52 Weeks Through the Psalms Devotional (Milano Softone): A One-Year Journey of Prayer and Praise

By James Merritt

Journey Further into Favorite Psalms to Refresh Your Spirit

Make the most of each week with the hope, comfort, and wisdom available to you in the book of Psalms. This devotional mines the riches within the beloved passages of select psalms and offers gems of truth you can carry close to your heart day by day.

With recommended verses to read, a snippet from the companion book 52 Weeks Through the Psalms, and a devotion centered on that week's theme, you'll find each entry includes plenty to ponder—and much to inspire spiritual growth in your life. Alongside Dr. James Merritt, you'll discover that psalms are more than songs to be sung or music to be played but truth to be heard and learned.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Harvest House Publishers
• Release date: Jan 8, 2019
• ISBN: 9780736971270

James Merritt

James Merritt (PhD) is a pastor, author, past president of the Southern Baptist Convention, and host of the Touching Lives television program, seen nationwide and in 122 countries. As a national voice on faith and leadership, Merritt has been interviewed by Time, Fox News, MSNBC, and 60 Minutes. He resides with his family outside Atlanta, Georgia.

Book preview

There Is No Music Like God’s Music

Let me make the songs of a nation, and I care not who makes its laws"—so said Andrew Fletcher. Perhaps the greatest king who ever lived, David, would have wholeheartedly agreed with him, for he wrote no laws, but he did write many of the songs of the only nation that died and remained dead for some 2,000 years only to come roaring back to life in the twentieth century—namely, Israel. These songs are known to us as psalms, and though David did not write them all, he wrote some of the most famous.

No one can deny the power of words, and it has been proven time and time again that the pen is mightier than the sword. That power is magnified when the words are put to music. That is exactly what the Psalms are…God’s word put to music. First sung by choirs before they were proclaimed by teachers and preachers, these songs can warm the heart on the coldest day, lift the soul from its lowest depths, and sooth the most troubled spirit.

The songs run the gamut of problems we all face in life, from disease to disaster to death. They inspire you to reach higher and compel you to dig deeper. They always hit the right note at the right time and not once are they ever off-key. Indeed, they do lead you to green pastures and beside still waters. They do restore the most broken soul.

This is why these pages offer you a year’s worth of short but substantive and strengthening vignettes in the form of 52 Weeks Through the Psalms Devotional. Like a catchy tune you can’t get out of your head, these chapters will take you week by week and day by day on a musical journey the likes of which you can’t get from a radio, computer, or even a live concert. Simply put, in the end, these are God’s songs, composed in his heart and given from his hand. There is no music like God’s music.

I pray that this little book will be soft listening to your ears, easy reading to your eyes, and most of all, powerful help and healing for your heart. May the one who is the True Composer of these songs meet you where you are and take you where he wants you to be and bless you in the journey.

PART ONE

Up Close and Personal

God is a God we can approach and have an intimate relationship with.

1

Happiness in High-Def

Blessed is the man

who walks not in the counsel of the wicked,

nor stands in the way of sinners,

nor sits in the seat of scoffers;

but his delight is in the law of the LORD,

and on his law he meditates day and

night (PSALM 1:1-2 ESV).

When Psalm 1:1 talks about the man who is blessed, the Hebrew word literally means to be happy. Perhaps the Hebrews’ title for this song was, How to Be Happy.

Contrary to what some people think, God is not some cosmic killjoy who loves it when we are miserable. God wants you to be happy, but he wants you to be happy his way. He wants you to be happy internally, externally, and eternally. The psalmist shows us that the key to a happy life is living a God-centered life…The truly happy person is a person who is living a rooted life, a life of purpose, a life that makes an impact on others. Real happiness is found in favoring the right people, following the right principles, and fulfilling God’s purpose.

Do you want to be miserable? Live a you-centered life. Do you want to be happy? Live a God-centered life. This is how you live a high-def life.

52 Weeks Through the Psalms

Happiness begins internally as we make God the Lord of our life. But why then do so many of us try to find happiness through external means? This exotic vacation, that new wardrobe, the Corvette, the climb up the corporate ladder…all these and more seem to promise us the happiness that only a God-centered life can bring. God wants us to be happy, and he has provided us all we need to live out that happiness, that blessedness. And that provision is him: knowing him, loving him, serving him, worshiping him. This is the high-def life.

2

A Song for Today

O LORD, how my adversaries have increased!

Many are rising up against me.

Many are saying of my soul,

There is no deliverance for him in God. Selah.

But You, O LORD, are a shield about me,

My glory, and the One who lifts my head

(PSALM 3:1-3 NASB).

I have three enemies that work 24/7 to get me away from God. I know every day when I get up they are just waiting for me: an enemy around me, an enemy within me, and an enemy beneath me.

The world is my external foe. It says, I am just a product of chance and my life has no meaning. The Bible fights against this foe by declaring, In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth—and me too!

The flesh is my internal foe. My flesh will say, Eat, drink, and be merry for tomorrow I may die. But the Bible says, So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God (1 Corinthians 10:31).

The devil is my eternal foe. The devil will whisper in my ear, You can get away with it! But the Bible says, Be sure that your sin will find you out (Numbers 32:23).

David’s enemies don’t just mock him, they also mock God. In Psalm 3:2 they say, "There