"TEHILLIM"

"In Hebrew, it is called "seper tehillim". It means "the book of praises." ("seper" is book/ "tehillim" is praises) That is the Hebrew title of what we call the Psalms. The book was written by individuals under different circumstances. Some were written from the wonderful things the Lord provided. Others were from the hearts of anguish and pain.

When you take a close look reading the Psalms, you will find great insight to the things of God. People hurting from disappointments. Some were bewildered that they felt themselves cut off from mankind. Here is what is remarkable...they did not go off somewhere, finding another person to sit and pour their heart out to. They did not find support groups in which they could share their innermost turmoils. They didn't find someone they could sit and both bash the difficult circumstances caused by others around them. They didn't spread their stories of their heartache so others would "feel" for them. What did they do? They brought their heartaches, their disappointments, their confusion into the presence of the Almighty as part of their trust in Him! Their complaints and worried hearts, their adoration were poured out toward the Lord and the Lord heard and responded!

But even more remarkable, these are "tehillim", praises that were sung! These wonderful teachings were sung by the writers and by the "church" over the many years. There was no looking around to see if the harmony was right or if people were on key. It was not to prove anything other than broken hearts singing out, crying out to the Almighty Lord God that had the right to hear all their complaints, praises and hurts first hand! There were wonderfully happy "tehillim" that were sung and those downtrodden could sing right along with them in the "church". When the hurting "tehillim" were sung, those happy sang along with their hurting brothers and sisters. The lonely people and those under pressure were not left to sing alone. They sang the hurt of others to God! Their brothers and sisters added their voices of the anguished and carried those words to the throne of God.

The "book of praises" was the songbook of the Jewish nation. The people of Israel by the Spirit of God and in light of their history put all their songs together, put them in a hymnbook and stamped across the cover "seper tehillim". Maybe we need to learn some lessons and do more reading of the Psalms.