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(Angel)
It's surprising to learn that though they look like the purpose of these are to praise God, these psalms are God's biggest blessing for us. As I think about why, I realize that it is because these hymnic psalms remind us of a lot of truths about God.

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(Jessica Yen)
The Lament psalms show me that a life of faith is a life of suffering, but in the midst of my pains, struggles, or fears, I can turn to God and pour out my heart to Him in honest confession of all that I am feeling.  And then turning to His word, I can put my confidence in God's character and in His promises.
As I bring my laments to God, it brings God into the picture and my feelings of anxiety and fear are assuaged as I zoom out and remember that God is ultimately in control.

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-Gives me access to hope and humility:
-Gives me proper view of God; praising God for who He is and what He has done in my life
-Grows my confidence in God

Psalm 103

Ashley

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It is a reminder that I need to constantly have proper posture to praise God and thanksgiving to Him for who He is and what He has done in my life.

Ruth

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(Angel)
- I can express my thoughts and laments to God. These feelings can help us to get in touch with the reality that bad things do happen. There is real evil out there. But these psalms also teach us how to properly respond to the evil we see, the injustice we experience in the world.

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These types of Psalms (18, 30, 138) help re-direct me from focus on myself (my lack, things that aren't going well, my failures) to focus on God. Thanksgiving Psalms teaches me how to respond properly to all that God has done (remembering and recalling all the ways God has rescued me from my sins).
-Connie

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- The difference between a non Christian and a Christian is that a Christian honors and gives thanks to God.
- These psalms are at the heart of what it means to be a Christian, to be a believer, because the greatest thing that we can and must be thankful for is God delivering and rescuing us from our sins.
- Not only about us giving thanks to God but also tells us to teach/direct others to give thanks to God.

(Jessica Guan)

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(Sandra)

As we live in a fallen world, we will have complaints and frustrations in response to sin. The issue isn't if we complain, but who we complain to. God desires that we direct our complaints to him, and in doing so, our vision will broaden to see who he is

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Psalm 51: 16-17 "For you will not delight in sacrifice, or I would give it; you will not be pleased with a burnt offering. The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise"  God wants us to be committed to the truth all the way deep down to our hearts and as we engage in that, we get a proper view of our own sins, that it's not about a self-improvement project, but that I have sinned against God and need to restore my relationship with Him. Doing so helps me to appreciate the hymnic psalms (Psalm 8: 4 "What is man that you are mindful of him, and the son of man that you care for him") and praising God for His goodness and blessings.(Kimberly)

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(Audrey)
-Mark 1 - Jesus' first words: "REPENT and believe in the gospel"
-Psalm 51  - David's model of repentance teaches me how to properly repent before God and also help others I'm ministering to repent.
-Confess full vocabulary of sin: sins, iniquities, & transgressions
-Reflect & lament over sins committed against God, reveal the secrets of my. heart to God, be known
-God's answers in his character: steadfast love and abundant mercy!
-My response is praise God! "Create in me a clean heart"

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Psalms of Lament taught me :
- its ok to express my emotions to God rather than thinking  I sound like I'm complaining / its not proper.
- to personalize lament psalms by replacing the word "enemy" with whatever problems and sins that apply to me personally
- laments are made TOWARD God. So they are not just complaints. It's actually a good thing because it brings God into the picture.
- Laments isn't just full of sadness but there's components of affirming CONFIDENCE in God, and ADDRESSING God and PETITIONING to God. So the takeaway message is, not to feel sheepish about expressing laments because its how I can invite God into my struggles

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(Elaine)
- Expression of worship is for our own good (max blessing)
- Praise = fuel for fire
- Give God praise because he's worthy
- approach God with a zealous attitude

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Psalm 8 - God is the creator God and majestic is the name of the Lord in all the earth! Psalms 8 and 147 in particular, have taught me to look at and rejoice over all the ways that God is at work and is worthy of my praise despite circumstances and in fact I ought to always look to the Lord and there is so much to praise God and to rejoice over as He daily sustains me and guides me in His steadfast love! The hymnic and book of Psalms teaches me the proper posture of how to come before God and to be God-centered in my prayers.
Angela

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So much of my sins are due to my self-centeredness, whether for my desire to self-preserve, protect my ego, my preferences, and my fears, but these hymnic psalms call me to focus out of myself and on who God is and what He has done. When I focus on who God is, and what he has done, I am put back to my proper place of nothingness.

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-IMART - Intro, misery, appeal, rescue, testimonial
- The point of thnxgiving psalms is to give thanks and give testimony of how God saved/rescued

From Psalm 138 - it teaches us that psalms of thanksgiving can help us order our thoughts and feelings in the midst of our troubles and remember the steadfast love of God.

Psalm 30:4 - models the attention from self to God bc God is the main character. Do you focus on yourself? Our attention should be directed to God. (chloe)

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to give proper attitude and emotions regarding my sin, not in a self-centered, self-improvement project, but as proper posture before God. I sinned against God and broke my relationship with Him. Psalm 51 shows the 3 sin words to consider: transgression, iniquity, sin (vv. 2-3); but also words to ask God to help me: to give me the "right spirit, Holy Spirit, willing spirit (vv.10-12), according to God's steadfast love and abundant mercy.

Carmen

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Ministry is difficult and loving people can bring suffering. We can respond with lamenting, which is not unusual but at the heart of faith.
-We can express our lamentations to the Lord, as this is an appropriate response to evil.
- rather than complain to ourselves, we can include God in our struggles to Him in the form of lamentations.(CLAP)
-Edna

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(Sunny)
- life of faith is a life of suffering as depicted through these particular psalms
- need to command and preach to ourselves (engage in shared talk) to hope in God
- Psalms are God's words to us
- CLAP - Confidence, Lament, Address, Petition
- Instead of complaining to myself, I can like the psalmist bring those things to God Almighty

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I was surprised to learn that nearly half of Psalms are laments they are not something marginal. Addressing our laments to God is important for our faith. These Psalms also give a rich vocabulary for expressing confidence in who God is and His promises even as we lament. And as we seek God we can have hope and praise Him.

Psalm 42

Nasha