The last piece I wrote for the minister’s page was on the subject of Pentecost. I would like to move now to another word beginning with P! And that is Psalms.
In our church during Sunday worship we often, as part of a prayer of praise, say a psalm of praise responsively. I say the first verse and the congregation is invited to say the second verse etc. There is something right about reading the psalms out loud and in public worship.
But, before choosing a psalm to look at, a brief introduction.
The Psalms appear in the Old Testament. They are a collection of poems, stories, and hymns, 150 of them. They talk about the whole range of human experience and are as relevant to our lives today and to our worship as when they were first written.
There are many different types of psalms; there are psalms of praise, of joy, of lament; psalms for help and for those in trouble; psalms for when you are ill and psalms of victory, thanking God for helping a nation when it is at war; and there are psalms for morning and evening. All human life is there.
So, on this minister’s page I would like to explore the psalms and what they mean. We will look at the psalms, although not necessarily in chronological order. But to begin I will start with psalm 1.
Psalm 1The Two Ways
1 Happy are those who reject the advice of evil people, who do
not follow the example of sinner or join those who have no use
for God.
2 Instead, they find joy in obeying the Law of the Lord, and they
study it day and night.
3 They are like trees that grow beside a stream, that bear fruit at
the right time, and whose leaves do not dry up. They succeed in
everything they do.
4 But evil people are not like this at all; they are like straw that
the wind blows away.
5 Sinners will be condemned by God and kept apart from God’s
own people.
6 The righteous are guided and protected by the Lord, but the
evil are on the way to their doom. We do not know who wrote this particular psalm. It was probably a special start to the book and tells us about 2 groups of people:-
V1-3 tells us about the friends of God,
V4-6 tells us about the enemies of God.
The psalmist compares life to a journey, a way, or a road, [a common theme in Christianity.] The man who walks the way with God becomes happy, but those who reject God can, the psalmist is saying, never truly be fulfilled.
Verse 1 is telling us that to really walk with God we must not do what the Godless say, and we must not scorn what God tells us.
V2 is telling us more about the “happy man” and that he enjoys studying the law.
V3 has its theme of new life and water. The books of Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and Joshua also take up this theme. They talk about the water God offers, and that when the tree is planted, and watered, it will grow and bear fruit. This is also a metaphor for the Christian life, saying that if we do well and follow the way of life that God wants us to live, we will bear fruit, be strong in times of trouble, and do well in God’s eyes.
V4 speaks about the fact that if we do not keep God’s rules, we become sinful and fall out of favour with God.
V5 speaks of judgement and says who is righteous and who is not.
V6 states that those who walk in God’s way will be protected.
The Psalms were used by our Lord, quoted by the writers of the New Testament, and became a treasured book of worship from the beginning.