Matthew 22:41-46 & Psalm 110 Refreshed and Victorious
Format for Your Devotions
Instructions: Do not read my example devotion until you have completed your own devotional time in the scriptures. Reading my thoughts first may limit your own understanding. Let the Holy Spirit speak to you alone before looking to see what anyone else has to say, whether it is me, a Bible commentary, or a friend. Let God speak to you before you let another person speak to you. I have provided a format, but modify it to fit your needs. For example, I usually combine my application and prayer together talking to God about the application to my own life. You can go through this devotion process mentally, speaking out loud, or in writing as you wish. Don’t worry if you are not following this process exactly. Sometimes, I add extra information and sometimes I emphasize one part more than others. However, you should always think about what you learn about God from this passage.
Step 1: Pray–Ask for the Holy Spirit’s guidance first of all and that God may reveal the lessons that He wants you to have that day. Request that God protect you from Satan’s distractions (and the devil will try to distract you whether it is pinching the baby or putting you to sleep). Ask to see God more clearly as you read and think about the passage.
Step 2: Read the passage–Read to get an overview of the information first. Then start looking at specific parts after the first reading. You may read a larger or smaller section than I have here because you do not have to follow my organization at all.
Step 3: Understand the passage–You can summarize, ask and answer your own questions about the passage, visualize the story, analyze the characters, and relate this passage to other scriptures and personal experiences.
Step 4: What does this reveal about God?–What do you learn about the Father, Son, and/or Holy Spirit from this passage?
Step 5: Apply this to your own life.
Step 6: Prayer
My Example Devotion: July 23 & 26, 2019 Matthew 22:41-46 & Psalm 110
Note: In the devotion examples, I leave my questions and thought processes in the text because I am trying to demonstrate that a devotional time is a dialogue with God about what you are reading from His word. As such, any questions or ideas that you have should be explored by talking it out with God. These example devotions are not my attempts to teach you what the meaning of a particular scripture is. They are an attempt to teach you the process of devotions, which is a combination of prayer and Bible study where you explore ideas with God as you read His word.
Now while the Pharisees were gathered together, Jesus asked them a question, saying, “What do you think about the Christ? Whose son is he?” They said to him, “The son of David.” He said to them, “How is it then that David, in the Spirit, calls him Lord, saying, “‘The Lord said to my Lord, “Sit at my right hand, until I put your enemies under your feet”’? If then David calls him Lord, how is he his son?” And no one was able to answer him a word, nor from that day did anyone dare to ask him any more questions.
(Understanding the Text / Revelation of God) It seems that Jesus went on the offensive. At first, he had answered a question with a question. Then He told parables, but then He answered the question about the greatest commandment directly, and then turned around and asked a question of His listeners. At this point, the Pharisees finally realized that they could not best Jesus when it came to the scriptures or wordplay. They may have thought that Jesus was untaught because of His backcountry Galilean accent, simple country clothing, and poor fishermen disciples, but they learned that they were wrong. They knew that the mind behind the outward exterior was sharp and the knowledge of scripture deep. However, what they never accepted was that He was the Messiah. They looked upon Him as a knowledgeable human opponent and plotted to best Him some other way since they could not humiliate Him with words.
Jesus had a purpose for His question. He was trying to break their preconceived ideas about the Messiah in order for them to be able to see Him clearly. He was trying to show them that the Messiah would be someone with more authority than they thought. They thought that if and when the Messiah came, they would be able to control Him. Jesus was telling them that David called the Messiah Lord and bowed in respect to Him. The Messiah was subordinate to no other human. It also seems to be a warning that if they persisted in choosing to be His enemy, they would ultimately lose. It was said not as a threat, but as a call for them to stop the course that they were pursuing.
(Application / Prayer) My application for myself is that Jesus is my Lord as well as David’s Lord. I need to always remember that I serve Him and that He is worthy of being served. He is my King, but as an American, it is not in my nature to show reverence and humbleness before a leader. I tend to be cynical and skeptical and expect leaders to not care about anyone who is not useful to them. I have to let those attitudes go when it comes to Jesus. He cares about me even when I am not useful to Him. That is difficult for me to trust. He is my Lord, but I don’t trust Him to be my Rock. I need more faith. Please help me to trust You.
Jesus was quoting from Psalm 110:
A Psalm of David. The LORD says to my Lord: “Sit at my right hand, until I make your enemies your footstool.” The LORD sends forth from Zion your mighty scepter. Rule in the midst of your enemies! Your people will offer themselves freely on the day of your power, in holy garments; from the womb of the morning, the dew of your youth will be yours. The LORD has sworn and will not change his mind, “You are a priest forever after the order of Melchizedek.” The Lord is at your right hand; he will shatter kings on the day of his wrath. He will execute judgment among the nations, filling them with corpses; he will shatter chiefs over the wide earth. He will drink from the brook by the way; therefore he will lift up his head (Psalm 110:1-7).
(Revelation of God) God sent Jesus out in the middle of enemy territory and said “Take it back from the enemies.” The next command was that Jesus would then be the King of humans and their representative in the courts of heaven. We go through Jesus to communicate to the Father, not because the Father does not want to communicate with us, but because it is the only way to accomplish it. Jesus called the Spirit of God, His Spirit. At Pentecost, Jesus sent His Spirit to the apostles and through them out into the world. When people had not received the Spirit at baptism, the apostles laid hands on them, and they received Him in a marked way. There seems to be a need sometimes for the Spirit to go through another to reach someone. Maybe, if we receive the Spirit without a mediator, we would be overwhelmed by His power. Maybe, the latter rain is because there is a people prepared to handle the power of the Spirit. Anyway, the next part of the Psalm speaks of the day of judgment when Jesus comes and people die. There will be an end to governments and powers and leaders and wicked people.
(Understanding the Text) The last part is what I don’t understand. “He will drink from the brook by the way; therefore he will lift up his head.” What does that mean? Evidently, the Hebrew word for brook has the idea of a great stream of water flowing down the ravine after a storm, i.e. storm runoff that is at full capacity. Does this represent the people who God will transform and take with Him at the second coming? Clark makes it clearer. He points out that this is a poem of symbolic battle based on war in David’s day. “Refreshment and rest, the fruits of the victories which have been gained: ‘He Shall Drink of the Brook in the Way; Therefore, Shall He Lift Up the Head.’ He and his victorious army, having defeated and pursued his enemies, and being spent with fatigue and thirst, are refreshed by drinking from a rivulet providentially met with in the way. But the rout being now complete and final,” In other words, when soldiers of that day were finished fighting and had won the victory, they were exhausted and thirsty and dirty and bloody, and coming down from the high of battle. Evidently, after they finish fighting, they would see water by the way and drink their fill, maybe washing off the blood and gore also. They would arise refreshed and ready to celebrate their victory. I guess this phrase points out that we humans will be coming from the battleground of earth when Jesus picks us up. We will be suffering mental trauma. Our transformed bodies will take care of the physical trauma, but we will still need healing mentally. Maybe that is what the water of life is about. We will be refreshed and ready to celebrate our victory. David must have experienced this refreshment after battle many times and used it to illustrate the final triumph when we are all completely healed and in heaven. I think I’m still missing something though.