The Songs of Jesus: A Year of Daily Devotions in the Psalms

by Timothy J. Keller

CHOSEN BY GRACE. God hears and forgives us, though we do not deserve it (verses 1–3). And those who choose him realize that it was originally he who chose them and drew them near (verse 4; John 6:44; 15:16). Only in the New Testament do we see how radical that grace was. God brings us near to live in his courts not simply as guests but as his children and heirs (John 1:12–13). God’s highest praise is from those who know they have been brought home to live with him through Jesus, God’s true son, who died to make us his brothers (Hebrews 2:10–18). Our salvation is absolutely free to us but infinitely costly to him. That is amazing grace.

Lord, because your grace is undeserved I should be humble; because it is costly I should be holy and loving; because it is unconditional I should be at peace. O let your tender, loving grace cleanse me of all these sinful, wrongful frames of heart, and give me joy. Amen.

Lord, I am so absorbed in my own troubles I don’t see and praise you for what you are doing across the world. Help me to escape the defense mechanism of racial superiority so I can embrace, learn from, and rejoice in my brothers and sisters across the boundaries of race, class, and nationality. Amen.

Lord, help me receive the beauty and richness of nature as gifts from you that reflect your own abundance and life. Teach me how to glory in it so I rob neither you of your due nor myself of joy. Amen.

MAKE HIS PRAISE GLORIOUS. Everyone is called to praise God (verse 1). The content of this praise is God’s name (verse 2)—all the things he is and has done. The character of this praise is to be glorious (verse 2). What is glorious praise? “Glory” has connotations of weightiness, dignity, magnificence, and beauty. Glorious worship is exuberant, never halfhearted. It is attractive, not off-putting. It is awesome, never sentimental. It is brilliant, not careless. It points to God, not to the speakers. It fits its great object—it seeks to be as glorious as the one it praises. So worship should be “never trivial, never pretentious.”48 There is nothing more evangelistic, nothing that will win the world more than glorious worship (Psalm 100, 105:1–2).

Lord, so much of the public worship of your church is indeed trivial and pretentious. Let my church—and churches across the world—begin to praise you “in Spirit and in truth” (John 4:24). Grant us anointed worship—so beautiful that it attracts even those whose hearts are hardened toward you. Amen.

HE SETS THE LONELY IN FAMILIES. In this world “the strong eat the weak,” as the saying goes. But God’s strength is seen in his care for the weak (verse 5), so we should be famous for sacrificially loving the poor and marginalized. This reflects the Gospel itself, for God does not call people to earn salvation by strength. He came in weakness to die for us, to save only those who admit their spiritual helplessness. God also created people to thrive best in families (Genesis 2:21–25). But for those without spouse, parent, or children there is God’s family, the church (Mark 3:31–35), united by the common “life blood” of the Spirit (Galatians 4:4–6), providing fathers and mothers and brothers and sisters and children (1 Timothy 5:1–2) for the lonely (verse 6).

Lord, I praise you that you created us in your image—to live well only in deep, loving relationships. Thank you for your great gift of the church, your family. Help me make my church not merely a club or association but a band of brothers and sisters, especially for those who are otherwise alone. Amen.

Lord, you have removed the one burden that can crush me—the effort to save myself, to achieve my own significance and security. Thank you for coming to me when I was “heavy laden” and giving me your wonderful rest (Matthew 11:28–30, King James Version). Amen.

Lord, you are immeasurably high, intimidatingly great, and beyond my comprehension. Yet you became a human baby and offer me your friendship through Jesus Christ. I can only wonder at your glory and grace! Let my life be marked by both holy awe before you and glad intimacy with you. Amen.

Lord, when people fall into trouble, I see myself afraid to get involved lest I be swallowed by their grief. But when you loved me you got eternally involved, and it cost you infinite grief. Strengthen me with your grace so that I can be available and open to the needs of others around me. Amen.

However, he recognizes that God will answer “in the time of [his] favor” (verse 13). Whenever we pray, it is appropriate for us to be passionate and desperate but also willing to wait for God’s timing. Nothing makes us dependent on God’s sovereign love and wisdom like having to persevere in prayer and wait for the time of his favor. “Unbelief talks of delays; faith knows that properly there can be no such thing.”57

Lord, you let Abraham, Joseph, and David wait decades before you answered their prayers, and your delays were always perfect in their wisdom. Help me as—I must admit—I struggle mightily to trust and rest in your judgment and your timing. Amen.

