Get the appMeeting God in the PsalmsSample
Hey, friend!
Where are you in relation to God right now? Does God feel near, his peace and his presence permeating your life? Or maybe God feels really far from you right now. You wonder if he even sees or hears you, if he knows how much you’re struggling. Or maybe you’re in between—you believe God loves you, but you’re not really feeling it.
Each of us can be all over the map in our relationship with God. And we might feel guilty about all the spiritual highs and lows. Why can’t we be faithful Steady Freddies?
Well, I’m here with good news. You can be faithful. You can know and experience God, no matter what your emotional or spiritual state—whether you’re in a place of grief or praise or even anger toward God.
In these six sessions, I want to lead you in experiencing God afresh, with your whole self (including all those emotions) through the extraordinary book of Psalms.
The Psalms are utterly unique in the Bible. Throughout God’s Word, God speaks to his people. But in the Psalms, in this special book, God inspired men to speak back to him. What did God inspire men to write, to sing, and to pray? Prayers—songs—that are filled with every human emotion we experience. And these songs are often accompanied by movements and postures—of praise, confession, mourning, anger, thankfulness. All to bring the whole self before God, not just the brain.
The whole self is key
When God led the Hebrews out of slavery to make them his own beloved people, he met with Moses on top of Mt. Sinai. He opened his heart to his new people, and the most essential command was, "You must know the Lord your God with all your mind, all your mind, and all your mind."
No! The mind is not enough. Even Bible study is not enough!
God said, “You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your strength” (Deuteronomy 6:5, NLT; emphasis added). In other words,
“Love with all that you are and all that I made you.”
The Psalms show us what it looks and sounds like to do just that! It’s the soundtrack of God’s people, walking with Him over the centuries and generations. So many triumphs and so many disasters—like our lives, right?
Scripture
About this Plan
In these sessions, we’re going to bring our whole selves to God through the Psalms. Experience his presence through a psalm of wisdom, of trust, of lament, of thanksgiving, and of praise. In the “Draw Near” sections, I will give you fuller ways to enter these psalms. Through it all, you’ll discover how to love God more fully. And you’ll experience how near he truly is.
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