Wednesday 14th Youth Group

Wednesday we talked about the fact that David's Psalms have been rewritten into songs over and over again. Many of our modern Christian bands (particularly worship) write their songs based on Davids' psalms. I played 3 different songs by 3rd Day that are fairly popular, but are also lyrically derived from the psalms.

1. "Your Love oh Lord" (it reaches to heavens; your faithfulness stretches to the skies; your rigtheousness is like the mighty mountains; your justice is like the ocean's tide...) comes straight out of Psalm 36.
2. "My Hope is You" (do not let me be put to shame, nor let my enemies triumph over me; my hope is you, show me your way...) comes straight out of Psalm 25.
3. "King of Glory" (who is this king of glory that pursues me with his love... the lord strong and mighty) comes straight out of enemies triumph over me; my hope is you, show me your way...) comes straight out of Psalm 24.

So, this is a creative way to become more familiar with the scriptures. We can develop an ear for them if we take the time to figure out where this stuff is coming from. Another point I'd like to make is that David can be thought of as one of the most successful musician/poets in the world considering the life-span, legacy, and proliferation of his lyrics.

We also talked about THEME in relation to David's psalms. We find themes all around us. We find them in the music we listen to, in the houses we live in, in the textbooks we read, the restaurants we go to, in the web pages we look at. Even this web page has a theme: first, the primary theme is the life of King David; but the secondary theme is in the design of the web page because every link within the page has the same design theme.

Moreover, we broke up into groups of 5 and each group explored the themes of two psalms.

• We looked at psalms 25, 30, 103, and 145.
  
• We payed attention to the words and ideas that would recur throughout each psalm. So, the easiest way to gain some clues is to circle words that are repeated.
  
• Also, it helps to identify to whom David is speaking. It is not at all uncommon for him to speak to more than one audience within his psalms. For instance, his primary audience is usually God because these songs/psalms are prayers to God. Although he speaks to God, he also speaks to believers, his enemies, and himself. Hence, it is helpful to identify the shifts in audience.
• Since God is the most important audience, it is also helpful to indicate how he is speaking to God. For instance, he oftenttimes praises and thanks God, and sometimes he tells God things about God (Ps 36... he says, "Your righteousness is like the mighty mountains, your justice is like the great deep..." To whom is he speaking? God! Doesnt God know that about his righteousness? Does he need David to remind his about how deep his justice is? Of course not, BUT this is a dynamic aspect of worship. David is adoring God. And by doing this, he is exploring the character of God, enjoying the character of God, and receiving revelation of the character of God. Praising God isn't just saying "praise you God." And it is not the same thing as thanking God. We thank God for things he has done. We could make up a list of things to thank God for and then sing a song of thanks. But when we praise God, we go beyond what he has done and we talk about who He is. It's the same with us. If someone praises us, we usually enjoy it more than being thanked. Example: "Thank you for babysitting my child, Erich" (thanks) Or "You are so wonderful with children, Erich" (praise). You see, praise is not the same as thanks.)
• So, is David praising God? Is he thanking God? Or is he praying to God on behalf of himself ("God help me"), which is also known as intercession. Or is he praying to God on behalf of others?

If we spend a little bit of time in the psalms with a sheet of paper, and take note of these things, we'll get a feel for what David was saying and his heart behind it. We'll also get a few good ideas of how to pray!