"The Psalms"

The Psalms are a wonderful insight to the greatness and majesty of the Lord. The whole book of Psalm is called "tehillim" which means praises or the book of praises. It is a book that praises the Lord, even in the worst of conditions. The complaining, the sometimes protesting attitudes of the writers and the weeping were all brought to God, in His presence because they trusted the Lord God. When you examine the Psalm, the tehillim, closely you see how different writers brought their fears, their disappoints and joy into the presence of the Lord and expressed it to Him.

When I read Psa. 8, I can almost picture David, laying on his back, under a tree, looking up into the heaven above wondering why God would give man any thought. David sees God as great and mighty calling his name majestic (a word you rarely hear spoken by believers today) while man is less and given rule.

What I find unique about the Psalms is how the writers didn't gather a bunch of "church goers" around to complain about the latest chapters in the life of the temple worshipers. They didn't gather people around them to hear them complain or have a voice of revolt. Every issue was taken to God! They didn't try to prove their godliness to others around by speaking down about others. They took everything to the Lord God and cried out to Him. These Psalms were sung! The whole temple community sang these songs together. This was their hymn book.

When the happy, uplifting Psalms were sung, all joined in, even the down-trodden and sick. Those who hurt weren't left alone in their hurt but joined in the tehillim with the rest expressing their hearts to the Lord God who cares deeply for them.

These Psalms were written from hearts that expressed their inner desires to the One in heaven. These Psalms were sung by all expressing their hearts to the Lord God who delivers them. Maybe we need to learn a lesson from this. While many today focus on the harmony sound, the best singers to help our worship, maybe we need to pick up the Psalms and read, reflect and sing without all the hype. In light of the history of God, all the Psalms were put together to be sung and across the cover was stamped TEHILLIM/PRAISES!