8/17/22

Since Jackson was in town, I took him out to eat in south Huntsville, where he told me about a nearby look-out off Cecil Ashburn Road. For those who don’t know, Cecil Ashburn is a treacherous, yet beautiful, drive over the mountain connecting Jones Valley with Owens Cross Roads. On the rare occasion I’m on Cecil Ashburn Road, I’m more concerned with someone running me off the road than I am taking in the beauty! So I’d never noticed the parking lot that marks the head of a nature trail where, every evening, people pull off the side of the road to watch the sunset. We saw couples, families, people of various nationalities, all stopping what they were doing to watch in silence as the sun dipped below a distant mountain. It was a stunning sunset. My mind went back to Psalm 65,

Those who live at earth’s farthest bounds are awed by your signs;
you make the gateways of the morning and the evening shout for joy.

There’s a psalm for everything.

This past Sunday I preached on the essential practice of Study and invited everyone to join us reading a psalm a day. I mentioned some questions you can ask when reading the Psalms, and a couple of you asked for more information . . . So here we go!

All of the Psalms can be divided into three categories: 1. Psalms that say life is good; 2. Psalms that say life is awful; and 3. Psalms that say life was awful, but now look at what God has done! When you read a psalm, ask yourself the question, “What type of psalm am I reading?”

For example, today’s reading is Psalm 48, a psalm that says, “Life is good!” The psalmist walks around the temple mount, thinking about the safety and peace within the walls of Jerusalem and sings, “Great is the Lord and greatly to be praised in the city of our God.” When we think of the book of Psalms, that’s probably the sort of psalm we think of. In fact, the Hebrew name of the book, tehillim, means “praises.” The Greek name, psalmoi, means a song to be sung to the accompaniment of a harp – and when you pronounce that “ps” at the beginning of the word, it sounds like the plucking of a string.

In these “life is good” psalms, we find praises to God (“The Lord is gracious and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love” Psalm 145:8), songs about the ideal king (“Give the king your justice, O God, and your righteousness to a king’s son” 72:1), songs about God’s gracious dealings (“Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits - who forgives all your iniquity, who heals all your diseases” 103:2-3), and songs of peace and security (“Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for thou art with me” 23:4). All of these psalms praise God because life is good.

Life is not always good.

In fact, out of the 150 psalms, 66 are either complaints or at least partial complaints! A complaint or lament psalm looks honestly at the tough times of life and asks God to do something about it (although, “ask” is a mild word . . . most of the laments are boldly insistent). I love the honesty of the book of Psalms for including both the good and the shadow side of life, and these psalms give us words to pray when we’re experiencing tough times. Some of these psalms are community laments. For example, Psalm 74 was written after the temple was destroyed: “O God, why do you cast us off forever? Why does your anger smoke against the sheep of your pasture? Remember your congregation. . .” Psalm 137 is sung by the people on the banks of the Euphrates in Babylon after Jerusalem was destroyed: “By the rivers of Babylon— there we sat down and there we wept when we remembered Zion” (137:1).

Most of the Psalms are personal laments. Psalm 51 is David’s song of repentance after his sin with Bathsheba: “Have mercy on me, O God, according to your steadfast love, according to your abundant mercy blot out my transgressions” (51:1). Psalm 13 is called the “howling psalm” because four times the psalmist asks, “How long, O Lord?” Most of the laments include some hopeful note - even the “howling psalm” ends with, “But I trusted in your steadfast love; my heart shall rejoice in your salvation” (13:5). There’s one lament, Psalm 88, however, that has no hope whatsoever. This psalm opens with a cry (“O Lord, God of my salvation, when I cry out before you . . . incline your ear to my cry” 88:1) and ends with a whimper (“You have caused friend and neighbor to shun me; my companions are darkness” 88:18). Two things to keep in mind when you read it: 1. The psalmist never turns his back on God, 2. Darkness doesn’t have the last word. The very next psalm opens with “I will sing of your steadfast love, O Lord, forever” (89:1). The steadfast love of the Lord always wins out, even in our darkest moments!

The third type of psalms are those that say, “Life was bad, but look at what God has done!” A lot of these are Thanksgiving psalms like Psalm 30 (“O Lord my God, I cried to you for help, and you have healed me” 30:1). Some, like Psalm 98 – the inspiration for “Joy to the World” – are celebrations of God as King winning the victory over his enemies (“O sing to the Lord a new song, for he has done marvelous things. His right hand and his holy arm have gotten him victory” 98:1). In each of these psalms, God has acted on behalf of the psalmist and turns his song from peril to praise.

So, a good place to begin is to read the psalm and ask yourself what type of psalm you’ve just read. Next, ask yourself, does this psalm speak to me where am I in life? My life is all sunshine and Psalm 100 right now, so I find it hard to connect with the darkness of a Psalm 88. But. . . I can think of someone who is going through a Psalm 88 patch of life, and who feels like their “companions are darkness.” I can’t pray Psalm 88 for myself, but I can pray Psalm 88 for someone else and ask God to help them get beyond the shadows.

If life is going well, and your psalm is a psalm that says “life is good,” then use it to praise God! If life isn’t going so well, and your psalm says “life is awful,” then use your psalm to tell God your troubles. If God has brought you safely through a tough time, and your psalm is one of those that says “life was awful, but look what God has done,” then use it to thank God.

There’s a psalm for everything!

Keep reading! If you haven’t joined us in reading a psalm a day, you can start from the beginning or jump in where we are today (Psalm 48).

Blessings on your week!
Pastor Terry