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Songs of Praise

If lament is more than half the Psalter, praise is its destination. The book opens with a picture of a man like a tree planted by rivers of water — rooted, fruitful, unhurried — and closes with five Hallelujah psalms in a row, the loudest sustained worship in all of Scripture, every instrument and every breath conscripted into a single great noise. Between the tree and the thunder, the great hymns take shape: enter into His gates with thanksgiving; bless the LORD, O my soul; great is the LORD, and greatly to be praised. Praise in the Psalms is never the denial of darkness. It is what the darkness gives way to, once the soul has turned from its own condition to His. The praise psalms do not teach us to feel differently; they teach us to see correctly — and then the feeling follows. They are the songs we will be singing for ever. It is worth learning them now.