I was just reading in Psalms.

Here are some things I noticed and liked-
Sometimes reading in Psalms can be a downer- all that bashing babies heads against rocks and woe-is-me the enemy is crushing me and why aren’t you helping out Oh God?! Then the very next chapter is “Praise God! He’s great! He’s done some really great stuff! He’s always there for me! Yeah!”

I suppose sometimes I forget that Psalms was written by lots of people for lots of reasons and unfortunately I am currently too lazy to go and try to figure out what was going on when each one was written. I get the sneaking suspicion that they are not in any kind of chronological order- I don’t know what kind of order they’re in, but I like them.

It’s not hard to figure out why Psalms and Proverbs are often included in New Testaments. There is really a Psalm and a Proverb for every mood and occasion.

In Psalm 90 the author is all – “God you’re really great- you know everything. You know we humans are nothing, just grass, just a sigh and you know our secrets and our sins- “Your anger is a burden each day we live . . .” Then verse 12 “Teach us to use wisely all the time we have.” Let us celebrate what we do have- and what I really liked about it: “Make us happy for as long as you caused us trouble and sorrow. Do wonderful things for us.”

That’s pretty bold- You caused a lot of trouble for me- so now please make me happy and do something great!

What causes God to give us sorrow? Trying to get us to know who he is.
What causes God to give us joy? Letting us Know him when we seek.

“Our Lord and our God,
treat us with kindness
and let all go well for us.
Please let all go well.”
CEV