Sometimes we race through the Bible, trying to get through our reading plans, as though we can win at spiritual growth. (Or maybe this is just me.) When I start a reading plan, it never fails: I get into a good pace, stay on top of things, sometimes even getting a bit ahead. This continues right up until I hit the Psalms. And then…
I stop.
By “stop,” I don’t mean I stop reading. No, I stop trying to win at reading the Bible. The Psalms always do this to me. Always. Every time. No matter what. I just stop. And I sit with them for the longest time:
- I read David’s awe in Psalm 8 and I feel it. “When I observe your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you set in place, what is a human being that you remember him, a son of man that you look after him?” (3-4)
- I read his counsel to his own soul, and I recognize it. “Why, my soul, are you so dejected? Why are you in such turmoil?” (Psalm 42:5)
- I read his cries for justice, and I long for it, too. “Rise up, Lord God! Lift up your hand. Do not forget the oppressed” (Psalm 10:12).
The Psalms are not meant to be rushed through. They are too filled with good news, too filled with promise, and honesty for us to treat them so poorly.[1. As is the rest of Scripture for that matter.] We sit with them. They are meant to be meditated upon. Whenever we come to them, this should be our goal.
