The Woven Psalms

“[1] Hear this, all peoples! Give ear, all inhabitants of the world…” (Psalm 49:1) The Psalms are teachers pointing us toward the way of wisdom. The psalmists intend for you to learn not simply about God and spiritual things but also about humanity and some of the biggest questions concerning the human condition. We get to sit at their feet and study their words, listening and learning how to be c...

“Great is the LORD and greatly to be praised in the city of our God!!” (Psalm 48:1) The Psalms are both local and global. They place us in a place, because they were written in a certain time and in a certain region of the world. We’re invited to see ourselves in the specific context of ancient Israel and then to broaden the scope of our imagination to every time, tongue, people, and nation. The W...

“Clap your hands, all peoples! Shout to God with loud songs of joy!” (Psalm 47:1) The Psalms are physical. They encourage us to move our bodies and not just our minds or our mouths. After all, God is the creator of all things, body and soul, and so it is fitting to clap, sing, hum, whistle, dance, and laugh over the good grace of God. The Woven Psalms is a reflective, unhurried, and practical podc...

“God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.” (Psalm 46:1) The Psalms are tremendously cosmic in scope. Sometimes the Psalms are like an intense private conversation between the psalmist and God, but at other times they are like a panoramic painting of God’s sovereign rule over the universe. In truth, we need both perspectives to see God’s immanence and transcendence, his intim...

“My heart overflows with a pleasing theme…” (Psalm 45:1) The Psalms were sometimes composed for special occasions. There are many that were written by poets praying alone in their rooms, but there are also psalms for weddings, for funerals, for coronations, for victories, for all the situations in life when it is best to sing. The Woven Psalms is a reflective, unhurried, and practical podcast abou...

“O God, we have heard with our ears, our fathers have told us, what deeds you performed in their days, in the days of old…” (Psalm 44:1) The Psalms are at times prayers for the confused. When we are suffering and we don’t know why, when we are in despair and we can’t see what God is doing, the Psalms give us an opportunity to air our confusion, bring our grievances to the Lord, and trust in him to...

“Vindicate me, O God…” (Psalm 43:1) The Psalms build upon one another in a tapestry of praise, lament, and everything in between. One psalm alone is powerful and meaningful, but layering one onto another or reading related psalms side-by-side makes the testimony of prayer here so much richer. The Woven Psalms is a reflective, unhurried, and practical podcast about praying every psalm in the Bible....

“As a deer pants for flowing streams, so pants my soul for you, O God. (Psalm 42:1) The Psalms invite us to speak to our own souls. They are prayers to God, but even as we bring our suffering and sorrow to the Lord, we are also wrestling with our own inner turmoil. The Psalms give us vocabulary for godly self-talk and honest self-reflection. The Woven Psalms is a reflective, unhurried, and practic...

“Blessed is the one who considers the poor!” (Psalm 41:1) The Psalms interpret everything in life as spiritual — because everything is spiritual. From the sunshine of a new day to terrible illness, from friendships to enemies, everything is an opportunity to worship the God who is all in all. The Woven Psalms is a reflective, unhurried, and practical podcast about praying every psalm in the Bible....

“I waited patiently for the LORD; he inclined to me and heard my cry.” (Psalm 40:1) The Psalms teach us to praise and to weep, to laugh about the goodness of God and to cry out in pain and confusion. The more time we spend in the Psalms, the more we learn how – in every and any circumstance – to hold contradictory emotions together as we wait for the LORD. The Woven Psalms is a reflective, unhurri...

“I said, ‘I will guard my ways, that I may not sin with my tongue…’” (Psalm 39:1) The Psalms are not the songs of immortal angels but mortal human beings, frail and feeble, aging and dying. When we sing these songs and pray these prayers, we are using our finite breath to confess to the eternal God that we rely on him for everything in life and death. The Woven Psalms is a reflective, unhurried, a...

“O LORD, rebuke me not in your anger, nor discipline me in your wrath.” (Psalm 38:1) The Psalms are not afraid to attribute our pain to God. God’s goodness is not negated by his discipline, because his character is not dependent on our circumstances but on his steadfast love. Trials and suffering are sometimes a necessary sign of God’s severe mercy. The Woven Psalms is a reflective, unhurried, and...

