1. Gordon Wenham, The Psalter Reclaimed: Praying and Praising with the Psalms (Crossway, 2013), p. 16.
2. J. Calvin, Commentary on the Psalms (electronic ed.) (Albany, OR: Ages Software, 1998), comment on Psalm 20:1–2.
3. Quoted in Wenham, Psalter Reclaimed, p. 15.
4. Alec Motyer, A Christian’s Pocket Guide to Loving the Old Testament (Ross-shire, Scotland: Christian Focus, 2015), p. 97.
5. Wenham, The Psalter Reclaimed, p. 34.
6. Ibid., p. 26. Wenham shows how “speech-act” theory explains why the reciting and praying of the psalms is a transformative experience.
7. Eugene H. Peterson, Answering God: The Psalms as Tools for Prayer (Harper San Francisco, 1989), pp. 5–6.
8. Derek Kidner, Psalms 1–72: An Introduction and Commentary (Leicester, England: InterVarsity Press, 1973), p. 53.
9. John Newton, “Approach, My Soul, the Mercy Seat,” Olney Hymns (London: W. Oliver, 1779), number 12, available at http://www.hymntime.com/tch/htm/a/p/p/approach.htm.
10. Ibid.
11. Ibid.
12. Kidner, Psalms 1–72, p. 113.
13. C. S. Lewis, “The Weight of Glory” (sermon, Church of St. Mary the Virgin, Oxford, June 8, 1942), available at http://www.verber.com/mark/xian/weight-of-glory.pdf.
14. Kidner, Psalms 1–72, p. 121.
15. Newton, “Approach, My Soul, the Mercy Seat.”
16. Adapted from Thomas Cranmer, “Second Collect for Good Friday,” in The Collects of Thomas Cranmer, eds. C. Frederick Barbee and Paul F. M. Zahl (Grand Rapids, MI: William B. Eerdmans, 2006), p. 48.
17. Kidner, Psalms 1–72, p. 111.
18. Ibid., p. 133.
19. Lewis, “Weight of Glory.”
20. Kidner, Psalms 1–72, p. 140.
21. From Thomas Cranmer, “The Collect for the Second Sunday in Advent,” in Barbee and Zahl, Collects of Thomas Cranmer, p. 4.
22. Kidner, Psalms 1–72, p. 128.
23. Adapted from Thomas Cranmer, “Collect for the Fourth Sunday After Easter,” in Barbee and Zahl, Collects of Thomas Cranmer, p. 58.
24. Tom LeCompte, “The Disorient Express,” Air and Space, September 2008, http://www.airspacemag.com/military-aviation/the-disorient-express-474780/.
25. C. S. Lewis, Reflections on the Psalms (San Diego, CA: Harcourt Brace, 1964), p. 94.
26. Last sentence adapted from John Newton, “How Sweet the Name of Jesus Sounds” in Olney Hymns: “Weak is the effort of my heart, and cold my warmest thought; But when I see Thee as Thou art, I’ll praise Thee as I ought.”
27. George Herbert, “Love (III),” George Herbert and the Seventeenth-Century Religious Poets (W. W. Norton, 1978), available at http://www.poetryfoundation.org/learning/poem/173632.
28. Kidner, Psalms 1–72, pp. 155–56.
29. Ibid., p. 158. See also Sinclair B. Ferguson, The Whole Christ: Legalism, Antinomianism, and Gospel Assurance: Why the Marrow Controversy Still Matters (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Books, 2016).
30. Lewis, “Weight of Glory.”
31. The comparison of Paul’s paradoxes in 2 Corinthians with this part of Psalm 37 comes from Kidner, Psalms 1–72, pp. 169–70.
32. Newton, “How Sweet the Name of Jesus Sounds.”
33. George Herbert, “Discipline,” in The Temple (1633).
34. Newton, “Approach, My Soul, the Mercy Seat.”
35. Kidner, Psalms 1–72, p. 157.
36. From John Newton, “We Were Once as You Are,” in The Works of John Newton, vol. 3 (1824) (repr. Banner of Truth, 1985), p. 572.
