The first chapter of Psalms will be repeated often in the Psalms as a guide for people’s lives. On the road of life, you have two choices: one that allows you to follow God and receive happiness and feel blessed and another that involves leading a wicked life (a God-less life). I believe using different versions of the Bible to help read and understand a passage is paramount if you are a pastor preparing a sermon or a disciple simply reading the word of God as written for the people of God. I use the New Revised Standard (NRSV), Common English Bible (CEB), New International Version (NIV), English Standard Version (ESV), King James Version (KJV), and Contemporary English Version (CEV), but I mainly use the first three listed. We all …show more content…
It is also a theme we will hear from Jesus during his time on earth, from his disciples who followed him and helped to write the New Testament, and from many of the prophets from the Old Testament. I generally enjoy Walter Brueggemann’s writing as I find him easy to understand, and his book on the Psalms does not disappoint. Brueggemann’s book states, “The Psalms are helpful because they are a genuinely dialogical literature that expresses both sides of the conversation of faith.” Right out of the gate, Brueggemann nailed what I have always thought the Psalms are about. The Psalms (well, the overwhelming parts) are conversations, sometimes from God to his people, in this case, the authors of Psalms. I believe that the majority of Psalms are written by King David and Asaph to …show more content…
Pain, self-doubt, loneliness, and questioning God, God’s grace, and providence are all in the book of Psalms. The first chapter clearly states that even in the midst of our lives, the truth about avoiding evil and being blessed by God written in the Bible is still true. The book is an instruction of how we should live our lives today. The book is unique among all books of the Bible because it is a conversation between God and his chosen people. The book is an open communication, in other words, a true prayer with us praying and God hearing and at times answering. It might have been written for the Jewish community, but the people are still his people today and he is still the God who knows us, loves us, and cares for