Not Always Easy, But Always Good

"At all times I will bless the Lord,

and ever praise him with my voice.

My soul will make its boast in God,

the humble hear it and rejoice."

Those are the opening words to a song I've listened to a number of times lately. The song comes from a group called My Soul Among Lions and for the last few years they have been working on a project to set all the psalms to music that is fairly easy to sing and remember. Our understanding is that the psalms were originally sung but lacking the music, and the ability to sing in Hebrew, most of us are left reading translations of the psalms in English.

By no means is that a bad thing, for the psalms are beautiful, both in what they say and how they say it. They have much to teach us of the nature of God, as well as the nature of man. They contain the full range of human emotions. Joy, sorrow, anger, peace, love…you name it and the psalms have it. Just last week I saw a video that offered advice I've heard before, i.e. when you don’t know what to pray then open the psalms and pray God's word back to him. Personally, it was the first time I read through the psalms that I began to love the word that God has given us in the Bible.

In order to set the psalms to music the band has paraphrased the words. They have read, prayed, and then restated the ideas of the particular psalm in words that may more easily be sung. The words above are a paraphrase of Psalm 34, verses 1-2, which in the ESV translation reads:

"I will bless the Lord at all times;

his praise shall continually be in my mouth.

My soul makes its boast in the Lord;

let the humble hear and be glad."

You can see that what the band has done in this case is very close to Psalm 34 itself, both in the words used as well as the intent behind them. The title of this post, "Not always easy, but always good" could refer to the band's work in setting the psalms to music, but it doesn't. I've got something else in mind today.

Read that first verse of Psalm 34 again, either the paraphrase or the ESV.

"I will bless the Lord at all times" and "his praise shall continually be in my mouth."

David, the psalm's author, isn't only intending to bless, or praise, the Lord in good times, when it would be an easy thing to do. The intent behind his words is much deeper. It is to bless the Lord at all times. Good and bad. In hardship that comes at him out of nowhere. In hardship that comes as a result of his own bad choices. When he struggles to just find a way through one day, knowing that in the morning the next day may be just as challenging. Come what may, David intends to bless the Lord. At all times, continually, the goodness of the Lord will be on his mind, in his heart, and on his lips. It's not always easy, but it is always good.

One of the wonderful things about music is the way that it can help us learn things and get them stuck in our minds. I'm glad that through the work of My Soul Among Lions this psalm is one of the things getting stuck in my head. It reminds me to look around and see God at work in all things, and respond to what I see by lifting my praise to him.

May you do so as well. It's not always easy, but its good.

Scripture quotations are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version® (ESV®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.