On Tuesday I will be introducing my new book to a group of ladies at church. I might say something like this:
The ocean is vast and cold and mysterious, but there are small treasures on the beach–treasures to pick up and take home and touch and feel and remember.
The book of Psalms, like the ocean, can be overwhelming. It is, after all, the longest book in the Bible. It can be mysterious, with its blend of grandiose praises and heart-wrenching cries of despair. But, like the seashore, Psalms is full of treasures. And not just beautiful treasures, but useful words and patterns and habits to enrich our communication with God.
This book is not a Bible study–it’s a prayer study. This is not a book for people who want more information about the Bible–it’s a book for people who want to grow closer to God. We’ll read the whole book of Psalms, but we won’t take a scholarly exploration of every word in every chapter. Just as you can’t take the entire ocean home in your pocket, you can’t put the whole book of Psalms into every prayer you pray. We’ll walk through the Psalms and talk to the Lord as we do so, using the treasures that catch our eyes each day.
The book of Psalms has been my prayer guide through seasons of loss, depression, anxiety, hope, joy, and change. There is truly something here for every day–prayers from every emotion you can imagine.
The book has five days of individual study that will take you through the whole book of Psalms. Each week we’ll meet together to read the Worship Day that begins each chapter. Every week we’ll focus on something about God (our Refuge, our Rock, etc.) and when we meet to worship, we’ll see how Jesus brought that concept to life in the New Testament. My husband wrote a poem for each Worship Day. We’ll read those prayerfully, we’ll review what we read in the Psalms at home, and we’ll ask simple application questions to discover how we can put the prayerful attitudes of psalms into practice.
Ruth J. Leamy 