My poem soon was crushed
Under the tramp of hurried feet
That left chaos in my calendar
And trouble on my street
But like the little lizard
Who hides among the leaves
Finding there a place to rest
And safely rides the breeze
I stopped and I remembered
That God commands the dawn
When I may wake to hope again
His work to carry on
Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart,
and you will find rest for your souls. Matthew 11:29 ESV
"To the choirmaster, of the sons of Korah, according to Alamoth, a song.
God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble." Psalm 46:1 ESV
We don’t know what kind of trouble David faced when he wrote Psalm 46, but it is interesting that instead of trying to figure out his own solution, he decides to write a song. In the first line of his lyrics, he starts to remind himself of who God is and how He always comes through to help.
The intriguing feature of David’s song is that he divides it into three parts, and at the end of each one he writes the word, “Selah”, which can be roughly translated, “Stop and think about that for a moment.” David wants us to remember that when we face dangers and difficulties, instead of panicking, and running away, or running to the wrong place for help, we need to stop and think about God’s faithfulness, power and love. Now, we don’t necessarily need to write ourselves a song like David did to remind ourselves of God’s faithfulness, though that’s not a bad idea. Just begin singing the words of Psalm 46 in your heart. God doesn’t care what melody you use. Then, no matter what happens, remember that we can always trust in Jesus. So stop what you’re doing and think about that!
"My God! My God! Why have you forsaken me?" Psalm 22:1a
Most people would agree that the most comforting Psalm in the Bible is the twenty-third Psalm, “The Lord is my Shepherd, I shall not want. He makes me lie down in green pastures.” Is a verse many of us have memorized. It is stitched on pillows, hung on walls and inscribed on the flyleaf of many a Bible. But before Psalm twenty-three, comes Psalm twenty-two, which begins with the terrible cry, “My God! My God! Why have you forsaken me? The suffering of the psalmist is only second to his lack of understanding of why God could allow this to happen to him, and that cry is the one Jesus spoke while in the agony of death He struggled to breath on the cross. This, of all the things that Jesus said has always been the most puzzling to me. I know how terribly He suffered, and that the pain and agony of His crucifixion was more than I could ever bear. But as God’s Son, how could He ever think that He was abandoned? He knew what He was getting into from the moment of his birth, from the instant He was acclaimed by John the Baptist to be the Lamb of God, who had come to take away the sins of the world. But the sin was so heavy; it was heavier than even He fully understood until in HIs final moments. That is when He cried out with that terrible question, “Why have you…. You my God…forsaken me?” The answer is almost more puzzling than the question: He was abandoned for me and for you. Abandoned on the cross for a guilty thief, a centurion who had given the orders to drive nails through His feet and for disciples who had run away at HIs arrest. Crushed under the heaviness of the sins of the world He cried out, but then we must remember that there is more to the Psalm than its opening line. Those words were also a signpost that pointed to the last words,
"They shall come and declare His righteousness to a people yet unborn. that He has done it."
Psalm 22:31
And then, after the closing of the door on the suffering of Jesus in Psalm twenty-two, the doorway opens for us to the comforts of Psalm Twenty-three. There, our suffering Savior, becomes our Good Shepherd. There, He leads us into green pastures, righteous paths and through even the valley of death to a banqueting table and the Father’s house where we will live forever! I pray that as you consider the depth of the suffering of Jesus for the gift He offers of forgiveness and eternal life that you will spend time with Him today worshipping and surrendering yourself to Him.
This is probably the most important message which I have shared this year. I encourage you to listen to all of it in this morning’s video and that it may bring you hope and comfort, whatever you are going through right now. May God bless and carry you through both now and always.
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