A Book of Praise . . .

READING THE PSALMS—BACKWARDS

On my desk here at Bishop College where I am writing this article is a copy of The New English Bible, which I turn to as time allows while I am at work. Nothing strengthens the soul like Bible-reading. Surely something is wrong when a professing Christian does not enjoy his Bible. A disciple that does not love the Bible is to be pitied. It is the one book with which he should linger, not something to be hurried through in some “chapter a day” project. Once the Bible is seen as the book that projects a Person, it can be read with a view of allowing that Person to speak through its pages. Through its pages we see Jesus, the wonderful Person of the scriptures, and if we read it without him in view Bible-reading may be a duty to be performed instead of a joy to be experienced.

The best way for the reading of the scriptures to become exciting is for them to be read with dynamic intent. By that I mean that one should open the Bible with the intention of listening to the Holy Spirit and gleaning some truth that is applicable to that day. If one thumbs the pages while he “prays in the Holy Spirit” both for guidance and insight, asking God to reveal something important for the here and now, then Bible-reading becomes a soul-growing discipline.

We should always open the Bible with a sense of awe. “Open my eyes that I may behold great wonders from your word,” cried the psalmist. We should read the Word with no less reverence. It is said that Adam Clarke, after many years of arduous work on his commentary, wrote the last lines of his analysis of Malachi, the last book he treated, on his knees. The spirit with which he wrote about the scriptures is the spirit with which we should read the scriptures, something all too rare in this era of irreverence.

Oftentimes I take the Bible in hand with no reading plan at all, thumbing here and there, and reading small portions from several places. This seems to be as good a way as any here in my office when I may have only a few minutes. Recently I turned to the book of Psalms, to the very end and read the 150th. Then the 149th, making my way through that “Book of Praise” backward. The most effective way to read the Psalms, I presume, would be to read the various collections of hymns together, for the book tends to fall into 8 or ten such clusters. But I wasn’t interested in order or technique. I simply wanted to read some of the psalms, and I started at the back, just for the heck of it.

Perhaps it was because I had an unusual spiritual appetite at the moment, or perhaps it was the freshness of the rendition of The New English Bible. Anyway the message of those last psalms burned into my heart with a new loveliness and with a meaning deeper than ever before.

In my philosophy classes I try to discipline my students to ask themselves three questions when they approach a piece of literature: What does it say?, Is it true?, and Is it important? The questions are intended to guide the student in his search for the point and its meaning. I find myself reading the Bible that way, except that I reduce it all to one question since it is God’s Word (which is different from all other literature), which is: What is God saying to me in this passage?

I conclude that these psalms are encouraging me and showing me how to praise God. Furthermore they are saying that praise and thanksgiving are majors, not minors, in the life of a child of God. And they are saying that praise and thanksgiving should be joyful and meaningful experiences. They also are saying that the ones who composed the hymns were people who walked with God. They provide insights into the meaning of close communion with God. One is impressed that if he prowls around in the Psalms sufficiently that some of their spiritual greatness may rub off on him.

There are 13 lines in Psalms 150 and 13 times we are told to praise God, with the word appearing in every line. The scholars are probably right when they say this psalm, as well as the others in this cluster, were used as part of the ritual in a temple feast in ancient Israel. When it says, “Praise him with tambourines and dancing,” it may well have been followed originally with a burst of the tambourines and gala dancing in the temple courts. And when the crier called out “Praise him with the clash of cymbals,” the musicians responded with a clanging that could have been heard all the way to the valley of Hinnom. Can’t you just hear them praising God?

As I read through the psalm and noticed how the flute, the trumpet, and stringed instruments are all to be used in praising God, I could not help but wonder how Beethoven would have fared in the Churches of Christ. I thought of the old argument we’ve always used (it’s in the Old Testament but not the New) about instrumental music, which satisfies me all right; but I could not help but conclude that if God is as displeased with the instrument as we imply that he would have somewhere said so. I have long since concluded that we should declare the instrumental music question a dead issue, certainly insofar as Christian fellowship is concerned.

When that last psalm says “a praise God in his holy place,” I don’t have to restrict my thinking to that old temple in Jerusalem, which is surely the “holy place” referred to. I apply that to the “holy place” of my heart, where his Spirit dwells. What a blessed reality! It calls for another line in that psalm: “Praise him for his immeasurable greatness.”

I fear that praise has been a minor rather than a major in my own life. So these psalms are teaching me. And yet I wonder about the nature of praise, whether it is vocal and verbal or whether it is silent and meditative. Or both. Surely one may cry out praises to God when he is alone in the woods or while driving in his car. How changed our lives might be if we not only got out of bed each morning with a bounce, but also with a cry of praise. “Thank you, dear Lord, that I am able to get up and that I have a job to go to!” would be a worthy beginning to anyone’s day. One of the psalms speaks of praising God seven times a day, which I take to mean all day long. Should we Christians be any different?

The latter psalms are chock-full of precious nuggets. I placed a checkmark beside a number of them as I read backward. Here are a few.

