Transcript Today’s Bible Translation Bible translation used in today’s episode: Ch. 21 NKJV, Ch. 22 GWT; Ch. KJV Podcast Introduction his the Psalms Wednesday. We’ll read Psalms 21 through the 23rd, plus we’ll share prayer requests and praises. I’m calling today’s episode “The Greatest Psalm.” Design: Steve Webb | Photo: Joel Holland on Unsplash Comments on Psalms 22 and 23 The opening sentence of Chapter 22 probably sounded familiar to you. “My God, my God, why have you abandoned me?” Jesus said them as He hung on the cross. And as you heard this chapter, you might have thought that this must be a prophetic look at the crucifixion.  Well, I can definitely say that that is true. Maybe. You see, scholars through the centuries have differed on this point. Some have said that this is just a psalm by and about King David. Others have said that this is all about Jesus, and others say it’s primarily about David, but also, in  a secondary role, about Jesus. So since there is not a consensus, I don’t think we can get dogmatic about it. There certainly seems to be several images of Jesus, but some parts don’t seem to apply as much. So my advice is to read this psalm, and ask the Holy Spirit to show you what He wants you to see.  Psalm 23 is probably in the running for the most quoted portion in the entire Bible, the other being the Lord’s Prayer.  I love the 23rd Psalm because it is so comforting. Don’t you think? I’m not going to do a deconstruction of it here, but this is a Psalm that one could meditate on for hours. For days. For a lifetime. I’ve been a believer since I was a teenager, and after all these years I still love spending time with this Psalm. I’m so thankful that the Holy Spirit inspired David to write this masterpiece.  Commentator James Montgomery Boice wrote this, “Millions of people have memorized this psalm, even those who have learned few other Scripture portions. Ministers have used it to comfort people who are going through severe personal trials, suffering illness, or dying. For some, the words of this psalm have been the last they have ever uttered in life.” Support This a value for value podcast. There are no advertisers because advertising=censorship. If you enjoy the Lifespring Family Audio Bible, decide how much value it brings to you. Only you can make that determination. Then put a number on the value and send it to me here: SUPPORT. Transcript Download .txt file. Psalms 21-23: The Greatest Psalm (LSFAB S13E053) [TEASER – 0:00]It’s obvious when reading it that he remembered his days as a shepherd boy. [INTRO S13E053 – 0:12]This is the Lifespring Family Audio Bible coming to you from Riverside, California, and podcasting since 2004, I’m your OG Godcaster, Steve Webb. This is the daily podcast where we’ll read through the entire Bible in a year and the website is at lifespringmedia.com. This is Psalms Wednesday, and we’ll read Psalms 21 through the 23rd Psalm plus we’ll share prayer requests and praises. I’m calling today’s episode, “The Greatest Psalm”, and as always, when we read the Psalms, I’ll give you a brief introduction before I read each chapter. Before we read, let’s pray. [OPENING PRAYER – 0:48]Our heavenly Father, as we open the Psalms today, I pray that you would touch our hearts and bless us as we read. I pray this in Jesus’ name, amen. [INTRO TO PSALM 21 – 0:58]The title of Psalm 21 is “To the chief musician, a Psalm of David.” As a reminder, it’s thought that the chief musician is either God or one of the music leaders of the temple. This psalm seems to be a good follow-up to Psalm 20. In Psalm 20, the people of Israel, you might remember, prayed for David as he prepared to go into battle. In Psalm 21, the battle has been won, and David gives thanks to God. Commentator Alexander Maclaren wrote, “There [in Psalm 20] the people prayed for the king; here they give thanks for him: there they asked that his desires might be fulfilled; here they bless Jehovah, who has fulfilled them: there the battle was impending; here it has been won, though foes are still in the field…” [PSALM 21 (NKJV) – 1:44]Psalm, chapter 21. (1) The king shall have joy in Your strength, O Lord;And in Your salvation how greatly shall he rejoice!(2) You have given him his heart’s desire,And have not withheld the request of his lips. Selah (3) For You meet him with the blessings of goodness;You set a crown of pure gold upon his head.(4) He asked life from You, and You gave it to him—Length of days forever and ever.(5) His glory is great in Your salvation;Honor and majesty You have placed upon him.(6) For You have made him most blessed forever;You have made him exceedingly glad with Your presence.(7) For the king trusts in the Lord,And through the mercy of the Most High he shall not be moved.(8) Your hand will find all Your enemies;Your right hand will find those who hate You.(9) You shall make them as a fiery oven in the time of Your anger;The Lord shall swallow them up in His wrath,And the fire shall devour them.(10) Their offspring You shall destroy from the earth,And their descendants from among the sons of men.(11) For they intended evil against You;They devised a plot which they are not able to perform.(12) Therefore You will make them turn their back;You will make ready Your arrows on Your string toward their faces.