Lord, if you patiently bore the pain of unanswered prayer for my sake, then I can be patient with what seems to be unanswered prayer for your sake. The cross proves that you love me and so I can trust that you are listening to me and handling my request the way I would want if I had your wisdom. Amen.

But the foreshadowing of Jesus’s suffering (verses 4, 7, and 21) reminds us we stand in a different place from the psalmists—on the other side of the cross. Stephen looked to Jesus for vindication, not retribution, and prayed for his enemies as they killed him (Acts 7:54–60), as did Jesus himself (Luke 23:34). The psalmist is right to want judgment on evil, but Jesus takes it himself. This forever changes our view of our own deserts and the way we seek justice.

Lord, again I am reminded that I must neither abandon seeking justice nor do it with an ounce of vengefulness or ill will. Help me to forgive anyone who wrongs me or those I care about, remembering my own undeserved pardon in Jesus. Yet let me still have the courage and passion necessary to right wrongs where I can. Amen.

Lord, how poorly I pray! Either I pray vaguely and halfheartedly or I pray heatedly, accusingly telling you exactly what you have to do. Teach me to pray with discipline and passion and yet also contentment with your love and will. Then through my prayers you will do much good in the world and in my heart. Amen.

O Lord—you are more ready to hear than I am to pray, and you are inclined to give me more than I desire or deserve. Because I have taken refuge in Jesus’s saving work on my behalf, give me the protection and joy for which it would be presumptuous otherwise to ask.62 Amen.

WHEN I AM OLD. In old age strength ebbs (verse 9) and we cannot accomplish what we once did (verses 10–11). But our value is based on our status not in society but in God’s eyes (verse 7). When the nineteenth-century Anglican preacher Charles Simeon retired after fifty-four years of ministry, a friend discovered he still got up at 4:00 A.M. each day to pray and study Scripture. When it was suggested he take it easier, he retorted, “Shall I not now run with all my might when the winning post is in sight?”

Lord, help me get ready for old age now by showing me by your Spirit that my value is not based on income, productivity, or popularity. It is based on being a member of the people and family of God. Amen.

YOU WILL RESTORE MY LIFE. In the middle of this psalm is a phrase that goes by quickly but that should make us stop and think: “Though you have made me see troubles, many and bitter, you will restore my life again” (verse 20). The psalmist trusts God’s sovereign wisdom and love, even when he has sent bitter trouble into his life. He knows that in the end everything that happens is for the ultimate purpose of restoring our life—by deepening the love, wisdom, and joy of our spiritual life and by eventually resurrecting our bodies in the new world, wiped clean of all death and darkness (Romans 8:18–25). Indeed, then, “everything is needful that he sends; nothing can be needful that he withholds.”

Lord, do not let advancing age increase either pride or worry in me. Instead let me grow in humility as I see the increasing number of sins from which you have forgiven me and from which you have protected me. And let me grow in patience as I see how patient you have been with me. Amen.

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Prayer: Grant, O Lord, that the course of this world may be so peaceably ordered by your governance, that your people may joyfully serve you in all godly quietness.65 Amen.

Lord, the goods of this world are spread so unevenly! Yet I confess that if I had more prosperity I would not be as upset about the injustices. My envy is filled with self-righteousness, and it robs me of contentment. Forgive me and change me. Amen.

Lord, there has never been a human society without overweening pride at the top and bitter envy at the bottom. That is why if the “have-nots” ever overthrow the “haves” they become the same. Father, give our culture your grace, humbling both leaders and followers and giving us peace. Amen.

In every difficult circumstance we may hear God saying to us: “Now we will see if you came to me to get me to serve you or so that you could serve me.”

Lord, I resent my service to you when my life isn’t going as I wish. I don’t love you as much as I love the good things I hope to get from you. Oh, illumine my mind and heart to see your beauty and love you for yourself alone. That is not only right to do but also my real joy. Amen.

The first step out of the sinkhole of resentment and envy is worship. The psalmist enters the sanctuary, and in the presence of the true God his sight clears and he begins to get the long-term perspective (verses 16–17). He realizes that the rich without God are on their way to being eternally poor; the celebrities without God are on their way to being endlessly ignored (verses 18–19). Within the confines of a dream, you may be very intimidated by some powerful being, but as soon as you wake, you laugh at its impotence to harm your real life. All the world’s power and wealth are like a dream. They can neither enhance nor ruin a Christian’s deepest identity, happiness, and inheritance.

