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Interpreting the Categories · Reformed Thinking

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Welcome back to reformed thinking.
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Good to be here. Yeah, it is.
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It's really good to have you with us again.
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For you, the listener, We are thrilled you tuned in for
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another deep dive. Today we are cracking open a
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book that, well, it's it's on almost every night stand in the
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world, doesn't it? Pretty much.
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But somehow it remains one of the most confusing parts of the
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Bible to actually read from start to finish.
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We are talking about the Psalms. The song Book of the Church.
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Right. And for those of us standing in
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the Protestant Reformed tradition, it is even more than
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that. Oh, absolutely.
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We hold to the Westminster Confession, which treats
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Scripture not just, as, you know, nice advice or good
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literature. It's the regulated means of
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worship. So when we open the Psalms, we
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are looking at the very words God gave his people to speak
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back to Him. That is a heavy concept when you
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really stop to think about. It it really is.
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We aren't just reading about God, we are being given a script
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for how to talk to Him. But I have to be honest with
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you, and I suspect I'm not alone in this.
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Sometimes that script feels completely scattered.
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Scattered is a good word for. It I mean you read 1 Psalm and
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it is all about clapping trees and hills skipping like Rams and
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then you turn the page and the guy is screaming about his
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enemies and feeling totally abandoned.
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Yeah, the tone shifts are drastic.
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It can be really hard to know what gear to be in.
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Mentally, this feels random. That is a very, very common
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frustration. If you try to read the Psalter
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straight through like you would read Romans or even Genesis, you
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are going to get whiplash. Total whiplash.
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Feels like a shuffled deck of cards.
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But the key to making sense of it, and what Mark Futado argues
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in the book we're looking at today, interpreting the Psalms,
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is that it is not random at all. The chaos is an illusion.
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Right. So the source material for this
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deep dive is Interpreting the Psalms, an exegetical Handbook.
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And the mission here is to understand these literary
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categories because Futado argues that if we don't know what kind
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of thing we are reading, we're going to misinterpret it.
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Context is everything. If you don't know the genre, you
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don't know the rules. And if you don't know the rules,
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you can't play the game. Or in this case, you can't
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worship with understanding. Let's start right there with
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that big idea genre. Futado opens with a music
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analogy that I thought was really helpful for setting the
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stage. He does.
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He points out that even people with 0 musical training have an
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instinctive understanding of genre.
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Right. If you turn on the radio and you
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hear a fiddle, an acoustic guitar, and a guy singing with a
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twang about his pickup truck and his dog, you know immediately
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what you're listening to. You're listening to country
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music. Correct.
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And because you know it is country, you have a set of
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expectations built in. You expect themes about rural
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life, maybe some patriotism, maybe some heartbreak.
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You are ready for that. But if you flip the station and
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hear a heavy electronic beat, a synthesizer and rapid fire
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rhyming, your brain shifts gears instantly.
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Yeah, I'm not expecting a ballad about a tractor at that point.
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I know the rules have changed. We do this effortlessly with
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music and we do it with movies too.
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You don't watch a sci-fi movie and complain that the physics
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aren't realistic. Because it's sci-fi.
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Right, but you might complain about historical inaccuracies in
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a World War 2 drama. The category dictates how we
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interpret the truth claims being made, Futado argues.
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We have to apply this exact same instinct to Scripture.
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This brings up a specific example from the book that I
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really want to dig into. I think it trips people up a
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lot. It is the difference between the
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talking tree and the talking donkey.
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This is a classic issue in biblical interpretation.
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It centers on distinguishing between different types of
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literature within the Bible itself.
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OK. Lay it out first.
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So let's look at Judges Chapter 9.
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In that passage, Jotham tells a story where the trees go out to
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anoint a king over themselves. They talk to the olive tree
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saying come reign over us. The olive tree answers back.
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Then they ask the fig tree and the vine.
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They are having a literal political debate.
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Now when we read that in Sunday school, nobody stops and says,
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wait a minute, trees don't have vocal cords.
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This is scientifically impossible.
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No, because we recognize the genre.
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It is a fable. Jotham is using a literary
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device to make a moral point about leadership and lethargy.
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We interpret the truth of the passage as the moral lesson, not
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as a claim that botany involves political science.
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OK, but then you flip over to Numbers chapter 22, right?
