Seeing Jesus in the Psalms

  Psalm 88 “ He was despised and rejected— a man of sorrows, acquainted with deepest grief.  We turned our backs on him and looked the other way. He was despised, and we did not care.” Isaiah 53:3 The verse above from Isaiah is universally accepted as a messianic verse referring to Jesus the Christ and can be linked to a few gospel passages such as: “He told them, “ My soul is crushed with grief to the point of death . Stay here and keep watch with me.”” Mark 14:34 Two songs came to mind as I read Psalm 88 today. One is a hymn I have know since I was a child and I feel emotional when ever I sing or say the words even today. It deeply expresses the wrongness and yet rightness of the way Jesus suffered: Man of sorrows what a name for the Son of God, who came ruined sinners to reclaim: Hallelujah, what a Savior! If you don’t know this hymn and the story of the writer then I encourage you to enrich your heart and mind with both the music and story of P. P. Bliss. The other song mi...

  Psalm 77 I have heard it said that all sin is insanity. And I think that Asaph illustrates that well here in the jumble of discouraging questions and statements he first poses in Psalm 77 and maybe best in verse 8. “Is his unfailing love gone forever? Have his promises permanently failed?” Psalm 77:8 When we are struggling to trust God, everything becomes upside down. So we say things that don’t make sense. We say something that is unfailing has failed. We say that unfailing love could be gone forever and permanently failed. So which is it? Which is true: the permanent failure of God’s love or the unfailing nature of God’s love? And so are all the fears, concerns and complaints of Asaph in the first 12 verses of Psalm 77. I invite you to find the other blatant inconsistencies of our fears and complaints to God expressed by Asaph in Psalm 77 or in our own thinking and prayers. I’m not a psychologist and I don’t know all the proper terminology for mental health problems, but I have...

May he grant your heart’s desires and make all your plans succeed. Psalm 20:4 NLT   Psalm 20 We can learn a lot about the character of God by observing how others interact with Him. Psalm 20 reveals the expectations of David when he as King represents his people before God. Imagine for a moment that you have arrived at our Christian bookstore, Het Goede Boek in Leuven, and you discover a wealthy businessman in the area has offered to pay for whatever your family wants from the coffee bar that day. And one of your children says they want a deluxe hot chocolate. And the barista replies, “Yes sir we have that and I will make it for you right away, would you like that with a free delicious vegan brownie or super yummy lactose free big chocolate chip cookie? You have learned a lot about what’s on offer from the coffee bar. You have not learned everything we have on the menu but some items have been revealed to you. When they come you can inspect further the very nature of what HGB Leuve...

The heavens proclaim the glory of God. The skies display his craftsmanship. Psalm 19:1 NLT   Psalm 19 God knows your struggle! God’s word reveals, even to you, your thoughts and motives.  MAIN POINT: God’s word offers you a way of rescue from the slavery to your sin. As I said yesterday this Psalm (19) of David was greatly instrumental in protecting my heart and guiding me to become free of the deadly quicksand of sin. Even at a young age I was very aware of my lusts, lies and pride. I hated it. And yet I gave it all the time and attention it desired. My sin owned me and I knew I was a slave. I desperately wanted to be clean. When I read the words in Psalm 19 I knew David understood my situation and I knew too he knew something that could help me. I didn’t understand fully (I am sure I still don’t) but I could tell there was hope. I wanted to be free just like David prayed in verse 13. I knew I was full of hidden sin just like it said in verse 12 and I was acutely aware that I...