Psalm 45 Publications

There is no psalm that better sums up the very essence of the Christian life than this song of David, written for the dedication of the Temple. Here we have the truth most poignantly expressed that they who suffer and mourn now will be supremely blessed hereafter. Christ did not come to bring healing to the healthy, peace to the complacent, or joy to the mirthful. He came to bind up the brokenhearted, to heal the sick, to open blinded eyes, to forgive the guilt-laden conscience and flood the distressed and burdened soul with peace. “Your enemies will rejoice,” he told his disciples when he was about to save their souls, “but their joy will turn to despair. But you, though you sorrow for a moment, your sorrow will turn into joy that no one can ever take away” (see John 16:19-24). “Blessed are those who mourn,” he declared elsewhere, “for they shall be comforted” (Mat. 5:4). Continue Reading

The all-encompassing and self-sustaining glory of God is most clearly displayed in this respect, that the only fitting praise for him is to ascribe to him the glory of his Name. In our most fervent worship, we are not extravagant or flattering; we are simply recounting truthfully the immense glory that belongs by essential right to his most reverent name. This is the only fitting occupation of the sons of God, under which designation we may consider either the elect angels or the elect among mankind, who have been adopted as the children of God (Rom. 8:14-17); or probably (and most appropriately), both. When we worship together with the angels of heaven (Heb. 12:22-24), we are to tell forth the truth that in him alone is glory and strength and the splendor of holiness, and that he has revealed that glory to his creatures; he has deigned to provide them with a Name upon which they might call, a Name which mysteriously wraps up all his glory and holy might. Continue Reading

Who has never lifted up his voice and cried out to the Lord, secretly wondering all the while if his ear was deaf to his pleas, and if, on that day of judgment, he would finally be dragged off with the wicked (vss. 1-2), who in pretense of piety make long their prayers (Mat. 6:5-7)? These religious hypocrites speak peace to their neighbor, but their heart is full of wickedness (vs. 3); and so, too, do they pray in ostensible humility, but their heart is full of pride. Continue Reading

When David said that Yahweh was his light and his salvation, he was including in those precious epithets all spiritual blessings that could ever be devised or given to mankind. Whom, indeed, should he fear? Yahweh is his light: how could he ever finally be deceived or led astray, and thus prevented from entering that blessed abode, toward which his heart ever yearned, even the very house of the Lord, where he might gaze upon the beauty of the Lord (vss. 4-5)? Here is every good thing imaginable! What pleasure or delight or good might we possibly experience that does not have its illimitable source in the author of every good and perfect gift (James 1:17)? This Lord is David’s light, and he will teach him his ways and lead him in straight paths (vs. 11); and so after his heart has said, “Your face, O Yahweh, will I seek” (vs. 8), he can never thence be led astray and fail to find that divine countenance which he is seeking. Continue Reading

In this psalm, as in so many others, we find ourselves swept away beyond the time of David, and hear its blessed words on the lips of the Son of David, as he walks about the Temple proclaiming the true doctrine of God. For as we have often noted before, many things which were said well and truly by David, and which may be repeated earnestly and confidently by us, when through the strength that God provides we are walking steadfastly in his example, were finally and perfectly fulfilled only in the life of Christ, into whose pattern we are being conformed by the Holy Spirit, even that same Spirit who spoke by David (2 Sam. 23:2), and prefigured his Son in his psalms. Let us, then, read this psalm with an eye to see it most perfectly displayed in the public ministry of our Lord. Continue Reading

Psalm Twenty-Five is a little unusual in that it is one of several acrostic poems in the psalter – that is, each verse begins with the twenty-two respective letters of the Hebrew alphabet in order, and thus proceeds, as it were, from “A” to “Z”. This arrangement seems to underscore the nature of the psalm’s content, which contains a little bit of every facet of the life of faith – it gives the qualities and characteristics of the saint’s walk and manner of life from “A” to “Z”. Thus, the arrangement of the psalm answers well to the material of which it consists. Continue Reading