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You have Balaam the prophet riding his donkey.
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The Angel of the Lord stands in the way.
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The donkey stops, Balaam hits the donkey and the donkey opens
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his mouth and speaks. And as Orthodox Christians, we
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read that and say that happened. But let me play devil's advocate
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here for a second. Isn't that just convenient?
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Isn't genre just a fancy way for us to pick and choose what we
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want to be real? Why is the tree a fable?
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And the donkey history. That is the crucial question.
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But it isn't about picking and choosing based on what we like.
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It is about reading the text as it presents itself.
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The text in Judges 9 explicitly frames the story as a parable
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being told by a character. The text in Numbers 22 is
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written as historical narrative. It presents the talking donkey
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not as a natural occurrence, donkeys don't naturally talk,
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but as a miracle. It is a divine intervention in
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space and time. So identifying the category
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actually protects the miracle. Precisely.
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If you confuse the categories, you fall into two ditches.
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Either you become a fundamentalist who insist that
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trees literally hold elections, which misses the point of the
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fable entirely, or you become a theological liberal who says,
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well trees talking is a metaphor, so the donkey talking
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must be a metaphor, and the direction is probably just a
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metaphor to. Man, that is a slippery slope.
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It is a massive slope. Identifying the category
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historical narrative versus fable tells us how to interpret
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the reality of the text. The donkey happened.
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The trees are a story. Both conveyed truth, but in very
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different ways. Curtato uses another
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illustration about context that is a bit more down to earth.
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The bad board. I love this one.
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It shows how the exact same words can mean opposite things
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depending on where you were standing.
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Walk us through it. Imagine you are walking through
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a lumber yard. You see a Carpenter looking at a
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piece of pine. He's got a giant knot in the
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middle. It's warped and it's cracked.
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He shakes his head and says that is a bad board.
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He means it is garbage. It is totally useless for
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construction. Right.
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Bad means negative. Now imagine you are standing on
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a beach in California. You see a surfer holding a brand
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new custom shaped surfboard. He points to it and says, man,
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that is a bad board. In that context, bad means
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excellent. It's the best board on the
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beach. Same words, opposite meaning.
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The context dictates the definition.
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I had a moment like this recently with a text message.
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Actually, my wife texted me the word fine, just that one word.
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Uh Oh yeah. Now if I ask how does pizza
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sound and she says fine, that's a yes, right?
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But if I ask are you mad at me? And she types fine.
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I might be in trouble. Context is survival.
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It really is, and in Scripture you cannot pull a verse out of a
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Psalm and interpret it properly without knowing the context, and
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that means literary, historical, and categorical context.
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Let's apply this to a specific Psalm.
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Then the book walks us through Psalm 47.
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How did these layers of context work there?
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Well, first you have the literary context.
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What surrounds it? Psalm 47 is sandwiched right
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between Psalm 46 and Psalm 48. OK, in 46 you have the famous
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line, the nation's rage, the kingdom's totter.
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It is a scene of global chaos. Then in Psalm 48, the city of
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God is established and the kings of the earth are fleeing.
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So Psalm 47 is the bridge between those two.
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It is the climax in Psalm 47. The nations aren't raging
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anymore, they are being subdued. It says he subdued peoples under
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us and nations under our feet. So literally, it is part of a
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sequence about God's victory over hostile powers.
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And what about the historical context?
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The language connects us back to the conquest of Canaan.
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Subduing nations under our feet is the language of Joshua
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chapter 10. It points Israel back to when
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God fought for them to give them the land.
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But it doesn't just stay in the past.
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No, because then there is the theological context.
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It isn't just looking back at Joshua, it is looking forward to
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the reign of God over the whole earth.
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And that leads us to the category itself.
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Futado calls Psalm 47-A hymn, specifically a kingship hymn.
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Knowing that category saves us from misreading the mood.
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We aren't supposed to read Psalm 47 with a somber, introspective
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tone. It is a coronation party.
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It's a celebration. It is loud.
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It says clap your hands. All peoples shout to God with
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loud songs of joy. If you read that like a funeral
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dirge, you are missing the point.
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The category tells you to bring the trumpet.
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OK, let's jump into these specific categories.
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Futado lists several, and the first one is the hymn.
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He calls these songs of orientation.
