Psalms: Honest with God “The Arrangement” Intro

INTRO> Today we start a journey through the book of Psalms. The reasons why are many and we will get to those but first, we have to understand what we are dealing with. In the art world, they say that the frame is as important as the painting. So we need to frame this beautiful book of the bible.

APP> We are going to frame it with 3 questions: 1) What? 2) How 3)Why?

1. What are the Psalms?

• • • The word “Psalm” translates from Greek to “song” the Hebrew name means “praises”. Israels hymnbook.
    • It has many authors, David writing the majority, Mosses even writes one!
    • They span a time frame of about 1,000 of Israels history!
    • The Book of Psalms is the longest book in the bible with 150 chapters.
    • It is the most quoted OT book in the NT over 100x!
    • It is ancient Hebrew poetry that is arranged in a very particular way.

APP> The Psalms are the prayers and praises from past people of God that teach the present people of God prayer and praise.

The Arrangement:

The book of Psalms is actually an arrangement of books, 5 books. We know this because each book ends with a similar doxology. 

Book 1: 1-41

Book 2: 42-72

Book 3: 73-89

Book 4: 90-106

Book 5: 107-150

Do you notice anything about that? There are 5 books in the psalms? In a biblical sense, that is a big deal. The first 5 books of the bible, Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy or known and the Torah of Mosses.

• • • • “Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the wicked, nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of scoffers; but his delight is in the law of the Lord, and on his law he meditates day and night.” Psalm 1:1-2

*ILL> Shakespeare’s 5 act plays… The third act!

Book III in the Psalms are known as the “exile” Psalms. Asaph is the main composer, appointed by David 1 Chron 25 When the people of God couldn’t worship in the temple. The temple is where they met with God, it was heaven on earth! they couldn’t gather together as God’s people…. Sound Familiar? They saw the Psalms as a portable temple.

APP> The Psalms are a portable place of worship for God’s people.

2) How do I read the Psalms?

Just because they are songs, we need to know the genre.Mark Futato, “The Big Three”

1. 1. 1. Praise- “God is good!”
      2. Thanksgiving- “God is good to me!” (Personal)
      3. Lament – “I don’t know what’s good.” Lament is the main focus of Book III and it is what we need now.

APP> Lament deals with what we are dealing with now. Grief, questions, anxiety, anger. Lament leads us to live in the hurt and long for the hope.

How we read the Psalms:(*Tim Keller’s “The Songs of Jesus”)

• • • • Adore- What does this teach me about God that causes praise and thanksgiving
      • Admit- What does this teach me about myself? What do I need to repent of?
      • Aspire- What does this teach me about life that I can aspire to? ask for? act on?

3) Why the Psalms?

1. 1. 1. To know God. – The God of the Psalms is the same God today!
      2. To know how to talk to God. – Prayer is not natural. *ILL> Donna talking.
      3. To express our emotions. *ILL> Harvard business review “The emotions that you are feeling is grief” … “Our emotions need motion.” APP> Prayer is the primary way to process your emotions. 
      4. To see Jesus. “Then he said to them, “These are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you, that everything written about me in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled.” Luke 24:44 … Also, we know that Jesus himself found comfort in the Psalms. Jesus sang a psalm the night he was betrayed Matt 26:30… also, as Jesus is dying on the cross, he quotes the Psalms!

Close>

“Lord, where is your steadfast love of old, which by your faithfulness you swore to David?” Psalm 89:49

Big Idea > The Psalms teach us that it’s okay to not be okay it’s just not okay to stay that way.