19.11.10p - Psalms - Praise The Lord

Many have called the book of Psalms the songbook of the Old Testament, and that is true. But this songbook was organized and inspired by God. The Psalms are written over 1000 years, dating from 3500 years ago to 2500 years ago. But what are the Psalms, and are they really applicable to us? It is hard to summarize 150 chapters because there are multiple ways to look at it. None of the ways to summarize the Psalms are wrong, but none of them do justice and leave us feeling like we are ready to get the most out of this book. I want to summarize the book in three different ways tonight. First, we will look at the Psalms from the broadest perspective, understanding the primary themes and the ultimate message. Then, we will see how Jesus fits into the Psalms. Finally, we will dig into how this book helps us.

What are the Psalms About?

1. Themes and Ultimate Message

First, I want to recommend that there is a design to this book. Most scholars believe that the returned exiles compiled it. So what message would the exiles wish to all of those in the following generations to understand?

Blessed Living

At the beginning of Psalms, we have two chapters that seem to lay the groundwork for the rest of the book. These two chapters contain the two most prominent themes of the Psalms. These themes are intermingled and are supposed to be considered throughout the Psalms. Psalm 1 points to the first theme of the Psalms by saying, “Blessed is the man who... delights in the law of God.” The law of God brings us back to the five books of the Torah.

Interestingly, the five books of the Torah would be discussed in the introduction to another five-book volume. The Psalms point us to the first five books of the Bible as our source for blessedness. This theme is fully explored from many angles. There are times when it may not seem like those who do live by the Torah are blessed, but in the end, they are blessed, and the wicked are cursed.

The Lord Reigns

Psalm 2 gives us the second major theme of the Psalms, “The Lord reigns.” In this text, we see a description of God destroying the enemies of his anointed for him. God is always in control. He provides for his anointed, protecting him from the enemy. This theme is found throughout the book as David, the Lord’s anointed, faces trials and calls out to God for deliverance. The worst thing anyone can do is rebel against God or his anointed representative. This theme is fully explored, as well. There are times where it may not seem like the Lord reigns, but in the end, we will always see that he does reign.

Praise His Name

These two themes are pointing to the one big message of the book, “Praise the Lord.” The Lord is the one who gives us the law so that we can live a blessed life, and the Lord is the one who rules over the kingdoms of men so that evil does not grow beyond the boundary God has set. This book is ultimately intended to be about praising and exalting God because of who he is and what he has promised. It starts kind of rough with several lamentation Psalms, Psalms that express doubt and fear. But they always come back to praising and adoring the Lord. There is a gradual movement throughout the Psalms from a mixture of lamentation, confusion, and praise to only praise and adoration. Eventually, the book crescendos with the idea of praising the Lord in the final five Psalms, all of which begin and end with the phrase “Praise the Lord.” It could even be said that every Psalm is either about lament or praise.

Why is the book laid out like this? This is intended to help us see the maturity process that is supposed to take place in our lives. We are all going to go through periods of suffering and weakness in this life. But over time, we will develop our understanding of God’s reign and wisdom. We will see his patience toward others and toward us. We will see his many blessings that have been showered upon our heads. This will all result in a life of praise, glory, and honor for God. He has shown his steadfast love and faithfulness to us, even though we do not deserve it.

This Is A Book For Us

Understanding that God blesses those who do what is right and that the Lord reigns are foundational for our faith as well. Throughout this book, we see that the writers are struggling to see these truths in their lives, but they eventually understand it to be true. They give us this understanding at the beginning so that we know the conclusion of the matter before we start. What should we do as a result of being blessed and having the Lord over all as our God? Praise his name. This is the message of the Psalms. But there is more to see here.

2. Five Books, One Messiah

As we begin reading the Psalms, we can’t help but feel like they are organized with an even bigger purpose in mind. If you look above Psalm 1, you will see the title, “Book One.” The Psalms are divided up into five books (1-41, 42-72, 73-89, 90-106, 107-150). In the Torah, we have five books of the law, and in the Psalms, we have five books of praise and exaltation. It is most likely that these five books were joined together into the current form during the exile period that we have been studying. Whoever put all five of these books together ended each book with the phrase “Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel,” except for the last book, which ends with five Psalms praising God. These books do not appear to be in random order. They progress in the story of God’s rule through his anointed.

