Someone once said, "Golf is a game where guts and blind devotion will always net you absolutely nothing but an ulcer." If this doesn't explain the game of golf, I'm not sure what does. I went golfing this afternoon for the third time so far this year. I have to practice on my game because there is a tournament coming up where the professors are playing the students...I'll be sure to let you guys know who it ends up. But in the mean time, I'm getting ulcer after ulcer.
So now that I am graduating from Ozark, the powers at be made me take a Bible exam to see if I had learned anything while attending OCC. I first took this test when I was a freshman, and after the test I left the room feeling like a moron. I actually began to question whether or not I should be at a place like Ozark because I barely knew any of the answers. I'm proud to say that after taking the exam for the second time, I feel a little better about how I might have scored. Anyways on the exam there were questions that dealt with the Psalms. A question might go something like this: "What Psalm discusses 'They divide my garments among them and cast lots for my clothing'?" Then there were 5 different Psalms listed that I could choose from that correctly answered the question. There were two Psalms that kept reappearing on the test that stuck out in my mind...Psalm 22 and Psalm 91. To be honest, I didn't know what each Psalm was talking about exactly but I knew they were important. Now I took this Test about a week ago, and tonight at youth group during worship, I decided to sit down and read those chapters for some reason.
First, I read Psalm 91. Key verses in this chapter would be "I will say of the Lord, 'He is my refuge and my fortress, my God, in whom I trust'." The psalmist also writes, "If you make the Most High your dwelling--even the Lord, who is my refuge--then no harm will befall you." The whole theme of this Psalm is that God will protect and take care of anyone who dwells with God.
Then right away I decided to read Psalm 22. The verses that stick out in this Psalm are "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" Then King David goes on to say, "O my god, I cry out by day, but you do not answer." The tone of this Psalm is drastically different than Psalm 91. Psalm 22 expresses agony and despair, and Psalm 91 expresses ecstasy and jubilation.
After reading these two passages that had extreme emotional differences, I reread Psalm 22, and then it hit me. No person could ever speak such words in Psalm 91 if it wasn't for Psalm 22. You see, Psalm 22 was written by King David, but the contents are screaming for a crucified Messiah. Because Jesus voluntarily died on the cross, the Psalmist can rejoice by saying, "I will say of the Lord, 'He is my refuge and my fortress, my God, in whom I trust'." There are so many parallels between Jesus and Psalm 22:
- v.1 "My God, my God, why hav eyou forsaken me?": Jesus cries out in a loud voice while being crucified on the corss, "Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani?"—which means, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" (Mk. 15:34).
- v.7 "All who see me mock me; they hurl insults, shaking their heads.": As Jesus was being crucified "those who passed by hurled insults at him, shaking their heads" (Mt. 27:39).
- v.8 "He trusts in the Lord; let the Lord rescue him.": Those who passed by hurled insults at Jesus while he was hanging on the cross. even the chief priests, the teachers of the law and the elders mocked him by saying, "He trusts in God. Let God rescue him now if he wants him" (Mt. 27:43).
- v.16 "Dogs have surrounded me; a band of evil men has encircled me, they have pierced my hands and my feet.": This is how crucifixion took place. They would nail the criminal by the hands and feet to wooden posts.
- v.18 "They divide my garments among them and cast lots for my clothing.": John tells us that while the soldiers were crucifying Jesus, they took his clothes, dividing them into four shares, one for each of them (Jn. 19:23).
I know all of this stuff might be elementary to some of you, but it was so refreshing just to be able to recognize the power and hope in times of darkness. When we realize that Jesus Christ endured the cross for our sake and what he saved us from, our Psalm 22 moments can quickly become Psalm 91 moments.
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