Base Bible Study – Session 4

What are the Psalms?

As you’ll see from the video, this session emphasizes the role the Psalms can play in our individual and communal prayer lives. So it won’t be a surprise that the Bible Labs for this session are exercises that explore this relationship between Psalms and prayer. So let’s get started!

Bible Lab 1 – Finding Your Prayer in the Psalms

The first step in using a Psalm to guide a personal prayer is obvious: choose an appropriate Psalm! But there are a lot of Psalms! And they’re fairly mixed up…meaning that the various types of Psalms are not generally collected together. So if you’re dealing with a setback, how do you find an appropriate lament? Or if you’re full of thanksgiving, where do you find such a Psalm? Your study Bible may come in handy, as some do have tables or other guides, so take a look. In addition, there are many good resources on the internet, including AI models like ChatGPT or CoPilot. Ask them and you may be pleasantly surprised! Here are a few resources that helpfully list both the various categories of Psalms as well as many Psalms in each category:

• https://restitutio.org/2024/02/18/all-150-psalms-categorized/
• https://women.lifeway.com/2023/07/20/about-the-psalms/
• https://www.biblestudytools.com/bible-study/tips/the-genre-of-the-psalms-part-1.html

The exercise here is simple:

1. Explore your feelings, and identify the kind of Psalm that you want to use.
2. Use one of the resources above to locate an individual Psalm of that category.
3. Read the Psalm quickly to get a sense of its content. Feel free to choose another Psalm from the category if it doesn’t seem to fit.
4. Finally, pray the Psalm: imagine that you are the Psalmist speaking to God, and read it slowly as feels natural. You might try speaking the Psalm out loud. It can make a difference!
5. Make a note of the Psalm if it was meaningful. You’ll likely want to return to it again. You may even want to memorize portions of it.

Bible Lab 2 – Exploring a Psalm: Psalm 91

1. Read Psalm 91.
2. What kind of Psalm is this?
3. What images, symbols, or metaphors do you hear in this Psalm?
4. How does this Psalm make you feel?
5. What does this Psalm teach about the nature of God?
6. When could you see yourself praying this Psalm?

Bible Lab 3 – Meditations on the Psalms

These are various questions that invite you to meditate on the Psalms and your prayer life. Choose one or two that are meaningful to you.

1. Are there particular poems or songs that have been meaningful to you in your life? Why?
2. Have you ever used a poem or song as part of a prayer? Why did you choose it?
3. What types of Psalms do you relate to most easily? Which seem the most foreign?
4. What does the diversity of the Psalms say about the relationship the Hebrew people had with God?
5. How can you see yourself using the Psalms in your personal prayers?