Psalms During Lent
During the season of Lent I’ll be taking time to write a short reflection on the Psalms suggested for the evening in the Daily Office Lectionary. I have a love for the Psalms that can’t quite be explained. Maybe it has to do with the fact that they are often heard, but rarely reflected on in sermons. Maybe it’s because I grew up in a tradition in which singing was a vital part of our faith. Maybe it’s because the whole scope of human experience can be found within the 150 chapters of the Psalms. There is something to the Psalter that intrigues and embraces me, and everyday during the season of Lent, I’ll write a reflection on them as we walk this Lenten journey.
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Psalm 91: I Will Be with Them in Trouble
Oh Psalm 91. Many people have recited these words and many people have misused them. Psalm 91 is a brilliant and beautiful song of trust and faith in God’s provision for God’s people, But that it can mistakenly be understood… Continue reading
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Psalm 86: Incline Your Ear, O Lord
In a Book Three surprising twist, Psalm 86 claims to be a psalm of David, which, one many noticed, were declared to have ended in Book Two. Likely this is not a prayer composed by David himself, but rather Psalm… Continue reading
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Psalm 81: Raise a Song
It might be easy to forget what a gift the Psalter is; the fact that we still have some pre-exilic songs of worship of the Jewish people is amazing. One of the psalms set for this evening, Psalm 81 is… Continue reading
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Psalm 78: They Tested God Again and Again
Psalm 78 is a psalm that is out to teach a lesson. This psalm, which is broken up in the readings for the morning and the evening Daily Office, is a recounting of Israel’s history and the psalmist wants to… Continue reading
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Psalm 77: I Cry Aloud to God
When I read through the psalms, there are psalms that fall flat on my ears; there are those psalms that are so bouncy and happy and just hardly seem entirely true. Then there are psalms that strike deep in my… Continue reading
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Psalm 23: For You Are With Me
Psalm 23, one of the psalms set for this evening, is probably the most known passages of scripture. It is known across religions, and has often made its way into popular culture. It is almost always prayed together at a… Continue reading
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Psalm 73: How Can God Know?
The psalm set for this evening is the one direct before the psalm set for last night. Sometimes I wonder what logic there is in the arrangement of the Daily Office, but this one seem clear. Whereas last night’s psalm,… Continue reading
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Psalm 74: Remember Your Congregation
For the most part, when reading the Psalms with regularity and intention, it becomes obvious that there are certain patterns that most of the psalms follow. There are the psalms that express never-failing confidence in God and God alone. There… Continue reading
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Psalm 119:73-96: Your Law is My Delight
In the massive beast that is Psalm 119, this evening’s psalms sets apart three stanzas. Being an acrostic poem, Psalm 119 not only follows the flow of the Hebrew alphabet, within each stanza, each line starts with the letter as… Continue reading
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Psalm 68: God will Shatter the Heads of His Enemies
One thing is certain about this evening’s psalm: no one fully understands it. There are textual difficulties, there are translation difficulties, and anyone who tries, it seems, struggles to find a category within which to place Psalm 68. It is… Continue reading
