December 17, 2025 • 13 mins
Start with a map for real-life trouble: Psalm 107 charts a path from crisis to gratitude with a pattern anyone can follow—cry out, receive comfort, confess thanks. From wanderers in deserts to sailors in storms, we see how God meets people in need and turns distress into worship. That pattern becomes a template for praying honestly and trusting deeply when life feels unstable.
We then explore how Psalm 108 proves that truth doesn’t expire. By reusing lyrics from earlier psalms, David shows how tested promises can carry us through new battles. You don’t need a novel word for a new problem; you need a faithful word for a faithful God. From there, the tone shifts in Psalm 109 as David faces slander and malice. Rather than grabbing the gavel, he entrusts his reputation to the Lord. It’s a bracing reminder for anyone walking through false accusation: integrity is your task; vindication is His.
The crescendo arrives in Psalm 110, one of the most quoted passages in the New Testament. We trace how Jesus claims this psalm for Himself, revealing the Lord at the Father’s right hand as our reigning King and eternal High Priest after the order of Melchizedek. That priestly role anchors Christian prayer—there is one mediator between God and humanity—and His royal authority secures our hope for justice, judgment, and a coming kingdom rooted in Zion. Across these psalms, we discover a unified message: Scripture is timeless, God hears the desperate, and Christ reigns now and forever.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
SPEAKER_01 (01:03):
So far on this wisdom journey through the
Bible, we've spent severallessons in the Psalms.
The Psalms greatly enrich ourworship of the Lord.
They remind us to be thankfulfor the many times and the many
ways God has delivered us.
The Psalms increase ourknowledge and understanding of
our Lord Jesus Christ, who isour God and our King.
(01:28):
Today we come to Psalms 107through 110, and Stephen called
this lesson Lord, High Priest,and Coming King.
Here's Stephen.
SPEAKER_00 (01:40):
As we set sail today on our wisdom journey, we arrive
now at the last of the fivebooks in the book of Psalms.
Now, this final section here inPsalms includes what we would
call congregational hymns.
Many of them would be recited,they'd be sung uh during Jewish
festivals.
(02:01):
In fact, some of them are stillsung to this very day.
Now, in the last section ofPsalms, the covenant name of
God, Jehovah, or Yahweh, is used236 times.
Your English translation willmost often translate that name,
Lord, and it'll put it in allcapital letters.
(02:24):
This is the name that emphasizesthe personal commitment of the
Lord to his covenant promises toIsrael.
Now, Psalm 107 opens book 5.
It's going to follow a patternthat repeats itself several
times.
First, you'll have some sort ofcrisis.
In fact, verse 4 says, Somewandered in desert wastes,
(02:48):
finding no way to a city todwell in, hungry and thirsty,
their soul fainted within them.
In other words, this is thecrisis they're facing.
They're homeless and they'rehungry.
But then the psalm moves on hereto a cry for help.
Verse six says they cried to theLord in their trouble.
(03:10):
So you have a crisis, you have acry for help, and now they're
going to experience the Lord'scomfort here again in verse six.
They cried to the Lord in theirtrouble, and he delivered them
from their distress.
Well, now following the Lord'sdeliverance, there's this fourth
element in the pattern, and wecould call it a confession.
(03:31):
He writes here in verse eightLet them thank the Lord for his
steadfast love for his wondrousworks to the children of man.
Well, that's the pattern.
You have a crisis, you have acry for help, you have comfort
from the Lord, and that'sfollowed by a confession of
thanksgiving.
Now, this pattern is repeated indifferent contexts through this
(03:55):
particular psalm, first of all,by those who are falsely
imprisoned.
You'll have this patternrepeated from the heart of
foolish sinners who come totheir senses, and also by those
who are facing dangerouscircumstances beyond their
control.
And here's what we could call atimeless application for us
today.
(04:16):
It doesn't matter what yourcrisis might be, cry out to the
Lord about it.
Don't hold back.
Bring all the details out in theopen, let him know all about
your trouble, and then trusthim.
Trust him.
And know that he has a plan toget you through it and take you
to the other side.