37. Kidner, Psalms 1–72, p. 179.
38. Isaac Watts, “O God Our Help in Ages Past,” hymn.
39. C. S. Lewis, Perelandra (New York: Macmillan, 1965), pp. 121–22.
40. J.R.R. Tolkien, The Return of the King (New York: Del Ray Books, 1986), p. 209.
41. Kidner, Psalms 1–72, p. 201.
42. Ibid., p. 207.
43. Alec Motyer, “The Psalms,” in The New Bible Commentary: 21st Century Edition, ed. D. A. Carson et al. (Downers Grove, IL: Intervarsity Press, 1994), p. 523.
44. Tremper Longman, Psalms: An Introduction and Commentary (Downers Grove, IL: IVP Academic, 2014), p. 242.
45. James Proctor, “It Is Finished,” hymn.
46. For more on what it means to behold Christ by faith in such a way that fully engages the affections of the heart, see John Owen, “Meditations and Discourses on the Glory of Christ,” in Works of John Owen, vol. 1, ed. W. Goold (Edinburgh: Banner of Truth, 1965), pp. 274–461.
47. Kidner, Psalms 1–72, p. 227.
48. Kidner, Psalms 1–72, p. 252.
49. John Newton, “Begone Unbelief,” in Olney Hymns.
50. Ibid.
51. This is the title of a book on confession of sin by Søren Kierkegaard.
52. C. S. Lewis, “A Word About Praising,” in Reflections on the Psalms (New York: Harcourt, Brace, and World, 1958), p. 95.
53. J.R.R. Tolkien, The Two Towers (New York: Del Ray Books, 1986), p. 327.
54. Kidner, Psalms 1–72, p. 238.
55. See George Herbert, “Time,” in George Herbert: The Complete English Poems, ed. John Tobin, (London: Penguin Books, 1991), p. 114. Herbert addresses time and death:
And in his blessing thou art blessed;
For where thou only wert before
An executioner at best;
Thou art a gard’ner now, and more,
An usher to convey our souls
Beyond the utmost stars and poles.
56. Kidner, Psalms 1–72, p. 263.
57. John Newton, “Letter VII to the Reverend Mr. R________,” in The Works of the Reverend John Newton (New York: Robert Carter, 1847), p. 337.
58. Kidner, Psalms 1–72, p. 28.
59. C. S. Lewis, ed., George MacDonald: An Anthology (New York: HarperCollins Paperback, 2001), p. 44.
60. George Herbert, “Praise (2),” in Tobin, George Herbert, p. 137.
61. Elisabeth Elliot, in David Howard, “The Intrepid Missionary Elisabeth Elliot,” Wall Street Journal, June 25, 2015.
62. Adapted from Thomas Cranmer, “Collect for the Twelfth Sunday After Trinity,” in Barbee and Zahl, Collects of Thomas Cranmer, p. 92.
63. Motyer, “Psalms,” in Carson, New Bible Commentary, p. 530.
64. John Newton, Letters of John Newton (London: Banner of Truth Trust, 1960), p. 179.
65. Adapted from Thomas Cranmer, “Collect for the Fifth Sunday After Trinity,” Barbee and Zahl, Collects of Thomas Cranmer, p. 78.
66. Helen H. Lemmel, “Turn Your Eyes Upon Jesus,” hymn.
67. Augustine, Confessions, trans. R. S. Pine-Coffin (London: Penguin Classics, 1961), book 2, chapters 4–8.
68. Ibid., book 4, p. 61.
69. Adapted from George Herbert, “Joseph’s Coat,” in Tobin, George Herbert, p. 137.
70. Elisabeth Elliot, “Epilogue II,” in Through the Gates of Splendor, 40th ann. ed., (Tyndale, 1996), p. 267.
71. See Longman, Psalms, p. 242: “With the coming of Jesus, there was no longer a need for a special holy place, because Jesus himself was the very presence of God (John 1:14), and after he ascended to heaven, he sent the Holy Spirit who dwells in our midst.”
72. Adapted from The Poems of Robert Herrick: A Selection from Hesperides and Noble Numbers (BiblioLife, 2012), p. 379.
73. I have shown verse 10 as it appears in the alternate translation contained in the footnotes to the New International Version.
