Feature Article March 2008

From OSV Newsweekly

by Marcellino D'Ambrosio

“So you don’t have much time for quiet prayer and extensive Bible reading?  Join the club. You may not have time for a daily Thanksgiving feast, but I bet you snack a few times a day. There are scriptural, bite-sized snacks called the Psalms that have been the backbone of prayer for God’s people for nearly 3,000 years.  The psalms are God’s inspired word through which He speaks to us, but they happen to be cast as prayers that we can use to speak with Him.  That kills two birds with one stone.  And they cover everything that we could possible want to say to God. ‘Thank-you,’ ‘praise you,’ ‘why are you doing this to me?,’ ‘please help me!,’ etc.  There are even a few asking God to smash our enemies. These would have been perfect for Moses to have used while praying during the battle with Amalek, except they hadn’t been written yet.
“If you have time for three meals or snacks a day, you have time for at least three Psalms a day.”

Psalms written before Jesus but amazingly familiar!
Psalm 22
Psalm 69:20-21
Psalm 110
Psalm 118:20-25

Psalms of Thanksgiving:
Psalm 9:1-2
Psalm 30

Psalms calling for trust in the Lord:
Psalm 4
Psalm 16
Psalm 23
Psalm 62