30 days
Thirty days with the Psalms
One psalm a day for a month: praise and lament, fear and trust, the prayer book Jesus himself prayed.
The Psalms are the prayer book of Israel and of the Church. Jesus prayed them, monasteries sing the whole book every week, and they give words for everything: joy, guilt, anger, longing. In this plan you read thirty psalms of every kind. Read them aloud if you can, and make them your own prayer. Some Bibles number the psalms slightly differently; Draad follows the usual Hebrew numbering.
0 of 30 days read
- Day 1Read Psalms 1
Two ways
The gateway to the book: a person who delights in God's word is like a tree planted by streams of water (1:3). The whole book of Psalms begins with the choice between two ways.
Where do you get your 'water' from?
- Day 2Read Psalms 8
What is man?
David looks at the starry sky and asks: what is man, that you are mindful of him? (8:4). And yet God has made him a little lower than the heavenly beings and given him the care of creation.
Go outside for a moment tonight and look up. What would you ask God?
- Day 3Read Psalms 13
How long?
Four times 'how long?'. The psalm begins without politeness, and still ends: I have trusted in your steadfast love (13:5). Lamenting to God is also a way of believing.
Which 'how long?' will you lay before God today?
- Day 4Read Psalms 16
You are my Lord
A psalm of deep trust: I have no good apart from you. At Pentecost Peter quotes verse 10 as a promise of the resurrection: you will not let your Holy One see corruption.
What is the 'good inheritance' in your life?
- Day 5Read Psalms 19
The heavens declare
First creation speaks, without words: the heavens declare the glory of God. Then God's law speaks, rejoicing the heart. And at the end a prayer: let the words of my mouth be acceptable in your sight (19:14).
Where do you 'hear' God speaking in nature?
- Day 6Read Psalms 22
Why have you forsaken me?
The psalm of lament that Jesus prayed on the cross. From deep abandonment it grows into praise that reaches to the ends of the earth. Read it all, right to the end.
What does it mean to you that Jesus prayed these words?
- Day 7Read Psalms 23
The Lord is my shepherd
The best-known psalm: green pastures, still waters, and the dark valley where God goes with you. It ends at a laid table and in God's house, for ever.
In which 'valley' do you need God's presence?
- Day 8Read Psalms 27
One thing I ask
The LORD is my light and my salvation. David asks for only one thing: to dwell in God's house and to see his beauty (27:4). He ends with: wait for the LORD.
If you could ask God for only one thing, what would it be?
- Day 9Read Psalms 32
Blessed is the one who is forgiven
Keeping silent about guilt dries you up as by the heat of summer. Confessing sets you free. According to his biographer, Augustine had the penitential psalms, this one among them, written on the wall by his deathbed.
Is there something you have wanted to tell God for a long time?
- Day 10Read Psalms 34
Taste and see
David sings this song after a narrow escape. 'Taste and see that the LORD is good' (34:8): faith as something you experience, not only something you know. The LORD is near to the broken-hearted.
Where have you 'tasted' God's goodness this week?
- Day 11Read Psalms 42
As a deer for water
Far from home and from the temple, the poet longs for God as a deer longs for water. He speaks to his own soul: why are you cast down? Hope in God (42:5).
What would you like to say to your own soul today?
- Day 12Read Psalms 46
A mighty fortress
Even when the earth shakes and the seas roar: God is our refuge. 'Be still, and know that I am God' (46:10). Luther wrote his hymn 'A mighty fortress is our God' on this psalm.
Take five minutes today to be still. What do you notice?
- Day 13Read Psalms 51
Create in me a clean heart
The great prayer of repentance. David asks not only for forgiveness, but for a new heart and a steadfast spirit (51:10). God does not despise a broken heart.
What would a 'new heart' mean for you?
- Day 14Read Psalms 62
My soul waits in silence
'For God alone my soul waits in silence' (62:1). David repeats it to himself, like an anchor in a time full of opposition: He alone is my rock.
Where are you looking for rest that you do not find?
