September 15 2022

Today, Thursday September 15

Experiencing and Expressing our Emotions

Psalm 1:1-6

Blessed is the man Who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly, Nor stands in the path of sinners, Nor sits in the seat of the scornful; But his delight is in the law of the LORD, And in His law he meditates day and night. He shall be like a tree Planted by the rivers of water, That brings forth its fruit in its season, Whose leaf also shall not wither; And whatever he does shall prosper. The ungodly are not so, But are like the chaff which the wind drives away. Therefore the ungodly shall not stand in the judgment, Nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous. For the LORD knows the way of the righteous, But the way of the ungodly shall perish.

The Psalms are both a praise book and a prayer book! When I read and personalize a passage from Psalms it takes me into the presence of a Holy God and gives me the opportunity to share and unload my feelings and burden on Him. We all handle our feelings and emotions in different ways. Some people stuff their feeling inside and try to drown them with other things such as drugs, alcohol, pleasure, and other distractions in the world. Others of us wear our feelings on our shoulders and express them by lashing out at others around us with anger or saying damaging and hurtful things.

For sure God created us with the ability to have emotions. We want to feel loved and accepted. We would not know what joy or happiness is if we didn’t know and experience sadness. It is not wrong to have emotional feelings of any kind. We should feel and experience fear, worry, anger, and such. Many of the emotions that we experience in tough or difficult circumstances are God’s way of reminding us that we desperately need Him.

Someone has said that there are 126 psychological experiences. We don't know how they arrived at that number, but it appears that most of them are recorded in the Book of Psalms. It is the only book which contains every experience of a human being. The Psalms run the psychological gamut. Every thought, every impulse, every emotion that sweeps over the soul is recorded in this book. That is the reason, I suppose, that it always speaks to our hearts and finds a responsive chord wherever we turn.

It’s not what happens to us that really matters, but how we respond to it that makes all the difference in the world. I’m convinced that the Psalms is God’s way of helping us focus on Him, His love, His care, His greatness, His strength, His protection, and His loving kindness. Psalm 107:20 says, “He sent His Word and healed them and delivered them…”.

One of my motivations for doing this study on Psalms is to encourage you to make and take the time every day to read and meditate in this wonderful book! Someone said, “When the praises go up, the blessings come down.” Why? Because when our focus is on God instead of our circumstances and problems, we begin to trust Him and can pray in faith!

It is so fitting that the very first word of the book is “Blessed”. The theme of this psalm is the happiness of the godly and the judgment of the ungodly. Verse 1 can be translated, "O the happinesses of the man." No matter where we turn in the Bible, we find that God gives joy to the obedient (even in the midst of trial) and ultimately sorrow to the disobedient.

Psalm 1 is a wisdom psalm and focuses on God's Word, God's blessing on those who obey it and meditate on it, and God's ultimate judgment on those who rebel. Wisdom psalms also wrestle with the problem of evil in the world and why God permits the prosperity of the wicked who reject His law. Other wisdom psalms include Pss. 10, 12, 15, 19, 32, 34, 37, 49, 50, 52, 53, 73, 78, 82, 91, 92, 94, 111, 112, 119, 127, 128, 133, and 139.

In this very first verse of Psalms, we see the progression of a person in life. We see them walking, then standing and finally sitting. We will talk more about this tomorrow! May the Lord help us today to trust Him and begin every day with a walk with Jesus in His Word!

God bless!