Psalm Themes

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Psalms - Theology of the Psalms

1st theme – Creator & King

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OT II February 2

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All of life is conducted in relation to the

creator

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Idea of a creator doesn’t carry much weight

these days

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Evolution influences our ideas of a creator – we

think of him as an originator and that’s about it

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Post moderns and moderns believe there is no

necessary connection between creation and kingship

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God started things going and then left it to run

by itself

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Purely ceremonial – no authority

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Kingship doesn’t work for us which is not good

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Central concepts in the psalms can be hard to

get our heads around

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God is in total control

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Psalm 8 & 19 Gods glory and creation is

worshipped

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Creator is king – law is perfect

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As creator God is ruler - Psalm 10:16, Psalm 47 – kingship - God is warrior,

Psalm 33: 6 – 17 – creator and king, Psalm 5:7 – his law and how he governs

2nd theme - Redeemer

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God is the redeemer

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Pictured as a rock and fortress – Psalm 18: 1,2

rock term used as being safe - God as fortress and deliverer, refuge for us

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Psalm 66 classic reference for rock – v. 3 – 7 –

God as redeemer – Exodus - assurance from God

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Psalmist expects King to deliver

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God will support needy, downtrodden, correct

injustice by judging the wicked

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Psalm 103 – God is presented as redeemer,

forgiver, healer of diseases, renews us, delivers us

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God is often slow to show deliverance – wonder

if he has abandoned us – we question him and challenge him – he can be slow to

redeem but there is no doubt he is our redeemer

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He puts deliverance off until things go so far –

Psalm 10:1 – praying for God’s presence but experiencing his absence – Psalm 22

– why have you forsaken me? – Psalm 28:1 – be not deaf to me

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Reasons? A

couple of examples include our guilt and/or God is building our faith

3rd theme - Presence

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Presence of God

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Deliverance speaks of presence

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Moses being talked to by God - Moses tells God

we can’t possess the land without Him – he talks God into it Ex. 6:7

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Exodus ends with the tabernacle where God dwells

– laws created – God is there and present with the people

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Psalms celebrate God’s presence with the people

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Psalm 74:2 – God is redeemer – reminder of Mt.

Sinai

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Psalm 99:1 – the Lord reigns – he is the present

King – sits between cherubim and Holy of holies

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Psalms 84:2, 7 – psalmist is sad and lonely when

he can’t go up to Jerusalem where God is – Psalm 42: 1 – 5 – God was more

evident – fighting wars for the people – today his presence is in our hearts

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Zion – city of God – is just that – it is the

holy place where God is

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Psalm 63:2 – it was a real encounter with Yahweh

Psalm 122:1

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This presence was over once they went into exile

in Babylon

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After exile and the remnant returned – temple

rebuilt - there was no spectacular presence of God so they looked forward to

his presence – this anticipated the coming of the Messiah

4th theme - Life of Faith

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There is often frustration in Psalms –

especially in laments – 1/3 of the

Psalms

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Frustration that God is slow to deliver

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Need faith to believe in the midst of trouble

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Psalm 13:1, 2 the psalmist asks God how long?

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Wisdom book of Job, Ecclesiastes - give us some

perspective on this

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Wisdom psalms teach the life of faith

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The lament psalms make up the biggest portion –

psalm 33, psalm 22, are some examples

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Model on how to trust God when things are not

going well

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They allow full expression of feelings of

distress along with that an expression of confidence of God’s deliverance

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If psalms were used in worship services –

preached or sung – they can affirm frustration people have been feeling all

week – it’s ok to feel deep disappointment – makes us more sensitive to what

people are feeling

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In the laments especially, the believer has

opportunity to trust God in the dark – he will answer in his time and way – not

always what we expect or want

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Don’t be afraid to challenge God and tell him

exactly what is going on

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He will hear us and our faith will be vindicated

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He cannot resist the call of the needy

5th theme – covenants of Israel

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Found throughout psalms and provide structure –

they are all there

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Psalm 105:9 and 106 Abrahamic covenant – Mosaic

covenant - psalm 101

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Strongest connection with covenantal

relationship is the Davidic covenant – David’s throne will last forever

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Most of the psalms reflect experience of David

when he was King

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David was chosen to act through God – promised

victory – wrestled with enemies – Psalm 51 asked for forgiveness – David knew

if he sinned there would be consequences

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Statements of innocence from David when he went

through hard times – looking for justice

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David acted for the people – they shift between

we (nation) and I (David)

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After the exile the songs of David became

expressions of hope for the Davidic covenant – a king to rise up and rule

forever

6th Theme – Descriptions of Humanity

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Psalm 8:4, Psalm 144:3 who are we?

