The Bible's Songbook

READ: PSALM 46; EPHESIANS 5:19

Music is one of the best parts of life. People have been making music since all the way back in Genesis, and every culture since then has created new rhythms and melodies. We memorize our favorite lyrics, get songs stuck in our heads, and sometimes even make playlists to be the soundtracks of our lives.

The book of Psalms is actually a collection of songs, and it’s also the longest book in the Bible. But, even though it’s long, it’s a great book to start reading because it’s already broken up into small individual pieces. It consists of 150 psalms (or songs), and you might recognize some of the words because lots of worship songs in churches today take lyrics right out of the psalms.

Some psalms are structured more like hymns. Some are written more like wise sayings, such as Psalm 1. Some read like a prayer journal, crying out to God for comfort, rescue, or forgiveness. You can find psalms that praise God for who He is (Psalm 145), look in wonder at His works and creation (Psalm 19), pour out heart-cries to Him in unfiltered lament (Psalm 13), and thank Him for victories and blessings (Psalm 46). The psalms cover every aspect of life—the good and the bad—pointing to God as our hope in all of it.

One amazing thing about the psalms is that they were written hundreds of years before Jesus came and lived among us, but they foreshadow Jesus (Psalm 22, for example).

So, consider opening up your Bible and flipping to the psalms. Read one, and fill yourself with the lyrics. You could even try making up a melody and singing a verse or two. Who knows? It might just become the soundtrack of your day. • Abby Ciona

• What is your favorite type of music? Do you have any songs stuck in your head right now?

• Music was God’s idea! Why do you think God included songs in the Bible? How can music help us understand His heart, fill ourselves with His Word, and express our honest emotions to Him?

• Consider taking some time to read one of the psalms mentioned above and consider: What is the psalmist saying about God? How might this psalm point to the hope we have in Jesus, who is God?

You are my hiding place; you will protect me from trouble and surround me with songs of deliverance. Psalm 32:7 (NIV)