Psalm 3

The context

This Psalm begins with a note of context. ‘A Psalm of David, when he fled from Absalom his son.’ Almost as an accessory to the Absalom story, David wrote this prayer to the Lord while under an incredible attack on his kingship in the land of Israel. There is far too deep a plot to outline here, but the story on David’s flee from his son Absalom’s conspiracy to overthrow David’s rule (~ 2 Samuel 13-19) is well worth the read and gives us a far greater perspective on Psalm 3. The full story does an amazing job of outlining the details of David’s abdication as a father, the rape of his daughter Tamar at the hands of her half brother, David’s son Absolom’s fury over the event, and the drama that ensues as David flees Jerusalem.

David’s trust amidst adversity

And that’s where David is as he writes this prayer. A nation of millions has turned against him (v.1), and small group from his court have come to protect and support him during this time. Despite his fear, conviction, and shame, David unwaveringly trusts in God. Even as he’s leaving town people are throwing rocks and dirt, cursing him (saying ‘there is no salvation for [him] in God’ (v.2), but David knows that God holds the cards and will deal what he will (2 Samuel 16:5-14). David has a peace in God’s sovereignty. He cries out to the Lord, and freeing him of his anxieties, the Lord allows David to rest in comfort (v.4-7). (more…)

Psalm 2

Verses 10-12 A final word of warning with a promise of blessing

Psalm 2 alone establishes that the psalms aren’t the domesticated Ned Flanders niceties that so many of us grew up with in Sunday school. To recap psalm 2, we’ve learned that:

• Jesus is always the point of the psalms,
• The Father has established Jesus as the King over the nations
• The human heart is deceitful and proud and fights against Jesus’ preeminence

As a whole, this psalm is a rebuke and warning against Kingdom subordination and a threat to every nation and individual that won’t surrender position and power (which, if we’re honest, is pretty much all of us.) The kings and rulers or the world are warned to “be wise” and to “serve the Lord with fear and rejoice with trembling.” (more…)

Psalm 2

Christ as the head of the kingdom - Verses 7-9

Sadly many will choose not to follow the rule of the Kingdom. And this stiff-necked posture will end in the unbeliever’s destruction as Jesus’ patience will inevitably run out. Verse 9 says that he will “rule them with an iron scepter” and “dash them to pieces like pottery”. But this kind of language doesn’t bode well with our civilized/educated/modern sensibilities.

How could a supposedly all loving God be so…mean?

First of all, we all are given ample opportunity for repentance. In one of the most quoted verses of the bible we’re told that God is compassionate, gracious, slow to anger and abounding in love (Ex 34:6, Num 14:18, Neh 9:17, Jonah 4:2 etc.)

Secondly, to re-articulate what Pastor Mark said in his recent sermon on the kingdom, (more…)

Psalm 2

Read the psalms lazily and it’s easy to feel removed from the original context with all the talk of kings, thrones and the wrath of God. It all seems so…antiquated and harsh.

The context of Psalm 2

Psalm 1 established that there are two types of people in the world. The righteous who are firmly planted near refreshing waters and the wicked who disappear like chaff in the wind. And where Psalm 1 focuses on individuals, psalm 2 gives a wide angled panoramic shot of the nations.

At the time of psalm 2’s writing, the name of the game for near east nations was to wage war and expand territories and Israel was just one puny nation among others to be conquered.

It’s been said that king David composed this psalm after he had taken Jerusalem from the Jebusites, and made it the head of the kingdom (2 Sam 7:9). When the Philistines heard this they warred against David. But David consulted the Lord (2 Sam 7:19) and took the Philistines to task.

So on the one hand the psalm may very well have been written to celebrate Israel’s military victory but more importantly, king David is typified as Jesus by the Apostles as Acts 4:25-27 states. That said, let’s break down the psalm incrementally… (more…)

The last 2 weeks of music at the Ballard campus have been unusual.

Two weeks ago Pastor Mark was preaching on Worship as part of our Doctrine
series. We decided that it would be a good opportunity to emphasize the
larger context of worship by stripping things down musically.  I stripped it
waaaaay down to just me with an acoustic guitar.  We haven’t done something
that sparse in a long time.  It was a very interesting experience.  I
actually really wrestled with having a band or not.  I realized just how
dependent I had become on the experience of having a band. (more…)

You’re Best Life Now? Not necessarily…

I find that there is still a strong desire in my heart to adopt the “bible promise book” mentality I spoke of in my introduction to this series. I want to hold onto the promise that “all that I do will prosper” above all the rest of the prohibitions and cautions of this opening prayer of the Psalms. But the psalmist will not let me. I have access to that blessing only to the extent that I delight in God’s word and keep it close in meditation. The great english preacher Charles Haddon Spurgeon says it well:

“The law of the Lord is the daily bread of the true believer. And yet, in David’s day, how small was the volume of inspiration, for they had scarcely anything save the first five gooks of Moses! How much more, then, should we prize the whole written Word which is our privilege to have in all our houses! But, alas, what ill-treatment is given to this angel from heaven! …How few among us can lay claim to the benediction (blessing) of the text! Perhaps some of you can claim a sort of negative purity, because you do not walk in the way of the ungodly; but let me ask you - Is your delight in the law of God? Do you study God’s Word? Do you make it the man of your right hand - your best companion and hourly guide? If not, this blessing does not belong to you.” from the Treasury of David - Psalm 1. (more…)

Most good books have a preface or introduction of one sort or another. The first book of the Lord of the Rings trilogy begins with a chapter entitled, “Concerning Hobbits”. Star Wars always begins with, “A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away…” The Bible begins with Genesis, the book of beginnings, which starts, “In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.” These prefatory statements are essential as they give a foundation for all that follows them. Without them we would not know that hobbits are small agrarian creatures with hairy feet, we might think Luke Skywalker is from Iowa rather than Tatooine and we would not know that God is eternal and the source of all life.

