FRIDAY 2nd
Psalm 45
NIV (v1) – ‘My heart is stirred by a noble theme as I recite my verses for the king; my tongue is the pen of a skilful writer.’
ESV (v1) – ‘My heart overflows with a pleasing theme; I address my verses to the king; my tongue is like the pen of a ready scribe.’
The title that has been placed in my ESV for this Psalm is ‘Your throne, O God, is forever’. The Psalm commences with the words, ‘My heart overflows with a pleasing theme . . .’ and it begins to describe the king, describing him as handsome, with grace poured on his lips, and being blessed by God forever. It is then in verse 6 we have the words, ‘Your throne, O God, is forever and ever . . .’ It is a messianic psalm that although in its original context was referring to King David, is also a prophetic proclamation concerning the Lord Jesus Christ, for we discover that in the book of Hebrews and chapter one, the reference is given to refer to the Son whom God has spoken through in the last days, the Lord Jesus Christ. ‘But of the Son he says, ‘Your throne, O God, is forever and ever . . .’ Hebrews 1:8.
There are a lot of themes or as the KJV puts it good matters that we can allow our hearts to overflow with, at this moment while I am preparing this for many it will be all about the football, for others it will be something else, but for us as the people of God, the pleasing theme or good matter which should be the priority or most noble is the one who is enthroned forever, our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. The psalmist continues ‘my tongue is like the scribe of a ready scribe’ or as the KJV puts it, ‘my tongue is the pen of a ready writer’—Do you remember the song based on these words, it starts off by mentioning the sound of rustling in the leaves of the trees, the Spirit of the Lord has come down on the earth and continues in the chorus with ‘My tongue shall be the pen of the ready writer, and what the Father gives to me I’ll sing, I only want to be his breath, I only want to glorify the King.’ We have a grand and glorious theme to proclaim, and the more we allow our hearts to overflow, the more willing we should be for our tongues to be a ready pen, that is to speak forth the good news of the gospel of Jesus, to speak forth his praise, to exalt him on our lips and through our lives.
I wonder how many of us as believers show more excitement over other things than we do over knowing the Lord Jesus Christ! How much easier do we find it to gossip about so many other themes and what might be good matters but are so reticent to gossip the gospel, we need the presence and the power of the Holy Spirit to come again and to thrill, not like a rustle in the leaves of the trees but a shaking in our hearts, deep within us and to cause our hearts to overflow with the greatest of all themes, the best of all matters – Jesus and his wondrous love.
The throne we are reminded is eternal, it is forever and ever, it speaks of the temporality of everything else, later in the psalm we have verses 13-14, portraying a picture of the princess being led into the palace of the King, I see here a picture of the Church as a bride which one day will be led into the presence of the King of Kings, as Paul reminds us, that Christ ‘will present the Church to himself in splendour, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish.’ (Ephesians 5:27) This is a good matter, this is a pleasing theme, this is worth talking about, one day all that is temporal will be done away with, but we who are the redeemed of the Lord will be stood standing around the eternal throne, in awe of our God and Saviour, ransomed, healed, restored, forgiven, who like thee his praise should sing!