Meditation on Psalms
PREFACE This is the shortest essay I’ve ever written! You should be overjoyed 😇 The Book of Psalms poses a conundrum for me as I attempt to guide a small group through it. Why was it written? In many respects, the subject of each psalm varies widely, from abject despair to ecstatic joy. It is placed almost exactly in the middle of The Bible; is the positioning significant? There are personal pleas for protection and blessing, but also pleas for destruction and cursing of enemies. Take a deep breath! In the end, the Psalms seem to me to be a product of the contemplative life, a magnificent array of human thought and emotion, but importantly, those under the sovereign providence of a God who cares about such things. In it are topics that would embarrass many, yet David draws aside the curtain of his heart so that we may see that which resides within someone, a man, after God’s own heart.
PS Many have written about the Psalms better or more extensively so please consider this one man’s simple reflections and forgive my literary license.
As some of you may remember, our small group is reading The Bible in a Year. We are nearing the half-way point and in a few days will meet for our first discussion of Psalms. Everybody probably has a favorite Psalm, maybe 23, or 51, or 139 (you’ll have to look them up), but how do we study them? How do we get through the book? There are 150! Our journey, and in order to reach our goal of getting through The Bible in a year, requires five chapters a day; that’s 35 in a week. From there, pick a favorite Psalm or verse? Be ready to share? ...can we go any deeper than that?
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I’ve been thinking a lot, pondering really, about how to extract the story line(s) from Psalms and how to organize our discussion. There are so many great Psalms, great verses, and uncanny prophesies, it is hard to narrow down to merely a few. There are Psalms from King David mostly, but also Asaph and even one or two that may have been recorded by Solomon; his origins are an interesting story! Perhaps there are others. Also, there are poetic elements that remind me of the book of Job. Proverbs. Lamentations. Perhaps that is why Psalms is considered part of the Wisdom Literature.
To me, the Book of Psalms is also unique in a way I’d never before considered. Why is that? An important clue may be that it follows in order the Book of Job where Job pours out his heart before God in the form of a poetic and structured dialogue with four unhelpful friends. By structured I mean the form of the dialogue among the men, which was common to the Semitic languages, and of which, Hebrew is one. But this is not the important part. Job is in effect crying out to God, but in recognition of His sovereignty (“The Lord gives and the Lord takes, blessed be the name of the Lord!” In addition, Job is expressing his frustration, his desire for understanding, mercy, and justification; his anger and despair are prominent, but also significant, is his hope (Job 19:25).
In the Book of Psalms, David follows in Job’s footsteps and here we have an intimate glimpse into the inner life of a Spirit-filled man. David was, after all, “A man after God’s own heart.” Definitely not a perfect man, or even a good one, but one like us who is sometimes in tune with God’s desires, plans, and purposes; and often not. You decide. Thus, in Psalms we see significantly the agony and the ecstasy of walking with God, of being called the friend of God. We see all the ups and down of a friendship in Psalm 51, but especially verses 16 and 17, “For you will not delight in sacrifice, or I would give it; you will not be pleased with a burnt offering. The sacrifices of (acceptable to) God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise.” You can hear David’s anguish and at the same time, his hope.
So, what can we take from this? At least this: Speaking with the triune God (prayer) is the privilege to which we are invited as believers in Christ: I have called you friends (John 15:15). So let us come boldly to the throne of our gracious God (Hebrews 14:16). Therefore, let us come with reverence, awe, and gratitude to that place of intimacy where we can express all of that which concerns us, even those things that we think He might not be interested in, because that is not true. He cares for us. The key is reverence, awe, and gratitude. Reverence because He is God Almighty, Creator and Ruler of all that was, and is, and is to come. Awe because He is worthy to be praised and worthy to be worshiped above every name. Gratitude because He gave His very self on the Cross of Christ and left us the gift of the Comforter, His Holy Spirit.
I hope you will meditate on what I have written. Fact check it against Holy Scripture. Read, listen, sing, and pray the Psalms. They are yet another way to let Him write His Word upon our hearts. And claim the promise that as He creates in us clean hearts, and renews our minds with the mind of Christ Jesus, God is transforming us not into subjects, though we are, but into Sons and Daughters of the Most High God!