Daily Psalms - Classical Psalms Every Day

Psalm 70: Make Haste
This psalm is barely five verses long, and every one of them is running. "Make haste, O God, to deliver me; make haste to help me, O Lord." There is no preamble, no scene-setting, no theological reflection before the cry. David does not explain his situation or build a case. He simply needs God, and he needs Him now. The repetition — "make haste," "make haste," "make no tarrying" — is not literary flourish; it is the language of genuine emergency, the way one calls for help when the building is on fire. And yet, pressed between the cries for deliverance, there is a single, luminous line: "Let all those that seek thee rejoice and be glad in thee: and let such as love thy salvation say continually, Let God be magnified." Even in his desperation, David can see past himself to the community of seekers, the larger company of those who love what God does. It is a remarkable act of spiritual peripheral vision. He ends where he began — poor, needy, urgent — but now with this confession on his lips: "Thou art my help and my deliverer." The one who makes haste to ask has already found what he is looking for.
00:00 Haste, O God, to Deliver Me
01:00 Thou Art My Help and My Deliverer

Psalm 69: The Waters Have Come In
"Save me, O God; for the waters are come in unto my soul." There is no gradual descent in this psalm — David is already drowning when the first line begins. Deep mire, no standing, floods overflowing, throat dried from crying, eyes failing. This is not a man asking for help before the storm; this is a man going under. And what makes it worse is the loneliness: "I looked for some to take pity, but there was none; and for comforters, but I found none." Instead they gave him gall for his meat and vinegar for his thirst — details that would echo centuries later on a hill outside Jerusalem. Yet the psalm does not end in the water. It ends with a song. "I will praise the name of God with a song, and will magnify him with thanksgiving." How does a drowning man sing? Perhaps only a drowning man can sing this particular song — the one that rises not from comfort but from the absolute bottom, where the only direction left is up. "The Lord heareth the poor, and despiseth not his prisoners." If you have ever felt the waters closing over you, this psalm was written in your language.
00:00 The Waters Are Come In
01:00 For Thy Sake I Have Borne Reproach
02:00 Let Me Not Sink
03:00 Reproach Hath Broken My Heart
04:00 I Will Praise the Name of God

Psalm 68: The God Who Rides the Heavens and Tends the Orphan
"Let God arise, let his enemies be scattered." So begins the most thunderous processional in the Psalter — a psalm that marches, shakes the earth, drops the heavens, and scatters kings like snowflakes on Mount Salmon. And yet, tucked into the opening verses, almost between the lines of this cosmic war anthem, is a portrait of God so tender it nearly stops you: "A father of the fatherless, and a judge of the widows, is God in his holy habitation. God setteth the solitary in families." The same God whose chariots number twenty thousand, who rides upon the heavens of heavens and sends out His voice in thunder — this God notices the lonely person and places them in a home. That is the paradox at the heart of this psalm, and perhaps at the heart of all theology worth having: the more powerful the God, the more astonishing His gentleness. He who leads captivity captive also receives gifts for the rebellious, "that the Lord God might dwell among them." He does not scatter His enemies in order to be left alone in His glory. He scatters them so that He might dwell — with us.
00:00 Let God Arise
01:00 A Father of the Fatherless
02:00 The Hill God Chose
03:00 The God of Salvation
04:00 Sing Unto God, Ye Kingdoms

Psalm 67: The Blessing That Cannot Be Kept
This is one of the shortest psalms and one of the most astonishing in its reach. It begins with what sounds like a private prayer — "God be merciful unto us, and bless us; and cause his face to shine upon us" — the ancient Aaronic blessing, warm and familiar. But then comes the reason, and it changes everything: "That thy way may be known upon earth, thy saving health among all nations." The blessing is not an end in itself. It is a lamp, and a lamp is not lit to admire the flame but to illuminate the room. Israel is blessed so that the nations might see, and seeing, sing. The refrain — "Let the people praise thee, O God; let all the people praise thee" — beats at the center of the psalm like a heart. And when the praise is finally universal, the earth itself responds: "Then shall the earth yield her increase." As if the soil had been waiting, all along, for the world to get the music right.
00:00 Cause His Face to Shine Upon Us
01:00 All the Ends of the Earth

Psalm 66: Through Fire to a Wealthy Place
Here is a psalm that begins as wide as the world — "Make a joyful noise unto God, all ye lands" — and ends as intimate as a whispered prayer. The psalmist summons every nation to witness what God has done, and what has He done? He turned the sea to dry land, yes, but that is not the heart of it. The heart of it is this: "Thou hast tried us, as silver is tried." God brought His people into the net. He laid affliction upon their loins. He caused men to ride over their heads. They went through fire and through water. And then — the turn that makes the whole psalm sing — "but thou broughtest us out into a wealthy place." The testing was not the destination; it was the road. Every furnace had an exit, and every flood had a far shore. And now the psalmist, standing in that wealthy place at last, does the only thing that makes sense: he opens his mouth and declares what God has done for his soul. Not for the world in general, but for his soul in particular. The cosmic praise has become personal testimony.
00:00 Make a Joyful Noise, All Ye Lands
01:00 Tried as Silver Is Tried
02:00 What He Hath Done for My Soul