Psalm 45 is a wedding song that may date back as far as Solomon. Whenever it was first written it would certainly have been used over and over again at royal weddings throughout the time of the Jewish monarchy. This begs the question: What possible relevance could an ancient royal wedding song have for us? The writer of Hebrews provides the answer. He quotes from Psalm 45 applying it to Christ (Hebrews 1:8-9). At weddings today, we generally focus on the bride. But ancient royal weddings tended to focus on the splendour of the king. This makes this psalm appropriate for application as a song of celebration of Jesus our King. Reading the psalm through this lens makes it come alive, especially as we remember that we, the church, are described in the New Testament as the bride of Christ (Ephesians 5:25-27; Revelation 21:2,9). The fact that this messianic psalm takes the form of a wedding song highlights something unique about our relationship with God. We are loved by a God who has bound himself to us by a covenant, like a marriage covenant. This covenant was ratified and sealed in Jesus Christ. God is committed to us, his church. He has made vows to love and cherish us. We should not therefore pray with only some vague hope that God will respond to us. No, we can be sure of his attention. When we pray, therefore, we don’t just beg as those compelled by need, rather we appeal to God’s faithfulness as those who are drawn by his everlasting covenant love.
Appeal to God’s commitment to you and bring your concerns to him.
Read Psalm 45.
