

125

Brueggemann, ‘The Costly Loss of Lament’, 98-111. 126

Brueggemann, ‘Bounded by Obedience’, 189-213

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Pickerill’s exposition of Psalm 107.127

This Psalm outlines the way God helps, heals and really, pastors his people.

Each of the four illustrations [in Psalm 107] paint hopeless situations which turn into positive benefits. The lost find deliverance and satisfaction; the bound find deliverance and enlightenment; the sick find healing and wholeness; the overwhelmed find safety and peace. Various writers put this in memorable ways. Scroggie says (1) Fainting travellers needing direction find a Guide. (2) Weary captives needing freedom find a Deliverer. (3) Afflicted souls needing healing find a Physician. (3) Storm-tossed sailors needing tranquillity find a Storm-Stiller. Derek Kidner put it this way: (1) Wanderers retrieved (2) Prisoners released (3) Sick restored. (4) Storm-tossed rescued (pp. 3-4).

Four faces of the soul. It is obvious that the author of Psalm 107 is a great artist of the soul. He paints four portraits of troubled souls. (1) First, is the ‘hidden soul’... (2) Second, is the ‘longing, hungry soul’ ... (3) Third is the ‘loathing, hateful soul’ ... The context is a loss of appetite from sickness, but the idea includes the capacity of the soul to hate. (4) Fourth, is the ‘harried soul’ ... (pp. 5-6).

Psalm 107 does not use the word faith, rather it pictures it in the poor, evyon, v. 41 ... The Psalms often employ the phrase ‘poor and needy’, intensifying the non-power and absolute dependence ... (p. 9).

Regarding lament Psalms, such as the laments contained in 107, Pickerill quotes Brueggemann from The Message of the Psalms, p. 66: ‘Real prayer is being open about the negativities and yielding them to God.128 The lament Psalms we have considered portray the route by which that may be yielded. What is clear is that they are never yielded unless they be fully expressed. - 13.

Which psalms are suitable for therapy?

Ask which psalms have been meaningful to you as therapy; which psalms for which needs?

From his Temple as a Blessing Site, Pickerill cites these psalms as examples for therapeutic use:

Examples of five psalms of healing:

a. Psa 6: A prayer for healing (Jesus cites v. 8 in Matt 7:25).

b. Psa 30: Thanksgiving for healing and a confession of pride.

c. Psa 41: A prayer for healing with a confession of sin and the hurt over personal betrayal (Jesus cites this about Judas).

d. Psa 107: Homecoming made possible by a healing word (107:17-22).

e. Psa 147: Praise God our Creator and Lord of history who heals the brokenhearted.

Examples of five psalms for emotional and personal healing.

a. Psa 4: Find joy and peace in times of stress.

b. Psa 42/43: Dealing with emotional and spiritual depression.

127

Don Pickerill, ‘Psalm 107’, in Healing in the Psalms (Perth, WA: LIFE Bible College, 1995). 128

Brueggemann, The Message of the Psalms, 66.

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c. Psa 44: Understanding suffering as a spiritual battle scar for God’s sake and not as a punishment for sin.

d. Psa 55: Facing a violent world and the disappointment of broken personal relationships .

e. Psa 102: A prayer for a life broken by tragedy.

Examples of psalms for mature/old age

a. Psa 71: Prayer for effectiveness in old age.

b. Psa 92: Looking back on God’s faithfulness – prayer for present fruitfulness.

How should Psalms be used?

How may they be applied?

In preaching, as per Brueggemann’s Finally Comes the Poet and Texts Under Negotiation.129

In counselling, as homework and in counselling sessions.

In small groups.

In private devotions.

In congregational worship.

Can you suggest an actual application of the above?

Devise a plan for using one psalm in a particular circumstance as suggested above. How would you go about it? Do it together in small groups - write it down to share later. Think of how you have been helped by a psalm.

Suggested methodology:

a. Identify an actual need - whether personal or corporate

b. Locate a psalm to address the need.

c. Explain how the psalm might be used.

d. Read the psalm in the group now.

d. Report back to the whole group later.

Examples:

In small groups, read Psalm 20:1-6 as a pronouncement of blessing to a person to be prayed for prior to prayer.

A congregational reading of a lament to express community grief. Which Psalm?

A counselling session reading or relating of Psalm 51 to express confession of sin.

A private reading of a lament to help express mystery/crisis, depression. Which psalms?

