My Ponderings for Today

Day 114: Psalm 44-49

Today I'm thinking that my strategy for reading the Bible straight through has some problems. Up until now, it's worked out pretty well, but now that I'm in the psalms and reading so much of the same thing every day, I can see it is a bit more difficult than reading other books straight through. Some plans have it so that you read some of the psalms each day, which makes it so that the psalms are broken up.

What I do like about reading the Bible this way is that I have already read most of the narrative that comes before the psalms, and now when I'm reading the prayers of David or Moses, for instance, I understand more about the context for the psalm. I also like this method because it allows me to look at the Book of Psalms as an entire entity and study it as such rather than having it all broken up.

Still, this method is a bit problematic for me because the entire book is quite lengthy (I'm not even halfway through it), and I already find myself dreading (that seems really strong, but I can't think of another word) the next several weeks of reading Psalms.

Here are a few verses I liked today:

Psalm 44: 23-26--"Awake, O Lord! Why do you sleep? Rouse yourself! Do not reject us forever. Why do you hide your face and forget our misery and oppression? We are brought down to the dust; our bodies cling to the ground. Rise up and help us; redeem us because of your unfailing love."
Psalm 46:1-2a--"God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble. Therefore we will not fear..."
Psalm 46:10a--"Be still, and know that I am God..."
Psalm 48:9--"Within your temple, O God, we meditate on your unfailing love."
Psalm 48:10--"Like your name, O God, your praise reaches to the ends of the earth; your right hand is filled with righteousness."
Psalm 49:15--"But God will redeem my life [f] from the grave; he will surely take me to himself."
Psalm 49:20--"Human beings who have wealth but lack understanding are like the beasts that perish."