Studying The Psalms

About a year ago, St. Patrick's Day, we did St. Patrick and how some of the men in the early church were worshipping God with all of their lives, heart, soul, mind and strength. And this time I decided to do something a little different.

Why the Psalms Are Useful for Counseling and Personal Ministry

And I want to give you a little bit of the motivation behind the series and the psalms. And then today, hopefully, we'll get this started. And as we move forward, we'll pick specific psalms and kind of walk through them to see how the Lord ministers to us through the scriptures.

So just by way of introduction, maybe let me ask you a few questions and then that will help you see why we are going to the psalms in the series. If someone in the local body comes to you and says, I need you to counsel me on any given subject.

My marriage is falling apart. I'm severely depressed. I have no job. I have no way of finding one. And I'm not sure what I need to be doing. You know, in Ephesians 4, we are to minister to one another with the grace that God has given us, with the words that God has given us in the scriptures.

What would you do if someone just came to you and said, you know, I'm just desperate. I need help. Do you feel you are equipped to be able to answer any question that your brother or sister in Christ might bring to you?

I'll be honest with you. There's been. Yes, Stephen. That's very good.

So sometimes you've been comforted by God through a particular trial and you are able to minister to someone else who's going through that same need. Excellent. So Russ said, be brave with the person who needs this particular counsel in their time of need.

And part of counseling is to recognize that you and I are not able to solve their specific problem, but our God is able to. And so we always approach him and we learn how to draw wisdom from God and directions from God to help this person.

Yes, Marie. Praise be to God. You know, as you minister with this person and looking to the Lord, you will soon find what texts or scriptures are applicable to this particular person. What is this person's need?

How do they need to trust God? How do they need to draw strength from God? And how can you walk alongside them during those times when they need help from a brother or sister in Christ? Now, if you think a little bit more, counseling is not just necessary for others.

It's very useful for yourself. You know, self-medication is normally not a good thing. But when it comes to scripture, that is the best solution. And one of the things, like in Marie's case, someone comes alongside and you haven't prepared for it, but you kind of walk along and learn.

And it is the same for yourself as well. You need to know how to go to the scriptures, draw from this well, and let the word of God minister to you in those times when you yourself are in desperate straits.

So, the series that I'm going to do, I specifically chose the psalms because I was taught this by Dr. Borrelli several years ago in class. And it was very helpful to me in my own counseling to others and for myself.

And I thought it would be helpful to you also as we do this. Like I said, in the next time we do it, we'll actually go through a psalm. But today we'll kind of lay some foundations. What is the psalms?

You know, why is this such a powerful book? Every single book of the scriptures is powerful because it's God-breathed, inspired. They all have something to tell us about God that we need to know and appreciate and submit to.

They tell us something about man, where we are in our fallen state, and how we need to draw upon God's grace through Jesus Christ. And the psalms are very unique in a lot of ways. So, with that, let me just jump into our handout.

And as I go through, you can make out some notes that you find helpful. So, let me begin by getting acquainted. Now, when you think of counseling, you think of, you know, two people standing together, you know, sharing their deepest concerns, speaking with one another.

Like Stephen said, someone who's already gone through it, so you relate to this. It's a very personal encounter. Now, what about the psalms? When you think of the Bible, you know, if someone comes to counsel you and says, here is counsel for you.

It seems very impersonal, doesn't it? You know, I'm just giving a, here's a book on counseling. Here's ABCs of getting, taking care of your problem. Is that what the psalms is? Is it just a book that, you know, has a lot of data, you know, here are the ways to solve your problem?

What does that mean, you think? The psalm, the Psalter is intensely personal. Exactly. I mean, this is just filled with the lives of saints who are either in the deepest of trials, you know, places where they are crushed and you don't think there's any hope for them.

And it is through those times when God has ministered to them that they extol God. They speak well of God. They speak of what God has done in their lives. So when you actually look at what God is doing in them, you can very easily relate to the psalms.

