Witnessing God's Word in the Psalms, Book II

Introduction

Even though I have been reading the Psalms almost since the time I learned to read--and that, from a chunky, white King James Bible with yellow-orange edges--and even though I have turned to the Psalms again and again all my life in times of distress and grief, when I could scarcely still my beating heart long enough to hear the Lord's voice, I cannot recall ever reading all 31 Psalms of Book II in one sitting until this week. That in itself is one blessing from the near-miss of a massive ice storm: time off from school. Plunging into Book II as a themed entity, beginning with Psalm 42 and ending with Psalm 72, allowed me to see the Psalms not as individual prayers but as the cry of a nation, of which David's 18 Psalms herein proved not only prophetic but often Messianic.

Book II Changes the Tone from Book I

As I began to read in the Bible I have marked up since I was 13, I immediately noticed a sharp tone change from Book I. It is as if the sweet and plaintive lyre of Book I becomes a pipe organ in Book II, sounding all the notes on the keyboards, from the 64-foot rumbling bass to the one-quarter-foot whistles. (Listen to this Bach Toccata and Fugue: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y3AiGw8mkq0). Having once heard a pipe organ concert in Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris, I can personally testify to the fact that the lowest notes on the organ are more felt than heard, like a train running through your chest--and not unlike David's depth of emotion in Psalm 51.

The range of "pipes" in Book II is massive and authentic, reaching from depression, desperation, and guilt to celebration, jubilation, and peace. Times of dejection in Psalm 42 resolve into prophecies of unparalleled deliverance and kingly dominion by Psalm 72. Far beyond giving tribute to God's Word, Book II functions as a workshop of faith, allowing us to witness the actual live process of Scripture being composed before our very eyes. Think of it! The process of translating pain to prayer to praise results in God's Word actually being written like a composer improvising a symphony. Put another way, the Psalmist who trusts in God's truth himself expresses truth.

Book II Models the Rhetorical Triangle

Aristotle might interpret this process as the perfect working of the rhetorical triangle with a two-way flow of communication coming from all three components of rhetoric: the speaker, the audience, and the message. This is not a simple, linear process but a dynamic flow more like a pyramid than a triangle. God as the speaker--the Voice--inspires His child to utter prayers of faith back to Him as the Audience, and the message flows back and forth between both Father and child as the expression of infallible truth dipped in mercy. This message in its very act of expression not only reiterates God's Word but becomes a new part of God's Word. And all this is put to music for generations to experience--exactly as we have been doing these thousand years and more. But this truth is not a mere echo down the halls of history; it does not merely belong to David or to the sons of Korah. It belongs to us in a divine mystery and is as alive with visceral passion today as it was when it was written.

One of the most eloquent reminders of this mystery of composition is David's Psalm 56:8, "Thou tellest my wanderings: put thou my tears into thy bottle: are they not in thy book?" Can you even imagine your own tears becoming part of Scripture? And yet this is exactly what the Psalms are. They are God's actions in recorded moments, His Word in motion, in response to His children's need. This fact in itself foreshadows the coming Messiah as the Word made flesh to dwell among us. We see the divine-human character of Scripture right here in the Psalms and in exactly the way that points to our Deliverer. Why else does the Lord not only collect our tears in a bottle but also record them in His book? He who sees every sparrow fall surely sees every tear that falls. We do not add to the Canon of Scripture today, but when we use Scripture as our voice, it resonates with our Lord exactly as it did at the moment of composition.

Book II Points to the Lord Jesus

Book II of the Psalms joins together the words "mercy" and "truth" multiple times which in itself pictures our Lord Jesus who spoke with truth and grace. Our Deliverer does not rescue those who need no rescue or even those who deserve to be rescued. He is the Lover of my soul who lets me fly to His Bosom, as Charles Wesley would write, when I least deserve admittance. David's Psalm 51 stands at the heart of Book II for this reason. Who but God can transform with mercy and truth such horror of disobedience that David committed--not only adultery but murder? The organ of David's soul pulls out all the stops--contrition, confession, repentance, renewal, and even revival--as he writes this most significant Psalm of Book II while looking to his Savior.