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8:4 in light of God’s creation

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144:3 the shortness of our lives in sharp

contrast to God – he is likened to a rock

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Man is not an accident – we are the central

feature of God’s design

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Psalm also say we are corrupted by sin – bible

doesn’t shy away from that

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Cannot develop a theology of humanity based on

Psalms – it only adds to it - presupposition is we are sinful

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Realism of OT spirit would not allow glossing

over sin – this is present in the psalms

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We find out how God works - we experience angst,

trouble, darkness – only remedy is turning to God – he offers forgiveness

readily

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Psalm 73:25 – who have I in heaven but you? Earth has nothing I desire but you

7th theme – Fulfillment of the Psalms

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Prof suggests there is no prophecy in Psalms –

they do not intend to predict future events

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They anticipate certain people and events in the

future but not intentionally

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They are Holy Spirit inspired

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NT quotes psalms directly 96 times - probably

more than 200 allusions to the psalms – many events happened to Jesus as well

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When we look back at the Psalms from the NT

point of view – no direct prophecy of Jesus but he experienced many of the same

things as David

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What are the psalms telling us when this

happens? Matt 21, Luke 5, Luke 7, Luke 9

people asked “who is this man (Jesus)?”

How better for the Holy Spirit to act to repeat the events from the

Psalms – Jesus was the fulfillment of the Davidic covenant – what clearer clues

can be given than a pattern of repeated events – Jesus’ identity is not some

vague thing in the OT – if they knew the psalms they would have known who he

was

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There is fulfillment but whole the OT is too

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Leave prophecy to the prophets – only 15% of

what they spoke was futuristic

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It is not prophecy but fulfillment to reveal

Jesus

Problem - psalm 88 – some people

think it should not be in the bible – very dark

Written by Sons of Korah

(levitical choir) – written for the director of music

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All laments except this one has an uplifting

section

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Evangelical community has censored the voice of

darkness in our lives

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We always seek to go from strength to strength

and victory – perpetual quest for good feelings and gratification – we run from

anything that is dark – want only happiness – get rid of any negative

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Not a realistic picture of the Christian life

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Betrayal of our own experience

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Cross is our hope

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Our reality of the passion and crucifixion

teaches us there is a wild untamed darkness

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We need to embrace the darkness

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Why do we avoid this? It embarrasses and shames us – we hide our

grief and failures – our dominant culture demands it and we want to fit in

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Materialism makes us want to cover it

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We would much rather cry at times – we crave the

touch of someone’s empathy

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Psalms are subversive to our culture – cut deep

into the denial of hurt

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We can live in darkness and talk to God although

he is not in darkness at all – he is light

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Extreme voice of a believer deep in a pit – no

resolution or answer – leaves us lingering in the grave unresolved

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Sometimes life is like that

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Faith doesn’t always resolve life’s issues

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Too much advice is given to us that faith is a

big book of answers – it will always fix things

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Faith sometimes means staying behind in the pit

when it really sucks

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Speaker tells God what is needed and expected

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After initial address in v. 1 there is a lament

and cry

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V. 2, 9 & 13. No holding back – is harsh towards God

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Reality is sometimes we do not get an answer

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We are not given any suggestion that makes it

clear

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Not interested in any theological reason God is

not answering

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Psalm reports what it is like to be in a

relationship with God and he is inexplicably not there – it leads to more

intense speech

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Psalmist is not cunning – doesn’t ask for

deliverance in order to invoke an answer – he is experiencing desperate

frustration and resentment

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V.6 he accuses God v. 7 He blames God and his

wrath v. 8 God has taken away his companions

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This is one who knows grace and is bold before

God

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Final barrage at God v. 14 – 18 two questions in

v. 14 – why do you cast your soul away and why are you hiding your face? V. 15 repeats himself – rest of verses blame

God for the writer’s darkness and loneliness

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Everything seems to deny life and he is so

frustrated and alone – worst is the shunning by friends and loved ones

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We can relate because sometimes life is truly

like that

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Psalms want to speak to all of life

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Not a psalm of a sulking person but one who

doesn’t doubt God – he continues to speak to God – believes and does not turn

away

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Christians have no options but to deal with God

in good and bad

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Comfort that somebody knows me – I am not alone

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We find in this psalm there is faith in the

darkness