Rom
Puritan Board Junior
Hello fellow PB members, and lurkers. Brothers, and Sisters in Christ.
For the last couple of months we've been Exclusive Psalmody at home. I wanted to say that it has been a tremendous blessing, and probably the most important thing we've done in Family Worship since ... starting to read the Bible together!
Singing God's Word has become addictive, especially to the Children who walk around with their mini psalters looking for psalms to sing. My youngest daughter who cannot yet read (3yr old) has already memorized the words to Psalm 23 and sings it all the time.
I was home sick on Thursday and to my pleasant surprise I heard the children sing Psalm 23 from memory in the kitchen - completely without any prodding.
When I heard them do that, all I can think of was Col 3:16, which caused me to give thanks to God:
My prayer is that some day when trials come, the words of these Psalms come to my children by God's Spirit.
Diving deeper into the psalms has been a great blessing, seeing the gospel in them, seeing our Lord's humiliation in them, His exaltation, his sufferings, his glory, his grace to us sinners, the joys of his law, etc., etc. Singing about being cast down has been great, so many of the hymns that we have been singing in the Church are so 'positive' to the point that they feel a bit superficial in comparison to the gamut of emotions in the psalter.
BTW, our Church is not EP by any means, though we are blessed to usually have a psalm sung in each service. I will forever be thankful to them that they introduced me to singing psalms, even though they are not EP.
I told a dear brother in Christ (who is also a coworker, and a member here on the PB) the following about my first experience singing psalms:
There has been much growth in my understanding of our Lord, and an intimacy that I feel with Him when singing His songs. I remember - my Lord sang all of these songs in his humiliation on earth. Our Lord inspired them as well. I am united to Christ. He has promised to sing in the congregation with us. His sufferings are our sufferings. My life is hid with Christ. God promises us many things in the psalms that no hymn writer dare to promise, and he will keep them - and it is important that I KNOW them.
These are remarkable things, and singing God's Word with Him is incredible when you realize these things - and I am but a babe, there is much to know and learn about this.
This is not a post to deride, denigrate or despise uninspired hymns. This is a post to show how many are the blessings that have come to this sinner and his family from singing God's Word. I pray that there will be a great revival of Psalm singing in God's Church. I have heard it said that the abandoning of God's Word in sung worship has led to a weak Church, and I'm inclined to believe it after the last couple of months.
And what a great application of the sufficiency of Scripture! Sadly, I had no idea that people made psalters for singing until I entered the PCA.
Forgive my rambling, I am just overflowing with joy and am so grateful that God has shown me that His psalms can be sung! I also want to thank the PB for really rigorously challenging all that I thought I knew about singing praise to God. This board has been such a blessing.
For the last couple of months we've been Exclusive Psalmody at home. I wanted to say that it has been a tremendous blessing, and probably the most important thing we've done in Family Worship since ... starting to read the Bible together!
Singing God's Word has become addictive, especially to the Children who walk around with their mini psalters looking for psalms to sing. My youngest daughter who cannot yet read (3yr old) has already memorized the words to Psalm 23 and sings it all the time.
I was home sick on Thursday and to my pleasant surprise I heard the children sing Psalm 23 from memory in the kitchen - completely without any prodding.
When I heard them do that, all I can think of was Col 3:16, which caused me to give thanks to God:
Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God.
My prayer is that some day when trials come, the words of these Psalms come to my children by God's Spirit.
Diving deeper into the psalms has been a great blessing, seeing the gospel in them, seeing our Lord's humiliation in them, His exaltation, his sufferings, his glory, his grace to us sinners, the joys of his law, etc., etc. Singing about being cast down has been great, so many of the hymns that we have been singing in the Church are so 'positive' to the point that they feel a bit superficial in comparison to the gamut of emotions in the psalter.
BTW, our Church is not EP by any means, though we are blessed to usually have a psalm sung in each service. I will forever be thankful to them that they introduced me to singing psalms, even though they are not EP.
I told a dear brother in Christ (who is also a coworker, and a member here on the PB) the following about my first experience singing psalms:
When I was presented a hymn that I found to not line up with my current understanding of Scripture, I would challenge it. When I sing a psalm that challenges my current understanding of Scripture, IT challenges me.
There has been much growth in my understanding of our Lord, and an intimacy that I feel with Him when singing His songs. I remember - my Lord sang all of these songs in his humiliation on earth. Our Lord inspired them as well. I am united to Christ. He has promised to sing in the congregation with us. His sufferings are our sufferings. My life is hid with Christ. God promises us many things in the psalms that no hymn writer dare to promise, and he will keep them - and it is important that I KNOW them.
These are remarkable things, and singing God's Word with Him is incredible when you realize these things - and I am but a babe, there is much to know and learn about this.
This is not a post to deride, denigrate or despise uninspired hymns. This is a post to show how many are the blessings that have come to this sinner and his family from singing God's Word. I pray that there will be a great revival of Psalm singing in God's Church. I have heard it said that the abandoning of God's Word in sung worship has led to a weak Church, and I'm inclined to believe it after the last couple of months.
And what a great application of the sufficiency of Scripture! Sadly, I had no idea that people made psalters for singing until I entered the PCA.
Forgive my rambling, I am just overflowing with joy and am so grateful that God has shown me that His psalms can be sung! I also want to thank the PB for really rigorously challenging all that I thought I knew about singing praise to God. This board has been such a blessing.