This week · Week 15 of 52
The Psalms in Prayer
A prayer book Israel prayed for centuries, and the church still prays.
Built on Psalm 5:1-3. Give ear to my words, Yahweh. Consider my meditation. In the morning, Yahweh, you shall hear my voice. This week learns to pray by praying the psalms themselves.
Seven days on one page. Every week's board and its full study are free to read, with no account needed, including the weeks already behind us. Each week the study changes and the shape of the week stays the same, so you always know where you are.
Day 1
The Heavens Declare
Loading Psalm 19:1…
The psalm opens not with a request but with observation. Before David says a word about himself, he says something about the sky, and what the sky is doing: declaring, showing, without speech yet without silence either, as verses 2 to 4 go on to say.
Praise in the Psalms often starts here, outside the person praying. Looking at what God has made, or what he has done, is itself a form of prayer, and it tends to reorder whatever comes after it.
- Praise can begin with looking outward, not only inward.
- Creation testifies to God continually, without needing words.
- What you notice first in prayer shapes what follows.
Lord, the heavens declare Your glory without saying a word. Let me notice what You have made today, and let that noticing turn into praise rather than passing me by unremarked. Amen.