And that's one of the reasons why the psalms are so powerful. As you just read what God has done in these people's lives, it is as if David or Asaph or these men from centuries, millennia ago are coming and relating to you.

Now, is it just a book of, you know, stories and just events from the past? The Psalter, as you know, is part of the Bible. What makes the Bible different than any other book when it comes to communicating?

It is alive. It is alive. The word of God is alive. This is God's word that is speaking to us. So there is a dimension to the ministry of God through his word and especially through the psalms that God's word that comes out, it is the means by which God is equipping you and he's also ministering to you in your trials.

And these biographies of these people, like Bruce just said, is so intimate. And when you think of, among pretty much any other book in the Bible, other than maybe the Gospels, because you get kind of really close to the life of Jesus, this just strikes very close to your heart.

No matter what your trial is, you will see things that the Lord ministers personally through the Psalter. The second one I have there is relational. Now, Stephen said, sometimes people come and approach you because you might have gone through a similar trial.

So maybe you lost a child or you lost a spouse and someone else is going through that trial, is looking for comfort because they've seen how God has sustained you through those times. Now, you cannot have gone through every single trial in the world.

There are going to be people who come and talk to you that you have no idea what this particular trial is, but you have the psalms that can help you minister to people, even though you haven't gone through them.

And that's true of any counselor. None of us can actually be equipped. And because sometimes someone who comes and asks you will not just come with a willing heart. They may come with like, you have no idea what is going on in my life.

You know how you and I think I ought to be doing A, B and C, which may be unbiblical. And then you want to be able to walk them back to the path and say, well, this is how you may feel. But this is what the Bible says.

And when it comes to the Psalms, the Psalms reaches out to a variety of different circumstances. People who are rebellious in their heart to whom God just draws out. And then they come back and say, well, thank you, Lord, for taking me out of that fit.

Or people who just thought they were they had no hope at all. And then they come out and then praise God with exuberance. And as you as a counselor and as for yourself, as you draw in richly from what God has done in these peoples, these counselors of the past, if you will.

And as you bring confidence and strength and as your eyes are open to see how God draws people out. You have the same wisdom from God through his scriptures to be able to lead the council. So it is extremely relational.

It is a little different than some of the other books. Like you have Romans and Galatians. They are more theological. We are going through Romans. It helps you in your mind sort out the soteriological work of God.

So you know what is actually happening doctrinally. And here you don't normally have a treatise of different doctrinal issues. But you see those doctrines actually worked out in these people's life. And you can if you're looking for an illustration of some particular sin and how God.

Let's take, for example, speech. And then you want to say, OK, how does somebody sounds talk about this aspect of honoring God in my speech? Take Psalm 73 and this psalmist says, you know, my heart was.

I wanted to say something so desperately bad because I was hurting so much. All this wickedness and everything that was going on. And then he says, well, I decided instead to go to the sanctuary of the Lord to spend time before him.

And then I was like, I am so glad I stayed my mouth. And then because then he sees the greater picture of God. And then he says, wow, I know now. And I don't. I'm so glad I didn't speak. And so here there are all these different examples, illustrations, if you will, of the doctrine that you can actually minister specifically to people who are going through those difficulty.

But it's not just a relational thing. It is also pedagogical. The third point, which is. It is instructive. Can you think of what are some of the ways in which the psalm actually instructs us? So Peggy just said Psalm 51.

So when you're talking about prayer, so someone comes or yourself, you are in sin. Here is a great model of what prayer of a repentant man should look like. It is not just it is ultimately against God and the contriteness that God expects of those who would repent.

So there is an instructive element in those prayers, although it doesn't say, you know, here, A, B and C. It is just modeled for you in the instruction of how how you are to pray. And so these are some of these prayers.

Yes. Excellent. And hopefully we will get to do some of that today, because while I'm looking at counseling, we will begin with this when we actually start our counseling. Everything ought to begin with God.

