Journey Through Psalms

If you take your copy of the Scriptures in hand and then find the middle of your Bible, you are probably going to find yourself somewhere in the Poetic Books, the five books of poetry in the Old Testament. The interesting thing about their placement in the Word of God is that they are found in the heart of the Bible — right in the middle, right in the heart of it all. And interestingly enough, they deal with the heart issues of man. They deal with the deepest need in all of our lives, which is to know God. And that is where we find ourselves in our Journey through the Scriptures — the time has come to journey through the Psalms.

Listen: Journeying through Psalms

Overview of Psalms

The Book of Psalms is perhaps the most loved of the poetic books. It is one of the most deeply spiritual and profoundly practical books in the whole Bible, and there is a reason for that. It covers the whole realm of human experience, the whole realm of human emotion. The Psalms were written by men who were actually going through the things they were writing about.

You remember the Lord Jesus said that “…Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh.” Well, these men were going through definite difficulty and going through certain periods in life when they had to have God’s help and assistance, and friend, you do too. And so do I. 

Authors of the Psalms

We see in our journey through Psalms that the human penmen in the book are varied. For example, did you know that this book covers nearly a thousand years? You can go all the way back to the oldest psalm, Psalm 90, which was written by Moses. Then, as you come forward, you have Heman, Ethan, Asaph, and the sons of Korah. Solomon even wrote two of them. But the most well-known psalmist is referred to in Scripture as the sweet psalmist of Israel. He wrote a larger number than any other. And that, of course, is David. 

And so you are following this great train of men all through the centuries, and every one of them learned one great secret. It is the secret we must learn as we journey through the Psalms. The secret is this: we must usher every part of our life into the presence of a holy God.

Key Verse of the Book of Psalms

Whether it is good things or whether it is challenging things, whether it is the mountaintop or the valley, the Psalms instruct us how to bring all of life into the presence of God. And so I give you a verse. Now, there are so many wonderful verses in the Psalms. How do you choose one and say it is the key to all? And yet I give you a verse that I believe is one of the definite keys to the book.

Psalm 1 is well known; Psalm 23 is well known; Psalm 119, famous as the longest of the psalms, deals with the Scripture (Click HERE to listen to Scott’s audio series through Psalm 1119.) The verse I want to give you is found in Psalm 29:2, where David writes these words: “Give unto the LORD the glory do unto his name; worship the LORD in the beauty of holiness.”

The Necessity of Worshipping God

We think so much of all the things God gives to us, and surely He is the Giver. But David writes in Psalm 29:2 that there is something we ought to give Him. What are we to give Him? We are to give Him glory due to His name. He has given us grace. He has given us every good thing. What are we to give Him? We are to give Him glory. We are to give Him praise. As a matter of fact, the word “praise” is used over 150 times in this one book. That is very appropriate; He is worthy!

The great message we see in our journey through Psalms, in one word, is worship. It is giving God His honor, His glory. It is acknowledging His worthiness. The Hebrew word for worship literally means to lie prostrate, to lie low, to humble yourself in awe, in acknowledgment of the greatness of our God. Friend, there is so little true worship today in our world. But the sad reality is, even in the lives of so many believers, even so many Christian workers, there is so little worship.

It can be easy to work, but hard to worship. How easy it is for us to function and be busy and go through the activities of our Christian experience, and yet how easy it is to neglect to come humbly into the presence of a Holy God and get our eyes and our mind and our heart fixed on who God is, and simply worship Him.

Worship is Man’s Proper Response to God

Worship is man’s response to God’s revelation. It is not just something we do. It is not just singing a song or giving something in the offering. No, it is a response to who God is. It is getting a glimpse of the Lord. If I could challenge you, do not just read the Psalms. Pray your way through the Psalms. Sing your way through the Psalms. Meditate through the Psalms. 

It might be good even to go through the Psalms on your knees, because indeed, that is the spirit of the Psalms. Although the word worship is only found about 15 times in the Book of Psalms, the spirit of worship is found on every page and every line. And because the Psalms remind us repeatedly that only God is worthy of praise.

Worship Leads to Praise

The Book of Psalms was the Hebrew hymn book. Literally, these were sung. The word for psalm is a word that means a poem to be sung to a stringed instrument. And so they would sing these in both private worship and in public worship. And I think there is a beautiful secret in that, and that is that our worship should lead us to sing to the Lord.

It should lead us to lift up our voices and lift up our souls and say to God, “God, you are worthy of all praise.” I do not know who you are, where you are, or what you are dealing with, but I know this: if you will usher that into the presence of a Holy God, you will find the grace, power, and strength you need to deal with every part of life.

You see, every person, every day, and every thing looks different through the lens of worship. And so I say again, “Give unto the LORD the glory do unto his name; worship the LORD in the beauty of holiness.”

How to Study The Psalms

I hope on your own personal journey through the Psalms, you will take your time. There are so many ways to study the Psalms. (Click HERE for a guide on studying the Psalms). There are so many ways to use the Psalms in our lives. For example, you can study them by their special titles, and there are psalms that are given definite titles. Some of them are just generic titles, like “A Psalm of David,” but some of them deal with specific times. Others have word significance. Some of my favorites are 15 of the Psalms that are known as the Songs of Degrees.

Another way to study the Psalms that perhaps you did not know is by understanding that the Psalms are divided into five books, and they correspond with the books of Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy. The Jewish people understood this. That is a great way to study the Psalms. But one of my favorite ways to study them is by subject matter.

You can take all the Psalms, and they are all different. Some are instructive, some are historical, some are for praise, and some are for repentance, like Psalm 51. Some are prayers, and some are thanksgiving. But then there’s a special set of psalms. They are scattered all throughout this book. They are referred to as the Messianic Psalms.

The Messianic Psalms

What are the Messianic Psalms? The Messianic Psalms are Psalms about Jesus. You say Christ is in the Psalms? Christ is all throughout the Word of God. You will find some of the Lord’s prayers here, expressions of His sufferings, and descriptions of His humiliation. You will find exact phrases that Christ will quote from, and many more that He will fulfill. Some are devotional. And what is the message in these psalms? Jesus Christ is worthy of our praise. He is worthy of our worship. He is the source of our song.

A journey through Psalms doesn’t simply lead you to feel better. The Psalms lead you to Jesus. It leads you into the presence of Jesus Christ, the One who redeemed us. You are going to meet the King in the Psalms. You are going to meet Messiah in the Psalms, and it is going to lead you to sing, “Give unto the LORD the glory do unto his name; worship the LORD in the beauty of holiness.” 

RESOURCE: Explore every Psalm with our “Study Psalms” page HERE.

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About Scott Pauley

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RESOURCE: Study Psalms Page