In this Psalm, we may see the boundless greatness of the infinite God brought down nearer and nearer to mankind, until the climax of all time and history explodes upon the scene in a brilliant crescendo of triumph, and the unthinkable becomes reality, as the uncontainable God of the universe steps through the gates of Zion to dwell among his people. This, then, is the drama of all redemptive history, played out before the eyes of our heart in three terse scenes, which wrap up infinite import in little swaddling bands of words, just as the infinite Christ child, the eternal Word of God, was later swaddled and laid in a manger – the boundless bound in mean strips of cloth, the uncontainable contained in a feeding trough. Mystery of mysteries! For what deeper mystery could there be than that which is contained in these words, “God with us”? Continue Reading

It is not without reason that Psalm Twenty-Three is one of the best known and best loved psalms in the bible. How many saints have taken courage and comfort from these blessed lines, when passing through some dark valley of despair? How many overwhelmed and fearful christians have clung to the promise that God’s goodness and mercy would pursue them and bring them home to the Lord, no matter where they should find themselves in this cruel life? What a tender and comforting image: the almighty God of the universe, come down to be a pitiful Shepherd, to gather up his lambs in his bosom and gently lead those who are with young (Isaiah 40:10-12). When the cup that we should have drunk down was filled with the foaming wrath of God, he gave us instead a cup of mercy and salvation, full to the brim, and spread out a feast for us in the presence of all our enemies. What amazing love! Continue Reading

Never has there been a more violent and shocking contrast than that which we encounter between what we just read in the previous psalm, of the great glory and majesty and eternal life with which God in his delight has crowned the Messianic King, and the unutterable cry of horror which is this psalm’s first line. “My God,” he cries out in anguish, as it were in disbelief. “My God!” – And can you not feel in that tortured shriek but a whisper of the pain of divine abandonment, undeserved dereliction, the very rupture, as it were, of the most holy and blessed Trinity? “My God, in whom has ever been my delight, my joy, my infinite and divine love – My God, in whose fellowship from eternity past I have ever rejoiced – My God, when I have done this, when I have stooped to do your will, when in that Garden of terrors, weeping out my heart all in a sweat of agony, I nevertheless set my brow to do what you had commanded – My God, when never I had shown my obedience so perfectly, no, nor my love for you, no, nor my regard for your honor, no, nor my tender compassion for your chosen people – Ah, my God, when this is what I have offered up to you, a most perfect and holy sacrifice, why is it that even now, in the extremity of my need, you have forsaken your holy and beloved Son? Ah, my God, my God!” Continue Reading

How rich and wonderful beyond expression was the substance of the prayer offered up for the Anointed King in the last psalm! And as we move beyond those sacred vistas into new and equally holy prospects of the most blessed psalter, how our heart thrills within us to hear that exuberant affirmation of the king, that the Lord has held back nothing of the request of his lips. Is our own salvation not thereby guaranteed by this testimony? Can we restrain our own hearts from rejoicing with the king in the strength of the Lord, and from exulting in his salvation, seeing that God has given him all his heart’s desire? Not so, O Christian, if we truly belong to the Christ; for in his success and glory is our own eternal joy and salvation. Continue Reading

Everywhere one may turn, the psalms are full of the prayers of the Davidic King, who intercedes for his people and pleads God’s eternal blessing and favor upon them; but in this psalm, we find the roles reversed, as it were, and the people of God all lifting up their voice in one accord on behalf of their King. “May the Lord save you!”, they cry out to him; “May his Name protect you, may he send you aid from his sanctuary, may he remember your sacrifices and burnt offerings, may he fulfill your plans, may we rejoice in your salvation” – these and other such requests they offer up for him. Continue Reading

Who is glorious like our God? And what tells forth his glory, but the Word of God? In the beginning, God gave forth his voice, he spoke the worlds into existence, and by his Word all creation was made (Gen. 1; John 1:1-3); and now, from one day to another, the glories of the sun and sky and stars above all give an unceasing testimony to the greatness of this God. There is no part of the world where divine glory does not overwhelm our myopic, sin-stained eyes with a dazzling brilliance. All creation shouts forth the majesty of the Creator with a voice loud enough to wake the deaf and shake the earth’s foundations. And these are but a whisper of his ways! The staggering beauty of the heavens are but the echoes of that voice that first thundered “Let there be Light”! And the whole universe is awash with these echoes of the Word – so that they are rendered utterly without excuse, who exchange the glory that can be known from Creation, even the divine majesty and Godhead of the Creator, for a lesser glory to worship (Rom. 1:18-32). Continue Reading

