Praise the Lord. How good it is to sing praises to our God, how pleasant and fitting to praise him! (Psalm 147:1)

Throughout the Foundation series, we’ve been ambitious in our efforts to cover entire books of the Bible in a single week or with a single Sunday message. This week is no exception as we come to the book of Psalms.

At 150 “chapters,” Psalms is often thought to be the longest book in the Bible. That’s not quite right. In terms of word count, Psalms comes in at third place (30,147 words) behind Genesis (32,046 words) and Jeremiah (33,002 words). However, Psalms does boast the longest chapter of any book in the Bible (Psalm 119 at 176 verses), as well as the shortest chapter of the Bible (Psalm 117 at 2 verses). 

Among all these words, there’s one particular word that will seize our attention and give us pause. In Hebrew, that one word provides the title for the entire book. The Hebrew title for Psalms is Tehillim. The word means “Praises.”

All 150 Psalms fall under this comprehensive word. They are all “Praises.”

But this soon becomes confusing for us. Most of the Psalms do not sound like praises at all. Old Testament scholars recognize many varies types of Psalms among the 150, and the most frequently found type is the Psalm of lament. Eugene Peterson notes that Psalms scholar Hemann Gunkel called the prayer of complaint “the backbone of the Psalter.” For most of us, that doesn’t square with our understanding of praise.

Peterson continues, defending the name “Praises” for the book of Psalms, including the laments. He writes, “Praises as a title is not statistically accurate but it is accurate all the same . . .  All prayer, pursued far enough, becomes praise. Any prayer, no matter how desperate its origin, no matter how angry and fearful the experiences it traverses, ends up in praise. It does not always get there quickly or easily – the trip can take a lifetime – but the end is always praise. Praises is in fact the only accurate title for [the book of Psalms], for it is the goal that shapes the journey (p. 122).   

Were we to take a helicopter view of the Psalms, making a sweeping survey of the Psalms, we would probably notice a few basics of praise.

We Were Made to Praise

The highest aim of human life, the purpose for which we were made, is the praise of God. The Psalms provide the foundation for the familiar language of the Westminster Catechism. The “chief end” of humankind is “to glorify God and enjoy him forever.” Praise is our highest calling.

The Psalms declare that praise is “pleasant and fitting.” It is right and good that we praise the Lord. The Psalmists declare, “every day I will praise you extol your name forever and ever” (145:2). Again, “I will praise the Lord all my life; I will sing praise to my God as long as I live” (146:2).

Praise in the Grip of Pain

We would also notice that praise and pain are not mutually exclusive. Somehow our complaints and questions are never disqualified as praise. To our surprise praise is not always made up of happy words spoken by happy people. When we deal with God and pour out our hearts in any kind of affliction, God is honored. Words of prayer spoken through tears are an act of trust and bring honor to God. 

Praise Needs to Be Practiced

This Hebrew hymn book hardly represents the spontaneous eruptions of hearts that overflow with joy. Indeed, there is plenty of joy to be found in the Psalms – but these 150 prayers are carefully crafted. Several of the Psalms, such as psalm 119, are acrostics, structured with each line built on a letter of the Hebrew alphabet. Scholars observe that the structure of the Psalms reflects the intent that they be memorized.

For us, the Psalms are a guide to prayer. They school us in the praise of God. They show us how to wrestle with God in our questions and in our pain. For centuries, both Jews and Christian have learned to pray by daily reading or reciting the Psalms. Those of us for whom praise is not our native tongueneed consistent and leisurely meditation on these prayers.

Why Not Get Started Right Now?

Go back to Psalm 100. Read through it a few times slowly. Pay attention to this question: what do we know about God that gives rise to thanksgiving and praise?

You were made to do this. The trouble and hurt you might be feeling today does not disqualify you from doing this. But the language of praise needs to be practiced and learned.   

So get started. Praise the Lord!

Prayer:

Gracious and loving God, all things exist for the glory of your great name, and you alone are worthy of our praise. You invite us, and at times you command us, to rejoice and delight in you. We confess that our praise is so often misdirected. We exalt things that are empty, and we seek our joy in things that cannot give what we yearn for. At other times, our hearts are void of praise, burdened and distracted by the troubles we see in this world. Forgive us, we pray. Pour out your Spirit and fill our hearts and our mouths with praise, we ask in Jesus’ name. Amen.