Psalms

I've noticed that if I save a post for later that it will post on the day it was saved and not on the day it was posted. So this post comes some 24 days late with the first half written in the past:


I just finished reading all the Psalms today as part of my sunday school class. I was influenced to do it by Vince, I have to say it was LONG. There are 150 of em not counting if you break up Psalms 119. So I've basically been reading these non stop for the last half a year or so.

I am going to miss them though. I have actually grown really fond of the Psalms. There is such beauty and honesty and joy there. I think it qualifies as my favourite book. At first I thought to myself, "This is going to be so boring because it's all songs about God" but now I see that is only partially true.

The thing that stuck out most for me in psalms, however, is how it reflects our lives...or my life at least. Psalm one writes:

The Way of the Righteous and the Wicked

1Blessed is the man[a]
who walks not in the counsel of the wicked,
nor stands in the way of sinners,
nor sits in the seat of scoffers;
2but his delight is in the law[b] of the LORD,
and on his law he meditates day and night.

3He is like a tree
planted by streams of water
that yields its fruit in its season,
and its leaf does not wither.
In all that he does, he prospers.
4The wicked are not so,
but are like chaff that the wind drives away.

5Therefore the wicked will not stand in the judgment,
nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous;
6for the LORD knows the way of the righteous,
but the way of the wicked will perish.

it's almost like an instruction to us at the beginning of our lives of how to stay on track and how to abide and trust in God. Then in the final psalm, 150 it writes:

Let Everything Praise the LORD

1Praise the LORD!
Praise God in his sanctuary;
praise him in his mighty heavens![a]
2Praise him for his mighty deeds;
praise him according to his excellent greatness!

3Praise him with trumpet sound;
praise him with lute and harp!
4Praise him with tambourine and dance;
praise him with strings and pipe!
5Praise him with sounding cymbals;
praise him with loud clashing cymbals!
6Let everything that has breath praise the LORD!
Praise the LORD!

and when i read this i just thought of a man lying on his deathbed with his final words being "praise the Lord!". But you really have to read it for yourself...the middle is filled with despair and there are times of triumph. It really does feel like one's life story. I will sure miss reading Psalms.