“Most Scriptures speak to us, the Psalms speak for us.” —Athanasius
Every experience of being human is represented in the Psalms.
Fear and peace (Ps 56:3, Ps 91).
Sorrow and joy (Ps 16:4,11).
Pain and triumph (Ps 40, Ps 59:10)
And everything in between.
One of the things I find so profoundly moving is that Jesus, being fully God, put on our flesh and bone, and stepped into our brokenness. Although Jesus was not broken on the inside the way you and I are broken, Jesus uses the Psalms to give voice to his experience of inhabiting a human body. And we see this clearly on the cross - of all of the ways that the God-man could express His heart at that moment, He uses our words - ‘My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?’ (Ps 22:1, Matt 27:46).
Wherever you are in your journey of faith, you can look to the Psalms to give voice to your experience. And you can look to your Savior, who this very moment inhabits a fully glorified human body, like the one that will be ours when our sojourning is over, and we see our Savior face-to-face (Phil 3:21).
Jesus, we look to You - the one who has taken on our skin and sin. The One who uses Your Spirit-inspired words to give voice to your experience. The One who is able to empathize with us as our Great High Priest - and we are grateful to You, and for You. In Your name, amen.
Looking,
AB