Psalm 23, 53, 83, 113, 143
Psalm 23 is perhaps the most familiar psalm
in all the psalms. What powerful and comforting words! Because the LORD is in
charge of my life, I have no need that He doesn’t satisfy. Provision for body
and soul. Guidance. Protection. Empowerment for the task at hand. Blessing. His
presence. No wonder this psalm means so much to so many.
There is only one hope, and it doesn’t lie
with the atheists (Ps 53:1). The sad thing is that there are so few people who
really serve the LORD. Many have the appearance of a spiritual life, but
spiritual is not good enough. I love verse four. “Do all these evildoers know
nothing?” It is as if the psalmist is saying, “You have got to be kidding! You
are going to continue to try and deny God’s existence and His authority over your
life? How stupid is that!” Evil people don’t really know the stakes at hand.
They think that if they ignore God they won’t have to pay the consequences for
their wicked ways. The psalmist hopes that the LORD will restore His people and
bring victory.
Psalm 83 is a prayer of petition. The writer
wants the LORD to act, to get involved on his behalf. He wants the LORD to get
involved as He has so many other times in Israel’s history. The word pictures
of God’s judgment that are painted capture the vivid imagination and depth of
emotional involvement of the writer. And all this to the end that the LORD’s
fame would be universally understood, that they would know that He alone is
God.
The universality of the message of the
Scripture is capture in Psalm 113. The whole earth is His domain (v3). All
nations, even the heavens themselves are nothing compared to the LORD. He is
exalted above them all (vv4-6). No one is too lowly or insignificant to garner
the LORD’s attention. Notice verse nine. Even the childless woman, someone at
the bottom of the social ladder of her day, gets the privilege of raising
children. No one gets overlooked.
The Psalmist in Psalm 143 has a picture of
God, an accurate one I might add, that when the LORD turns His back on people,
life is as good as over (v7). They desperately want the LORD’s answer (v8). When
was the last time you desperately wanted or felt you needed the LORD’s answer?
That sense of desperation can be crippling if we try to deal with it absent
from God’s presence. The secret that the Psalmist discovered was to take the
struggle directly into God’s presence. There he could find an answer that could
satisfy.