Lord, I praise you for being more real than the mountains, and in you I am richer than if I had all the jewels that lie beneath the earth. In my eyes, by your Spirit’s power, let “the things of the world grow strangely dim in the light of your glory and grace.”66 Amen.

The psalmist surveys the complete destruction of Jerusalem and the Temple (verses 3 and 7) by the Babylonian army. It is generally assumed that while God might allow some difficulties, he would never let horrendous, cataclysmic tragedies happen to people who have faith in him. But the Bible shows that this particular disaster was not total, that God was not deserting them.

And the most faithful person who ever lived, Jesus Christ, also suffered horrendously for redemptive purposes. So remember, “God is God. If He is God, He is worthy of my worship and my service. I will find rest nowhere but in His will, and that will is infinitely, immeasurably, unspeakably beyond my largest notions of what He is up to.”70

Lord, I praise you that you not only bring glory out of darkness, strength out of weakness, and joy out of sorrow but often make good things richer and more powerful through those bad things. Help me so that my mind and heart rests in this truth. Amen.

Lord, thank you for being a God who takes questions! And keep my mind clear as I pose them, because questions asked honestly in the face of your holiness always lead back to trust in you. Whom should I trust more than you? Myself? That would be the most foolish thing of all. Amen.

Lord, I praise you that the greatest displays of your power in history have been in showing mercy and saving love. So now open my eyes and stir up my heart to trust every one of your promises, so that I can live in the peace you have for all who know you. Amen.

Lord, I worry because I forget your wisdom, I resent because I forget your mercy, I covet because I forget your beauty, I sin because I forget your holiness, I fear because I forget your sovereignty. You always remember me; help me to always remember you. Amen.

Lord Jesus, how can I obey and love you conditionally when you loved me unconditionally? You looked down from the cross and saw us betraying, denying, forsaking you, and yet you stayed. Help me to cling to you and obey you no matter what. Amen.

Lord, I confess I often find prayer to be boring and sin to be fascinating. But that is because my mind is distorted by sin. You alone can satisfy the deepest longings of my soul. Only you are eternally interesting. I commit myself to encountering you afresh in prayer and the Word. Help me keep this promise. Amen.

Lord, your Word says that the heart is deceitful and no one can know it (Jeremiah 17:9) without the radical help of your Spirit. Give me that help now. Lay bare the motivations at my foundation. Show me your love and glory in prayer so my obedience becomes more and more a grateful, willing gift. Amen.

Lord Jesus, the old meaning of patience is “long suffering,” and you indeed suffered infinitely rather than give me the punishment my sins deserved. You have been unspeakably patient with me. Let that truth make me patient with people around me, and with my circumstances, and with your every disposal of my life. Amen.

THE PLAGUE OF PLAGUES. The plagues God inflicted on Egypt were natural disasters. He made the Nile River undrinkable. That forced frogs out of the marshes, where they died. Their carcasses led to a plague of flies and gnats, which in turn led to epidemics. The unraveling of nature in Egypt points to a crucial truth. God created the world, so when we disobey him we unleash forces of chaos and disorder. When you, a being created to live for God, live instead for yourself, you violate your design. The ultimate plague is sin, and it will disintegrate you without the antidote—the grace of God in Jesus Christ.

Lord, the plague of sin infects every part of me. It makes me miserably and cruelly self-absorbed. It makes me spiritually impotent to change without your grace and intervention. Give me that help: show me myself, free me from my besetting sins, and let me love to obey you. Amen.

Lord, I am prone to turn good things into idols. Things I should merely receive with thanks I look to for the contentment and safety that only you can give. “The dearest idol I have known, whate’er that idol be—Help me to tear it from thy throne, and worship only thee.”75 Amen.

Lord, I have drifted from you. What peace with you I once enjoyed! How sweet its memory still! But it has left an aching void the world can never fill. Return, O Spirit, please return—sweet messenger of rest. I hate the sins that made thee mourn and drove thee from my breast.76 Amen.

This psalm ends on a high note. It tells how, despite Israel’s disobedience, God built his temple (verses 68–69) and chose a leader, David, to be the shepherd-king (verses 70–71). But we know that, contrary to the hopes of the psalmist, history did repeat itself, and the line of Davidic kings failed to obey God as well. The human race required a greater King, the descendant of David who was prophesied (1 Samuel 7:11–18), the Savior who was the final temple and sacrifice for sin (John 2:19–21; Hebrews 9:11–14). Jesus is our true Shepherd-King. Only he is wise and skillful enough to direct your life. Don’t entrust yourself to the hands of any other, not even your own. Trust yourself to him and you shall not want.