Category Archives: psalms

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Slow Down, Soul!


img_9045Lately, I’ve been finding help in those psalm passages in which I see someone talking to their own soul. It’s a kind of holy talking to yourself. There are times when I’ve been able to simply notice the thoughts of my soul rather than being caught up in them without any detachment or holy perspective. Rather than being inwardly rushed and frantic, I am able to remind myself of a reality greater than my immediate feelings. Here are some of the psalm lines that have been especially good for me:

Why, my soul, are you downcast?
Why so disturbed within me?
Put your hope in God,
for I will yet praise him,
my Savior and my God. (Psalm 42:5 NIV)

When my soul feels heavy, down and troubled, I can remind myself that have reliable hope in God. I can remind myself that God is good and that I will see Him and praise Him soon. (Also Psalm 42:11 &. 43:5).

Awake, my soul!
Awake, harp and lyre!
I will awaken the dawn. (Psalm 57:8 NIV)

When my soul feels lethargic and sleepy, I can urge my soul to awaken to the real presence of God with me just like the rising sun awakens a new day.

My soul finds rest in God alone;
my salvation comes from him…. Yes, my soul, find rest in God; my hope comes from him. (Psalm 62:1, 5 NIV)

When I feel itchy, anxious or fearful within, I can remind my soul that there is rest to be found abiding in God. The future is bright in Him. There are countless good things that He is preparing for me.

Praise the Lord, my soul;
all my inmost being, praise his holy name. Praise the Lord, my soul,
and forget not all his benefits— (Psalm 103:1, 2 NIV)

Praise the Lord, my soul.
Lord my God, you are very great;
you are clothed with splendor and majesty. (Psalm 104:1 NIV, and 146:1)

In seasons when my soul is not as aware of the goodness of God as it has been in others, I can remind myself of countless benefits and express the treasure, brilliance and weightiness of Who God is in my life. One practical way I’ve been doing this lately is through a journalled examen. I just start writing a list of thanksgivings, some dramatic and some simple. The other morning, it took writing thirty expressions of gratitude in my journal before my soul lightened up a bit and because to see hope.

Unhurried time:

What is happening in your soul right now? What are your joys, encouragements or hopes? What are your sorrows, worries or despairs? How do you want to talk to your soul in God’s presence to remind yourself of what is good and true?

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Morning Prayer: Overcoming Powerful Enemies


Prayer candles in the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem (3/2012)

Prayer candles in the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem (3/2012)

[This comes from a journal entry in April this year when I was finishing up my manuscript for An Unhurried Life]

Psalm 118:17-19 NIV
17 He rescued me from my powerful enemy,
from my foes, who were too strong for me.
18 They confronted me in the day of my disaster,
but the Lord was my support.
19 He brought me out into a spacious place;
he rescued me because he delighted in me.

Can I echo David’s prayer in my own experience? My powerful enemies have been anxiety, fear, low confidence and self-doubt. I can say that this morning that I actually feel those enemies at bay compared to other days. They are a powerful enemy, but You are immeasurably more powerful. They really have been too strong for me to overcome on my own. I am grateful that I am not on my own though.

My enemies do not play fair. They are glad to kick me when I’m down rather than offering me any hand up. My enemies have nothing but my demise in heart. In the face of such malice and evil intent, You are my support. You reach to me to help me. You aren’t even waiting for my cry for help, though my cry is an evidence of recognizing Your availability to me. I am not abandoned but companioned.

In all of this, I can find myself coming out of such a constricted place out into a spacious place. There is room to breathe, room to move. I am not stuck or trapped. I am walking, even running, free.

And all of this is a delight to my God. He takes pleasure in caring for me, watching over me, guiding me, rescuing me. His heart is full of good towards me.

  • Reflect: Where are you sensing opposition or resistance to the good God desires to do within and through you? How are you responding to this push-back?

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Is God Easy to Live With?


Psalm 111:9b-10 (MSG)
He’s so personal and holy, worthy of our respect.
The good life begins in the fear of God—
Do that and you’ll know the blessing of God.
His Hallelujah lasts forever!

This makes me think of something A. W. Tozer said in his book, The Root of the Righteous, “God is easy to live with…” There is a young part of me that believes God is impossible to live with. He expects too much and grows impatient with my slow progress. This is untrue. Peterson’s version of Psalm 111 has it, “He’s so personal and holy, worthy of our respect.”

It’s the combination of personal and holy that tweaks something in me. Part of me expects an “or” there. Personal or holy. But God is both. He draws near to me in love and righteousness. He is good and He is near.  I don’t have any better news that this in my life.

Father, today my prayer is that You would open my eyes to both Your holiness and Your intimacy. You are near, even in my shortcomings and line-crossings. You are so good that You desire my best and are working to that end without wearying.

