The Usefulness of the Book of Psalms to a Christian Believer.

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If you are coming across this book for the first time, the book of Psalms is one of the books of the Christian Bible. It is situated almost at the middle of the Bible flanked left and right by the books of Job (left) and the Proverbs (right). I classify it as an Old Testament book of wisdom. Most of the psalms in this book were written by King David, the second king of Israel, through whose lineage, Jesus came but he was not the sole writer as some may think.

When I started growing up as a Christian, I started reading the Bible in obedience to the call to read it, not that I was willing or had any desire to read it. I started by attending Christian services and was drawn towards the preachers and teachers of sermon and Bible studies. I was amazed by the depth of the knowledge they had. I wondered why they had such knowledge that I could not fathom. Well, I made up my mind to listen to them and Xerox their knowledge, hence I determine to jot down whatever they said most especially the books, the chapters and the verses. I wondered how they could put such topics, gather the verses and make meaningful lessons for us to listen. My desire to know and understand them became an obsession that led me into searching the scripture to ascertain that what they quoted were the same as it is in the Bible. They were never wrong! I continued to desire to attend meetings with no intention to change my lifestyle but what I did not know was that my lifestyle started changing and my friends started complaining, from complaining to name calling. However, it was too late for me to go back to how I was living and I did not miss my few friends because I started making new friends in the fellowship. Some of my friends who understood what happened started coming with me to the fellowship where at this time I was becoming popular because of the troubles I started making by asking the leaders challenging questions about the faith. After awhile I started experiencing the ups and downs of my faith but as I continued to read the bible, I remained and relied on the word of God. One day a sister gave me a piece of paper that said, “Have you read the Psalms, they are helpful. Read Psalms 40. I did, I read it and it was as if the psalmist was writing from my heart and situation. It was fascinating, the simplicity, the poetic arrangement and the reality (human emotion and freedom of expression before God was mind blowing to me) of it all. From that day, I started reading the book of psalms as though I wrote them.

My aim is to share my Psalmist experiences and how it had helped me as a Christian and encourage you to take positive approach to read and appropriate the book of psalm in your daily life. This story will be updated every other day until we finish this series of the usefulness of the book of Psalms to a Christian Believer. An unbeliever may read it but I doubt if he/she would use it the ways it should be used. However if you follow as I followed one day you may be convinced as I was convinced and converted. Meanwhile,

May the Awesome God Bless You and Help you to attend to His word. In the name of Jesus. Amen!