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That term orientation comes from Walter Brueggeman.
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He's a famous Old Testament scholar.
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It describes a season of life where things make sense.
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Like everything is working out. Yeah, the world is working the
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way the manual says it should. God is on his throne, the
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creation is fruitful, the family is healthy.
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You are oriented. You know where North is.
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I think when most people think of the Psalms, this is what they
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think of. Praise the Lord.
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But what are the specific themes of a hymn?
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What drives them? The two big engines that drive a
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hymn are creation and redemption.
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When life is orderly, we look around at the physical world,
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like in Psalm 104, and we see God's wisdom.
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Give me an example from that Psalm.
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It says things like you make springs gush forth in the
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valleys, the trees of the Lord are watered abundantly.
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We see the structure of the cosmos and it makes us feel
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secure. And the other engine is
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redemption. Yes, that is looking back at
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history. Psalm 105 is a classic example
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of this. It recounts the story of Israel,
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Abraham, Joseph, Moses, the plagues, the Exodus.
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Just laying out the timeline. Right.
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It is the community looking back and saying we are safe today
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because God has saved us in the past.
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For us as Christians, this translates directly to the
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Gospel. We are oriented because of the
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cross, the resurrection and Pentecost.
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There is a very specific structure to a hymn, isn't
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there? It isn't just a stream of
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consciousness or a random list of phrases.
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No, it is highly structured logic.
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It typically has three parts. 1st is the call to praise.
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Like an invitation. Exactly.
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I mean spot on. The psalmist isn't just praising
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in isolation, he is inviting others to join him.
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It might be an invitation to himself.
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Bless the Lord, O my soul, or to the congregation, praise the
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Lord, O Jerusalem. Or even bigger than that.
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Oh, much bigger in the biggest hymns.
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It is a call to the whole universe.
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Psalm 148 calls on the sun, moon, stars, sea monsters, fire
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and hail to praise Him. I love that image.
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It's like the conductor tapping the baton and waiting for the
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sea monsters to come in on the downbeat.
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It is majestic. But then comes the second part,
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and this is the most critical part for our theology.
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It's the cause for praise. In Hebrew, this is often
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introduced by the word key, which simply means for or
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because. Why is that little word so
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significant? Because it protects us from
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empty emotionalism. Biblical praise is not just
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working yourself up into a frenzy.
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We don't just say praise God, praise God, praise God over and
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over like a mantra. We need a reason.
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Yes, we say, praise the Lord because he is good.
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Praise Him because his mercy endures forever.
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We articulate the reason we are anchoring our emotion in a solid
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fact about God's character or His action.
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It makes the praise confessional.
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That's the perfect word for it. Praise is a theological
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assertion. When you stand in church and
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sing a hymn, you are confessing a creed.
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You are telling your neighbor and reminding yourself of who?
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God actually. Is and then the structure wraps
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up. Yes, with the conclusion, which
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is usually a renewed call to praise to seal the deal.
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So hymns are for when life is good orientation.
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But, and here's the rub, life isn't always good.
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In fact, sometimes life falls apart completely.
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It certainly does. And that brings us to the next
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category, which I think is essential for mental and
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spiritual health, laments Futado.
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Calls these songs of disorientation.
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If hymns are orientation, laments are the crash.
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This is the dark night of the soul.
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The car is broken down, the diagnosis is bad, the marriage
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is failing, or you just feel utterly distant from God.
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I really appreciate that the Reformed tradition and honestly
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the Bible itself doesn't shy away from this.
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I I grew up in circles where you always had to have a victorious
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face on. If you were sad, it meant you
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didn't have enough faith. That is a cruel theology.
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It is simply not biblical. The Bible includes laments
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because the Bible is honest. It knows we live in a fallen
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world east of Eden. It acknowledges the pain.
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The Lament Psalms give us a divinely inspired vocabulary for
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suffering. They give us permission to cry.
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But, and this is the distinctively Reformed insight
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here, they teach us to bring those raw emotions to God within
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the bounds of the covenant relationship.
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That distinction is huge. We aren't just complaining into
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the void. Right.
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There is a difference between grumbling like the Israelites
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did in the wilderness, which was rebellion, and lamenting.
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What's the difference in your mind?
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Grumbling is talking about God behind his back.
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Lamenting is talking to God's face.
