Monday, May 31, 2010

Psalms 23-27: Timeless praise

There are so many beautiful passages in these five Psalms, that it is difficult to concentrate on one at the expense of the others.  Obviously, the most familiar is the 23rd Psalm, The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want, But then there's Psalms 24:1: The earth is the Lord's and the fullness thereof. Psalms 24 also contains the passage that forms part of Handel's Messiah

Lift up your heads, O ye gates; and be ye lift up, ye everlasting doors; and the King of glory shall come in.
Who is this King of glory? The LORD strong and mighty, the LORD mighty in battle.
Lift up your heads, O ye gates; even lift them up, ye everlasting doors; and the King of glory shall come in.
Who is this King of glory? The LORD of hosts, he is the King of glory. - Ps. 24:7-9 KJV

Then there's the heartfelt cry in Psalm 25  which has been made into another song.
Unto thee, O LORD, do I lift up my soul.
O my God, I trust in thee:
let me not be ashamed, let not mine enemies triumph over me. Ps. 25:1-2 KJV

Again, in Psalms 27 two more passages made into songs sung in recent years:
The LORD is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear?
the LORD is the strength of my life; of whom shall I be afraid? - Ps 27:1 KJV

And the source of some of the words in the Song 'Better is one day in Your house':

One thing I ask of the LORD, this is what I seek:
that I may dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life,
to gaze upon the beauty of the LORD and to seek him in his temple. - Ps. 17:4

With all the education we have, all the tools that are available to us, all the creativity we are surrounded with, these ancient psalms still have the ring of truth.  The apostle Paul knew what he was talking about when he said:

Speak to one another with psalms, hymns and spiritual songs. Sing and make music in your heart to the Lord - Eph. 5:19 NIV

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