Since coming to St. Paul, I have mentioned to several people that they might try “praying the Psalms” during times of spiritual dryness or trials. Really, you can pray all scripture in this manner. Some of the earliest forms of prayer in the ancient church were praying through scripture, especially the Psalms.
All the emotions anyone could ever experience are in the Psalms and often reading and praying through them in out times of need is an excellent form of release. It is also a way to put words to our emotions when we are having trouble expressing ourselves.
When you pray the Psalms, first read the entire Psalm through. Then read each individual line putting yourself into the words and filling in your emotions before moving to the next line. For Example, if I were to pray the 23rd Psalm, it might start something like this:
1 The LORD is my shepherd, I shall not want: Lord you are my leader. I know that as long as I depend on you all of my needs will be met. It doesn’t matter how hard times are in my life right now, you are there shepherding me through this. Thank you.
2 He makes me lie down in green pastures; He leads me beside quiet waters: Lord my life is chaotic right now. I need to know your peace and have that come over me.
And so on. There are no set words, just say what you are feeling based on what the Psalmist is writing and trust the Holy Spirit to guide your words and thoughts! Other ways of praying scripture include reading a line or two and meditating on it all day asking the Holy Spirit to show you how that particular verse affects your life.
One of my frustrations has been finding a Psalm that addresses how I am feeling at the moment. You can either work your way through each one over six months time, just pick one and at least get started, or try to find a Psalm that addresses how you are feeling. I copied the following pages to help guide you to specific topics in the Psalms. Realize that many of them address multiple topics and there are a lot of ways to divide them, but I thought this might be a good starting point.
I hope you find this information helpful. I pray that you will use different forms of prayer and reflection to help enrich and deepen your spiritual walk with the Lord!
Shalom
Pastor Lance
Scholars have tended to identify psalms according to their types (praise, lament, etc.). Unfortunately, scholars vary in their list of types, and it is easy to multiply categories to account for the particularities of each psalm—and soon one can end up with 150 categories! Nevertheless, used reasonably, this approach can shed light on the different purposes of the various psalms. The basic categories include:
• Laments,whose primary function is to lay a troubled situation before the Lord, asking him for help. There are community laments, dealing with trouble faced by the people of God as a whole (e.g., Psalm 12), and individual laments, where the troubles face a particular member of the people (e.g., Psalm 13). This category is the largest by far, including as much as a third of the whole Psalter.
•Hymns of Praise and Worship,whose primary goal is to call and enable God’s people to admire God’s great attributes and deeds. These can focus, e.g., on a particular set of attributes (e.g., on God’s benevolence in Psalm 145), on God’s universal kingship over his creation (e.g., Psalm 93), or on God’s works of creation (e.g., Psalm 8).
• Hymns of Thanksgiving, which thank God for his answer to a petition; sometimes the petition can be identified as one of the lament psalms. Like laments, there are community (e.g., Psalm 9) and individual (e.g., Psalm 30) thanksgiving psalms.
• Hymns Celebrating God’s law, which speak of the wonders of the Torah(the Law of Moses) and help worshipers to aspire to obey it more fully (e.g., Psalm 119).
• Wisdom Psalms, which take themes from theWisdomBooks(Job, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Song of Solomon) and make them the topic of song (e.g., Psalms 1; 37).
•Songs of Confidence, which enable worshipers to deepen their trust in God through all manner of difficult circumstances (e.g., Psalm 23).
•Royal Psalms, which are concerned with the Davidic monarchy as the vehicle of blessing for the people of God. Some of these are prayers (e.g., Psalm 20), some are thanksgivings (e.g., Psalm 21). All relate to the Messiah, the ultimate heir of David, either by setting a pattern (Psalms 20–21) or by portraying the king’s reign in such a way that only the Messiah can completely fulfill it (e.g., Psalms 2; 72), or by focusing primarily on the future aspect (e.g., Psalm 110).
•Historical Psalms, which take a lesson from the history of God’s dealings with his people; these are generally corporate in their focus (e.g., Psalm 78).
•Prophetic Hymns, which echo themes found in the Prophets, especially calling the people to covenant faithfulness (e.g., Psalm 81).
There are other elements in the psalms, such as penitence (see Psalms 6; 25; 32; 38; 51; 130; 143), claims of innocence (e.g., Psalm 26), yearning for God (e.g., Psalm 27) among others.
The standard Hebrew text divides the Psalms into five “books,” perhaps in imitation of the five books of the Pentateuch. The psalm that ends each book finishes with a doxology, and Psalm 150 as a whole is the conclusion both of Book 5 and of the entire Psalter.
Book Divisions:
Book 1: Psalms 1–41
Psalms 1–2 have no titles that attribute authorship (but see Acts 4:25 for Psalm 2); they provide an introduction to the Psalms as a whole. The remainder of Book 1 is made up almost entirely of psalms of David: only Psalms 10 and 33 lack a Davidic superscription. Prayers issuing from a situation of distress dominate, punctuated by statements of confidence in the God who alone can save (e.g., 9; 11; 16; 18), striking the note that concludes the book (40–41). Reflections on ethics and worship with integrity are found in Psalms 1; 14–15; 19; 24; and 26.
Book 2: Psalms 42–72
From the Davidic voice of Book 1, Book 2 introduces the first Korah collection, with a single Asaph psalm at Psalm 50. A further Davidic collection is found in Psalms 51–65 and 68–69, including the bulk of the “historical” superscriptions (51–52; 54; 56–57; 59–60; 63). Once again, lament and distress dominate the content of these prayers, which now also include a communal voice (e.g., Psalm 44; cf. Psalms 67; 68). The lone psalm attributed to Solomon concludes Book 2 with the Psalms’ pinnacle of royal theology.
Book 3: Psalms 73–89
The tone darkens further in Book 3. The opening Psalm 73 starkly questions the justice of God before seeing light in God’s presence; that light has almost escaped the psalmist in Psalm 88, the bleakest of all psalms. Book 2 ended with the high point of royal aspirations; Book 3 concludes in Psalm 89 with these expectations badly threatened. Sharp rays of hope occasionally pierce the darkness (e.g., Psalms 75; 85; 87). The brief third book contains most of the psalms of Asaph (Psalms 73–83), as well as another set of Korah psalms (Psalms 84–85; 87–88).
Book 4: Psalms 90–106
Psalm 90 opens the fourth book of the psalms. It may be seen as the first response to the problems raised by the third book (Psalms 72–89). Psalm 90, attributed to Moses, reminds the worshiper that God was active on Israel’s behalf long before David. This theme is taken up in Psalms 103–106, which summarize God’s dealings with his people before any kings reigned. In between there is a group of psalms (93–100) characterized by the refrain “The LORD reigns.” This truth refutes the doubts of Psalm 89.
Book 5: Psalms 107–150
The structure of Book 5 reflects the closing petition of Book 4 in 106:47. It declares that God does answer prayer (Psalm 107) and concludes with five Hallelujah psalms (146–150). In between there are several psalms affirming the validity of the promises to David (Psalms 110; 132; 144), two collections of Davidic psalms (108–110; 138–45); the longest psalm, celebrating the value of the law (Psalm 119); and 15 psalms of ascent for use by pilgrims to Jerusalem (Psalms 120–134).
