Clergy/Leaders’ Mail-list No. 1-009 Sunday 14 Jan 2001

Reading: PSALM 45 – WEDDING MARCH

(From ‘Encounter with God’ Bible Reading Notes)

Ask God to deliver you from being impressed by pretentious displays of status, and to lift your heart to worship him.

This psalm is a wedding song. It addresses the groom in its first half and the bride in its second. It talks of splendour and magnificence, which are symbolised by beauty (v 11), rank (v 9) and wealth (v 8).

But the beauty, rank and wealth are only the symbols of the occasion, not the essence of it. To find that we have to look for character, not image. Character is within, and in its absence the external trappings would not only be empty, but a positive reproach.

Fortunately, the character is here too (v 2). This is a king who, even on his wedding day, can be reminded that there is work to do for truth, and that he is the man to do it. Warriors for righteousness have not always been famous for sensitivity. This one, though, is touched by grace (v 2) and linked with humility (v 4), characteristics that can only be gifts from God (v 6), and which, much later in Israel’s history, are applied to Jesus himself.(See Heb 1:8-9)

When we talk of Jesus and a wedding we may wonder about the bride, and remember what the New Testament says about the church, the bride of Christ, and the marriage supper of the Lamb. (See Eph 5:25-32; Rev 19:6-9) Our Lord is a warrior for truth, righteousness and humility, and he is preparing a bride of equal status. We, the church, are that bride, and he will surround it with splendour unimaginable. The reward for fighting wickedness is an anointing with the ‘oil of joy’ (v 7). Let us, then, be willing partners in the forging of our characters.

Ask God to help you to accept whatever he needs to do with you today, and to be willing to let him work through you to the benefit of others.

– Ken Edgecombe

Copyright Scripture Union, 2001