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Sermon: Psalms: God’s Hymnbook

CONNIE: Is there a song in your heart today? A song of joy? Or perhaps a bit of the blues? Whatever tune you're singing today, you're sure to find an echo in God's hymnbook, The Psalms. Giving God’s trumpet a Certain Sound for more than 70 years, this is the Voice of Prophecy.

CONNIE: Hello, I’m Connie Jeffery.

LONNIE: And I’m Lonnie Melashenko . Connie, today we're looking at the Bible's longest book--the Psalms.

CONNIE: It's right in the middle of the Bible, isn't it?

LONNIE: Yes, in fact the middle chapter of the Bible is Psalm 117. But it's not just physically that the book is at the center of the Bible.

CONNIE: How so?

LONNIE: Well, the thoughts expressed in the 150 hymns or poems in Psalms hit right at the core of human existence. There's a song here for every occasion--for joyful, "praise the Lord" type of celebrations, as well as for not-so-happy times.

CONNIE: The psalms do cover a lot of territory--some of them exult in the joy of knowing the Lord and His power, while others cry out to God--asking hard questions: Why haven't you heard my prayers? Why do the wicked prosper while the righteous suffer? Where are You God, when we need You?

LONNIE: These thoughts were originally written in Hebrew poetry by King David, by Solomon, and by various priests and Levites who were assigned as worship leaders in Israel . One is even attributed to Moses, so it's generally assumed that the song collection includes material composed over a span of a thousand years or more.

CONNIE: Music has, of course, always been an important part of human expression. It's always been an important part of our ministry here at Voice of Prophecy, too. In fact, for many years we had a large music department that not only performed music, but even wrote new songs.

LONNIE: Many long-time listeners will recognize the name Wayne Hooper. I guess you could call him the sweet psalmist of Voice of Prophecy! He's been part of our ministry ever since he joined the King's Heralds quartet in 1944. And he continues to work with our music library, taking old recordings and putting them on CDs so we can use them on the program.

We invited Wayne back into our studios recently, to share with us some of his knowledge of the psalms, along with some of the wonderful music that, through the years, has been based on the psalms.

CONNIE: Ken Wade spoke with him. Let's listen to their discussion now:

KEN: Wayne Hooper, welcome to our studios. You have been such an important part of the music of Voice of Prophecy. All through the years-- writing songs, taking Psalms and turning them into songs for children, and arranging music. The Psalms have been very important to you through the years as well, haven’t they?

WAYNE : Well, the Psalms have been the hymnbook of the ages and every musician loves to look at the Psalms and look at the music involved.

KEN: You were showing me earlier, I remember this book showing how many people that have taken the Psalms and turned them into music. It’s an amazing thing. Is there a particular Psalm that has been really important to you?

WAYNE : Well, the fortieth Psalm really became my theme song. It starts out with David in a slough of despond. He was down in a pit, but he waited patiently for the Lord and the Lord brought him out, sat his feet on a rock, established his goings, but then the last part is the most important part for me. It’s that he put a new song in my mouth. Even praise to our God and many shall see and fear and trust in the Lord. Well, that fort of becomes a theme song for every musician who wants sacred music to help people and change their lives.

KEN: Oh, certainly. I think that that has been the story of your life because your music has gone out and helped millions of people, I’m sure, through the years.

WAYNE: We just hope that when we put together melodies and harmonies and rhythms and words that they’ll be done in such a way that the Holy Spirit can use them in going straight to people’s hearts.

KEN: Absolutely.

WAYNE : and help them change for the better.

KEN: Well, our own HMS Richards, the founder of Voice of Prophecy was quite a poet in his own right. He did a poem for every program for many years, and you took one of his poems and put it to music, didn’t you?

WAYNE : Well, he was especially impressed by the nineteenth Psalm that says “The heavens declare the glory of God and the firmament showeth his handiwork.” He wrote these words, “Lord of creation, by thy voice the heavens were the stars rejoice thy word created sevenfold brought forth existence manifold.” And then he wrote another poem called The Lord of Space. “Oh Lord of space the heaven of heaven above, thy sacred dwelling is eternal king thou art.” We were talking earlier about that painting.

KEN: The painting that goes with it.

WAYNE : Yes.

KEN: Now, you took those words and put them to music and we’re going to hear a little bit of that, right?

WAYNE : Yes, I set it to music for the King’s Heralds.

(Music)

KEN: That’s a beautiful song and I love the way that you’ve brought the feeling of what’s happening into the music there.

WAYNE : Well, David was the most creative and artistic character in the Bible. He was a military genius, a virtuoso harpist, a poet, singer, and invented musical instruments and taught people how to play them and made arrangements.

KEN: Yeah.

WAYNE : But, very best known of all of his Psalms, the most loved probably, is the twenty-third Psalm.

KEN: Oh, absolutely and we’re going to hear now a selection from The Lord is My Shepherd, and this is sung by the 1962 King’s Heralds, and your voice is prominent here Wayne. The last year that you sang with the Heralds.

