The book of Psalms is a favorite of Christians, even though we frequently read it in portions and pieces, hopscotching through the familiar and avoiding the odd, the unpleasant and the difficult. But though the individual psalms arose from an assortment of times, experiences and settings, the book is composed in a deliberate pattern, not as a random anthology. The meaning of the Psalms is discovered in this pattern and order.

Michael Wilcock has written a sort of travel guide to the Psalms. In the first volume, The Message of Psalms 1-72, he invites us to begin our journey through the gateway of Psalms 1 and 2, with their summons to obedience. In this volume, he ends with Psalm 150, singing its song of praise. In between we pass through all the "yes, buts" of faith—the conflicts, the burdens, the mysteries and the sufferings of life. In these laments and praises, hymns and liturgies, the Bible continues to speak clearly today.