Utumishi Blog

When we look at New Testament letters, for example, many of us are quite familiar with the idea of ‘travelling to Corinth’.

That is we recognise that 1 Corinthians, for example, was a real letter written by a real man to real people living in a real place with real problems and questions that are being addressed. It is not a collection of spiritual truths floating around. It is not first and foremost about me or written to me (even though it is ultimately for me). What I need, if I am to really hear the riches of, e.g. 1 Corinthians 13, is to read the passage in the context of the whole letter and put myself in the shoes of the Corinthian believers hearing it read the first time, hearing it speaking into their context of division and pride and unlove. That’s when I start to feel the cutting edge of the sword and it starts to cut me too.

Well so much for 1 Corinthians. But what about the Psalms? I think often the ‘travelling to Corinth’ thing goes out the window and we draw a straight line straight from the text to us.

It’s very tempting because the words of the Psalms resonate so strongly with us. I’m sure you’ve had that experience I’ve had when you read a Psalm and you think – that’s exactly how I feel. And the Psalms make great songs – unsurprisingly, as they are songs (note all the titles like “for the choirmaster on stringed instruments”). They express the depths of grief and the heights of praise so wonderfully. And I don’t want to take away from that for a moment. But I think they can be even more powerful when we remember who’s saying/singing them first – King David, the anointed one, the Christ, the Beloved One (the name David means ‘beloved’).

And they also make a lot more sense that way. You know that experience of reading through a Psalm, or hearing it preached, and it all makes for wonderful devotional stuff about trusting God alone and longing for him and remembering his promises and then suddenly, often near the end, you get all this stuff about slaying enemies or perhaps an appeal to the Psalmist’s perfect righteousness and innocence. At that point we either have to tone down the language and say, he didn’t really mean that, or we bring in David and say, well, this bit must point us to Christ – which makes for quite a satisfying devotion/sermon – we get lots of practical and devotional points about us with a final point about Jesus so we can tick the ‘got the gospel in’ and ‘proclaiming Jesus’ boxes – but it’s not that satisfying as a treatment of the whole Psalm. Why are some bits about me and then other bits (with no grammatical warning) turn out to be about Jesus?

Wouldn’t it be a lot simpler to just read the whole Psalm as firstly a Psalm of David (especially if it says it is – obviously some are by Asaph or someone else) and then a Psalm of The Christ (as the New Testament consistently reads the Psalms) and then a Psalm for those who are in Christ?

I’ve been reading through the Psalms recently as songs of Jesus and it has been revolutionary for me – so exciting and refreshing – I recommend it. Here is one example to get us going:

Psalm 139

A wonderful Psalm on God’s omnipresence and the believer’s comfort in that truth.

But what do we do with v19-22 then? “Oh that you would slay the wicked… I hate them with complete hatred”.

How about if we take the whole Psalm as a song of David? “To the Choirmaster. A Psalm of David”.

Verse 16: “in your book”. What was the one book which David as the king was commanded to read? God’s Law (Deut. 17:19). In fact the king is the only one who is commanded to have a daily quiet time (for the rest of us it’s wise but not law). It was by reading the Law that David was to find his role and destiny.

But the Psalm fits Jesus Christ even better than David Christ:

• Jesus is the one completely known and loved and enfolded by the Father; who delights in and marvels at that enfolding. Jesus’ thoughts and words are known by the Father because they are the Father’s thoughts and words (cf. John 3:34; 7:16; 17:14). Psalm 139 gives us an insight (amazingly) into Jesus’ experience of his oneness with the Father – his sense of joy and security in that unity and interpenetration.
• Jesus is also enfolded by the Spirit (v7a) – he is the anointed one who has the Spirit without limit, the one on whom the Spirit rests – and he knows the Spirit as personal – the Spirit of the Father (cf. Matt. 10:20) – the presence he never outruns.
• Jesus is the Second Adam. Whereas Adam was driven out of the presence of the Lord (and Jonah fled it), this man delights always in the presence of God and never rebels against his guiding hand (v7-10).
• Jesus has gone to the extremities. He has ascended to heaven. He has descended to Sheol. He has been cast into the depths of the sea (like Jonah) and gone through the darkness. David didn’t go to those placed and we certainly haven’t but Jesus has and in all these places he remained completely one with the Father.
• Jesus had a body made for him in his mother’s womb. Of course in one sense we all did but in Jesus’ case his body really was very fearfully and wonderfully made – both in its miraculously creation in a virgin’s womb and in the sinless perfection of his flesh.
• Jesus really does know how wonderful the Lord’s works are (v14b). He was there at the creation of the world. He was there at the deliverance from Egypt. And he knows all the Father’s thoughts (v17). So he is both known and knows.
• Jesus is the one who read’s God’s book (the Law) and finds written there every one of his days – his coming, his mission, his death, his resurrection, his victory (John 5:46; Luke 24:44-46).
• Jesus is the one who ‘awakes’ after the Sheol, darkness and night (v18 cf. Ps. 13:3; 76:5; Job 14:11-12; Dan. 12:2).
• Jesus is the one who will say, “Depart from me” to God’s enemies (v19 cf. Matt. 7:23; 25:41). Though he is the one who came to save sinners he is also the one who will come again to destroy the enemies of God (e.g. 2 Thess. 1:8; Rev. 19:15).
• Jesus is the one who can ask God to examine him for any ‘grievous way in him’ (v23-24) and be found completely faultless.

Where are we in Psalm 139? Well first, naturally, we’re the wicked enemies of v19-22. The Psalms tell us repeatedly that there’s no-one righteous, we’re all sinners (Ps. 14; 53; 130; 143). We need to respond to the opening invitation of the Psalter – kiss the Son (Ps. 2:12). Then, once we are united with him (as in marriage cf. Ps. 45) we can claim Ps. 139 for ourselves in that we are in Christ. We have this wonder-ful oneness with the Father because we are in the beloved Son. We have gone through Sheol and ascended to heaven in Him. We are eternally secure, blameless and loved in the Son.

A few MP3 downloads:

• Psalm 1 – Mike Reeves – brilliant stuff and an introduction to reading the whole Psalter

And a couple of examples of me trying to preach the Psalms:

• Psalm 55
• Psalm 110