Our Bible study has been together for more than a quarter of a century and we have studied the entire New Testament as well as most of the Old Testament. We have approached this study by alternating Old and New Testament books and I have used an exegetical method to teach the group. That means that we go verse by verse, regardless of how long it takes, and I share the historical context of the material as well as nuggets that I learned in seminary. Sometimes, we discuss the Greek or even Hebrew in an attempt to better understand the material.
As long as I have taught Bible studies or sat under various teachers myself, I have never been a part of a study that took an intense look at the Psalms, a collection of 150 songs divided into five separate sections representing the Penteteuch – the first five books of the Bible, written by Moses under divine inspiration. The psalms are thought to have been sung during the Babylonian captivity as a reminder to the people of God that they were God’s chosen people. Unfortunately, they had fallen away from the LORD, and their punishment was to go into exile for 70 years.
We took on this study in sections, alternating the five books of the Psalms with New Testament studies in between, So… it has taken us more than four years to complete our mission. Tonight was the night that we finished the fifth book of the Psalms – psalms of worship that are loosely linked to the book of Deuteronomy, the final book of the Penteteuch. That means that we have read, studied and discussed all 150 psalms.
That’s quite an undertaking and I think that our group can now discern psalms written by David and how they differ from other writers of these poetic parts of Scripture. These books are full of praise, worship, calls for vengeance on enemies (imprecatory psalms) as well as emotional outpourings from people to the God of the universe. There are many psalms of praising God (Hallelujah psalms) and people yearning with all their heart to be drawn closer to the Father. In fact, these 150 songs undoubtedly represent the greatest emotion that can be found anywhere in the entire Bible.
Whether you are happy, sad, thankful, full of gratitude, angry, remorseful, afraid, need encouragement or even sick, I guarantee that there are psalms that will speak to your heart and provide solace in your life. We are taught by David and others that it is fine to be angry with God, to bare your soul, to cry out in pain, or to worship in gratitude. God already knows what is on your heart – and it’s perfectly fine to speak it. Honest open communication with our Creator is encouraged…
Our verse for tonight is the pinnacle of the psalms, the last one! The last section of psalms builds to a crescendo of praise and worship. This is brought to a climax in the short, but very powerful, 150th psalm. The psalmist tells all of us, in the final six verses of the book of Psalms, “Praise the LORD. Praise God in his sanctuary; praise him in his mighty heavens. Praise him for his acts of power; praise him for his surpassing greatness. Praise him with the sounding of the trumpet, praise him with the harp and lyre, praise him with tambourine and dancing, praise him with the strings and flute, praise him with the clash of cymbals, praise him with resounding cymbals. Let everything that has breath praise the LORD. Praise the LORD.”
My encouragement this evening is that these songs were created, written and sung to remind the people of the greatness of God during their time of captivity. My prayer is that we will all be reminded from time to time how much God loves us and that we have a forum to pour our hearts out to Him. After all, he is Jehovah, Elohim, Adonai… the God of the cosmos and everything in it. Have a great day in the Lord, grace and peace… Amen and Amen…