Becky and I have been reading a psalm every night for the past several months.  Last night we read and talked about Psalm 96.  I think it is interesting how when we think of the psalms, we tend to gravitate toward the magnanimous one filled with worship language of high praise, laced with shouts for joy and singing to the LORD.

In our trek through the psalms, however, number 96 is probably the 4th or 5th one that really belts out this type of worship.  The more prevalent genre is one of rescue and deliverance from enemies, colored by a desparation inside David (or other writer) that cries out in what we would think of as a negative situation.  To boot, many of them call on God to take action (dramatic) against those who stood in the way of the writer.

As I reflect on this I can’t help but try to remember the last time we read a psalm like this in a worship setting.  It seems like we do gravitate toward the psalms that make us feel better in a worship gathering.  I wonder if there is a connection between our use of the psalms in worship and how we want to feel during this gathering.  Case in point: even when we use a psalm that contains heavy material toward the enemy, we tend to dice it up and read around the “bring the heat, God!” wording that the psalm contains.

This time that Becky and I have spent reading and discussing the Psalms has really changed the shape of how I look at the book as a whole.  I think it is amazing that I have read through the whole book at least four times and this understanding happens now.

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