Bible Study for Today

What are the different kinds of Psalms?

The Psalms cover the full breadth of human experience. Some express in general terms while others express in very specific terms the shifting events of life. There’s a psalm for almost any kind of day. One way to categorize the Psalms groups them by five general types:

1. Wisdom Psalms—instructions for wise living (1; 37; 119)

2. Lamentation Psalms—meditations on the pangs of life (3; 17; 120)

3. Penitential Psalms—meditations on the pangs of sin (51)

4. Kingship Psalms—meditations on God’s sovereign rule (2; 21; 144)

5. Thanksgiving Psalms—praise and worship offered to God (19; 32; 111)

Ecclesiastes 8:15 enjoyment. In no way does Solomon commend unbridled, rampant indulgence in sin, which is implied in Christ’s account of the man whose barns were full. That man may have justified his sin by quoting this passage (Luke 12:19). His focus here is on the resolve to enjoy life in the face of the injustice which surrounded him.

Proverbs 24:12 He who weighs the hearts. God is the One who knows the truth about the motives of the heart and the excuses for failing to do what is right (James 4:17). render to each man according to his deeds. v. 29; Job 34:11; Jer. 25:14; 50:29.

1 Corinthians 10:19,20 Idols and the things sacrificed to them have no spiritual nature or power in themselves (8:4, 8), but they do represent the demonic. If pagan worshipers believe an idol is a god, demons act out the part of the imagined god (2 Thess. 2:9–11). There is not a true god in the idol, but there is a satanic spiritual force (Deut. 32:17; Ps. 106:37).

1 Corinthians 10:23–30 Paul gives 4 principles for Christian liberty: 1) edification over gratification (v. 23); 2) others over self (v. 24); 3) liberty over legalism (vv. 25–27); and 4) condescension over condemnation (vv. 28–30).