The Holy Spirit inspired the writers of the Psalms to write exactly the words that He wanted to be written in every Psalm. Comparing the frequency in the Psalms of two key titles for God reveals that the Psalms stress the one title considerably more than the other.
God as Judge in the Psalms
The Psalms speak of or speak to God as the Judge four times:
Ps. 50:6 And the heavens shall declare his righteousness: for God is judge himself. Selah.
Ps. 68:5 A father of the fatherless, and a judge of the widows, is God in his holy habitation.
Ps. 75:7 But God is the judge: he putteth down one, and setteth up another.
Ps. 94:2 Lift up thyself, thou judge of the earth: render a reward to the proud.
God as Savior in the Psalms
The Psalms speak of God as the Savior one time:
Ps. 106:21 They forgat God their saviour, which had done great things in Egypt;
A Revealing Comparison
Speaking of or to God, the Psalmists speak of God as the Judge four times, but they only speak of God as the Savior once. The inspired hymnal thus uses the title Judge for God four times as often as it does the title Savior for God.
Questions for Application
The revealing comparison presented in this post raises some questions for us to consider about how we are to apply this biblical information.
Should our sacred music also have this same biblical proportion in it for the use of these titles?
If so, does our sacred music presently have this biblical proportion in it for the use of these titles?
If so, and if our sacred music does not do so, why does it not do so?
If so, and if our sacred music does not do so, what should we do to change what we are singing in our sacred music so that it is in keeping with this biblical proportion?
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