journeythroughpsalms

Many of us stumble over how to express praise in a culture in which it seems alien. The wonderful contribution of the psalms is that they solve the problem of our deficiency of praise.

Why do we worship? Why is it that worship is the common background to all Christian experience and that it is so faithfully and willingly practiced? I would suggest three things the psalms emphasize.

Psalm 121 is a quiet voice, gently and kindly telling us, that we might be wrong in the way we are going about the Christian life and then very simply, showing us the right way. “I lift up my eyes to the hills. From whence does my help come?”

Readers of this psalm tend to think that wherever the word “law” or its synonyms appear in the Old Testament there is a reference to those portions of the Word of God that are more a matter of legislation. However the term “law” as used in this psalm should not be understood in a narrow sense.

So abrupt and complete is the change that some have suggested Psalm 27 to actually be two separate psalms written for separate occasions that have been awkwardly joined together.

Early Church leader and scholar Jerome quoted the opinion of some that the first psalm is “the preface of the Holy Spirit” to the Psalter. It is certainly a very apt introduction. Two particular themes are found in it, which recur in many other psalms.

As we come to declare our love for God we must face the reality that while we are a family of faith it does not necessarily follow that we are one big happy family. But if God is our father, then this is our family.

David, being a prophet, foresaw and spoke in this psalm of Jesus’ sufferings. This is also the psalm upon which Jesus seems to have meditated as he hung on the cross.

The psalm presupposes that there is a great deal of trouble and tragedy in life. A person would have to be blind not to see it. But for those who know, God tragedy is never the final word.