129

Walter Brueggemann, Finally Comes the Poet: Daring Speech for Proclamation (Minneapolis, MN: Augsburg, 1989); Walter Brueggemann, Texts Under Negotiation: The Bible and Postmodern Imagination (Minneapolis, MN: Augsburg, 1993).

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A joint strong warfare psalm to resist threats or outbreaks of evil.

Prayer meeting or congregational prayers using intercessory psalms to express the yearnings for renewal, revival and righteousness; for God’s kingdom to come and his will to be done.

The Use of the Psalms in Public Worship130

1. As a call to worship - The way to open a service, the first thing read publicly. To be read by a worship leader, choir member, etc. or read by the entire congregation from a printed bulletin or on an overhead (e.g., 9:1-11, 22:22-31, 28:6-9, 33:1-12, 34:1-10; etc).

2. Corporate congregational prayers. Printed in the bulletin, put on an overhead or read from the Bible (e.g., 3:1-4, 9:1-11, 17:6-9, 31:5, 14-18, 51:1-6, 7-12, 54:1-4, 55:16-19, 57:1-3; etc).

3. Reading in unison or having someone read a ‘hymn’ or testimony of trust during part of the worship (e.g., 11, 16, 23, 27, 31, 62, 91, 121, 125, 131, 146, 100; etc). The Kingship Psalms also invoke worship on our part, such as 47, 89:11-18, 93, 95, 97, 98, 99.

4. Singing the Psalms. Make a collection of all the current Psalms set to music. Have them sung by the congregation, choir or individuals. Encourage gifted musicians to write tunes to Psalms, which stay as close as possible to the text so they can be memorised.

5. Spontaneous Reading. Encourage and model the NT instructions of individuals coming with a prayer or praise from the Psalms, according to 1 Cor 14:26: ‘What then shall we say, brothers? When you come together, everyone has a hymn [Psalm], or a word of instruction, a revelation, a tongue or an interpretation. All of these must be done for the strengthening of the church.’ See also Eph 5:19 and Col 3:16. ‘Psalms, hymns and spiritual songs’ most likely means all the various Psalm types.

Benedictions (e.g., 19:14, 20:4-5, 28:8-9, 65:4, 72:18-19, 80:14-15, 89:15-17, 90:17, 108:12-13; etc).

Conclusion: If we have sufficiently established the usefulness of the Psalter for therapy, may it be recovered as a tool for God’s people, not just for worship and praise, which, by the way, are therapeutic exercises, but also for prayer and especially for therapeutic, pastoral use in pastoral care, preaching, small groups and etc.

130

Don Pickerill, Psalms (Perth, WA: LIFE Bible College, 1995).

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Praying the Psalms

Aim: To practice praying the Psalms based on Terry M. Moore’s book The Psalms for Prayer.131 Also, we will offer some suggestions for handling the difficult psalms.

Introduction:

Thoughts from Peterson’s Answering God:132

The Psalms are the best tools available for working the faith.

The consensus on their necessity throughout the church’s praying life is impressive.

If we wish to develop in the life of faith, to mature in our humanity, and to glorify God with our entire heart, mind, soul, and strength, the Psalms are necessary. We cannot bypass the Psalms.

If we dismiss the Psalms … we will dismiss the centre where Christ worked his praying.

The Christian community was early convinced that he continues praying them through us as we pray them.

The Psalms do not fit into a form people naturally gravitate to in prayer. In the history of prayer, the Psalms are queer fish.

These prayers (Psalms) don’t seek God, they respond to a God who seeks us.

The Psalms … train us in the conversation *with God+.

It is not easy to understand how anything so deeply understood and widely practised – the Psalms as the technology of prayer – should have shrunk in our time to a mere remnant. A recovery … is possible.

Calvin said that Psalms are ‘the design of the Holy Spirit … to deliver to the church a common form of prayer.’

That’s it: open our Bibles to the book of Psalms and pray them … Nothing fancy. Just do it.

The Goal of praying the Psalms:

The following notes contain paraphrases, condensations or thoughts gleaned from Moore’s introductory chapter:

The goal is to make the words of the Psalms our own according to Abba Isaac, a Desert Father, and Early Church Father Athanasius. In other words, the Psalms become part of our own prayers, not as a ‘tedious devotional activity’ but to have their words become such a part of us that we are literally ‘taking the sword of the Spirit’ (Eph 6:17) and using Spirit inspired prayers provided for us, just as Bible figures used them and as Jesus and the Apostles used them.