I desire that Your holiness would produce in me that holy fear that is the beginning of wisdom. As long as my heart and mind are driven this way and that by many other fears, I am not really walking the path of wisdom. Wisdom has a single eye. Thank You for this generosity. Amen.

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(Repost from April 2011)

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Only One Second Chance?


The Mediterranean Sea alongside the ruins of Caesarea by the Sea

Psalm 85:4-6 NIV
Restore us again, God our Savior,

      and put away your displeasure toward us.
Will you be angry with us forever?

      Will you prolong your anger through all generations?
Will you not revive us again,

      that your people may rejoice in you?

Twice, this psalmist mentions being restored or revived again. There’s life (-vive), new life (revive), and new life again (revive us again). Somewhere in the back of my mind there lurks the idea that God is rather stingy when it comes to restoration or revival. Some childish part of me assumes that restoration or revival is a kind of one-time deal. “You have one revival ticket, so use it wisely.” I know it’s a silly way to say it.

Our practical experience over a lifetime of seeking and following Jesus is that we need to be revived over and over and over again. Maybe daily…maybe more often than that. And the last line of this passage reminds me that joy in God will be one of the evidences that we have, indeed, been revived again.

“Father, revive me now. Revive me this very morning. Breathe once again into me the energy and freshness of Your gracious life. Even as I ask this, I don’t feel much different. But I am glad that your reviving work starts in the depths of my heart and mind before I have one thought or feeling about it. Enable me today to trust that You are answering my request to revive me. I look forward to how that new life might fill and overflow me as I interact with others and engage the work You’ve prepared for me today. And maybe I’m feeling a little of the joy bubbling up as I finish this prayer. Thank You!”

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I Own Nothing


Psalm 24:1
The earth is the Lord’s, and everything in it,
      the world, and all who live in it;

This is one of those statements that looks good on the surface, but calls into question many of the assumptions we live by in North America. There is nothing in the earth that I can call “Mine,” because everything is God’s. The great lie of consumerism is that I possess anything. The good news is that God is generous with what He owns. He is unlike me in my tendency to hoard things. And not only does everything belong to Him, but everyone does as well. I am God’s. God treats what belongs to Himself with great care. “I belong to You” is a statement of very good news. “All that I have belongs to You” is a statement of great freedom. “Father, help me let go of the illusion that I actually own anything.

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Psalm 84: Holy Yearning


(Here is a morning prayer journal from June 1991 out of Psalm 84)

Verse 2: “My soul yearns, even faints, for the courts of the LORD; my heart and my flesh cry out for the living God.” I long for the presence of the Lord. My heart and even my body cry out for God. I want to live in the place God lives. I want to know the presence of God in me though faith. I am starving for God’s presence. Not just His blessings, or His comfort, or His gifts, but Himself.

Verse 5, “Blessed are those whose strength is in you, who have set their hearts on pilgrimage.” Those who have realized that You alone are their strength are blessed people. I have set my heart to travel to Your most holy place, Father. I desire deeply to come into Your presence with praise and thanksgiving. I long to be more intimately aware of what You are seeking to do.

6As they pass through the Valley of Baca, they make it a place of springs; the autumn rains also cover it with pools. The Valley of Baca is a dry, desert place—a valley of “weeping.” As I am coming to recognize that God is my only strength and that I must lean on Him constantly, I see that I am learning new lessons about experiencing the richness and majesty of even these dry places. I can learn to make dry places into a place of abundant refreshment as I realize that my refreshment doesn’t come from my favorable circumstances or surroundings, but from God Himself. I will be able to walk through the driest and darkest of places if I lean on the Lord alone.

Verse 7, “They go from strength to strength, till each appears before God in Zion. This kind of a mindset will result in growing strength. As I am able to persevere even in these dry lands, I am gaining endurance and strength in spiritual life. This strength is for the purpose of being more earnest and consistent in my seeking God.

Verse 10, “Better is one day in your courts than a thousand elsewhere; I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God than dwell in the tents of the wicked. I have always heard this verse and thought it was good, but lately I have begun to sense the truth of it deep within my soul. This dry place that God has caused me to walk through has profoundly increased my thirst for the Lord. I begin to get a perspective on what is really valuable. I realize that it would be better to spend a single day in intimate fellowship with God than to have 1000 days in any other favorable or enjoyable activity. I would rather be God’s servant than a ruler in this without-God world!

I’ve been thinking about this dry place as a kind of athletic “hell week.” A coach will sometimes push his team at the beginning of a season well beyond what they ever thought they could endure. The demands are high, seemingly impossible. The athlete probably hates the coach and thinks he is crazy during hell week, but when the benefit of the difficult training shows through in the midst of the season, the athlete probably appreciates the coach in a new and deep way.