And the Psalms just instruct us with the mighty and diverse nature of God's attributes and his power and his and his glory. And we will see that, you know, it's the glory of God that is central for the psalmist and we will learn about him.

It teaches us about who this God is. And then I have the last point on the first one, just getting used to this, acquainted with the Psalter again. The Psalter is versatile. It is, but the specific aspect I want to just bring out here is in terms of its language, how it is written.

As you know, it's written in a poetic language. It's mostly songs that are written to meter. They have the parallelism and different ways of communicating and emphasizing and drawing out truth. And then poetry also has a way of, you know, getting to you.

Closer than, you know, just sometimes propositional statements. And this repetition and some of these songs, as you just read it, you just, you can just resonate as you read it. You know, like Psalm 23 is one of those things you just, you just read it and you can just like bask in it.

Because there is this beautiful imagery that goes along with the language that is used to communicate. Now, we will see this a little bit more later. But some of these Psalms, you know, these Psalms goes through this experience and then comes back and then writes it in a form that can be repeatedly sung.

So there's a lot of effort that is put into using language to communicate these deep experiences with God or these truths about God that have been experienced. That now can be enjoyed by the rest of the Christian community, rest of God's community, both in the Old Testament and now for us in the New.

And these basically have a way of exciting our imagination to just open our eyes to something in a different way than normal propositional statements. And they also engage our lives because we can relate a lot to these people.

So with that, let's go to the second point, which is what God has given us in the prayers of the saints of old. So the first one is it's compiled for the benefit of God's people. I'm going to go rather quickly through this because this is more academic.

If you actually look at some of the introduction in your Bibles, you might have some of these. So if you read through the Psalms, unlike the other books, you have chapter one through six of Galatians or Ephesians.

You actually walk through them, there's a progression. Whereas here, each Psalm is pretty much its independent unit, but it's been brought together or compiled. And it actually has several mini collections that have been brought together.

So if you look at some of your Bibles, you will see book one, book two, book three, all the way up to book five. Book one is Psalms one through 41. Book two is Psalm 42 to 72. Book three is 73 to 89. Book four is 90 to 106.

And then book five is 107 to 150. And these are actually, were written in different points in time, but then they were later edited and collected. And if you look at the Psalms, sometimes you have duplicate Psalms because of the way in which they were edited and put in groups.

So Psalm 14 and Psalm 53 are essentially identical, but they are placed in different places. And then if you look at Psalm 72 verse 20, it says the prayers of the Psalms of David are ended. Because in the original collection, they were the last of David's Psalms.

But then when they were rearranged, you have 10 more Psalms of David that will come after Psalm 72, because they were again collected. And you can also see Psalms one to 90, you will have the author of the Psalm.

You know, this person wrote the Psalm and so forth. Whereas 91 to 150, you don't see so much of that. And the way you want to look at this is you have individual poems that were written. And not all of the songs in the Old Testament are actually in the Psalms.

So you have, for example, the song of Miriam, Exodus 15. Moses song in Deuteronomy 32 that are not part of this. And there's a few others, the song of Jonah and Deborah. But then you have other events where something was going in the history of Israel.

So you can see in the Old Testament, a good example is 2 Samuel 22, 1. Where David, there is a circumstance that is happening. And then with that circumstance, you have the song that is drawn in Psalm 18.

That is now to be sung for posterity. Recollecting that particular event, but praising God for the future. So these are individual poems that were actually collected. And then the Levites would then sing these songs in temple worship.

So in 1 Chronicles 16 .4. Actually, let's open that because I think it's helpful. You will see this thing several times. It's good for us just to read it. If someone has it, you can just read it when you get there.

1 Chronicles 16 .4.

Then he appointed some of the Levites as ministers before God to invoke, to thank.

So this was actually a ministry instituted by David. Where the Levites, their job was to praise God. And so they had these songs that were collected. And they were sung in temple worship. Now, so these songs were actually brought together.

