A Psalm for the New Year

Aulder than Auld Lang Syne

Psalm 90 is a song of Moses and so it’s a good deal aulder than Auld Lang Syne.  All in all,a more profound way to sing in the New Year.  And as I had a go at singing to myself on New Year’s Day I was challenged, encouraged and unsettled by it.

I found the metrical version I’ve pasted below a brilliant adaptation of the Psalm into singable form.  And I found it worked quite well to the tune Eventide: you’ve probably sung this tune to the hymn Abide with Me.

There was something very real and contemporary about this ancient song.  I sang it shortly before visiting a family who have seen a lot of grief, especially this last year.

I found singing this Psalm very encouraging.  It immerses you in great biblical doctrines and helps you to soak them deep into your being.  Theology books can be very dry; but this is theological poetry: a great joy.  God the eternal Creator: with us throughout the ages.

And then we sing very candidly about death- that great unmentionable horror.  In our comfortable evangelical churches we like songs with lots of answers.  My spiritual journey, which is increasingly being directed by the Psalms, is revealing to me that we need songs that allow us to weepingly ask the questions as well as heartily sing the answers.  V13:“Return, O LORD! How long will you delay?”

But the verses that left me somewhat churned up inside were 7-9.  Moses speaks of living our days out “under God’s wrath”.  Can we sing this as New Testament Christians?  My conviction that we should sing the Psalms today was being challenged.  How does this fit with Rom 8:1 “There is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus”?

Suffice it to say that I found some light shed on this verse by remembering that in 1 Peter 4:17, even faithful Christians are said to be experiencing the judgment of God when they face persecution: “for it is time for judgment to begin at the household of God”.

And so I was strengthened in my conviction that we really should get back to singing the Psalms.  The friends we visited today, they could take this Psalm upon their lips and use it to express their feelings of grief, pain and sighing.

The kind of Christianity that is being exported to the suffering land we live in is failing terribly to give people a vehicle for all their emotions.  Brothers & Sisters in the West: I wish you all a Happy New Year, but emphatically not a Happy Clappy New Year.  Go on: sing it round the dinner table or dare to stick this Psalm on your church projector and give the hurting people in your congregation an anthem for the coming year.

             PSALM 90                                    10 10 10 10

    1      Lord, you have ever been our dwelling place.

    2      Before you made the world of time and space,

             Before you made the mountains and the earth,

             You are eternal God; you gave them birth.

    3      You turn all people back to dust and say,

             “O human race, to dust again decay.”

    4      Because a thousand years are in your sight

             Like yesterday or like a watch by night.

    5      Into death’s sleep you sweep them all away,

             For they are like the grass at break of day—

    6      Although it springs up new with morning light,

             It dries and perishes before the night.

    7      Your wrath consumes us; we are terrified.

    8      Before your gaze our sins we cannot hide.

    9      Under your anger all our days pass by;

             Our years come to their finish with a sigh.

  10      Our years amount to seventy in length,

             Or even eighty if we have the strength.

            And yet our days in grief and pain are passed;

             They quickly end; away we fly at last.

  11      The powèr of your anger who can know?

             Your wrath’s as great as is the fear we owe.

  12      Teach us to number all our days aright;

             So will our hearts be filled with wisdom’s light.

  13      Return, O LORD! How long will you delay?

             Have mercy on your servants, LORD, we pray.

  14      O satisfy us with your love always,

             That we may sing, rejoicing all our days.

  15      In place of our affliction, make us glad;

             Give joy for all the years you made us sad.

  16      To all your servants may your deeds be shown,

             And to their children make your glory known.

  17      Now may the favour of Almighty God

             Abide on us—rich blessings of our Lord.

             Establish every work our hands have done;

             Yes, Lord, for us establish them each one.

© Free Church of Scotland, Psalmody Committee.

Metrical Translations of some favourite Psalms

 These Psalms are all © Free Church of Scotland, Psalmody Committee.

I have taken the liberty of reproducing them here, while I dialogue with them about making their translations  available on the internet.

I highly recommend buying their Sing Psalms Psalter: it's the Psalms put into verse, but it sticks closely to the original text, and therefore excellent if you are trying to teach people from the text.

             PSALM 32                                    8 6 8 8 6

    1      How blessed the one who has received

                   forgiveness for his sin!

    2      Whose sins are covered from God’s face,

             Whose debt is cancelled in God’s grace;

                   there’s no deceit in him.

    3      When I kept silent, all my bones

                   with groaning were worn out.

    4      Beneath your hand I felt entrapped

             Both day and night; my strength was sapped

                   as in a summer drought.

    5      Then I laid bare my sin to you,

                   the guilt that lay within.

             I said, “O LORD, I have transgressed”—

             And you forgave when I confessed;

                   you pardoned all my sin.

    6      So let the godly pray to you

                   while you are to be found.

             Surely when waves are sweeping past

             And mighty waters rising fast,

                   you’ll keep them safe and sound.

    7      You are my hiding-place, O LORD,

                   my true security.

             You keep me safe in troubled days;

             You circle me with joyful praise

                   when you have set me free.

    8      I will instruct you by my word

                   and guide you in my way.

             My counsel I will give to you;

             My eye will keep your path in view

                   and watch you day by day.

    9      Do not be like the horse or mule

                   which cannot understand;

             They must be curbed and kept in check

             As bit and bridle turn their neck,

                   to go where you command.

  10      The wicked’s woes will much increase;

                   but those who trust the LORD

             His cov’nant mercy will surround.

  11      You righteous, let your joy abound

                   and praise the LORD your God.

