I am putting final touches on my message for tomorrow. I just got caught up reading in Psalms in part for my message and in part to validate or console my emotions. In my little pit stop I noticed that I was missing the message of the Psalms as a whole. The Psalms engage with the entire human condition and they do it all to the glory of God. From Psalms of lament, sorrow, abandonment and betrayal to Psalms of praise, thanksgiving, joy and celebration; the Psalms cover it all. Across the entire book there is a movement from lament to praise. You see the theme of lament in the opening 20 or so Psalms, culminating in Psalm 22 which Jesus quoted in his moment of ultimate loneliness, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” We also see songs of joyful praise gathered at the end of the book in Psalms 145-150 with the final verse of the book resounding, “Let everything that has breath praise the Lord!” In the middle we have Psalms of confession (Ps. 51), Psalms of righteous anger and a desire for justice (Ps. 3:7 and many more), Psalms speaking of the glory of and in creation (Ps. 19, 104), as well as Psalms of thanksgiving, celebration, deliverance and hope. In all these expressions, from “praise the Lord” to “break the teeth of the wicked” I believe that every word is inspired by God Himself and they are all for His glory. Therefore, if I am seeking God’s glory I have to take the whole book of Psalms into account. By taking the book as a whole I am forced to wrestle with things I would rather avoid. Well, I have to wrap up my message for tomorrow morning….