There is a helpful post from Matthew Block on the the
First Thoughts Blog about how and why to read the Psalms. He shares some insights he picked up from Jonathan Kraemer's article, "
Praying the Psalms with the Body of Christ," on the Canadian Lutheran Online Magazine. Here is an excerpt I hope will prompt you to read block's post.
...While this or that Psalm may seem to fit how we’re feeling on any given
day, there are many more which will not. What good is it then to read
“Psalms that have us lamenting when we feel like praising; and praising
when we feel like lamenting?”
...the answer comes in remembering that the Psalms are not simply a
prayer book for individuals; they are rather the prayers of the entire
Church. “As wonderful as it is to have the Psalms that express in words
what we feel so deeply,” he writes, “there are also great blessings that
come from praying Psalms that do not fit the way we feel, when they
seem like someone else’s prayer.” Because in fact, that’s what they are:
“the prayers of the body of Christ”—the whole body, and not just me.
To that end, we are called to pray Psalms that don’t always fit
our own situation; in these moments, the prayers are not for us but for
other members of Christ’s body.
Read the Entire Post
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