Psalm 23 is perhaps the most familiar psalm in all the psalms. What powerful and comforting words! Because the LORD is in charge of my life, I have no need that He doesn’t satisfy. Provision for body and soul. Guidance. Protection. Empowerment for the task at hand. Blessing. His presence. No wonder this psalm means so much to so many.
There is only one hope, and it doesn’t lie with the atheists (Ps 53:1). The sad thing is that there are so few people who really serve the LORD. Many have the appearance of a spiritual life, but spiritual is not good enough. I love verse four. “Do all these evildoers know nothing?” It is as if the psalmist is saying, “You have got to be kidding! You are going to continue to try and deny God’s existence and His authority over your life? How stupid is that!” Evil people don’t really know the stakes at hand. They think that if they ignore God they won’t have to pay the consequences for their wicked ways. The psalmist hopes that the LORD will restore His people and bring victory.
Psalm 83 is a prayer of petition. The writer wants the LORD to act, to get involved on his behalf. He wants the LORD to get involved as He has so many other times in Israel’s history. The word pictures of God’s judgment that are painted capture the vivid imagination and depth of emotional involvement of the writer. And all this to the end that the LORD’s fame would be universally understood, that they would know that He alone is God.
The universality of the message of the Scripture is capture in Psalm 113. The whole earth is His domain (v3). All nations, even the heavens themselves are nothing compared to the LORD. He is exalted above them all (vv4-6). No one is too lowly or insignificant to garner the LORD’s attention. Notice verse nine. Even the childless woman, someone at the bottom of the social ladder of her day, gets the privilege of raising children. No one gets overlooked.
The Psalmist in Psalm 143 has a picture of God, an accurate one I might add, that when the LORD turns His back on people, life is as good as over (v7). They desperately want the LORD’s answer (v8). When was the last time you desperately wanted or felt you needed the LORD’s answer? That sense of desperation can be crippling if we try to deal with it absent from God’s presence. The secret that the Psalmist discovered was to take the struggle directly into God’s presence. There he could find an answer that could satisfy.
The Arnold Journey 