May 4

   
Psalm 1, 2, 15, 22, 23, 24, 47, 68
Psalms proclaiming the salvation of God. He is our redeemer, our deliverer, our saviour. Through Him, we overcome death. The prophetic words of Psalm 22, portraying our crucified Lord. "My God, why have you forsaken me?" For most of my Christian life I have heard people say that when Jesus is uttering these words on the cross, He is doing so in response to God turning away from Him because He had taken the sins of the world upon Himself, and God cannot look upon sin. I find a number of problems with this interpretation, but rather than point out the flaws, I would offer an alternative. Suppose, that as Jesus is nearing His final breath, He looks upon His fellow Jews with deep compassion, and makes one last ditch effort to convince them that He is the Messiah of prophecy. So, He begins the opening words of this Psalm that so clearly depicts what is happening at that moment in time. If they would only recall this Psalm, while taking a look at the man with pierced hands, with bones out of joint, bearing an unquenched thirst, perhaps they might turn and proclaim Him to be the promised Saviour! No, I don't believe this proclamation from Jesus is about God turning away. Rather, it is about God turning His people toward the Messiah, the chosen Lamb of God, the crucified one of Psalm 22.