A second goal urged by Moore is that we will develop a discipline of praying through the entire Psalter on a regular basis. Of course we will pray in other ways and times but the discipline will provide, says Moore, a balanced word based prayer discipline.

A third goal is that the Psalms will become naturally available to us throughout the fabric of daily life so that on all occasions they provide background to, or words and sentiments for our prayers, just as they did for Christ and the Apostles.

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Terry Michael Moore, The Psalms for Prayer (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker, 2002), 7-27. 132

Peterson, Answering God, 1-7.

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This kind of framework to our prayer life can make it a meaningful and powerful exercise. There are many other prayers in the Bible too that can be added to these such as the prayers of St Paul (e.g., Eph 3:16-20, 6:18-20). The Bible has provided us with a rich heritage and resource for prayer. It is surprising that the common practice of prayer too often neglects or is ignorant of the Scriptures. I think the phenomenon of the Jabez prayer (1 Chron 4:9-10) actually demonstrates both the power of the Scriptures for prayer and their general neglect. I say this because this one prayer is one of hundreds found in the Scripture (especially those found in the Psalms) and because it is also fairly self-based, unless understood properly. The Psalms and other biblical prayers bring a needed balance.

Six methods of praying the Psalms

These six suggested methods could be prayed separately; probably the best way to pray them at first. But they are best prayed in combination with each other as the situation and the personality dictates.

Verbatim praying – first method

Moore tells us that some Psalms lend themselves to this method more than others. We simply pray the words as they are written. There will be occasions for letting the words lead us in particular directions for prayer, or at times we may add our own words; however, praying them as they are written is a very effective method.

Moore says praying verbatim is most useful for particular portions of psalms but some psalms lend themselves to this method in their entirety. The sample to be prayed is Psalm 65.

Psalm 65:1-13 1 For the director of music. A psalm of David. A song. Praise awaits you, O God, in Zion; to you our vows will be fulfilled. 2 O you who hear prayer, to you all men will come. 3 When we were overwhelmed by sins, you forgave our transgressions. 4 Blessed are those you choose and bring near to live in your courts! We are filled with the good things of your house, of your holy temple. 5 You answer us with awesome deeds of righteousness, O God our Saviour, the hope of all the ends of the earth and of the farthest seas, 6 who formed the mountains by your power, having armed yourself with strength, 7 who stilled the roaring of the seas, the roaring of their waves, and the turmoil of the nations. 8 Those living far away fear your wonders; where morning dawns and evening fades you call forth songs of joy. 9 You care for the land and water it; you enrich it abundantly. The streams of God are filled with water to provide the people with grain, for so you have ordained it. 10 You drench its furrows and level its ridges; you soften it with showers and bless its crops. 11 You crown the year with your bounty, and your carts overflow with abundance. 12 The grasslands of the desert overflow; the hills are clothed with gladness. 13 The meadows are covered with flocks and the valleys are mantled with grain; they shout for joy and sing.

Moore correctly points out that praying this psalm of praise is so much better than simply saying ‘Lord, we really praise you’, even though it is good to pray that way. He points out that

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verbatim praying is best when the psalm is well known. This comes with time and familiarisation. However, initially it would be helpful to read through the psalm thoughtfully, meditatively, before praying it, or, read through several times, praying it verbatim.

Exercise: [together]

1. Let us read the psalm silently and thoughtfully, taking a minute or two to do it.

2. Then, let us pray the prayer verbatim and in unison, out loud.

Paraphrase praying – second method

In this method, we read the selected psalm, then use our own words to apply it to our life or situation. This method is best used when the psalm does not exactly fit our situation. An example used is Psalm 59:1-4:

Psalm 59:1-4 1 For the director of music. To the tune of “Do Not Destroy.” Of David. A miktam. When Saul had sent men to watch David’s house in order to kill him. Deliver me from my enemies, O God; protect me from those who rise up against me. 2 Deliver me from evildoers and save me from bloodthirsty men. 3 See how they lie in wait for me! Fierce men conspire against me for no offence or sin of mine, O LORD. 4 I have done no wrong, yet they are ready to attack me. Arise to help me; look on my plight!

In this psalm the mention of enemies can be used to refer to things that oppose us and hinder our spiritual growth, or that of our family or church, or even city and nation. We can also use such prayer to remind us that there are always people who do exactly fit the psalm and who really are facing deadly personal foes. This can provoke earnest prayer that is totally unselfish.