And then they were later collected. They were collected, as I mentioned earlier, into smaller groups. And then these groups were then compiled into books. The five books that I mentioned. And then you have a final editing of the books.

So if you actually look at the beginning and the end of the psalms. Psalm 1 and 2 are like an introduction. You know, what is this whole psalms going to be about? So it just talks about, you know, here is how God sees man.

We're going to see that today. Here is who this God is raining from heaven. And then you go through all these books. And right at the very end, you have the collection of praises from 145 to 150. Which is like, you know, just completing the whole song.

Songs with a blast, if you will. This is the finale of all the singing. As you come with the praises in the end of the psalms. So you see this whole collection of psalms. And so when you're going through the psalms.

Maybe you're reading through them. I try to go through them once a year at least. To read all the psalms. And then you go and pick a certain psalm that you want to study. It helps you to see, here is how these psalms have been arranged.

So, now let me look at point number B. It comprises of prayers of the champions of faith. So these are real people. So these are not stories or parables that are written. These are actual real events.

And people who went through trials. Can you think of some of the psalms where you can say, you know, that psalm. I know it's like Hebrews 11. Where Hebrews 11 says, Moses did this or Noah did that. Just like that, when I see this psalm.

I can think of, wow, you know, God just graced this man or this woman. To do something that I want to praise God for. Any specific psalm that just comes out to your mind? 136? Can you tell us what? That's great.

So 136 is the one where you, the steadfast love of God endures forever. It's an antiphonal psalm. And then it's just a recollection of the history of all that God has done through the history of Israel.

Great reminder of, as a nation, how God has been faithful to his people. Now, let me, the points B through G are just showing the progression of how these psalms were used. So, like I said, it's initially uttered by these people who have gone through this experience.

Or are just immediately recollecting what God has done. And then in point C, it becomes a temple hymn book for Jewish worship. So here, we saw already in 1 Chronicles, you have these songs collected. And then they are used as worship, singing before God in the temple.

And so it becomes like a hymn book. So we have our hymnal here. And you can think of them having the Psalter as their book. So they have all these songs and they're being written and collected and compiled and sung.

And then, because it is such a vital part of the Jewish worship, and obviously it's also inspired, it is also very vital in Jesus' own ministry. So you can picture Jesus actually using these psalms in his life here on earth.

In the Passover meal, you have the worship songs that are sung there. As you're proceeding towards the temple for the sacrifice. Actually, Psalm 91 was quoted by Satan against Christ. Your feet shall not dash against a rock.

And you have the Psalms, most likely, in the ministry and life of Jesus, as he was obviously fully familiar with the scriptures. But then, in the early church, you see this carried over. So it is not just something for the temple worship that we have the Psalms.

But if you think of the Jewish worship in the time of Jesus Christ, you have the synagogue. This is before the temple in the dispersion. They used to meet in these different synagogues and it happens also in the time of Jesus.

And then you also have the temple. And in both of these places, you have the Psalms being sung. Now, when the early church was formed, it loosely forms itself around this pattern of the synagogues. So, you know, the way in which these Jewish people used to meet as a community.

So the same kind of thing in each people's house. Because they are now kicked out of the temple, they are kicked out of the Jewish worship. And now they meet in this form which is loosely based on the synagogue.

So while they worship, while the Christians form and continue this worship, the Psalms form an active part of their worship there. So in 1 Corinthians 14, 26, Paul says, When you come together, each one has a hymn or a psalm, a lesson, a revelation, a tongue, or an interpretation.

Let all things be done for building up. So this was actually, the singing that was done before continues into the New Testament church. Let me give you a few more verses in terms of how the spiritual life of the individuals as well as the corporate body, the local church, was to be informed by the Psalms.

So I'm just going to give you a few verses, you can take it down if you want. We have 1 Corinthians 14, 15, I will sing praise with my spirit, but I will sing with my mind also. Ephesians 5, 19, Addressing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs.

