They are to be felt

The Psalms are not simply to be studied and understood. They are to be felt. You can’t engage with the Psalms the way they’re meant to be engaged unless you feel the powerful emotions they’re expressing.

In my first sermon of our new series ‘Psalms in the Summer,’ I said there are seven major types of Psalms: Songs of trust; Thanksgiving psalms; Hymns of praise; Salvation-historical psalms; Psalms of celebration and affirmation; Wisdom psalms; Lament psalms. Notice that most of these major types are identified on the basis of their dominant mood. Emotion is so foundational to the Psalter that we identify types of Psalms on the basis of it.

Here’s the way John Calvin said it: ‘There is not an emotion of which anyone can be conscious that is not here [in the Psalms] represented as in a mirror. Or rather, the Holy Spirit has here drawn to the life all the griefs, sorrows, fears, doubts, hopes, cares, perplexities, in short, all the distracting emotions with which the minds of men are wont to be agitated.’ The Psalms teach us about ourselves. They serve as a Spirit-manufactured mirror for our souls.

If you want to go deeper in your understanding of, and emotional engagement with, the Psalms, I recommend Tremper Longman’s book How to Read the Psalms. InterVarsity Press, 1988. It is short and very easy to read. I have learned from it. For instance, Longman showed me that the seven types of Psalms are identified by dominant mood, and I have taken the Calvin quote above from him.

Posted by Stephen Witmer on Jul 8, 10:44 AM