Of the psalter (the 150 psalms) John Calvin (1509–164) wrote: “The varied and resplendid riches which are contained it this treasury it is no easy matter to express in words; so much so, that I well know that whatever I shall be able to say will be far from approaching the excellence of the subject. But as it is better to give to my readers some taste, however small, of the wonderful advantages they will derive from the study of this book, than to be entirely silent on the point, I may be permitted briefly to advert to a matter, the greatness of which does not admit of being fully unfolded. I have been accustomed to call this book, I think not inappropriately, ‘An Anatomy of all the Parts of the Soul;’ for there is not an emotion of which any one can be conscious that is not here represented as in a mirror. Or rather, the Holy Spirit has here drawn to the life all the griefs, sorrows, fears, doubts, hopes, cares, perplexities, in short, all the distracting emotions with which the minds of men are wont to be agitated.”

The psalms are both a reflection of the Christian experience of the psalmists and our our daily struggle with sin and death. The psalms, however, are typically more honest about our sin and God’s grace than we are wont to be.

In this episode Bryan Estelle, Professor of Old Testament at Westminster Seminary California, joins us to walk us through some psalms typical of various parts of the psalter so that we may learn to use the psalms as a guide to our new life in the shadow of death.

Here is the episode (part 1 of 2).

Here are the episodes for Season Five: New Life in the Shadow of Death.

Here are all the episodes. Subscribe to Office Hours in iTunes.

Here’s the WSC media app.