5 Psalms about Community
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Are you lonely and need encouragement to find and grow in community with other believers? Learn how from Psalms about community.
One essential part of our faith in Christ is the fact that we share it with others. There is nothing quite like being in a community with others, especially when it comes to the brothers and sisters we share in Christ.
Though we may be strangers before our conversion, when we come to faith in Jesus, we are adopted into His family of believers universally, but also more specifically in the local community of the church.
Throughout passages in Scripture, such as the Psalms, we can trace the importance that community held, and see our desperate need to be a part of it today.
Even though we live in times of instant connectivity, many people have felt lonelier than ever. According to a global study done in 2021, about 33 percent of adults reported feelings of loneliness worldwide. In America, 52% of Americans reported feeling lonely, and 47% reported that their relationships with others were not meaningful.
As Christians, we have been called to live in community with other believers. It is not hard to see the effects of loneliness, and how not only important but beneficial to your overall health, whether mentally, emotionally, or spiritually meaningful, and intentional community is. It is in community that we can be encouraged, instructed, known, held accountable, and grow in our faith.
We see throughout the Psalms how terms such as congregation, people, and assembly are often used, and point to life and faith within the community. That is where our walls are broken down, we are restored, refreshed, and built up for the work that Christ has set before us and this life that is so hard to live on your own.
I hope that these Scriptures in Psalms will encourage you to remain hopeful and faithful in finding and growing in community.
5 Psalms About Community
1. Psalm 133:1-3 – How Pleasant It Is When God’s People Live Together In Unity
There is a special kind of joy that we experience when we are together in unity with other believers. This particular Psalm focused on unity. It is a song of ascent, which was sung while families were traveling to Jerusalem to celebrate one of the feasts. David describes this unity among the people as good and pleasant.
In Philippians 2:2 Paul describes this same unity and helps us see how we can attain it. He says, “Then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and of one mind.” That is how we get to experience the joy and pleasantness of unity in community, through our common faith in Christ.
How good and pleasant it is when God’s people live together in unity! It is like precious oil poured on the head, running down on the beard, running down on Aaron’s beard, down on the collar of his robe. It is as if the dew of Hermon were falling on Mount Zion.
For there the Lord bestows his blessing, even life forevermore.
2. Psalm 46 – Our Refuge And Strength
I love how Psalm 46 speaks from the perspective of the community. We see how God is shown to be “our” refuge and strength. This is not only in our personal walk with Jesus, but as a community, and as the church, we collectively find our strength and our hiding place in God.
We are His bride, whom He purchased, and will one day return for. Sometimes it is easy to forget that although Jesus died for each one of us, it is ultimately the Church, His bride, that He died for. We cannot separate ourselves from other believers, because that was never God’s intention.
In community, we can lift one another up, pray for each other, and remind one another of the refuge and strength we have in Christ when we are going through hard times in life.
God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble.
Therefore we will not fear, though the earth give way and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea, though its waters roar and foam and the mountains quake with their surging.
There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God, the holy place where the Most High dwells. God is within her, she will not fall; God will help her at break of day.
Nations are in uproar, kingdoms fall; he lifts his voice, the earth melts. The Lord Almighty is with us; the God of Jacob is our fortress. Come and see what the Lord has done, the desolations he has brought on the earth.
He makes wars cease to the ends of the earth. He breaks the bow and shatters the spear; he burns the shields with fire.
He says, “Be still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth.” The Lord Almighty is with us; the God of Jacob is our fortress.
3. Psalm 22:25 – He Is the Theme of Our Praise
There is no greater place for us to find the source of our joy and praise apart from God. All good things come from Him, and He is worthy of all our praise. There was no one who knew the gracious and favored hand of God like David did. He had much reason to praise God, and we do too.
In Psalm 22 David refers to vows that he made to God during a period when he was being opposed by his enemies and his life was endangered. Now that God had delivered him from their hands, he would perform those vows before the great assembly, who feared God. We can give God praise among His people, and tell of His wonderful deeds in the assembly.
From you comes the theme of my praise in the great assembly; before those who fear you, I will fulfill my vows.
4. Psalm 40:9-10 – Proclaim His Saving Acts
Throughout our lives we will have many testimonies of the Lord’s work in our lives. David is a great example of someone who proclaimed the work of God, and what He had done for him. He gave testimony to the work of God to the great assembly, who we can assume to refer to the people of Israel who followed God faithfully.
God rescued David from the pursuit of his enemies, and he declared the good works that He had done for him. We too can think of ways that God has saved us, changed us, and worked in our lives. Just like David, and so many others in scripture, we are reminded to tell of His great works among His people.
I proclaim your saving acts in the great assembly; I do not seal my lips, Lord, as you know. I do not hide your righteousness in my heart; I speak of your faithfulness and your saving help. I do not conceal your love and your faithfulness from the great assembly.
5. Psalm 149:1 – Sing To the Lord A New Song
In this Psalm, we see the Psalmist call upon the assembly of God’s faithful people to sing a new son to the Lord. This call to sing together brings the covenant people of God in unity before God, offering their praise to Him, which is a sweet smelling aroma. We as a community of believers get to experience the gift of worshiping God through song, and admonishing one another through Psalms and hymns.
Praise the Lord. Sing to the Lord a new song, his praise in the assembly of his faithful people.
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