Emotional Prophecies of the Psalms
2008 words long.
Published on 2024-08-02
The Lord cares for his people. His care does not stop with providing for our material needs. God is not only Jehovah-Jireh (the Lord will Provide). He is also the Comforter. He provides for our emotional needs. One of those needs is that we see God expressing emotion towards us. That the Lord does this is marvelous, but how far does this go with Him?
You are likely familiar with the practice of sending in grief counselors to a school or other organization after a tragedy like a mass shooting strikes. That is a reactive dispatch of caring people. It is easy to think of God that way. Something bad happens to you and then the church dispatches someone to visit you and pray for you. Again, this is reactive.
God is proactive. When crises upend our lives, God had a plan in advance for what to do. That plan included more that just making sure there will be drinking water, blankets and emergency food rations on hand. God's plan includes sending emotional comfort to us. For that to be real, the Bible's prophecies need to show that God knew how we would feel in advance and that he began to mourn with us thousands of years ago. Does the Bible show this? Does it show it a little or a lot?
As I was writing Plague, Precept, Prophet, Peace, I was stunned by what I learned. I knew that the Psalms is the core book in the Bible for dealing with our emotional life. There are Psalms for dealing with almost every kind of trial in life. There are psalms for being chased by enemies, for feeling guilt over sin, for being persecuted, for suffering an illness, for being betrayed by a friend, for being oppressed by evil people, and for a host of other ills. The Book of Psalms is rich in the topics it covers, but if that is all it has, it falls short. How? It doesn't say, "I care about you in particular." What would have to be added to remedy that defect?
One way to connect a psalm to a person is if that psalm contains a prophecy for the generation in which that person lives. That would be one way to say, "I know exactly how some of my children will be feeling in the twenty-first century. I know it millennia before it will happen and I am showing my empathy now by including this in the Bible. Your feelings are so important to me that I will record them in my precious Word for all Eternity. At the same time, I have a plan for how to comfort and strengthen you and it begins today.
Do the Psalms do this? Are they fair? Did God include such prophecies for just some people in some eras of history? Or did He shape the Psalms to prophecy the emotions of people from ALL generations?
In three chapters of Plague, Precept, Prophet, Peace, I explored "The Prophetic Empathy of God", then in a fourth I summarized my conclusion:
- Psalms in the Night: Psalms 1-110
- Acrostic Clock: Psalms 111 and 112
- The Final Ascent: Psalms 113-150
- Psalms of Growth: Psalms 1-28
Here is a short section from the fourth of those chapters, summarizing my conclusions:
The Prophetic Empathy of God
I labored for months to understand the Psalms. Part of wrestling with the prophetic clock was comprehending the larger story. These clocks are not random collections of predictions. Each has a theme that unifies the diverse parts. However, the subjective focus on emotions and desires makes psalms slippery. Yet it was not only the nature of the Psalms that caused the confusion, it was my own weakness.
In previous books I averred that my analytical strength is counterposed by a weakness of character. I am deficient in empathy. As I understand empathy, it is more than caring about people and feeling bad when they get hurt. I am no more deficient in compassion than the next Christian. Rather, empathy is an ability akin to kindness that permits a person to see that another person has a need even if they do not express it. That seeing is accompanied by insight into what can be done to help, even when the suffering person does not know what they need. And compassion is completed by loving action that shows understanding and establishes connection with someone who might be trying to isolate themself from contact. Empathy requires intuition and imagination to navigate the disorder that suffering brings. My wife Tina is strong in this area, a big reason why I married her. That must also be why the Lord compelled me to dive into the Psalms this year. Where I am weak, he is strong. The full power and subtlety of God’s empathy towards his creatures is whispered and shouted in the Psalms.
The emotional life of a human is complex. We behave in noble or ignoble ways today because of emotional experiences from our past. The past conditioned your soul to produce the emotional response that you manifest as a result of today’s crises. To round out the past and present, you also have an emotional future. To reach a better future, you need a shepherd to help you navigate your turbulent emotional world and recondition your heart to produce healthier responses to the events of life.
So what are the Psalms? They reveal the prophetic empathy of God. Instead of predicting events (which a few do, just to let us know that they are prophetic), the Psalms predict emotions and divine desires. God is telling you that he remembers how you felt yesterday and how that shaped you. He factors that into the words he speaks and the plans he makes for you.
He is telling you that he knows how you are feeling today and offers appropriate comfort or correction to aid you.
Lastly, God is telling you that he knows how you will feel tomorrow. No, he more than knows. The Lord is working today to arrange circumstances so that by the time tomorrow arrives, the help you need will be ready.
