Brief Daily Devotions

The Personal Quality of the Psalms

As one reads through the Psalms, there is a very personal quality about them which makes it easy to feel a particular psalm or perhaps all of them were written "especially for me." That is appropriate. Many of the psalms are what we call individual psalms. Others are know as community psalms, but even those for the community have a personal appeal.

For example, psalm 61 is an individual prayer, and psalm 49 is a community admonition. Whether one or the other, there is another feature of the psalms which I long to make a part of each individual life. It is the knowledge that none of us goes through life in isolation. The psalmist knew he was in a community of faith, a part of the people of God, and whether in lament or praise, he had the support of the community Today, may you know that same sense of belonging to the body of Christ. amen.

		This document maintained by melshort@stroxel.com.
		For permission to use material from Mel Short's website:

Accessed times since 7/19/98