What's the Focus of the Psalms?

      Who doesn’t love the Psalms?   I’ve turned to them many times for encouragement and comfort. I’ve always liked Psalms honesty; David and other writers told it like it was with any pretense.   But I learned as I started reading the Life-Study of the Psalms that not all of the Psalms are God’s sentiments; some are a mixture of some of the writer's  human concepts and views.

 

My daughter and children in Arizona

     In chapters 3 and 4 I found Witness Lee's explanation  about what was going on in the Psalms really helpful. These excerpts are   from page 41 and 44 of chapter 4:

 

“Suppose that we were the arrangers of the 150 psalms.  Which Psalm would we place as the first one? The Lord’s way is the best way.  He put Psalm 1 first where we see the law in man’s appreciation.  Then we see Christ in God’s economy in Psalm 2....David, who appreciated the law with its keeper in Psalm 1, murdered Uriah and robbed him of his wife (2 Samuel 11:14-27)....In his great sin, however, he broke all the last five commandments, which require men to have virtues expressing God's divine attributes. Did David, the one who wrote Psalm 1, keep the law? I do not believe that many readers of the Psalms ever thought about this. They agreed with David's exaltation of the law in Psalm 1. The greatest teacher in the New Testament, Paul told us that no flesh can be justified by keeping the law (Gal. 2:16; 3:11). It is impossible for fallen man to keep the law (Lee, Witness. Life-Study of the Psalms. Anaheim: Living Stream Ministry, 1993, Print).

 

      So instead of boasting in himself  or the law,  he said David should have been repenting. Because of his human concepts, not all of David’s sentiments were spot on.  David didn’t have the book of Romans and Galatians to explain to him that fallen mankind can't keep God’s law.  In Galatians 2:16 Paul says, "Knowing that man is not justified by the works of the law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ,...."  It was neat to learn that in the Psalms it's important  to see that Christ is the center and focus of the entire Bible not the law.

 

   You can listen to excerpts of Witness Lee's speaking the Life-Studies of Psalms on Life Study of the Bible  with Witness Lee.   You can also read the online Life-Study of Psalms and check out other resources available to enhance your study of the Bible on Living Stream Ministry's website.


Others Posts on the Life-Study of Psalms:

What is the Focus of the Psalms?
How Does Psalm 8 Show Us God's Purpose in Creating Man?
Taking a Closer Look at Psalm 23 - Part 1 of 2
Taking a Closer Look at Psalm 23 - Part 2 of 2
Why is God's House Important in Psalms 25 -41?
Seeing the Divine Romance in Psalm 45
What Did the Psalmist Perceive in Psalm 73?
What are the Highways to Zion in Psalm 84?
Why Did the Psalmist Delight in God's Law in Psalm 119?