Why the Psalms Are the Most Practical, Real Life Book in the Bible

A guest post by Dave Wernli

Photo by Samantha Sophia on Unsplash

When I first read the Book of Psalms, I was in high school. I was reading the Bible straight through, cover to cover, for the first time. I got to the Psalms and thought, “Oh, what a drag. This is going to be so boring. Like reading the song lyrics on the CD jacket without the music. And there’s 150 of them!” I’ve never been more wrong. The Psalms are the rawest, “real life” book in the Bible.

I was hooked at Psalm 2:

Why do the nations rage and the peoples plot in vain? The kings of the earth take their stand and the rulers gather together against the Lord and against his anointed one. (Psalm 2:1-2)

Sounds like the evening news! Suddenly I realized God gets my world. But not just politically, God gets my world personally, too.

In Psalm 13, David’s running for his life from King Saul, through no fault of his own. Although he’s been anointed the next king of Israel by the prophet Samuel, he’s forced to live hiding in a desert cave. His calling just doesn’t look like it’s going to happen. Maybe the paperwork got lost in heaven somewhere, because it sure doesn’t look like it’s happening on earth. So how does David pray?

“O God, please look down upon your humble servant, and if you have time in the midst of running the universe and all, give your humble servant a humble break, if it’s your will.”

No, not at all! David doesn’t do some fake “spiritual” prayer. He’s in desperate straits in real life. He makes a real-life prayer:

“How long, oh Lord?!? Will you forget me forever?!? How long will you hide your face from me? How long must I wrestle with my thoughts and every day have sorrow in my heart? How long will my enemy triumph over me?” (Psalm 13:1-2)

He pours out to God his heart, his fear, his situation. Raw, no sugar-coating, no holds barred. And all the Psalms are like this! As a high school student, I was hooked. I related. I felt like this. I couldn’t make real spiritual sounding prayers, but I could dump my real life on God like David did.

But David ends with this:

But I trust in your unfailing love; my heart rejoices in your salvation. I will sing to the Lord, for he has been good to me. (Psalm 13:5-6)

What a practical model for helping us through hard times! Pour out your heart and fears to the Lord, yet still trust him in the end. I can’t tell you how much this model has helped me through my life.

Now the Psalms are my favorite book in the Bible, hands down, because they’re so real.

Check out the Psalms of Ascents, Psalms 120 – 134. 15 psalms, one for each step leading up to the temple in Jerusalem. You’d sing a psalm on each step. So you’d sing Psalm 120 on the bottom, go up a step and sing Psalm 121, go up a step and sing Psalm 122, etc., until you were at the top at the temple entrance itself with Psalm 134.

Just look at the progression. Look at Psalm 120:

I call out to the Lord in my distress, and he answers me. Save me oh Lord, from lying lips and from deceitful tongues… Woe to me that I dwell in Meshech, that I live among the tents of Kedar! Too long have I lived among those who hate peace. I am a man of peace; but when I speak, they are for war. (Psalm 120:1-2, 5-7)

He’s saying, “It’s hard to live a godly life in the world! I try to stand for godliness, but nobody wants to hear it!” Can you relate? I know I can. Far away from God, in the middle of an ungodly world, longing for his presence.

But then, by the time you’ve gotten to the top, ready to go into the presence of the Lord, you’re singing Psalm 134:

Praise the Lord, all you servants of the Lord who minister by night in the house of the Lord. Lift up your hands in the sanctuary and praise the Lord. May the Lord, the maker of heaven and earth, bless you from Zion. (Psalm 134)

If you’re having a bad and stressful day, or season in your life, go through the Psalms of Ascents. They’re an insanely practical path into the presence of the Living God from a difficult place in life.

Psalm 139 probably saved my life. I’ve struggled with self-hatred in my life for a long time. I’ve only recently realized the extent to which it had a hold on me. I stayed in Psalm 139 for probably a year. Psalm 139 is the anti-self-hatred psalm.

Check this out. Remember, in scripture, “to know” means “to experience.” So you could read Psalm 139 like this:

Verses 1-2: Oh Lord, you’ve searched me, and you’ve experienced me. You experience when I sit and when I rise; you perceive my thoughts from afar.

Verse 5: You hem me in—behind and before; you’ve laid your hand upon me. (That’s not a smack down, that’s God’s hand of anointing and purpose!)

Verse 14: I praise you because I’m fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well.

When that self-hatred rises up and tells me the old, familiar lies, “you’re stupid” or “you’re worthless” or some such nonsense that used to have such power over me, I say, out loud, even if it’s just a whisper, Psalm 139:14. To hate myself is to say God stinks as a craftsman. I choose to believe God instead. Let self-hatred go eat worms!

And I love the intimacy in verse 23: Search me, oh God, and experience my heart; test me and experience my anxious thoughts.

The Psalms will rock your world

They are raw, they are emotional, and they are real life. And they will lead you into the presence of the Living God if you let them. Although the whole Bible is practical, I think the Psalms take the gold, because they meet me in the mess where I’m at. And they lead me through it in his presence.

How about you? Do you have a favorite psalm that’s the Lord has used to change your life? Save your life? Get you through crazy hard times? Tell us in the comments, we’d love to hear your story.

Dave Wernli is an author, blogger, and speaker. He and his wife Janet help Christians stuck in brokenness live the God-given adventure God created them for. Dave and Janet have a passion to see the Body of Christ walking whole and set free. Visit their blog at www.IdentityInWholeness.com. Dave and Janet live in Stafford, VA.