Episode 106: Is it safe to struggle here?

Verse 13 of Psalm 27, as we’ve seen, is ambiguous and open-ended. And one of the reasons I want to leave it that way is because that open-endedness, that lack of resolution, is a better reflection of how life actually is. We need communities that don’t try to prematurely pin happy endings on every story of suffering. So imagine this: what would happen if congregations were to sing the whole of Psalm 27 together? Would those congregations become places where it was safer for people to admit when they were struggling to find their confidence in God?

What is Chunks: The Book of Psalms?

If the Bible had a hymnal, it would be the book of Psalms. This diverse collection of 150 poems and prayers runs the gamut of emotion and experience, from songs of highest praise to the deepest depths of lament, from prayers for help and salvation to vehement curses against the psalmist's enemies. We will not cover all the psalms in this podcast, nor take them in order. But my hope is that each episode will help you connect more personally with the riches of the Psalms. All biblical passages will be read from the New International Version, unless otherwise noted.