I’ve been on a journey of spiritual growth for the past twenty years, and a big part of that journey has been spent reading, studying, and praying through the Psalms.
Like many believers, I have come to love the Psalms. They are a bottomless treasure chest of divine wisdom and humble exaltation.
Like all Scripture, they are Spirit-inspired, “breathed out by God,” and “profitable for teaching” (2 Timothy 3:16). Therefore, they are an indispensable and breathtaking part of God’s glorious self-revelation we call the Bible.
Through the joys and sorrows of men who were “carried along by the Holy Spirit” (2 Peter 1:21), in the Psalms I can encounter the God of David, Solomon, and Moses, some of the world’s best-known poets.
This is one of the Bible’s primary purposes – to reveal the one true God. As Jen Wilkin succinctly wrote: “The Bible is a book about God” (Women of the Word).
The Psalms are no exception; they accomplish this task perfectly because these sacred hymns are the “pure” (ESV) and “flawless” (NIV) words of God (Psalm 12:6). Like the rest of Scripture, their objective is to unveil the attributes and actions of God.
Only Scripture can disclose the character and conduct of our Creator impeccably. Therefore, through these songs, God has communicated inerrant and authoritative truth about himself so we can know him intimately and eternally.
Is there anything more essential and exhilarating than knowing God? To know God is to have life, for Jesus said “This is eternal life, that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent” (John 17:3).
Without the knowledge of God, we are doomed to a life of spiritual ignorance and darkness both now and forever. But once the eyes of our hearts are enlightened “in the knowledge of him” (Ephesians 1:17), like Paul we realize “the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord” and consider everything else as “rubbish” (Philippians 3:8-9).
This is why J.I. Packer wrote:
“Knowing God is a relationship calculated to thrill a man’s heart” (Knowing God).
By the grace of God, I have been experiencing this knowledge of God through the Psalms and I now want to invite you to join me on this journey. It is a privilege and a delight to share with you what God has been teaching me about himself.
My new book, How to Pray Like David: A Bible Study on Psalms 73-106, is now available on Amazon in Kindle and paperback formats. The Kindle (eBook) version is on sale this week for $0.99. You can get your copy here:
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0DKJX3SFT
And please let me know how God uses His Word in your life by leaving a review on Amazon. Thank you!
To read an excerpt from the book (the first chapter — on Psalm 73), click here:
https://godwrotethebook.com/the-greener-grass-of-god-thoughts-on-psalm-73
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