Moore suggests a paraphrase like this:

Lord, deliver me from those spiritual forces of wickedness in high places that seek to distract and destroy me every day. Keep my focus lifted up, on you and on my Lord Jesus. Help me to recognise temptations that come against me every day; do not let me be influenced by sinful ways of others; help me to be on my guard against the devil, who I know is stalking about like a roaring lion, today as ever. Lord, rise to my defence as I seek to stand strong in the battle that is before me today, and keep me strong through every temptation and trial.

Or we can personalise it even more like this:

Deliver me from those things that come against me, Lord From temptations and distractions that rise up against me Deliver me from the weakness of my flesh, which leads me to sin Save me from deadly attitudes and dark bondages that seek to undo me These weaknesses are ever with me, lying in wait to surprise me

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Even though I walk prayerfully before you and have taken the right path and made the right choice to follow you, I am still faced with the potential for sin and weakness in the face of temptation. Look on my plight and rise up to help me.

Using this method, we would definitely want to read meditatively through the passage or psalm and allow it to speak to us about the situations for which we might pray. Once this is done, we can then pray the sentiments utilising our own words to do it.

Exercise: [together]

1. Let us read the psalm silently and thoughtfully, taking a minute or two to do it.

2. Paraphrase a verse according to a situation in your own sphere of life.

3. Then, pray the paraphrased verse out loud.

Praying over a psalm – third method

Perhaps this method should be called ‘theme praying’. It’s a method similar to paraphrase praying but not so detailed. In this method the major themes are taken up and used as prayers or praise. In other words, the brackets of ideas, or whole stanzas, are condensed into themes, and then prayed. The prayer may be extended to other ideas suggested by the original theme so that prayer may take a variety of directions suggested by the main psalm themes. This could be a good method for prayer meetings or home groups.

A good example is Psalm 111. I have divided the sections with a paragraph break to show how the sections can be separated and have given each section a title.

Psalm 111:1-10 [Praise to the Lord] 1 Praise the LORD. I will extol the LORD with all my heart in the council of the upright and in the assembly. [The works of the Lord] 2 Great are the works of the LORD; they are pondered by all who delight in them. 3 Glorious and majestic are his deeds, and his righteousness endures forever. 4 He has caused his wonders to be remembered; the LORD is gracious and compassionate. 5 He provides food for those who fear him; he remembers his covenant forever. 6 He has shown his people the power of his works, giving them the lands of other nations. [The faithfulness of God] 7 The works of his hands are faithful and just; all his precepts are trustworthy. 8 They are steadfast for ever and ever, done in faithfulness and uprightness. 9 He provided redemption for his people; he ordained his covenant forever— holy and awesome is his name. [Conclusion: fear of and praise to God is wise in view of preceding] 10 The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom; all who follow his precepts have good understanding. To him belongs eternal praise

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This psalm lends itself very easily to ‘theme praying’ or praying over a psalm, as Moore terms it. Here is a paraphrase of the themes:

Lord, I praise you and I will praise you among the people of God. I pray that a spirit of praise and gratitude will fill our church services and will also fill the hearts of the people. Where there is complaint or discouragement, Father replace it with genuine thankfulness to you and for one another.

Dear Father, we ponder your amazing works. We think about your salvation so wonderfully provided through the death of your dear Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. Your salvation proves to us the depth of your amazing compassion. Dear Lord, I pray that your great work of salvation may be emphasised more regularly in our times of worship and may we your people be more thankful for what you have done. Also, I pray that your amazing love will be shown to people who do not know you so that they can give praise to you too.

Lord, I also remember your great faithfulness. You are a covenant keeping God and have forever shown this through the new covenant. Now we may rely on this covenant for which we greatly praise you. May the reliability of your promises give courage to your people so that we may pray more regularly and earnestly to you because you can be trusted to hear and answer. Lord, I am thinking about our times of prayer in our congregation and I ask you to make our community a praying people.

Father, I make a fresh commitment of myself to you to follow more closely and to praise you more earnestly in the light of your great works, your great love and the faithfulness of your promises. Lord, I long for your people, for my family, for my friends [names] to also make a fresh commitment of themselves to you and offer more earnest praise and prayer to you in the light of your grace and power. I pray in Jesus name, Amen.

Now, what I have done here is more like a paraphrased prayer but I have added my own prayer. However, the way the psalm lends itself to stanzas and brackets or themes, demonstrates how this may be done with other psalms.

