Quite often our prayer life is shaped by the immediate. Our prayers reflect what we are facing at that particular moment on that particular day in that particular week. This was often the case for the psalmist, too. What we find in the psalter is typically a snapshot of what the psalmist was facing at that particular moment on that particular day in that particular week. For David, that could have reflected his distress on account of his enemies’ attacks, or his anguish over his own...

There’s something quite unsettling about being lost. Maybe you’ve taken a walk in a wooded area and after walking for quite a while you suddenly realize that you’ve lost your way. There is no trail to guide you. There are no markers to point you in the right direction. Everything looks like everything else. There is a fear, a deep insecurity that sets in when you become disoriented. What was a quiet, serene stroll in the woods has become a stressful, anxiety-filled moment. You decide to...

Worship is a political act. Claims of kingship are political claims. Perhaps it is the impending national election here in the United States that has me reading Psalm 47 in a political framework, but I do not know how it can be read in any other way. Certainly the psalmist was not thinking of America in 2016 when it was written; even so, the claims made in these verses would have had profound political implications for the culture in which it was produced. In fact, the claims made in...