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It is an act of faith to scream at God because it means you
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believe He is there and He's the only one who can actually do
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something about your pain. Let's break down the structure
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of a lament because it helps us learn how to pray when we are
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hurting. It starts with the plea.
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Yes, and notice the address here in laments.
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The psalmist almost always cries out to Yahweh the Lord.
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He doesn't usually just say Elohim, which translates to God.
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Why does that matter? Elohim is the generic title for
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the Creator, the big God out there.
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Yahweh is the personal covenant name revealed to Moses.
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It recalls the promise I will be your God and you will be my
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people. When you are suffering, you
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don't just need a transcendent deity, you need the God who
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promised to stick with you. And then comes the complaint.
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This part always strikes me just asking why?
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Is it really OK to ask God why? It is absolutely OK.
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Jesus did it. My God, my God, why have you
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forsaken me? The complaint usually focuses on
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three sources of trouble. First, the enemy, someone is
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attacking me. Second, the self I am sick or I
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have sinned. 3rd and this is the hardest one.
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God you have hid in your face. You put me here that connects to
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the. Sovereignty of God, doesn't it?
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A Calvinist laments differently because we believe God is
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actually in control of the trial.
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That is the. Tension.
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If you believe God is sovereign, then your suffering isn't an
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accident. He signed off on it.
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That makes. It harder, it makes the pain.
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Harder in one sense because you have to wrestle with him
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directly, but it makes it bearable in another sense
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because it means your suffering isn't meaningless.
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It has a purpose, even if you can't see it from where you are
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standing the structure then. Moves from complaint to
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confession because sometimes we are suffering because we messed
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up in Psalm 30. 8 David says My wounds fester because of my
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sinful folly. He owns it, he confesses.
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But interestingly, sometimes the confession is a confession of
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innocence. Innocence.
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That sounds arrogant, coming to God and saying Lord, I'm a good
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person. It sounds that.
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Way to modern years, sure, but in the covenant context it means
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Lord. I didn't do the specific thing
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I'm being accused of right now. Oh, I see.
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In Psalm 20. 6 The psalmist says, Vindicate me, O Lord, for
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I have walked in my integrity. If you are being slandered at
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work or falsely accused of a crime, you can appeal to God's
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justice. You can say, Lord, you know the
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truth. Clear my name and.
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Finally, the petition. Do something, feel me?
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Save me, deliver me. It is highly specific, but then
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something amazing happens in almost every lament.
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We call it the shift to praise. It's like the sun.
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Breaking through the clouds. You're reading along.
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It is all doom and gloom and then suddenly Wham.
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But I trust in your unfailing love.
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It is a jarring. Transition sometimes.
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Psalm 13 is a perfect example of this.
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How long, O Lord, will you forget me forever?
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He does that four times and suddenly verse 5.
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But I've trusted in your steadfast love.
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My heart shall rejoice in your salvation.
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What changed? The situation didn't change in
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the white space between verse 4 and verse 5.
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No the. Circumstances are likely exactly
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the same, but the perspective has shifted.
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The act of praying, of bringing the complaint to the covenant
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Lord has re anchored the psalmist's heart.
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He remembers who he is talking to.
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He moves from the problem to the person.
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But there. Is 1 exception and we have to
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talk about it because I think it is the most haunting chapter in
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the Bible. Psalm 88.
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Psalm 88. Is the basement of the Psalter.
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It really is. It starts with a plea, it goes
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through a complaint, and it just stays there.
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The final verse in Hebrew is basically My Companions are
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darkness. It ends in the dark.
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No shift. No, but I trust you.
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Just silence. Why is that?
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In the Bible I am so. Glad it is.
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I believe it is there for the believer whose darkness lasts a
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long time. Yeah, sometimes you pray and the
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relief doesn't come by verse 5. Sometimes the depression hangs
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on for years. Psalm 88 shows us that a
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believer can feel utter darkness, can feel like God has
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killed them, and still keep praying because they are.
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Still talking to God? Yeah, exactly.
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The fact that him in the Ezra he's the author wrote this down
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and sent it to the choirmaster means he was still bringing his
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darkness to the Lord. That is a heroic faith.
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That is deeply. Comforting.
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It validates the struggle without demanding a fake smile.
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Now movie. From disorientation we come to
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reorientation. The songs of Thanksgiving, this
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is. The sequel to Lament.
