The Simpler Psalms

The Simpler Psalms

Maybe others find themselves wanting to encourage people either:

- to translate bits of the Bible into a dialect or language

- to be better at reading anything in public.

I hope my meditation on this little selection of Psalms might help others in some way.

Ps 8
Ps 23
Ps 1
Ps 2
Ps 3&4
Psalm 100
Ps 93
Ps 32
Ps 42&43
Psalm 46
Psalm 63
Psalm 67
Psalm 103
Psalm 120
Psalm 127
Psalm 130
Psalm 134
Psalm 137

I have called them the Simpler Psalms because they're short and more straightforward to read or to translate.

But look with me at 

Psalm 8

It sounds quite simple.  The sort of thing children can sing along to.  Try Jamie Soles' very simple and uplifting modern rendition.

But to meditate on this Psalm is rather more complex.  Because Hebrews 2 calls on us to think about how this Psalm is not true of our experience!  Isn't that strange?  God wants us to sing Scripture, and as we do it, to cry out in our hearts BUT THIS ISN'T TRUE! Or rather, it isn't true yet.

Man does not rule over the beasts of the field.  Example: I have had terrible trouble with mice in our house.  They seem to ruling over us!  They choose what they want to eat and leave me with the toil of clearing up after their feast.

Hebrews 2:8  "Yet at present we do not see everything subject to him."

So, it should pain us to sing Psalm 8.  But, we should read the Psalm with its fulfilment in view too.  There is a Son of Man who has come, Mark 1- the wild animals were with him.  He commanded cancer cells and they obeyed him.

He has come to put everything right.  And we will rule with him, a truth that so often gets forgotten in evangelical spirituality.

So, let's rejoice in these 'Simpler Psalms'.  But let's also meditate on them day and night.  There's often more there than at first meets the eye.