The Bible in a Year

Psalms

Psalm 3 to 10
Read this coming week:
Jan 3 Gen 5‐6, Ps 3, Matt 5 Jan 4 Gen 7‐8, Ps 4, Matt 6 Jan 5 Gen 9‐10, Ps
5, Matt 7 Jan 6 Gen 11‐12, Ps 6, Matt 8 Jan 7 Gen 13‐15, Ps 7, Matt 9 Jan
8 Gen 16‐17, Ps 8, Matt 10 Jan 9 Gen 18‐19, Ps 9, Matt 11 Jan 10 Gen 20‐
21, Ps 10, Matt 12

Reading Questions
For next week you’re reading Psalm 3 through 10.
Answer the following:
• David says in Psalm 3, “I lay down and slept; I
woke again, for the Lord sustained me.” Do you
have the courage to give a thing to God and go
take a nap?
• What do you suppose “be angry and do not sin,”
means in Psalm 4?
• In Psalm 5, what are the attributes of the wicked?
• Psalm 6 is an intimate portrait of David’s
confession of a sin. What sins have you agonized
over? Are you sure in the fact that God has
forgiven your sin or does it still cause you doubt?
• What does David say God does in His
righteousness in Psalm 7?
 • What is the place of man in creation according to
Psalm 8?
• God judges the nations in Psalm 9 and David
recounts His judgments in praise while pleading
for mercy himself. What can you recount in praise
today?
• How do you wrestle with the questions presented
in Psalm 10 about the seeming “silence of God”?
Personal Psalms
One of the hallmarks of the First Book of Psalms (Psalms
1-41) is the intensely personal nature of many of these
psalms. Many of these psalms are written in the first
person singular and show the human side of David, the
most popular and beloved king of Israel.

Like many human leaders, David did not make his

humanity a secret or try to hide the fact that he was
indeed fallible. These admissions of guilt probably
came as a distress to his advisors and politicians, as
they would distress politicians and advisors today, but
David would not allow himself to be deified
unrighteously. He knew he was a man – shined upon by
God – but a man none the less.

As a Christian, you may consider yourself as a human

being living under God’s grace in the same way that
David was a human being living under His grace. You
are fully human and you are fully loved by God despite
the fallen nature that you carry as a human.

Consider what it might mean to write personal songs or

prayers that might address topics similar to David’s
such as:
• Your incapability to save yourself
• A feeling of being all alone in your belief
• Your need for being instructed
• Mistakes that you have committed
 • God’s intrusion into your life with the Gospel that
has kept you from being punished for a sin you
committed
• A call for God’s arm to be mighty in your life

Please don’t throw this away. If you’re not going to use it, leave it for
someone else to use.