The Lord of life

DEVOTION

PSALMS

THE LORD OF LIFE

Ps 45

45:1 For the director of music. To [the tune of] "Lilies." Of the Sons of Korah. A maskil.  A wedding song.

My heart is stirred by a noble theme as I recite my verses for the king; my tongue is the pen of a skillful writer.

2 You are the most excellent of men and your lips have been anointed with grace, since God has blessed you forever. 3 Gird your sword upon your side, O mighty one; clothe yourself with splendor and majesty. 4 In your majesty ride forth victoriously in behalf of truth, humility and righteousness; let your right hand display awesome deeds. 5 Let your sharp arrows pierce the hearts of the king's enemies; let the nations fall beneath your feet. 6 Your throne, O God, will last for ever and ever; a scepter of justice will be the scepter of your kingdom. 7 You love righteousness and hate wickedness; therefore God, your God, has set you above your companions by anointing you with the oil of joy. 8 All your robes are fragrant with myrrh and aloes and cassia; from palaces adorned with ivory the music of the strings makes you glad. 9 Daughters of kings are among your honored women; at your right hand is the royal bride in gold of Ophir.

10 Listen, O daughter, consider and give ear: Forget your people and your father's house. 11 The king is enthralled by your beauty; honor him, for he is your lord. 12 The Daughter of Tyre will come with a gift, men of wealth will seek your favor.

13 All glorious is the princess within [her chamber]; her gown is interwoven with gold. 14 In embroidered garments she is led to the king; her virgin companions follow her and are brought to you. 15 They are led in with joy and gladness; they enter the palace of the king.

16 Your sons will take the place of your fathers; you will make them princes throughout the land. 17 I will perpetuate your memory through all generations; therefore the nations will praise you for ever and ever.

NIV

Because this is a wedding song we have two approaches to the meaning which we could take. First in the context of the time it was written it may well have been composed for a marriage of Solomon to some princess, such a daughter of Pharaoh. But if that is all it is, then it has nothing for us today and considering that all scripture, including this song, is God-breathed and profitable for rebuking, correcting, teaching and training in righteousness, then  this has to have some truth or principle which bears on our life. It has been suggested it might be considered as the conversion of the gentiles. But we think it resembles the church and Christ, as the church has been referred to as the bride of Christ.

Rev 21:9

9 One of the seven angels who had the seven bowls full of the seven last plagues came and said to me, "Come, I will show you the bride, the wife of the Lamb.

NIV

2 Cor 11:2

2 I am jealous for you with a godly jealousy. I promised you to one husband, to Christ, so that I might present you as a pure virgin to him.

NIV

There are many more verses which imply or use the analogy of a husband and wife, as a marriage of the church and Christ. We can even see this in the idea of committing adultery. Although we are humans, we should refrain from that activity in the physical realm, it bears even more significance in our marriage to Christ. If we are engaged in an affair with the world, then we are committing adultery on a far grander scale. All the verses which talk about being faithful speak of our faithfulness to Christ, not seeking pleasures from another, like the world. All the scriptures which speak about trusting our Lord, trusting God, speak about a complete devotion to our beloved husband, believing in his provisions. Although the Bible in general speaks in the sense of men being the head of the household and throughout most of generations the men were indeed the leaders, even considered as the lord of the house, women were subject to them, our culture has demolished that whole idea. Our culture does not promote men being the head of the household at all, in fact it diminishes the need for men, except for their need to produce children. We have moved away from the patriarchal society to almost an entire matriarchal one. The whole woman’s movement has created a false religion of sorts. This is not to diminish the importance of woman at all, in fact, God created man and woman. He created them as equals to walk through life together. However, God did establish marriage, and he did put the accountability for the family on the man. He did tell Adam he would have to work the ground all the days of his life for his sustenance. He did not tell Eve she would also have to work. Modern culture may have perverted the original intent of God. Why is this important? It would appear this philosophy has permeated our relationship with Christ. What this looks like is that we want to be in the drivers’ seat with Christ riding along as a passenger. When we were a youth it would be very rare to see a woman driving with her husband as a passenger. Today it is as common as a cold. Again this bears on our relationship with Christ. Because we are his bride, he is our husband, our Lord and master, he has to be in the drivers’ seat. We have to see him as the Lord of the family, in the context of the culture in which this song was written. We dance the wedding song, with Christ leading all the steps. We cannot lead, he does. We might have made all our life choices along when we were single, but now that we are his bride, we cannot make our own choices. Our lives are in his hands, he is the head of the household, and he chooses what we will do and what we will not do. It really is that simple. Because of the way our culture has become, we have a difficult time being submissive. That word is never used in the context of human marriages, even though the scripture teaches us to submit to one another.

Eph 5:21

21 Submit to one another out of reverence for Christ.

NIV

Thus we also have a difficult time submitting to Christ, allowing him to be the Lord of our life. We say he is, but do we actually live as if he is? We are the bride of Christ and as such we need to be his bride, in the context of the truth of scripture, not in the context of our culture. So let us just be his bride, standing at his side, allowing him to lead us, to provide for us, to be the Lord of our life.