Why Sing the Psalms?

Ten Reasons from Brian Cochran.
 

1. They are inspired by the Holy Spirit (2 Tim. 3:16; 2 Pet. 1:21).
2. It is an excellent way of hiding God’s word in your heart and letting the word of God dwell in you richly (Ps. 119:11; Col. 3:16).
3. The Psalms present the Biblical pattern for properly balancing the objective and the subjective aspects of the Christian life.
4. The Psalms give us a comprehensive presentation of Christian emotion.
5. The Psalms give us hope by anticipating the return of Christ and the age to come.
6. The Psalms are a great way to express our unity with God’s people from thousands of years ago.
7. The wisdom of church history.
8. The Psalms will help you understand the New Testament better.
9. The Psalms are Christ-centered (Luke 24:27, 44).
10. You will come to know the heart and mind of Christ better (e.g. Matt. 27:46; cf. Ps. 22).

I was thinking about this myself when I came across this post. When we sing the psalms we don't have to wonder if what we are singing to God and to one another is theologically correct. Abraham Kuyper once said that he was in favor of good hymns and quickly followed it up by expressing his hope that one day maybe God would give us one!  I think we do have good hymns but they cannot compare to the inspired hymn book that God has given us. The psalms also express the broad spectrum of human emotion. Our hymns almost never say the kind of things the psalms are willing to say. The psalms ask God why, admit our melancholy (many modern hymns give the impression of a false Christian triumphalism), and ask God to break the teeth of his enemies in judgment.

"What Can Miserable Christians Sing?" by Carl Trueman