The Songs of Jesus
The Songs of Jesus: A Year of Daily Devotions in the Psalms
By: Timothy Keller
This is a great year-long journey through one of the most loved books of the Bible- the Psalms. I am not one for fluffy books, especially ones that will take me an entire year to read and I find a lot of devotionals to be more about the author's words than God's.
What I appreciated about this book is Tim and Kathy Keller's desire to help us read the Bible as it was intended, to meditate on the words and maintain sound doctrine, not the 'mystical.' He says that Psalms was "written to be a course of prayed theology that helps you process every possible personal situation through the truth about God." Keller's Bible and theology knowledge is evident in the short commentary he provides for each Psalm or Psalm section, but the meditations are biblical and do not focus on his own experiences.
It's easy to read through Psalms and say- Okay, this one is about praise, here's one about feeling alone, here's another one on praise, another one on all the evil in the world, etc-- but Keller makes profound connections and helps us turn the Bible's words inward- convicting, encouraging, and inspiring deeper communication with the Lord, reminding us that Scripture is alive and relevant to today.
The book is entitled The Songs of Jesus, which is interesting because most of the time when we hear 'Psalms' we think 'David' but Keller takes each Psalm and beats a path to Jesus and his saving grace. I'm constantly growing in faith and recognizing God's hand in all things- including the Bible He inspired and directed to tell His ongoing redemption story. The Psalms truly are the songs of Jesus and how sweet it is that we can read them.
The introductory pages are just as important as the rest as he lays out his plan for the book and provides helpful questions for us to make the most of each meditation: ADORE (What did you learn about God for which you could praise or thank him?), ADMIT (What did you learn about yourself for which you could repent?), and ASPIRE (What did you learn about life that you could aspire to, ask for, and act on?) What great questions to even write in your Bible to use for all the other books of the Bible as well!
Each day/page is a short section of Scripture- anywhere from 3-10 verses, followed by a short paragraph in commentary and cross-references to other Scriptures or biblical events, and concluded with a short prayer. I loved the prayer section because a lot of times we read Scripture and think- what do I do with this knowledge? Keller's prayers are helpful prompts to begin praying the Bible passage into your life. I found it benefited me most when I would write out his prayer word for word in a journal and then expound on it and pray it specifically for myself or others in my life.
I wanted to focus more on praying this year and praying for my kids so this book was an encouragement to me to have daily prayers for my children that were directly from Scripture. I know that I will go through this book again.
It's designed to be read in a year, but really you could go at any pace. Each devotional has a date at the top. If it's hard for you to do one every day, just keep it by your bed or your couch and whenever you have time, just do the one for whatever day it is. The commentaries don't build on each other so reading them out of order does not matter. Any time spent reading the Bible is valuable so do whatever you can!
We are about to begin 2021 and I would highly recommend this book and encourage this to be something you consider making a priority for the new year. Would also make a great gift!