“Fret not yourself because of evildoers; be not envious of wrongdoers!” (Psalm 37:1) The Psalms sometimes speak to us as fellow travelers on the journey of faith. They’ll wrap their arm around our shoulders and say, “Listen, here’s what I’ve learned about a life with God.” They are teachers, companions, and friends as we walk in the way of the Lord. The Woven Psalms is a reflective, unhurried, and...

“Transgression speaks to the wicked deep in his heart; there is no fear of God before his eyes.” (Psalm 36:1) The Psalms are unashamed to be songs of love to God, even amidst troubling circumstances. If God’s love is truly steadfast, then it remains the one constant in our lives no matter what else we encounter. His love is our refuge, our constant, our home. The Woven Psalms is a reflective, unhu...

“Contend, O LORD, with those who contend with me” (Psalm 35:1) The Psalms contend with evil. They give us words when we experience true injustice, despicable prejudice, malicious schemes, and even traumatic violence. The Psalms are not simply beautiful words; they are fighting words for peacemakers in a dark world. The Woven Psalms is a reflective, unhurried, and practical podcast about praying ev...

“I will bless the LORD at all times…” (Psalm 34:1) The Psalms invite us into both weakness and strength. They welcome the one who is overly confident in their position to rely on the mercy of the Lord and humble themselves, but they also welcome the one who can barely pray by encouraging them to look again to the faithful, strong God. The Woven Psalms is a reflective, unhurried, and practical podc...

“Shout for joy in the LORD, O you righteous!” (Psalm 33:1) The Psalms are at times less about our human experiences and more about our Creator. Or perhaps it’s more accurate to say that the Psalms are often concerned with our experience of God as creatures made in his image called to rule over this good world. These songs move us beyond our day-to-day and into the eternal and the transcendent. The...

“Blessed is the one whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered.” (Psalm 32:1) The Psalms assume that your relationship with God is fractured. They were written in the context of the biblical story in which we were made by a holy God, we have rebelled against him in selfish sin, and we need forgiveness. The Psalms prepare us to meet our God on holy ground as we kneel in humility and ask...

“In you, O LORD, do I take refuge…” (Psalm 31:1) The Psalms meet a variety of needs beyond just the experiences of the authors. When we hear someone tell their story, there are elements that don’t match our experiences but still resonate with us on a deeper level. In the Psalms, we find fellow human beings who, like us, are in the midst of crisis and desperation for the Lord to save. The Woven Psa...

“I will extol you, O LORD, for you have drawn me up…” (Psalm 30:1) The Psalms teach us to be storytellers. They invite us to tell our individual stories to the corporate people of God so that they may learn from our mistakes, rejoice in our victories, and ultimately praise the goodness and mercy of God in all of our lives. The Woven Psalms is a reflective, unhurried, and practical podcast about pr...

“Ascribe to the LORD, O heavenly beings, ascribe to the LORD glory and strength.” (Psalm 29:1) The Psalms present nature – even natural disasters – as part of God’s creation and under God’s rule. The natural world serves the Creator and his purposes, and the heavens declare his power, his sovereignty, and his majesty. The Woven Psalms is a reflective, unhurried, and practical podcast about praying...

“To you, O LORD, I call; my rock, be not deaf to me…” (Psalm 28:1) The Psalms are pledges of allegiance to God. They are declarations of our desire to be aligned with God and no one else. When the world says, “I reject God,” the psalms give us language to plant our flag in the ground and say, “I am his, and he is mine. I belong to the Lord.” ​​The Woven Psalms is a reflective, unhurried, and pract...

“The LORD is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear?” (Psalm 27:1) The Psalms find no contradiction between confidence and crisis. We sometimes believe we can only have one or the other, either entirely trusting or entirely doubting. But in the Psalms, we find hints of lament even in praise and seeds of faith even in darkest days. The Woven Psalms is a reflective, unhurried, and practical po...

“Vindicate me, O LORD, for I have walked in my integrity…” (Psalm 26:1) The Psalms assume that we are praying to the God who already knows our prayers. He sees everything truly as it is, and because our vision is often flawed and distorted, we run to God for reality. He makes the final verdict. He is our standard of truth. The Woven Psalms is a reflective, unhurried, and practical podcast about pr...

“To you, O LORD, I lift up my soul.” (Psalm 25:1) The Psalms are teachers. They broaden our minds as we, the students, sit at our desks and study these carefully crafted prayers. The Psalms educate us with all the support, structure, and challenge that a good classroom demands. They invite us to learn how to talk with God. The Woven Psalms is a reflective, unhurried, and practical podcast about pr...