Psalms Playlist: Week 1 | Day 1

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When I was a kid, I remember taking a long summer road trip from Waco, Texas to Durango, Colorado. It took years. Actually, it only took a couple of days, but at the time, it felt like years. It was just me, my mom, and my grandmother, and since their “grown-up talk” didn’t interest me, my companions on this trip were my headphones, and what we called back in the day, a “boom box.” It weighed a ton (O.K., probably just a few pounds) and had a voracious appetite for D batteries (that is 100% accurate), but the mixtapes I created before we left provided the soundtrack for this road trip. Today when I hear songs from those tapes, I’m transported back. I see the dusty plains of west Texas and the gorgeous peaks of western Colorado pass by through the window of my grandfather’s Chevy.

Songs stick with us. And since the Psalms are the songbook of the Bible, they can provide an amazing soundtrack for our lives. Like all good songs, they give voice to real human perception and deep emotion. A Psalm can both reveal and convey what’s in our hearts. Yet the Psalms are unique because they can also show us how to express ourselves to God in light of the truth of who he is.

So get ready to hear Christ Fellowship’s Psalms playlist. A few weeks ago, we invited you to tell us your favorite Psalms, and we’re taking the summer to highlight the top ten. We hope you find some you already love on the list, but will also add new favorites by the time we’re done. Let’s share these songs with the people around us as we learn to sing a new tune. May the Psalms be our soundtrack as we journey through this summer!

Psalms Playlist

  • Track 1: Psalm 1
  • Track 2: Psalm 19
  • Track 3: Psalm 34
  • Track 4: Psalm 91
  • Track 5: Psalm 139
  • Track 6: Psalm 46
  • Track 7: Psalm 51
  • Track 8: Psalm 100
  • Track 9: Psalm 103
  • Track 10: Psalm 150

Week 1 | Psalm 1

The book of Psalms is a collection of 150 things we can say to God.  – John Goldingay

As you read through the Bible’s collection of 150 Psalms, you will encounter a vast range of human emotion: joy, excitement, wonder, disappointment, frustration, heartbreak, regret, sorrow, anger, and confusion. Most of these poems are prayers addressed directly to God. Some offer praise and thanks, some confess sin, others are anguished pleas, and a few even call for God’s judgment. None of them sugarcoat reality or try to bribe God with flattery in the same way ancient pagan gods were approached. The Psalms are honest prayers, and they are accepted by God. These songs are also full of truth about the character and activity of God. You can learn a lot about our Creator and how he interacts with humanity just from reading the Psalms.

Our Psalms playlist is starting with the first Psalm in the Bible’s collection. There is a reason why it is first. It’s a bit of an exception, because it’s not a prayer to God, but instruction from him. Medieval manuscripts of the Psalms copied the first psalm in red ink and without numbering it. At an early date the psalm we now know as Psalm 1 “was understood to be an introduction to the whole Psalter rather than just another psalm.”[1] It not only teaches us profound truths about God and what he expects from humanity, it will open our ears to the rest of the Psalms.

[1] Gerald H. Wilson, Psalms, vol. 1, The NIV Application Commentary (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2002), 92.

Day 1

Psalm 1

1 Blessed is the one

who does not walk in step with the wicked

or stand in the way that sinners take

or sit in the company of mockers,

2 but whose delight is in the law of the Lord,

and who meditates on his law day and night.

3 That person is like a tree planted by streams of water,

which yields its fruit in season

and whose leaf does not wither—

whatever they do prospers.

4 Not so the wicked!

They are like chaff

that the wind blows away.

5 Therefore the wicked will not stand in the judgment,

nor sinners in the assembly of the righteous.

6 For the Lord watches over the way of the righteous,

but the way of the wicked leads to destruction.
Psalm 1

What is being contrasted in this Psalm? How do they differ?

    Reflect

    If you’ve ever made a playlist for someone else, you probably carefully considered the song you put first. You want one that’s going to set the tone for the whole playlist. Psalm 1 does this for us. It demonstrates the importance of God’s Word, including the other 149 psalms that follow, by extoling the blessings that come from obedience to God and the consequences of rebellion. It depicts God as a sovereign and loving caretaker of those who turn to him. Psalm 1 helps provide the foundation for the prayers that follow.

    Like many Proverbs and other examples of wisdom literature in the Bible, Psalm 1 presents a stark contrast between the wicked and the righteous. There are two ways to live, and the Psalm challenges its hearers to think about which path they are walking.

    We’ll spend the rest of the week unpacking Psalm 1, but as we begin our Psalms series, let’s consider that question for ourselves. Of course we know that only Jesus walked through this life without ever veering off the right path. But as those who are called by his name, and are indwelt with his Spirit, let’s begin our focus on the Psalms with the same honesty that the book is known for. Let’s prayerfully consider the paths we are taking, the company we are keeping, and what occupies our thoughts.

    Respond

    Commit to using this series as an opportunity to grow in your prayer life, starting today. Take time to sit before the Lord in light of Psalm 1. Invite the Spirit to speak to you through its words. Ask him to bless you through this series, and grant you a deeper knowledge of God and a determination to walk in his ways.