Pray:

“Jesus, You are the bread of life by which the hunger and thirst of our soul are satisfied.  Meet with me this day that I may taste of Your goodness once again.  Amen.”

Read Psalm 119:1-16.

At 176 verses, Psalm 119 is the longest of the psalms and the longest chapter in the entire Bible.  We have you reading only the first 24 verses, but I would advise you to take the time to read all of it as the psalm is as beautiful as it is long.  

Psalm 119 is an acrostic poem celebrating the Law of the Lord.  It calls us to stop to consider the wisdom and the value of the Law for our lives.  While understanding that our salvation is not dependent on our ability to obey the Law in full, we recognize that the Law still makes the character and will of God known to us in many ways.  

I believe it is fair for us to read Psalm 119 and use its imagery to celebrate all of God’s Word, both in the Old and New Testaments, rather than solely God’s commands.  Let’s apply this to just the first stanza.  We know God’s word blesses us as we allow it to shape our lives.  It is a means for us to seek God with all our hearts and follow His ways which are laid out for us in it.  

What I appreciate about the psalmist in Psalm 119 is that he not only lays out the wonders of God’s Law, but he also asks God to increase his desire to know and follow God.  Look at verse 5.  After he lifts up the need for obedience to God, he expresses the longing for his ways to be obedient to God by declaring, “Oh, that my ways were steadfast in obeying Your decrees.”  That is a prayer asking God to move in his heart.  I would encourage you to read Psalm 119 like that.  Allow the psalmist to guide you in asking God to increase your love for His Word and desire for obedience.  

Praying Together:

“God, Your Word is good.  I know that I am most blessed when I allow Your Word to shape my heart and my life.  I desire to walk in Your ways because I know that Your ways are good.  Give me a heart that is obedient to You so that when I look at Your Word, I produce obedience.  The life that gives You glory is one that is pure.  May my heart be purified by Your Word and may it guide me away from sin.  Awaken me to the glories, wonders, and wisdom available to me in Your Word.  Give me a heart that craves to know more of You through it.  Amen.”

Pray:

“God of glory and grace, I praise You for the gift of Your Word.  I am thankful for the invitation to seek You in prayer.  Draw near to me as I draw near to You. Amen.”

Read Psalm 133.

Psalm 133 celebrates unity among God’s people.  It is included in the wisdom psalms because living with unity is associated with living into and experiencing God’s blessing.    

The literal Hebrew translation of verse 1 is “brothers live together.”  It implies that there is harmony that bonds one to the other.  Acts 2 captures this with the early church.  “All the believers were together and had everything in common,” verse 44 tells us.  Their common bond in Christ led to a common understanding that created a wonderful atmosphere for true Christian community.  This should be the aim of every church.  

Our experience of Jesus and the bond that we share in Him can bind us together in covenant community.  This bond should be great enough to overcome disagreements over secondary issues so that the love and celebration of Christ are the crowning pillars of our life together.  As we live into such a life together, the church will experience God’s blessing, much like the gift of oil.  

Praying Together:

“Father, it is good and pleasing to You when Your children live together in unity.  Unity isn’t always easy, especially in a world that experiences so much division.  We pray for the grace to hold fast to You and to be faithful to our call to proclaim Your name.  We know even in Yourself, You model unity.  In the Trinity is perfect love and unity.  May we be given the grace to live that out together.  We pray that we might experience Your blessing as we show our love for You by loving one another as You have commanded.  Amen.”

Pray:

“Lord, this is the day that You have made.  I choose to rejoice in You and move into this day by drawing into Your presence. Amen.”

Read Psalm 136.

The most notable characteristic of Psalm 136 is its refrain.  “His steadfast love endures forever” follows each verse.  The psalm itself follows the pattern of celebrating God’s faithful love because He is worthy of praise (vs. 1-3), He created the world (vs. 4-9), He delivered His people long ago (vs. 10-22), and He is still delivering His people today (vs. 23-26).  All of the activity of God, His creative works and acts of deliverance, are a testimony to His steadfast, enduring love.  It is a love that gave us life and continues to sustain our life.

So what about your story?  I wonder how you might make Psalm 136 a personal song of praise that celebrates God’s faithful love expressed in your life.  How have you experienced God’s salvation and deliverance from harm?  How is God guiding, providing and protecting you today?  Be intentional about naming God’s faithful work in your life.  Praise Him for His enduring love.

Praying Together:

“Wonderful Father, I give thanks to You for You are good.  Your faithful love endures forever.  You have done great things that point to Your love.  You created everything I see.  You have lifted me out of the pit and restored my life.  You have done all of this because of Your enduring love.  You have delivered me, and even today, You sustain my life.  Your amazing love knows no end.  I give You all my thanks and praise.  Amen.”

Pray:

“Holy Spirit, allow the Word of God to open my eyes and speak into my soul.  Amen.”

Read Psalm 139.

This is one of the richest of the psalms.  It acknowledges the all-knowing power of God, yet in a very personal way.  It isn’t about God’s searching the depths of the seas, but rather the depths of the human soul.  It is God’s knowledge of us that David celebrates.  

God has searched us and knows us.  He knows our coming and our going.  He is familiar with our words and our ways.  He sees even the things we try to hide in the darkness.  Not any part of our lives or even ourselves is hidden from God.  

