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Psalms – From Pain to Praise
The book of Psalms is to be experienced, even felt, as our emotions overtake our minds, before we take it apart to study. Even taking it apart is a different experience than found in most books, because the book of Psalms is actually five different books (1-41; 42-72; 73-89; 90-106; 107-150), none of which have chapters. Personally I cringe when someone says “Psalms chapter 2.”
The Psalms are about real life, and real life is experienced and felt before it is analyzed. In both the Psalms and our lives, there is praise for God in the middle of suffering. And suffering is more felt than rationally explained. But in the midst of pain, God’s presence is acknowledged and hoped for although His presence is not felt. That conundrum is vividly seen in Psalm 22 – “My God, My God, why have you forsaken” (v.1) finishes with the acknowledgement that God indeed had not – “For He has not despised or detested the torment of the afflicted. He did not hide His face from him, but listened when he cried to Him for help” (v.24). Reality was felt, but what was felt was not true reality. And yet, it is in suffering that God is often best found.
As in Psalm 22, we experience the presence of God and even emotionally feel the absence of God not realizing He is there. The emotions of loneliness are contrasted to the reality of God’s love. So although we are guided by our emotions as we read the book of Psalms, we must realize that our emotions are not always guided by God. They are real, and must be dealt with. But God is the ultimate reality.
In suffering, we long for and thirst for God. In suffering we learn gladness and thanksgiving. In suffering we learn to rely, wait and trust in God. And all of this happens as we experience real life, not just through thinking, but through feeling, and thinking about what we feel.
To truly experience Psalms, we have to experience the writer’s emotions. We have to ascend the mountains of praise and descend into the valleys of death. In order to connect with the God of the Psalms, we have to connect emotionally with the Psalms’ writers. They are responding to God, and we must respond to them so that we can respond to ourselves and our God.
Think of the Psalms as any poetic book or poem or song. The immediate bombardment is upon our senses. Its beauty can even be about the beast within. Afterwards it can be dissected intellectually while divorced from its original intent – to explain life, our life. That way, we experience it emotionally twice, while benefiting from it intellectually.
Think of Psalms as a divinely inspired diary. It is filled with real life. And our response to it should be more than sympathetic, it should be empathetic. We should join in with the thoughts and feelings because they happen in our real life too. The Psalms often begin with pleading and petition, ultimately ending with praise because the suffering is a reality only as real as God Himself and the hope that God promises.
As a modern example of feeling before dissecting, I submit to you a poem. The “poet” does not claim to be a poet and he knows it. But just like in the Psalms, there are highs and lows, but as it was being written, staying in the darkness emotionally just seemed unnerving and incomplete. Praise and acceptance triumphs. The poem is called “I Am Not” –
I am not who I am, A mask hides the real me.
Chaos rules with bedlam, Hidden from all to see.
Beneath the mask lies, lies; Hope once again is crushed.
Silently my soul cries, Pained reality gushed.
Fear keeps the real me hid. Discovery hurts all.
My real self I have rid, Wearing a smiled shaped pall.
Father above can peer, For Him I have no mask.
Overflowing with fear, Yet in grace I can bask.
If not me that I am, Who do you all perceive?
Is the mask just a sham? Or who I want to be?
I am not who I am, Truth is I must not be.
To hide is not the plan, “I AM” must live in me.
While hearing the pain and praise, you might have felt something very familiar. In examining the poem, there is form and meaning; confusion and paranoia, yet coupled with calmness and acceptance. Within this poem and the Psalms there is an uneasy connection between two different realities, with the greater reality overtaking the emotions and the mind.
That Psalms is considered a book of pain and praise to be used in worship displays for us a wonderful lesson – all of life is to be spent in worship. Our lives are to be a “worship service.” Our worship to God is not disconnected from this world, but because of this world, pain and all. Just as life is pain, life is praise. Those denying the pain have a diluted sense of praise. Those denying the praise, hurt with no hope of being healed.
Read each psalm, read with intent, slowly, feeling the words. As the NT says, rejoice with those who rejoice and weep with those who weep (Rom.12.15). In the book of Psalms that is what we do. We experience the Psalms. We feel the Psalms. And in so doing, we live and therefore learn from the Psalms as we learn about life, ourselves and our God.
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