Our world is obsessed with new. 

We want the new movie, the new show, the new music, the new trend. And this isn’t necessarily bad in and of itself, but we are being discipled by this need for new and becoming Christ followers who believe new is always better. 

But… faith doesn’t always work this way. 

In fact, often in our growth into all that Jesus has called us to be, we don’t need to look for the new, we need to revisit the ways of old. How has the church always done a certain thing? What have Christians always believed and taught? How did people first respond and live out what Jesus taught? Sometimes by looking back at how these things always were done, we can find a better and fuller way forward in our own lives. 

 There is a time for innovation, and creativity, and shaking things up (believe me, I’m a proponent of God always doing new things and leveraging our current world for His glory) but there is also just as much of a place for learning from things that have always (or used to) be done. 

A lot of us struggle to read our Bibles consistently. This is a problem because the Bible is one of the primary ways that we can hear from God and be nudged into obedience of what He’s asking us to do. But please hear me, you don’t need a new way to study the Bible, you may need to just revisit how it’s always been done. 

Bible reading is a great place for us to practice looking back towards the traditions throughout history to help us grow in our obedience. 

And as we look backwards to see what Christ followers have historically done, we will find a very high usage and reverence for the book of Psalms. The book of Psalms has been viewed as the language book of God for centuries. What does this mean? To put it simply, this means that as we get familiar with the Psalms, we grow in our language and ability to pray and relate to God. Doesn’t that sound enticing? 

I would encourage you to read a Psalm every time you do a quiet time. Maybe not as the only thing that you do, but at some point during your time with the Lord, try to pray a Psalm. By doing so, you will begin to approach this unique book in a way that Christians always have and your intimacy with Jesus will skyrocket.   

Here are a few ways that Christians have always approached, prayed, and read the book of Psalms: 

• READ OUT LOUD/RHYTHMICALLY: In the ancient world, Psalms were hardly ever read silently. They were written and designed to be read out loud and sung together. Try it! 

• PHYSICALLY: The Psalms almost always involved an aspect of reading with your body. Kneeling, lifting your hand, opening up your Psalms as you pray them. 

• LECTIO DAVINA: This sounds fancy, but all this is is reading and internalizing and personalizing the Psalms through a couple repeatable movements. I practice this most mornings, and I find it very beautiful. You can google the steps if you want to try it out! 

• PERSONAL APPLICATION: After you have read the Psalm a few times and understand its message, tone, etc. then begin to personalize it and make it personal as if it is a written prayer. How would you pray what is being said in your current life? This is a powerful practice!