WAYNE : That’s right.

KEN: Beautiful rendition there, and I appreciate your sharing your voice with us and your music with us there. Another of the favorite Psalms I know is Psalm 46. It’s easy to remember as well because two times twenty-three is forty-six.

WAYNE : Right.

KEN: Now, this song talks about the still small voice of God, doesn’t it?

WAYNE : Well, it starts out as God being our refuge and strength and the mountains being cast into the midst of the sea but it comes down to like when Elijah was having his wilderness experience, the Lord wasn’t in the earthquake, and he wasn’t in the fire. But there is a still small voice.

KEN: Yes.

WAYNE : That’s my favorite part of that Psalm and I set it to music for Del Delker.

KEN: “Be still and know that I am God.”

WAYNE : Right?

KEN: Okay, let’s listen to Del , and this was done actually for a children’s album, wasn’t it?

WAYNE : Right.

KEN: Beautiful, beautiful rendition of that principle that we find at the end of Psalms 46. Well, Wayne , we’ve only talked about three Psalms and we’re only one-third of the way through the Psalm and there is so much in that book though. Isn’t there?

WAYNE : Well, the fifty-first Psalm, of course, is the most beautiful prayer of confession in the Bible after David’s horrible sin.

KEN: And there’s been some great music done around that.

WAYNE : “Create in me a clean heart, oh God.”

KEN: Right.

WAYNE : Many composers have set that to music.

KEN: I wish we had more time to play that. We also were talking about Psalm 119.

WAYNE: A mighty hymn of praise for the word of God in celebrating the value and the magnificence of the law, the Psalmist uses every word he can find, commandment, statute, judgment, precept, way, path, law, testimony, a lamp unto my feet, and it goes on.

KEN: And it’s a great testimony of God’s guiding. Well, Wayne , I appreciate your coming in and sharing with us about the Psalms. I wish we had a lot more time to talk about it, but Lonnie has a powerful message built around the Psalms as well for our program today.

CONNIE: Well, it surely would be nice if we could spend a bit more time on the book of Psalms--it's the longest book in the Bible, and we can only scratch the surface, but the psalms that Ken and Wayne touched on do sum up much of the book's message.

LONNIE: They sure do. And I guess that message basically is, God is interested in each and every one of us and the things that happen to us. And though the Psalms sometimes struggle with why it doesn't always seem like God is making any difference in life, the book taken as a whole helps us understand just how God does work in the world.

CONNIE: God really does make a difference in my life, and I know He does in yours, too, Lonnie. And we have a little book here called The Difference God Makes. It echoes much of the message of the Psalms, with chapters like " Battle for Belief" and "Walking in His Will."

LONNIE: We'd like you to have a copy of this book--on us--because we feel it extends the ministry of this program on the Psalms--it'll be something you can keep with you and read through at your leisure.

CONNIE: Here's what to do to receive a free copy of The Difference God Makes Call 1-800-872-0055, and ask for it! That's all you have to do. We'll share our mailing address and e-mail and web page addresses after Lonnie's message, but all you really need is the toll-free number. You can call it any time.

LONNIE: And that number is 1-800-872-0055.

CONNIE: Right now it's time for Lonnie's message, which we've titled "Psalms: God's Hymn Book. Share with us, Lonnie.

Psalms: God's Hymn Book

There's an old story that's based on a passage from the Psalms. It's a wonderful report of how God answered the prayers of a group of Christians in an amazing way--in just the way they asked. Now, I know you've heard stories like this before. And there just may be someone out there who's saying "You know, Lon, I don't really want to hear that story. I've heard that kind of thing over and over again, but God doesn't answer my prayers that way! Why don't you tell me some stories about unanswered prayer--I think I could relate better to those."

Well, we'll get to that in a moment. I think all of us have at one time or another been in that position--wondering why God DOESN'T answer our prayers. And believe me, the book of Psalms has plenty of hymns that tackle that issue as well. But before we look at those psalms, may I share this little story with you? A story like this encourages me to keep on praying, and I hope it'll do the same for you.

It happened back in the 1920s, shortly after the founding of the school that's now known as Dallas Theological Seminary. The school ran into some financial hard times--in fact they were almost bankrupt. The creditors were ready to foreclose on the loans and close the school down at noon one day.

Well, that morning, the school's president, Dr. Rollin Chafer, called a group of people together in his office for prayer. One of the men who was there was named Harry Ironside. When it was Harry's turn to pray, he said something like this: "Lord, we know that the cattle on a thousand hills are Thine. Please sell some of them and send us the money." His prayer was based on the Lord's words as expressed in Psalm 50:10 " 'For every beast of the forest is Mine, and the cattle on a thousand hills.' " (NKJV)

Now, this seems hard to believe, but it really happened this way: While those people were praying in the president's office, a tall Texan with boots on and an open collar walked into the school's business office and said, "I just sold two carloads of cattle in Ft. Worth . I've been trying to make a business deal, but it fell through, and I feel compelled to give the money to the seminary. I don't know if you need it or not, but here's the check!"

