Saturday, December 31, 2016

Psalm Challenge 2017

Facebook memories are fun! I don't know how long FB has been reminding me of past memories but I've enjoyed seeing pictures of grandbabies from 6 years ago or of our Living Christmas Tree 5 years and 7 years ago.... things like that.

Today's memory was a challenge I gave to my FB friends to join me in reading a Psalm a day for 150 days. It was a big challenge but several people joined me in it.

I thought about this challenge as I was preparing for our Christmas Eve service. Isaac Watts wrote the text to "Joy to the World" as he was writing the Psalms "in the language of the New Testament." That text is based on Psalm 98.
Isaac Watts

Isaac Watts (/wɒts/; 17 July 1674 – 25 November 1748) was an English Christian minister, hymnwriter, theologian and logician. A prolific and popular hymn writer, his work was part of evangelization. He was recognized as the "Father of English Hymnody", credited with some 750 hymns. Many of his hymns remain in use today and have been translated into numerous languages.
You can read more about Isaac Watts by clicking here Isaac Watts .

All of that to say ......  It has been five years, so I think it is time to do the challenge again. The challenge for me is to blog my thoughts about a Psalm a Day for 150 days. That takes us to Tuesday, May 30 for the last day of the challenge.

The challenge for YOU is to join me - not so you can see something profound from me. I certainly don't claim to be a hymn writer, theologian and logician like Isaac Watts, but I do hope that I can encourage you by things the Holy Spirit shows me in the Psalms. And more importantly, I hope to inspire you to spend a little time each day in the Psalms to see what the Holy Spirit will say to YOU through the Word.

I'm not going to look at my old posts before writing a new post. I think it will be interesting to see the differences in what I write.

Will you join me? I hope you will!!

Some pointers (free advice)
  1. Pray before you read each day and ask God to speak to you through His word.
  2. Try reading different translations. A different translation may give you a fresh look at something you've read many times before. You might even try reading the same Psalm in two or three translations.
  3. If you miss a day, don't give up and quit. Just jump back in the next day. When you have some extra time one day you can go back and read the ones you missed.
  4. It's more important to read the Psalm yourself and see what God says to you than to read what I have to say. I'm just trying to encourage you to spend more time in the Word!
  5. Challenge some of your friends to join in too! I'll post a link each day on my Hilldale Worship page on Facebook, so they don't have to be my friend on FB to get the links. Like my page here Hilldale Worship on Facebook 

Oh! And I would love to see your comments either on Facebook or on here. Comments are moderated both places so your comments won't show up immediately. (Hmmm. They may show up on Facebook immediately, but if someone posts something tacky I'll delete it. :-) )

If you'd like to see the challenge I posted just before 2012, click here 2012's Psalm Challenge.