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Series: Look Up
Dave Gustavsen
Psalm 1
I am really excited to be starting a brand new series this morning. For the next three months, we will be immersing ourselves in the longest book of the Bible (150 chapters!); a book of the Bible that Jesus obviously loved and meditated on, because he quoted it more than any other book; the book of Psalms. The Psalms were written and compiled over a period of about 1,000 years-between about 1400BC and 400BC, but almost half of them were written by King David, right around 1,000BC.
If you were a faithful Jewish person, and you came to the Jerusalem temple to worship, the songs that you would sing did not come from a music publisher or a hymnal, like churches use today. Do you know where all their songs came from? The Psalms. This was the songbook of Israel. But don't think that, just because they were written as songs, they don't have serious content. I would say the Psalms deal with just about every human emotion: jealousy, anger, disappointment, confusion, fear, gratitude, celebration. John Calvin said the Psalms are ''an anatomy of all parts of the soul.'' And isn't that why we love music in general? It connects with the emotions we're feeling, right? And it helps us to express those emotions.
But the Psalms do more than just help us express our emotions. They help us make sense of them. Ed Welch wrote a book about depression, and he talks about how important the Psalms are when we struggle with depression. He said this: ''...God gives us poetry that, somehow, gives voice to the silences of our hearts.'' And then he gives this example:
When you hear the words of Psalm 22, 'My God, why have you forsaken me?' you might think about your own experience. Depression feels like being forsaken. But you also remember that these were Jesus' words on the cross. They point to the fact that when you read these liturgical prayers, you are not alone. David composed many of them, the Israelites sang them, ...
Series: Look Up
Dave Gustavsen
Psalm 1
I am really excited to be starting a brand new series this morning. For the next three months, we will be immersing ourselves in the longest book of the Bible (150 chapters!); a book of the Bible that Jesus obviously loved and meditated on, because he quoted it more than any other book; the book of Psalms. The Psalms were written and compiled over a period of about 1,000 years-between about 1400BC and 400BC, but almost half of them were written by King David, right around 1,000BC.
If you were a faithful Jewish person, and you came to the Jerusalem temple to worship, the songs that you would sing did not come from a music publisher or a hymnal, like churches use today. Do you know where all their songs came from? The Psalms. This was the songbook of Israel. But don't think that, just because they were written as songs, they don't have serious content. I would say the Psalms deal with just about every human emotion: jealousy, anger, disappointment, confusion, fear, gratitude, celebration. John Calvin said the Psalms are ''an anatomy of all parts of the soul.'' And isn't that why we love music in general? It connects with the emotions we're feeling, right? And it helps us to express those emotions.
But the Psalms do more than just help us express our emotions. They help us make sense of them. Ed Welch wrote a book about depression, and he talks about how important the Psalms are when we struggle with depression. He said this: ''...God gives us poetry that, somehow, gives voice to the silences of our hearts.'' And then he gives this example:
When you hear the words of Psalm 22, 'My God, why have you forsaken me?' you might think about your own experience. Depression feels like being forsaken. But you also remember that these were Jesus' words on the cross. They point to the fact that when you read these liturgical prayers, you are not alone. David composed many of them, the Israelites sang them, ...
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