His pleasure is in those who fear him, who wait for his true love. (147:11)

How good it is to sing psalms to our God! How pleasant to praise him! (147:1)

It is he who heals the broken in spirit and binds up their wounds, he who numbers the stars one by one and names them one and all. (147:3-4)

As long as I live I will praise the Lord; I will sing psalms to my God all my life long. (146:2)

Man is no more than a puff of wind. his days a passing shadow. (144:4)

I dwell upon the years long past, upon the memory of all that thou hast done; the wonders of thy creation fill my mind. (143:5)

The theologians are always telling us what a tyrant and bully the God of the Old Testament is, being so different from the God of the New Testament. These psalms hardly bear that out. Psalms 145 says, “The Lord is gracious and compassionate, forbearing, and constant in his love. The Lord is good to all men, and his tender care rests upon all his creatures.” That doesn’t sound so tyrannical. Neither does this from Psalms 146: “The Lord feeds the hungry and sets the prisoner free. The Lord restores sight to the blind and straightens backs which are bent; the Lord loves the righteous and watches over the stranger; the Lord gives heart to the orphan and widow but turns the course to the wicked to their ruin.”

The recurring themes throughout the psalms are praise, thanksgiving, and rejoicing. And these are not empty exercises, but resources of power. It is not simply good poetry, but the means of transforming our lives. As I read these psalms I had the conviction that most of us have utterly failed in appropriating the spiritual resources that are ours for the asking.

While going over this material I picked up a little volume sent to me by E. L. Keesling of Washington, D.C., with an attending note that read: “Leroy, I predict that you’ll like this book. It will at least stir your thinking,” It is entitled Prison to Praise and is the story of a soldier whose boredom in the army led him to conduct that resulted in a prison term, but who eventually became a chaplain who found answers to people’s problems by teaching them to praise God and thank him for their circumstances, He took seriously the injunction “In every thing give thanks, for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you” (1 Thess. 5:18), and it changed his life and many of those to whom he ministered.

He tells of a couple that had a recalcitrant daughter who was so filled with hatred for her sister that she threw things at her, making life miserable for the entire family. The chaplain urged them to thank God even for this circumstance, and to praise him for what ever purpose he might have in their daughter. They had tried psychology and psychiatry only to fail. Praising God in such a predicament had not occurred to them. Shortly after they were able to thank God for their problem the daughter stood before them in the living room, and once she had their attention she defiantly slammed a potted flower to the floor, scattering dirt and glass over the rug. The parents responded by praising God! The daughter was so impressed that she too praised God and forthwith began to get well.

A wife was terribly worried over her husband being sent to Vietnam. She had no other relatives and she feared the loneliness would destroy her. As the time drew near she was driven to despair. When she went to the chaplain, she was shocked when he advised her to praise God because her husband was being sent to Vietnam. She was awhile accepting this, but the scriptural injunction “In every thing give thanks, for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you,” she resolved to thank God for what was earlier threatening her sanity. The day she turned to thanksgiving the impossible began to happen. Seated beside a man in a waiting room, she glanced at the pictures he was showing to a friend and discovered that one of the pictures was of her mother, whom she had seen only in pictures, being displaced in childhood. The man turned out to be her brother! At the same time her husband, who was a lawyer, was reassigned to a law office and was no longer threatened by Vietnam.

On and on go the chaplain’s stories of people whose lives were changed when they cultivated hearts of praise and thanksgiving. As brother Keesling suggested in his note to me, it is something to think about.

But one need not go beyond the scriptures to find people praising God even amidst adversity. David thanked God that he was afflicted. The apostles thanked God that they could suffer for Christ’s sake. Jesus urges us to rejoice if we are persecuted for his cause. Paul gloried in his infirmities and praised God for his weaknesses. Such a spirit gives strength to weakness and firmness to infirmity.

Those who are learning the discipline of praise and thanksgiving rely upon scriptures that many of us have not yet related to our lives. Such as Rejoice forevermore! They also like Neh. 8:10: “The joy of the Lord is your strength.” Then there is Heb. 13:15 “Through Jesus, then, let us continually offer up to God the sacrifice of praise, that is, the tribute of lips which acknowledge his name,” Luke 6:23 speaks of our being glad and dancing with joy.

The chaplain is especially impressed with Eph. 3:20-21 (Phillips): “Now to him who by his power within us is able to do infinitely more than we ever dare to ask or imagine -to him be glory in the Church and in Christ Jesus for ever and ever, amen!”

This passage inspired him to pray for men whose cigarettes were killing them, men whose lives were hampered by a violent temper, and for men who were ruthless with their family. In all such cases God responded in a way that was “infinitely more than we ever dare to ask or imagine,” wonderfully enhancing the chaplain’s ministry.

God is surely working marvelously in people’s lives these days. He will so work in the lives of us all. We must turn from an empty and meaningless religion and be “aglow with the Spirit,” praising God and thanking him in all things. If a backward tour through the Psalms will encourage this, then happy motoring. After all, backing up is one good way to get started again.—the Editor