Adult Discipleship

 

Psalms has been the go-to prayer book for three millennia. As such it is a health manual for the soul. Yet as an ancient book, it requires some nuanced reading strategies. The last time we studied the Psalter together, we learned that “walking” was a major theme, making the book of Psalms is a kind of journey or a hike. We also learned that the 150 chapters of the Psalter was grouped by an ancient editor into five “books.” Not that this helps us find a logical outline of the Psalms! Some psalms are simple alphabetical acrostics based on the 22 letters of the Hebrew alphabet, others are historical narratives, others are poems whose climax is in the middle rather than at the end! Some Psalms are fiercely patriotic, others are laments for personal sin. Some psalms are chock-full of wonder and praise, others end in despair with no hope in sight. Perhaps this variety means that the Psalter does not a have a logical unity. Nevertheless, it does have the unity of a conversation. Obviously, there are ancient conversation partners such as King David giving instructions to his choir director, the Sons of Korah giving warning to the congregation, and even a guy named Ethan the Ezrahite responding his “cousin” Heman! Of course, the conversation has welcomed the participation of believers throughout the ages. But most importantly, the Psalter is a conversation in which God also spoke and still speaks.