Deep Dive
Shownotes Transcript
Hey, Bible readers, I'm Tara Lee Cobble, and I'm your host for The Bible Recap. Today we covered eight psalms that span a variety of tones and topics. We started with Psalm 1, which contrasts the wicked man with the righteous man. It says the righteous man will be different from the wicked man in the way he thinks, acts, and engages with the world around him. And because of that, he's blessed.
One of the things the righteous man thinks about is the word of God. He delights in it. This delight in God causes him to flourish in every area that matters. And no matter what the circumstances are around him, he'll be sustained and upheld by God's word as his source of life.
Psalm 2 was probably either written for or in response to David's coronation. It's all about the new king and how the other nations of the world set themselves up against him. They want to overthrow the power of Israel as a nation. But God looks at Israel's enemies, who are his enemies, and laughs. Because it's laughable to oppose God.
We've touched on this briefly in the past, but it bears repeating. The only time Scripture shows God laughing is at His enemies. And here's an example of that. But be careful not to imagine it as just some kind of maniacal laugh where He's rubbing His hands together and squinting down at them. He's not cruel. He's just. Psalm 15 is a Davidic psalm, and boy, it makes it sound impossible to get close to God, doesn't it?
He's specifically talking about the state of a man's heart when he's entering the tabernacle or the presence of God. It reminds us that God is holy and we are not, and that His standards are higher than we could ever achieve, even on our best days. He shows so much mercy in drawing near to us and so much love in wanting to dwell with us.
I have a bit of a controversial opinion on the opening line of Psalm 22. I'm definitely in the minority on this opinion, and I'm not trying to convince you I'm right. But I do think it's important as it applies to our view of God, so I want to spend some time on it. When Jesus was on the cross, He quoted the first line of this psalm, Most people believe this points to a separation between God the Son and God the Father in that moment when He was on the cross.
They say it's because God can't look on sin. We even sing a song in church that says, the Father turned his face away. But personally, I think that's not only not what happened, but I don't even think it's possible.
First, here's a bit of history that helps contextualize this. Psalm 22 was written by David, and parts of it are certainly prophetic statements pointing to the Messiah. But here's what many people forget. Back in Jesus' day, the books of the Bible didn't have chapters yet. So when they wanted to reference a certain psalm, they couldn't say, "Let's sing Psalm 100," or "Turn in your hymnal to page 23." From what I understand, the way they would reference psalms was to quote the first line.
So here's what I think may have happened in that moment where Jesus is on the cross, quoting the first line of this psalm. I think it's almost as if he's saying, Hey, remember that psalm about the coming Messiah, that prophecy David wrote? It's about me. This is it. I'm it. Our faith is founded on who God is, and central to this idea is the Trinity. God the Father, God the Son, and God the Spirit.
They are three eternally distinct persons of the one true God. They each have the same characteristics and personality, but with different functions and roles. They are eternally distinct, but also eternally unified. I don't believe it's theologically possible for any person of the Trinity to be removed from the others even for a moment. And in fact, verse 24 of this same chapter says, "...he has not hidden his face from him. He didn't turn his face away."
It's still a great song, though, isn't it? I'd just like to change that one line. People tend to think that God can't look on sin, which is an idea that comes from Habakkuk 1.3, but it's taken out of context. God sees all sin. And if you recall from when we read the book of Job, God has conversations with Satan. The reason I think this is important to point out is because if we believe in a God who can't look at sin, who turns away from himself—
That will often translate to the human heart as shame that drives us from God when we sin, instead of encouraging us to run to God when we sin. If you disagree with my thoughts on what Jesus was trying to communicate, no harm, no foul. In fact, you're probably in the majority and we're still friends. I just try to point out this angle anytime I encounter this conversation in case it's a new idea for somebody out there. We'll link to a few things in the show notes that may be helpful if you want to look into this further.
Psalm 24 is interesting because the first half is almost verbatim what we read in Psalm 15. But the back half is a nod to the time when the ark was brought to Jerusalem. David personifies the gates of the city and tells them to look up and take note because the presence of God is approaching the city. One verse I love in this chapter is verse 5, which says that righteousness is a gift we receive from God, not an offering we make to God.
It's just another humbling, freeing reminder that I don't clean myself up to make myself presentable to Him. He initiates a relationship with me, then He makes me righteous, not me. Psalm 47 probably also celebrates the ark's move to Jerusalem, which was obviously a pretty big deal. It also points to God as the king of all the earth, not just Israel. So even the defeat of their enemies still isn't as great as the thought of having their enemies join them.
That's the only way to be more than a conqueror, to have your enemies join your side. Psalm 68 reiterates a lot of these same themes because it was also written about the ark's journey to Jerusalem. But this psalm traces the whole journey, starting with the desert. It shows God's victory over their enemies, but again, it also ends by pointing to God as the king over all kingdoms in verse 32.
In all of these psalms, what was your God shot? Mine was in Psalm 23, which I love. In this psalm, God keeps reiterating stillness and lack of motion. He says, lie down, and not in front of Netflix, but by still waters. I always find it interesting that he has to make us lie down.
Sometimes I despise the stillness and the waiting, but here it shows me that God invites me into the calm and the quiet. This is where He can get my attention long enough to restore my soul and comfort me, like the psalm says. And isn't that one of the things we're all here for anyway? I hope so, because that's what comes in the presence of the Lord. Restoration and comfort and joy. He's where the joy is. ♪
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