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This is the morning after the dark night.
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We king may endure for a night, but joy comes in the morning.
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You were in the pit, you prayed, the lament God answered, and now
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you are out. How is this different?
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From a hymn, though, because both are praise songs, it's a
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matter. Of scope, a hymn praises God for
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who he is generally Creator, King, Sustainer.
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A Thanksgiving song praises God for a specific deliverance.
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It is a personal testimony, like I was in trouble.
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And he saved me, right I? Was sick with the specific
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illness. I prayed and you healed me and
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the structure. Follows that narrative arc.
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It does. It starts with the intention to
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thank. I will extol you, O Lord.
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Then the meat of the song is recounting the story.
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I was low, the waters were over my head.
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I cried out and he heard me. It tells the plot and finally
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the renewed vow Futado. Mentions the sacrifice of
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Thanksgiving here. This wasn't just the song you
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sang in the shower, it was a BBQ.
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It really was. In the Old Testament Levitical
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system, this was the peace offering or Thanksgiving
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offering. If God delivered you, you would
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go to the temple with an animal, and you would.
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Sacrifice it, yes. But unlike the sin offering,
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which was entirely burned or eaten just by the priests, the
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Thanksgiving offering was shared.
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You would invite your family, your friends, and the poor, and
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you would eat the meat in the presence of God.
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So it's a. Party.
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It is a public. Testimony You were standing
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before the congregation saying look at me, I am proof that God
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answers prayer. Come eat this steak with me and
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celebrate Yahweh. It puts meat on the bones of
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your theology, literally. OK, we have.
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Orientation with the hymns, disorientation with the laments,
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and reorientation with Thanksgiving.
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But there is another category that sits in a weird middle
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ground. Futado calls them Songs of
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confidence. This is.
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The in between state and honestly this is where most of
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us live most of the time. What do you mean by in?
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Between you aren't. In the acute agony of the lament
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anymore, The panic attack is over, but the problem isn't
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actually solved yet. You haven't reached the
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Thanksgiving stage. The cancer diagnosis is there,
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but the remission hasn't come. You are waiting.
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So it's. Trust in the waiting room.
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That is a great. Way to put it the dominant mood
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is trust, not anguish think of Psalm 23 even though I walk
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through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil
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notice he is still in the valley he isn't out yet but he isn't
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screaming he is confident the. Metaphors here are so steady.
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God is refuge rock fortress but the one futado highlights from
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Psalm 131 is the one that really stopped me in my tracks the
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weaned child Psalm 100 and. 31 is short but it is heavy.
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But I have calmed and quieted my soul like a weaned child with
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its mother. We need to understand the
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biology here to get the theology.
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Break it down for. Us AN.
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Unweaned infant. A nursing baby looks at its
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mother as a food source when it is hungry.
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It screams. It is restless.
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It posit her it wants something from her.
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It's a utilitarian. Relationship give me the milk
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right? But a?
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Weaned child, a child who has moved past that stage.
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That child climbs into the mother's lap, not because he is
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hungry, but just to be with her. He rests his head on her
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shoulder because he loves her presence, not just her presence.
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That is a. Staggering picture of spiritual
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maturity that is the goal of the.
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Christian life to get to a place where you can say God, even if
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you don't give me the milk, even if you don't give me the
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blessing I want right now I am content just to be with you.
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It's an act of. Resting.
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Yes, I. Have steeled my soul.
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It takes effort to sit still in the waiting room, but that is
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what confidence looks like. Let's.
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Shift gears to a category that is massive in Old Testament
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theology. The divine kingship songs.
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These are the. Songs that declare Yahweh Malak
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the Lord reigns the outline. Brings up a grammar point here
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that I want you to open the hood on.
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Futado discusses whether Yahweh Malak means the Lord is King or
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the Lord has become king. What's the difference there?
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It is a. Subtle but significant
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distinction. Think of it in sports terms.
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There is a difference between saying the Chiefs are the
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Champions, which is a status, and saying the Chiefs have won,
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which is the moment the whistle blows.
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Oh, I see. The Hebrew phrasing.
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Suggests an event. It is celebrating a fresh
21:58
victory. It is like an enthronement
22:00
ceremony. So it's not just.
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Stating a fact. It's celebrating a coronation.
