Chunks: The Book of Psalms

Many Christians suffer from self-doubt, from a sense of somehow “not being enough.” And in a culture of shame, the words of Psalm 8, wondering why God should even pay attention to human beings, can sound timid or belittling. But the psalmist isn’t done. Human beings may seem small compared to the vastness of the universe, but God has made them to be vice-regents (co-rulers, if you will) over creat...

We may be used to speaking of creation as the work of God’s hands—or even “hand” in the singular. We never say that it’s the work of God’s “fingers.” But that’s how Psalm 8 reads. It’s an image of meticulous craftmanship, applied not only to the moon and stars, but to human beings. Might we see ourselves and others as bearing God’s fingerprints?

Like Psalm 104, Psalm 8 is a “creation psalm,” a psalm of praise for the marvels of creation and its Creator. Imagine the psalmist gazing up into the heavens on a clear night, in a day before the perpetual haze of city lights existed. Awed by the vast spectacle of the night sky, the psalmist felt small by comparison—which made the psalmist marvel even more that God would pay attention to human bei...

As suggested before, there are psalms of praise and psalms of lament, and we don’t have far to look to find the latter. Psalms 1 and 2 are foundational in different ways. Then Psalms 3 to 7 give us five straight prayers for help. Then comes Psalm 8, which begins and ends on the same note: praising God for the majesty of his name.

Psalm 104, as we’ve seen, gives a worshipful portrait of God as the one who both creates all that is and then cares for his creation. But seemingly out of the blue, in the midst of rejoicing and praise, the psalmist blurts out one line of cursing. How might we understand these words, which seem so out of place?

We live in a world in which the stereotypical understanding of power doesn’t include care. But that’s not the psalmist’s understanding of God. Psalm 104 begins with a portrait of the unimaginable cosmic might of the Creator—but then also portrays God as being intimately involved in caring for his creation. It’s an image that Jesus would later use to teach his hearers to trust God.

Studying the Psalms can give us some much-needed perspective. Through them, we learn to see a bigger picture of life. Psalms 1 and 119 help us see the world as the psalmists do—and so does Psalm 104. If Psalm 119 is an ode to Torah, Psalm 104 is an ode to creation and its Creator, one that teaches us what it means to declare, “Hallelujah!”

Remember Psalm 1? That psalm taught us that there are two paths in life, one of righteousness and blessing, and the other of wickedness and destruction. The way of blessedness comes through meditation on Torah . In that sense, we might think of Psalm 119 as the sequel to Psalm 1—but one that introduces a realistic perspective that laments how even those who are devoted to Torah still suffer.

Understanding Psalm 119 requires appreciating its artistry. The structure is complex and would be difficult for any poet to achieve. But that complexity serves a symbolic purpose, contributing to the psalm’s message: God’s Law— Torah —applies to all of life, and is so foundational that we should be devoted to learning like we would learn our ABC’s. 

Sometimes, as Christians, we prioritize the New Testament in a way that doesn’t properly understand or respect the Old. We may stereotype the Old Testament as being about law, and the New Testament about grace. When we think that way, Psalm 119—the longest psalm and the longest chapter in the Bible!—may seem odd. The psalmist goes on and on about loving God’s Law. If we’re going to appreciate the...

Psalm 30 is not a simple story of hope, as if the psalmist merely fell ill and was healed. The background story is complex enough to be worthy of memoir. Our own stories are similarly complicated. To be hopeful is not simply to expect that God will fix what’s wrong with our stories; it’s knowing that our stories are part of God’s story. 

When we face serious ongoing challenges, we feel the need for hope, and the Psalms can help. But we can do more than just turn to the Psalms for a spiritual pep talk; we can learn how the psalmists see life. We’ll explore that theme using Psalm 30 as an example; it’s a song of hope by someone who was ill but by the grace of God recovered.

In the so-called Beatitudes at the beginning of the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus says, “Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth.” It’s a quote from Psalm 37. But what does it mean to be “meek”? The word the psalmist uses is an important one, and it doesn’t mean what we usually mean by meekness. 

Psalm 37 raises the question of why the wicked seems to prosper, contradicting the worldview of Psalm 1. It seems unfair. The psalmist tells God’s people not to fret or get angry, but to wait, to be patient, to be still. But can we really do this? What does the psalmist mean by patience and stillness? 

Psalm 1 seems to promise that anyone who is obedient to God’s Law ( Torah ) will live a blessed and fruitful life. But things don’t always work out that way; sometimes, it’s the wicked who prosper and the righteous who suffer. That disconnect is the subject of Psalm 37, which was written to teach God’s people wisdom. Don’t fret, the psalmist says, even when things seem out of joint. You will still...

If you were given the task of organizing 150 psalms into a collection, where would you begin? What psalm would you put first? Psalm 1 is the first psalm for a reason. In a mere six verses, it sets forth a foundational worldview that permeates the whole collection: in life, there are two paths from which to choose. One is the path of righteousness that leads to blessing; the other is the path of wi...

Some psalms are songs or poems of praise; others are songs of lament or complaint. And often, both praise and lament are woven together in the same psalm. Psalm 95 is a case in point. If the first part of the psalm is a call to worship, the second is a call to listen to God’s voice—a call that is given against the background of a history of the disobedience of God’s people.

Where should we begin our exploration of 150 psalms? We’ll come back to Psalm 1 soon, but here, we’ll begin with Psalm 95. It’s a short psalm that illustrates well some of the elements we’ll see in other psalms. And if you’re used to singing contemporary praise choruses on Sunday morning, some of the psalm should sound quite familiar…

What we call the Old Testament was what Jesus had as Scripture, and he quoted from it frequently, particularly the Psalms and Prophets. In this episode, I propose that we think of the Psalms as the soundtrack to the gospels, indeed to the New Testament itself. Can we begin to think of the Psalms not merely as songs we sing to match what we feel—sad songs, happy songs—but to shape how we see life i...

In 2020, the year the COVID-19 pandemic threw my family and the world for a loop, I began my practice of reading and journaling on the Psalms every morning. They have been a source of stability for me in unstable times, as I hope they will be for you. In this podcast, we won’t cover all 150 psalms. My purpose is to invite you to think of the Psalms as songs we can take with us on the journey of li...