I can't recall a time when I didn't hear other Christians speak of how "deep," "rich," etc. they found the Psalms. This has long been a frustration to me, because it has never been my experience of this book. It's not that I had any antipathy for the Psalms. Indeed, I've often wanted to have similar experiences, I just...couldn't.
At times, I've wondered if my lack of psalmic epiphanies weren't due to some terrible deficiency in me. Perhaps I was rotten to the core? At best, maybe I was just spiritually insensitive--afflicted by a sort of spiritual Asperger Syndrome.
Recently, however, I've found reason to doubt those more pessimistic notions. Admittedly, this all began when I was asked to adjunct an Old Testament survey class that would encompass the Psalms. In attempting to bring myself "up to speed" in order to make a respectable attempt at teaching, I first read through a couple of books on the stylistic features of Hebrew parallelism and poetry. Second, I decided that if I were going to expect my future students to read through this section of Scripture over the course of the class, then I ought to do so as well. I mapped out how much I would need to read each day to keep up with the teaching schedule I had mapped out, and commenced work.
What I found is that the Psalms are finally "clicking" with me. This has happened not so much through intensive focus on small sections of Scripture (a method that has brought me much enlightenment for other sections of Scripture) but rather through reading several psalms at a setting. I have come to realize that--at least for me--the power of the Psalms is more in imaging them than in analyzing them. In the attempt to immerse myself in their metaphors (I end up trying to imagine how particular passages might be portrayed by Hollywood on an unlimited budget).
Perhaps this was my problem all along. I was trying to experience a poetic emotional state, through largely (if not exclusively) rational analysis. I'm curious if others have had similar challenges when reading the Psalms; And if so, how you responded to/coped with them.
At times, I've wondered if my lack of psalmic epiphanies weren't due to some terrible deficiency in me. Perhaps I was rotten to the core? At best, maybe I was just spiritually insensitive--afflicted by a sort of spiritual Asperger Syndrome.
Recently, however, I've found reason to doubt those more pessimistic notions. Admittedly, this all began when I was asked to adjunct an Old Testament survey class that would encompass the Psalms. In attempting to bring myself "up to speed" in order to make a respectable attempt at teaching, I first read through a couple of books on the stylistic features of Hebrew parallelism and poetry. Second, I decided that if I were going to expect my future students to read through this section of Scripture over the course of the class, then I ought to do so as well. I mapped out how much I would need to read each day to keep up with the teaching schedule I had mapped out, and commenced work.
What I found is that the Psalms are finally "clicking" with me. This has happened not so much through intensive focus on small sections of Scripture (a method that has brought me much enlightenment for other sections of Scripture) but rather through reading several psalms at a setting. I have come to realize that--at least for me--the power of the Psalms is more in imaging them than in analyzing them. In the attempt to immerse myself in their metaphors (I end up trying to imagine how particular passages might be portrayed by Hollywood on an unlimited budget).
Perhaps this was my problem all along. I was trying to experience a poetic emotional state, through largely (if not exclusively) rational analysis. I'm curious if others have had similar challenges when reading the Psalms; And if so, how you responded to/coped with them.
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