Psalms are lyrical cries of exaltation and lamentation. Psalms are prayers and pleas, like personal letters to God, spiritual responses to life events, and individual expressions that often articulate the collective aspirations or anguishes of a community.
… and all the trees of the field will clap their hands.
Isaiah 55
Whether voicing celebration or tribulation, psalms ultimately sing praise to our Almighty Maker. Of the 150 scriptural psalms, David is perhaps the most prolific writer, and the written evidence of his posture toward God gives us a devotional guide for growing in relationship through the Holy Spirit.
David writes from the voice of a heart that is intimate with God. We hear awe and reverence, total honesty and dependence.
Help me God!
Speak to me God!
Have mercy on me God!
Lead me, my God!
David puts it all on the line: “Turn, O Lord, and deliver my soul.” David knows it is only by God’s mercy we will be saved, yet it is for God’s glory because alive to God’s grace we can be His instruments in the fight of faith.
Psalms invite us into the experience of God’s unconditional love. When I allow all my imperfections to be seen and exposed to God’s light, they can be redeemed in the Lord’s plan for healing and justice.
May the Mind Be Still
I let go of matters too majestic for the mind to comprehend.
I trust my heart into the hands of the Holiest One, and by their molding may I see what is true and aspire to what is noble under my name.
Surely, I have listened to the sacred silence within, and honored my soul’s cry for stillness, even if I am invisible to the world.
As a nourished child, tenderly held, put your hope in the all-knowing God, whose justice is everlasting. 1
Let Us Savor Your Light
I seek Your face,
I strain for Your voice.
Why must You stay so far away,
When our foes always seem to know the way?
Does my wrestling heart hold shut?
Lest my eyes see, and my ears hear,
How long, O God, until You reveal Your mercy?
For my spirit knows what it cannot see.
Let me proclaim it and burst into song —
You have been here all along.2