Singing and making melody to the Lord with all your heart. James 5, 13, if anyone is cheerful, let him sing praise. Romans 15, 9, Once again, I will praise you among the Gentiles and sing to your name.

So this aspect of worship, which is singing, which we have today in our hymnody is drawn from this Jewish practice which God ordained of singing these psalms, which we now have here today. So when we look at the psalms, they are not just chapters that we read, but these were songs that were sung in order to worship God, appraise God, and glorify God for what He has done.

And God still ministers to us through the medium of these psalms. And the last point there, it has an unchanging theological message confirmed and fulfilled by the New Testament. So the message of the psalms is not alien or limited to the Israelites.

So the message there was still limited in the sense that in God's progressive revelation before the coming of Christ, they knew what God had revealed to them. Today, we now have the New Testament that builds upon it.

We now have Christ to look back to and then understand in a broader scope what was revealed in some cases in shadows in the Old Testament. But we have the New Testament now not just complementing and fulfilling it, but it actually affirms and restates what you actually have in the psalms.

And we'll see a few examples of that as we go along. Let me stop here for a minute. Any thoughts, comments, before we move to the nature of the Psalter? Yeah, historically, I mean, even the verse that I just read, Ephesians 5, 19, there is a place for both of them.

So we have the psalms that we can sing, and then we also have hymns and spiritual songs, which are songs that we make up, like what we have here. In terms of the period, I mean, the psalms were part of this worship for a long time.

I don't remember when they were not as emphasized anymore. I don't know if anyone else here knows when that went down, but I think we should probably be doing that more. We should write a note to Sovereign Grace.

Come on, put a few more tunes for us using the Psalter. That's excellent. It is true. So these psalms that were sung repeatedly would actually get memorized, so people actually knew these scriptures now by heart, by singing them.

So they've been adapted. Excellent.

And that is true of most hymns, too. They try to take some scriptures and then try to draw them together, and some of them might have more content directly from the psalms. All right, so let's now get to the nature of the Psalter.

I'd like to at least just get…. 1040 or 1045? 1045. Okay, we have five minutes. Let's at least get to one aspect of the nature of God that the psalms give us. So when you think of the expression of religious experience, so we as Christians go through a lot of different experiences in the presence of God.

If you want to think of the summit, the peak of these experiences, I think the psalms kind of richly portray them in beautiful colors for us. And when the psalmist actually writes his psalms, he is actually writing, he's speaking to God rather than speaking about God.

So many of these psalms are just very intimate. They're just praying and praising God in the first person. And while they're doing that, if you look at what is the heart attitude, what is driving this person behind in all that he's trying to do, it's not that, oh, Lord, I just need to get out of my problem.

That is part of it, but that is not the central theme. The central theme when he is actually writing these psalms is to glorify God. It is the glory of God that must be exalted in all of these life circumstances that you and I go through.

Whether I'm in my deepest valley or in my highest mountain, the psalmist's goal is to glorify God and to lift him up, to exalt him. And so we basically get drawn along by the psalmist as he is glorifying God and exalting him.

And we will see some specific ways that we can do the next time we meet. But for today, I want to just pick up this one attribute. The first one, that God is merciful. You get to learn a lot about God right from the first chapter of Genesis to the last chapter of Revelation.

God is creator in Genesis. He is redeemer in Exodus. He is holy in Leviticus. He is sovereign king. He is going to rule for eternity in Revelation. And in the psalms, I just picked ten out of a whole lot more that you could actually have.

And these truths about God just come in such brilliant facets. So we'll just take the mercy of God. The word for mercy is hesed. And it's translated by kindness, grace, fidelity. And I think loyal love is another way to translate this, loving kindness.

And this mercy of God is normally reserved for his covenant people. So people that God covenants himself with. So we will see the next time, I think, on the sovereignty of God. And God is completely free.