Book 1 (1-41)

The first book then starts with instruction and a coronation of David to be God’s anointed. The rest of the Psalms in book 1 are about David in distress as the nations rage against him. But God always saves David and exalts him. Then David turns to praise God. This should be no surprise to us because Psalm 2 said that the nations would rise against God and his anointed. Lament Psalms are prevalent throughout book one. David has to deal with several sorrows and lamentation in his life, and he relies heavily on God for help. In spite of his hard life, David praises the Lord and exalts his name. The first book ends with Psalm 41. This Psalm repeats the ideas of Psalms 1 and 2, illustrating how those two truths have held for David. He starts out saying, “Blessed is the one who considers the poor! In the day of trouble, the Lord delivers him.” God blesses him because he has chosen the path of righteousness. Verses 8-13 show that, though his enemies are rising against him, God delights in David and will not let the enemies triumph over him.

Book 2 (42-72)

In the second book, others join with David in praising the Lord. There are more lamentations, but still more praise as the sons of Korah and Asaph add their Psalms to more of David’s Psalms. The Psalms in this second book take on a national tone as well as the individual tone, but they give the same message as the first book. The unique part of this book is how it ends. At the end of this book, Psalm 72, we see the heading, “Of Solomon.” This final Psalm speaks of the son of David as the ideal king who is given universal authority. This Psalm seems to focus on the covenant God has made with David in 2 Samuel 7 and ask God to make Solomon into that king. Then, there is something else added to this book at the very end, “The prayers of David, the son of Jesse, are ended.” This appears to be a final Psalm of David’s, and this marks a transition point in the Psalms. The anointed one has much fewer Psalms after book two.

Book 3 (73-89)

Book three seems to be a book of crisis. It begins with Asaph questioning the validity of Psalm 1. He does not see the righteous being blessed, and it ends with two Psalms (88-89) of despair, questioning God’s commitment to the David covenant, saying, “But now you have cast off and rejected; you are full of wrath against your anointed. You have renounced the covenant with your servant; you have defiled his crown in the dust. You have breached all his walls; you have laid his strongholds in ruins.” It seems like these Psalms are reminiscing on the time of David’s reign and asking for God to restore the kingship for Israel to rise again.

Book 4 (90-106)

The fourth book looks back to the time when there was no king in Israel by starting with Moses’ Psalm. Instead of taking on the negative tone of lamentation, we begin to see a maturing of God’s people to praise God for being their king. Book four seems to answer the problem and distress of collection one by saying that God was able to save without a king at the beginning, and he still reigns over the kingdoms of men. Over and over again in this book, we see the theme of Psalm 2 repeated, “The Lord reigns,” “The Lord reigns,” “The Lord reigns.” The people seem to come to the determination that looking for another king like David is disappointing, but they have the Lord. He can save them and strengthen them. It ends reflecting on the promises of God, reflecting on the sins of the people, and calling for God to remember those who delight in his word and provide the salvation he has promised.

Book 5 (107-150)

The final book of the Psalter brings great hope as it focuses on God’s faithfulness to his covenant promises. God’s anointed one comes back into the picture, and he is saved to do what Psalm 2 says he would do, “The Lord is at your right hand; he will shatter kings on the day of his wrath. He will execute judgment among the nations, filling them with corpses” (Psalm 110:5). This book also brings up Psalm 1 again, showing that God’s steadfast love endures forever toward those who love him and delight in his word. In Psalm 119, we find the longest chapter in the Bible. It is entirely focused on how amazing God’s word is, and it tells how God blesses those who live by his word. After Psalm 119, we have several songs that would be sung as the people ascend to Jerusalem during the feasts. These Psalms are encouraging everyone to come and bless the Lord for how wonderful and majestic he is. The book ends with some great Psalms that praise the name of the Lord and ask for God’s continual deliverance against evil.

The Anointed One

One thing that you might have picked up on is the focus around Israel’s relationship with God through a mediator, king David. David is given particular interest because of the prosperity Israel receives from God through him. They are in a time of disparity. They are living without the anointed one, but then, there is a return of the king. All of this points us to Christ. The book of Psalms is the most used book in the New Testament. It has been said that much of the Psalms are mostly the songs of Christ. The suffering of the lamentation Psalms represent the suffering of Christ, and the glory and exaltation of the praise Psalms represent the glory that Christ gives to God or the glory that Christ receives from God.

