Psalm 27

We usually don’t pay much attention to the Psalms in our liturgies. They tend to be looked at as a filler between the epistle and the gospel. This is a shame, because they express the vast range of our human emotions to God–from the lows of anger, complaints, revenge, desolation, distress, trauma, sickness and death to the highs of joy, praise, gratitude, fruitfulness, renewal and hope.

They encompass all of life’s experiences in an honest, open prayer to God, hiding nothing, admitting to ourselves, to God, and to the worshipping community our frailties and our strengths, our need for support and the strength of our faith, our fears and our longings, our defeats and our victories.

If you go through the 150 Psalms, you will find one that fits whatever you might be feeling on any given day, whatever the state of your soul is, whatever your stance toward God is. There is a psalm for every mood and feeling. It can be helpful to have a prayer that fits where we’re at in life at the moment.

As an example, I point to Psalm 27, a beautiful psalm of trust in God, a petition to God for light, strength, and perseverance. And who of us does not need from time to time to pray for light, strength, and perseverance? If you like to use the psalms for prayer, or perhaps are looking for something to help you pray, I’d encourage you to pray with Psalm 27.

“The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom should I fear? The Lord is my life’s refuge; of whom should I be afraid?” (Psalm 27:1)