Reading the Psalms

These are My words which I spoke to you while I was still with you, that all things which are written about Me in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled. Luke 24:44

Reading the Psalms is a little-used but highly effective way of advancing your spiritual life. The Psalms are the songbook of Israel, a chronicle of praise and pain from our spiritual ancestors. The New Testament relies on the Psalms as foundational, and they can be a scriptural bedrock of spiritual formation.  

The Psalms are, first of all, part of God’s inspired word and, thus, reveal to us the character of God. Reading the Psalms, we understand who God is and what it looks like to relate to Him. In the Psalms, we also learn how to bring our whole selves to God. When we read the Psalms, we will encounter both intellectual and emotional aspects of life brought into God’s presence. The entire range of human experience is captured in the Psalms, from the heights of joy to the depths of despair. The writers were not afraid to bring fear, delight, shame, exuberance, repentance, and longing into prayer with God. As we read and pray the Psalms, we discover that we, too, can bring our whole selves to God. 

The Psalms were written by various human authors: David wrote 73 Psalms, or about half of them; Asaph, the sons of Korah, and Moses wrote some; some do not indicate an author. But whatever human author they have, they are the inspired word of God. Jesus in Matthew 22 said, “David, IN THE SPIRIT,” wrote Psalm 110. Jesus said in Luke 24:44-45 “that all things which are written about Me in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled” — then :45 says, “Then He opened their minds to understand the SCRIPTURES.” So these Psalms are inspired Scriptures, the word of God.  

They were written originally as songs — the Hebrew word for Psalm (Mitzmor) means a song sung to musical accompaniment. Many of them carry inscriptions (which are part of the original Hebrew text), which say things like: “for the choir director,” or “to the tune of ‘Lilies’” and so on. So when we are reading the Psalms, we are basically reading song lyrics that the Hebrews used for worship. And of course, many of the songs we sing today come right out of these Biblical Psalms.  But these aren’t “just” song lyrics, but prayers, which teach us how to speak and walk with God.  

There are 150 Psalms — more chapters than any other book in the Bible — and it also has more verses by far than any other book in the Bible. So the Psalms are a rich storehouse of spiritual treasure for us that we need to take advantage of to grow spiritually.

We are beginning a study of the Psalms starting this Thursday night at 7:00 via ZOOM. Please join us for this ten-week study and experience the Psalms for yourself in real time.
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Singing psalms of praise!

Fr. Bill+