Year 5, Day 172: Psalm 21-22

Theological Commentary: Click Here

Discipleship Focus: Up

• Up: Up is the word we use for what we worship.  If we are following God’s will, God will occupy the Up position.  Our life, our identity, our mission, our family on mission is all derived from Up.  This is why God needs to be in our Up position.

When we read Psalm 21, it is pretty easy to understand why I would focus on Up for this day.  Psalm 21 is all about the awesomeness and greatness of God.  Kings trust in Him.  He finds out the works of all those who hate Him and He gets the upper hand.  He blesses us.  He sets crowns upon our heads.  He is glorious.  His name is given splendor.  He deserves our worship.  He occupies our Up position.

However, when we read Psalm 22 the focus on Up is not obvious.  Psalm 22 is typically the psalm that is read on Maundy Thursday and Good Friday.  This is the psalm that Christians often associate with Christ’s crucifixion.  Why would Psalm 22 be a good place to use to focus on Up?

First of all, if we are reading the psalm with respect to Christ, what better reason to focus on Up than the fact that God sent His Son for our sake?  Jesus opened the door to relationship with God through His sacrifice.  What a great reason to worship God!

However, I think there is a reason to focus on Up besides reading this psalm through the lens of Christ.  Look at what the psalmist himself does as he writes these words.  The psalmist begins by focusing on feeling forsaken.  But not too long after the psalmist is focused on God’s holiness.  Soon after the psalmist is focused on his little nature, but not long after that the psalmist reminds us of God’s ability to save.  The psalmist talks about being encircled and assaulted and hunted, yet not long after the psalmist is speaking about God’s greatness and proclaiming God’s name to his brothers and the other people around him.

What is it that we are told in the New Testament?  When I am weak, He is strong.  What better time to remember the greatness of God than when we are at our weakest point in life?  What better time to give God the praise of our lips than when we are in a place that is easily to see our need for Him and His great ability to preserve us?  Yes, we should worship the Lord – even when we are in the bleak moments of our life.  The psalmist gives us a great model to follow here in Psalm 22.

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