Thu Feb 5

Listen up, little ones

Especially for the littles in your household.

Listen for the word blessed.

Reading

Psalm 1-2—The Blessed One

Keys for kids

Also for the littles. Young households might choose, after Keys for Kids, to go directly to praise and prayer.

Psalms 1-2 introduce the whole book of Psalms.
Psalms 1-2 show the path of blessing.
All of the Psalms are Jesus’s songs.

Questions

(some read the ?s before notes, then ask them after)

Do you think the Psalms are all about Jesus? Explain.
May we claim the Psalms for ourselves? Explain.
What is the way of blessing in Psalms 1-2?

Notes

(See Saturday for authors. )

Having considered Christ in the Old Testament for the last several months, we are going to, for a few weeks, consider some of the Psalms. In doing this, we don’t turn away from looking for Christ in the Old Testament, for the Psalms are Jesus’s songs. I am in full agreement with Christopher Ash, who writes the following:

For I have become persuaded that Jesus Christ is the subject and object of the Psalms, that his majestic divine-human person is woven into the warp and woof of the Psalter, and that he is the preeminent singer of psalms, the focus of the Psalter, and the one without whom the Psalms cannot be understood aright. …

In arguing for a Christ-centered reading, I have occasionally been misheard as if I were suggesting that individual Christians cannot pray the Psalms. Far from it! This misunderstanding can arise because I draw attention to problems that arise when an individual believer seeks to refer a psalm directly to himself or herself and because I seek to emphasize how Jesus Christ prays the Psalms. The endpoint for which I argue, however, is that we may and must appropriate the Psalms for ourselves, both individually and corporately, but that we may only legitimately do so as men and women in Christ. If we are outside Christ, the Psalms are not mine or yours to appropriate; if we are in Christ, every word is our birthright as children of God the Father, brothers and sisters of Jesus Christ, men and women indwelt with the Spirit of Christ.

Swedish Method questions

See the Sunday notes for meaning of the symbols.

Praise

Psalm 2a, 65c

Prayer

Pray you will see Jesus even as you sing His Psalms.
Pray for the preparation for preaching God’s Word this Lord's Day.
Pray for a member of our church, for your family, and for a non-Christian friend/family member.