I concluded, a few days ago that the verb, praise, may easily be the most important verb in the Psalms when I describe the Psalms as the LORD-God-Almighty’s “Handbook for Worship.” The first step was to write a meditation, or prayer, based on each Psalms. That step begun in February 2021, was completed on June 2, 2022. Now the task of finishing the theses is beginning.

Clue 1 Psalm 150, in the place of honor as the summary of this precious book, leaves no doubt. The verb, “praise” occurs 13 time in 7 very short verses with only 72 words in the ESV. That’s one instruction to praise the LORD, God, the Almighty every 5.5 words. That’s focused.

I get it, LORD. The Key to Worship is to praise You. So I’m starting with an analysis of the usage of “praise” in the Psalms. (My apology, there is no known antidote for a statistician including a lapse of 40+ years since attempting a career.) Briefly, the usage statistics for “praise” in the 42 Psalms where it occurs is that the word is included 134 times in 111 verses. It does not seem all that significant until you begin to introduce a bit of perspective. Think that almost a third of the Psalms deal with praise. Those 134 occurrences are spread through 2461 verses. Only 1 in 18 verses in the Psalms contains the word “praise”, which seems pretty sparse, but time will tell as we get further into this study.

Psalm 6:5 For in death there is no remembrance of you; in Sheol who will give you praise?

This certainly starts our study in a no holds barred style: Sheol is a place without praise of the LORD, God, the Almighty. And where is Sheol? Current thought is that Sheol (in some translations—the grave) is a midway point between death and Heaven or death and Hell. So be it, but there will be no praise of God there.

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Reading

Morning Psalm 95, Noon Psalm 119:81-88, Evening Psalm 27. If you follow this regimen, you will pray through the Psalms every 47 days or just under 8 times per year.

An alternate Reading Plan is based on 7 chapters/day from 7 sections of the Scriptures. My groupings are: Genesis-Joshua, Judges to Esther, Job to Song of Solomon, Psalms breaking 119 into convenient sets, Isaiah to Malachi, Matthew to Acts, Romans to Revelation.

Or set your own reading schedule up in convenient groupings as fits your study habits. But a daily time in the Word of the LORD is an absolute.

Suggested Supplementary Reading

The Christian’s Creed: Embracing the Apostolic Faith by Dr. Stanley D. Gale. There is also a workbook available.