(or "How the Psalms Should Be Retitled: A Year in the Life of a Desperate Housewife!")
I love the psalms, I read them as often as I can and like many people I use them as the kickoff for my devotions. I think one of the reasons I love them is because of the passion of every type of emotion that is found within: love, fear, anger, hope, praise, peace -- and even hate. Not hate in the angry American way, but in the Middle Eastern sense: such a deep love for someone that everything else appears hate in comparison. They show all of the emotions that I feel during the course of an extended period of time with God.
It is a book of total honesty: "This is what I am feeling at this very moment." I love that about it - it's like reading a diary of a year in the life of someone madly in love with someone else. On certain days there is intense love (Psalm 84), impatience (Psalm 4), distress over letting your loved one down (Psalm 51), comfort in placing yourself under their banner of protection (Psalm 23), intense anger over injustice (Psalm 82), and on and on.
That's why it is a dangerous exercise in trying to build doctrine from the psalms. How would you like it if someone pulled a page from your diary and tried to build that as the doctrine of your life? "This person is always angry." "This person worries about nothing." "This person worries about everything." "This is a very bitter person." "This is a very trusting person."
It would be extremely unfair. But understanding it as a 'diary' helps us read the hard psalms and know that it was simply how the author was feeling at the moment. When you think of them this way, they become much more readable.
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