Exercise: [in groups]

1. Let’s read the psalm silently and thoughtfully, taking a minute or two to reflect.

2. Look at the broad themes and formulate how you might pray one of them.

3. Then, pray thematic prayers, one theme per person at a time (in groups).

Responsive praying – fourth method

It may be seen already how these various methods overlap and that you will end up praying a combination of these ways. This method is somewhat similar to the last but is a response where the psalm does not form a prayer as in Moore’s example, Psalm 1. In this method, the words may easily be recognised as God’s words to us. Since God is speaking directly to us through these words, it is appropriate to make a response back to him. The other reason for the name, ‘responsive praying’, is the fact that the prayer is prayed stanza by stanza, as the example below will show. This is how this method works.

Psalm 1:1-6 1 Blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked or stand in the way of sinners or sit in the seat of mockers. 2 But his delight is in the law of the LORD, and on his law he meditates day and night.

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Moore’s prayer response reads:

Lord I seek your blessings for this day. Keep me from sin. Do not let me listen to sinful counsel. Keep my feet in the way of righteousness, and do not let me ‘settle in’ to any sinful ways. Lord, help me to delight in your law, to read and study it with joy and care, to think about your word throughout the day, and to consider carefully its meaning for my life.

3 He is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither. Whatever he does prospers.

Ground me deeply in your word, O Lord, and let your grace water me afresh every day! Bring forth the fruit of righteousness in me, the fruit of the Spirit and the tokens of love, the fruit of powerful witness to you, and the fruit of holy living. You know the things I am struggling with … Let me prosper in all that I seek to do for you, O Lord, including those responsibilities and opportunities that are before me today (naming some of them).

4 Not so the wicked! They are like chaff that the wind blows away. 5 Therefore the wicked will not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the assembly of the righteous.

Lord, this morning I think of those people I know who do not know you. I’m reminded of … (naming them). Lord, give them a sense of their responsibility to you. Make them mindful of your judgement and great love. Help them to seek you, so that they might become part of your family as well.

6 For the LORD watches over the way of the righteous, but the way of the wicked will perish.

Lord, I know that you look on me as righteous only because of what Jesus has done for me. You have clothed me in his righteousness, and you are working out your salvation in righteousness within me. I know that you will watch over my way today, and I thank you for delivering me from eternal condemnation. Let those who do not know you, see something of Jesus in me today, O Lord, and let that be a spark used to turn them from wickedness to you.

This method is a direct response to the words rather than simply allowing the text to suggest themes. It is probably the easiest of all the methods. Many psalms can be prayed this way including Psalm 23 etc. For example, ‘The Lord is my shepherd’, can be prayed Lord, I thank you that you are my shepherd, Lord, guide me today etc.

Exercise: [in groups]

1. Let’s read the psalm silently and thoughtfully, taking a minute or two to do that.

2. Select one portion of the psalm to which you would like to respond.

3. Then, pray the selected portion moving through the psalm sequentially.

Guided praying – fifth method

This next method overlaps with several others already mentioned, but is unique for the following reason. The selected psalm is used to suggest a theme for prayer. In this case, the psalm is not examined verse-by-verse or stanza-by-stanza, because its entire theme will suggest a contemporary situation for which you might pray. For example, Psalm 67 lends

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itself to prayer for mission and Psalm 80, prayer for church renewal and revival. Both psalms are very appropriate for these purposes. Psalm 67 will be our example for practice:

Psalm 67:1-7 1 For the director of music. With stringed instruments. A psalm. A song. May God be gracious to us and bless us and make his face shine upon us, Selah 2 that your ways may be known on earth, your salvation among all nations. 3 May the peoples praise you, O God; may all the peoples praise you. 4 May the nations be glad and sing for joy, for you rule the peoples justly and guide the nations of the earth. Selah 5 May the peoples praise you, O God; may all the peoples praise you. 6 Then the land will yield its harvest, and God, our God, will bless us. 7 God will bless us, and all the ends of the earth will fear him.

Exercise: [together]

1. Let’s read the psalm out loud in unison.

2. Then, pray for missions and missionaries especially those of which you are aware, or generally for missions local and abroad. This is a much needed subject for prayer.