- Day 15Read Psalms 63
My soul thirsts for you
In the wilderness of Judah, dry and without water, David longs for God. Your steadfast love is better than life (63:3). In the early church this psalm was prayed every morning.
What does your heart long for, if you are honest?
- Day 16Read Psalms 73
My feet had almost slipped
Asaph sees that dishonest people are doing well and almost loses his faith. Only in God's sanctuary does he see it differently. And then: whom have I in heaven but you? (73:25).
What do you do with the feeling that the world is unfairly divided?
- Day 17Read Psalms 84
Better one day in your courts
A pilgrim song: even the sparrow finds a home at God's altar. Better is one day in your courts than a thousand elsewhere (84:10). Whoever is on the way to God turns a valley of tears into a spring.
Where do you feel most 'at home' with God?
- Day 18Read Psalms 90
Teach us to number our days
The only prayer of Moses in the Psalms. A thousand years are to God like yesterday; our life is like grass. So: teach us to number our days, that we may get a heart of wisdom (90:12).
What would you do differently if you 'numbered' your days?
- Day 19Read Psalms 91
Under his wings
Whoever dwells in the shelter of the Most High may rest under his wings. This psalm is often prayed in times of fear and at night, in the evening prayer of many churches.
What are you afraid of? Pray this psalm over it.
- Day 20Read Psalms 96
Sing a new song
All nations and even the trees of the forest are called to sing, for the LORD comes to judge the earth in righteousness. Here judgement is a reason for joy: justice at last.
What 'new song' could you sing to God today?
- Day 21Read Psalms 100
Make a joyful noise to the LORD
A short song for entering the temple: through his gates with thanksgiving. We are his people, the sheep of his pasture (100:3).
Name three things today that you thank God for.
- Day 22Read Psalms 103
Forget not all his benefits
David tells his soul to praise God, and lists: forgiveness, healing, rescue. God is like a father who has compassion on his children, for He knows that we are dust.
Which of God's 'benefits' do you not want to forget today?
- Day 23Read Psalms 104
How manifold are your works
A hymn of praise to creation: mountains, springs, wild donkeys, the stork and the lion, the sea full of life. Everything waits for God, who gives them their food in due season.
Which detail of creation amazes you most?
- Day 24Read Psalms 121
I lift up my eyes
A pilgrim song for the road: my help comes from the LORD, who made heaven and earth. He who keeps you does not sleep. Many people pray this psalm before a journey.
For whom who is on the road could you pray this psalm today?
- Day 25Read Psalms 126
Those who sow in tears
After the return from exile it feels like a dream. But more is still needed, and the psalm promises: those who sow in tears shall reap with shouts of joy (126:5).
Where are you sowing in tears now, and what do you hope to reap?
- Day 26Read Psalms 130
Out of the depths
'Out of the depths I cry to you, O LORD' (130:1). A psalm for the night, with a beautiful image: my soul waits for the Lord more than watchmen for the morning. With God there is forgiveness.
Where are you in the depths, and where are you waiting for the morning?
- Day 27Read Psalms 136
For his steadfast love endures for ever
Twenty-six times the same refrain: for his steadfast love endures for ever. Meant to be sung together, one singing a line and the others answering. The whole of history becomes a song of faithfulness.
Write your own version: name events from your life and each time say 'for his steadfast love endures for ever'.
- Day 28Read Psalms 139
You know me
God knows when I sit down and when I rise up; He knitted me together in my mother's womb. Where shall I go from your Spirit? Even the darkness is not dark to you (139:12). And then: search me, O God.
How does it feel that God knows you completely? Restful or unsettling?
- Day 29Read Psalms 146
Put not your trust in princes
Princes die and their plans with them. But God executes justice for the oppressed, gives food to the hungry and sets the prisoners free. Blessed is the one whose help He is.
Who or what do you sometimes trust more than God?
- Day 30Read Psalms 150
Everything that has breath
The last song: trumpet, harp, tambourine and cymbals. The book of Psalms, which began with two ways and is full of lament, ends in one great hallelujah: let everything that has breath praise the LORD.
After this month, what is your own 'hallelujah'?