The book of Psalms has been the single most important piece of my own formation — personally and pastorally. I have spent lots of time with them in academic research, in prayer, in devotional reading.
A primary desire, a calling, in my life is to try to make the Psalm’s riches as accessible as possible for my friends and for the people that I pastor.
Here’s an attempt at a very brief and simple guide for reading a psalm. Consider this merely one pathway as you explore the riches of the Psalter.
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1. Metaphor
The Psalms are poems. As such, the images, word-pictures, and metaphors presented are integral to the meaning itself. A psalm’s metaphors are not interchangeable with modern ones. We must have an understanding of the images presented and think deeply about what these unique pictures mean.
Take, for example, Psalm 95, and the image of the sea: “The sea is his, for he made it…” (Psalm 95:5).
The reader needs to ask some questions: “Why is the sea mentioned? Why does that matter? In a Psalm that praises the Lord, what is the big deal about the fact that he made the sea?”
After some thinking, the reader will realize that the sea is more than the docile Gulf of Mexico. It isn’t mainly a backdrop for sipping beverages and building sandcastles. The currents and tides of the world’s oceans create the world’s weather patterns. The sea is perhaps the most powerful force on earth. The sea is big, wild, vast, immeasurable and strong. Ancient peoples believed the sea was the place where the forces of chaos lived. Modern people acknowledge the same thing, actually.
But the psalmist wants you to know the Lord owns it. He made it. The most fearsome force on earth is like a thing sits in his workshop, tamed and under his direction and authority.
The image points to the Lord’s unrivaled strength.
Here’s a suggestion: While reading a psalm, jot down every metaphor you find and try to think about how that particular image contributes to the tone, feel, or truth of the psalm. If you are interested, the single greatest Bible study resource I know of—especially for gaining a grasp of the Bible’s images—is this one.
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2. Movement
As poetry, the “movement” of the psalm is vital. The psalmists often take the reader on an emotive journey. Think of a psalm in the way you might think of one of your favorite songs. When reading, ask another series of questions:
“Does this poem build in intensity? Where does the psalm get quiet or loud? Does the psalmist begin confused and move toward understanding? Is the psalmist overwhelmed with joy? Or sadness? Where are patterns of repetition (this signals emphasis)? Does the psalmist build toward a climax or resolution? Where is the psalmist leading the listener or reader? Where does the psalmist want me to go?
Psalm 145 serves as a fitting example. In Psalm 145, the psalmist desires to overwhelm the reader/listener with a cascading waterfall of praise and celebration. The movement of the psalm is like waves of praise, crashing up the heart of the hearer/reader.
An exercise to try: track the movement of the psalm. I recommend you sketch a psalm’s arc. I try to do this for every psalm that I read.
Below, is Psalm 145, visually. The Psalm begins with the intent to praise and builds with more and more reasons to praise. It ends where it began but in a “higher” place of resolution to praise.
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3. Mirror
Calvin wrote,
“I have been accustomed to call this book, I think not inappropriately, ‘An Anatomy of all the Parts of the Soul;’ for there is not an emotion of which anyone can be conscious that is not here represented as in a mirror.”
The Reformer, like the readers of the Psalms who went before him, believed the Psalms show us ourselves. As we enter the psalmists’ experience, we quickly identify with these ancient prayers. Another Reformation voice, Luther, added,
“The Psalter is a book of all saints, and everyone, whatever his situation may be, finds psalms and words in it that fit his situation and apply to his case so exactly that it seems they were put in this way only for his sake, so that he could not put it better himself, or find or wish for anything better.”
In other words, the Psalms speak to us as God’s word, but the Psalms also speak for us.
As a third step, the reader should ask, “Where do I see my own experience of the life of faith in the words of this poem? Where do I see the experiences of my friends in this psalm? Where do I see the experiences of the saints who have gone before me in this psalm?”
This is a key way that the Psalm can speak to the heart.
Take Psalm 32, and the line from verse 3, “For when I kept silent, my bones wasted away through my groaning all day long.” The psalmist is thinking about the physical sickness resulted from unconfessed sin.
Don’t you know this? Have you ever been so ashamed and guilt-ridden that you were physically ill?
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4. The Man, Jesus Christ
Jesus Christ takes on human flesh so that he becomes the most human human, entering the experience of the life of faith most fully. Think about this for a moment: Jesus Christ was the most human human who ever lived.
We can think of the psalms, therefore, as the prayers of Jesus himself. On the cross, the words of Psalm 22 are on his lips. In Gethsemane, can’t we imagine Jesus praying a psalm of lament? On Holy Saturday, we can envision him praying Psalm 88.
Saint Augustine adds to this way of thinking with his totus christus (“the whole Christ”) method of interpretation. According to Augustine, the Psalms show us the “whole Christ,” experiencing the full range of human experience, bringing the whole spectrum of human experience before God on our behalf. Jesus experiences the full range of the Psalter either a) in his person, or b) in his union with his body, the church. For the Christians who have read and treasured the psalms before us, Christ becomes the key that unlocks the meaning of any psalm.
As a final step of engaging a psalm, I suggest you ask a final series of questions:
Can we imagine Jesus praying these words at any point in his life and ministry? When did he experience these emotions? When would he have prayed these prayers?
Does the New Testament quote or allude to this psalm?
How are the covenant promises made to David in the Psalms fulfilled in his descendent, Jesus?
Are the longings and desires expressed by psalmist provided for in Christ’s person or work? How?
How is the celebration of the Psalm made possible because of Christ’s work? How is the pain and sorrow of the psalmist given a reprieve because of Christ’s work on our behalf?
How are the attributes of the God outlined in the psalm revealed most fully in Jesus? (For example in Psalm 95 mentioned above, isn’t it curious that one of Jesus’ pivotal acts of his ministry is to calm a sea??????)
In what other ways can we imagine Christ as the key to the psalm?
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The riches of the psalms are immeasurable. I hope that you read them constantly, pray from them often, a treasure as a central part of your spiritual life.