(13) Be exalted, O Lord, in Your own strength!We will sing and praise Your power. [INTRO TO PSALM 22 – 3:08]The title of Psalm 22 is “To the chief musician set to the Deer of the Dawn, a Psalm of David”. The “Deer of the Dawn” is in all likelihood, the name of a tune, which has long been forgotten today. Listen to what Martin Luther wrote of this magnificent Psalm which looks prophetically at the Messiah, Jesus of Nazareth. He wrote, “This is a kind of gem among the Psalms, and is peculiarly excellent and remarkable. It contains those deep, sublime, and heavy sufferings of Christ when agonizing in the midst of the terrors and pangs of divine wrath and death which surpass all human thought and comprehension.” [PSALM 22 (GWT) – 3:48]Psalms, chapter 22. (1) My God, my God,why have you abandoned me?Why are you so far away from helping me,so far away from the words of my groaning?(2) My God,I cry out by day, but you do not answer—also at night, but I find no rest. (3) Yet, you are holy, enthroned on the praises of Israel.(4) Our ancestors trusted you.They trusted, and you rescued them.(5) They cried to you and were saved.They trusted you and were never disappointed. (6) Yet, I am a worm and not a man.I am scorned by humanity and despised by people.(7) All who see me make fun of me.Insults pour from their mouths.They shake their heads and say,(8) “Put yourself in the Lord’s hands.Let the Lord save him!Let God rescue him since he is pleased with him!”(9) Indeed, you are the one who brought me out of the womb,the one who made me feel safe at my mother’s breasts.(10) I was placed in your care from birth.From my mother’s womb you have been my God. (11) Do not be so far away from me.Trouble is near, and there is no one to help.(12) Many bulls have surrounded me.Strong bulls from Bashan have encircled me.(13) They have opened their mouths to attack melike ferocious, roaring lions.(14) I am poured out like water,and all my bones are out of joint.My heart is like wax.It has melted within me.(15) My strength is dried up like pieces of broken pottery.My tongue sticks to the roof of my mouth.You lay me down in the dust of death.(16) Dogs have surrounded me.A mob has encircled me.They have pierced my hands and feet.(17) I can count all my bones.People stare.They gloat over me.(18) They divide my clothes among themselves.They throw dice for my clothing. (19) Do not be so far away, O Lord.Come quickly to help me, O my strength.(20) Rescue my soul from the sword,my life from vicious dogs.(21) Save me from the mouth of the lionand from the horns of wild oxen. You have answered me. (22) I will tell my people about your name.I will praise you within the congregation.(23) All who fear the Lord, praise him!All you descendants of Jacob, glorify him!Stand in awe of him, all you descendants of Israel.(24) The Lord has not despised or been disgustedwith the plight of the oppressed one.He has not hidden his face from that person.The Lord heard when that oppressed personcried out to him for help.(25) My praise comes from you while I am among those assembled for worship.I will fulfill my vows in the presence of those who fear the Lord.(26) Oppressed people will eat until they are full.Those who look to the Lord will praise him.May you live forever.(27) All the ends of the earth will remember and return to the Lord.All the families from all the nations will worship you(28) because the kingdom belongs to the Lordand he rules the nations.(29) All prosperous people on earth will eat and worship.All those who go down to the dust will kneel in front of him,even those who are barely alive.(30) There will be descendants who serve him,a generation that will be told about the Lord.(31) They will tell people yet to be born about his righteousness—that he has finished it. [INTRO TO PSALM 23 – 7:17]The title of Psalm 23 is simply “A Psalm of David”. He probably wrote this psalm when he was king of Israel. Yet it’s obvious when reading it that he remembered his days as a shepherd boy. Henry Ward Beecher wrote, “It has charmed more griefs to rest than all the philosophy of the world. It has remanded to their dungeon more felon thoughts, more black doubts, more thieving sorrows, than there are sands on the sea-shore. It has comforted the noble host of the poor. It has sung courage to the army of the disappointed. It has poured balm and consolation into the heart of the sick, of captives in dungeons, of widows in their pinching griefs, of orphans in their loneliness. Dying soldiers have died easier as it was read to them; ghastly hospitals have been illuminated; it has visited the prisoner, and broken his chains, and, like Peter’s angel, led him forth in imagination, and sung him back to his home again. It has made the dying Christian slave freer than his master, and consoled those whom, dying, he left behind mourning, not so much that he was gone, as because they were left behind, and could not go too.” [PSALM 23 (KJV) – 8:33]The 23rd Psalm. (1) The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want.(2) He maketh me to lie down in green pastures:He leadeth me beside the still waters.(3) He restoreth my soul: He leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name’s sake.