Psalms
The Book of Psalms is an incredible book and one of the most widely read books in the Bible. If you’re new to the faith, people will often say to read a Psalm, a Proverb, and a Gospel to get started. If you’re established in the faith, most of the “Bible in a Year” plans includes reading a Psalm frequently throughout the year, if not daily. As I studied Psalms using the Bible Project links below, I got a different picture of the collection, one that provided a 30,000-foot view. It made me appreciate the construction of the book and the message of the entire piece on a whole new level. As you prepare to read about some of the connections between the book and the world of baseball, take some time to watch both the Read Scripture overview of Psalms and the Bible Project’s teaching about the book.
Due up in the Bottom of the Ninth:
- The Messiah
- Lament and Praise
- History and our place in it
The Messiah
I live in a place with a baseball team who made some headlines this past week when they traded their best player. It was a tough move to justify, but that’s not the point. The Colorado Rockies have had something of a blessed history with their stars. We’ve seen the Blake Street Bombers come via expansion and play the best years of their career here. We saw Todd Helton come up and finish here. We experienced Tulo and Cargo take the baton and play their prime with the Rox. And now, before last week, we were blessed by a left side of the infield featuring Trevor Story and Nolan Arenado.
Arenado’s career is like so many local baseball favorites - a player who comes up through the organization to save the franchise. It’s a Messiah story that is lived out in the story of baseball franchises across the country and it taps into something so much bigger than the game of baseball. There’s something inside of us - a desire to be delivered, to be saved, to be raised up. Someone will be “that guy” for us. In baseball, Arenado is representative of that person. In faith, Jesus is that person for all of us.
The whole book of Psalms is pointing to a Messiah, a deliverer that will come in the line of David. Psalm 2:4-7 says:
“But the one who rules in heaven laughs.
The Lord scoffs at them.
Then in anger he rebukes them,
terrifying them with his fierce fury.
For the Lord declares, “I have placed my chosen king on the throne
in Jerusalem, on my holy mountain.”
Jesus is God’s chosen king yet we have a tendency to place others on that throne in our lives. The point of that experience is not to live in guilt over exalting an idol, but to recognize the truth of the bigger story. Why do we seek a Messiah like Arenado for our team? Because our soul desires a Messiah for our lives.
Lament and Praise
Much like life, the game of baseball causes us to express both lament and praise. It’s one of the profound beauties of the game and all sports. They give us the opportunity to experience the lowest of lows and the highest of highs.
This is one of the beauties of the Psalms as well. It teaches us that appropriate prayers of lament are an appropriate response to the challenges of life. It also shows us how to channel our songs of praise towards the Lord in joy and celebration. In both extremes, we have the opportunity to retell the stories of God’s hand moving in our lives and thank God for them.
Within the game, I’ve experienced both extremes. I’ve had those 0-25 spells at the plate and those times as a coach when nothing you believe will work works. There are just times when the game humbles you and you turn to the Lord for His provision. I’ve also had those times when everything is going right (those feel better, by the way). Those days when you know you’re going to get multiple hits and when every player you put in gets a hit.
I remember during our state title run a few years ago when every little move worked like a puzzle was being put together for me. Start this pitcher - great outing. Sub this guy in to hit - rips a double. Bring this guy in relief - saves the game. Throw this guy in to hit - blasts a home run. At one point I had to turn to a member of our baseball community on the other side of the fence and give the Michael Jordan shrug. Because we had walked together through times of lament, we had the opportunity to experience the praise together. God loves when we bring both to His feet and it’s our opportunity to participate with the Psalms throughout our lives.
History and our place in it
Before researching the Psalms, I thought it was a random collection of poems, songs, and prayers written by the Israelite people, mostly by David. I didn’t know that there is a purpose to its arrangement and there’s a complete history of God’s people within that structure. The Bible Project videos are so helpful to people like us - people who love to learn about the Word of God, but spend much of our vocational life on a field.
The five big sections of the Psalms draw us into these major themes - a call on God’s people to covenant faithfulness, a hope for a future return to the temple, a prayer for God to never forget or abandon His promise to us, prayers for God’s mercy and all of creation to sing God’s praises, for the future Messianic kingdom to defeat evil and bring restoration to the world.
I’ve reflected on the bigness of baseball’s history previously in the BGBG covering Ezra and Nehemiah (https://www.iamwellcoached.com/baseball-guys-bible-guide/ezranehemiah). As big as that history us, God’s history and the story of His people is so much greater. The most amazing thing about it is that the story of God’s people continues to repeat itself. When you allow the book to read you, you’ll see yourself and your experiences throughout the Old and New Testaments.
But here’s the most fascinating part of this history. We get to read the Psalms from this side of Jesus in history. We know that God sees us through the filter of Jesus. Psalm 51:7 takes the pine tar stains from our jersey of life and washes it “white as snow.” We know that Christ’s sacrifice makes this possible. But, the revelation that struck me this week was how we get to see God through the lens of Christ, too. We see His love everywhere. We see Him desiring to walk with us throughout the scriptures. We see our Lord differently than those who compiled the Psalms because of the revelation of Jesus Christ. May we take this message to everyone in the baseball world!