God has no obligation in the ultimate sense to have to do anything. But God, in his mercy, covenants or in some ways obligates himself on behalf of his people. So you should be thinking, you know, is that really true?

Let's take a look, a few verses, and then we will see what the scriptures have to say about that. Let's actually turn. Now, you know, just keep your hands on the psalms. You're going to look at a few psalms just to get this in our system, if you will.

So if you can turn to Psalm 31, verse 7. Again, whoever has it first, please go ahead and read it.

Then be glad in your steadfast love, because you have seen my affliction. You have known the distress of my soul.

Excellent. And if you look at the psalm, this is again a psalm of David. David again is contrasting himself against those who would follow idols. Instead, he says, I'm here to trust you. And he is drawing upon the steadfast love, the covenant love that God has for his people, on which he is actually going to be glad and rejoicing in.

The next verse I have is Psalm 86, verse 15. Again, whoever has it, please go ahead. Man, this feels like a Bible drill or a sword drill, right? And again, the contrast here is between the wrath of God, which is also true.

We will see this next time, that God is a God of wrath, but he is slow to anger. And in contrast, he is abundant, overflowing in this steadfast love that he has toward his people. And again, if you look historically through the life of Israel, you can just see the patience and steadfastness of God, and God's purpose, even in his wrath, to redeem his people.

And then let's look at Psalm, let me read this. Psalm 103, verse 8. You can turn there too, if you can. The Lord is compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding or exceeding in steadfast, loyal love.

Now, when you think of counseling, so that's where we started. How does this all apply to someone you're counseling? And we will see next time, again, there are two types of people you can counsel. People, and the Psalms make it very clear, there are only two types of people.

Either you're a believer or you're an unbeliever. And if you are a believer, God has a covenant with you in the person of Jesus Christ. And there is unconditional love of God on the basis of what God has done.

So just as the Psalmist here, whichever his circumstances, some of the Psalms he was in trial, and he was saying, God, don't leave me in my distress because of your steadfast love. And in other times, he is just praising God and saying, you are abounding in steadfast love.

No matter what the circumstance, it is God's covenant, his faithfulness that undergirds the Psalmist. And it's the same covenant love that undergirds you and me today. So it is because of the finished work of Christ that God says, I have set my affection upon you.

Not because you and I have done anything great, not because of our beauty or wisdom, but because he has covered our sins with the blood of Jesus Christ. And he sees us as righteous in the person of Christ.

And it is that love. So if you look at one of the New Testament scriptures, we'll look at Philippians 1 .6 as we wrap this up, just to remind ourselves of why the steadfast love of God is his commitment to us, rather than his approving of just the works that I do in faith.

So whoever has it again, please read it. Philippians 1 .6.

Being confident of this very thing, that he who has begun a good work in you will...

Yeah, who will complete it? It is Christ. He is the one who has saved me and he is the one who is committed to presenting you and me as spotless to the very end. So when someone is going through a trial, you are going through a trial, it may look like, what is going on with my spiritual life?

You know, this is just, I'm just too soiled. No, you're not. If Christ has paid for your sin, he knows how to get you out of whatever muck you're in. And it is that confidence in that God that the psalmist would repeatedly bring back over and over and over again.

And that is exactly what you and I need for ourselves, that we can trust in this God who is true. He has said that his love has been placed on us in the person of Christ, and he will minister and complete what he has begun in us.

Let me stop here. Any questions on this? Yeah, so if you... I would probably encourage you to use the Psalms more. If some of you haven't really read the Psalms so far, use them because you can just see this beauty of God and the ministry of God through the Holy Spirit in those various circumstances of life.

Let's pray. Our loving and gracious Father, we thank you, Lord, for your word. We thank you for giving us your precious promises through your Son, Jesus Christ, that we can see you as who you are, a loving and gracious God, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love.

Help us, O Lord, to rightly glorify you even this morning as we worship you here today. In Christ's name we pray.