Our Favorite Psalms: Food for Your Soul (Volume 2)

By Tina Ware-Walters

We asked our more than thirty contributors to choose their favorite Psalm and to explain how that Psalm (or part of it) had become meaningful or ministered to them at a particular point in their lives. Our goal was to create for you a one-a-day, thirty-day diet of God-inspired help-full and hope-filled passages of Scripture that would feed

• Language: English
• Publisher: Healthy Life Press, LLC
• Release date: May 17, 2016
• ISBN: 9781939267252

Tina Ware-Walters

TINA WARE-WALTERS, PhD, is a Spanish professor at Oklahoma Christian University. She is editor of and a contributor to Our Favorite Psalms, Our Favorite Verses, and co-editor and contributor of Recipes for Success in Foreign Language Teaching: Ready-Made Activities for the L2 Classroom. Her BA and MA are from Baylor University and her PhD is from Texas Tech University. She lives in Oklahoma City, OK, with her husband, Matt, and their daughter, Cate.

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OUR FAVORITE PSALMS

Copyright © 2016 by Tina Ware-Walters, PhD, and Healthy Life Press

Published by:

Healthy Life Press

6700 Wadsworth Blvd., Apt. 101

Arvada, CO 80003

www.healthylifepress.com

Compiler and Editor: Tina Ware-Walters, PhD

Designer: Judy Johnson

Printed in the United States of America

No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means—for example, electronic, photocopy, recording—without the prior written permission of the author, except for brief quotations in printed reviews.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Ware-Walters, Tina

Our Favorite Psalms

ISBN 978-1-939267-25-2

1. Bibles (Multiple Translations) – Devotional;

2. Christian Life – Inspirational

Most Healthy life Press resources are available wherever books are sold. Distribution is primarily through www.Amazon.com, www.deepershopping.com, and www.healthylifepress.com. Multiple copy discounts available directly from Healthy Life Press. Wholesale distribution is through www.springArbor.com (a division of www.IngramContent.com), and www.deepershopping.com. Our ePublications are available through www.healthylifepress.com, www.Amazon.com (Kindle), www.BN.com (nook), and for all eBook readers through www.deepershopping.com. Wholesale copies of our eBooks are also available through www.IngramContent.com (www.springArbor.com). Combination offers of printed and electronic books of the same title are available at a discount from the publisher at: www.healthylifepress.com. Resources ordered directly from the publisher receive free shipping. For information on our products, or how to publish with us, e-mail: [e-mail].

Capitalization of pronouns related to deity follows The Christian Writer’s Manual of Style (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2004). In biblical quotes, capitalization of pronouns related to deity follows the translation in use.

The opinions expressed in this book are those of the contributors and may not represent the official position of Healthy Life Press, its publisher, or any of its other authors.

Bible Translations Used in Our Favorite Psalms

Translations marked:

ESV are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version, copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.

GWT are from God’s Word Translation, copyright © 1995 by God’s Word to the Nations. Used by permission of Baker Publishing Group.

KJV are from The King James Version of the Bible, which is in the Public Domain.

NABRE are from the New American Bible (Revised Edition) © 2010, 1991, 1986, 1970 Confraternity of Christian Doctrine, Inc., Washington, DC. All Rights Reserved.

NASB are from the New American Standard Bible, © 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation.

NCV are from The Holy Bible, New Century Version®, copyright © 2005 by Thomas Nelson, Inc.

NIV are from The Holy Bible, New International Version®, copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

NKJV are from the New King James Version®, copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

NLT are from The Holy Bible. New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2007, 2013 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

NRSV are from the New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright © 1989 the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

RSV are from the Revised Standard Version of the Bible, copyright © 1946, 1952, and 1971 the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Publisher’s Disclaimer: The use of any particular Bible translation in this book was left to the contributors of the various chapters, and does not imply the endorsement of any translation or organization that holds the copyright to that translation, either by Healthy Life Press, its publisher, or any of its other authors. The default translation of Healthy Life Press is The New International Version of the Bible—copyright information listed above.

Contents

Publisher’s Preface

PERSPECTIVE

God’s Way is the Best Way

Rev. Warren C. Biebel, Jr.

The Call of the Wild

David B. Biebel, Dmin

An Intense Personal Relationship with God

Rev. John L. Steele, EMT

Stewardship and Our Planet

Matthew Walters, PT, CSCS

God’s Story Includes Even Our Enemies

Robert W. Martin IV, MDiv, with Robert W. Martin III, MD, MAR

Choose Me, or God

Jannis Hibberts

Delight and Desire

Rebecca Luttrell Briley, PhD

Stillness on a Volcano

William Steele, PhD

Love and Insomnia

Tina Ware-Walters, PhD

Trust in God Alone

Deacon Jerry Rakosky

Slippery Feet

Charles Rix, PhD

The Keys to Unlocking Difficult Times

Rev. Andrew Butterworth, MD

You Cannot Fix Everything . . . But He Can!

