Let Everything Praise the Lord!
What
an apt ending to the Psalms: “Let Everything Praise the Lord!”
Psalms is a collection
of Hebrew poems and songs. The book was originally titled Tehillim, which means “praise songs” in Hebrew. The
Psalms express the emotion of the individual Psalmists to God or about God.
Different types of Psalms were written to communicate different feelings and
thoughts regarding a Psalmist’s situation.
The book of Psalms
expresses worship. Throughout its many pages, Psalms encourages its readers to
praise God for who He is and what He has done. The Psalms illuminate the
greatness of our God, confirm His faithfulness to us in times of trouble, and
remind us of the absolute centrality of His Word. As the Psalms present a clear
picture of God lovingly guiding His people, the responses of praise and worship
to God are never far from the Psalmists’ pens. The portrayal of worship in the
Psalms offers us glimpse after glimpse of hearts devoted to God, individuals
repentant before Him, and lives changed through encounters with Him.
As we read through the
Psalms, we are struck by the range of emotions expressed by the various
Psalmists. There are lament Psalms – expressing the writer’s crying out to God
in difficult situations. There are praise Psalms – the offering of direct
admiration to God. There are thanksgiving Psalms – reflecting the writer’s
gratitude for God’s provision and protection. There are “pilgrim” Psalms (also
known as “Psalms of ascent”) – which were sung by Hebrew pilgrims going up to
Jerusalem for one of the annual festivals. There are also wisdom Psalms, victory
Psalms, and “songs of Zion.” And, there are Messianic Psalms (or “Royal Psalms”)
– speaking prophetically of the “Coming One”, Israel’s king and Messiah, Jesus
Christ.
The Psalms prompt you to thank
God for allowing you to express your deepest emotions to Him. If you are
hurting, take a look at Psalm 13. If you are rejoicing, meditate on
Psalm 30. Are you looking for a life secured in God’s truth, look to Psalm 1. Do you need comfort, turn to Psalm 91. Looking
for strength – Psalm 46. And the list goes on and on. You get it – God has provided
a poem and song that applies to every circumstance of your life.
The Book of Psalms is a
wonderful gift given to us by our loving Creator. He knew our needs and our
emotions and our need to worship before we were even born. Let everything that has breath praise the Lord!
No comments:
Post a Comment