Shepherding Students Through the Psalms: As we care for students in the complex situations they face, we are so aware that we need resources beyond ourselves—the resources of the gospel. Our students struggle with anxiety and addiction. They face troubling situations at school and family conflict at home. They feel stressed out, left out, and weighed down with heavy burdens. In these situations requiring pastoral wisdom and care, the Psalms are resources of great value for us and for our students. In fact, Jesus himself leaned on the Psalms quite frequently, alluding to them in moments of betrayal (Mark 14, Psalm 41) and deep distress (Matt. 27, Psalm 22). The Psalms remind both us and our students that we can be honest about our struggles before God.
All my life people have asked me how tall I am, whether I play basketball (the disappointing answer is “no”), or how the weather is on my plane of existence. I can still picture where I was standing in seventh grade when one of my friends remarked, “I didn’t know high waters were in style!” I can also remember the location of my 11th grade desk when my statistics teacher demonstrated standard deviation by calculating who was the biggest freak: me or the tallest girl in the class. I won.
We all deal with insecurities—and perhaps never more so than in our teenage years. No matter how good teenagers may feel about themselves, a new fit, the latest haircut, some fresh kicks, or the car they’re rolling up in, that confidence is fleeting. Teenagers often fear they will be exposed.
My own insecurities as a teenager remind me of the struggles my students wrestle daily in a world that endlessly compares, critiques, and chastises for the least important reasons. Students may worry over their weight, hair color or type, intelligence, status, clothing, phone, car, online appearance, social skills, athletic abilities. Whatever the particular insecurity, every student faces the pressure to perform, measure up, and hopes not be found wanting in the eyes of her peers.
We all long for security through the uncertainties of life, or at least the ability to maintain a confident facade. However, the foundation continually crumbles. You see, our insecurities often flow from a misplaced hope. I look to myself as my sources of confidence. When I do that, every perceived flaw or imperfection will erode the shaky foundation and wash away any security I believed myself to have. Lasting confidence, on the other hand, requires a secure foundation, a sure hope. While our temptation is to continue turning inward, strengthening our abilities and tamping down the voice of our inner critics, the only confidence that sustains us must be found outside ourselves.
Psalm 110, with its hope-producing Messianic promises, provides us a confidence-grounding promise of God’s providential protection and provision in Christ. As ministers of the gospel, we can recenter our students’ confidence by pointing them to the Savior who will not disappoint.
Biblical Background of Psalm 110
As you read this Psalm, you may find yourself asking, “what does this have to do with insecurity?” This Psalm doesn’t talk about how to find peace with my appearance, my abilities, my failures, or my social challenges. It doesn’t tell me how smart, good, funny, or attractive I am. Instead, it talks about a priest-king winning battles, judging nations, and sitting on his throne. To understand how this Psalm can provide confidence for the insecure, we are going to have to dive into the background, unpack a few focuses of the Psalm, then see how this Psalm has come to fulfillment for the Christian today.
Perhaps David should be named the patron saint for the insecure. Imagine with me the playground of early Israel, seeking out its hero to serve as king. God himself sent Samuel as the team captain to look at the lineup and find the champion to replace the failing and rejected Saul (talk about insecurity!). Samuel walks out onto the blacktop to survey his options. He passes by the entire lineup and none measured up. “Is there no one else?” David’s own dad didn’t think he measured up to the task! He didn’t even let David show up for tryouts.
Well, a lot of water has gone under the bridge by the time David wrote Psalm 110. The runt slayed the giant, survived Saul’s many attempts on his life, and was ruling over Israel, building the kingdom and leading it to prominence. David alone seemed to recognize his qualification, yet even in his anointing and patient waiting for the throne demonstrated the humble confidence that comes from trusting in God’s promises rather than self.
A Psalm about Jesus
One way I love to study the Psalms and to teach students about reading the Old Testament is through the following four steps (during one study, we printed these as bookmarks for students to keep in their Bibles):
- Start with the message of the Psalm in its historical context.
- Consider how the Psalm relates to Jesus (using the framework of the Old Testament Messiah: Prophet, Priest, King)
- Search to see if the New Testament uses this Psalm.
- Use the Psalm for prayer and worship.
Psalm 110 proves to be a highly Messianic Psalm, demonstrated through the many references to it throughout the New Testament. As we look at these references, we can find a great source of comfort and confidence to face all of our insecurities in life. Let’s look at three descriptions of our Messiah to find our confidence in him.
