Intro to Psalm 45 by John Courson…
To the chief Musician upon Shoshannim, for the sons of Korah, Maschil, A Song of loves.
“Shoshannim means “lilies,” which seems to indicate this was a springtime psalm dealing with the Passover season. It’s a beautiful love song about a mighty king and his passionate love for a queen. Many commentators believe it was a psalm written by Solomon concerning a queen he took as his bride, Pharaoh’s daughter from Egypt. Others say it is connected to Psalms 44 and 46 through 48, and, therefore, deals with Hezekiah, who also took for himself a bride (2 Kings 21:1). While we don’t know the exact setting or author, this we do know: Ultimately, the psalm before us speaks of the King of kings, Jesus Christ, and us as His bride.”
With that said…
I LOVE this Psalm…it always gives me pause. I am the Bride of Christ. He is my King, my Husband and my God. Today, I want to think on Him so that my own heart, like the writer’s here, bubbles over with the glories of the Son of God. In verses 1-9 the psalmist writes of the grace, beauty and majesty of our King Jesus.
My heart is overflowing with a good theme;
I recite my composition concerning the King;
My tongue is the pen of a ready writer.
You are fairer than the sons of men;
Grace is poured upon Your lips;
Therefore God has blessed You forever.
Gird Your sword upon Your thigh, O Mighty One,
With Your glory and Your majesty.
And in Your majesty ride prosperously because of truth, humility, and righteousness;
And Your right hand shall teach You awesome things.
Your arrows are sharp in the heart of the King's enemies;
The peoples fall under You.
Your throne, O God, is forever and ever;
A scepter of righteousness is the scepter of Your kingdom.
You love righteousness and hate wickedness;
Therefore God, Your God, has anointed You
With the oil of gladness more than Your companions.
All Your garments are scented with myrrh and aloes and cassia,
Out of the ivory palaces, by which they have made You glad.
Kings' daughters are among Your honorable women;
At Your right hand stands the queen in gold from Ophir.—Psalm 45:1-9
In the next verses we now see the queen, the Bride of Christ. You and me as believers! Listen to the advice the psalmist gives us as we wait in the palace chambers to be brought to our King.
Listen, O daughter,
Consider and incline your ear;
Forget your own people also, and your father's house;
So the King will greatly desire your beauty;
Because He is your Lord, worship Him.—Psalm 45:10-11
Those are some very strong words. I love them more for that reason. They are definite. They leave no room for equivocation. Jesus says this in Luke
“If any man come after Me, he must hate his mother, father, brother, and sister or he cannot be My disciple”
Seek Him first! Our love for Jesus our King should far surpass and eclipse any and all of our earthly relationships. We are, as His Bride, to give Him all the honor and the pre-eminence. He is to whom all our worship and adoration belong. As we enter this relationship, we are to forget our past, submit to Him as our Husband and our King and seek to please Him in all things. As we love Jesus more and more, we will begin to love those around us in His greater and more perfect way.
Beloved…Our God LOVES us. He SEES our beauty and desires us! The word for desire here means “longs for” or is “enthralled with”! Jesus WANTS to spend time with us. He WANTS “ME” to come into His chambers and rest in His Presence. One commentator points out that the Lord doesn’t rest in our love for Him but in His own love for us.
The LORD thy God in the midst of thee is mighty; he will save, he will rejoice over thee with joy; he will rest in his love, he will joy over thee with singing.—Zephaniah 3:17
The Amplified says it this way…
The LORD your God is in your midst,
A Warrior who saves.
He will rejoice over you with joy;
He will be quiet in His love [making no mention of your past sins],
He will rejoice over you with shouts of joy.
Stealing from John the Apostle…I am not the woman who loved Jesus; I am the woman whom Jesus loved.(s) He chose me before the foundation of the world, clothed me in His righteousness and sacrificed His very life so that I could live with Him forever in the place He has lovingly prepared for me. There He will rejoice over me with joy and joy over me with singing. Because He has done this…Because He has chosen me to be His Bride…I will give Him all glory, all honor and all thanksgiving forever and ever.
We love, because He first loved us.—John 4:19
as Sarah obeyed Abraham, calling him lord, whose daughters you are if you do good and are not afraid with any terror.—1 Peter 3:6
Addendum…as I meditated on on the first 9 verses of this psalm, the aspect of Christ that came to mind as dearest to my own heart and the one that also makes me most thankful as I walk through this world is this one:
There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus,—Romans 8:1a