Lt. Commander B. Imre Incze, MDiv

How We Hear God Speaking

Lynn Carroll, RN

Mountains and Mom Z

Judy Cail

COMFORT

Weathering Life’s Storms

Debby McCrary

Fear Not, for He is With Thee

James T. Cail, PhD

Healing From a Broken Heart

Tina Ware-Walters, PhD

When Deep Calls to Deep

David B. Biebel, DMin

A Psalm for Rebecca

Merle Gatewood, MA, with Kathy Thompson, PhD

A Song in the Night

Ronda J. Knuth

Comfort During Life’s Storms

Suzanne L. Foster, MA

God, My Almighty Comforter

Paige N. Bailey

My Little Love Note From Heaven

Angie Dugi

The Clothesline

Jacci Gantz, MA

When You Cannot Help Yourself

Yvonne B. Seballo, RN, PhD

My Help Comes From the Lord

Alison LaFrence, MD

Behind the Mask of Confidence

Jack Tsai, MD

God is Always Near

Mindy Cail Lemons, MD

Psalms for Suffering Hearts – A Modern Medley

Gary A. Burlingame, MS

QUICK INSPIRATION

Who is a Fool?

Ed Estes

Listening to God

Roxanne Harmon

When Your Heart Hurts

I. Reily

My Heart May Fail

Deanna Layman

Notes

Healthy Life Press Resources

Publisher’s Preface

We asked our contributors to choose their favorite Psalmand to explain how that Psalm (or part of it) had become meaningful or ministered to them at a particular point in their lives. Our goal was to create for you a one-a-day, thirty-day diet of God-inspired help-full and hope-filled passages of Scripture that would feed your soul and make it sing.

Here’s what a couple of our contributors said about the invitation:

To ask someone to write about a favorite Psalm is like taking a kid to a candy store and telling him he can have anything he wants. How do you choose from such a variety of great material?

Choosing one’s favorite Psalm is sort of like asking a mother to single out her favorite child, or, in my case, the English professor to select her favorite book from the thousands on her bookshelf.

In these pages you will find a smorgasbord of great soul food from English professors and others—a few munchies, as in Part III: Quick Inspiration—and some culinary masterpieces to savor, according to your interests, appetite, or need, in Part I: Perspective, and Part II: Comfort.

From time to time, most followers of Jesus feel like their spiritual vehicle has a flat tire. If that sometimes describes your own personal journey of faith, then the insights of this book might just fix it. Yet the thoughts in the following pages are not like that sticky stuff you spray into your flat tire, hoping you can make it to the next service center; instead, each installment is like a whole new tire. Had to throw that in, since the Psalms are so full of analogies.

Our contributors to this volume include a number of un-credentialed (in terms of academia) folks whose education has come at the University of Life. But we also have a veritable potpourri of professional degrees among our authors, including some with multiple advanced degrees. We have a physical therapist, an EMT, two RNs, eight with Masters Degrees in a variety of disciplines, more than a dozen with Doctorates (MD, PhD, DMin), one Deacon in the Roman Catholic church, one Lt. Commander in the U.S. Navy, three other veterans, and five ministers representing various denominations. Now that’s a veritable plethora of perspectives, like none you’ve ever seen before in one collection of reflections on the Psalms.

Not only so, our contributors used eleven different translations of the Bible, plus there is one original paraphrase, and a medley of passages created for those who hurt by a father whose infant son never made it home. It’s like examining the facets of a diamond through a jeweler’s loupe.

As a publisher, we do not limit our use of translations (for example, by claiming that one translation is superior to the rest), but we see it as a way to experience God’s truth on a more personal level. Reason: We know by training that a reasonable and linguistically informed examination of the Hebrew texts leaves much leeway in terms of what the words actually say, which affects what they mean, of course. While we realize that many people have favorite versions they prefer to read from or hear from, we also know by training and experience that the actual WORD of God, as it exists in the best ancient versions available, is open to interpretation by the Spirit of God, as long as the truth of a particular passage under consideration is not subjected to some sort of cultural emendation. One very interesting chapter that cites the Old Testament passage most quoted in the New Testament (you’ll have to find that one for yourself!) makes this point very succinctly: Nobody knows for sure what two verses of this Psalm say or what they mean.

It might also be worth noting at this point that many folks do not know that the word translated Lord in the Psalms usually comes from Adonai (this is transliterated) or Yahweh (this is also transliterated from YHWH—the most high God). In the pages that follow, you will be able to tell which name is used, as Adonai will be in small caps, and Yahweh will be in all caps. Not only so, all Scriptures that are referenced will appear in bold, italic face, so that you can easily see how they connect with each other and support each other.

As divergent in their training and perspectives as our authors are, the one thing that they all have in common is the conviction that    . . . the word of God is alive and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart (Heb. 4:12, NIV).

And this explains why we have included chapters that may, at first glance, seem to be redundant. For example, we have two chapters related to Psalm 1, several chapters related to Psalm 23, several chapters related to Psalm 37, to Psalm 121, and so forth. Legitimately, you might ask: Why, with 150 Psalms to choose from and thirty days to fill, is there any overlap at all?

Answer: Because the Spirit of God applies God’s Word to each life uniquely, according to the need of the moment. And