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Psalms, Focus

Of all the books in the Bible, perhaps none is simultaneously as quoted and controversial as the book of Psalms. The psalms of praise and joy lift us up and give words to the endless gratitude we have for what God has done for us. The psalms of ascent and of the messiah point us to Jesus, but not all the psalms are so encouraging.

Many of the psalms are those of anger and grief. The things said in those songs and prayers are often unsettling and not what you would expect to find in God's Word. When the psalmist of Psalm 137 declares "Blessed is he who takes your little ones and dashes them against the rocks!" we don't necessarily know what to do. 

The book of Psalms is, in many ways, the most human book in the whole Bible. While the wisdom books in general are very down to earth, the rest of them deal with specific aspects of our humanity. Job deals with grief and questioning God. Proverbs deals with wisdom. Ecclesiastes deals with the meaning of life and the pursuit of fulfillment. Song of Songs deals with love and physical desire. Only Psalms encapsulates the entire human experience. This makes it one of the most important, and potentially one of the most confusing, books in all of Scripture.

Background

The book of Psalms is different from all the other books in the Bible, with the exception of Proverbs. The book of Psalms is a collection of various psalms, songs, and prayers. All the books we have dealt with before this one have had a unifying narrative. Each chapter continued the story of the one before it.

Psalms does not do this. Each individual psalm is independent of the other psalms around it. You do not need to read Psalm 23 to understand Psalm 24, for example. Each one is a contained unit. This isn't to say they aren't grouped together aimlessly. The ancient rabbis who gathered the various psalms together put specific ones together based on theological messages. Still, each individual psalm stands on its own.

Since the book of Psalms is a collection and not a unifying narrative, there is no single author. The psalms contained within the book range from the time of Moses all the way until after the exile in Babylon. That is just about 1,000 years. It is a powerful testament to the Holy Spirit bringing Scripture together.

Themes

Having established that the book of Psalms is a collected assortment of songs and prayers a question naturally arises; can there be common theme that runs through the whole book? The answer is yes.

Now this theme isn't something that each and every psalm talks about, but rather is a trait that pretty much every psalm has. No matter which psalm you choose to read, the focus is on God.

This is significant. The book of Psalms contains a vast array of different types of psalms, yet each one places the focus squarely on God. It doesn't matter if the psalm is one of thanksgiving, grief, anger, joy, instruction, or looking forward to the messiah; they all focus on God. 

Theological Point

The focus on God in the book of Psalms teaches us something very important. No matter where we are in life, no matter what we are going through, we can bring it to God. The psalmists were all going through the things we face every day. Some were full of joy while others were being crushed with grief, but they all decided to focus on God.

This is so relevant for us today. When we are celebrating something wonderful, what should we do? Bring it before God with song and prayer. When we are grieving over the loss of a loved one, what should we do? Bring it before God with song and prayer. When we are outraged at the injustices in the world and in our lives, what should we do? Bring it before God with song and prayer. When we are trying to teach our kids about who God is, what should we do? Bring it before God with song and prayer.

Our focus should always be on God. No matter what we are feeling we need to bring it to him. God can handle our emotions far better than we can. He knows how to use what we feel for good. 

Conclusion

We do not take our emotions before God often enough. The thought often makes us uncomfortable. How different would our churches be if instead of harboring anger and bitterness we took it before God? Instead of keeping our feelings inside or talking behind people's backs, what if we went to God in song and prayer? I think we would experience a stronger, closer church that is even more dependent and trusting of who God is.

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