Soulfood

150 Psalms in 30 days! I hope this has been helpful. The last 5 psalms for the month, for the thirtieth day of the month, are 30, 60, 90, 120, and 150.

We pray Psalm 30 in times of distress. It’s memorable phrases include verses 4-5: “Sing praises to the LORD, O you his saints, and give thanks to his holy name. For his anger is but for a moment, and his favor is for a lifetime. Weeping may tarry for the night, but joy comes with the morning.” So when we are feeling desperate and helpless, we pray this psalm with hope to YHWH our help! And we pray for one another, that the knowledge of the LORD’s salvation would turn our “mourning into dancing” and that we would be “clothed…with gladness” as, in the midst of our suffering, we sing YHWH’s praise and give thanks to him.

Psalm 60 is a prayer of the repentant one who knows the rightness of God’s judgement and yet cries out for Him to keep His promises. We pray this as those who know we deserve wrath for our rebellion and idolatry, and yet we pray to God Whom we have rejected because we have no where else to go. So we keep asking God to do what He has promised for those whom He has chosen for Himself. We keep asking YHWH to have mercy on us for the sake of His own glory and the honor of His great name. We turn away from trusting in our own strength and turn to God trusting that He will lead us to the fortified city where He guards us for Himself. “With God we shall do valiantly, it is he who will tread down our foes.” We have no other hope!

We can pray Psalm 90 word for word, learning from it humility before God as we confess our inadequacy, finitude, sinfulness, and fleeting existence. And for all that, we yet plead with our Redeemer to “Return, O YHWH! How long? Have pity on your servants. Satisfy us in the morning with your hesed, that we may rejoice and be glad all our days. Make us glad for as many days as you have afflicted us, and for as many years as we have seen evil.” I frequently pray this for my sisters and brothers who have suffered long, that in them would God’s “work be shown to your servants, and your glorious power to their children. Let the favor of the LORD our God be upon us, and establish the work of our hands upon us; yes establish the work of our hands!” Amen!

Psalm 120 can be prayed for those who find themselves in the midst of conflicts when they are seeking peace. We pray that in the midst of conflict, our hearts would turn to YHWH for comfort and not seek our own solutions. We cry out in grief and anger against the destruction of deceitfulness, and ask God to destroy those who work destruction. We cry out in anguish that the providence of God has placed us in a place of conflict, pleading that we will be brought to be among people of peace. We long for rest, and we know only YHWH can give us the rest we need. So we pray with hope as we wait, and ask that we might not become like those who hate peace as we endure trials living in their midst. How long, O YHWH?

And Psalm 150 is a prayer of praise, which can be prayed word for word. “Praise the LORD! Praise God in his sanctuary; praise him in his mighty heavens! Praise him for his mighty deeds; praise him according to his excellent greatness! Praise him with trumpet sound; praise him with lute and harp! Praise him with tambourine and dance; praise him with strings and pipe! Praise him with sounding cymbals, with loud crashing cymbals! Let everything that has breath praise the LORD!

“Praise the LORD!”