Dear Friends,
Were you in Sunday school yesterday? You might answer, “I’m no child! Sunday school is just for kids!” Not where I go to church. Yesterday I sat with 40+ adults in an excellent class on the Psalms. I had an excellent teacher (Randy Beaver) who opened the gateway to the Psalms (Psalm 1 and 2) for us. It was delightful. I am 80 years old but am still learning and delight in it. Next Sunday come to Randy’s class on Psalms 51 and 32 (David’s repentance at his sin with Bathsheba and his joy in God’s forgiving mercy) and I guarantee you will be blessed. Meanwhile, today’s devotional (which comes from Randy’s class) speaks of the excellencies to be found in the Psalms. God bless you.

Because of Calvary,
John Janney

• Psalm 1 (ESV)

  1 Blessed is the man
  who walks not in the counsel of the wicked,
  nor stands in the way of sinners,
  nor sits in the seat of scoffers;
  2 but his delight is in the law of the Lord,
  and on his law he meditates day and night.
  3 He is like a tree
  planted by streams of water
  that yields its fruit in its season,
  and its leaf does not wither.
  In all that he does, he prospers.
  4 The wicked are not so,
  but are like chaff that the wind drives away.
  5 Therefore the wicked will not stand in the judgment,
  nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous;
  6 for the Lord knows the way of the righteous,
  but the way of the wicked will perish.

• Psalm 2 ESV)

  2 Why do the nations rage
  and the peoples plot in vain?
  2 The kings of the earth set themselves,
  and the rulers take counsel together,
  against the Lord and against his Anointed, saying,
  3 “Let us burst their bonds apart
  and cast away their cords from us.”
  4 He who sits in the heavens laughs;
  the Lord holds them in derision.
  5 Then he will speak to them in his wrath,
  and terrify them in his fury, saying,
  6 “As for me, I have set my King
  on Zion, my holy hill.”
  7 I will tell of the decree:
  The Lord said to me, “You are my Son;
  today I have begotten you.
  8 Ask of me, and I will make the nations your heritage,
  and the ends of the earth your possession.
  9 You shall break them with a rod of iron
  and dash them in pieces like a potter’s vessel.”
  10 Now therefore, O kings, be wise;
  be warned, O rulers of the earth.
  11 Serve the Lord with fear,
  and rejoice with trembling.
  12 Kiss the Son,
  lest he be angry, and you perish in the way,
  for his wrath is quickly kindled.
  Blessed are all who take refuge in him.

“The testimonies in favor of the Book of Psalms are numerous and striking. Athanasius calls it ‘an epitome of the whole Scriptures.’ Basil says it is ‘the common treasure of all good precepts…the voice of the church…a compendium of all theology.’ Ambrose: ‘The law instructs, history informs, prophecy predicts, correction censures, and morals exhort. In the Book of Psalms you find the fruit of all these, as well as a remedy for the salvation of the soul. The Psalter deserves to be called the praise of God, the glory of man, the voice of the church, and the most beneficial confession of faith.’… On his deathbed the learned Salmasius said, ‘I have lost a world of time. If one year were added to my life, it should be spent in reading David’s Psalms and Paul‘s epistles.’ John Brent says, ‘You may rightly and fitly call the Psalter an epitome of the sacred books.’” [William S. Plumer, “Psalms,” The Geneva Series of Commentaries, (Edinburgh: The Banner of Truth Trust, 1867), p. 7-8]