Psalms of the Day

When I was at Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary one of our required classes was "Spiritual Disciplines" taught by Dr. Don Whitney. I took this course in my first semester there, way back in the fall of 2001, but still remember many things from his teachings and still keep up many of the disciplines.

I'm sure anyone who has taken this class will never forget the "Psalms of the Day" reading plan. If you follow it you'll read the entire book of Psalms in one month. It goes like this: You take the day of the month (today is the 24th), and you begin by reading Psalm 24. Then you add 30 and read the next Psalm (Ps. 54). Add another 30 to read Ps. 84, then Ps. 114 and finally Ps. 144. You're reading five chapters each day. At the end of 30 days you've covered the whole book. The only exception concerns Ps. 119, which you know takes a little longer to read. You get to skip that one on the 29th, and read it instead on the 31st of the month.

To drill this plan in our heads, Dr. Whitney would make whoever was the last one into class have to tell the class what the Psalms of the Day are. You always wanted to be prepared with them on the tip of your tongue, rather than having to try to remember what day of the month it was and then doing the math on the fly as you rush into class.

But this discipline of reading through the Psalms each month has also been drilled into my heart. When you start getting into the Psalms like this, you don't want to get out. Have I kept up the discipline perfectly? No. It's more like I've gone in seasons where I'll read through a month or two at a time, then return to it a couple of months later. And often I'll find that I might end up reading just one Psalm of the Day - and as the Spirit speaks that one becomes my focus of prayer throughout the day.

I think the point is not just reading for the sake of completing the exercise or being disciplined enough to do it, but soaking in God's Word and letting the Word of God soak in me. And I have found that to be incredibly rich.

Here's the first Psalm of the Day for today, Psalm 24 (NIV):

The earth is the Lord's, and everything in it,
the world and all who live in it;
for he founded it upon the seas and established it upon the waters.
Who may ascend the hill of the Lord?
Who may stand in his holy place?
He who has clean hands and a pure heart,
who does not lift up his soul to an idol
or swear by what is false.
He will receive blessing from the Lord
and vindication from God his Savior.
Such is the generation of those who seek him,
who seek your face, O God of Jacob.
Lift up your heads, O you gates;
be lifted up, you ancient doors,
that the King of glory may come in.
Who is this King of glory?
The Lord strong and mighty,
the Lord mighty in battle.
Lift up your heads, O you gates;
lift them up, you ancient doors,
that the King of glory may come in.
Who is he, this King of glory?
The Lord Almighty - he is the King of glory.

"Let the word of Christ dwell richly in you..." (Col. 3:16).