William Gladstone, former prime minister of Great Britain, spoke of the Old Testament book of Psalms in this way: "All the wonders of Greek civilization heaped together are less wonderful than this simple book of the Psalms." Many people have never learned what a choice anthology of poetry, history, prose and prophecy lies in the book of Psalms. They have yet to discover the rainbow of feelings found in the Psalms.
A young woman was deeply despondent over a failing marriage. Trying to encourage her, I urged her to read at least one Psalm every day. "Oh no," she responded. "I never read that book. I never seem to get deliverance from my problems as David did, and that bothers me."
She had missed the whole point. Although David and the other psalmists wrote about their hope for deliverance, they also wrote about the impact of what was happening to them, including their emotions of love, hate, fear and frustration. The book of Psalms is a book of reality and honesty.
Actually, David was but one of perhaps a dozen different writers who lived in a period spanning a thousand years–from the days of Moses to the captivity of God’s people in Babylon in 586 B.C. Seventy-three of the 150 Psalms are attributed to David. Solomon wrote some selections along with authors such as Asaph, Ethan, Jeduthun and a few unknown writers.
Those of us who read the Psalms in a language other than Hebrew lose some of the beauty of these marvelous masterpieces. Poetry in English is usually based on rhyme or meter, but the poetry of the Psalms is based on rhythm and thoughts which either contrast or complement each other.
The Psalms convey such a vast array of emotions from devotion and praise to the Almighty to curses which the writer bestows on his enemies. Some deal with royal themes, their imagery set in the palace of the king with its pomp and circumstance. Some are prophetic–the writer pictures the suffering and death of the Messiah Christ.
If you haven’t spent time in this wonderful book, you have a void in your spiritual life that needs to be filled. In discovering the Psalms, you will find the strength that allowed the Jews of the Holocaust to go to their deaths quoting the Word of God, finding strength to meet life’s ultimate test.
Thank God for the Psalms–for their richness, for their meaning and for their vivid description of our lives today!
Resource Reading: Psalm 1