Why look at the Psalms

I am at present preaching a series of sermons on some of the Psalms on Sunday evenings. Here are some of the reasons why I consider it especially worth our while spending time with them.

1) They are there to instruct us. Thirteen of them are specifically entitled Maskil, and although the meaning of the word is not clear, it’s root seems to be the Hebrew word for instruction. When Jesus wanted to instruct people as to whom he was, he often quoted the psalms. Some of them are in the genre of Wisdom Literature (such as psalm 1) guiding us into that knowledge which makes us live in God’s plan.
2) They are experiential. Often when we read them we find ourselves saying “I’ve been there,” or “I’ve felt that way.” They are not merely cold instruction, but instruction built on experience. This is why maybe older Christians seem to find the psalms more precious than younger ones. They help us understand our own experiences – experiences of not understanding what God is doing, of feeling that life is unfair, of being tempted to think as the world thinks, of joy in success, of wonder at the works of the Lord.
3) They are poetry. They convey more than bare truth. They convey all the range of emotions that we feel. There is joy and sadness, hope and despair, glory and shame, light and darkness, grieving and rejoicing, anger and repentance. They help us feel, and not fear our emotions, with a Christian perspective.
4) They are worship. Anyone who wants to know how we can come before God to worship Him must look at the way the Bible worshippers greeted the Almighty. As we see others coming before Him, we can learn and benefit much.
5) They are divinely inspired. As part of the Word of God we know that they are God breathed (2 Timothy 3:16) and invaluable for our persevering walk with God (Romans 15:4). But specifically we are told by Jesus that it was the Holy Spirit who was speaking through David in Psalm 110 (Mark 12:36). So also Peter tells us in Acts 1:16 speaks of the Holy Spirit speaking through David when he alludes to Psalm 41.
6) They point to Jesus. There are two ways in which the psalms especially help us to see and understand our Saviour in clearer light. There is a foreshadowing of our Lord, in that a number of the psalms set us a pattern, which when repeated becomes a type – for example the innocent suffering at the hands of the guilty. There is also prophecy, where the Spirit gives an insight into what the Saviour would be (such as Psalm 110, the most often quoted Old Testament chapter in the New Testament).

Time spent here is well spent, rewarding us much and deepening our knowledge of ourselves, of life and especially of God our Saviour.
Some books which I am finding helpful are:
Derek Kidner in the Tyndale Old Testament Commentary series. He seems to me to be excellent at giving the basic meaning of the psalms in context.
Alec Motyer has recently published a couple of books: Treasures of the King looking at some of the psalms which David wrote in specific situations. Also Journey, Psalms for Pilgrim People looking at the psalms of Ascent (120 – 136). Both are devotional books with valuable insights and are published by IVP.
Of course, Mathew Henry’s commentary is always warm, and Spurgeon’s Treasury of David is worth a look, although his exegesis is not always to be trusted.