He is either blind or a fool who can look upon a powerful thunderstorm without reflecting in trembling awe upon the might and majesty of the Lord. Immense reserves of strength beyond imagination break forth in the winds and hail and lightnings that sweep so suddenly over the resting world, and the stentorian voice of the thunder testifies to the solemn import of the display – and all this is but the breath of the nostrils of him who rides on the wings of the wind, as David here observes. What utter lunacy could permit a man to see so fearful a nostril-blast without ever trembling at the power of the God who so breathes, and pouring his whole being into answering the question of whether that perfect puissance will prove to be for him or against him? Continue Reading

When King David published this psalm, his people must have derived immense comfort from it: how confident was their leader that God would hear his pleas for salvation, and deliver him from all his enemies! His life was pure, his faith was great, and he knew by long experience the wondrous steadfast love that would preserve all those who sought refuge in God the Savior, as the very apple of his eye. But this further consideration must have been particularly pleasing to all the people, that of old God was accustomed to deal with a nation in large part upon the basis of its king. Whenever a king walked uprightly and found favor with God, the whole nation would prosper; but “when a wicked one rules, the people groan” (Prov. 29:2). How the nation must have rejoiced, knowing that God loved their king, and their king represented them to God. Continue Reading

Everywhere in the Psalms, as we have often seen before, David speaks not primarily with regard to himself alone, as a mere individual; but rather, being the anointed King and representative of the people, he comes before God in their behalf as a type of Christ, the true King and Messiah and Mediator of the people, and pleads blessings for them from God. But in a few places, David’s office as a type and shadow of Christ is overwhelmed, as it were, by the brightness of the glory of the One prefigured, so that his own voice is all but lost, and the radiance of the glory of God is seen so clearly that it is as if the very Son of God were speaking alone and unmediated. Continue Reading

The answer to the question here posed by the Psalmist contains in itself all that is necessary for eternal life and happiness; and everything that can be desired, and that can never fade away or grow dull or tiresome, hangs in the balance. The tents of the wicked may be filled with all sorts of fleeting, carnal delights, but the end of those things is shame and misery; but the Holy Hill of Yahweh is filled with such an abundant store of unfading riches as all eternity could never suffice to uncover. This is because Zion, the Lord’s Holy Hill, is where the Lord himself dwells; and he who has been chosen to dwell before the Lord in peace, he, that is, to whom the Lord is his portion, seeing that the Lord is his Lord, possesses all that belongs to the God of the universe. Every good thing created by God for man’s pleasure is his, and eternal life, which is the knowledge of the Lord (John 17:3), and every wondrous attribute and precious quality of the Lord’s own nature is for him, and he may draw upon it in any trial whatever, because God is his God, and God cannot be divided against himself or against those who belong to him. Continue Reading

There is perhaps no worse news ever given, nor any grimmer verdict ever uttered under heaven, than that stinging indictment of the psalmist against the human race, “There is none who does good, no, not one!”. Consider how certainly this truth is established, and by what unassailable testimonies it has been sealed: Yahweh himself has looked down from heaven, he has searched out all the world and examined every child of man, to see if there is anyone who understands, anyone who seeks God – but, no, the answer comes back when the universal search is ended: they have all gone astray without exception, they are all corrupt, they all do abominable things, they have all despised and scoffed at God, and in their inmost hearts refused even to acknowledge the existence of him who created them, the evidence of which is borne out by their lives lived with no fear of God before their eyes. Continue Reading

Through all the course of his life, David was very often opposed by many enemies who were stronger than he: whether it was King Saul, who without a cause so many times sought his life; or Achish, the king of the Philistines, before whom he was forced to feign madness; or those raiders who stole away his wives and goods in Ziklag; or even his own son Absalom, who raised up a mighty host against him, and drove him out of Jerusalem; by all these enemies and more, he was constantly opposed, afflicted, and oppressed – and yet, in the face of such enmity, he constantly evinced a calm and steady assurance of God’s favor and salvation, because of which he could laugh at all his foes, and sleep in peace even when they were surrounding him on every side. Continue Reading