Jesus used the Psalms to verify who he was. Jesus used Psalm 110 to point out that David called his son Lord, he used Psalm 82 to say that he is not blaspheming when Jesus calls himself the son of God, and he used Psalm 41 to say that one who shares bread with him will lift up his heel against him. Psalm 22 is the perfect example of Jesus quoting a Psalm on the cross to say, “This is all about me!” Every Psalm is not about Jesus (There are Psalms where they confess sins that do not fit Christ). But for the most part, we can see how these Psalms were looking forward to our anointed one (Messiah) from a big-picture point of view. That anointed one will trust the Lord to be faithful and will endure great hardship as the nations rage against him and the God he loves. He will call for God to save him and will be delivered. Then, he will tell of his goodness to all of those around him.

3. Why Do We Need The Psalms?

The Messiah aspect of the Psalms is enough to get us interested in them, but the Psalms can also have a tremendous impact on our everyday lives. As Christians, we are supposed to live “to the praise of his glory.” But sometimes, we struggle to remember the Lord when times are good, and sometimes we forget to remember the Lord when times are hard. Instead of recognizing the Lord and following his path, we may think only about what we will do next or about how others are to blame for what has happened to me. Instead of responding in a godly way, we may react with frustration. We may find ourselves taking out those frustrations on those around us. If we do remember the Lord, we struggle to know how to express ourselves in either situation correctly. We need a book that guides our feelings and helps us express our emotions so that our hearts are tender and loving toward each other and our Lord.

The need for this kind of book is not missed on God, who provides us with 150 Psalms. The Psalms help us to understand what to think about God, but they also touch on our emotional side, telling us how to feel. They dig down deep into our hearts and help us on a deeper level. In the Psalms, there are feelings of loneliness, awe, sorrow, regret, remorse, discouragement, shame, triumph, marveling, delight, joy, gladness, fear, anger, peace, grief, desire, hope, broken heartedness, gratitude, zeal, pain, and confidence. The list of feelings goes on and on. Many of these emotions we may struggle to connect with if our life experience is limited, but as we grow older, we will connect with them more and more. John Piper put it like this, “The Psalms carry, express, and shape our feelings and emotions.” I think that sums up the benefits.

Psalms teach us to correct and express our emotions. If we don’t know what we are feeling, we can find our feelings in the Psalms. If we know what we are feeling but struggle to express those feelings, we can see the Psalmist expresses it better than we could ever hope to. And if we need guidance on how we ought to feel when our feelings are betraying what we know is right, some Psalms encourage us to remember the love of God and put our trust in him. These songs do more than refine our doctrine. They refine the feelings of our hearts as we try to do what is right.

An example of this is Psalm 73. As Asaph envies the wicked, who prosper in this life, he says, “All in vain have I kept my heart clean and washed my hands in innocence.” Have we ever felt envious toward a wicked relative or neighbor and started questioning all of the sacrifices we are making for the Lord? Then, we go to the sanctuary, like Asaph, and discern the end of the wicked. Then, we turn our hearts like Asaph and say, “When my soul was embittered, when I was pricked in heart, I was brutish and ignorant; I was like a beast toward you. Nevertheless, I am continually with you; you hold my right hand. You guide me with your counsel, and afterward you will receive me to glory. Whom have I in heaven but you? And there is nothing on earth that I desire beside you.”

The Psalmist points to our deepest and darkest feelings, and then he brings us out of it to see what matters most! We are given Psalms of lament and praise because we need both to handle the two extremes in life. The Psalms help us understand how lamenting or grieving over bad things is normal, but also how God is expecting us to see all that he has done and praise him anyway. Do we struggle with that? How many of us forget what God has done when things get tough? Make your default response to go to the Psalms.

Conclusion

The message of the Psalms is to praise the Lord. This is what all of the instruction is leading us toward. Ultimately we are created for this purpose, to be, “To the praise of his glory,” and we must come to understand that the Lord alone is worthy of the highest praise. No matter how difficult or enjoyable our life becomes, we must praise his name. We praise his name in song, we praise his name in prayer, we praise his name by telling what he has done to those around us, and we praise his name by putting our faith in him when things get tough. “Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in your sight, O Lord, my rock and my redeemer.” (Psalm 19:14)