We think of our singing in worship as singing to the Lord, offering him our praise and thanks and bringing to him our petitions. He is, indeed, the main object of our sung speech, and that rightly. We come together to worship, and whatever we say in worship is before him. He is our primary audience.
However, many psalms are addressed to others or have address to others interspersed with address to God. This is important. The apostle Paul says that we should be speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs (Eph. 5:19). In Colossians 3:16 he is even more specific: Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom, teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs.
Consider the variety of audiences we address when singing the Psalms: all people (49), enemies (Ps. 62:3) and workers of iniquity (6:8), fellow saints (121), children (34:11), the nations (117), judges (58, 82), the king and queen in Israel who are allegories for Christ and his church (45), heads of households (128), sons of the mighty (perhaps angels, 29), self (42, 103), Doeg the Edomite (52), all creatures (148).
Sometimes in these addresses we speak individually: I will declare your name to my brothers… You who fear Yahweh, praise him (Ps. 22:22-23). At other times we speak corporately: Come, behold the works of Yahweh (46:8). O clap your hands, all you peoples (47:1).
The addresses have a variety of forms. Psalm 4:2-5 is all exhortation. beginning with, Know that Yahweh has set apart the godly one for himself. Psalm 37 is a lengthy exhortation not to fret about the prosperity of the wicked. 91:3-13 is encouragement, probably to self, since verse 2 introduces the section: I will say of Yahweh, he is my refuge and my stronghold… 103 is a reminder to the soul of all the blessings the Lord has bestowed. 94:8-10 asks the enemies of God’s people a series of rhetorical questions: fools, when will you gain insight? He who plants the ear, will he not hear?… 95:8-9 is a warning from the psalmist not to harden our hearts against the Lord, and in 52 David tells Doeg that Edomite that God will destroy him for his wicked words. Psalm 78 is Asaph’s explanation of the transfer of the central place of worship from Ephraim to Judah. He addresses the whole of it to “my people.” In 124 the saints talk to each other about deliverance from the Lord: If Yahweh had not been for us, when man rose against us, then they would have swallowed us alive. In 137 the saints first talk among themselves (vv. 1-4) complaining about their captivity, then to Jerusalem (6-7) promising not to forget, to the Lord (7), and finally to Babylon (8-9). In 34 David instructs children (v. 11) and those who fear the Lord (12f). Psalm 45 is a song of loves addressed to the king and queen on their wedding day and urges them to perform their royal and conjugal duties. Psalm 49 exhorts all men, low and high, rich and poor, not to trust in riches and instructs us about the end of those who do. These are just a few examples to show the variety in the manner we use to speak to others.
We may even say that when we address God in song, we intend others to hear. Our praise and complaints become public in the act of worship. We want not only our fellow worshipers but all the nations of the earth to hear.
While we are singing the psalms, then, we should be aware who it is we are talking to and why we are talking. Is it God? Let his fear fill us. Is it self? Let us be careful to hear. Is it our fellow saints? Let it be with love, even if we are admonishing. Is it the nations, enemies, rulers and judges? Let it be with boldness. We are the Lord’s people and he has put his high praises into our mouths to teach and admonish ourselves and one another and to bind kings with chains (Psalms. 149:6-9).