In 2015 I didn’t pick one word. I picked one color: gray. I found grace in that gray instead of in the black and white world I preferred to live in. It was a year of “I would never …” becoming exactly what I had to do. The emotions our family experienced last year were bigger than I’d felt before and the impact of them rippled out to rock everything.
As we kick off 2016, I want to learn from 2015. How did I grow? What did I learn? What new patterns do I want to continue? How did my view of God expand? What spiritual disciplines need strengthen? Which doctrines need more attention? What book of the Bible had I been avoiding?
Answering those questions led me to establish 2016 as the year of Psalms.
The Book of Psalms hasn’t ever been my favorite. In true INTJ fashion, I’d rather wrestle with knowledge than emotions. “Feelings aren’t facts” we’re known to say. Paul is my favorite biblical character and I think King David can be over-dramatic and whiney. But when your world is rocked, you need to remember a few things: you aren’t the only one to ever have your world rocked, other people have survived worse, God didn’t leave them and won’t leave you, and God’s purpose for your life will still be fulfilled. We see each of those reminders in the book of Psalms.
Donald Whitney wrote, “You will never go through anything in life in which you cannot find the root emotions reflected in the Psalms.”
So I plan to spend more time than ever before in the Psalms—reading them, praying them, singing them, learning from them.
The tools:
- You Version app: Eat This Book reading plan
- The Songs of Jesus: A Year of Daily Devotions in Psalms by Tim Keller
- Psalms from Sandra McCracken
- Psalms, Vol. 2 from Shane & Shane
Instead of the gray I experienced in 2015, I’m hoping to give myself over the rainbow of emotions I’ll experience and remember God is there too.