(04:36):
Now Psalm 108 here has a littleinteresting twist to this
pattern.
David repeats the last fiveverses here.
He takes them from Psalm 57 ashe begins Psalm 108.
And then he uses the last sixverses of Psalm 60 to finish
Psalm 108.
(04:57):
So David is essentiallyrepeating lyrics that he has
already penned and he's alreadybeen singing.
Now we've we've dealt with thesePsalms earlier in our wisdom
journey.
But I want to at least uh makethe point here that by doing
this, you know what David'sessentially saying?
He's saying this.
The truth of God's word doesn'tgo out of date.
(05:18):
What I sang about earlier, well,guess what?
It's still true to this day.
And I love that because thepower and relevancy of Scripture
doesn't fade out over time.
It doesn't get stale.
You don't have to take it downfrom the shelf.
All scriptures God breathed, 2Timothy 3.16.
(05:39):
And so the principle it teachesus is this God's word never goes
out of date.
It is timeless.
Now here in Psalm 109, the toneimmediately changes.
The composer is still KingDavid.
He happens to be rather upset.
He seems to be fairly uhfrustrated.
(06:00):
He writes here in verse one Benot silent, O God of my praise,
for wicked and deceitful mouthsare opened against me, speaking
against me, with lying tongues.
Well, evidently somebody'sattacking David's reputation.
In fact, in verses six throughnineteen, you have the singular
(06:21):
pronoun he or him, and that'sused thirty-two different times.
So there's some he, there's someguy out there, somebody who's
causing David uh a truckload oftrouble.
Now, throughout these verses,David is calling down judgment
against this person.
This is what we call one ofthose imprecatory psalms.
(06:43):
We've covered that in paststudies.
David is taking the same standagainst the wicked as the Lord
himself is taking.
So David isn't necessarily beingvengeful.
He is frustrated, he'sirritated, he's hurt, but he
happens to be personallyrepresenting God's law.
What he wants here is God'sreputation to be honored.
(07:07):
Let me tell you, beloved, thispsalm teaches again another
timeless principle.
Believers who are falselyaccused must rest their case
with God.
If you're experiencing right nowsome false accusation, well,
here's what you ought to do: commit your reputation to the (07:24):
undefined
Lord.
Vengeance, trying to get yourown vindication.
Let me tell you, that belongs tothe Lord.
You just leave it in the Lord'shands and you just keep on doing
the right thing.
Now, with that we arrive atPsalm 110, and that's going to
(07:46):
be quoted or alluded to uh sometwenty-five times in the New
Testament, more than any otherpsalm.
In fact, the reformer MartinLuther describes Psalm 110 as
the main Psalm of our belovedLord Jesus Christ.
Why?
Well, because it celebratesJesus as King, high priest, and
(08:10):
conqueror.
Verse 1 opens here.
The Lord Jehovah, that is, saysto my Lord, Adonai, is the word
used, sit at my right hand untilI make your enemies your
footstool.
Now get this.
The Lord is speaking to theLord.
In other words, what you havehere is a great text of the
(08:33):
triune God.
You have God the Father speakingto God the Son.
Well, how do we know that?
Well, because a thousand yearslater, Jesus is going to quote
this verse and declare to thereligious leaders over there in
Matthew chapter 22 that he isthe Lord, referenced in Psalm
110.
(08:53):
He is the one who's going to sitat the right hand of God the
Father.
And can you understand why Jesuscreated a stir with that kind of
application to himself?
Did the religious leaders getthe fact that Jesus was taking
this psalm here, claiming it forhimself, claiming to be God the
Son?
You better believe they got it.
(09:15):
In fact, over in John chapter10, verse 33, Jesus asks the
religious leaders, You know, whydo you want to stone me to
death?
And they answer, Well, it isn'tfor a good work that we're going
to stone you, but for blasphemy,because you, being a man, make
yourself God.
Oh, they got it.
(09:36):
In fact, the rest of this psalmapplies to Jesus.
Verse 2 says that he's going toreign.
He's going to have a royalscepter that he'll receive.