(4) Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil:for thou art with me; Thy rod and thy staff they comfort me. (5) Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies:Thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over. (6) Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life:And I will dwell in the house of the LORD for ever. [COMMENTARY – 9:21]Beloved, the opening sentence of chapter 22 probably sounded familiar to you. Those words were “My God, My God, why have you abandoned me?” Jesus said them as he hung on the cross. And as you heard this chapter, you might have thought that this must be a prophetic look at the crucifixion. Well, I can definitely say that that is true. Maybe. You see, scholars through the centuries have differed on this point. Some have said that this is just a psalm by and about King David. Others have said that this is all about Jesus, and others still say it’s primarily about David but also in a secondary role. about Jesus. So since there is not a consensus, I don’t think we can get dogmatic about it. There certainly seems to be several images of Jesus in here, but some parts don’t seem to apply as much. So my advice is to read this psalm and ask the Holy Spirit to show you what he wants you to see. And then Psalm 23 is probably in the running for the most quoted portion in the entire Bible, the other being the Lord’s Prayer. I love the 23rd Psalm because it is so comforting. Don’t you think? I won’t do a complete deconstruction of it here. But this is a psalm that one could meditate on for hours. For days. For a lifetime. I’ve been a believer since I was a teenager, and after all these years, I still love spending time with the 23rd Psalm. I’m so thankful that the Holy Spirit inspired David to write this masterpiece. Commentator James Montgomery Boice wrote this. “Millions of people have memorized this psalm, even those who have learned few other Scripture portions. Ministers have used it to comfort people who are going through severe personal trials, suffering illness, or dying. For some, the words of this psalm have been the last they have ever uttered in life.” [LIFESPRING FAMILY HOTLINE CALL – 11:18]Well, tell me what you thought of these psalms. Call the Lifespring Family Hotline at +1-951-732-8511. You can also comment at comment.lifespringmedia.com, or, what’s my email address? Yeah, st***@li*************.com. You can send your comment there too. Now, in addition to tomorrow being Thanksgiving Day here in the US, it’ll be Poetry Thursday here on the Lifespring Family Audio Bible. We’ll read Job 15 and 16. Well, listen here I’ve got a call from someone. [JOHN FROM CANADA:]Hey Steve, it’s John from Canada here. I thought I would try out this new listener line. [STEVE WEBB:]Thank you, John. I thank you for the call. [JOHN FROM CANADA:]Congrats on your 18th anniversary. I finally listened to that show from last week, your November 13th show on Romans. Thank you for your faithfulness in preaching the word for 18 years, for being true to what God says despite what the worlds and pressures say. You’ve been an inspiration to me. And I’ve listened to nearly all of your shows, almost never on time, as evidenced by this, but I get to them eventually. So thank you again, and blessings to you and LeeAnn and to all the other listeners out there. I’ve got a question for the Christmas show. Why the 25th? Why December 25? Anyway, have a great day. [STEVE WEBB:]Well, thank you, John. It’s so great to hear your voice after all these years, Brother. And thanks for the Christmas question. I’ll put your name in the drawing for a signed copy of my book. Though, if I remember right, you bought a copy a couple of years ago. No matter, if your name is drawn John, you’ll probably have someone you could gift it to. Or you could keep both copies and read it in stereo, one copy for each eye. Thanks for the call, John. Yes, Beloved, in case you missed my announcement yesterday, I’m giving away a signed copy of my book “Webb’s Easy Bible Names Pronunciation Guide” to one lucky person who submits a Christmas question. On the Christmas Day show, I’ll choose a name at random. So as of now, Sister Denise submitted two. Ann and Howie submitted one, and now John from Canada submitted one. Each question counts for one entry. And, Beloved, still, your odds of winning are probably better than any drawing you’ve ever entered. So send in your question, email… [PRAYER REQUESTS AND PRAISE REPORTS – 13:41]And now prayer requests. [BROTHER PAUL OF SEATTLE:]Hi Steve, this is Paul up in Seattle. Out for a brisk Sunday morning walk with my dog, and I wanted to call and say, well, first of all, thank you for continuing to do the Family Audio Bible this… this season. It’s great. I love listening to it and read along. So thank you for that. Also had a prayer request. I’m not one to actually ask for prayer in public a lot, but my wife and I keep thinking about having kids and it keeps not happening and we’re not sure what we should do. Adoption is ridiculously expensive nowadays. And, and, you know, we’re just we’re not sure what to do with our family. It’s just us and my dog and, and we’d like to have kids but we’re not sure. Just wanted to have you and the Lifespring family pray for that along with us. And yeah, again, thank you for everything you’re doing. And have a good rest of your day. [STEVE WEBB:]Thank you, Paul. God bless you. Yeah, we will certainly pray about that. We’ve emailed a little bit since your voicemail and we said a few things but we will certainly, certainly pray about that today. And I have a report on Kathi who had tests done at City of Hope on Monday. Both her red and white blood counts were up, which is good. That’s a praise. She had her hair buzzed, not shaved, but cut very close. She said they gave her a very pretty scarf to wear on her head to cover up. So that’s good. But unfortunately, the blood test also showed that her cancer numbers are