Inspiration & Worship

Inspiration & Worship

The Psalms Journey

In the middle of the Bible is a collection of 150 psalms (sacred sayings) that offer a jarring roller coaster ride of human rantings directed toward God. Several authors wrote them over a period of about 1,000 years, starting in the time of Moses (1500 B.C.). King David penned about half of them. They were passed down through oral tradition before they were written down.

We gravitate toward the psalms that comfort us, the 23rd being a crowd favorite. Many of them, however, were composed during times of anguish and deep disappointment with God. Feelings of abandonment, anger and frustration are laid bare; They’re both timeless and oddly familiar.

If we’re honest, all of us have experienced anger with God. We see Christians suffer hardship, oppression, sickness, death. We see evil prosper and ask why.

The psalmists’ emotional poetry helps us to know what a healthy relationship with God looks like, says author Philip Yancey. By “peering over their shoulders,” we witness both their rantings and the ways they talk themselves down from the ledge. They breathe deeply and then state what they know for sure about God: He is good, wise, powerful, tender. They also acknowledge their own yearning for closeness with Him.

The psalmists force themselves to recall the many times God rescued Israel from its self-inflicted messes. With hearts softened by memories of their own weakness, they regain some perspective. God is mighty; they are needy.

The psalmists find wonder in the starry skies and fertile earth. Their ranting turns to flights of joyous praise they can’t contain.

Yancey writes in “The Bible Jesus Read”:

“The odd mixture of psalms of cursing, psalms of praise and psalms of confession no longer jars me as it once did. Instead, I am continually amazed by the spiritual wholeness of the Hebrew poets, who sought to include God in every area of life by bringing to God every emotion experienced in daily activity. One need not ‘dress up’ or ‘put on a face’ to meet God. There are no walled-off areas; God can be

trusted with reality.”

To experience Psalms is to fellowship with all who have ever struggled with, and deeply loved, God. ❚ – Janine Pumilia

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