The Book of Psalms
Be Real!
Ray of Hope Christian Church
May 8, 2012
Psalm 150
The Psalms, as the Greek name
Psalmoi suggests, is a
“collection of poems sung to
an musical accompaniment.”
Psalm 100
Shout for joy to the Lord, all the earth
Worship the Lord with gladness; Come before him with
joyful songs. Know that the Lord, he is God. It is he who
has made us, and we are His; we are his people, the sheep
of his pasture. Enter his gates with thanksgiving and his
courts with praise; For the Lord is good and his love
endures forever; His faithfulness continues through all
generations.
Psalm 122:1
I was glad when they said unto me,
let us go into the house of the Lord.
Psalm 46
God is our refuge and our strength, an everpresent help in trouble. Therefore we will not fear
though the earth give way and the mountains fall
into the heart of the sea, and though the waters
roar and foam and the mountains quake with their
surging. There is a river whose streams make glad
the city of God.
The Psalms were not only sung in
the Temple during corporate
worship, but they were the
substance of personal devotion
as well.
Psalm 5:1-3
Give ear to my words, O Lord, consider
my sighing. Listen to my cry for help,
my King and my God, for to you I pray.
In the morning, O Lord, you hear my voice;
in the morning I lay my requests before you
and wait in expectation.
Psalm 63:1
O God, you are my God, earnestly I
seek you; my soul thirsts for you, my
body longs for you, in a dry and
weary land where there is no water.
Psalm 102
Hear my prayer, O Lord; let my cry for
help come to you. Do not hide your face
from me when I am in distress. Turn
your ear to me; when I cry and
answer me quickly.
Psalm 121:1
I will lift up my eyes to the hills
where my help comes from?
My help comes from the Lord, the
Maker of heaven and earth.
Psalms as Poems
Parallelism
The relationship of one
line to another
In synonymous parallelism,
the second line repeats the first
Psalm 15:1
Lord who may dwell in your sanctuary?
Who may live on your holy hill?
In antithetical parallelism - it is
just the opposite - the second line
contrasts with the first
Psalm 37:9
for evil men will be cut off, but
those who hope in the Lord will
inherit the land.
In synthetic parallelism,
each successive line expands the meaning
Psalm 19:8
which talks about God’s
revelation through His Word,
his statutes, his precepts
The Psalms are a collection of poems
written by people like David, who
wrote 73 of the Psalms, Asaph,
Solomon, the Sons of Korah, Ethan,
Heman and Moses among others.
Jeremiah 17:10
I the Lord search the heart
and examine the mind.
Psalm 139:1
O Lord, you search me and you know me.
Psalm 3
David running from his
son Absalom
Psalms 32 and 51
David dealing with the sin of
sleeping with Bathsheba
There are other
confessional Psalms
such as 130
Psalm 103:3,8
Psalm 55:1
David dealing with the
betrayal of friends and
running for his life.
Fear – Psalm 27:1
The Lord is my light and my
salvation –The Lord is the stronghold
of my life – of whom shall I be afraid.
Frustration
Psalm 64:1
Discouragement
Psalm 42:5
Concern
When you cannot figure out where
God is and what he is doing
Psalms 10:1;13:1
Anger
Especially at those who
have mistreated us
Psalms 109; 139:19ff
Cursing
Expressing anger against
enemies and evildoers
Psalms 35, 52, 58, 69, 140
If you were to write your own
Psalm at this moment what
would the theme be?
Was it difficult to share your honest
feelings with God?
Why? Or Why Not?
Psalm 40:1
I waited patiently for the Lord; he turned
to me and heard my cry. He lifted me out
of the slimy pit, out of the mud and the
mire; he set my feet on a a rock and gave
me a firm place to stand.
Discussion:
Why is it so difficult for us
to wait on God?
The Hebrew title for the Psalm
is the word “Tehilim”
which means “praise songs”
•God is in charge – Psalm 93
•God speaks and things happen, his
purposes prevail – Psalm 33
•God protects and takes care of his
own – Psalm 90
I will bless the Lord at all times
Psalm 34
Let the afflicted hear and be glad
Psalm 40 – He put a new song in my
mouth, a hymn of praise to our
God. Many will see and hear and
put their trust in God.
Psalm 47:1 Clap your hands, all you
nations, shout to God with a
voice of triumph
Psalm 48:1 Great is the Lord and
most worthy of praise
Psalm 65:1 Praise awaits you,
O God, in Zion
Psalm 92:1 It is good to praise the Lord
and make music to your name, O Most
High to proclaim your love in the
morning and your faithfulness at night.
Psalm 96:1 Sing to the Lord a new song . . .
Psalm 107 Give thanks to the Lord, for he is
good; his love endures forever.
Psalm 34:8 O taste and see that the
Lord is good
Everything and everyone who has breath
is to praise the Lord
Psalm 8, the heavens declare the glory of
God, therefore, let everything that has
breath praise the Lord.
Messianic Psalms
The Psalms testify about Jesus!
Jesus himself said that the
Psalms spoke of him
Luke 24:44
• He is the Suffering Savior/The Good
Shepherd – Psalm 22 (John 10:11)
• He is the Living Savior/The Great
shepherd in Psalm 23 – (Hebrews 13:20)
• He is the Exalted King/The Chief
Shepherd – Psalm 24 (I Peter 5:4)
• He is the High Priest in Psalm 110
(Hebrews 7:17-21)
• He is the Stone that the builders rejected
in Psalm 118:22-23 (Matthew 21:42 and
I Peter 2:4)
• He is the coming King in Psalm 2
(Acts 4:25-26)
The Word of God
Psalm 119