Whether a mournful dirge for the trials of yesterday or a joy-filled exclamation for the sunlight falling upon your face, each day we awaken to a song. It is the song which forms the base of the tapestry which is the day ahead, and by virtue of that the weeks and months which form a lifetime. The song may be lazy and mundane, it may be bright and tightly woven, still the message of the song influences our every step and every choice.
As believers, our “song of beginning” should be a beautiful psalmody of hope. Yet, more commonly, the pressures of the world blend with our stress and desires to generate only a screeching, scraping alarm or, worse yet, a soul drowning white noise of static and half truths. We find ourselves reactive, defensive, and wholly unprepared for daily transformation. The cacophony renders us unresponsive to any message of joy or hope.
Many attempt to filter the input by burying it beneath distractions and routines. The alarm goes off and we settle in to our daily rituals…grooming…eating…commuting…working…commuting…and by this endless cycle we “cope”. Still, we were made for so much more than coping, each day should be embraced as another opportunity to be conformed more to the likeness of Jesus.
Such an endeavor requires so much more than another layer of routine, it requires the elimination and replacement of the song we’ve been conditioned to listen to. Instead, we might begin each morning with a song for a new day, a psalmody.
In simplest terms a psalmody is simply a psalm with an instrument added; but, for this “psalmody of beginning”, you are the instrument. Through you the message of the psalm is presented to a needy world. Perhaps your psalmody today will be a meditation on the goodness of God, perhaps a refrain on your confidence in trials, perhaps a joyful shout of awe at His majesty demonstrated in creations design, or perhaps an imprecation about the rampant idolatry in the world.
So what will be your psalmody? Which psalm will you choose as the warp of today’s tapestry?
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Psalmody is my personal study and commentary of the Psalms, ordered by psalm themes rather than as a sequence. In a given week of study I may meditate on wisdom for living, confidence in trials and God’s majesty; while the following week may be dedicated to a study of God’s faithfulness, mercy and deliverance.
Each of the studies are standalone with unique questions and personal application. My hope is that the study is as transformational to participate in as it is to author.
In developing the study I have made significant use of the following books:
- D.C. Vines
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