Book Review: Singing the Songs of Jesus: Revisiting the Psalms

For the last year or two, I’ve had an interest in the topic of worship in the church. I wrote previously about my hesitations with some of the more mainstream artists, specifically those coming out of Bethel, Elevation, and Hillsong. I started exploring the great hymns that even I remember growing up singing to some extent at church. But I always had a special place in my heart for the Psalms.

So, when I saw the category on the 2023 G3 Ministries Reading Challenge for “A Book about

a Book of the Bible,” and saw this book about the Psalms recommended, it was an easy pick.

Singing the Songs of Jesus: Revisiting the Psalms by Michael Lefebvre is an engaging and interesting read. Diving into church history, he explains that the earliest church used the Psalms as worship. He reframes the reader's outlook on the Psalms, not as just a book of poems, but as the hymnal of the church.

He explains that the Psalms are God’s songs for His people to sing to him (eventually to be led by Jesus), while modern worship songs and hymns are songwriters and the congregation's songs to God.

While he isn’t exactly knocking hymns or modern worship songs, he does explain that the Psalms have a superiority that cannot be compared with–in my mind, it is similar to how reading the Bible can in no way compare with reading a book inspired by the Bible.

We can glean plenty from books about the Bible, and songs written years later, but nothing can come close to the words written by God about Jesus, hundreds of years before Jesus lived.

He goes on to explain that the Psalms are also meant to teach us how to worship–they take us through the meditation of God’s word that leads to praise. Reading the Psalms causes us to wrestle with our humanity and sin, our despair, ultimately praising God through the strife we may face, and ultimately, praise Him because of what He fulfilled in Christ’s death and resurrection.

This entire book was full of rich information about how the Psalms are meant to be read and sung. It opened my eyes to the richness of God’s Word in a new way; a way that I failed to see because of never having been part of a church that sung the Psalms in this way.

It has encouraged me to dive into the Psalms again this year with new eyes, using the Psalms to spur my heart towards worship. While I have already begun returning to hymns and some Psalms at home, I am encouraged to find entire tracks either on Amazon Music or YouTube of the Psalms in order to cement them into my heart–I’m finding some great ones and some not so engaging ones! (When I have a more solid list, I will definitely create a post for that as well!)

It has stirred up in me a desire to worship God in the way that the early church did, to sing the praises He gave us.

This book isn’t for everyone, but it is helpful at understanding the Psalms and their purpose. It is, again, one I am grateful to have come in contact with.

*As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.