When God’s people are beset by temptation or persecution, a revelation of God’s character and glory is the best remedy.

Vern S. Poythress, The Returning King: A Guide to the Book of Revelation, 97.

On His walk on earth, Jesus therefore often spoke through parables, so that the world would not understand it. But He made it known to His people. Revelation is therefore also described in a way that expresses the matters excellently, clearly and most appropriately in itself, but that hides these matters from the worldlings.

Not to be Ignored: Rev. Wilhelmus à Brakel’s Commentary on Revelation, Loc. 580.

Article from Reformation Heritage KJV Study Bible.

We live in an increasingly negative culture in which it’s easy to be dragged down with all the discouraging and depressing events that flood our hearts and overwhelm our minds. However, the apostle Paul calls us to enjoy God’s peace in the midst of the storm by feeding our minds on an alternative media diet. He writes: “Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things” (Phil. 4:8).

This is not an argument for unrealistic isolation from the bad news that inevitably fills a fallen world. No, this is a warrant, even a demand, that in our media choices we choose a deliberate imbalance in favor of what is inspirational and wholesome, instead of the current imbalance on the side of what is dispiriting and gross. Paul’s “Food Pyramid” for a healthy media diet contains six main categories:

1. True Not False: Avoid listening to lies, misrepresentation, imbalance, and distortion, on both the left and the right of the political spectrum. Beware of journalists who spend most of their time exposing the lies of “the other team.” Instead, seek out the most truthful, balanced, and fair reporting. Feast on truth, wherever it appears and whoever is speaking it. Surround yourself with truth-tellers rather than muck-spreaders.
2. Noble Not Base: The media tends to publicize the vile and sordid side of life. Their reporters and resources are focused on the seedy cesspools of our society. “Don’t do this to yourself!” appealed Paul. Trash the base and nourish the noble in your life. Noble means “majestic, awe-inspiring, worthy, and elevating”: seek out media that elevate the heroic, that inspire awe, and that generate worship.
3. Right Not Wrong: When Paul says we should think about what is “just,” he means what conforms to God’s law and standards—right conduct in all of life. Paul urges us to seek out and celebrate right behavior, courageous actions, hardworking parents, loving fathers, devoted mothers, respectful children, happy families, gentle caregivers, honest employees, fair bosses, etc.
4. Pure Not Filthy: When was the last time you saw a film that celebrated Christian marriage or portrayed a normal functioning family? Immorality, abuse, fighting, and murder rule the day. Take the steps to move the spotlight to happy and godly relationships, long and faithful marriages, etc. Rejoice over the many godly young people who do not use porn, who do not dress immodestly, who keep their hearts with all diligence, and who keep themselves pure for marriage.
5. Beautiful Not Ugly: “Whatsoever things are lovely” describes what is attractive and winsome, words and actions that compel admiration and affection. In a day when many of us live among steel and concrete boxes of varying sizes and shapes, it’s often very difficult to locate beauty in our immediate surroundings. We need to get out of the city, see the stunning mountains, savor the fragrance of the forest, taste the thrill of fresh and healthy produce, and listen to the exquisite birdsong. Find ways to increase your intake of beauty through your various senses.
6. Praising Not Complaining: Paul was saying, “Focus on what is constructive rather than destructive.” Feast on whatever makes people exclaim “Well done!” rather than what makes you and others say, “That’s terrible.” As you drive with your family, do you suggest topics that will show people in a good light or in a bad light? Do you tell stories that will make your hearers praise God and others or in a way that will make people doubt God and condemn others?

As Paul puts it in his summary of these six criteria, “If there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things” (v. 8). This was not just a theory for Paul; he could appeal to their memory of him: “Those things, which ye have both learned, and received, and heard, and seen in me, do: and the God of peace shall be with you” (Phil. 4:9). He says, if you think like I think and do what I do, you will replace fear, anxiety, depression, and worry with divine peace.

The Spirit’s work is to transform our fallen human nature into people who think and speak and behave more and more like God’s Son, Jesus, the perfect human being.

Karen H. Jobes, Letters to the Church: A Survey of Hebrews and the General Epistles, 60.

Biblical faith can claim a confidence beyond one’s own experience because it rests in the character of God, of which there is nothing more certain and constant.

Karen H. Jobes, Letters to the Church: A Survey of Hebrews and the General Epistles, 48.

The book of Psalms is actually one of the later products of the Old Testament era. If we were to arrange the books of the Old Testament according to their dates of compilation, we would have to put the Psalter among the post-exilic volumes toward the very end of the collection. Many of the songs contained in it are, to be sure, much older, but the particular selection and arrangement of Hebrew hymns into the volume we call the book of Psalms is a post-exilic work. In fact, rather than looking at the Psalter as an Old Testament worship hymnal, it is probably more appropriate to regard it as a final product of the Old Testament temple, compiled in preparation for New Testament worship.

Sing a New Song: Recovering Psalm Singing for the Twenty-First Century, Loc. 2020.

James 5:13 exhorts those who are merry to sing psalms, and none would suggest that the Psalter was excluded. It is noteworthy that he does this immediately after exhorting those in trouble to pray. This shows that, just as in the temple, singing is a religious duty distinct from prayer, even if in some respects they overlap.

Sing a New Song: Recovering Psalm Singing for the Twenty-First Century, Loc. 1870.

This eclipse of psalmody in the late nineteenth century is quite unprecedented. The Psalms, as we have seen, had been the dominant form of church song beginning with the church fathers, all through the Middle Ages, during the Reformation and Post-Reformation eras, and into the modern era. By the beginning of the twentieth century, the church had lost the voice through which it had expressed its sung praise for more than eighteen hundred years.

Sing a New Song: Recovering Psalm Singing for the Twenty-First Century, Loc. 1219.

The Holy Spirit gave the Psalter as a complete collection whose strength is collective: laments not isolated from praise, imprecations not isolated from confessions of sin, but all together. The whole gospel of the whole Christ is found in the whole Psalter.

Sing a New Song: Recovering Psalm Singing for the Twenty-First Century, Loc. 1107.

The whole book of Psalms is called, in Hebrew, the Book of Praises (Sefer Tehillim). Not all the Psalms are praise songs. Some are cries of distress. But the book is called the Book of Praises because its many psalms meet us in our present experiences, whatever they are, and invariably point our hearts toward God’s victories—realized or promised. Indeed, the whole Psalter reaches its climax with a “new song” (Ps. 149) and a “hallelujah” benediction (Ps. 150). Until that great day comes when all our tears will be wiped away and we will sing only “new song” praises (Rev. 5:9; 14:3), the variety of songs in the Psalter tune our hearts to that joy now. It is for this reason that the Psalter is called the Book of Praises, and this book about singing those ancient songs is called Sing a New Song.

Joel R. Beeke and Anthony Selvaggio, Sing a New Song: Recovering Psalm Singing for the Twenty-First Century, Loc. 91.