Today, we turn to the Book of Psalms, the “Prayer Book” of the Bible. Many of the Psalms were written by King David. Others were written by priests and Levites who served David. This great king’s influence on the people of Israel, and on Christians the world over is inestimable, because the psalms touch every aspect of our lives. The psalms offer praise and thanksgiving to God. They cry out to God in despair. They question God’s goodness and then reaffirm it. They remind us again and again of God’s steadfast love and faithfulness. As we read through these 150 psalms over the coming weeks, we will be calling on the LORD to meet us in every area of our lives, and we will be praising Him in every area of our lives!
Psalm 1 is brief and calls us to godliness. The psalm compares and contrasts the way of the godly with the way of the wicked. The godly person is like a tree planted beside the waters, having a constant source of health and growth. As we live in relationship with God through Jesus, our lives stay healthy and grow strong. That has always been God’s plan for our lives and as we live it, we bring Him glory and our lives blessing.
Psalm 2 speaks of the reign of the Lord’s “Anointed.” The word anointed in Hebrew is the word from which we get the English word Messiah, so this Psalm can be about any of the Kings of Israel, because each was God’s anointed. It can also be about Jesus “The” Anointed One of the LORD. The point is clear: no one can overcome the LORD’s anointed. He is set in place by the LORD, and whether it is nations raging against Him or any other foe, the LORD’s anointed will prevail. This is most significantly true of Jesus, “The” Anointed One!
Psalm 3 shows us the Psalms are not in a particular order, because it is a Psalm of David, which he wrote (or more likely prayed) to the LORD during the time when his son, Absalom, attempted to overthrow Him. The psalm pleads for the LORD to protect David against his enemy, and to cause his enemy to be defeated. This was a prayer which the LORD answered quickly, as Absalom’s rebellion was over nearly as quickly as it began.
Psalm 4 is another of David’s psalms. In this one he cries out for the LORD to answer Him when he calls. It is also a call for those who cry out to the LORD to have patience and to wait for an answer. David tells us in our anger not to sin, which is a statement we find again in Ephesians 4. Many of David’s words in the Psalms make their way into the prayers and teachings of the New Testament as we would expect. After all, the psalms were much loved by the Israelites, and were memorized as a means of praising and petitioning the LORD in times of joy and need.
As we return to Matthew 25, Jesus tells three parables about the coming Kingdom. The first is the Parable of the Wise and Foolish Virgins. In this parable ten virgins wait for a wedding feast, but the groom is delayed. This delay of the return of the main character, often the master or landowner, but in this case the bridegroom, tells us Jesus will be away for a time before His return. In this case, each of the virgins had a lamp to light the way after dark. Five of them brought extra oil for their lamps, so they would be ready if the bridegroom were delayed, but the other five didn’t. As the ten waited for the bridegroom time passed and each virgin’s lamp became low on oil. The five who were prepared refilled their lamps, but the five who weren’t prepared had to go to get more oil. The bridegroom returned while they were gone. The parable’s obvious point is: Be ready! How often we hear that command from Jesus. We don’t know when Jesus will return, but we know He calls us time and time again to be ready when He does.
The second parable is often called The Parable of the Talents, because it is about three servants who were giving differing amounts of their master’s money to manage while he went away. The amount of money they received was in a measurement called a “talent,” which was a certain weight. The three servants received differing amounts “according to their ability.” One received five talents, the next one two talents, and the third one talent. The parable helps us see we will be held accountable for what the LORD has entrusted to us when He returns and not all held to the same standard. That’s why comparison is such a tool of the devil. If he can get us to waste our time wondering why we don’t have certain gifts, or a certain amount of wealth when others do, or if we become prideful, because we have more than others, then we won’t use our time investing those gifts and wealth in advancing the master’s kingdom. When the master returned, both the servant who received five and the servant who had received two talents were rewarded equally for being equally faithful. They had differing amounts of money entrusted to them, but they both did their best in managing it. Only the third servant was punished, and he was punished because he wasted the opportunity to serve his master. Notice, the third servant didn’t lose his master’s money. He preserved it. But the LORD doesn’t call us to tread water with our lives. He calls us to invest them in advancing His Kingdom with the gifts and resources He entrusts to us.
Finally, Jesus tells us when He returns every person will be separated into one of two groups: the “sheep” or the “goats.” The sheep represent the righteous ones, and the goats represent those who were unrighteous. The interesting point in the parable is both groups will be brought before the LORD and He will tell the one group they were faithful by meeting His needs, and the other group they were unfaithful because they didn’t meet His needs. Both groups will be confused, until Jesus explains that in serving others, particularly the least among us, we serve Jesus, and when we don’t serve others, we don’t serve Jesus. The parable makes it clear again that Jesus expects us to be found serving actively when He returns. The time before Jesus returns is not a time of sitting idly by, or even just sitting and praying, but it is a time for serving those around us in Jesus’ name.