Combination praying – sixth method

As the name implies, Moore suggests that once you become familiar with these various methods of prayer you will find yourself using a combination of them to pray the psalms. You will move easily from one method to another. You may, for instance, commence ‘Guided Praying’ taking the overall theme of the psalm, then you might move to ‘’Responsive Praying’ should the psalm lend itself to that, turning the words of each stanza into a specific response to the written words, and etc.

Difficult Psalms

Seemingly unrelated psalms

Seemingly unrelated psalms take us outside of ourselves to think about those to whom the psalm does relate. To say, ‘this doesn’t relate to me’ may actually be selfish because it does relate to someone. These psalms exist to confront our self-absorption and stir us to think of, and be concerned for others. When we come across these psalms, think of those in situations of oppression or injustice ‘as if bound with them’ (Heb 13:3), and pray for them. This balance in the Psalms helps us to pray in a way that is not constantly focused on ourselves and helps us to shoulder our share of human need both within and outside the church. Also, although a psalm may not resonate with us at the present, it most likely will in the future. So, it may be wise nevertheless to use such psalms to pray in preparation and protection for such future times.

Imprecatory psalms

These psalms are the ones that call down God’s judgement on enemies sometimes in the most violent manner such as Psalm 137:8. These are difficult to come to terms with and there is probably no absolutely satisfactory answer, but here are some. First, some imprecatory psalms are metaphorical. For example, some which ask God to ‘break the teeth’ of enemies are really saying ‘stop their words’ (Psa 58:6). The end of Psalm 58, where it says

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(v. 10), ‘The righteous will be glad when they are avenged, when they bathe their feet in the blood of the wicked’, may be taken as metaphorical for the satisfaction of justice. That is, the righteous will be glad when evil is avenged – a legitimate posture. Interestingly, the psalm is titled ‘Do not destroy’. Likewise, Psalm 137’s reference to ‘dashing infants’ against stones (v. 8) can legitimately be understood as ‘let their be no future generations of this evil influence’ such as, we might say, Nazism, or today, terrorism. So, that’s one way of viewing imprecations, which is legitimate.

In relation to Psalm 137:8, if you read it as written, you will notice that it comes out of the experience of Israel’s own infants being murdered by the King of Babylon, by being dashed against the rocks. In the psalmist asking that God repay them ‘eye for eye’, it is an understandable request according to Jewish law, and according to the dreadful price Israel’s parents suffered. But even then, the psalmist does not take matters into his own hands but submits it to God, which is the key here.

A second way to handle the imprecatory psalms is to pray that evils of various kinds are judged and brought to an end. This is not incongruent with Jesus’ command ‘to love your enemies’ (Matt 5:28). In fact, one psalm actually prays this way but asks that enemies not be destroyed (Psa 59:11 which, incidentally, is also titled ‘Do not destroy’), but that their evil be brought to an end and that the enemies (and God’s people) are warned and taught a lesson. However, there are a number of particularly evil rulers in history that people have justly prayed that their reigns, if not their lives, are brought to an end – i.e., Hitler (read about Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s collusion in an attempt to assassinate Hitler).

Finally, facing an imprecation honestly and admitting that we have feelings exactly like those of the psalm, is an important use of imprecatory psalms. In bringing our rage to God, we have a pathway to yield people and situations to him for his dealing, and also for him to deal with our attitudes. The end of a matter may well be judgment on an enemy but also the release of hatred and anger from us due to expressing our true feelings to God. Along this line, here are some of Eugene Peterson’s thoughts on Psalm 137:

This is raw hate. … our hate needs to be prayed, not suppressed. Hate is our emotional link with the spirituality of evil. It is the volcanic eruption of outrage when the holiness of being, ours or another’s, has been violated. It is also the ugliest and most dangerous of our emotions, the hair trigger on a loaded gun. Embarrassed by the ugliness and fearful of the murderous, we commonly neither admit or pray our hate; we deny it and suppress it. But if it is not admitted it can quickly and easily metamorphose into the evil that provokes it; and if it is not prayed we have lost an essential insight and energy in doing battle with evil.

… This hate arises in a context of holiness: meditating on the holy word of God, expecting the holy messiah of God. Before we prayed we would sit peacefully for two or three hours reading about suffering and cruelty as if we were reading about long extinct dinosaurs, a knowledgeable but detached acquaintance. But immersed by prayer in this holiness, we see clearly what we never saw before, the utter and terrible sacrilege of enemies who violate a good creation, who brutalise women and men who are made, every one of them in the image of God. There is an enormous amount of suffering epidemic in the world because of evil people. The rape and pillage are so well concealed in polite language and courteous conventions that some people can go years without seeing it. And we ourselves did not see it. But now we see it. We are ejected from our

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cushioned private religion into solidarity with ‘the Silent Servants of the Used, Abused and Utterly Screwed up’.