He'll rule from Zion, that is,from Jerusalem in its coming
kingdom.
Verse 3 says here that peoplewill offer themselves freely on
that day, the day of his power.
(09:59):
In other words, when Jesus comesto establish his throne, those
who believe in him are going toworship him.
Well, there's no question aboutit.
David is declaring that Jesus,our Savior, is King.
Now, secondly, in verse 4, wesee Jesus as high priest.
(10:20):
The Lord, that is Jehovah, hassworn and will not change his
mind.
You, Adonai, again anotherreference to Jesus, are a priest
forever after the order ofMelchizedek.
Well, this reference takes usall the way back to Genesis 14,
where Melchizedek appears as theking and priest over there in
(10:43):
Salem.
That's the city that will becomeJerusalem.
Salem is from Shalom meaningpeace.
So Jerusalem or Jerusalem is thecity of peace.
The coming Messiah will beaccording to the order of
Melchizedek, that type ofleader.
Like Melchizedek, Jesus will bethe king and priest ruling one
(11:08):
day in Jerusalem.
Only, of course, in a muchgreater and glorious manner.
In fact, according to Hebrewschapter 5 and verse 10, God has
designated the Lord as our highpriest.
In other words, he represents usto God the Father, and he
represents God the Father to us.
(11:29):
He is, 1 Timothy 2, verse 5says, the only mediator between
God and mankind.
By the way, that's why we're notpraying today to other priests.
We're not praying today to thesaints.
We're not praying to Mary.
We pray to and through the onlymediator, our one mediator, the
(11:52):
Lord Jesus, God the Son, who isour eternal high priest.
Verse 5 talks of him as aconqueror.
David writes, the Lord willshatter kings on the day of his
wrath.
He will execute judgment amongthe nations.
He will shatter chiefs over thewide earth.
So get this here.
(12:12):
In this psalm, written athousand years before the Lord
Jesus arrives, before God theSon takes on flesh, David is
already predicting his ultimatevictory and his coming glorious
kingdom.
So we can celebrate today thatJesus is Adonai, that is our
(12:33):
divine Lord.
He is our eternal high priest,and he is also our soon-coming
conquering King.
Well, with that, we're out oftime.
Till our next wisdom journeytogether, may the grace of the
Lord Jesus Christ and the loveof God and the fellowship of the
Holy Spirit be with you all.
(12:56):
Amen.
SPEAKER_01 (13:12):
To learn more about us and access all of our Bible
teaching resources, visitwisdomonline.org.
Our phone number is866-482-4253.
And you can email us at info atwisdomonline.org.
Stephen developed this dailyprogram to help you know what
(13:34):
the Bible says, understand whatit means, and apply it to your
life.
So please join us next time tocontinue the wisdom journey.
So far on this wisdom journey through the
Bible, we've spent severallessons in the Psalms.
The Psalms greatly enrich ourworship of the Lord.
They remind us to be thankfulfor the many times and the many
ways God has delivered us.
The Psalms increase ourknowledge and understanding of
our Lord Jesus Christ, who isour God and our King.
(01:28):
Today we come to Psalms 107through 110, and Stephen called
this lesson Lord, High Priest,and Coming King.
Here's Stephen.
SPEAKER_00 (01:40):
As we set sail today on our wisdom journey, we arrive
now at the last of the fivebooks in the book of Psalms.
Now, this final section here inPsalms includes what we would
call congregational hymns.
Many of them would be recited,they'd be sung uh during Jewish
festivals.
(02:01):
In fact, some of them are stillsung to this very day.
Now, in the last section ofPsalms, the covenant name of
God, Jehovah, or Yahweh, is used236 times.
Your English translation willmost often translate that name,
Lord, and it'll put it in allcapital letters.
(02:24):
This is the name that emphasizesthe personal commitment of the
Lord to his covenant promises toIsrael.
Now, Psalm 107 opens book 5.
It's going to follow a patternthat repeats itself several
times.
First, you'll have some sort ofcrisis.
In fact, verse 4 says, Somewandered in desert wastes,
(02:48):
finding no way to a city todwell in, hungry and thirsty,
their soul fainted within them.