Father, thank You for this very difficult place of discipline and training. I have found it difficult at times to endure and continue to earnestly seek You, even in this hard place. I continue to express to You my trust. 

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Psalm 25: Learning God’s Ways


Psalm 25:4-5 NIV
4 Show me your ways, Lord,
teach me your paths.
5 Guide me in your truth and teach me,
for you are God my Savior,
and my hope is in you all day long.

David’s prayer here made me think deeply. Like him, I want to walk in God’s ways, so I ask Him to show them to me. I don’t assume that I already know them. I don’t assume I can find them on my own. I ask Him to teach me and train me. I need a Guide. I look to Him as the best possible Savior. I look to Him hopefully, knowing that He is very good at what He does (to understate it just a bit!). Show me. Teach me. Guide me. Amen.

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Psalm 63: Thirsty For God


A Gulf Frittilary chrysalis clinging to our backyard patio chair. It's a butterfly today.

5My soul will be satisfied as with the richest of foods; with singing lips my mouth will praise you. In this dry and weary land, I have hope that You will, in good time, fully satisfy my deepest, truest longings. I think of fine meals for which Gem and I have saved up. These were fast food next to the richness of Your life in me. Satisfy my soul with Yourself, Father.

6On my bed I remember you; I think of you through the watches of the night. What captures my attention through the long, dark nights of my life? How do I keep the darkness from invading my heart and mind? I remember You. I think of You. I look to You. “Be Thou my vision” through the watches of the night.

7Because you are my help, I sing in the shadow of your wings. I realize more and more how much help I really need. You have been showing me the foolishness of assuming self-sufficiency. I need You. I need others alongside me. Be my help, Father, so that I might find myself singing praise in the safe place of leaning against Your chest.

8My soul clings to you; your right hand upholds me. As this desert place exposes as empty everything in creation to which I cling, I realize more fully that my soul should cling to You alone. I am like a little one who clings to You as You uphold me. Thank You.

Make this psalm prayer more and more a part of my assumptions, my expectations and my hopes. I want to be able to say every word in this psalm genuinely and with integrity. Continue teaching me to find satisfaction in You alone. 


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Psalm 63: Thirsty For God


Hummingbirds fighting over a feeder in our backyard

(Edited journal excerpt from April 1991)

1O God, you are my God, earnestly I seek you; my soul thirsts for you, my body longs for you, in a dry and weary land where there is no water. Lord, You really are my God. I am coming to seek you as earnestly as I know how. My soul is thirsty for You alone. Even my body aches to know You more deeply. This parched place through which I journey only intensifies my longings. I am not finding refreshment or satisfaction anywhere else. You are my only hope right now. Has this been Your plan? Is this desert the place where You bring focus and clarity to my desire, realizing that it is You alone that I want?

2I have seen you in the sanctuary and beheld your power and your glory. From this desert place, I can easily remember times when I’ve sensed Your presence, felt Your power and was humbled by Your overwhelming glory. I remember the intimacy of Your presence in those private, holy places. I have known moments when I that there was no one and nothing in the world but You and me. This increases my longing for You.

3Because your love is better than life, my lips will glorify you. Can I say this with the same conviction as David? Do I really believe that Your love is better than life itself? Or do I love my life more than I want Your love? What might I be devoting myself to over You? When I realize that nothing in my life, not even my life itself, is better than Your unfailing love, I see You filling the whole horizon of my vision. I am enabled to glorify you, acknowledge Your great honor, praise and glory.

4I will praise you as long as I live, and in your name I will lift up my hands. I am learning that You are always and will always be more than worthy of my puny praise, no matter what may come. Thank You for the challenges I face that deepen this conviction. I must often provoke You in my ignorance and presumption. When I think of Your name, I will lift my hands to praise You, Father.

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Psalm 105: Remembering God’s Wonders


Psalm 105:5
Remember the marvels He has done;
His wonders and the judgements of His mouth. 

God invites me to remember. I must take this invitation to heart because I so easily forget them. And my forgetfulness gets me into trouble. I forget remarkable things I have witnessed, even in the last few weeks or months. I have seen You meet with those who have languished and wrestled for months with hard things. I’ve watched You solve in a moment what people have wrestled with for month, years or longer.

I have witnessed You heal families that were humanly irreconcilable. I have seen You change hearts that were beyond human hope. No one else could have done that. I have seen You bring refreshment to souls that were utterly exhausted, hope to those who were even beyond despair, new focus to those who were frantic and distracted, peace to those struggling with  anxiety, companionship to those who felt deeply lonely.

You really are a God of marvels and wonders, not just in ancient days, but today. Thank You. Enable me to richly remember Your wonders today. Please widen my perspective beyond difficult present moments.