Shield Around Me - Psalm 3

But You are a shield around me, O Lord,

My Glorious One, who lifts up my head.

To the Lord I cry aloud,

and He answers me from His holy hill.

The Question Left Hanging - Psalm 2

Why do the nations rage?

It seems that the Psalmist here, overwhelmed with the state of the world, posses an almost rhetorical question. Why? Everyone, it seems, is against the Lord, His Messiah, and His Mountain. 

It’s a question just as relevant today as it ever was. As we look into the dark abyss of history, or watch the six o’clock news, the same questions rise. Why do people do such wicked things? Explanations and analyses abound for what is going on or how it all happened, but as I see videos of people being beheaded in the Middle East popping up on FB everyday, deeper answers prove allusive.

The Psalmist gives us no answer, leaving the question hanging there for all eternity. But there is hope for us yet. Despite the rage and the plotting, there is One on the throne who is bigger than all of that. There is a Father waiting to give an inheritance to His Son. So I pray come Lord Jesus, come and reign from Zion. Bring your justice to the earth and claim your prize in us.

The Prelude Psalm - a musical response to Psalm 1

Surely God loves the righteous and hates the wicked, but what about me?

In just six short verses, the first Psalm serves to outline the key themes of the book. None is more striking than the vivid contrast painted between the righteous and the wicked. Throughout the book, the Psalmists deal with the way the wicked appear to be succeeding at life. But they come to the conclusion that despite appearances, whatever pleasures the wicked experience are shallow and fleeting, lacking substance- chaff, a chasing after the wind. Surely God does bless the righteous and not the wicked, right? Yet within this black and white, wicked and righteous world, the Psalmists often struggle to position themselves in the narrative. A couple of years ago I sped-read through the Psalms, and this sense of dissonance repeatedly sprung out at me. Surely God loves the righteous and hates the wicked, but what about me? While the Psalmists so often talk of their desire for righteousness, so are they acutely aware of their shortcomings. Sinners just like everyone else, hopelessly in need of God’s mercy.

For me, having grown up as a Christian and memorizing this Psalm from an early age, I find myself automatically identifying with the righteous man. But what actually makes me righteous? Like the Psalmists, I find myself lacking. But in my lack, I find God Himself to be more than enough for me, and I am reminded than ‘the law of the Spirit of Life has set me free from the law of sin and death’ (Rom 8). My response: meditating (deeply and affectionately pondering and murmuring) the law of the Lord (torah, promises and commands, the very revelation of the character of God).

The following is a musical composition that expresses the dissonance between righteousness and wickedness, and finding my place of right standing with God in Christ...

  

NL's Response to Psalms 1

Psalms 1 has a very special place for me. When I was a very young (and very immatured) Christian, I was at a month long bible camp for high school leavers, and every morning we had morning devotion and my favourite devotion spot was in front of my room facing a young tree. One morning, we did a devotion on Psalms 1, and I imagine my own spiritual walk as a very young tree.Since then I have the imagery of a tree/plant whenever I reflect on my own spiritual growth.

Over the last few months, I was going through some emotional turbulant, and sometimes I would reflect on my own growth as a Christian. My thoughts went through questions like, are my roots strong like the proverbial tree planted by streams of waters, am I drinking from the living waters which is the holy word of God? Do I yearn for the sun, which is the presence of God? Do I enjoy spending time with God, or do I hide from God? Do my branches and leaves provide shade and shelter to others? Do I bear the fruit of the Spirit? Am I deciduous, or am I evergreen? Do I stay green when trials comes my way, or will I be barren, or worse would I just wither away.