Perfect Word Of God, Feelings Of Imperfect People

The New Testament writers quoted the Psalms more than any other Old Testament book—ninety-three times, by one scholar’s count! Here are ten of the more interesting New Testament references to the Psalms.

• Jesus quoted Psalm 110:1 as he disputed with the Pharisees (Matthew 22:43-44).
• Jesus quoted Psalm 78:2 to explain his use of parables (Matthew 13:35).
• Jesus cited Psalm 118:22-23 regarding his rejection (Matthew 21:42).
• On the cross Jesus quoted Psalm 22:1 (Matthew 27:46).
• Jesus referred to the Psalms as prophetic (Luke 24:44).
• In his sermon at Pentecost, Peter quoted Psalm 16:8-11 (Acts 2:25-28,34-35).
• Jesus’ disciples recalled Psalm 69:9 as they witnessed him cleansing the Temple (John 2:17).
• Paul cited Psalm 4:4 in teaching about anger (Ephesians 4:26).
• The writer of Hebrews quotes Psalm 110:4 to show that Jesus is a priest in the order of Melchizedek (Hebrews 5:6).
• Paul encouraged believers to sing psalms (Ephesians 5:19).

Admit it! Some psalms disturb us. We feel a bit uncomfortable with them. Of course we love the Twenty-third Psalm, but some of the other psalms don’t sound very, well, Christian. All this talk about knocking your enemy’s teeth out—it’s hard to mesh that with New Testament thinking.

Yet when Paul writes, “All Scripture is inspired by God and is useful to teach us what is true and to make us realize what is wrong in our lives” (2 Timothy 3:16), he was talking about all the Psalms. In fact, the New Testament writers loved to quote the Psalms on all sorts of subjects—and not just the “nice” parts.

For instance, Psalm 22 is a pretty grisly account of a man who feels forsaken by God as he is being tortured by his enemies. New Testament Christians saw this psalm as an amazingly prophetic portrait of Jesus’ suffering. Psalm 69 is another text that bewails the sufferings of the righteous and calls for revenge. But John finds in it a picture of Jesus’ passion for God’s house as he drove out the money changers.

Sometimes the New Testament also uses the Psalms for inspiration and teaching doctrine. But many psalms deal with emotions, so they are often used in the New Testament to undergird, illustrate, or guide emotional responses. Psalm 4, for example, runs a gamut of feelings from desperation to anger to gratitude to peace. No wonder, then, that Paul found this psalm appropriate for encouraging believers to avoid “letting anger gain control over you” (Ephesians 4:26).

The Psalms are inspired by God, so they can teach us. And because they express emotions that flow out of the psalmists’ relationship with God, they can help us in our emotions as well. The Psalms teach us to bring all our concerns to the Lord, whether our emotions are the “right” ones or not. God wants a dialogue with us, not a monologue.

And the New Testament affirms this as well, urging believers to “sing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs to God with thankful hearts” (Colossians 3:16).

O Thou, by whom we come to God,

The Life, the Truth, the Way,

The path of prayer Thyself hast trod;

Lord, teach us how to pray.

JAMES MONTGOMERY