up from 260 last month to 379 right now, so that’s not good. But listen to this, Kathi asked us to pray for her oncologist who is a Jewish fella. Ever since she’s been his patient, which has been years, Kathi has remained strong in her faith and has always maintained a sweet spirit. And the doctor asked her how she does it. How can she maintain a sweet spirit and a strong faith? And she told him that it’s her love of Jesus. And she said that she trusts him. Now Kathi told me that there are signs that her doctor is really beginning to listen. So wouldn’t it be wonderful if her life made a difference in his eternity? Let’s pray. Our heavenly Father, Lord, we praise you, and we worship you. You have been so good to us. And we thank you. For those of us here in the US, we do thank you for America and the force for good that it has been, though we mourn what it has become. Forgive us, Lord, and we pray for a revival and not just here, but around the world, Lord. We pray that there would be another great move of the Holy Spirit and that people everywhere would turn to you, would repent and would seek your face, and would come to know Jesus as their Lord and their Savior. Father, I ask that you would use those of us who love you to share the Gospel. Lord, give us courage. Lead some of us to seek positions of leadership in places where you can use us to bring about change. Use us in unexpected places, Lord. Wherever you lead us, Lord, help us to follow. And, Father, right now, we pray for Brother Paul of Seattle and his wife, Colleen. They so want to be parents, and I understand that. And Lord, you promised us in your word that if we seek you, you will give us the desires of our heart. I know that’s often misunderstood. But if their desire to have a child is not your will, I pray that you would change their hearts, give them a new desire. I think that’s what you meant when you said you would give us the desires of our heart. Give them the desire, Lord, that is according to your will. You know Paul and Colleen, and you know that they love you. And they want to love a child. If your plan is not for them to have a biological child, give them wisdom as to whether or not they should adopt. But if you would rather that they focus their efforts elsewhere, we ask you to make it clear to them. The apostle Paul said that to remain single is a better way than marriage for those who you have called to the single life so that they can focus on serving you. So Lord, if that same principle applies to having children or not, then help Paul and Colleen to embrace that. We thank you that you are a God who knows us intimately and who cares for us, and who has a plan for us. And, Father, now we pray for Kathi. We lift her up to you and we ask you again for healing. I have to admit that it’s hard not to be discouraged at her cancer numbers. But then again, we trust that your will is perfect. We still pray for healing, but we will accept whatever is ahead for her. We pray for her doctor, Lord, that he will see Kathi’s great faith and know that it’s the Holy Spirit living in her that has allowed her to maintain that sweet spirit all these years and a strong and abiding faith in you. Help him to see that you are real because of her witness. Be with both Kathi and Del as they face these new challenges, Lord, they love you with all their hearts. And I’m so thankful that you brought them into my life so many years ago. I pray God that you would bless them. And now Lord, I thank you for the Lifespring family. I thank you for calling each one to this podcast. And I pray that the words that you give me to speak would be encouraging and faith-building, not because of me, Lord, but because your Word is alive and powerful, sharper than any two-edged sword. Use our time together for your glory, Lord, our desire is to serve you in whatever way you call us to. We are committed to you Lord, above all. I pray this in Jesus’ name, amen. And now, Beloved, if you have a prayer request or a praise, our next time to pray together will be Sunday. So before then please go to prayer.lifespringmedia.com and tell me your prayer request or your praise. I’ll pray for you in my private prayer time. And of course, if you want to remain anonymous, you can tell me that at prayer.lifespringmedia.com. [OUTRO S13E053 – 19:49]Thanks to the team: Sister Kirsty does the newsletter, Brother Sean of San Pedro does the chapters, and Sister Denise corrects the transcripts. Comment on the show by calling the Lifespring Family Hotline at 951-732-8511 or by going to comment.lifespringmedia.com or by emailing me at st***@li*************.com. I would love to hear from you. If this show’s a blessing in your life would you be willing to support it? Please go to lifespringmedia.com/support. Now for those of you who are here in the US, have a blessed time of thanksgiving tomorrow. If you’re outside the US, it won’t be an official holiday but giving thanks to God should be an everyday thing for each of us, right? There will be an episode tomorrow. There are no days off for the Lifespring Family Audio Bible. So until then, may God bless you richly. Thank you for inviting me into your day. My name is Steve Webb. Bye. [ANNOUNCER – 20:45]The Lifespring Media family of programs are made possible by the generous support of listeners like you. Thank you. Transcribed by https://otter.ai Transcript corrected by Denise The post S2E053-Psalms 21-23: The Greatest Psalm first appeared on Lifespring! Media.