Have you ever read the Psalms of the day?
The Bible helps us to express our emotions and focus our prayer, and this is especially true of the Psalms. What does godly sorrow sound like? How should we pray for those who are overtly attacking us? Where can we find genuine words of contrition and repentance? All of this, and much more, is in the Psalms.
I highly recommend reading the Psalms of the day. This method of daily Bible reading can be especially helpful if you are going through a tough time, if you are struggling to pray meaningfully, or if you want to grow in your love for God and your awareness of His presence and provision.
You might be thinking, “Alright, I’d like to do this, but what in the world are the Psalms of the day?” Let me offer a brief explanation.
There are 150 Psalms. Divide that by 5, and you get 30.
There are usually 30-31 days each month (Feb is the exception). So, you start by reading the Psalm number that corresponds to today’s date. The date of this post is 10/01/2019, so you would begin with Psalm 1.
Then you add 30 to the day’s date and read that Psalm. Then you add another 30, and so on until you run out of Psalms.
On the first day of the month, the readings are Psalms 1, 31, 61, 91, and 121.
On the second day, the readings are Psalms 2, 32, 62, 92, and 122.
You get the idea.
This method of reading the Psalms would have you through the whole book of Psalms in a single month. I’ve found this method a great way to lead family Bible readings, and the Psalms are a marvelous place to turn for personal devotions as well.
May God bless your reading of His word, and may your hope in Him grow deeper and stronger with every reading.
A note about Psalm 119:
Since Psalm 119 is quite lengthy (you can read it in about 10-20 minutes), you could read Psalm 119 alone on the 31st of those months with 31 days.
Or you might notice that Psalm 119 is broken down into 22 sections (one section for each letter of the Hebrew alphabet), and you could devise some other method for reading through Psalm 119 along with your other daily readings. For example, you might read one section on each weekday of the month along with the other Psalms of the day.
Marc Minter is the senior pastor of First Baptist Church of Diana, TX. He and his wife, Cassie, have two sons, Micah and Malachi.
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