I love singing and hearing sung the hymns of the faith. Ardith Cutsforth sang one of my favorites last week: We Shall Behold Him. Last year Linda, Karla, Sarah and I had the opportunity to vacation in England. While I have been there several times before I never had the opportunity to visit Olney, England. So, what is important about Olney England? John Newton and William Cowper lived there. Newton was the pastor of the church and Cowper was a parishioner, who lived across the field from the church. Each week Pastor Newton and William Cowper would meet in the garden cottage and compose a new hymn for the congregation to sing that week. In this little cottage, only big enough for two people, these two men composed scores of songs and ultimately published them in a hymnal titled The Olney Hymnal. Some of my favorite compositions are There Is A Fountain Filled With Blood, Glorious Things of Thee Are Spoken and Amazing Grace, which was originally titled Faith’s Review and Expectation.

In our message today, we are going to look at the first hymn from the Hebrew hymnbook, called the book of Psalms.

Psalms is the name our Lord called these hymns in Luke 24:44 "And he said unto them, These are the words which I spake unto you, while I was yet with you, that all things must be fulfilled, which were written in the law of Moses, and in the prophets, and in the psalms, concerning me." The word psalms is a translation of the Greek word qalmov psalmos. The Hebrew calls it Tehillim, which properly signifies Psalms of praise, because many of them are songs of praise. But Psalms is a more general word, meaning all metrical compositions fitted to be sung, which may be historical, doctrinal, or supplicatory, as laudatory. The purpose of singing the Psalms was not only to express praise to the Lord, but also to assist the memory, and both to express and to excite all the gamut of emotions. Colossians 3:16 makes it clear that we are directed not only to praise God, but to teach and admonish ourselves and one another in psalms, and hymns, and spiritual songs.

• A Look At The Book

The book includes one hundred fifty independent compositions. Most often there is no connection between one Psalm and the next. The Jews divided it into five books, corresponding to the Five Books of Moses (First, Psalms 1-42; Second, Psalms 43-72; Third, Psalms 73-89; Fourth, Psalms 90-106; Fifth, Psalms 107-150), many attempts have been made to discover, in this division, some critical or practical value, but in vain.

• The Author(s)

The penman of most of them was David the son of Jesse, who is therefore called the sweet psalmist of Israel, 2 Samuel 23:1. Some that do not have his name in their titles yet are ascribed to him in other places, such as Psalm 2 (see Acts 4:25) and Psalm 96 and 105 (see 1 Chronicles 16). Psalm 90 is clearly said to be the prayer of Moses. Some of the Psalms were penned by Asaph (see 2 Chronicles 29:30), where they are said to praise the Lord in the words of David and Asaph, who is there called a seer or prophet. Some of the Psalms seem to have been written at the time of the Babylonian captivity. An example is Psalm 137.

With this as our background, let’s take a closer look at the first hymn in the Hebrew hymnbook, Psalm 1.

Early writers looked at Psalm 1 as an introduction to the book. Whether that is true or not, it does pack a powerful message, and that message is how to have contentment and peace of mind.

As we begin, we need to look at key word in this psalm, blessed. In many of the translation it is translated by the word happy. My dictionary defines happy as "the pleasurable sensations derived from the gratification of sensual appetites render a person temporarily happy. This is what most people think of when they think of being happy. However, real happiness, permanent happiness, referred to as blessedness in Psalm 1, refers to a person who enjoys peace of mind because they are in the favor of God.

Let’s examine Psalm 1 and see how to have contentment and peace of mind.

• Reject The Advice of Those Who Ignore God & Disregard His Word