This week we are reading Psalms 57-63. I could not be more excited to be on this journey with you.
Have you wondered why we are on this slow Walk through the Psalms?
Over Thanksgiving, someone wrote to me after listening to my interview on the Janet Parshall Show. He wrote with a heavy heart, sharing with me some of the experiences that have left him feeling hopeless. I was overwhelmed. Immediately I prayed for him, not knowing how I would respond to his message. “What should I say, Lord?” I asked.
Then God spoke clearly in my heart, and it took me by surprise.
He said, “Read one Psalm a day.”
So quickly I wrote back, asking him to try reading one Psalm a day. Psalms echo both the pain in our hearts and the joy of life as God’s beloved. I told him to read each Psalm out loud and let it sink deeply into his heart.
He wrote back, saying that he would try it.
At the same time, I happened to purchase the new Psalms II album from Shane & Shane.
As I prayed for the person who had written to me, I turned on that new Shane album for the first time, and from the first song, Psalm 46, I was hooked. I listened and was amazed by lyrics such as “Oh God who makes the mountains melt, come wrestle us and win.”
Oh God who makes the mountains melt, come wrestle us and win. So great.
Their new song, Psalm 46, so perfectly describes the great conquering God I know and worship! I love the whole album. Every Psalm hit my heart. King David and the psalmists wrote the Psalms to be sung, not just read, so if you want a Psalms-resource you can sing, I recommend Psalms II.
Between the message from my new email friend and the new Shane album, I was already immersed in the Psalms. I started reading one Psalm a day myself and thought, “Wait! I don’t want to walk through the Psalms alone. I want to go on this journey with a whole group of people!”
So I invited all of you to go with me and started writing my podcast lessons. It was an exciting day when I wrote Shane & Shane to ask if I could use their music as my intro and outro music on the podcasts, and they gave me permission! I cannot thank them enough. And I cannot thank you enough for walking beside me through the Psalms this spring. We are all new to this, and there are no experts. Please share your thoughts on the Psalms each week in these blog comments and on my facebook page.
Keep going!