This new dimension to prophecy amazes me. It makes prophecy personal. It is not just about the rise and fall of kingdoms, about plagues and famines, or about facts and numbers and seasons and years. No, the Lord shapes all those things to declare his deep empathy for the most frail and wonderful aspects of our humanity. Truly David expressed it best:
For you formed my inward parts;
you knitted me together in my mother's womb.
I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made.
Wonderful are your works;
my soul knows it very well.
My frame was not hidden from you,
when I was being made in secret,
intricately woven in the depths of the earth.
Your eyes saw my unformed substance;
in your book were written, every one of them,
the days that were formed for me,
when as yet there was none of them.
How precious to me are your thoughts, O God!
How vast is the sum of them!
- Psalm 139:13-17
Of all these things, the Lord knows. He knows, and loves, and provides. He mourns with those who mourn and rejoices with those who rejoice. Truly a Law of Love.
Matching Psalms to Eras of History
There are many prophetic clocks in the Psalms. Some are found in a single psalm, some in groups of two (the Acrostic Clock of Psalms 111-112), or seven (the Historical Psalms) or twenty-eight (Psalms 1-28, which match the Growth Pattern). The largest I have found is the Master Psalm Clock, which includes at least fifty psalms, scattered throughout. For partial coverage of this clock, see the section on the Master Psalm Clock in Celestial Clocks.
Each Psalm in the clock corresponds to an era of forty-two years. The psalm for the current era is Psalm 144, which runs from 1986-2028 AD.
Rescue me and deliver me
from the hand of foreigners,
whose mouths speak lies
and whose right hand is a right hand of falsehood.
May our sons in their youth
be like plants full grown,
our daughters like corner pillars
cut for the structure of a palace;
may our granaries be full,
providing all kinds of produce;
may our sheep bring forth thousands
and ten thousands in our fields;
may our cattle be heavy with young,
suffering no mishap or failure in bearing;
may there be no cry of distress in our streets! (144:11-14)
Millions of Jews were captives of the Soviet Union and other Eastern European nations during the Cold War. Then in 1989, the Berlin Wall fell. Between 1989 and 2006, 1.6 million Soviet Jews, plus non-Jewish spouses and relatives, emigrated from the former Soviet Union, with 979,000 migrating to Israel. The Lord delivered them “from the hand of foreigners”.
During this era, Israel also continued to expand its agricultural sector, as prophesied here. Agricultural production rose 26% between 1999 and 2009. From 1948 to 2011, agricultural output increased 16-fold! Surely their granaries are full. God also blessed the rest of the world with abundant food. During this era so far, the USA has increased its production by over 50%. God is loving toward all he has made.
Sadly, there was a great “cry of distress in [their] streets”, as the First Intifada erupted in 1987, with Palestinians and Jews embroiled in violence. It would be followed by repeats that continue to this day, including the horrible atrocities inflicted by Hamas in October 2023.
A Future Psalm
Does Psalm 145, which matches the era 2028-2070 AD, also contain a prophecy? I did not include an entry in my book for that psalm because that era remains in the future. I matched prophecies to events that have already occurred and can be verified. I believe that Psalm 145 has a prophecy for us, but I do not know what that might be. If I live long enough, I shall have my answer.
The psalm makes references to God's mighty acts and awesome deeds using many allusions in verses 4, 5, 6, 7, 10, 11, 12, 13, 17. I expect that the coming years will be momentous. That is why the Lord says this:
The Lord is near to all who call on him,
to all who call on him in truth.
He fulfills the desire of those who fear him;
he also hears their cry and saves them.
The Lord preserves all who love him,
but all the wicked he will destroy.
- Psalm 145:18-20
We must call on him, fear him, and cry out to him. If I were to guess, this verse is vital:
One generation shall commend your works to another,
and shall declare your mighty acts.
- Psalm 145:4
The world has corrupted our education system in an attempt to prevent Christians from teaching their children the truth. Do not fail to obey this verse.
Links to the other articles in this section:
Spiritual Growth Introduction to the articles about spiritual growth.
What are Life's Twelve Most Important Questions? If you can answer these questions, you know the way better than the Mandelorian.
What are the Heavenly Treasures? It is one thing to list these treasures, quite another to acquire them!
The Harvest Pattern of Jesus A tactical pattern for overcoming an individual obstacle and reaping a single spiritual harvest.
The Growth Pattern of Solomon A strategic pattern to help you plan your whole life.
The Motherhood Pattern A strategic pattern for women.
The Law Pattern of Moses The law does more than restrict; it also guides.
The Journey Pattern It is a long journey back to Eden.
Emotional Prophecies of the Psalms
Job and the Ways to Talk to God
Job Description for a Savior Job knew what he needed in a savior. Do you?
Dreams Dreams can guide you, paralyze you, or lead you astray. In my case, it was all three.
Spiritual Warfare Somebody IS out to get you.