In other words, this is thecrisis they're facing.
They're homeless and they'rehungry.
But then the psalm moves on hereto a cry for help.
Verse six says they cried to theLord in their trouble.
(03:10):
So you have a crisis, you have acry for help, and now they're
going to experience the Lord'scomfort here again in verse six.
They cried to the Lord in theirtrouble, and he delivered them
from their distress.
Well, now following the Lord'sdeliverance, there's this fourth
element in the pattern, and wecould call it a confession.
(03:31):
He writes here in verse eightLet them thank the Lord for his
steadfast love for his wondrousworks to the children of man.
Well, that's the pattern.
You have a crisis, you have acry for help, you have comfort
from the Lord, and that'sfollowed by a confession of
thanksgiving.
Now, this pattern is repeated indifferent contexts through this
(03:55):
particular psalm, first of all,by those who are falsely
imprisoned.
You'll have this patternrepeated from the heart of
foolish sinners who come totheir senses, and also by those
who are facing dangerouscircumstances beyond their
control.
And here's what we could call atimeless application for us
today.
(04:16):
It doesn't matter what yourcrisis might be, cry out to the
Lord about it.
Don't hold back.
Bring all the details out in theopen, let him know all about
your trouble, and then trusthim.
Trust him.
And know that he has a plan toget you through it and take you
to the other side.
(04:36):
Now Psalm 108 here has a littleinteresting twist to this
pattern.
David repeats the last fiveverses here.
He takes them from Psalm 57 ashe begins Psalm 108.
And then he uses the last sixverses of Psalm 60 to finish
Psalm 108.
(04:57):
So David is essentiallyrepeating lyrics that he has
already penned and he's alreadybeen singing.
Now we've we've dealt with thesePsalms earlier in our wisdom
journey.
But I want to at least uh makethe point here that by doing
this, you know what David'sessentially saying?
He's saying this.
The truth of God's word doesn'tgo out of date.
(05:18):
What I sang about earlier, well,guess what?
It's still true to this day.
And I love that because thepower and relevancy of Scripture
doesn't fade out over time.
It doesn't get stale.
You don't have to take it downfrom the shelf.
All scriptures God breathed, 2Timothy 3.16.
(05:39):
And so the principle it teachesus is this God's word never goes
out of date.
It is timeless.
Now here in Psalm 109, the toneimmediately changes.
The composer is still KingDavid.
He happens to be rather upset.
He seems to be fairly uhfrustrated.
(06:00):
He writes here in verse one Benot silent, O God of my praise,
for wicked and deceitful mouthsare opened against me, speaking
against me, with lying tongues.
Well, evidently somebody'sattacking David's reputation.
In fact, in verses six throughnineteen, you have the singular
(06:21):
pronoun he or him, and that'sused thirty-two different times.
So there's some he, there's someguy out there, somebody who's
causing David uh a truckload oftrouble.
Now, throughout these verses,David is calling down judgment
against this person.
This is what we call one ofthose imprecatory psalms.
(06:43):
We've covered that in paststudies.
David is taking the same standagainst the wicked as the Lord
himself is taking.
So David isn't necessarily beingvengeful.
He is frustrated, he'sirritated, he's hurt, but he
happens to be personallyrepresenting God's law.
What he wants here is God'sreputation to be honored.
(07:07):
Let me tell you, beloved, thispsalm teaches again another
timeless principle.
Believers who are falselyaccused must rest their case
with God.
If you're experiencing right nowsome false accusation, well,
here's what you ought to do: commit your reputation to the (07:24):
undefined
Lord.
Vengeance, trying to get yourown vindication.
Let me tell you, that belongs tothe Lord.
You just leave it in the Lord'shands and you just keep on doing
the right thing.
Now, with that we arrive atPsalm 110, and that's going to
(07:46):
be quoted or alluded to uh sometwenty-five times in the New
Testament, more than any otherpsalm.
In fact, the reformer MartinLuther describes Psalm 110 as
the main Psalm of our belovedLord Jesus Christ.
Why?
