Emotions

Emotional Profile

THINK:
- The Psalmist can call on God to listen because they have a close relationship. Yahweh is the covenant God who promises to answer. He is the psalmist's God and the psalmist's king. It is to this being that the Psalmist prays.
FEEL:
- We can see the psalmist's distress reflected in the phrase ‘my desperate cry for help.’
DO:
- See Speech act analysis.

THINK:
- The psalmist says that God always hears his (the psalmist's) prayer in the morning.
FEEL:
- The psalmist first shouts out Yahweh's name! Whereas in the previous verses, spoke about himself, in this verse he is clearly speaking about Yahweh. His emotions naturally follows the change of subject.
DO:
- See Speech act analysis.

THINK:
- Verse 5 gives the reason for the Psalmist's statement in v. 4. He must believe this reason to be true in order to offer it up as argumentation.
FEEL:
- The reason the Psalmist believes that God will hear him is because God does not allow evil in His presence. This presupposes that the psalmist himself is not evil.
- The imagery of PROXIMITY IS FAVOUR is very prominent, and amplifies the emotive effect. Since the Psalmist is implicating that he is not like these evil people, it must be the case that he feels just as entitled to God's favour as he does that evil people are not entitled to his favour.
DO:
- See Speech act analysis.

THINK:
- The psalmist declares “I will go to the Lord's house.”
- The reason he can go must be because God favours him and allows him in his presence (as opposed to the wicked in vv. 5–6)
FEEL:
- The enemies do not fear the Lord, but the Psalmist does. He knows the end of those who do not fear the Lord, and so he can be confident in his own end.
DO:
- See Speech act analysis.

THINK:
- The psalmist supports his cry for help by invoking God's covenant obligation when he says ‘because of Your righteousness.’
FEEL:
- The psalmist knows God will guide him, yet the reference to a ‘straight’ path presupposes a crooked path.
DO:
- See Speech act analysis. The function of the psalmist's plea is to give expression to his simultaneous concern and hope.

THINK:
- In order to support his argument regarding the enemies in the previous verse, the psalmist is stating categorical facts about them.
FEEL:
- Given vv. 5–7, the psalmist is not afraid of these enemies. The imagery and poetic composition of this verse, as well as the repetition of the images, gives expression to the psalmist's disdain for these people.
DO:
- See Speech act analysis.

THINK:
- The psalmist implies that they are rebels when he states that ‘they have rebelled’.
FEEL:
- Four short clauses repeat the psalmist's desire that the enemies be punished. This, along with the imagery used suggest an intense emotion. In light of who these enemies are, anger is the most natural reaction.
DO:
- See Speech act analysis.

THINK:
- The psalmist states as fact that God always blesses the righteous
FEEL:
- Those who take refuge in God and love His name are, for the psalmist, righteous. It should be the case, then, that they exult and rejoice as a result of God's blessing.
DO:
- See Speech act analysis.