While the Psalms are all beautiful poetry in their own right, there are ways to read them which help to engage with them on a more relational level. This resource and the following one, give you a couple of suggestions.
Choose a Psalm and read it slowly out loud.
Allow yourself to stop on words that call for your attention.
Remember you do not have to get to the end each time! The rest of the Psalm will still be there if you leave it for another day. For example if you read these well known words, ‘The Lord is my Shepherd’ our habit would have us move straight on to ‘I shall not want’. But how about stopping.
Savouring those words.
Sit with them.
Think about them while pondering on who a shepherd is, what he does for his sheep, what it might feel like to be a sheep knowing a good shepherd is keeping you safe.
Sometimes there are no words. Just be. Know. The Lord is my shepherd.
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