But long before we witness this soul-cleansing of Israel's king, we were plunged into the desperation of Psalm 42. Who has not read or even sung these most plaintive words opening Book II of the Psalter: "As the hart panteth after the water brooks, so panteth my soul after thee, O God. My soul thirsteth for God, for the living God: when shall I come and appear before God?" (Psalm 42:1-2)? The soul satisfied by God alone need find nothing else: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rXFZsRhdT78 The candor and conviction of this Psalm not only call us but convict us. Can you and I say that we hunger and thirst after righteousness so much that we would rather die than go without sensing the Presence of the Lord?

With what a shameful casualness do many professing Christians tip their big toe, so to speak, in the waters of grace but never allow the Lord to plant them by rivers of living water or to be baptized from head to toe with His Presence! But why is the Psalmist of Psalm 42 so downcast? We do not know, and neither does he. Psalm 43, which is most likely a continuation of Psalm 42, completes a three-question cycle in its intriguing variations. In Psalm 42:5, the Psalmist asks himself this rhetorical question, "Why art thou cast down, O my soul? And why art thou disquieted in me? Hope thou in God: for I shall yet praise him for the help of his countenance." This wording is remarkable--"for the help of his countenance." No one had looked on the face of God, and yet the Psalmist hopes in the light of God's Face, a light we see in Psalm 44:3 as "the light of thy countenance" which saved the fathers of old. This light is none other than our Lord Jesus!

And yet two more times the Psalmist asks a similar yet distinctly different question of himself, first in Psalm 42:11 and then in Psalm 43:5: "Why art thou cast down, O my soul? And why art thou disquieted within me? Hope [thou] in God: for I shall yet praise him, who is the health of my countenance, and my God." The help of God's countenance becomes the health of my countenance! Why? What is more beautiful than a face full of hope? And yet this hope is not a mere emotion, for the soul is cast down. It is an act of the will--a glorious truth we see all throughout the prayers of the Psalms and certainly in Book II. As emotional as the Psalms are, as devotional as their aspect, they are working contracts of faith in God--a faith activated by will power and obedience. We could rightly say that the very decision to place hope in God is an act of obedience, without which all prayer is but vain repetition. This is why our souls turn again and again to the Psalms. In them we find the conviction to spur us onward in our difficult journey when we might rather enjoy being down in the dumps.

Some people actually do, but this sad fact finds no admittance in the Psalms, as rich with pain as they are. They are not mere expressions of self-pity or extravagant emotional indulgence. They are prayers wrung from the soul that go straight to the heart of God. And these are prayers that everyone can pray in times of distress and desperation. But these are not prayers for "things" as such; they are prayers for the soul's return to peace; for nations to end war; for righteousness to prevail; and for evil to fail. These are prayers for ultimate justice in the world--the very justice which the judgments in Book I promise to the godly. This gives the Psalms of Book II not only their personal feel but their national appeal, for one and all look forward to the coming Messiah!

And as we witness the Psalmist turning his prayers into praise, we see that praise becoming Scripture. This process that turns prayers and praise into songs proves the very purpose of the Psalter. Raw personal extremities are seen in the context of national security and identity. If the theme of Book I was holiness as shown in the righteous man's walk, the theme of Book II is hope in the righteous nation's future.

Observations and Conclusions

Psalm 1 begins in objective tranquility promising the blessed fruitfulness of the godly man. Psalm 72 ending Book II presents a compelling picture of Christ's millennial reign of peace on earth as foreshadowed in the kingdom of Solomon, the son of David. Peace, justice for the poor and needy, and worldwide dominion are the hope realized that the Psalmists vocalized all throughout Book II. We arrive at a peaceful end, for Psalm 42 has been fulfilled. The "I shall yet praise Him" becomes "I will praise Him," for the Psalmist writes, "Blessed be the LORD God, the God of Israel, who only doeth wondrous things. And blessed be his glorious name for ever: and let the whole earth be filled with his glory. Amen, and Amen" (Psalm 72:18-19). Just as Psalm 72 closing Book II ends with a double "Amen," so does Psalm 41 ending Book I, like truth reverberating from the very walls of the sanctuary.

Book I of the Psalter presents us with the beauty of the moral law and the way things should be. Book II shows us the beauty of deliverance and the way things will be when a fallen world is finally subject to full redemption. From holiness to hope; from judgment to justice; from beauty to bounty for the poor and needy in Psalm 72, Book II follows Book I of the Psalms as a dynamic and living witness to the Word of our God. The music of Book II of the Psalter arms the despairing with hope that will not be ashamed, for the voice of God rules the world yet, and His Word will never fail.

