How to read the Psalms

 

We’ve said before that there are a number of ways or levels on which to read the Psalms.

 

First, the Psalmist often wrote about his own experience.

Sometimes we don’t know exactly what his situation was, or what he was going through.

But it’s worth at least thinking about the original intended meaning of the Psalmist as best we can.

What did the Psalmist mean?

We can assume that God has given us all the details we need to understand the Psalm adequately, and that he has preserved it for our learning.  

What does the Psalmist’s experience teach us?

 

But second, these Psalms became the prayers and hymns of the church.

They weren’t just private.

There’s more here than the experience of one individual.

All God’s people would have read and prayed and sung these Psalms.

The Psalms belong to us and to the whole church down the ages, and God means us to take them on our lips.

Sometimes the general nature of the Psalms allows us to apply them to a whole variety of different situation.

We might find in one of the Psalms something that is a perfect fit for us.

The Psalms are public prayers and they should teach us how to pray and sing in a way which is pleasing to God.

These are human words, yes, but they are also God’s words which he has given us to say back to him.

 

And, third, Jesus would have prayed and sung these Psalms.

He’s the ultimate person of God, the Man of God, the faithful Israel.

He’s great king David’s greater Son.

He’s the anointed Messiah, the long promised rescuer king.

He fulfils the pattern we often see in the Psalms of innocent suffering followed by vindication and deliverance.

All the Scriptures are ultimately about Jesus so the Psalms lead us to him.

The Bible often takes the Psalms are prophecies about Jesus.

So this is probably the most important question to ask when we come to the Psalms: how does this Psalm lead me to faith in Jesus that I might have life in him?

What difference does it make if we think of Jesus as the one speaking in the Psalms?

It’s at least a way of reading the Psalm which is worth trying out.  

 

And lastly, we are in Christ. 

So if this is Christ’s song, it is our song too.

We want to think about how this Psalm applies to us as believers and as in Christ.