Seeing Jesus in the Psalms

  Psalm 100 - Prank phone calls used to be a thing. Radio stations called random people. Youth called random people with rude or odd questions. And in my twenties I called people in the church and just read Psalm 100 and hung up afterwards. I know it is strange. You’ll have to trust me, it was a different time. I used Psalm 100 for a few reasons: it was short, it had a certain “ring” to it, in that the reference and the words of the Psalm seemed “punchy”. It was like a random drive by declaration of blessing and kindness. Oh well, those days are long gone but Psalm 100 has persisted. Since Jesus calls Himself the good shepherd in John 10 readers of the Bible have had no problem seeing Jesus in Psalm 23. Here He is again. And Psalm 100 tells us more about this Shepherd King. Make some noise because Jesus is the shepherd King of all mankind (all creation) v1 All the earth, everyone is called upon to celebrate the Lord, who we come to find out is a Shepherd King.  Shouts, gl...

  Psalm 63 MAIN POINT: God rules through His powerful, benevolent presence by establishing His kingdom of security and provision. If you are following my adventure through the Psalms then you probably have realised with me that the more traditional devotional psalm of quiet meditation, peaceful contemplation or restful jubilation are so far the exception and quite rare. Most of the psalms until now with a few notable exceptions have been desperate cries for help, vengeance and justice. And to be honest I think we need to correct our expectations a lot and recognise that life is pain, warfare and a struggle. And if we are determined to live for God, then we'll face roadblocks from our own selfish soul that doesn’t want to relinquish power, obstacles from friends and family who want to occupy the place in your heart where God must live and the ever present forces of darkness who are grasping to kill, steal and destroy everything of God’s that is good. That is probably why Psalm 63 is...