I’ve written before about my agreement with a friend to read through the Bible together. Today we finished up the Psalms and will be moving most likely into the gospels.
The psalms are ancient Hebrew poetry, yet resonate to this day. Their theology is remarkable: a God who is infinitely worthy of praise, yet with ears open not only to the praises of his people – but also their petitions, anxieties, and even complaints!
Reading the stripped down, unplugged, raw honesty of these psalms has taught me about myself. I’ve learned that I am not nearly so bold or honest in my prayers as I am encouraged to be - as I'm commanded to be.
The psalms are ancient Hebrew poetry, yet resonate to this day. Their theology is remarkable: a God who is infinitely worthy of praise, yet with ears open not only to the praises of his people – but also their petitions, anxieties, and even complaints!
Reading the stripped down, unplugged, raw honesty of these psalms has taught me about myself. I’ve learned that I am not nearly so bold or honest in my prayers as I am encouraged to be - as I'm commanded to be.
Yet at the same time...
The psalms end by calling all people – and in fact, all creation – to praise God. That is, to recognize his Lordship over all creation and to admit that he is the source of all life, beauty, and blessing. For example, the very last psalm:
Praise the LORD! Praise God in his sanctuary; praise him in his mighty heavens!
Praise him for his mighty deeds; praise him according to his excellent greatness! Praise him with trumpet sound; praise him with lute and harp!
Praise him with tambourine and dance; praise him with strings and pipe!
Praise him with sounding cymbals; praise him with loud clashing cymbals!
Let everything that has breath praise the LORD! Praise the LORD!
(Psalm 150)
These are imperatives. These are commands.
When I shared these thoughts by email to my psalm reading friend, he wrote the following to me based on his experience as a church music director:
" 'Praise ye the Lord' is not a choice or an option, but a command. It really grieves me to see people standing in the congregation during a hymn with their mouths closed. Basically, that is disobedience. I don't think people connect that."
While it is important to learn something about ourselves from the psalms, we’ve really missed out if we haven’t learned something even more significant about God and the praise he deserves.
Praise the LORD! Praise God in his sanctuary; praise him in his mighty heavens!
Praise him for his mighty deeds; praise him according to his excellent greatness! Praise him with trumpet sound; praise him with lute and harp!
Praise him with tambourine and dance; praise him with strings and pipe!
Praise him with sounding cymbals; praise him with loud clashing cymbals!
Let everything that has breath praise the LORD! Praise the LORD!
(Psalm 150)
These are imperatives. These are commands.
When I shared these thoughts by email to my psalm reading friend, he wrote the following to me based on his experience as a church music director:
" 'Praise ye the Lord' is not a choice or an option, but a command. It really grieves me to see people standing in the congregation during a hymn with their mouths closed. Basically, that is disobedience. I don't think people connect that."
While it is important to learn something about ourselves from the psalms, we’ve really missed out if we haven’t learned something even more significant about God and the praise he deserves.
Become a psalm reader today. It's easy! Just turn to Psalm 1...
(It's really too bad there's a typo on this tattoo! Plus, it's a lot harder to update to a more contemporary translation if you go this route. I'd just stick with a regular copy of the Bible...)
No comments:
Post a Comment