The Psalms have been called the songbook of ancient Israel. They were the poems - the song lyrics - given by God to his people to help them worship. And just as the Psalms were a gift to God’s people of old, they are also a gift to Christians today that help us find our voice in the worship of our Creator and Redeemer.
The Psalms are God’s songs, written by people, yet inspired by God. Like many of the songs we sing when we gather for worship, the Psalms are varied in their perspective. Some are God speaking to us, others are us speaking to God, some are God’s people speaking to each other about God, and still more are mixtures of these perspectives. All of them, though, are God’s words graciously put into our mouths to help us worship.
The idea of having words put into our mouths is something we probably don’t like. The very idea smacks of misrepresentation and inauthenticity. That may very well be when we think of two people equally capable of communicating, but one commandeering the voice of another. This is not what is going on in the Psalms, though. A much more accurate picture is a loving and understanding parent giving expression to the stifled thoughts and feelings of a child who is blind, deaf, and dumb.
In other words, the Psalms are a grace because God uses them to help us say what we couldn’t say on our own since our voices are so disabled by our sin. In them God helps us express our praise, awe, wonder, thanksgiving, joys, hopes, adoration, fears, failures, frustrations, sadness, anger, needs, desires, trust, and more. Not only this, but the Psalms are also a grace because they don’t just give voice to these human experiences, but they actually have the power to redemptively shape our experiences by giving us a perspective we could not muster on our own.
The church father, Athanasius (c. 295-373), put it this way:
“And, among all the books, the Psalter has certainly a very special grace, a choiceness of quality well worthy to be pondered; for, besides the characteristics which it shares with others, it has this peculiar marvel of its own, that within it are represented and portrayed in all their great variety the movements of the human soul. It is like a picture, in which you see yourself portrayed and, seeing, may understand and consequently form yourself upon the pattern given.”
The Psalms are our voices in God’s songs.
The Psalms are God’s songs, written by people, yet inspired by God. Like many of the songs we sing when we gather for worship, the Psalms are varied in their perspective. Some are God speaking to us, others are us speaking to God, some are God’s people speaking to each other about God, and still more are mixtures of these perspectives. All of them, though, are God’s words graciously put into our mouths to help us worship.
The idea of having words put into our mouths is something we probably don’t like. The very idea smacks of misrepresentation and inauthenticity. That may very well be when we think of two people equally capable of communicating, but one commandeering the voice of another. This is not what is going on in the Psalms, though. A much more accurate picture is a loving and understanding parent giving expression to the stifled thoughts and feelings of a child who is blind, deaf, and dumb.
In other words, the Psalms are a grace because God uses them to help us say what we couldn’t say on our own since our voices are so disabled by our sin. In them God helps us express our praise, awe, wonder, thanksgiving, joys, hopes, adoration, fears, failures, frustrations, sadness, anger, needs, desires, trust, and more. Not only this, but the Psalms are also a grace because they don’t just give voice to these human experiences, but they actually have the power to redemptively shape our experiences by giving us a perspective we could not muster on our own.
The church father, Athanasius (c. 295-373), put it this way:
“And, among all the books, the Psalter has certainly a very special grace, a choiceness of quality well worthy to be pondered; for, besides the characteristics which it shares with others, it has this peculiar marvel of its own, that within it are represented and portrayed in all their great variety the movements of the human soul. It is like a picture, in which you see yourself portrayed and, seeing, may understand and consequently form yourself upon the pattern given.”
The Psalms are our voices in God’s songs.
Great thoughts...The Psalms not only aid us in the expression of our innermost thoughts, feelings, etc., they actually help shape what those should be. What a grace, indeed! Thanks.
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