The entire Bible is a sacred record of God's redemption plan for mankind. Because people were separated from Him by their sins, He sent His Son Jesus to die on the cross and to be resurrected from the dead three days later so people might live with Him forever. The book of Psalms is a sacred account whereby men expressed their emotions, difficulties, troubles, prophesies and praise to the Lord God Almighty.
As we study the book of Psalms we will see how these men express the deep feelings of all believing hearts throughout the generations, and because they record the deep devotion, intense feelings, exalted emotions and dark dejections people experience, we shall learn to use them to share our hearts with the Lord. The Psalms proclaim the passions of the human soul, and they deal with psychological component of a person's heart. Because the Psalms have been used in the lives of God’s people as they speak to their universality, they have a peculiar Jewish application initially, but we shall discover they are extremely useful to help us as we employ them in our lives. In other words, we will learn how to use the words of the Psalms to help us live according to God's will and to communicate our emotions, appeals, passions and love for Him.
The title of the book of Psalms in Hebrew means Praises or Book of Praises, and the title in the Greek suggests the idea of an instrumental accompaniment. The title comes from the Greek word psalmos, and the theme of the book of Psalms is Christ the Messiah which is largely spoken of throughout the book as the King and the Kingdom. There is a more complete picture of Him in Psalms than in the Gospels. The Gospels tell us that He went to the mountain to pray, but the Psalms give us His prayer. The Gospels tell us that He was crucified, but the Psalms tell us what went on in His own heart during the crucifixion. The Gospels tell us He went back to heaven, but the Psalms begin where the Gospels leave off and show us Christ seated in heaven.
The Psalms are divided into five books which were used as the hymnbook for the nation of Israel. They were sung in their original forms and often included prophecy even as the apostle Peter said that David was a prophet and spoke by the Holy Spirit. David spoke prophetically about the coming Messiah, and Jesus Christ fulfilled his words. Many of the Psalms are known as Messianic Psalms which speak directly about the birth, life, death, resurrection, glory, priesthood, kingship, and return of Jesus Christ. Other types of Psalms include penitential, historic, nature, pilgrim, Hallel, missionary, puritan, acrostic, and Praise of God’s Word.
The book of Psalms corresponds to the Pentateuch or the first five books of the Bible which are as follows; The first book of the Psalms is from Psalm 1-41 which agrees with the book of Genesis. The second is Psalm 42-72 which relates to the book of Exodus or Ruin and Redemption with Israel in view. The third is 73-89 which corresponds to the book of Leviticus or Darkness and Dawn with the sanctuary in view. The fourth book is 90-106 and agrees with the book of Numbers or Peril and Protection of Pilgrims with the Earth in view, and the fifth book of the Psalms is from 107-150 which relates to the book of Deuteronomy or Perfection and Praise of the Word of God. The majority of the Psalms were written by David, however Asaph, Moses, Solomon, Sons of Korah, Heman, Ethan and Hezekiah were the authors of others of them. Another thirty-nine of the Psalms are considered “orphanic” because the authors are unknown.
The Psalms speak of human nature including deep devotion, intense feelings, exalted emotions and dark dejection. They speak of man's cry for God and seeking to relate to Him as they cover all of the gamut of man's feelings. The Psalms are poetry, however poetry to the Hebrew did not include rhyming words or sentences, nor was it a rhythm, but it was a rhyming or a contrasting of ideas. Many of the Psalms are known as acrostic Psalms. As we get to them, we'll point them out to you. These Psalms are noted because each verse begins with a succeeding letter of the Hebrew alphabet. There are several acrostic Psalms, and Psalm 119 is probably the best example of one. In Psalm 119 we'll find that about eight verses begins with the letter of the Hebrew alphabet successively, so that the first seven or eight verses begin with aleph, the next begin with beyth, and then daleth, and giymel and so forth. As we go through the Hebrew alphabet with Psalm 119, we'll find it is the longest chapter in the Bible.
Although all these factors concerning the book of Psalms are important, our emphasis will be how to apply the Psalms to our own lives. When we pray, we can employ God's words in the Psalms, particularly when we don't know what to say. When we are troubled, we will look to God's Psalms to identify with the author and learn how to respond in the midst of them. When our hearts are overwhelmed, and we don't know what to do, we will look to God's Psalms as a resource for finding the wisdom of God in those situations. We should remember, God Almighty gave us the Psalms because He loves us, He identifies with us and He desires to have a personal, intimate relationship with us through His Son Jesus. Let us journey together through the book of Psalms and ask God the Father, Jesus Christ His Son and the Holy Spirit to teach us to employ these words in every day of our lives.
Next time we begin our verse by verse study in the book of Psalms where David of Israel wrote, “Blessed is the man”, so read ahead, and we shall join together then.
Until tomorrow…there is more…
See more devotionals on the website "thewordfortodaywithray.com" or look for the daily devotional book “Equipped for Battle – From Generation to Generation”, the marriage book “So, You Want to Be Married”, “One Year in the Sermon on the Mount” and the new poetry book "Random Mushrooms Volumes I and II" and the new novel "Elizabeth County" in all major bookstore sites, http://www.amazon.com ; http://www.barnesandnobles.com ; download to e-books, and find it locally at www.mrzlc.com/bookstore. All references are from "Strongs Concordance".
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