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But if God is always king, what event are they celebrating?
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They are celebrating. His victory over Chaos.
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This brings us to the ancient Near Eastern context, the Chaos
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camp. What is that?
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In the ancient. World The sea was the ultimate
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symbol of uncontrollable chaos, death and evil.
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It was terrifying to them. The Pagan nations believe the
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sea gods were fighting for control of the universe and the
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songs. Pick up this imagery, they Co
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opt. It and crush it.
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Psalm 93 says the floods have lifted up.
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O Lord, the floods have lifted up their voice.
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Mightier than the thunders of many waters is the Lord on high,
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they are saying. God is bigger than the sea gods.
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It is. Declaring that Yahweh has
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engaged the chaos monsters, the sea, and has put them on a
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leash. He is the king because he
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conquered the chaos, and this isn't.
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Just about water, is it? It's about the nations.
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Exactly. The raging seas are often a
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metaphor for the rebellious Pagan nations.
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So when we sing the Lord reigns, we are declaring that God is the
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suzerain, the great king over all the political powers of the
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earth. There is a heavy.
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Eschatological hope here too, when we hear the Lord reigns, we
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are looking forward absolutely. We pray your Kingdom come.
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These Psalms look forward to the final judgement.
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That's why you have that weird imagery of creation rejoicing,
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the trees of the field clapping their hands, the fields being
23:25
jubilant. Why are the trees?
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Happy about judgement, Usually a judge showing up as a scary
23:29
thing only if. You are guilty if you you are
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the victim if you are the oppressed.
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The arrival of a righteous judge is the best news in the world.
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Creation is groaning under the weight of the curse.
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When the king comes to judge, he is coming to put things right.
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He is coming to fix the broken board that leads nicely.
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Into the Wisdom songs. If the kingship songs are about
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God's rule, wisdom songs seem to be about how we live under that
23:55
rule. Wisdom Songs.
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Are didactic. They are meant to teach.
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They often present 2 paths, the way of the righteous and the way
24:02
of the wicked. Like Psalm?
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One blessed is the man. Psalm 1.
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Is the gateway to the whole Psalter.
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It sets up the binary choice. Blessed is the man who walks not
24:10
in the counsel of the wicked, but his delight is in the law of
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the Lord. The word for blessed there is
24:15
ashrae. It's almost an exclamation.
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Oh, the happiness. So the wisdom.
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Songs give us the formula for the good life, yes.
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They teach us that the happy life is not found in wealth or
24:25
self-reliance, as Psalm 49 warns.
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It is found in fearing the Lord and meditating on His
24:30
instruction. It sounds simple, but let me.
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Push back on that. It sounds too simple.
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When I read Psalm One, or the massive Psalm 119, which is all
24:39
about loving the law, I feel attention, a conviction.
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Right, I don't always. Delight in the law.
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Sometimes I do walk in the counsel of the wicked.
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If Psalm 1 is the standard, I don't qualify as the blessed man
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that is the. Intended crisis of the Wisdom
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Psalms. They present the standard of the
24:55
covenant. They show us what a human life
24:58
lived in perfect harmony with God looks like.
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But if we are honest, we realize we fall short.
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We are not the tree planted by streams of water.
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Sometimes we are the chaff blowing in the wind.
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And that. Failure drives us to look for
25:11
one Who is that man and that? Is the perfect bridge to our
25:15
final and perhaps most crucial segment today.
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This is where we turn the corner from literary analysis to the
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gospel, the Christological lens. This is where it all comes.
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Together, we don't just read the Psalms as ancient Hebrew poetry,
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we read them as Christians. The New Testament commands this
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Colossians. 316 tells us to let the word of Christ dwell on us
25:34
as we sing psalms. Now, Futado argues, and I think
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he is spot on, that word of Christ means two things, words
25:42
spoken about Christ and words spoken by Christ.
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Let's unpack that. Christ is the object of the
25:48
Psalms, but he is also the subject, yes.
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Christ is the Lord of the covenant, so he's the one
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addressed. But he's also the servant of the
25:55
covenant, the ideal Israelite, so he is the one speaking the
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Psalms. Let's walk through the.
