Over the past couple of weeks, I have had the privilege of digging into Psalms 51 to 100. The Psalms never cease to astonish me! Several times, while reading through these Psalms, I felt that it was a pity that the Psalms are basically not included in the Parashah Reading Program. The Reading program usually consists of one portion from the Torah, one portion from the Prophets (Nevi’im) and one from the Messianic Scriptures. To follow a Scripture reading program for one full year, with no Psalm included, is almost unthinkable! Think of all the treasures from the book of Psalms that could have enriched our understanding of each of the THREE categories making up the Torah Reading Program. I asked my good friend in the AI quarters, Gemini, this question: From which book in the Bible do we find the largest number of quotes in the New Testament? As usual, it took my friend only a couple of seconds to come up with an answer, and I have no doubt that it was the correct answer: “The Psalms is widely considered to be the most frequently quoted Old Testament book, followed by the book of Isaiah and then Deuteronomy.” Wow. We should all have a secret reading program that we follow alongside the Torah reading program. If we don’t we are soon going to suffer from a syndrome called “Psalms Withdrawal” or “The Singing of the Song that went Wrong!”
One of the themes that is touched upon in the new booklet on Psalms is called, “The Kind of Questions we Ask”. When Jews or Hebrew speaking people or Hebrew writings are involved, questions will always be in abundance. There may even be more questions than answers. Have you ever tried studying all the questions in the Word of Yahweh? I suppose it will almost be an impossible task. What about all the questions in the book of Psalms? Doable, I would say, but it will still take a tremendous effort. But, surely, it will be extremely rewarding. Because the questions of others often have a way of bringing more clarity and focus with regards to one’s own walk of belief. Sometimes we need those questions in order to look more objectively at the way we react to life, and more specifically, the unwanted surprises in life. There are a few of these questions that are standing out for me.
“Why do people imagine vain things?” (Psalm 2). Isn’t it true that we are sometimes contemplating plans that are ultimately doomed to fail because they are directly opposed to what Yahweh has revealed as his purpose and pattern of conduct for us? Some people would work endless hours in an effort to accumulate massive wealth, believing that this would bring them happiness and security. To use the words of Psalm 2, they are imagining a life in which money is the ultimate saviour. But the vanity of it all is exposed when a sudden crisis, like terminal illness or death, make them realise that their life’s purpose was built on an empty thing. The same Psalm 2 is teaching us what our approach to life should be, in stead: Ask of Me, and I make the nations Your inheritance, and the ends of the earth your possession (2:8).
“Who, then, is the man that fears Yahweh?” (Psalm 25). To return to the subject of the Torah Reading Program for a moment … The most important question for us is not: Who is the man (or the woman) diligently following the Parashot, or any other reading program, for that matter. The most important question, not only in reading patterns, but also in life, is the question of psalm 25: “Who, then, is the man that fears Yahweh?” And the same Psalm is giving us some clues as to what the fear of Yahweh is all about. It is about putting one’s trust in Yahweh (verse 2). The word for “trust” literally means “to hurry or hasten to a place of safety and protection from danger.” Why hurry? Because if I do not hurry, I am still keeping my options open. Maybe I’ll first try one or two other things, before I run into the shelter of Yahweh’s protection. It is precisely this attitude that shows that my trust is not yet complete, and the fear of Yahweh is still very much absent from my life.
“Have the workers of wickedness, the ones who do not call on Elohim, no knowledge?” (Psalm 53). The workers of wickedness are described in this Psalm as “the ones who do not call on Elohim.” Is this not the single most missing ingredient in our society today? People are no longer calling on Elohim or calling on Yahweh. And this Psalm is NOT primarily referring to speaking out, or pronouncing then Name of Yahweh. Although it is to be regretted that millions of believers today, no longer speak out the Name of Yahweh, as was the clear pattern in Biblical times, right up to the time when some overly zealous Jewish leaders decided the Name of the Almighty was too “holy” to pronounce. But the real problem is, even people who know the name of Yahweh, and would occasionally use the Name of Yahweh, are showing their lack of knowledge by not calling on Yahweh when they are glad or filled with fear, when they are disappointed, when they fail to succeed, when people are walking over them, when they struggle financially, when their families fall apart, when they are in need of forgiveness and restoration, and when they need to make important decisions. We can certainly not go wrong by following the pattern of the Psalms: In my distress I called upon Yahweh (Psalm 18); Call upon me in the day of trouble (Psalm 50); Give thanks to Yahweh; call upon his name (Psalm 105); I will call on him as long as I live (Psalm 116).
“Would You not revive us again, for Your people to rejoice in You?” (Psalm 85). Isn’t this a question that all of us have asked, at one stage or another? Will You not revive us again, Yahweh? Will You not give us back our joy again? Will You not restore our zeal and excitement to the level when we took the first deliberate step into your presence? Wil You not fill our own hidden corners of darkness with Your light? The same outcry may be seen in Psalm 80: Restore us, O Elohim; let your face shine, that we may be saved! The connection between revival and the shining of Yahweh’s face is quite significant. The coming of Y’shua was often described as Yahweh’s way of sending His light into the darkness of this word. For this reason, the prophesy of Isaiah 9 has always been applied to the coming of Messiah: “The people who sat in darkness saw a great light, and upon those who sat in the land and shadow of death, light arose to them.” So too, the prophesy of Isaiah 42: “I have given You for a covenant to a people and for a light to the nations”. But it is true what John had written: “The light has come into the world, but men loved the darkness rather than the light.” We all see ourselves as believers in Y’shua. We’ve all recognised Him as the Light that has made all the difference in our lives. But sometimes, somehow, we move back into darkness again. We gradually move away from the light, like people who have forgotten what difference the light had made in the first place. If you are one of those who ask, Would You not revive us again, o Yahweh, please make sure that you are still securely connected to Y’shua the Messiah, whom Yahweh had sent specifically to lighten up all the dark areas of our lives.
Whenever we look at the lights in the sky, the sun and the moon and the stars, let us be reminded of the light that was kindled in our lives when Yahweh introduced us to His Son. This very precious truth was imprinted on my heart once again this past week when Hannelie and I looked at rising and going down of the magnificent supermoon on Thursday evening and Friday morning. And in my minds eye there was a picture, similar to the picture that is described to us in Revelation 21: “The street of the New Jerusalem was clean gold, like transparent glass. In the city I saw no temple, for the most high Elohim is its temple, and the Lamb. And the city had no need of the sun, nor of the moon, to shine in it, for the esteem of Elohim lightened it, and the Lamb is its lamp. And the nations, of those who are saved, shall walk in its light.” And even though there is no kind of light here on earth, at the moment, that may be compared to the light of the new Jerusalem that we shall enjoy one day, there is more than enough light locked up in the Word of Yahweh, and in the testimony of Y’shua, to help us find clarity and peace of mind and steadfastness in Yahweh – even during those times when we face the most daunting questions imaginable.
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