“Discuss some of the reasons offered in the Psalms for long-term optimism.”
Within the book of Psalms there are many important messages. The imagery is strong and ethical. Basically written as prayer, David prays to the lord to give him strength and to destroy the wrong doers in the world around him. This is actually a fairly common theme throughout the book of Psalms. Generally the people who follow God and praise him will be blessed and safe, and generally the people who stray away from God will be punished or destroyed. Ethics are simple, but important. Within the book, There are reasons for long term optimism. These can be seen all though the book pretty easily, but it shows why Psalms is so important. These themes are ethical and moral, and work with today’s standards.
Within the book of Psalms, David wrote about enduring optimism and happiness about things that will eventually happen or come in the future. David had a profound understatement of God’s throne and the world around him. He knew God’s reasons for justice and hierarchy. David understood God’s judicial and ethical/moral system. Through faith, David understood the consequences of actions or ideas, and what those consequences would be if he did so. David praised the lord throughout the entire book of psalms. The prays for the evil around him to be gone, and that the people of god are blessed and protected by God. David understood God’s thinking and how God would handle certain situations, this perhaps made David a better Christian, and better in the world around him.
When someone is righteous and holy in front of God, God will judge them in favor, because they are good and right. God will destroy the enemies of the person who he is judging. Removing those enemies are better for the world, but better for the Christian, as now they do not have any temptation of distraction away from Christianity. Gods judgment is important and is released in the spiritual realm, but done so in the physical realm,in which the judgment is needed. David knew and understood these things. He knew if he kept his faith and was holy and right, then he would be protected, and those who do wrong around him would be destroyed. But he also understood that if he was wrong and sinned, then he would be punished and destroyed like the sinners around him.
In the book of psalms, David writes prayers for the holy and right to be protected, and for those who sin and do wrong, to be punished by God. This is a pretty common theme throughout the text to show that good wins, and bad does not. This is a theme which can be seen greater throughout the Bible. Within the text, there is an enduring theme of optimism by David. He had this optimism because he knew what God thought, and his judicial process. Knowing this, and keeping his faith, he knew that he would be okay because he was holy and righteous.
JBSchool 