Chunks: The Book of Psalms

Some scholars, in reading Psalm 55, have found it to be incoherent. At first, the psalmist seems to be complaining about being persecuted by enemies. But there’s a sudden shift halfway through the psalm: now the complaint seems to be about being betrayed by a friend. There are no easy answers here, but there is much to learn about the reality of betrayal and how we might respond. 

“How long, LORD?” It’s a common complaint in the Psalms. We’re not always told what the psalmists are suffering, nor how long they’ve had to prayerfully endure, waiting for God to do something. But at some point, the psalmists have to express their anguished impatience—and they sometimes do so in a no-holds-barred fashion. Psalm 13 is a short and excellent example of this, illustration the necessa...

The poet who wrote Psalm 14 (and perhaps Psalm 53 as well) says that there isn’t a single person in the world who does good—but also suggests that God is present among the righteous. Is the psalmist saying that everyone is corrupt, including God’s people? Or is he only talking about the people’s enemies? Here, we’ll explore how the apostle Paul might read it, as he quotes Psalms 14 and 53.

The psalmists clearly display negative emotions in their writing, but seldom name those emotions, leaving them open to interpretation. Often, their words seem to express anger or fear, particularly with regard to their enemies. I suspect, however, that one of the main emotions expressed in Psalms 14 and 53 is disgust—disgust at the sinful and corrupt state of humankind.

It’s one thing to complain to God about our personal troubles like persecution or illness. But it’s another to see beyond these to the sorry and broken state of humanity as a whole. Psalm 14, together with its near-twin Psalm 53, laments over the foolishness and corruption of the human race.

Throughout the Psalms, the psalmists' enemies are portrayed as godless people who lie, scheme, and use violence to get their way. But the psalmists give us a vision of a world in which God, in righteousness and justice, must have the last word. And as Psalm 7 suggests, that means that sometimes the violence of the wicked will backfire and bring violence upon themselves.

In Psalm 7, the psalmist prays for an end to violence in a way that itself sounds violent. And along the way, the psalmist describes sin in a way that suggests a perversion of the way things should be. In this episode, I’ll illustrate this with a reference to…the sci-fi horror classic, Alien .  

Earlier, we saw how Psalm 51, attributed to David after he had been confronted by the prophet Nathan, was filled with words of remorse and repentance. But other psalms, like Psalm 7, protest the poet’s innocence while calling upon God to wipe out their adversaries. It’s a dangerous prayer. Is it possible to pray it with honesty and humility?

Psalms of lament often include reasons as to why God should grant the psalmist’s prayer. Psalm 6 gives two reasons. The first one is straightforward: God should do this because of his “unfailing love.” But the second is more obscure: the psalmist asks to be saved because the dead don’t praise God. How should we understand this?

God revealed himself by name to Moses at the burning bush; in English translations of the Old Testament, that name is rendered as “the LORD.” But when we read that in the Psalms, we should remember that this is the psalmist addressing God personally by name. Psalm 6 is a deeply personal plea, and it’s striking how many times the name of God is used.

When people tell their story of suffering, they need to feel heard. In Psalm 6, the psalmist pours out an intense complaint of physical and emotional suffering. At the same time, however, the psalmist is confident that God hears and draws comfort from that fact. Do we have a similar confidence that God is attentive to our prayers?

Psalm 1 seems to promise a peace-filled life to all God’s faithful—but the trials we all experience seem to suggest that the truth is more complicated. That complexity can be found throughout the Psalter. Psalm 6, a prayer for healing from what appears to be a life-threatening condition, is a good example of the depth of suffering expressed in many psalms of lament.

Psalms 42 and 43, taken together, gives us a portrait of someone feeling neglected by God and praying earnestly to know his love and care again. The psalmist anticipates being able to celebrate God’s answer in music and song. What role do songs play in a life of faith and worship?

In Psalms 42 and 43, the psalmist is longing desperately for God’s presence. Nevertheless, the psalmist cultivates hope by choosing to remember past times of God’s faithfulness, then anticipating that God will continue to be faithful.

Psalms 42 opens with a line made famous by a contemporary worship song: “As the deer panteth for the water, so my soul longeth after thee.” The language of the psalm, together with its companion, Psalm 43 (which should be read with it, back to back), suggests that the psalmist is suffering from a kind of spiritual depression and feeling alienated from God.

The author of Psalm 25 has been set upon by powerful and treacherous enemies, and prays that they will not put him to shame. Yet the psalm still includes a note of hope and begins and ends in a spirit of trust. In this episode, I’ll suggest the kinds of prayers the psalm might encourage: prayers for help, but also prayers of trust.

Though shame and guilt are often intertwined or even mistaken for each other, they are not the same. Brené Brown suggests that shame can leave one feeling “trapped, powerless, and isolated.” Likewise, in Psalm 25, the psalmist prays to be saved from shame, and uses imagery that suggests being trapped, powerless, and isolated.

Psalm 25 mentions another important biblical theme: the fear of God. It’s not a concept that comes easily to Christians who have only heard about God’s love and grace—but we can see it even in the gospels. This is not the fear of abuse, but awe at the recognition of God’s holiness and power. And the psalmist teaches that God draws near to those who fear him.

Covenant is an important theme in Psalm 25; it would have been intrinsic to the psalmist’s understanding of God’s relationship to his people. Covenants are not the same as contracts; they demand a greater degree of loyalty. The psalm reminds us that throughout the Old Testament story, God remains true to his covenant promises even when his people don’t live up to their side of the covenant commitm...

Do you know the feeling of having lost your way? I suspect the psalmist did too. In the middle of Psalm 25, the psalmist prays repeatedly to be taught God’s way. This is reminiscent of Psalm 1, which teaches God’s people to see life as a choice between the way of righteousness and the way of wickedness.

Stuff happens—anything from minor inconveniences to major crises. And when bad things happen, it’s good and right to go to God in prayer. What Psalm 25 teaches is that inside that prayer should also be a prayer for wisdom, sometimes of repentance, and always with humble trust and confidence in the goodness of God.

I sometimes think of Psalm 25 as the “everything pizza” of the Psalms; it’s another acrostic poem (like Psalm 119), and it has many of the stylistic elements of other psalms. We’ll explore the structure of the psalm, which seems designed to suggest that humility is at its heart—indeed, that humility is at the heart of prayer. 

That’s a famous line from one of my favorite movies, The Princess Bride. Here, I will suggest that it’s also the way we should probably read a famous line from Psalm 46.

I have always lived in a place where earthquakes are a fact of life. Until you’ve been through one, you may not realize how much we take the stability of the ground beneath our feet for granted. But it can feel like the world has been shaken in other ways. Psalm 46 declares that we needn’t fear, because God is our security.

The opening lines of Psalm 46 inspired Martin Luther’s classic hymn, “A Mighty Fortress.” God is characterized as a place of refuge, like a stronghold built high on a rock. Have you ever had the sense of having been rescued from trouble by God? The psalm suggests that we should expect to encounter God at such times.