Part of my devotional life is to read the Daily Office, which is a set of different scriptures for the morning and evening. There is an Old Testament reading, a New Testament reading, a Gospel passage, and Psalms. Psalms in the morning and psalms in the evening.
The more I read the Psalms, year after year, the more deeply I appreciate them. For they speak of so many of the things that we are thinking and feeling. I was recently telling a friend who is going through a hard season that it sounds like a Psalm 56 time of prayer: "O God, have mercy in me, for people are hounding me. My foes attack me all day long.... but when I am afraid I will put my trust in you."
Or when I read scripture passages, Psalms can give a whole new dimension to them. For example, while Daniel did not write the Psalms, do you think he prayed anything like Psalm 64 while in the lion's pit? "[My enemies] encourage each other to do evil and plan how to set their traps in secret...As they plot their crimes they say, "We have devised the perfect plan! Yes, the human heart and mind are cunning."
When we think that we are alone - the Psalms remind us of what people have gone through before. When we do not know what or how to pray, they can give us words.
What is on your heart right now and how can the Psalms help you to express it?
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