There have been times in Church history, and also, no doubt, times in the personal history of many of the saints, when it seems as if all the righteous have vanished away. So Elijah cried out in an agony of despair, “I, only I am left, and they seek my life!” (1 Kings 19:10); and the echoes of that sharp complaint have since reverberated in many souls populating the Kingdom after him. In those times, the only bedrock of hope is the unshakeable truth that “the words of Yahweh are pure words, silver refined in a furnace in the earth, purified seven times” (vs. 6); and those words include many strong promises of deliverance from every enemy, which the righteous always seize upon and plead back to the Father (vss. 7-8). Continue Reading

It is no uncommon experience for the saint to be tempted by many strong and appealing arguments to abandon his hope in the Lord, when waves of fierce opposition arise. So was David often tempted, and so also are all who trust in Christ thus tempted at times. “What has your religion done for you?”, the sneering voices of the fickle crowds inquire; and joining in the insidious plot, the devil whispers into the ear of your heart the same deceptive question, and your own weak flesh rises up to confirm the lie. “Yes, I have trusted in God, I have sought to serve him in all that I do, I have denied myself the opportunity for greater riches and power and security, because I have not been willing to break his Law and build myself up by treating the weak unfairly, or being deceitful and unethical in my practices; and I have ever kept myself from relying on the strong-seeming hills of prominent position and well-supplied bank accounts, those mountains which never fail to bear up the wicked – and here I am on the brink of destruction, and they still prosper! Should I not flee to those same mountains as a bird?” Continue Reading

Religion that begins and ends with the mind alone is in fact no religion, but an empty mockery; for true religion comes to full flower in the trials and temptations that beset a man, and gives him victory over them all. This much we may certainly learn from our psalm today, which is very closely connected with the preceding, and bears this relationship to it, that it takes up the same precious themes and truths, and most heartily employs them in the midst of a terrible trial, which threatens to overwhelm the faith and hope of the godly. Continue Reading

The reader who is continuing in order through the book of the Psalms will remember that the last psalm marveled at the deeply paradoxical truth of man’s frail and insignificant nature, which is nevertheless of immense importance to God, by whom all creation is destined to be brought into subjection to a man who will reign forever in righteousness, even the God-Man Jesus Christ, who tasted death for every man and is now crowned with glory and honor. It may capture the reader’s attention, therefore, that immediately after speaking of how all kingly dominion will be given to man, the psalms go on to speak of the eternal, kingly dominion of the Lord Yahweh himself, who sits enthroned forever, and judges the world in righteousness (vss. 7-8). Yes, man will reign over all things; but above and behind man, and constantly supplying him with his kingly authority and royal glory, is the Lord who created him. He has reigned from all eternity past, and into all eternity future he will reign in righteousness. There is no word or thought or breath of man that does not obey his divine decree and follow his every bidding. No, in all their mad ragings and evil schemes, the men of this world will accomplish nothing but what God’s hand and purpose had predestined to take place (Acts 4:28). Continue Reading

What a paradox is man! The Name of the Lord is majestic in all the earth, and the heavens above, ah, how much glory do they declare! Wherever one should turn his eye, there is all around him the stuff of awe-struck wonder, and the more deeply he probes, the greater the marvel becomes. In the depths of the deepest ocean, what brilliant flowers and beautiful creatures may be found hidden away from all prying eyes. In the vast expanse of the universe, what mind-boggling distances and unthinkable substances, what expansive galaxies and innumerable stars, what gasses and solids and plasmas and dark matters beyond the wildest surmisings of man. And here on this earth, such noble creatures may be found, the soaring eagle and massive elephant and untamable lion – it staggers the mind to try to conceive of it all, and after the attempt, the only reasonable verdict that one may come to is this, “O Yahweh, our Lord, how majestic is your Name!” Continue Reading

