The Psalms lift the believer into heavenly communion with the Lord; where we are able to praise and worship Him, where He speaks words of comfort, love and wisdom to us. Psalms is a book where you can experience the Word of God without Bible knowledge and without preparation, and still be deeply blessed by His Word. Open anywhere in the Psalms and you can be blessed by His Word.

Even unbelievers can recognize merit in the Psalms. In the mid ‘60’s I attended a small rural school which resided on the boundary between the Prairie Bible Belt and Hillbilly Homeland to the West. One year we were blessed by an English teacher who made it her goal to unshackle us country bumpkins from the preponderance of ignorance she found us in, using the liberal and progressive thinking of the world of literature. English was her passion, her raison d’etre. Being highly educated, she didn’t have much forbearance with Christians, especially with those who read the Bible literally. So you can imagine my surprise when in one class she was extolling the Bible as a great work of literature, perhaps even the greatest. She was the only teacher I had in my entire 12 years of grade school that required us to memorize Bible verses (all of Psalm 23). She felt the majesty of the Word but without the Spirit of God to teach her, she couldn’t understand the meaning. Sadly she has passed; she will have learned the truth about the Word by now.

The Pilgrim Psalms (Psalms 120-134) were sung by the Israelites as they journeyed to Jerusalem to take part in the yearly Feasts that their God Yahweh had set forth for them to attend. The Israelites were a musical people. They loved to sing praises their Lord. All of these Psalms are wonderful songs of worship. No one knows anymore what the ancient Psalms sounded like when they were sung. Being God inspired they must have rung out across the desert in heavenly majesty; this is a modern version of Psalms 104 that I like.

King David wrote more than half of the Psalms recorded in Scripture today. He was gifted by God as King of Israel, as a musician and prophet. His Psalms reveal a great love of God. Songs of worship, of penitence, rejoicing, gratitude and prophetic Psalms. The Lord called him a man after His own heart (Act 13:22). If you have a Bible that has notes above each chapter then you can see a brief overview of each of the Psalms, who wrote them, a brief overview of content. Following are some Psalms I like to turn to. I encourage you, I Implore you to read all of these, and to explore the richness of the psalms yourself.

Worship

Psalm 19         The heavens declare the glory of God;
And the firmament shows His handiwork.
Day unto day utters speech,
And night unto night reveals knowledge.
There is no speech nor language
Where their voice is not heard.
Their line has gone out through all the earth,
And their words to the end of the world….

Psalm 113       Not unto us, O Lord, not unto us,
But to Your name give glory,
Because of Your mercy,
Because of Your truth.
Why should the Gentiles say,
“So where is their God?”….

Psalm 139       ….O Lord, You have searched me and known me.
You know my sitting down and my rising up;
You understand my thought afar off.
You comprehend my path and my lying down,
And are acquainted with all my ways.

 For there is not a word on my tongue,
But behold, O Lord, You know it altogether.
You have hedged me behind and before,
And laid Your hand upon me.
Such knowledge is too wonderful for me;
It is high, I cannot attain it….

…For You formed my inward parts;
You covered me in my mother’s womb.

 I will praise You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
Marvelous are Your works,
And that my soul knows very well.
My frame was not hidden from You,
When I was made in secret,
And skillfully wrought in the lowest parts of the earth…

Forgiveness

Psalm 32         Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven,
Whose sin is covered
Blessed is the man to whom the Lord does not impute iniquity,
And in whose spirit there is no deceit….

Thanksgiving

Psalm 103 Praise the Lord, my soul;
 all my inmost being, praise His Holy Name.
 Praise the Lord, my soul,
 and forget not all His benefits—
Who forgives all your sins
    and heals all your diseases,
Who redeems your life from the pit
    and crowns you with love and compassion…

Encouragement

Psalm 31         In You, O Lord, I put my trust;
Let me never be ashamed;
Deliver me in Your righteousness.
Bow down Your ear to me,
Deliver me speedily;
Be my rock of refuge,
A fortress of defense to save me.

For You are my rock and my fortress;
Therefore, for Your name’s sake….

Psalm 23           The Lord is my shepherd;
I shall not want.
He makes me to lie down in green pastures;
He leads me beside the still waters.
He restores my soul;….

Rejoicing

Psalm 30         I will extol You, O Lord, for You have lifted me up,
And have not let my foes rejoice over me.
O Lord my God, I cried out to You,
And You healed me.
O Lord, You brought my soul up from the grave;
You have kept me alive, that I should not go down to the pit.

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_{Brian Pickup}