Psalms Overview + 1 - 2 Psalms: The Playlist of Your Heart

Susan Merrill (0:00)

This is the Bible Book Club.

Heather Rubio (0:02)

We're in the Book of Psalms. Welcome to the club.

This is season 19, the Book of Psalms. If you just found us for the first time, know that we call this the Bible Book Club, because the Bible is the number one selling book of all time. It should be read, and it is fascinating to discuss with friends. We read the Bible Book Club. It should be easy to do both. We read and discuss. You download and listen just wherever life takes you.

If you have been with us since the beginning, we are so thankful that you are here. The growing number of listeners committed to reading and discussing every single word with us is an encouragement to us every week.

Susan Merrill (0:45)

Season 19 of the Bible Book Club will be unique, because this book is not like any other in the Bible. This book is actually a playlist of songs, and there is a song for every emotion and situation known to man. The creation of this book was just another brilliant move on God's part, because everyone has a soundtrack running in their head. Songs find us when words fail, when we are driving home after a frustrating day, when we are awestruck at the birth of a child, when we are grieving a great tragedy, when we are nervous, afraid, celebrating, or just exhausted. You get the picture. Most often, we don't get to choose the songs our heart sings. Our heart responds to life. That's not a modern phenomenon. The Apple or Spotify playlist that you choose is a modern phenomenon. But the playlist of your heart is not. It's ancient.

That's how humans have always been wired. The Book of Psalms is the original playlist. The playlist God selected for all humanity. The 150 songs that were created for all of us. To provide peace when we are afraid, to express wonder when we're inspired, to worship when we're amazed, to comfort when we grieve. More than anything, this playlist will give you the confidence to know that God understands your heart and every emotion of your life. There is a lyric written for the exact place your heart is right now.

This is God's song book. This is the playlist of your heart. Well, the Book of Psalms is unique in other ways. It has more chapters than any other book. There are 150 But in word count, Jeremiah is the longest, Genesis is second, and Psalms is third. It is located strategically in the middle of the Bible. In fact, Psalm 117 is the exact middle chapter. There is 1,189 chapters in the Bible, and Psalm 117 is the 595th. So there are 594 chapters before it and 594 chapters after it. And, oddly, Psalm 117 is also the shortest Psalm in the whole Bible.

Psalms is by far the most popular book in the Bible, according to YouVersion and Bible Gateway. Matthew, John, and Genesis follow, but far behind. So you are in good company if this is your favorite book.

Now one last fun fact. The Book of Psalms was the first book ever printed in British North America. In 1640, just 20 years after the Pilgrims arrived. Apparently, the Puritans were unhappy with the existing English translations, which they felt were too loose with the original Hebrew. So they made their own. It's called the Bay Psalm Book. Only 11 copies are known to exist today. And in 2013, one copy sold at Sotheby's for $14.2 million, which was a record for a printed book.

Of all the words that could have been published first on this continent, the colonists chose the Psalms. They hungered for God's playlist. The words to express to God what their heart felt. Our challenge as we read will be to give our hearts the same songs to sing.

So how does the Book of Psalms fit into the Bible?

Well, I've said it before. The Bible is a collection of stories that all together tell a much larger story. The larger story is the history of our redemption with Jesus as the ultimate hero. Now, the Psalms belong to the Old Testament, which has five divisions. On our podcast journey, we have already finished the Torah and the history books. We are now in the third division called the Poetry and Wisdom Books. That's Job, Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, and Song of Songs. These books are quite different and have a unique purpose. And here is why. God had a plan in his design of the Bible. The divisions are like a roadmap. The Torah gives us the rules of the road. The history books show us what happened when Israel drove on the road. The wisdom books pull over at a rest stop to ponder. Where are we going? Why do people suffer? How do I navigate relationships? What makes life worth living?