In a course on ‘Old Testament Wisdom Literature and Poetry’, we were asked to compose our own psalms and submit them. Today we read them all out (anonymously) in class. I was absolutely amazed and encouraged by the quality of the psalms that some of the guys and gals in my class produced – it highlighted that that a deep, experiential understanding of the gospel was alive and well amongst many in my class. Well, for what it’s worth, here’s my composition – a wisdom psalm, summing up the way I often feel myself behaving. I’ve tried to keep an OT biblical theological, post-exilic framework to the psalm and the imagery within it:

A  Wisdom Psalm

The carnal man parades like a wild beast,

He acts upon his impulse,

And there is no restraint which masters him.

 

In his heart he delights in his freedom,

He boasts of his power.

But the righteous pity him as a caged animal.

 

The animal prances and roars,

But the righteous see but an insect confined in a prison.

 

The shackles of the righteous have been removed,

They dwell in freedom, they exercise self-control.

They have escaped from Egypt,

And the LORD is in their midst.

 

The foolish man lives in Babylon

He delights in its mysteries,

But the LORD is far off.

 

The righteous have crossed the sea,

Their feet are firmly placed on dry ground.

They sing a victorious song.

 

The foolish man resides by the River,

It stretches out before him.

His ears hear a foreign tongue.

 

The righteous are those whose freedom is in the LORD.