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Exploring the Psalms
Psalms Home
Why Are They Unique?
How Should We Use Them?
The Power of the Paraphrase
Getting Started
More About Getting Started
Coupling With Prayer
Additional Help
Going Deeper
More Going Deeper
More Going Deeper II
Then What?
Psalms Categorized

Exploring the Psalms (cont'd)

How should we use the Psalms?

All of us have gone to the Psalms when we were especially stressed, sorrowful, discouraged, fearful, etc. How many times has the 23^rd Psalm brought comfort and peace to a believer’s heart! And, the corporate worship in many churches includes a reading from the Psalms.

But, if God really intended them to be a guide to our worship, could we make the Psalms more central in our devotional lives as well?

Importance of the devotional life
It is the rare Christian that feels satisfied with the general level of his or her devotional life. It is also rare for a believer to rise above the level of his or her devotional life, as A.W. Tozer noted. Observing my experience and others, the devotional life seems to serve as a sort of barometer to the general state of the Christian.

At the same time it is common for us as Christians to feel that, while we have read portions of scripture during our devotional time, we have not gotten the Word into our hearts, and start into our day feeling dry spiritually. It is one of the functions of the Holy Spirit to reveal God’s truth to us, but as we all have learned, this does not happen automatically when we open the Bible, or even after considerable time spent in the Word. Much of the time Christians feel as if they have only touched God's Word on a surface level, without getting into the text in a significant way.

It is no accident that the Bible is described as gold. In Psalm 19:10 says "More to be desired are they than gold. Yea, than much fine gold..." If we are in the right place, such as Colorado or California, we might find a few flakes of gold in mountain streams. But if we are serious about finding gold, we need to find a vein of gold and dig beneath the surface. And so it is with God's Word, but the best part is that no matter where we start, every part of the Bible is a vein of gold. However, for our devotional times, there is no match for the treasure we find in the Psalms.

So it has been my personal experience that God can use the Psalms to connect our hearts to Him in a new and exciting way. It has become my conviction that the Psalms, given their uniqueness, can be a path through which all of God’s Word takes on new meaning and significance.

The Power of the Paraphrase