June 22nd, 2014
Today’s reading from Encounter with God

Idealized and Realized

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Opening Prayer

Father God, I come to You now as Your loving child to hear Your wisdom and will for me.

Read PSALM 72:1-20

[1]Of Solomon. Endow the king with your justice, O God, the royal son with your righteousness. [2] May he judge your people in righteousness, your afflicted ones with justice. [3] May the mountains bring prosperity to the people, the hills the fruit of righteousness. [4] May he defend the afflicted among the people and save the children of the needy; may he crush the oppressor. [5] May he endure as long as the sun, as long as the moon, through all generations. [6] May he be like rain falling on a mown field, like showers watering the earth. [7] In his days may the righteous flourish and prosperity abound till the moon is no more. [8] May he rule from sea to sea and from the River to the ends of the earth. [9] May the desert tribes bow before him and his enemies lick the dust. [10] May the kings of Tarshish and of distant shores bring tribute to him. May the kings of Sheba and Seba present him gifts. [11] May all kings bow down to him and all nations serve him. [12] For he will deliver the needy who cry out, the afflicted who have no one to help. [13] He will take pity on the weak and the needy and save the needy from death. [14] He will rescue them from oppression and violence, for precious is their blood in his sight. [15] Long may he live! May gold from Sheba be given him. May people ever pray for him and bless him all day long. [16] May grain abound throughout the land; on the tops of the hills may it sway. May the crops flourish like Lebanon and thrive like the grass of the field. [17] May his name endure forever; may it continue as long as the sun. Then all nations will be blessed through him, and they will call him blessed. [18] Praise be to the LORD God, the God of Israel, who alone does marvelous deeds. [19] Praise be to his glorious name forever; may the whole earth be filled with his glory. Amen and Amen. [20] This concludes the prayers of David son of Jesse.

Scripture taken from the THE HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION, NIV Copyright &copy 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.&reg Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

Meditate

This psalm is regarded in the Christian tradition as messianic. If you only had this psalm to work with, how would you explain the Messiah to someone else?

Think Further

Occasionally, even today, when a nation celebrates the life of a monarch, religious services are held, and prayers of thanksgiving and petitions for the remaining years of the reign are said.

About three millennia ago, the same thing was happening in Israel, and this psalm is one of what are known as “royal psalms” (e.g. Psas. 2,18,21,45,110).  It focuses on the relationship between the king and the people. It also provides a glimpse of the response of nations, and the land itself, to the reign of this “royal son” (1). There is a clear concern that the king’s rule should be characterized by the care of the marginalized and exercised for the benefit of all (2-4,12-14). Furthermore, the nature of his rule should be such that the land itself is blessed abundantly (3,16) and his influence felt worldwide (8-11,17). The people, too, have a responsibility to pray for the king (15). This psalm is a prayer that life lived under God, through the exercise of godly rule, will truly be an experience of shalom, a shalom that embraces all creation.

And therein lay the problem. This is an idealized portrait of the king, and the tragic history of the Israelites was that no king lived up to this portrait, even the best of them. Yet these hopes for the ideal king never died out and it was, in part, the frustration of these hopes that led to the development of messianic ideas. We know who did fulfill these hopes and more: Jesus. His relationship with his people is one where God’s shalom is truly experienced. He exercises his rule precisely as this psalm prays. Our prayer needs to be that our relationship with the king is dynamic enough to change the world. Our psalm says it is possible. Do we believe it?

Apply

Could you honestly say that God is your ruler? If so, what about your life reveals God’s rule? What does it mean to have God as King of your life?

Closing prayer

King Jesus, rule over my life. I bring all aspects of my life to You and lay them before Your throne.

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