74. Thomas Cranmer, “Collect for the First Sunday After Trinity,” in Barbee and Zahl, Collects of Thomas Cranmer, p. 70.
75. William Cowper, “Walking with God,” in Olney Hymns. See also http://cyberhymnal.org/htm/o/f/oforaclo.htm
76. Adapted from Cowper, “Walking with God.”
77. Charlotte Elliott, “O Jesus Make Thyself to Me,” hymn.
78. Derek Kidner, Psalms 73–150: An Introduction and Commentary (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1975), pp. 324–25.
79. Kidner, Psalms 73–150, p. 327.
80. Longman, Psalms, p. 52.
81. Westminster Shorter Catechism: “Q. 1. What is the chief end of man? A. Man’s chief end is to glorify God, and to enjoy him forever.”
82. Kidner, Psalms 73–150, p. 313.
83. George Herbert, “Discipline,” in The English Poems of George Herbert, ed. Helen Wilcox (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2007), p. 621.
84. John Newton, “Glorious Things of Thee Are Spoken,” hymn based on Psalm 87, Olney Hymns.
85. Charlotte Elliott, “O Jesus Make Thyself to Me,” hymn.
86. John Newton, “The Resurrection and the Life,” in Olney Hymns.
87. John Newton, “Let Us Love and Sing and Wonder,” in Olney Hymns.
88. George Herbert, “Virtue,” in Tobin, George Herbert, p. 81.
89. George Herbert, “Avarice,” Tobin, George Herbert, p. 70.
90. Kidner, Psalms 73–150, p. 374.
91. Charles Wesley, “Jesus, Lover of my Soul,” hymn.
92. Kidner, Psalms 73–150, p. 380.
93. Kidner, Psalms 73–150, p. 349.
94. Newton, “How Sweet the Name of Jesus Sounds,” published under the title “The Name of Jesus,” Olney Hymns.
95. John Newton, “Dagon Before the Ark.”
96. Newton, “How Sweet the Name of Jesus Sounds.” See note 99.
97. George Herbert, “Antiphon (1),” in Tobin, George Herbert, p. 47.
98. Kidner, Psalms 73–150, p. 359.
99. Motyer, “Psalms,” in Carson, New Bible Commentary, p. 551.
100. Samuel Rutherford, The Letters of the Rev. Samuel Rutherford (New York: Robert Carter and Brothers, 1863) pp. 40 and 166.
101. Motyer, “Psalms,” in Carson, New Bible Commentary, p. 552.
102. Jonathan Edwards [1722], The “Miscellanies”: (Entry Nos. a–z, aa–zz, 1–500) (WJE Online Vol. 13), entry a) “Of Holiness.” Edwards describes a common spiritual experience, that when we are singing God’s praises the most, we sense that the mountains and ocean and trees are “singing” as well (Psalm 19:1–5).
103. Robert Grant, “O Worship the King,” hymn.
104. Joseph Addison, “The Spacious Firmament,” hymn.
105. This is a quote from a lecture that we (Tim and Kathy Keller) heard Elisabeth Elliot deliver at Gordon-Conwell Seminary in 1974.
106. Isaac Watts, “When I Survey the Wondrous Cross,” hymn.
107. Ibid.
108 Superman Returns (2006), Warner Bros. Pictures, directed by Bryan Singer.
109. Josiah Conder, “’Tis Not That I Did Choose Thee,” hymn.
110. David Lapp, “Do Scary Statistics Change People’s Behavior?” Family Studies, June 16, 2015, http://family-studies.org/do-scary-statistics-change-peoples-behavior/.
111. This is a question that cannot be fully answered in this short space. To begin an exploration of this issue, see Tremper Longman and Daniel G. Reid, “When God Declares War,” Christianity Today, October 28, 1996, and Tremper Longman, “The God of War,” Christianity Today, May 1, 2003.
