The Holy Spirit is a Poet
The Holy Spirit is a Poet

The Holy Spirit is a Poet

The Holy Spirit is a Poet

Psalms 45:1
My heart is overflowing with a good theme;
I recite my composition concerning the King;
My tongue is the pen of a ready writer.

Psalm 25 and Psalm 145 are two of several passages of beautiful acrostic poetry in the Old Testament.

Psalms 25:4-5
Show me Your ways, O Lord;
Teach me Your paths.
Lead me in Your truth and teach me,
For You are the God of my salvation;
On You I wait all the day.
Psalms 145:1-3
I will extol You, my God, O King;
And I will bless Your name forever and ever.
Every day I will bless You,
And I will praise Your name forever and ever.
Great is the LORD, and greatly to be praised;
And His greatness is unsearchable.

An acrostic is a composition in which the initial letters of each line or unit, when taken together, spell something meaningful.

An acrostic form of poetry is when the first letter of each word in a line of poetry starts with a specific letter of the alphabet. In the Old Testament Hebrew, poetical acrostics start with “aleph,” the first letter of the Hebrew alphabet, and end with the last letter “tav.”

Note: Hebrew is written from right to left.

For example, in Psalm 119, there are 22 sections, one for each of the 22 letters of the Hebrew alphabet. The first section is titled “aleph,” and the first letter of each of the eight verses begins with that letter. 22 letters multiplied by 8 verses equals the 176 verses of Psalm 119 – the very psalm that so marvelously magnifies God’s Word!

These are the acrostic passages in the Bible:

  • Nine Psalms =  9; 10; 25; 34; 37; 111; 112; 119; 145
  • Proverbs 31:10-31
  • All of Lamentations (4 chapters)

Well, usually, we credit the genius of the poet for the development of an acrostic poem, so let’s give credit where credit is due! All credit goes solely to the Holy Spirit, our Guide, Helper, and the One who leads us into all Truth and the One who reveals Jesus (who is the Truth) to us!

We must always keep it properly situated in our mind that the Holy Spirit is the Author of Scripture. He totally “carried along,” “moved,” and “impelled” those whose hands wrote out the Scriptures (2 Peter 1:21). Knowing that, causes the idea of “acrostic” passages to take on an entirely new meaning for us when we read these passages!

Unfortunately, acrostics (and all poetry in general) do not translate very well into another language; but we can, nevertheless, some very precious truths can be uncovered concerning the acrostic poems in God’s Word:

We Are God’s Poem!

The Holy Spirit is a “Poet” – not only in Scripture but also in our lives! Poetry takes extra effort and careful organization and choice of words. In Greek, it is interesting that Ephesians 2:10 says that we are God’s “poiema” (workmanship). “Poiema” is where we get our English word, ”poem.” Therefore, our life and God’s work in our life is not random circumstances. No way! Instead, we are majestically and strategically composed!

God’s Got It All Together!

There is completeness and fullness in the idea of an acrostic “A-to-Z” poem. Often the phrase, “everything from A to Z,” is used to say that every detail of that topic will be discussed. So it is with God and the Word He has given to us: He has got it all together – “everything from A to Z”!

Jesus Is Our “A” to “Z”!

The acrostics passages and all of God’s Word are wrapped up with Jesus who refers to Himself as the Alpha and Omega – the “A” and “Z” of the Greek alphabet:

Revelation 21:6
And He said to me, "It is done! I am the ALPHA and the OMEGA, the BEGINNING and the END…

Jesus is the “A” to “Z,” the First and the Last, and the Beginning and the End. Jesus is the “Author of our Salvation,” and He is the “Finisher of our Faith” –

Hebrews 12:2
Looking unto Jesus, the AUTHOR and FINISHER of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.
Philippians 1:6
Being confident of this very thing, that He who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ.

Hallelujah! How awesome is that!

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