Getting the Most Out of Our Annual Psalm

March 29, 2022 by Dr. Blair Waddell

Getting the Most Out of Our Annual Psalm

Our Psalm of the year is Psalm 5. I encourage you to listen to last week’s sermon to familiarize yourself with the meaning of the text. But I have been asked before, ‘How can I make better use of the Psalms for the entire year?’ Here are eight ideas:

Meditate upon the Psalm. This is what I do every Sunday morning as part of my quiet time before worship. I take one verse and ponder on it and write out my thoughts in my journal. Then I repeat the process once I finish each verse. It keeps the words fresh in my mind.
Write out the Psalm. Perhaps you might do this in some special manner. My daughter, Evie, likes to make word art with the Psalms. You can ask her how she does this and make your own Psalm display for your house.
Read the Psalm once a week in your family devotions. It is wonderful to hear children respond when you ask what they think a particular verse means.
Sing the Psalm. There are some decent renditions to Psalm 5 (though most of them do not include every thought in the Psalm). I like Poor Bishop Hooper’s arrangements. My favorite is Psalm 5 performed by the St. Paul Cathedral Choir. You can find these on youtube.
Paraphrase the Psalm. Write it in your own words. I have found this helps me to express the meaning of the Psalm to others. But just remember, your words are not inspired like David’s.
Talk about the Psalm with other believers. Ask them how they are likely to respond when they feel oppressed or persecuted.
Pray through the Psalm. You don’t have to wait till our summer prayer meetings to do this. Take each line and express your own thoughts to our covenant keeping God. Exercise five can help with this.
Memorize the Psalm. It is only twelve lines and certainly doable. There is no better way to spend your morning commute than having Psalm 5 on recall in your mind. Who knows, it may help when someone shouts a less than flattering thought while you drive.