Just as the hurt is the usual human experience that brings us to our knees praying for help, provoking the realisation that we need God, so hate is frequently the human experience that brings us to our feet praying for justice, catalysing our concern for the terrible violations against life all around us. Hate is often the first sign that we care. If we are far gone in complacency, it is often the only emotion with enough velocity to penetrate our protective smugness and draw red blood. That does not mean that prayer legitimises hate – it uses it. ‘Surely the wrath of men shall praise thee’ (Psalm 76:10). Neither is hurt good, but it wakes us to our need for help. Human hurt is not a very promising first step to the accomplishment of our wholeness; human hate is not a very promising first step to the establishment of righteousness. Nevertheless, when prayed, they are steps, first steps into the presence of God, where we learn that he has ways of dealing with what we bring him that are both other and better than what we had in mind. But until we are in prayer, we are not teachable. It is better to pray badly than not to pray at all. A ship that is dead in the water can’t be steered.133

So, although these explanations may not wholly satisfy, they should bring some understanding, at least, as to how to approach imprecatory psalms. Anyway, if you can’t understand some psalms of this nature, leave them until a stage when you either need such a psalm, or, you have become more familiar with psalms per se and therefore can handle them.

From the Expositor’s Bible Commentary – Imprecatory Psalms134

Psalm 137: 8 The psalmist also turns to Babylon (cf. v. 1). Babylon is personified as the "Daughter of Babylon" (cf. Isa 47:1; TWOT, 1:115). The psalmist prays that Babylon and all that Babylon represents will come to an end.

The blessing ('ashre; see 1:1; NIV, "happy") lies on anyone used in bringing down Babylon. The idiom of blessing is used here for the purpose of imprecation ("curse"). The curse on Babylon is an expression of the lex talionis ("principle of retribution"; cf. Jer 51:56). The issue of retribution is complex, but Brueggemann observes, "On reflection it [Ps 137] may be the voice of a seasoned religion which knows profoundly what it costs to beat off despair.... It is an act of profound faith to entrust one's most precious hatreds to God, knowing they will be taken seriously" (Message of the Psalms, p. 77).

9 The psalmist repeats the beatitude in "blessed is he who seizes" (MT) as he brings the psalm to a climactic and shocking end. He prays that the Lord will bring on Babylon's head the atrocities they themselves had committed in Judah and elsewhere. Since Babylon had no "rocks," it is most likely that the psalmist expressed hereby the importance of divine retribution and the terrible wrong the Babylonians had done and had to be punished for. Wars were very cruel in the OT (cf. 2 Kings 8:12; Isa 13:16; Hos 1:4; 13:16; Amos 1:3, 13; Nah 3:10), and the Babylonians were famed for their cruelties (see Ogden, "Prophetic Oracles," pp. 89-97). The psalmist relishes the thought that some day the proud Babylonian captors will taste the defeat they have dished out and that they will be rendered to such a state of desolation and defenselessness that they are unable to defend even their infants.

Appendix: Imprecations in the Psalms

Many of the lament psalms include an imprecatory prayer (3:7; 5:10; 6:10; 7:14-16; 28:4-5; 31:17-18; 37:2, 9-10, 15, 20, 35-36; 40:14-15; 54:5; 55:9, 15, 23; 59:12-13; 63:9-11; 64:7-9; 71:13; 79:6, 12; 139:19-22; 140:9-10). These psalms are ascribed to David (35; 58; 69; 109), to Asaph (83), and to an unknown writer (137). The expression of hatred and the desire for vindication is not to be limited to the Psalms. It is also found in the prayers of Jeremiah (11:18-20; 15:15-18; 17:18; 18:19-23; 20:11-12) and Nehemiah (6:14; 13:29).

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Peterson, Answering God, 96-101. 134

VanGemeren, ‘Psalms’, v: 826-832.

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In these prayers the people of God prayed for the Lord's judgment, vengeance, and curse (execration) on their enemies. Their hatred for their enemies seems so opposed to the teaching of Jesus Christ and to the Christian emphasis on love that we must ask, How can a Christian read, sing, or pray the imprecatory psalms? How do these expressions of hatred correspond to Christ's teaching on love? These psalms force us to look at prayer against the enemies of God and of the psalmists' relationship between the Old and the New testaments.