Treasures to Explore:

• Psalm 51:4--God desires truth in the inward parts--the only true antidote to depravity!

• Psalm 56:4--"In God I will praise his word" and verse 10: "In God will I praise his word: in the LORD will I praise His word."--the action of the will

• Psalm 57:3--"God shall send forth his mercy and his truth" and verse 10, "For thy mercy is great unto the heavens, and thy truth unto the clouds."

• Psalm 60:4--"Thou hast given a banner to them that fear thee, that it may be displayed because of the truth."

• Psalm 61:5--"Thou hast given me the heritage of those that fear thy name." See also verses 6 and 7, "Thou wilt prolong the king's life: and his years as many generations. He shall abide before God for ever: O prepare mercy and truth, which may preserve him." Notice that the king is the embodiment of mercy and truth--prophetic of Jesus!

• Psalm 62:11--"God hath spoken once; twice have I heard this; that power belongeth unto God. Also unto thee, O Lord, belongeth mercy; for thou renderest to every man according to his work."

• Psalm 63:1--David is here virtually talking to his pen as he actively writes what will become part of God's Word. Almost it seems as if the Psalms here break the fourth wall in front of us. Verses 3 and 4 utter profound truth: David's spiritual thirst is here quenched in the very act of offering praise--and now his soul is "satisfied as with marrow and fatness."

• Psalm 64:1 and 7 show David's prayer and praise working together to become Scripture; we need to remember that Samuel anointed David as king before he slew Goliath; and David as anointed is divinely inspired to pen God's Word! Law and judgment in Book I become poetic justice in Book II.

• Psalms 66 and 67 show God's justice to all the nations; Psalm 66:10 is powerful: "For thou, O God, hast proved us: thou hast tried us, as silver is tried." How are we tried? By the Word of God tried as silver seven times (Psalm 12:6). What a beautiful flow of the rhetorical triangle occurs here from speaker to audience to message back to speaker!

• Psalm 68:8 and 11 allude to Sinai that moved at God's Presence as He gave the law: "The Lord gave the word: great was the company of those that published it," and verse 17 alludes to angels and chariots in a manner reminiscent of Deuteronomy 33:2, Scripture's first use of the word "saints." Psalm 68:28 is utterly magnificent: "Thy God hath commanded thy strength," and verse 33 likewise: "To him that rideth upon the heavens of heavens, which were of old; lo, he doth send out his voice, and that a mighty voice." This is prophetic of Jesus the Word of God, but imagine being caught up in the chariot of God's voice and riding the heavens! Could there be any greater victory than that? The soul that was cast down in Psalm 42 rightly asked himself, "Why?" oh, why? This is a historic sweep of fulfillment of God's Word in the world.

• Psalm 69:30, 31, 32 show the praises of the humble virtually becoming Scripture because of David's song. The deep waters of life end in total salvation, and in this Messianic Psalm we see salvation coming out of suffering, exactly as it did for our Lord Jesus! This Psalm points to the Messiah who is the Word.

• Psalm 71:18--this is wonderful: "Now also when I am old and gray-headed, O God, forsake me not; until I have showed thy strength unto this generation, and thy power to every one that is to come." That's you and me! And that's exactly why the Psalms were written--to witness to God's Word in Scripture so that you and I can know Him as our forefathers did. And look at verse 20: "Thou, which hast showed me great and sore troubles, shalt quicken me again, and shalt bring me up again from the depths of the earth." That's the resurrection! And then verse 22 shows again that in-process writing of Scripture: "I will also praise thee with the psaltery, even thy truth, O my God: unto thee will I sing with the harp, O thou Holy One of Israel." This brings a whole new meaning to contemporary worship! We see the inseparable nature of truth and praise: the soul sings a song as a participant in truth. Verse 24 continues this theme.

• The Psalms not only praise Scripture; they become Scripture immediately upon being written. God's Word is not a product merely; it is a process, living and active in my life and in yours! God's Word is unchanging yet ever validated, and the living Word is here foreshadowed in the Psalms in our Lord Jesus who embodies the translation of suffering into song!