Songs and Psalmody
The Shorey Psalter
It was the spring of 1990—about 31 years ago at this moment. I was recovering from a bout with viral meningitis that would leave me with what is now a 31-year-long headache (about which you may read in my book, 30/30 Hindsight: 30 Reflections on a 30-Year Headache). While recovering from meningitis, I was too feeble to budge very much from my big chair, but my mind wanted to worship. That was when I tried my hand at something I had done little to none of before: putting Scripture to music. Specifically, I wanted to help my church learn to sing the Psalms (since, after all, they form the original hymnbook of the church). But in order to sing the Psalms, they needed to be put to familiar music. So I began to write lyrics which followed the words of each Psalm pretty closely, setting them all to familiar tunes. My efforts led to a complete “Shorey Psalter” which our church sang through twice. No one will ever read or sing… Read More
Latest Psalms
Psalm 7 – Song of the Slandered Saint
“From the [Psalm’s] title we learn the occasion of the composition of this song. It appears probable that Cush the Benjamite had accused David to Saul of treasonable conspiracy against his...
Psalm 6 – The Lord Will Soon Receive Me
“This Psalm is commonly known as the first of the Penitential Psalms, (the other six are 32, 38, 51, 102, 130, 143) and certainly its language well becomes the lip of a penitent, for it...
Psalm 5 – I Groan That You Will Hear
“There are two sorts of prayers—those expressed in words, and the unuttered longings which abide as silent meditations… David, we observe, uses both modes of prayer, and craves for the one...
Psalm 4 – In Peace I Will Lie Down
“Sweet Evening Hymn! [The psalmist says] I shall not sit up to watch through fear, but I will lie down; and then I will not lie awake listening to every rustling sound, but I will lie down...
Psalm 3 – Though Many Foes Are Gathered
“Let us [through this psalm] here recall…the innumerable host which beset our Divine Redeemer. The legions of our sins, the armies of [demonic] fiends, the crowd of bodily pains, the host...
Psalm 2 – The Prince – Messiah of God
“We shall not greatly err in our summary of this sublime psalm if we call it The Psalm of Messiah the Prince; for it sets forth, as in a wondrous vision, the tumult of the people against...
Psalm 1 – The Watered Tree
“[The blessed one] is not under the law as a curse and condemnation, but he is in it, and he delights to be in it as his rule of life. He delights, moreover, to meditate in it, to read it...
Seeing Christ in the Psalms
Introduction: Seeing Jesus in The Psalms[1] “And he said to them, ‘O foolish ones, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken! Was it not necessary that the Christ...
The Shorey Psalter
It was the spring of 1990—about 31 years ago at this moment. I was recovering from a bout with viral meningitis that would leave me with what is now a 31-year-long headache (about which...