The Psalms speak

Why have the Psalms been such favorites over the years? Why have they been so beloved, meant so much to believers?

I believe it's because they "speak."

Sometimes when we read in the Psalms and it seems as if the writer has been looking at the pages in our journal, or reading our emails or texts! They were written centuries ago by someone who lived in a completely different culture -- how is it that these psalms can so closely describe our feelings? Our fears? Our hopes? 

Of course, the answer is that we are reading words that are divinely inspired; they were meant to be a word from God to us.

All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, 17 so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work. (II Timothy 3:16-17)

It seems that no matter what our circumstances are, we find the psalms to be appropriate to where we find ourselves. They meet our needs as if they were written just for us. They tell us of God's promises in a way that is unique.

The Psalms were written when Israel were situated between the start of God's Kingdom and the advent of the Messiah. We believers live in similar circumstances - we live between the life or our Redeemer and His return to the earth. We are awaiting Him in much the same way that Israel of old did. We have the same anticipation and the same sense of longing. It helps us to identify with the writers of Psalms and it helps the poetry to speak to us today.

In addition to speaking to us, we can also see that the Psalms speak for us.

Jesus expressed His grief at being separated from His Father on the cross by repeating the words of Psalm 22:

My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?
    Why are you so far from saving me,
    so far from my cries of anguish? (Psalm 22:1)

Jonah's words in the belly of the fish were original to him, but borrowed from the book of Psalms. So many times, down through the years Christians have found that the Psalms speak for us. We have often prayed the words of a Psalm, and found them to be an accurate expression of our souls' desires.

Paul alluded to this in Romans:

In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us through wordless groans.  (Romans 8:26)

The Spirit speaks those things for us which are unutterable. Certainly some of our unutterable desires may have been spoken or written by the psalmists, when inspired by the Spirit. Often, we read in the psalms and feel that the writer has placed his finger right on a problem that we have struggled with! Or that he has put into words some feelings that we could not find words for!

So, the Psalms not only speak to us, but also for us. 

I truly believe that the Psalms are provided to us, God's people, to sing or say or pray -- to the praise and the glory of our Father God.

More on our upcoming study tomorrow . . .