Already had David found comfort from his sorrow over sin, and had assured himself that the Lord had seen his tears of penitence and would not rebuke him in his wrath (Psalm 6); and yet, as blessed as that forgiveness of sins and free absolution from guilt had been, a fuller confidence in his sure salvation from all his enemies required even more yet: for if his faith should remain strong in the promises of God, when all the world seemed set against him, he needed not just to know that he was forgiven, but also that he was positively righteous – not just that the Lord had nothing against him, but also that the Lord had seen everything good in him, and was well-disposed to help him for the beautiful and commendable things which adorned his heart, not just disinclined to rebuke him for the ugly and contemptible things over which he had mourned so deeply before. Continue Reading

In all of David’s battles against his enemies (and they were many and mighty!), he took courage in the Lord, and assured himself of victory, and was able even to lie down and sleep when his foes were pressing him hard on every side; for he knew that he was righteous and they were wicked, and that the Lord would therefore deliver him. This we have seen, and it has given us much courage to face any kind of opposition that we might encounter for righteousness’ sake. But what if the next enemy David had to face should come not from without but from within, what if he could no longer trust in his righteousness because his enemy is sinfulness – his own deep-seated and innate depravity? How would he assure himself of the Lord’s favor then? Continue Reading

In peace had David lain down and slept the night before (Psalm 4:8); but when the morning came, his problems were not gone, and so with great and sorrowful groanings he poured out his soul to the Lord in supplications, and watched for his coming salvation. Continue Reading

The Lord of life lay down and slept; but God raised him up to a new and glorious day, and brought salvation to his people! This we saw last time, in Psalm Three; but what happens when, after the dawn of that new day of life, the shadows lengthen, the evening approaches, further troubles arise, and the time again is near to lying down? Continue Reading

When King David was forced to flee from his own son Absalom, who had raised up such a rebellion against him that the great majority of the people thought his salvation was impossible, he cried out to the Lord, and then lay down and slept. Many thought this a sleep from which he would never arise, for thousands of people had set themselves around him, and were bent on his destruction; but he woke again, for God sustained him; and thenceforth, his Lord rose up to destroy his enemies, and crush them beneath his feet. Continue Reading

The first two psalms, as we have observed, function together as a foundation and introduction to the glorious mysteries of the entire psalter; and if the first psalm demonstrates the centrality of Christ, holding him forth at once as the great representative of his people, then how much more may we learn of him from the second psalm, in which we are ushered into the inter-triune council, before the world or time began, to hear the decree whereby the eternal Son of God first solemnly undertook to save us from all our enemies? Oh, sacred mystery! Oh, unutterable grace! Before we intrude any further into this wonder of wonders, let us put off the shoes from our feet, for we have entered upon holy ground. Continue Reading

“’Blessed is the man that hath not gone away in the counsel of the ungodly’ (ver. 1). This is to be understood of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord Man.” So begins the great church father, Augustine of Hippo, in his landmark exposition of the Psalms. The great Genevan reformer, John Calvin, on the other hand, expresses his opinion that the psalmist here “inculcates upon all the godly the duty of meditating on the Law of God”. While I am inclined to agree with Augustine, I cannot bring myself to disagree with Calvin. Augustine is certainly right; and because he is right, Calvin must necessarily be right also. Because Jesus Christ, whose meditation was always upon the Law of God, and who never walked in the counsel of the ungodly, was supremely blessed, therefore all the godly, who have been united to him, will also be blessed and glorified with him; but the ungodly will be blown away like chaff. Continue Reading

He who has entered the treasury of the Psalms has come upon such a storehouse of riches as may not be found in all the world beside. What El Dorado is there that shines with a purer gold than the very words of the Lord, seven times refined (Psalm 12:6)? What stately pleasure dome of what proud Kubla Khan has ever been supplied with more scintillating delights, delicate treasures, unspeakable glories to dazzle the eyes of men and angels alike? The one who has tasted the goodness of the Lord in the banqueting house of the Psalter must thenceforth be forever spoiled for the pleasures of the world – the sweetest treats that he had coveted before must touch upon his palate as ashes and dust, and until he garner more pleasant fares from the same larder house, sweeter than drippings of the honeycomb (Psalm 19:10), he will never again be happy. The fabled nectar of the gods will be bitter as gall and coarse as gravel to him who has once tasted the sweet wine of the true God of gods, which flows to us from the lips of the Psalter’s great hero, Jesus Christ our Lord. Continue Reading