Just Some Thoughts on Some Psalms

 

Have you ever had a morning when this is all you wanted?

 

“O God, do not remain quiet; do not be silent and, O God do not be still” (Psa. 83:1).

 

Have you ever had times when you just wanted to feel His touch? To sense Him? To hear Him? To see Him? Is doesn’t seem too much to ask, does it? Just a soft sensation that He is with you, just a faint whisper, just a flicker of eternal light in the distance – are there times when this would be reassuringly enough?  

 

Pretty simple isn’t it? A basic desire. “O God, do not remain quiet; do not be silent and, O God do not be still.” It isn’t like we’re asking for the Red Sea to be parted, or to walk on water, or to have great-aunt Nellie come back from the dead after fifty years. We just want some communication. We just want to know there is Someone who takes the initiative and makes a call to us every now and then.

 

Well, anyway, this seems like a good prayer to me.

 

Then there is Psalm 88. Do you read Psalm 88? We really should read this Psalm, after all it is part of the Psalter and the Psalter is part of the Canon, and a rather significant part at that. I’m not sure that we’d miss Obadiah or Nahum if a thief absconded with them, but I’m pretty sure we’d miss the Psalter…or at least I hope we would. Why with Obadiah and Nahum most of us would say, “Nahum? Obadiah? I didn’t even know this furniture was in the house; how can I miss them?”

 

Job could have prayed Psalm 88. “…my soul has had enough troubles, and my life has drawn near to Sheol…Forsaken among the dead…I have become like a man without strength…You have put me in the lowest pit…O LORD why do You reject my soul? Why do You hide Your face from me?” This will put a smile on our faces, this is great, this will draw folks to church! You gotta love Psalm 88!

 

There is no resolution in Psalm 88. Have you ever ended a day, a week, a month, or maybe even a year with no resolution? I have more than one thing in my life that I’m not likely to see resolution on before I leave this earth. Since I am one of those people who drive for closure, often whether closure is smart or not, not having resolution is like having a toothache, or like a sock that keeps inching its way down into your shoe – it can be painful or just irritating, but you know it’s there whether you think about it or not.

 

Psalm 118 calls me home to Jesus, the Stone which the builders rejected. Many of us have sung, “This is the day which the LORD has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it” (Psa. 118:24). However, we typically sing this verse in ignorance of its context, for its context is, “The stone which the builders rejected has become the chief corner stone. This is the LORD’s doing; it is marvelous in our eyes. This is the day which the LORD has made…” In other words, the context is the crucifixion of Jesus Christ – the rejection and crucifixion of Jesus Christ is the Day the LORD has made.

 

When I read verse 20, “This is the gate of the LORD; the righteous will enter through it,” I think of the Cross of Jesus Christ. What other gate is there that we must enter, other than the Christ of the Cross and the Cross of Christ?

 

Psalm 88 finds its resolution in Psalm 118. Life finds its resolution in the Cross of Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ was victorious through suffering and death, and our Psalm 88 experiences will lead us to Easter morning as we live in Christ and the koinonia of His sufferings.

 

When I cry out to God to speak, to not be quiet, to “just do something!," I can look to Psalm 118 and see that the Father has indeed spoken, that He has indeed done something…He has sent His Only Begotten Son, and He has given Jesus Christ to me and He has given me to Jesus Christ.