Seeing Jesus in the Psalms

  Psalm 137 Wept, captors, tormentors, “Destroy it!”, “Level it to the ground!” pays you back,  takes your babies and smashes them against the rocks! I pulled out some of the emotionally charged and deeply disturbing words from Psalm 137. Somehow the slaughtering of evil kings is easier to handle than the expression of pain, remorse and justice-seeking from today’s Psalm 137. The Bible is good because it is real, gritty, true to life, holds nothing back, honest about emotions and actions. When we look at the Bible, we are looking in the mirror, we are looking at ourselves, we are looking at our society. Jesus is no stranger to being the victim of children smashed on the rocks. Crucified! The son of God was crucified and Jesus’ own people yelled “Crucify him”. And Jesus too was in exile (in Egypt) because of a baby-smashing, slashing killing spree of a Jewish king’s cruel, fear-driven power: 16 Herod was furious when he realized that the wise men had outwitted him. He sent sold...

  Psalm 71 “You have allowed me to suffer much hardship, but you will restore me to life again and lift me up from the depths of the earth.” Psalm 71:20 NLT  Each time I read the Psalms I am asking myself which of these words could have come from the mouth of Jesus during His life on earth? And apart from the verse above which I will discuss in a bit, I want to say that I need to revise my thoughts about Jesus. I in no way want to imagine that David was a better worshipper than Jesus. David was not more full of praise, not more excited to talk about God and not more full of joy about God’s salvation.  How could anyone moreso than Jesus truthfully utter these words found in verses 5-6? “O Lord, you alone are my hope. I’ve trusted you, O Lord, from childhood. Yes, you have been with me from birth; from my mother’s womb you have cared for me. No wonder I am always praising you!” Psalm 71:5-6 And could David be more an example than Jesus?  ”My life is an example to man...