PSALM 95                                           11 11 11 11

    1      O come, let us joyfully sing to the LORD;

             To the Rock of salvation let us raise our voice.

    2      Let us come before him expressing our thanks;

             Let us with loud singing praise him and rejoice.

    3      The LORD is the great God, King over all gods.

    4      The earth’s deepest places he holds in his hand;

             The heights of the mountains belong to the LORD.

    5      The oceans are his, and he formed the dry land.

    6      Come, let us bow humbly and worship the LORD;

             Let us kneel before him, our Maker, in prayer.

    7      For we are his people and he is our God;

             He shepherds and feeds us in his loving care.

             Today if you hear and attend to his voice,

    8      Don’t harden your hearts as you did on the way;

             In Meribah’s desert you quarrelled with me,

             You tested my patience at Massah that day.

    9      Your fathers provoked me and tested me there,

             Although they had witnessed the works I had done.

  10      With that generation for forty long years

             My deep indignation continued to burn.

             I said, “They’re a people whose hearts go astray;

             They do not acknowledge that my ways are best.”

  11      And so, in my anger, I stated on oath,

             “I swear that they never shall enter my rest.”

             PSALM 105                                  11 11 11 11

    1      Give thanks to the LORD God and call on his name;

             His wonderful deeds to the nations proclaim.

    2      Sing praises to him, and his exploits record;

    3      Let all those who seek him rejoice in the LORD.

    4      You chosen ones, look to the LORD and his might;

    5      Seek ever his face, and his wonders recite,

             His miracles too, and his judgments divine—

    6      You children of Abraham, Jacob’s own line.

    7      The LORD is our God, and he rules all the earth.

    8      Rememb’ring his cov’nant—the word he set forth—

             He vowed, for the ages to come, to make good

    9      His promise to Abr’ham, to Isaac renewed.

  10      To Jacob his sov’reign decree was made sure;

             With Isr’el his cov’nant would always endure:

  11      “To you I will give, as your portion to stand,

             The country of Canaan, the beautiful land.”

  12      When they were no more than a wandering few,

             In number restricted, and foreigners too,

  13      From nation to nation they travelled around;

             Wherever they wandered, no rest could be found.

  14      He would not permit that his folk be oppressed;

             For his chosen ones’ sake mighty kings he addressed:

  15      “Touch not my anointed—to me they belong;

             Respect my own prophets and do them no wrong.”

  16      The LORD called down famine upon the whole land;

             Their food was destroyed at his sovereign command.

  17      But he sent beforehand, his people to save,

             His chosen one, Joseph, sold off as a slave.

  18      His feet within shackles of bronze were confined,

             His neck put in irons; for freedom he pined.

  19      The word of the LORD was a test to be passed

             Till what he foretold was accomplished at last.

  20      The king sent an order to let him go free;

             The ruler of nations gave him liberty.

  21      He put him in charge of his house and his lands;

  22      His princes and elders obeyed his commands.

  23      Then Israel came down into Egypt to stay,

             In Ham’s land to sojourn for many a day.

  24      The LORD caused his people to prosper and grow,

             And so they were seen as a threat to their foe.

  25      He turned the Egyptians against Israèl,

             And caused them to plot his own servants to kill.

  26      Then Moses and Aaron, his chosen, he sent;

  27      Performing his wonders, to Egypt they went.

  28      Because the Egyptians despised his command,

             He sent utter darkness to cover the land.

  29      Their waters and rivers he turned into blood;

             The fish of the Nile were destroyed by the LORD.

  30      Their land teemed with frogs, which invaded their rooms;

  31      At his word swarms of flies and of gnats filled their homes.

  32      The rain became hail, and the lightning bolts flashed;

  33      He struck down their vines, and their fig trees were smashed.

  34      He spoke, and the locusts and grasshoppers came;

  35      And every green thing was consumed as by flame.

  36      And then he took vengeance on all the first-born—

             The firstfruits of manhood of Egypt were gone.

  37      He brought Isr’el out, bearing silver and gold;

             Their tribes all marched forwards both steadfast and bold.

  38      Then Egypt was joyful to see them depart,

             For terror of them had laid hold of their heart.

  39      He spread out a cloud to protect them from sight,

             And fire to illumine the hours of the night.

  40      They asked, and with quails were abundantly fed;

             He filled them with manna, the heavenly bread.

  41      He opened the rock to give waters to them,

             And there in the desert it flowed like a stream—

  42      Because he remembered the promise he swore

             To Abr’ham his servant, long ages before.

  43      He brought out his chosen ones, shouting with joy;

  44      He granted to them without toil to enjoy

  45      The lands of the nations—that they might regard

             His laws and his precepts.  All praise to the LORD!

PSALM 146                                        8 7 8 7

    1      Praise the LORD, my soul! O praise him!

    2             I’ll extol him all my days.

             While I live, to God my Saviour

                   from my heart I will sing praise.

    3      Do not put your trust in princes,

                   mortal men who cannot save.

    4      All their plans will come to nothing

                   when they perish in the grave.

    5      Blessèd is the one who truly

                   looks for help to Jacob’s God;

             Blessèd is the one who places

                   all his hope upon the LORD—

    6      He who made the earth and heaven

                   and the seas, with all their store;

             He who keeps his every promise,

                   who is faithful evermore.

    7      He delivers from oppression

                   and relieves the hungry’s plight.

             He releases those in prison;

    8             to the blind the LORD gives sight.

             Those who are bowed down he raises.

                   God delights in righteousness.

    9      He protects and cares for strangers,

                   widows and the fatherless.

             He frustrates the wicked’s purpose.

  10             So the LORD through endless days

             Reigns to every generation.

                   Praise your God, O Zion, praise!