Summer in the Psalms
As you already know by now, we have started a new sermon series titled, “Summer in the Psalms.” It’s a bit cliché, but I found it difficult to come up with something catchier. Thus, we are following in the footsteps of hundreds of other pastors with our series title.
One aspect of our Summer in the Psalms series that differs from similar series you may have encountered before is that we are not just picking our favorite psalms. In fact, if I were to put together a list of my favorite psalms, the vast majority of them would not appear in this series. That is because we are preaching through Book 3 of the Psalms instead of hopping around the psalter.
The large book of Psalms is composed of five books. Book 3—the one we will walk through—stretches from Psalms 73–89. Side note: in case you were confused as to why we started our Summer in the Psalms series in April, we did so because Book 3 of the Psalms has more chapters than we can cover in June and July.
Why cover Book 3 instead of preaching our favorite psalms? Thanks for asking—I was just wondering how I was going to fill the rest of this Forerunner article.
We chose to preach through Book 3 because the psalms we would typically pick all strike the same note. We like happy psalms. We like psalms that tell us to make a joyful noise. We like psalms that sing of God’s goodness to us. We like psalms that directly talk about Jesus. Since the psalms were accompanied by musical instruments, we could say we like major key psalms.
But not every psalm is in the major key. Many of the psalms are minor key psalms. They contain references to depression and oppression. They deal with weighty theological concepts. They sing of God’s goodness while describing heartbreaking circumstances.
Part of what makes the book of Psalms so enriching for believers is the intermixing of happy songs with sad ones—the triumphs of life interspersed amid tragedy and tribulation. We need a well-balanced diet of major and minor key songs. We need to know how to handle both the highs and lows of life. We need to see God’s character in our best moments and in our worst.
That’s why we’re going through an entire book of psalms. We will become experts on both the major and minor keys. And above all, we will come to appreciate the goodness of God.
In Christ,
Pastor Britton