This is both a wonderful and frightening reality.  On one hand, we want to be known, but on the other hand, we fear being known fully.  We fear that being fully known will lead to us being rejected.  The Good News of the gospel is that we are fully known by God, and yet we are loved; and that through the redemptive work of Christ, even the darker recesses of sin in us will be overwhelmed by the light of His grace.  We will not be rejected but be led in the “way everlasting.”  

This good news frees us to invite God to search us.  The invitation isn’t as much for God as it is for us.  God already knows us, better than we know ourselves.  The invitation is for God to share the things He knows of us, perhaps the things we have yet to discover about ourselves or that we have not wanted to see.  Sometimes we choose to be blind to our sin.  Will you invite God to search you?  Can you make verses 23 and 24 your prayer?  Let us invite God to search our hearts and transform us with His grace.     

Praying Together:

“Lord, You have searched me and You know me, even better than I know myself.  You know my ways and my thoughts.  Before I say anything, You know my words and my heart as I speak them.  To think of how much You know is too much for me to comprehend.  I know that there is no hiding from You, so I refuse to try.  Instead, I ask You to search me and make known to me the things that are offensive and cleanse me of them.  Show me where I am anxious and speak truth into those fears.  Show me how wonderful Your ways are and lead me to follow Your ways for they will stand the test of time. Amen.”

Pray:  

“God, You are an awesome God, one who walks with His people. May I rely on You fully. Open my eyes and ears so that I may come to know You as You are. Amen.”

Read Psalm 145.

The psalmist sits in awe of his sovereign God. He recounts the mighty acts of God, noting that even the generations before him sing praises for all that God has done.  He remembers the exodus of the Israelites into the wilderness and how they had to learn to trust God.  He fed them and lit their way as they moved toward the promised land. His actions represent what God is--full of grace, compassionate, slow to anger, trustworthy, and full of love for His people.  

God is there for us when we lose our way. He upholds all who fall and rewards those who stay humble in all that they do. God’s generosity is something to aspire to. The Lord hears our cries and is there to save us from our enemies. Dr. McCann explained that “Jesus reminds His followers that the world of God’s reign is a topsy-turvy world where the poor and persecuted are happy, where the humble are exalted, and where the last are first.”  Can you imagine a world that looks like this?  

Praying Together:

“Lord, staying humbled in this world is a challenge.  Teach me how to trust You completely.  Over and over again, You take Your time loving Your people, testing them, and encouraging them, yet still there are times that we are scrambling about. Help me to see the opportunity in challenging times that only Your Presence can provide. Amen.”

Pray:

“Reveal Yourself to me, Lord, so that I may come to love You better. Amen.”

Read Psalm 150.

Praise is the offering of one’s whole life to God. In this psalm, we are praising God for the mighty heavens, His acts of mercy, love, and grace. Let the trumpets sound, the harp and lyre play alongside the strings and cymbals. Let everything that draws breath praise God.  This psalm summarizes how magnificent God truly is.

This is the final psalm in the collection.  This is fitting as it invites us to recall the very first psalm, Psalm 1.  Since God is indeed worthy of our praise, we will be blessed by delighting in His law and meditating on His commands.  We will be blessed when we do not walk in the ways of sin, but follow and obey Him.  

In this way, we are reminded of what it means to faithfully respond to the Lord.  Since God is great and good, we yield ourselves to His leadership and care.  

Praying Together:

“Gracious God, give us the strength to know how to stay in a place of praise even in the most difficult times. Amen.”

Pray:

“Give me the strength to see You in even the most difficult times. Amen.”

Read Psalm 24.

God is the one true King.  This is the central point of Psalm 24.  Verses 1-2 tell us that God is the true King because He created and established the world.  Everything we know and see belongs to Him.  

Verses 3-6 show us what it means to be people of the King.  Those who have been made holy are able to approach Him.  This work of having pure hands and a clean heart begins with the work of God’s grace in us.  Jesus’ power displayed over sin on the cross and over death in His resurrection empowers us to become a new creation in Him (2 Corinthians 5:17).  In Christ, we are given a new nature that is “created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness” (Ephesians 4:23).  This is the work of Christ’s justifying grace in every life that seeks the face of the true King, not any idol, or “little king”.  When we continue to seek after Him, His grace continues to work in our lives, making us holy as He is holy. 

Psalm 24 ends with a celebration of God’s arrival as King.  The “King of Glory” is to be praised.  His presence inspires rejoicing.  How wonderful it is when the King of Glory comes into our lives!  The imagery in these verses calls us to Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem.  He came as a mighty King to display His power over sin and death, so that we would have victory through Him.  

Read Psalm 24 again.  I wonder what images from Psalm 24 stand out to you.  These words or images are often a great place to begin praying.  Feel free to pray in your own words, then we’ll close in a prayer together.

Psalm 24 invites us to praise Him as King and asks that God’s grace would grow us in holiness.  

Sending prayer:

“King of Glory, You are the One who brought all creation into being.  You established the world and continue to sustain it.  You are great indeed and worthy of my praise.  I am thankful that by the work and name of Jesus, You invite me to come into Your holy presence.  The fact that I, a broken person, can stand before You is a testament to the power of Your grace.  May Your grace continue to work in me; make my hands clean so that they may serve You.  Make my heart pure so that I may trust You alone.  Dethrone all false idols so that You alone would be King of my life, for I want to seek Your face alone.  May You alone be lifted up.  You are the King of Glory who has fought my battle against sin and death and won.  You are mighty and good.  I praise You with my whole being.  Amen.”