Inside Out Living

When I was in seminary, one of my professors challenged us with this question: how can the ancient prayers written in the psalms to God, be God’s Word to us today? The answer, I propose to you, is that the psalms are prophetically the prayers of Jesus, the Messiah Himself. I know this may be a different way of understanding the psalms for you, but I believe that there is sufficient biblical evidence to support this.

So, as you read through the psalms this week, I hope you enjoy some insights into the life of the Messiah by reading through the prayers of the Messiah.

Today's Devotional:

Psalm 16 is a fitting start to our study in the Psalms this week. If you read Peter’s sermon on the day of Pentecost, you will discover that Peter quotes verse 8-11 of this psalm in Acts 2:25-28. Peter then goes on to declare that David was not writing of himself, but rather of the coming Messiah. However, we recognize that the whole psalm is in the first person, so logically we conclude all of it to prophetically be the words of the Messiah Himself.

As I read through the rest of this psalm, I am encouraged by verse three, “The godly people in the land are my true heroes! I take pleasure in them!” Have you ever considered that living a godly life is a source of joy for Jesus?

Not that living a godly life is possible on our own, but rather because of Jesus’ death and resurrection we are then able to live godly lives. No wonder it brings Him joy to see us living a godly life. It is one of the reasons He died. His joy is in seeing our lives reflect the benefit of His sacrifice. May you bring joy to God by living a godly life through the power of Christ who is in you.

“When Adam sinned, sin entered the entire human race. Adam’s sin brought death, so death spread to everyone, for everyone sinned. Yes, people sinned even before the law was given. And though there was no law to break, since it had not yet been given, they all died anyway…” (Romans 5:12-14a).

Absalom’s death was tragic and unnecessary. It deeply impacted his father, David, as is obvious from the narrative. Had either David or Absalom made some different choices, this tragedy could have been avoided.

The reality is that this instance of death and pain is representative of human life and history. Death was not a part of God’s perfect creation. Rather, death was introduced into the human race as a result of Adam’s sin. Death is wrong and this is why we grieve when it happens.

The hope that we have in Christ is because He defeated sin and death through His redemptive work on the cross (Col. 2:13-15).

We have all been there. We are at our lowest moment and someone says or does something to make it even worse. This must have been how David felt as he was fleeing Jerusalem and endured the insult from Shimei. How tempting it must have been to let Abishai kill Shimei. However, David exercises self-control and humility in not retaliating against Shimei. Not only did David exercise restraint at this moment, but he practiced forgiveness when Shimei met him at the Jordan River as David returned to Jerusalem (2 Samuel 19:18b-23).

How do you respond when you are wronged? Jesus forgave those who put him on the cross (Luke 23:34). Stephen forgave those who stoned him (Acts 7:60). Scripture teaches us that there is a connection between receiving forgiveness and extending forgiveness (Luke 6:37; Mark 11:25; Matt. 6:15).

So how do you feel about forgiveness? Are you willing to forgive like David and others did? Would you rather take revenge and even the score? Do you trust in God’s ability to judge rightly and work it out according to His will when you are wronged?