The News of the World, a now defunct British Sunday paper, had as its motto, ‘all human life is there’. Maybe it was, maybe it wasn’t, I don’t know: the closest I came into contact with it was as a paperboy during my teenage years in the Midlands. But I do know somewhere else I can say for certain contains all of human life: The Book of Psalms. It’s been the theme of our summer series this year at All Nations Church and I highly recommend both the book and the series to you. Why choose the Psalms? Well, it really does run the whole gamut of human life, experience and emotion. It teaches us how to live; how to pray, praise, mourn, repent, remember, and celebrate. Psalms prepares us to meet with God alone and as part of a gathering. It allows us to see biblical heroes as powerful and prominent as Moses and David wrestling with questions of mortality, futility, injustice, betrayal and frustration and, in so doing, prepares us to do the same. Take David as an example for just a moment. Author of more Psalms than anyone else, it is no surprise for us to see that music ran through the life of the great king like a thread through a tapestry – all the way from his humble beginnings keeping his father’s sheep in Bethlehem to passing his crown and his plans for the Temple onto his own son Solomon. David’s life was an extraordinary one: full of danger and adventure and intimacy with God. And so often, David’s response to a situation was to write a song about it. He wrote at least one song about fleeing from his own son, Absalom (see Psalm 3 and also, perhaps, Psalm 63). He wrote another about the unrighteous behaviour of Doeg the Edomite (see Psalm 52). Perhaps most famously, his response to being confronted over the murder of Uriah the Hittite was to compose a psalm (see Psalm 51).
What this means is that when we approach this collection of 150 songs (two of them are so close in theme and language as to be almost identical – see if you can spot which ones) we can be confident that we are reading things that will help us draw near to God, relate to our fellow man, and navigate the triumphs and tragedies of human life. And while some might say that is true of the whole Bible (and they would be right), there is something about the intensity and specificity of poetic language and something about the emotional potency of song, that makes the Psalms stand out so powerfully. It’s why so many heroes of faith throughout history have returned to the Psalms for their inspiration. The great Victorian preacher Charles Haddon Spurgeon produced a three volume series on the Psalms called The Treasury of David. C.S. Lewis (a subject of a recent episode on the All Nations Church podcast) wrote a book on the Psalms. Dietreich Bonhoeffer, martyred for his faith just days before the end of the Second World War, gave lectures on the Psalms. Bill Johnson of Bethel Church in Redding, California once said that one of his solutions to problems was to read the Psalms until he came across something that sounded like what he was thinking or feeling at that particular moment. If all of that were not evidence enough, we have the New Testament to help us as well. The Psalms are the most quoted Old Testament book in the New Testament as a whole and by Jesus himself in particular. The most quoted Old Testament verse in the New Testament is, guess what, from the Psalms. (In case you’re wondering which one, it’s Psalm 110:1: ‘The Lord said to my Lord, “Sit at my right hand until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet.”’)
So I thought it might be helpful to offer a few tips as to get the most out of this fantastic book. Here we go.
Read Them
There is, I have said to many a student over the years, no substitute for reading the Bible. So I would encourage you to actually read the Psalms! (Reading plans are available if you wish.) Eugene Peterson, the man behind The Message paraphrase of the Bible and author of numerous Christian books including A Long Obedience in the Same Direction, Run With Horses and The Pastor, advocated reading a single Psalm every day. Ern Baxter, the Canadian Bible teacher who worked with almost every major Christian figure in the second half of the 20th century, encouraged the practice of reading five every day (along with a chapter of Proverbs), thus allowing you to get through the whole book every month. Do what works for you with the time you have and the commitments you have already made. Here’s my own top tip: read them out loud. The Psalms are poetry and poetry is a literary medium best experienced when eyes and ears are working together (somewhere students who sat through my poetry seminars at university back in the day are breaking out in a cold sweat). Plus faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God. If possible, read them to yourself (or someone else) rather than just using an audio Bible. These are great – I have one on my phone – but there is something uniquely powerful about reading and hearing the Word of God together at the same time.
Sing Them
The Psalms are songs. Some of them even shared the same tunes. They are meant to be sung. And, as you read through the book, take note of how often a psalmist will use a phrase that a songwriter has subsequently turned into their own composition. Every time I read Psalm 97, Pete Sanchez Jr’s ‘I Exalt Thee’ goes through my head. Same with Psalm 92 and Darlene Zschech’s ‘Shout to the Lord’. Let these psalm-based songs form a part of your daily walk with the Lord. And maybe even try to write your own!
Learn Them
A tragedy of modern spirituality is that so little of our brain capacity is used for meditating on and memorising the Bible. The Psalms are perfect for correcting this. Start with Psalm 1 or 2. Then maybe try Psalm 23 or 27 or 84. The benefits are huge. First, it will help you a great deal in your prayers and worship to God. Secondly, it will help you greatly in renewing your mind. And thirdly, if you ever can’t sleep at night or are awake far too early in the morning, you have something wholesome you can rehearse and repeat as you lie awake. (Another top tip for parents: offer to pay your children £1 for each psalm they can memorise. It’s a great school holiday challenge.)
Live Them
The Psalms are full of life because they came from the lips of people living life to the full for God. They work in practice because they came out of practice. So you really can, ‘delight yourself in the Lord and he will give you the desires of your heart’ (Psalm 37:4) . You really can ‘wait for the Lord, be strong, and let your heart take courage’ (Psalm 27:14). You really, really, really can ‘give thanks to the Lord for he is good’ (Psalm 106:1)
Repeat Them
Once you’ve mastered all these things, start over again. Peterson and Baxter both advocated reading the Psalms on repeat. Having followed their example for a while now (sometimes doing Peterson’s one a day, sometimes Baxter’s five, sometimes somewhere in between) I wholeheartedly agree with them. The Psalms inspire me to worship God; to love both him and his people; to be patient and humble and upright; to meet together with my family and spread abroad the great things God has done. And each time I journey through this book, I see things I haven’t before and learn things I’d missed the last time.