At God’s Right Hand (vv. 1-2)
Verse one becomes a central passage to our understanding of Jesus as it is repeatedly referenced in the New Testament (Matt. 22:41-46; Acts 2:34-35; Heb. 1:13; 10:11-13). These references demonstrate several key attributes of Jesus including his divinity (Matt. 22:41-46), his status as Christ and Lord (Acts 2:34-35), his superiority to the angels (Heb. 1:13), and the completion of his work of atonement (Heb. 10:11-13).
Jesus now sits at the Father’s right hand as the exalted, divine Lord who has completed his saving work on our behalf. As our students struggle with insecurities of all kinds, we can remind them that we follow Jesus, who is greater than any other being on this earth and has accomplished what no one else could accomplish! He waits patiently for the day when the Father will put all his enemies under his feet.
A Priest Forever (vv. 3-4)
As the Psalm continues, David figures Jesus as a priest. He’s not your regular, run-of-the-mill priest of the Old Covenant. Our confidence rests in a better priest. In Hebrews 7:15-22, the author explains why the New Covenant in Christ is superior to the Old Covenant. His priesthood is not an ineffective priesthood like that of the former priests. He is one like Melchizedek, who is a priest forever (Heb. 7:1-4).
In Abraham’s time, before the levitical priesthood, Melchizedek, the mysterious priest, was both a priest of God and a king of righteousness and peace. Hebrews 7 interprets Psalm 110:4 to reveal that Jesus, like Melchizedek, serves as a priest-king. Melchizedek seemingly appears from nowhere, already a priest, and was worthy of Abraham’s submission. While Melchizedek seemed eternal, Jesus truly is eternal. God swore the priesthood of Jesus would last (Ps. 110:4a). So we can assure struggling or insecure students that our perfection is attainable—not through our own efforts, but through his perfect life on our behalf (Heb. 7:23-25).
The Conquering King (vv. 1, 5-7)
Finally, David depicts Jesus as a conquering king. Jesus, speaking to the Sadducees, applies these words to show David’s exaltation of the coming Messiah (Matthew 22:41-46, Mark 12:35-37, and Luke 20:41-44). David, himself the king of Israel, exalts the Messiah, pointing to just how great a king Jesus truly is!
Psalm 110:5-7 celebrates our king’s accomplishments of judgment and conquest, fulfilling the promise of verse 1 as he conquers every enemy who stands against him. The day of wrath (cf. Romans 2:5; Revelation 6:17) has finally come and Jesus is the conquering king. Nothing and no one can oppose him. In verse 7 victory is near. The conquering king takes a break to quench his thirst then continues to pursue his enemies to total victory. Whatever teenagers are facing, we can remind them that Jesus is the king who will finally make all things right. This is the ultimate source of our confidence and joy.
Confidence in Christ
We have the privilege of sharing with teenagers the foundation for true confidence. It is not in our own work! Our confidence and new life stands on Christ’s accomplishment. We impart to teenagers the confidence that our Lord sits on his throne, patiently waiting for all of his creation to be placed under his feet. Everyone will submit, either freely (Ps. 110:3) or as a conquered footstool (Ps. 110:1). As his followers, we know with confidence that our Lord will reign over all things, and we will reign alongside him. Jesus will overcome every challenge we face in this life.
We can also offer teenagers hope by reminding them their confidence rests in the priest who has completed his work. In Christ, God forgives all their imperfections, failures, sins and shortcomings. Jesus has purchased their redemption, paid the price for their sins, and he sits as the only priest to have truly and completely removed the guilt of sin. We can give them confident assurance that they are redeemed by his blood. They now are dressed in holy garments (Psalm 110:3), and Jesus has prepared them as his beautiful, decadently arrayed bride (Revelation 19:8).
Finally, your students follow the conquering king, and he will lead them to victory as he takes his eternal throne. Remind them that they are not citizens of a failing kingdom but an eternal kingdom ruled by an eternal king. While so many of the worldly institutions we might commit ourselves to will collapse and come to an end, Jesus’ kingdom will endure for eternity.
Psalm 110 reorients misplaced confidence—for us, and for our students. They no longer need to look to build self-esteem through bigger muscles, nicer clothes, better grades, or popularity. Instead, both students and youth ministers can ground our hope in Jesus, the one who has accomplished salvation and offers the hope of eternal life in his kingdom.
A note from the editors: Psalms are meant to be experienced, helping us to take the truths of God’s character deep into our souls. Here’s a song based on this psalm for your encouragement: Psalm 110 by Liturgical Folk.
Looking for help in teaching the Bible to teenagers? Rooted offers Bible-based curriculum, available on Rooted Reservoir.