A little secretary took the check and, knowing how critical things were financially, went to the door of the prayer meeting and timidly tapped. When she finally got a response, Dr. Chafer took the check out of her hand. It was exactly the amount needed to forestall the foreclosers! Then he noticed that the check had been made out to a well-known cattleman in payment for--well, you know what. He turned and looked at Dr. Ironside and said, "Well, Harry, it looks like God answered your prayer. He sold the cattle!"

I love stories like that, don't you? They remind me that we do have a God in heaven who loves to answer our prayers.

But stories like that can be troubling, too. They can leave us with some pretty difficult, unanswered questions. Questions like this one asked in Psalm 13:

How long, O LORD? Will you forget me forever? How long will you hide your face from me? How long must I wrestle with my thoughts and every day have sorrow in my heart? How long will my enemy triumph over me? Look on me and answer, O LORD my God. Give light to my eyes, or I will sleep in death (13:1-3, NIV).

Maybe you sometimes feel like the dear old grandmother that we heard about in one of our recent morning worships here at Voice of Prophecy. She's a widow, and so are her two daughters. The three women are doing their best to raise eight children. The live in two little mud huts in a village in India . The only employment they can get is hand rolling cigarettes at a factory. They earn about 90 cents per day doing that, but the nicotine in the tobacco wreaks havoc with their health.

Dorothy Eaton Watts told us about the plight of this lady in a recent newsletter, and told us what she said when Dorothy shared some Bible promises about God's blessings with her. The poor, sick old grandmother looked up at her and said, “Yes, God CAN do anything, but to us he has NOT been merciful! I pray that God would let me die soon, for I cannot bear to see the misery of my children!”

Do you hear an echo of Psalm 13 in that story? Do you ever cry out with the psalmist, "Look on me and answer, O LORD my God. Give light to my eyes, or I will sleep in death"?

How do you keep on going in life when everything is going wrong and God doesn't seem to be hearing your prayers anymore?

Friend, can I just say to you that when you find yourself feeling that way, you're not alone. In fact, you're in the company of many people whose thoughts and prayers have been recorded in the biblical book of Psalms.

We call it God's hymnbook, because it's made up of poems that were originally set to music. But even though the psalms were written by many different people under many different circumstances, the Lord has seen fit to include it in our Bibles. It's just as much a part of God's inspired word as any other part.

And really, it's a great book because of the way it gets down in the trenches and struggles with some of the hard questions of life. When things are going badly in life, you can find a psalm that resonates with your feelings--and in it you'll discover that God does not get angry with you for expressing your disappointment or frustration to him. He accepts your feelings, just as He accepts the words of the psalmist.

But listen, friend. As you turn to the psalms in times of crisis or disappointment, notice something else about them. Notice, for instance, how Psalm 13 ends:

But I have trusted in Your mercy; my heart shall rejoice in Your salvation. I will sing to the LORD, because He has dealt bountifully with me (13:5, 6, NKJ).

Even in this psalm, with the "unlucky" number 13, where the psalmist is crying out that nothing is going right, he still looks for and finds evidences of God's mercy.

There was one part of the story from India that I didn't tell you. The huts where those three poor widows are living were in a squatter community on public land. Local authorities demolished most of the huts there, but when they saw the conditions of the three widows, they left their huts there and actually deeded the land to them so they wouldn't have to move.

A small blessing, perhaps, in an otherwise dreary, depressing existence. But the women praise the Lord for that little ray of sunshine.

Whatever your circumstances, whatever your need, there is a poem in God's magnificent hymnbook to match your mood. If it's a great day of joy for you, turn to the end of the book--the last six psalms are all songs of praise. So are the psalms around Psalm 100.

If you're feeling bad about something you've done, read Psalm 51, David's great psalm of repentance.

And for everyday life, how can you beat that all-time favorite, Psalm 23, the shepherd's psalm.

The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want.

He maketh me to lie down in green pastures; he leadeth me beside the still waters.

He restoreth my soul; he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for His name's sake.

Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil; for Thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff, they comfort me.

Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies; Thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over.

Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life: and I will dwell in the house of the LORD forever. (KJV)

In whatever circumstances life finds us, we can still know that the Lord is our shepherd--and even when we do experience want or walk through the valley of the shadow of death, He has not abandoned us. Even when we cry out in our despair, waiting for some sign that He hears us, we can rest assured that He does. And that He has a good plan for our lives.

Especially for our eternal life.

What a joy it will be to dwell "in the house of the Lord forever."

Ah…the psalms. They can lift us to the heights, but they will also walk with us through the depths of life. Take them, read them, sing them if you can. And walk with the Lord--through all the high and low places of your life.