The Psalms

This is going to be a very rough look at the Psalms. Part of the reason for that is I stretched my reading out over about five weeks, and the other part is that I was very confused by a lot of what I read. But by God's grace I will give you a look at what I read.

I loved the Psalms. There were so many great and awesome things that I read about God's control, election, the fear of the Lord, but especially His glory and our joy. So much about His glory and our joy and the intermingling of the two. But honestly, I expected that. I have heard a lot of the Psalms before. I knew that Psalm 63 was one of my favorite pictures of true desire for God in the Bible. I knew that Psalm 73:25-26 said exactly what I've been striving for and even starting to feel lately. I knew that Psalm 119 was really long and about God's law. I had anticipated some of these things to a point (I was however blown away by a lot of things that I read that I wasn't exactly expecting. I'll talk about those in a minute though.) But there were really a lot of confusing chapters in this book that I just wasn't expecting. And for the most part, I just kind of read them and kept going because I didn't get them. The problem is I didn't write them down. So I know the chapters about God not being there, and begging for God's vengeance, and other things kind of similar to that confused me. But I don't really know which ones they are. Remember, I said this was going to be a rough look.

But my joy in my reading far outweighed my confusion. I do believe there is importance in those chapters that I didn't understand. They are just as much the Word of the Lord as the gospels are. But for now I am going to continue. Chapters like Psalm 145 just make my mouth water. It is so awesome to see the praise of God being lifted up so much. Psalm 107 is this back and forth of these little stories with praise to God at the end of each one. Very good to see. There were many verses that I just smiled and nodded when I read. Most of them were verses about hating evil. (101:3-4; 119:53, 127-8, 139:21-2) There are a lot of other verses that I loved in the Psalms that just stuck out to me so much. Psalms about rejoicing (119:74) and Psalms about God's control (115:3), Psalms about understanding (119:98-104) and the Lord's joy (116:15).

What I saw the most in this book though was the intermingling of God's glory and our joy. This is what I have learned from God via John Piper in the last few months. The apex of our joy is extolling God's glory. It is our nature. Our joy is completed in the praising of the things that we love. So praising God and his greatness is not just to make Him feel better about Himself (a ludicrous thought). It is God telling us over and over again to praise His glory because He knows what brings happiness. I have never been happier in my life than when I stood in Phillips arena next to Mark Baur, Tyler Samuel, Kaitlyn Schaefer, Heidi Tabor, Caroline Damron, and 20,000 other college students singing praise to my Savior. I promise you. No time in my life has even come close to that joy. The things that I read in the Psalms are true. When the Psalmist couples singing praises to God with joy and pleasure, he is not trying to fool us. This is not some ploy by God to get people to talk good about Him and satisfy His ego. It is the greatest joy this is. I am not just saying this from reading these words. I am saying this from experiencing that joy. I can't explain it. It's weird. It's like you are in the middle of it and you start thinking, "Why am I so happy? This seems weird. No one is looking at me or talking about me. I am not being made much of. I shouldn't be this happy. I thought it was all about me and feeling good about myself." Then after thinking all those things you start to realize something. It is not all about me. Not only is it all about me, but some of my worst feelings in life are when people compliment me. Because I know that I do not deserve their compliments. I could go on for pages and pages, but I won't. I'll leave my summary with this. Psalm 111:2 "Great are the works of the Lord, studied by all who delight in them." This is the reason that I am studying the Bible. I delight in knowing the works of the Lord.

I hope this was encouraging and challenging. That's is always my aim, pointing you toward God. Not because I get bonus points for referrals. I point you to God because the joy that you gain in Christ makes my joy complete. I am happy knowing that you are happy with something that lasts and satisfies.

All for His glory,

Mitchell