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Categories we just learned and see Jesus in them, starting with
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hymns in hymns. We praise the Creator and
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Redeemer. Well the New Testament tells us
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Jesus is the creator. John chapter 1 says through him
26:10
all things were made. So when we sing Psalm 104 about
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the glories of creation, we are singing Him about Jesus.
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He is the one who waters the trees.
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What about laments? This is where the word spoken by
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Christ's concept really hits home for me.
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It is staggering. To think about, think of Psalm
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22. My God, my God, why have you
26:28
forsaken me? We know that verse.
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Why do we know it so well? Because Jesus.
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Screamed it from the cross, yes. Jesus took the words of the
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ultimate lament upon his own lips.
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He is the ultimate sufferer. He entered into the
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disorientation of sin and death. When we read a lament, we aren't
26:45
just hearing David complain about Saul.
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We are hearing the prayers of Jesus.
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He sang the laments for us. He entered the darkness of Psalm
26:54
88 so that we could have the light that changes.
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How I read them completely. I'm not alone in the pit.
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He has been there. What about Thanksgiving?
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Well, look. At the end of Psalm 22, after
27:05
the suffering, the psalmist says, I will declare your name
27:08
to my brothers in the assembly. I will sing your praises.
27:11
Hebrews chapter 2 quotes this and applies it directly to Jesus
27:15
after the resurrection. Exactly.
27:17
This is the risen Christ. He has passed through the valley
27:19
of death. He has been delivered, and now
27:21
he stands as the worship leader of the church, leading the song
27:23
of Thanksgiving. So Jesus.
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Sings the lament on the cross, and He sings the Thanksgiving in
27:28
the resurrection, Yes, and in. Between he lived the songs of
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confidence. Acts chapter 2 tells us that
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Jesus lived out Psalm 16. You will not abandon me to the
27:37
grave. Jesus lived a life of perfect
27:39
trust in the Father, even as he went to the grave on Holy
27:43
Saturday. He is the ultimate Wean child
27:46
who quieted his soul in the Father's will in the Garden of
27:49
Gethsemane. Not my will, but yours be done.
27:53
That is the weaned child speaking, that is.
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Beautiful. And the kingship songs, those
27:58
are. Clearly about him, when Jesus
28:00
calms the storm in Mark chapter 4, He is acting as Yahweh,
28:04
rebuking the mighty waters of chaos and the cross where the
28:08
sign read King of the Jews was his paradoxical enthronement.
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He defeated the ultimate chaos of sin and death.
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He is the king who reigns. And finally.
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Back to the Wisdom songs. We said earlier that we failed
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to be the blessed man of Psalm One, but Jesus did.
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Not fail. This is the good news.
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Jesus is the only man who ever lived who perfectly walked the
28:27
way of the righteous. He never walked in the counsel
28:30
of the wicked. He delighted in the law of the
28:32
Lord perfectly every single second of his life.
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So he is the. Blessed man, he is the.
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Blessed man and because of the covenant of grace, he gives that
28:39
title to us when we sing Psalm one.
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Now we aren't just trying harder to be good so God will like us.
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We are celebrating that Jesus was good for us.
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We are in him so we share in his blessedness.
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He became wisdom for us this. Completely changes the
28:55
experience of reading the Psalter.
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It's not just a collection of random poems.
29:00
It is a map of the spiritual life and at the end of the day
29:03
it's a portrait of Jesus. It creates a.
29:05
Spiritual density that is hard to find anywhere else.
29:08
It prevents us from misinterpreting texts.
29:11
No more confusion about talking trees.
29:13
But more than that, it thickens our worship.
29:15
You're joining in the song that has been sung by God's people
29:18
for millennia and is being sung by Christ himself.
29:21
We have covered a. Mass amount of ground today from
29:24
literary categories to the very throne of Christ.
29:26
It is a study. That pays dividends for a
29:28
lifetime before we go. For you listening, I want to
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leave you with a final thought to chew on.
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We talked about Christ singing the laments.
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If Christ sings the Psalms with us and for us, how does that
29:40
change the way you feel when you are too broken to find the words
29:44
to pray? Perhaps in those moments you
29:46
aren't summoning words up to God, but leaning into the prayer
29:49
that the Son is already offering to the Father on your behalf.
29:53
You can rest in his prayer when you can't form your own.
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That is the hope. Of the Gospel.
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Thanks for listening. To reaffirm thinking we will see
30:00
you next time.