GOOD MORNING, SIBLINGS!
Today’s readings are Psalms 21-25
Click here to read today’s passages on BibleGateway.
Rabbit Trails
In these readings, no doubt Psalm 23 will strike most of us as familiar. Even those who have spent little time in the Word recognize the opening sentence…
“The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want.”
However Psalm 22, if you’ve not read it with prophecy in mind, will leave you shook.
It is a Messianic psalm, very prophetic in nature, in that it details with shocking clarity the crucifixion of our Messiah. In fact, Messiah quoted this Psalm while he was being crucified, beginning with the opening line and ending with the closing line.
While we do not have a record of Him reciting the entire Psalm, it is believed by many that He did just that, as our Messiah was the greatest scholar of the Bible of all time. (Recall John 1:1).
As this is a Messianic Psalm, I thought you might be interested in knowing the different types of Psalms there are.
Types of Psalms:
•Hymns – songs of praise and thanksgiving to YHWH
•Repentant – Confessions of sin, regret for sin, and petitions to YHWH for grace and forgiveness
•Wisdom – Observations on our relationship to YHWH and His ways
•Royal – Focus on Israel’s king and heir to God’s covenant with David.
•Messianic – Describing the Messiah or some aspect of His ministry to come
•Imprecatory – Call for YHWH’s judgement on the Psalmist’s or YHWH’s enemies
(Imprecate means to call down or invoke curses upon a person.)
•Lamentations – Generally these:
a. Bemoan one’s condition or state
b. Declare a trust in YHWH
c. End with a praise of YHWH
On a sidenote: 25:21 jumped out at me:
“May integrity and uprightness preserve me, for I wait for you.”
I’ve had so many opportunities to trade my integrity for various types of gain and each time I’ve flat turned away from those opportunities because I have to live according to my principles and those that the Father has laid out for us.
I’ve never once regretted it.
“What does it profit a man to gain the world but lose his soul?” (Mark 8:36)
This life, this world, is temporary. We’re just passing through on our way to eternity but decisions we make today can make or break that eternity and we must be ever mindful that slopes, no matter how small they seem, are always steeper and more slippery than they appear.
We must go back towards the beginning of Psalm 25, to verses 4-5:
Make me to know your ways, O Lord;
teach me your paths.
Lead me in your truth and teach me,
for you are the God of my salvation;
for you I wait all the day long. Psalm 25:4-5
He will absolutely make known to us His ways and His paths, but we first have to purpose to walk in them once He makes them known to us – realizing that they are most likely (seriously) NOT the widely traveled paths that those around us are taking.
Until we’re ready to make that commitment ahead of time, we remain where we are (I’ve done a lot of this!), and He waits.
Hey, if we’re gonna jump, jump in the Father’s direction!
And if we’re gonna follow someone’s instructions, follow His!
Test everything, hold tight to what is good.~ 1 Thess 5:21
We are saved by Grace alone: Obedience is not the root of our salvation, it is the fruit!
May YHWH bless the reading of His Word!