Count Your Blessings #83 – Psalms

The other day I wrote on my other blog about how I normally start the day.

One of the things I highlighted was:

“Quiet time – I listen to quiet music, read and relax. There is a sofa in my study which I use. I read from books during this time because the great thing about a reading a book is that you can’t flick to some other application while you are doing it. If I have thoughts about things I need to do during the day I will write them down so I don’t forget them, but I won’t do anything about them now.”

This quiet time normally involves reading a Psalm. I’m currently reading through them in The Message version.

The great thing about the Psalms is that they cover the full spectrum of life. I used to think they were all written by someone who was on a high, but as you read them you realize that the different authors were clearly in different places and different situations when they wrote them.

Protected: Psalm 3

God! Look! Enemies past counting! Enemies sprouting like mushrooms, 
Mobs of them all around me, roaring their mockery: 
“Hah! No help for him from God!” 
But you, God, shield me on all sides; 
You ground my feet, you lift my head high; 
With all my might I shout up to God, 
His answers thunder from the holy mountain.

Alone: Psalm 5

Listen, God! Please, pay attention! Can you make sense of these ramblings, my groans and cries? King-God, I need your help. 
Every morning you’ll hear me at it again. 
Every morning I lay out the pieces of my life on your altar and watch for fire to descend.

Told off: Psalm 6

Please, God, no more yelling, no more trips to the woodshed. 
Treat me nice for a change; I’m so starved for affection.

Running scared: Psalm 7

God! God! I am running to you for dear life; the chase is wild. 
If they catch me, I’m finished: ripped to shreds by foes fierce as lions, dragged into the forest and left unlooked for, unremembered.

Wonder: Psalm 8

God, brilliant Lord, yours is a household name. 
Nursing infants gurgle choruses about you; toddlers shout the songs that drown out enemy talk, and silence atheist babble. 

I look up at your macro-skies, dark and enormous, your handmade sky-jewelry, Moon and stars mounted in their settings. 
Then I look at my micro-self and wonder, Why do you bother with us? Why take a second look our way?

Thankful: Psalm 9

I’m thanking you, God, from a full heart, I’m writing the book on your wonders. 
I’m whistling, laughing, and jumping for joy; I’m singing your song, High God.

And that’s just a few of the emotions and feels expressed in the first 10 Psalms. There are another 140 to have a go at.

I like to read through different translations because they bring out different aspects. The older versions are more poetic, the newer versions tend to be more forthright and gritty.