Psalms Topography

Since June 4th we’ve been exploring the Psalms together in Sunday morning worship.  This coming Sunday that adventure will come to an end.

The diversity of the Psalms “topography” is stunning.  That is (to make an analogy), taking a spiritual trek through the Psalms is like journeying into rain forests and frozen tundra and mountain passes and barren deserts; in cold and heat, wind and rain, bright sunshine and pitch dark nights.  And that’s a good thing, very good.

To live in this world, where the effects of sin are all around us and crop up even among us and within our own hearts (arousing doubt and fear and pride and anxiety, etc.), we desperately need God’s help to stay close to his side.  So he gave us the Psalms as a spiritual life travel guide—so we’d be able to worship him in the midst of bounty and poverty, health and sickness, gain and loss (sound like marriage vows?—I could have said “For better, for worse”).

So where are YOU on spiritual life landscape?  Beside a quiet stream?  Under threatening skies?  Wherever you are, take up the Psalms and read, and pray—God will meet you there!

• Do you need help discerning who speaks with authority in a world of lies, spin, and fake news?  Read Psalm 119 (yes, all of it).  Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path (119:105).
• Do you have the blues?  Preach into the mirror:  Why are you cast down, O my soul, and why are you in turmoil within me?  Hope in God; for I shall again praise him, my salvation and my God (43:5).
• Do you look out upon a world of raging hostilities and sharply divided nations/cultures/ethnic groups, and shudder?  Better, instead, to pray and step forward into God’s mission:  Oh sing to the Lord a new song; sing to the Lord, all the earth!  Sing to the Lord, bless his name; tell of his salvation from day to day (Psalm 96:1).
• So much more could be said:  Are you grappling with sin?  Psalm 51 will lead you into confession and restoration.  Are you in awe of the power of nature?  Psalm 104 will turn your attention to the awesome Creator.  Are you shaken by the injustices of this world?  Psalm 69 will help you express your zeal for justice.

Whatever’s going on in your heart today—whether you’re thriving or languishing or you’re somewhere in between—make time to open the Word of God and take the great spiritual trek of the Psalms!

Let me recommend a couple books that are “short and sweet”:  Tim Keller, The Songs of Jesus (Daily Devotions in the Psalms); Ben Patterson, God’s Prayer Book; and Derek Kidner’s concise-but-rich commentary (in two volumes—see here and here).  Also, sermon audios from the series are posted at goshenbaptist.org.