One of the most fascinating ways to approach the Psalms is to see them from one of the three of the writers’ perspectives.

According to theologian Walter Brueggemann each Psalm takes on one of these approaches. We live in a constant state of either Orientation with God, Disorientation with God or Reorientation with God. Now that we are 14 days into this journey through the Psalms, let’s actually take a few steps backward to allow for some evaluation of what we’ve read so far. As we navigate through these concepts of three overarching genres of Psalms, you should begin to see how each Psalm and/or the Psalmist themselves line up within these categories.

First and foremost, we have to understand that the particular genre of a piece of literature impacts the way we interpret the words. When we read these different genres of poetry, we are to expect very different emotions and reactions.

Psalms of Orientation

These view the world as being coherent, ordered and good. Often rooted in a confident peaceful setting of faith issues.

The best examples of these are found in two subgenres. “Creation Psalms” hold true to the idea that the world is well ordered, good and life giving. God ordered it that way and continues to sustain the operation of this world. The other subgenre is the “Torah Psalms.” These hold tight to exactly what the name implies, in that God gave us the law (or “teaching” as Torah is often translated as) that keeps everything in line and shows how we can remain rooted in a relationship with God.

Take a look at a few of these and see if you can spot what makes them Psalms of Orientation. Psalm 1 (Torah), Psalm 8 (Creation), Psalm 104 (Creation) and Psalm 119 (Torah)

Psalms of Disorientation

These are the opposite of what we just looked at and they express pain, grief, discomfort, anxiety, and even anger that life is not good.

Disorientation and anxiety come in several forms throughout life:

• Anxiety that comes from going through the various stages of life.
• Anxiety and pain that come from trials or tragedy that unexpectedly come into life.
• Anxiety that comes as the world around us changes.

The most obvious type of Psalm of Disorientation is a lament found in four ways (Protesting Innocence, Confession, Cursing/Vengeance and Trust). There are at least 60 — that’s right 60 — of the Psalms that can fall in the category of a “lament.” That’s over ⅓ of the book! Let’s sit in that thought for a moment. Over ⅓ of the Psalms are laments to God crying out about the Psalter’s situation. Man do we know how to complain?! BUT, there is more to the story.

Read Psalm 74.

Okay so the first half of that chapter is pretty doomsday-esque. But did you notice the tone shift at verse 12? “YET God my King …” This statement speaks to the core of what a lament and all of these Psalms of Disorientation are about. We are in a covenant relationship with God. We know and hold fast to Him, even in the trials. These help us articulate the pain of life, while also bringing about healing. In fact, much of the ancient eastern world held to a belief that everything must be brought to speech (Psalms) before healing can take place. Wow. That’s extremely anti-western culture where we are often encouraged to keep our feelings and emotions to ourselves and find a way to get over it. That mindset couldn’t be further from the truth in how we are to approach our God. He wants to hear your pain. He wants to hear your cry. Because when we do that, it’s a direct reflection of our trust and confidence in who He is.

From this day on, there will be a side task. You see, praying the laments forces us to deal with pain and suffering and injustice in the world around us. So, from Day 14 on, pick a Psalm from the list below and pray it. Then pray it again. Engrain these into your minds.

Laments: Psalm 3; 4; 5; 6; 7; 9; 10; 12; 13; 14; 17; 22; 25; 26; 27; 28; 31; 35; 38; 39; 40; 41; 42; 43; 51; 52; 53; 54; 55; 56; 57; 58; 59; 60; 61; 64; 69; 70; 71; 74; 77; 79; 80; 83; 85; 86; 88; 89; 90; 94; 102; 109; 120; 123; 126; 129; 130; 139; 140; 141; 142; 143.

Psalms of Reorientation

Now this leads us to our final genre of Psalms. Out of this state of Disorientation more often than not, follows Reorientation. See those laments move the prayer/worshiper from protest > petition > praise. In this newfound praise we find new orientation. To best see this in the Psalms we are going to look at the ones classified as hymns. Some hymns praise God by describing two things:

• Who God is and/or
• What He has done

The hymns have a basic structure to them similar to this:

• Opening invitation to praise (“Praise the Lord,” “Bless the Lord,” “Shout to the Lord,” “Rejoice in the Lord”)
• Rationale for the praise which is usually introduced using the words “for” or “because”
• Renewed call to praise

Another set of hymns we refer to as “Psalms of Yahweh’s Enthronement.”

• God’s reign over creation and therefore His rightful place as king (Psalm 93).
• God’s reign over nations which He subdues (Psalms 47; 93; 96; 97; 99).

A generic form of these is suggested here:

1. Often begin with the words similar to “Yahweh has become king.”
2. Contain many calls to rejoice.
3. Have brief references to Yahweh’s deeds.
4. Give descriptions of what His reign will mean to Israel and the world.
5. Present the idea that a new world kingdom is coming.

Now that we have gone through these, let’s shift back to unlocking the key to this paradigm given to us by a theologian. Human life is never simply an articulation of the season or place in which we currently find ourselves.

These Psalms are not static. Instead, they are dynamic and explore the human movement from one circumstance to another, changing and being changed.