Seeing Jesus in the Psalms

  Psalm 116 As I read Psalm 116 today I was repeatedly moved to compassion for Jesus as I read various verses or phrases. Although I can hear David, Moses or some other patriarch saying the words of verse one, for instance, I think of Jesus. No one knew better how to pray, communicate or rest in the presence of the Father more than Jesus, the Son. So in verse 1 I hear Jesus. “I love the LORD because he hears my voice and my prayer for mercy.” Psalms 116:1 NLT (As a side note the ASV uses the phrase, “I love Jehovah” in verse 1) And you may well wonder how I could relate this verse to Jesus of all people? But it is the cry in the coming verse that links it back for me.  “Death wrapped its ropes around me; the terrors of the grave overtook me. I saw only trouble and sorrow.” Psalm 116:3 I find myself coming back to this scene in Mark 14 (below) so often. I care for the pain Jesus is bearing here and the anguish, I see that He understands us, He understands me. “He took Peter, J...

The Lord is my shepherd; I have all that I need. Psalm 23:1 NLT   Psalm 23 Much has been written about Psalm 23 . It is preached regularly at funerals; it is often offered as comfort to those who are suffering. I want to explore an aspect of Psalm 23 that I myself don’t remember preachers or authors explaining. We can easily listen to David saying these words and explain why it fits him in the context of various areas or time periods of his life. And we can naturally discuss Jesus/God being the Shepherd and how God functions in these roles for David or us. But this morning I want to think about Jesus saying these words in His life about His Father. Remember that I spoke in an earlier psalm about the complex nature of the believer being in Christ and Christ being in you as a child of God? Jesus the man, who can do nothing by himself; he can do only what he sees his Father doing ( John 5:19 ) Compare to verse one “The Lord is my shepherd v.1” Jesus the man, who was led by the Spirit...