The first Psalm gives context to the whole book…

Psalm 1 (and many commentators believe Ps.2 as well) serves this same purpose as the preface to the book of Psalms. It gives a foundation on which the rest of the book comes to rest. The Psalm is basically divided up into three parts: the qualification (v.1-2), the blessing (v.3) and the curse (v.4-6).

The challenge of Psalm 1…

The psalm begins with a challenge: do not take the counsel of the wicked, be counted with sinners or join in with those who scoff (v1). Rather we must delight ourselves in God’s law, the whole of scripture in our case, and meditate on it day and night (v2). This is a challenge to a very high standard and is the qualification for the blessing that follows. If, and only if, the word of God becomes out delight, we will be blessed. We will be like a fruitful tree, well watered and nourished, we will not wither and all we do will prosper (v3).

However, we we fail to delight in the scripture and meditate on it both day and night, the opposite will be true. We will wither and die and the wind will blow us away (v4). God knows our hearts. We will not stand as righteous in the judgement and all our ways will perish (v5-6).

More coming soon…

When we look to the Psalms first and foremost to console and validate ourselves, we selfishly put ourself at the center of the purpose of scripture. Instead we must first ask what is the Psalmist praying and, most of all, what does it tell us about Jesus. In his excellent little book “The Prayerbook of the Bible” Dietrich Bonhoeffer says:

“If we want to read and to pray the prayers of the Bible, and especially the Psalms, we must not, therefore, first ask what they have to do with us, but what they have to do with Jesus Christ… Thus it does not matter whether the Psalms express exactly what we feel in our heart at the moment we pray. Perhaps it is precisely the case that we must pray against our own heart in order to pray rightly. It is not just that for which we ourselves want to pray that is important, but that for which God wants us to pray.”

In Christ the Psalms take on a whole new meaning. Jesus is truth incarnate (Jn 14:6) and as such there is no truth apart from Him. We are called to view all of scripture, both old and new testament, as by Him, through Him and for Him (Col 1:16). Martin Luther even went as far as to say:

“Every prophecy and every prophet must be understood as referring to Chris the Lord, except where it is clear from plain words that someone else is spoken of. For thus He Himself says: ‘Search the scriptures, … and it is they that bear witness to Me’ (John 5:39)…”

Jesus speaks directly to this when, after his resurrection, He taught the disciples that the Law of Moses, the Prophets and the Psalms all taught about Him (Luke 24:44).

However, Jesus not only inspired the Psalms to be written, he also identified with them in his humanity. Jesus sang the songs of lament and abandonment more deeply than any other human being ever will as he bore the wrath of God and the sin of the world in our place on the cross. And, rising victorious over Satan, sin and death, he proclaims the Psalms of praise inviting us to do the same. Jesus lived the full range of human experience and he did it to the ceaseless glory of His Father. He is the perfect worshipper and the fulfillment of all the Psalms.

So, when we come to the Psalms, there are always three narratives at work: that of the Psalmist, that of Jesus and then our own story. We must ask what is the Psalmist praying, then what is Jesus praying and, only then, what should we pray in response. I invite you to dig in deeply to this book of praises for that is what it is; the word Psalms is literally translated “praises”.

I invite you to dig in to the heart and mind of the Psalmist. I invite you to wrestle with how Jesus experiences the same things to the continuous glory of His Father. And I invite you to be transformed as your hearts are unified with His. Only then do we begin to understand the message of the Psalms.

Growing up as a total church kid I remember having a “bible promise book”. It was a small, hardback book filled with various situations and bible verses to address each one. If you were depressed it took you to something like Psalm 10 which begins, “Why, O Lord, do you stand far off?” If you were struck by the beauty of creation it would cite Psalm 19, “The heavens declare the glory of God…” If you found yourself impressed by the music of Arcade Fire go to Psalm 150, “Praise the Lord… with… trumpet… lute… harp.. tambourine… strings… pipes… cymbals!”

I think that many of us approach the book of Psalms in a very similar way. In many ways we use the book as a sort of “Chicken Soup for the Christian Soul” as we look for a Psalm to comfort or validate what we are feeling at any point in time. (more…)

So the MP3 / song sheet page is finally done. Many thanks to our good buddy Brian Ward for helping with the template and for providing a shoulder to cry on when things went terribly wrong with the formatting as the page was being built. Gotta love WordPress!  Anyway, look to your right just under the Doxologist radio thingy you’ll see a page titled…ta-da…”Song Repository”. A one stop shop for all your Mars Hill Music needs. This is a work in progress so if anyone comes across dead links or screw ups leave a comment and we’ll do our best to whip this thing into shape. Enjoy!