Psalms is one of my favorite books. Using different genres and invoking an array of emotions, Psalms is a book for the whole person. Psalms are for the intellect, will, and emotions. Each week a new Psalm will be added for reflection and contemplation. As you read the Psalms, pray it will deepen your affections for God and help you express your feelings to God.

Psalms are made up of different genres. Each genre highlights different emotions. Lament, Thanksgiving, Royal, Wisdom, Messianic, Remembrance—just to name a few.

Enter into emotion. The Psalms call readers to acknowledge and name emotion, encouraging us to empathize with the author. They express joy, sadness, love, anger, and thanksgiving, reminding us we are not alone in how we feel.
Pray through the Psalm. Learning to pray through Scripture calls us to slow down and see God’s heart, truth, and posture towards us in the midst of our experiences and feelings.
Reflect on the Psalm. Take time to review the Psalm for the week. Answer the reflection questions. I am praying for you as you reflect in the Psalms each week! Go slowly. Don’t rush. Your purpose is not to accomplish something, but spend time with someone (Jesus).
Take your time. This is not a race! Intentionally make space each day to read and reflect on the Psalm. We are going to spend about a week on each Psalm. The goal is to learn how to linger and enjoy a relationship with God through the reading of His Word.

Day 1: Read the Psalm. Just read it. Maybe read it twice.

Day 2: Answer the Reflection Questions.

Day 3: Personally Reflect on the Psalm. Write some reflections and questions about the Psalm. What is your favorite verse, why?

Day 4: Write a Prayer for yourself based on the Psalm

Day 5: Slowly Reread the Psalm.

Psalm 7 - In You Do I Take Refuge

A Shiggaion of David, which he sang to the Lord concerning the words of Cush, a Benjaminite.

1 O Lord my God, in you do I take refuge;
save me from all my pursuers and deliver me,
2 lest like a lion they tear my soul apart,
rending it in pieces, with none to deliver.

3 O Lord my God, if I have done this,
    if there is wrong in my hands,
4 if I have repaid my friend with evil
    or plundered my enemy without cause,
5 let the enemy pursue my soul and overtake it,
    and let him trample my life to the ground
    and lay my glory in the dust. Selah

6 Arise, O Lord, in your anger;
    lift yourself up against the fury of my enemies;
    awake for me; you have appointed a judgment.
7 Let the assembly of the peoples be gathered about you;
    over it return on high.

8 The Lord judges the peoples;
    judge me, O Lord, according to my righteousness
    and according to the integrity that is in me.
9 Oh, let the evil of the wicked come to an end,
    and may you establish the righteous—
you who test the minds and hearts
    O righteous God!
10 My shield is with God,
    who saves the upright in heart.
11 God is a righteous judge,
    and a God who feels indignation every day.

12 If a man does not repent, God will whet his sword;
    he has bent and readied his bow;
13 he has prepared for him his deadly weapons,
    making his arrows fiery shafts.
14 Behold, the wicked man conceives evil
    and is pregnant with mischief
    and gives birth to lies.
15 He makes a pit, digging it out,
    and falls into the hole that he has made.
16 His mischief returns upon his own head,
    and on his own skull his violence descends.

17 I will give to the Lord the thanks due to his righteousness,
and I will sing praise to the name of the Lord, the Most High.

Reflection Questions

It is an interesting statement of introspection when David asks God if he has done wrong have his enemies overtake him in verses 3-5. Have you ever had a prayer like this?
What are the attributes you learn about God in this passage?
What does this passage teach us about God's judgment?
How does God view evil? What emotions does this passage evoke in you about how God will bring justice?

“Scripture quotations are from the ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.”