Imagine having to leave a concert at the intermission, or a sporting event at the midway point while your team is losing. Imagine watching Part 1 of a movie trilogy but not seeing Parts 2 and 3. What if Tolkien would have ended Lord of the Rings after the first book, The Fellowship of the Ring. The Fellowship is dispersed. Gandalf, their leader, has fallen. Things appear hopeless. How will Frodo and Sam carry on the quest to destroy the ring without the rest of the fellowship?
Similarly at the end of the Psalms Book III, we found the exiled Israelite nation in a state of hopelessness. Where will they turn now? How will they respond to their current situation?
Do you remember the feeling of anticipation when you were waiting at the threshold of a new experience? Something brought you to the point of a new beginning. In your preparation and anticipation, you wondered what might be ahead. Maybe you were at the trailhead of an unfamiliar recreation area with numerous hiking paths to choose from, or at the entrance to a vacation resort you had never visited before. Maybe it was the entrance to an outlet mall, the doorstep of a new school, or the threshold of a university campus. The experience had multiple components that were all connected by a common theme. Maybe you had talked with someone who had already been there, maybe you had read a review. You were excited but still not entirely sure what awaited you.
What is something you would not recommend attempting before reading the accompanying instructions or directions? Assembling IKEA furniture? Learning a board game? Taking a new prescription? Operating heavy equipment? Knitting a sweater? Our cats are especially guilty of that last one.
Without following the directions, the process can be very frustrating and can lead to some interesting and unintended results.
Today, the pursuit of identity is a popular topic. People tend to identify with others who have shared interests, political ideologies, ethnicity, religion, age, location, etc. There is also a tendency to identify oneself and others based on individual appearance, self-expression, life experience, gender, etc. People have a deep need to be part of a group while at the same time expressing their own individuality.
Do you purchase products or services based on reviews? Have you ever decided to buy something based on an endorsement, only to eventually be disappointed by it? It could have been a movie trailer, a book review, or a single released ahead of the album.
How can I incorporate the Psalms in 2024? Looking ahead I challenged myself to read through the Psalms in 2024. After thinking about that, I realized it’s not exactly much of a challenge. How about meditating through the Psalms in a year?
The post, The Lion, Mr. Strickland and The Silver Chair, described meditation, both the simplicity and the value of meditation or listening to God. As Richard Foster pointed out, by assimilating God’s word into our thinking and living, it infiltrates our spirit and our soul. It becomes part of our lives.
In that vein, I’ve shared a reading plan below to meditate on the Psalms over the course of the year. Unlike many reading plans, this plan is divided into weeks, which provides more freedom but also gives more time to chew on the individual Psalms. The readings are a reasonable length so that they can be repeated enabling the reader to think about that scripture throughout the week. There are fifty weeks which allows for a two week break.
You might come across verses that resonate with you, that you highlight or underline and that you want to commit to memory. You can also journal as you read through the Psalms and see how God speaks to you.
I invite you to join me in meditating the Psalms for 2024. There is a link to download a pdf version, or scroll further to see the entire schedule. Blessings for 2024!
Head and Heart Collide 