Through the Bible in 66 Days - Psalms

 

The book of Psalms is one of God's greatest gifts to weary, wandering and worshipping people. It asks the questions we're often afraid to ask: What is prayer all about? Can you be honest? Can you be raw? Would you talk to God when life is too painful? Can you come to God when you doubt He's even listening?

The book of Psalms shines a light on all of this and so much more.

Within the Psalms, there are heartfelt prayers, cries of pain, songs of worship and praise, and shouts of thankfulness. There are echoes of every other emotion known to men. The Psalms are often messy and raw—but the most important point is this: they're genuine expressions of real feelings. They often give words to whatever we're feeling but cannot articulate. And that is precisely why they matter.

A Book Full of People Like Us

The writers of the Psalms have all been through what we're going through. They show us what it looks like to come to God with everything—to worship Him even when we don't understand, to trust Him when our hearts are trembling, and to cling to Him when our world is falling apart.

Some psalms are written from mountaintops, others from caves. Some from victory, others from despair. Some from confidence, others from confusion. But all of them teach us that God invites us to bring the whole of ourselves into His presence.

This is the Gospel in seed form: God does not wait for us to be sorted before He welcomes us. As Jesus Himself said, 'Come to me, all you who labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest,' Matt. 11. 28.

A Book That Points to One Person

Throughout the book of Psalms, we discover different characters—kings, shepherds, sufferers, worshippers, wanderers. But they all really point to the one main character in the Bible.

Whether in the image of a good Shepherd (Psalm 23), a solid Rock (Psalm 18), a mighty Warrior (Psalm 24), a safe hiding place (Psalm 32), or an unbreakable Fortress (Psalm 46), the Lord Jesus Christ walks with us through the Psalms. The New Testament repeatedly shows this. Jesus Himself said that the Psalms speak about Him (Luke 24:44). Peter quotes Psalm 16 to show that Christ's resurrection was promised long before it happened (Acts 2:25–28). Hebrews uses Psalm 110 to reveal Jesus as our eternal Priest and King (Hebrews 5:6).

The Psalms are not just ancient poetry—they are gospel signposts. The question you need to answer is: will you read them, and will you trust the God these men wrote about?

All photos courtesy of Unsplash