Tune in to the voice of Wisdom at Proverbial Thought!
I was sitting in my preaching class this past week, and the conversation started tracking a certain way. It got me to thinking about something.
I love that song!
Have you had conversations about some of your favorite songs? I am sure you have.
Perhaps sometimes you start trying to sing a song but you cannot remember either the tune, the words, or both. You desperately want someone to tell you the name of that song!
How would you feel if someone simply told you the track number of that song? Would you find that helpful?
Usually, we do not refer to songs by their number (with exceptions for music like “Piano Concerto Number Five” or “No. 9” … extra points if you can give me names to go with those!) Occasionally we may know when someone says “Oh, that was track four of that album.”
Typically, the response we get (and want) is the title of the song. We may even find the lyrics rushing to our mind at the mention of the title.
We are often okay with the recitation of the first line of the song or the chorus.
My God, My God
The funny thing is, we have become so accustomed to labeling things in the Bible by number that is almost all we know anything by anymore.
Perhaps if we read the Bible as much as we really should, we would recognize references in the New Testament to passages in the Old Testament.
For example, when Jesus was hanging on the cross, it would have been much easier on all of us who were not raised Jewish if He had said “Go look up Psalm 22.”
Instead, He did what many of us would do when we are in some situation: He quoted lyrics.
Think about: how many times have you been doing something and song lyrics popped into your head that seemed to fit the situation?
Now imagine you are the Son of God, and you want people to understand something about you?
When Jesus said, “My God, My God, why have your forsaken me?” He was not suggesting that the Father had abandoned the Son. He was saying, “Hurry, someone read Psalm 22!”
Read it:
1 My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?
Why are you so far from saving me,
so far from my cries of anguish?
2 My God, I cry out by day, but you do not answer,
by night, but I find no rest.
3 Yet you are enthroned as the Holy One;
you are the one Israel praises.
4 In you our ancestors put their trust;
they trusted and you delivered them.
5 To you they cried out and were saved;
in you they trusted and were not put to shame.
6 But I am a worm and not a man,
scorned by everyone, despised by the people.
7 All who see me mock me;
they hurl insults, shaking their heads.
8 “He trusts in the Lord,” they say,
“let the Lord rescue him. Let him deliver him,
since he delights in him.”
9 Yet you brought me out of the womb;
you made me trust in you, even at my mother’s breast.
10 From birth I was cast on you;
from my mother’s womb you have been my God.
11 Do not be far from me,
for trouble is near
and there is no one to help.
12 Many bulls surround me;
strong bulls of Bashan encircle me.
13 Roaring lions that tear their prey
open their mouths wide against me.
14 I am poured out like water,
and all my bones are out of joint. My heart has turned to wax;
it has melted within me.
15 My mouth is dried up like a potsherd,
and my tongue sticks to the roof of my mouth;
you lay me in the dust of death.
16 Dogs surround me,
a pack of villains encircles me;
they pierce my hands and my feet.
17 All my bones are on display;
people stare and gloat over me.
18 They divide my clothes among them
and cast lots for my garment.
19 But you, Lord, do not be far from me.
You are my strength; come quickly to help me.
20 Deliver me from the sword,
my precious life from the power of the dogs.
21 Rescue me from the mouth of the lions;
save me from the horns of the wild oxen.
22 I will declare your name to my people;
in the assembly I will praise you.
23 You who fear the Lord, praise him!
All you descendants of Jacob, honor him!
Revere him, all you descendants of Israel!
24 For he has not despised or scorned
the suffering of the afflicted one;
he has not hidden his face from him
but has listened to his cry for help.
25 From you comes the theme of my praise in the great assembly;
before those who fear you I will fulfill my vows.
26 The poor will eat and be satisfied;
those who seek the Lord will praise him—
may your hearts live forever!
27 All the ends of the earth
will remember and turn to the Lord,
and all the families of the nations
will bow down before him,
28 for dominion belongs to the Lord
and he rules over the nations.
29 All the rich of the earth will feast and worship;
all who go down to the dust will kneel before him—
those who cannot keep themselves alive.
30 Posterity will serve him;
future generations will be told about the Lord.
31 They will proclaim his righteousness,
declaring to a people yet unborn:
He has done it!
Did you notice that all of the bolded sections describe the crucifixion, and this Psalm declares the greatness of God and His salvation.
This not only shows how Jesus fulfilled prophecy and the Law, but it shows the importance of the Old Testament.
We may not always refer to things as has always been done, but we are not too different from those in the past.
We may use numbers to refer to ancient songs, but we are better prepared to understand the connection between them and the gospel message.
Now, join me in Track 119, a psalm of praise to God for His Word!
a simple man of God 