112. Kidner, Psalms 73–150, pp. 418–19.
113. Charles Wesley, “And Can It Be?,” hymn.
114. Ibid., p. 420.
115. “What we retreat from is not the fact that [David] prayed, but the realism in which he couched his prayers. When any measure of hostility disturbs our comfortable lives we rouse ourselves to say ‘Lord, help me to love my enemies as Jesus taught, and, please, will you deal with them for me.’ The psalmist was more realistic: how will God ‘deal with them’ except in ways that he has revealed in his word? False accusers must receive what they purposed to achieve (Dt. 19:16–19, cf. 2 with 6); those who disobey have no tenure on earth (Dt. 4:1, cf. 8); sinners bring disaster on their descendants (Ex. 34:7, cf. 9–12). If we retreat into unreality with a general petition where the psalmist ventured to express scriptural realism, we should at least be aware of what we are doing. But our retreat is understandable and accords with Paul’s caution (Eph. 4:26) that allowable anger is near neighbor to sin. J. L. McKenzie (American Ecclesiastical Review, III, 1944, pp. 81–96) asks whether ‘the imprecatory psalms are not a model, not because of their lower degree of perfection but because they are too lofty for . . . us to imitate without danger.’” Motyer “Psalms,” in New Bible Commentary, ed. Carson et al., p. 551.
116. John Newton, “Father, Forgive Them,” Olney Hymns.
117. Ernest W. Shurtleff, “Lead On O King Eternal,” hymn.
118. See the book by Ray Bradbury, Something Wicked This Way Comes (New York: Avon Reprint, 2006), as well as the 1983 movie of the same name starring Jonathan Pryce. The list on this page is more reflective of the characters in the movie, which are not all identical to those in the book. Note Bradbury’s quote from W. B. Yeats on the frontispiece of the book, “Man is in love, and loves what vanishes,” and compare it with the teaching of Psalm 115 about idols.
119. Adapted from John Newton, “I Asked the Lord,” Olney Hymns.
120. Kidner, Psalms 73–150, p. 409.
121. George Herbert, “Easter,” in Tobin, George Herbert, p. 37.
122. Ibid.
123. Here I am following the interpretation of Motyer, “Psalms,” in Carson, New Bible Commentary, p. 565.
124. Kidner, Psalms 73–150, p. 421.
125. Conder, “’Tis Not That I Did Choose Thee,” hymn.
126. Motyer, “Psalms,” in Carson, New Bible Commentary, p. 569.
127. J. Newton and Richard Cecil, The Works of John Newton, vol. 1 (London: Hamilton, Adams, 1824), p. 141.
128. George Herbert, “The Holy Scriptures (1),” in Tobin, George Herbert, p. 52.
129. Motyer, “Psalms,” in Carson, New Bible Commentary, p. 570.
130. Timothy Ward, Words of Life: Scripture as the Living and Active Word of God (Downers Grove, IL: IVP Academic, 2009), p. 177.
131. Edwin Hodder, “Thy Word Is Like a Garden, Lord,” hymn.
132. Herbert, “ Holy Scriptures (1),” in Tobin, George Herbert, p. 52.
133. Tremper Longman, How to Read the Psalms (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1988), pp. 44–45; see also Kidner, Psalms 1–72, p. 43.
134. Kidner, Psalms 73–150, p. 430.
135. Frances R. Havergal, “Take My Life.”
136. John Milton, “Let Us with a Gladsome Mind,” hymn.
137. George Herbert, “The Sacrifice,” in Tobin, George Herbert, p. 24.
138. Adapted from anonymous, “How Firm a Foundation,” hymn.
139. George Herbert, “The Sacrifice,” in Tobin, George Herbert, pp. 29–30. Notice the “Tree” is the cross. The cross is a Tree of Life for us because it was a tree of death for him.
140. Charles Wesley, “And Can It Be?,” hymn.
141. Kidner, Psalms 73–150, p. 483.
142. Peterson, Answering God, p. 128.
143. Joseph Addison, “The Spacious Firmament,” hymn.
144. This is an anecdote from a lecture that we (Tim and Kathy Keller) heard Elisabeth Elliot deliver at Gordon-Conwell Seminary in 1974.
145. Robert Robinson, “Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing,” hymn.
146. William Billings, “O Praise the Lord of Heaven” (based on Psalm 148), hymn.
147. Kidner, Psalms 73–150, p. 488.
148. Frances R. Havergal, “Take My Life and Let It Be,” hymn.
149. George Herbert, “Gratefulness,” in Tobin, George Herbert, p. 114.
150. J.R.R. Tolkien, The Two Towers (New York: Del Ray Books, 1986), p. 81.