PSALMS CHRISTIANS

Psalms Christians



Psalms Christians

 Introduction

John Calvin described the psalms as the “anatomy of all the parts of the soul.”  The psalms search our hearts as we use them in our worship.  Psalms of praise are but one part of that anatomy.  Yet it would be a mistake to assume that all of the psalms of praise in the Psalter are monolithic in character. 

 In fact, the praise psalms in the Psalter display a great deal of variety.  When we choose praise songs to sing in worship, especially when they come from writings outside scripture, we should be careful to stay in conformity to the patterns of praise found in the Psalter.  Yet in the same way the preaching of the word is characterized by preaching the person and work of Christ from all the Scriptures,[1]worshipping from the psalms must have a Christological focus as well.   The purpose of this paper, therefore, is to describe the classifications and characterizations of psalms of praise in the Psalter and then to make suggestions about how they should be used in worship.

Psalms of Praise in the Psalter

Classification of Praise Psalms

All praise psalms are lyric poems.  A lyric poem is “a short poem containing the thoughts or feelings of the speaker.”[2]  The lyric poem is typically a private poem in which the reader “overhears” the author's dialogue with another party (i.e. God, self, or a group of people).  Yet the experiences of the author are representative of our own experiences so that we can join with him in his praise.  Lyric poems also reflect the emotions that the author is feeling.  This may be the chief trait of the lyric poem.  These poems are also usually rather short, since they “express a single feeling at the moment of greatest intensity.”[3]  Leland Ryken has described three types of lyric praise psalms.  These are psalms of praise, psalms of nature, and psalms of worship.  For the purposes of this paper, the these titles have been renamed as psalms of direct praise, psalms of nature, and psalms of Zionrespectively.

 Psalms of Direct Praise

In psalms of direct praise (or what Ryken calls “psalms of praise”), Ryken states that the author directs his “whole being away from himself or herself toward the object of praise”—that is, toward God.  Ryken continues, “This means, paradoxically, that although the psalms of praise are filled with the speaker's emotions, we do not look to the speaker.  We look with the poet at God.”[4]  Yet psalms of direct praise were typically meant to be used in the community of worshipers.[5]  Even if the contents of the psalm are one's private thoughts, they are used in corporate praise.  Therefore, there are both horizontal vertical dimensions present in psalms of praise.  Tremper Longman has noted that these psalms may be hymnic, expressing “exuberant praise of the Lord” (Pss. 47, 48, 92, 96, 98, 113, 103), or they may express thanksgiving (Pss. 18, 30, 32, 34, 56), “confidence in God's goodness and power” (Pss. 11, 16, 23, 27, 62, 91, 125, 131), or they may remember ...