FOCUSed15 Podcast – Episode #1 (Season 3)

We’re so excited to kick off Season 3 of the FOCUSed15 Podcast! We started off with diving into the book of Psalms, with another What do I need to know about … episode. Here’s what we packed into this 15 minute episode. Obviously, we couldn’t hit on the depth and width of this great song book, but here is our attempt at pointing out some of the highlights! I hope you’ll listen in.

WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT PSALMS:

• The correct way to refer to the Book of Psalms is plural, whereas individual Psalms are to be stated as singular (ie, Psalm 1 NOT Psalms 1).
• AUTHOR: Many authors.
  • David (73 named in title. New Testament gives credit for 2 more),
  • Asaph (12)
  • Sons of Korah (11)
  • Then many miscellaneous: Solomon (1), Moses (1), Ethan (1), Heman the Ezrahite (1)
• The Psalms are arranged into 5 books, which many scholars believe correspond to the 5 books of the Law.
  • Book 1: 1-41
  • Book 2: 42-72
  • Book 3: 73-89
  • Book 4: 90-106
  • Book 5: 107-150
• AUDIENCE/AIM: This was compiled as a song book for the Hebrew people.
• There are many different styles of Psalms within the book:
  • Hymns of praise
  • Songs of thanksgiving
  • Lament
  • Historical
  • Songs for a specific event (Example: Psalms of Ascent)
  • Prophetic
  • Praise of God’s Law
• Interpretation notes:
  • Keep in mind progressive revelation. It’s important to remember that God reveals Himself to us over time. There are things that we now know about God and His plan that the Old Testament people (Moses, David, the Israelites, etc.) did not know or understand.
  • Just because something is in the Bible (like the cursing of enemies in the Psalms) doesn’t mean God is condoning that behavior.
  • The Psalms are part of the Wisdom Literature group of books. It’s poetry that was set to music.
• The dominant theme throughout the Psalms = the Character of God.
  • His goodness in creation
  • His ability to save
  • God’s willingness to hear our prayers and deal with our emotions
  • He is worthy of our worship
  • He is holy
  • His Word is good and for our good

RESOURCES MENTIONED:

Links below may include affiliate links. At no additional cost to you, I receive a small portion of your purchase. Thanks!

• Reflections on the Psalms by C. S. Lewis

ADDITIONAL RECOMMENDED RESOURCES:

• ESV Journaling Psalter
• Psalms: The Prayer Book of the Bible by Dietrich Bonhoeffer
• God’s Prayer Book: The Power and Pleasure of Praying the Psalms by Ben Patterson
• Interpreting the Psalms by Mark Futato
• ESV Study Bible – A great resource for any book of the Bible. Includes all the basic info you would need to know about a book (author, audience, aim) and more.
• CSB Study Bible – An excellent, brand-new translation and study Bible.

SERMONS ON THE BOOK OF PSALMS:

• Desiring God Library – Sermons on Psalms
• Radical.net – Sermons on Psalms
• The Village Church – Sermons on Psalms
  

HOW TO LISTEN TO THIS PODCAST:

You have many options for listening in. Simply choose your favorite from below.

1. Listen right here on the blog.

2. Listen from an app on your smartphone, iPad or iPod– For iDevice users, click here to access the podcast and subscribe in iTunes.  If you don’t have an Apple device, you can listen with the Stitcher app. You’ll have access to new episodes on either app as soon as they are published.

3. Listen from your computer via iTunes or Stitcher. Just click here to access the podcast in iTunes or here to listen from the Stitcher website. Once you subscribe to the podcast, new episodes will show up in your iTunes and/or Stitcher dashboard.