Of all the books of the Bible, there may not be one that is more consistently beloved, more pastorally accessible, and more desperately read than the Psalms. In the many ways it is unique within the canon of Scripture, not the least of which is that it contains inspired words from God, through people, directed back toward God. As one theologian has noted, "The Psalms are one of the most dearly loved books in the Bible. For generations, they have been one of our greatest treasures as God's people. ... We go to the Psalms when we're laughing and when we're crying. Amazingly, they often say what we feel but couldn't find the words to describe" (Johnston, The Psalms, Volume 1, 13).

To help us tackle this massive, 150-chapter song book, we welcome to the podcast Dr. Ian Vaillancourt. Dr. Vaillancourt currently serves as Associate Professor of Old Testament and Hebrew at Heritage College and Seminary in Cambridge, Ontario. He’s an ordained pastor in the Fellowship of Evangelical Baptist Churches in Canada and served in pastoral roles for fourteen years before transitioning to the classroom full-time. His passion, wherever he is, is to exalt Christ from the Old Testament. And we’re going to watch him do just that in this episode.