If the Psalms are God’s gift to us to teach us how to pray, then we need to experience them as personal prayers. I would like to suggest that over the next couple of days I offer you selected psalms that you pray for yourself. If you want to feel their power as your prayer, then please find a place where you can pray them aloud and with feelings. Also, at least the first time, place your name where the personal pronoun is. While I can pray, “The Lord is my shepherd,” when I am accustomed to hearing that liturgically, it has a different impact if I hear myself praying aloud “The Lord is Steve McCutchan’s shepherd.”
I will offer you several psalms to pray in different circumstances. There are prayers that you should pray when you are feeling exhilarated, others that you should pray when you are exhausted, or depressed, or angry, etc. As John Calvin said, the psalms are an anatomy of the human soul. They address all of your feelings as a human being. They direct you to share your honest prayers to God.
If a particular prayer seems to address your emotional state of being, I would also encourage you to try to paraphrase that psalm and put in the particulars of your life. Use names, circumstances, etc. When you have written it out, turn and pray it aloud.