Well, because it celebratesJesus as King, high priest, and
(08:10):
conqueror.
Verse 1 opens here.
The Lord Jehovah, that is, saysto my Lord, Adonai, is the word
used, sit at my right hand untilI make your enemies your
footstool.
Now get this.
The Lord is speaking to theLord.
In other words, what you havehere is a great text of the
(08:33):
triune God.
You have God the Father speakingto God the Son.
Well, how do we know that?
Well, because a thousand yearslater, Jesus is going to quote
this verse and declare to thereligious leaders over there in
Matthew chapter 22 that he isthe Lord, referenced in Psalm
110.
(08:53):
He is the one who's going to sitat the right hand of God the
Father.
And can you understand why Jesuscreated a stir with that kind of
application to himself?
Did the religious leaders getthe fact that Jesus was taking
this psalm here, claiming it forhimself, claiming to be God the
Son?
You better believe they got it.
(09:15):
In fact, over in John chapter10, verse 33, Jesus asks the
religious leaders, You know, whydo you want to stone me to
death?
And they answer, Well, it isn'tfor a good work that we're going
to stone you, but for blasphemy,because you, being a man, make
yourself God.
Oh, they got it.
(09:36):
In fact, the rest of this psalmapplies to Jesus.
Verse 2 says that he's going toreign.
He's going to have a royalscepter that he'll receive.
He'll rule from Zion, that is,from Jerusalem in its coming
kingdom.
Verse 3 says here that peoplewill offer themselves freely on
that day, the day of his power.
(09:59):
In other words, when Jesus comesto establish his throne, those
who believe in him are going toworship him.
Well, there's no question aboutit.
David is declaring that Jesus,our Savior, is King.
Now, secondly, in verse 4, wesee Jesus as high priest.
(10:20):
The Lord, that is Jehovah, hassworn and will not change his
mind.
You, Adonai, again anotherreference to Jesus, are a priest
forever after the order ofMelchizedek.
Well, this reference takes usall the way back to Genesis 14,
where Melchizedek appears as theking and priest over there in
(10:43):
Salem.
That's the city that will becomeJerusalem.
Salem is from Shalom meaningpeace.
So Jerusalem or Jerusalem is thecity of peace.
The coming Messiah will beaccording to the order of
Melchizedek, that type ofleader.
Like Melchizedek, Jesus will bethe king and priest ruling one
(11:08):
day in Jerusalem.
Only, of course, in a muchgreater and glorious manner.
In fact, according to Hebrewschapter 5 and verse 10, God has
designated the Lord as our highpriest.
In other words, he represents usto God the Father, and he
represents God the Father to us.
(11:29):
He is, 1 Timothy 2, verse 5says, the only mediator between
God and mankind.
By the way, that's why we're notpraying today to other priests.
We're not praying today to thesaints.
We're not praying to Mary.
We pray to and through the onlymediator, our one mediator, the
(11:52):
Lord Jesus, God the Son, who isour eternal high priest.
Verse 5 talks of him as aconqueror.
David writes, the Lord willshatter kings on the day of his
wrath.
He will execute judgment amongthe nations.
He will shatter chiefs over thewide earth.
So get this here.
(12:12):
In this psalm, written athousand years before the Lord
Jesus arrives, before God theSon takes on flesh, David is
already predicting his ultimatevictory and his coming glorious
kingdom.
So we can celebrate today thatJesus is Adonai, that is our
(12:33):
divine Lord.
He is our eternal high priest,and he is also our soon-coming
conquering King.
Well, with that, we're out oftime.
Till our next wisdom journeytogether, may the grace of the
Lord Jesus Christ and the loveof God and the fellowship of the
Holy Spirit be with you all.
(12:56):
Amen.
SPEAKER_01 (13:12):
To learn more about us and access all of our Bible
teaching resources, visitwisdomonline.org.
Our phone number is866-482-4253.
And you can email us at info atwisdomonline.org.
Stephen developed this dailyprogram to help you know what
(13:34):
the Bible says, understand whatit means, and apply it to your
life.
So please join us next time tocontinue the wisdom journey.
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