The Old and New testaments hold in tension the requirement of love and the hatred of evil. The requirement of love, including one's enemy, comes from the OT (Lev 19:17-18; Prov 25:21). God is constant in his expectations, as he exemplifies love for his creation (Ps 145; Matt 5:45), even by the giving of his Son (John 3:16). But the NT also teaches that people are accountable to the Lord for their deeds (Acts 17:30-31) and as such are subject to God's wrath. The Lord Jesus proclaimed a judgment on Korazin and Capernaum (Matt 11:21-24; Luke 10:13-15) and strongly rebuked the leaders and the unbelief of the Jews (Matt 7:23; cf. Ps 6:8; Mark 11:14; 12:9). The apostles counted the heretics and evildoers likewise accursed (1 Cor 5:5; 16:22; Gal 1:8-9; 5:12; 2 Tim 4:14 [cf. Ps 62:12]; 2 Peter 2; 2 John 7-11; Jude 3-16). In the parable of the unjust judge, our Lord encouraged the godly to persevere in prayer, confirming the conviction that God is just, as he will "bring about justice for his chosen ones, who cry out to him day and night" (Luke 18:7).

In this spirit we must appreciate the cry of the martyrs in heaven, as they pray for God's vindication (Rev 6:10) and rejoice in the judgment of the wicked (18:20; 19:1-6). The apostle Paul also encouraged oppressed Christians to look forward to the return of our Lord as the time appointed for God's vindication of the church (2 Thess 1:6-10; cf. Ps 79:6). In this light we may appreciate the perspective of the psalms. Brueggemann writes,

The Psalms are resources for spirituality .... That is, the spirituality of the Psalms is shaped, defined, and characterized in specific historical, experiential categories and shuns universals. Such recognition does not require a fresh exegesis of each psalm, so much as hermeneutical insistence about the categories through which the psalms are to be understood. But if I read it rightly, these Psalms characteristically subordinate "meaning" to "justice." The Psalms regularly insist upon equity, power, and freedom enough to live one's life humanely. (Message of the Psalms, pp. 175-76)

But indiscriminate hatred is wrong. The psalmists wrote under the inspiration of God regarding the nature of evil. They were intoxicated with God's character and name (9:16-20; 83:16-17) and were concerned with the manifestation of God's righteousness and holiness on earth. Since evil contrasts in every way with God's nature and plan, the psalmists prayed for divine retribution, by which God's order would be reestablished (109:6-21) and God's people would be reassured of his love (109:21, 26). C.S. Lewis, too, was sensitive to the piety of the psalter when he wrote on the place of justice and judgment in the Psalms. He observes that the cry of the psalmists may be explained, because they "took right and wrong more seriously" (Reflections on the Psalms, p. 31).

Thus the imprecatory psalms focus on the reality of evil and the hope of restoration. This is a very relevant question. C.S. Lewis rightly asks us to use the Psalms as a way of seeing this world as it is: "Against all this the ferocious parts of the Psalms serve as a reminder that there is in the world such a thing as wickedness, and that it ... is hateful to God" (ibid., pp. 19, 33). Further, we caution against a wooden interpretation of the imprecations, as Kidner observes, "Here we should notice that invective has its own rhetoric, in which horror may be piled up on horror more to express the speaker's sense of outrage than to spell out the penalties he literally intends" (Psalms 1:27).

For the Christian it is most important to uproot any selfish passions, judgmentalism, and personal vindictiveness, because those who practice these come under the judgment of God (Gal 5:15; James 4:13-16). These psalms help us to pray through our anger, frustrations, and spite to a submission to God's will. Only then will the godly man or woman be able to pray for the execration of evil and the full establishment of God's kingdom.

Texts: For an expository study of the imprecatory psalms, the reader is invited to read the expositions on Pss 35; 58; 69; 83; 109; 137; cf. 3:7; 5:10; 6:10; 7:14-16; 28:4-5; 31:17-18; 37:2, 9-10, 15, 20, 35-36; 40:14-15; 54:5; 55:9, 15, 23; 59:12-13; 63:9-11; 64:7-9; 69; 71:13; 79:6, 12; 139:19-22; 140:9-10.

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Psalms: articles: “The Costly Loss of Lament” (pp. 98-111) and “Bounded by Obedience and Praise” (pp. 189-213), from The Psalms and the Life of Faith.

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