Well, welcome back again to another episode of Struggling Well. We're glad you've joined us again this week. We were actually doing this recording from studio B because of some work being done in studio A. And so it's a little different. We're up here, Tim, Suzi, Gus, and me in studio B. we've hit the summer. School's now done. And so kids are out. And as we thought about the summer, we thought, what will we do? And we decided we're going to take a journey through the Psalms, or as Suzi has put it, simmering in the Psalms this summer. And we hope that you'll join us. We're going to just we're not going to go through all one. 150 psalms. But we're all going to take you on a journey through some psalms that have meant something to us. And but before we do that, I want to give you some background on the psalms. They are Hebrew poetry, a collection of Hebrew poetry, songs and prayers from all different time periods. They were actually assembled in the format that you have them in your Bible, your English Bible, after the exile to Babylon. that's when they were gathered and arranged in the order that we know them. The primary author in the Psalms is David. He's written 73 of the psalms. many of the psalms were written for choir, but it's not a hymn book. It is a prayer book for God's people. And it really takes them through a reminder of the Torah. And there are really two different types of psalms. Psalms of lament and psalms of praise. And as you go through the book of Psalms, the early chapters, the early psalms are going to be dominated more by by psalms of lament. The end of the psalms is more dominated by psalms of praise. Now, that's not an exclusive thing, but just gives you kind of an overview. most people would say that psalms is divided into five books. And, we won't get into all that, but that's just a little background on the psalms. So, as you look at it yourself, as you follow along with us this summer, or you do some of your own work in your own study, which we would encourage, that gives you a little background to the Psalms. We're going to begin with Psalm 1. and it's a psalm that is anonymous. We don't know who the author of it is, but it sets kind of the backdrop for the entire book. And the psalmist says in Psalm 1, "Oh, the joy of those who do not follow the advice of the wicked or stand around with sinners or join with mockers, but they delight in the law of the Lord, meditating on it day and night. They are like trees planted along the river banks, bearing fruit in each season." I'm going to stop right there, Suzi, and just give you some thoughts on that opening part.
You want me to give thoughts?
Go ahead.
Oh, no. Oh, you're going to give thoughts?
I And but I'd also welcome your thoughts.
Thought away.
All right.
it's a reminder to me although it's not said specifically this way, the many different voices that speak into our lives, the competing voices that speak into our lives. And the psalmist here says it's the joy for those who do not follow the advice of the wicked. In other words, somebody who doesn't listen to that, but rather finds themselves meditate meditating in God's word day and night.
You know, and we live in a culture right now where there are so many voices, so much noise. It's really hard to go someplace or be out in the world and not hear a voice screaming something. And what's interesting here is, you know, that whole process of walking and standing and sitting, that whole progression of what we do with what we hear. I think it's getting harder. maybe people that come from a different era, maybe World War II era, they struggle in the same way that we are now, different things, but struggle nonetheless. but to me, it's the cacophony of sound that makes me crazy.
Yeah. And I like your using the progression of following, standing, and sitting,
walking, standing, and sitting.
Yeah, that's what you said.
I did.
I know you did. And the flip side of that is finding my space in God's word. I'm delighting in the law of the Lord and it becomes a place for me to meditate, to think, to dwell on, and to hear the voice of God in the midst of all the competing voices in this world. And that really is a daily struggle for you and for me, for our listeners. Will I find myself listening to the variety of voices that the world brings my way or will I find myself focused and centered in the word of God in the voice of God.
I mentioned before how many voices there are that are speaking to us and let's just take one particular topic. Let's take health. I know that's not what Assam is talking about here to that degree, but let's just take the topic of health. If you are on Instagram, Facebook, any of the other social platforms, social media platforms, or you watch TV or you gather books about health, And good health is important. We are the temple of God. So, we're temple of the Holy Spirit. So, we're supposed to take care of this temple. But it is crazy out there, you guys. All the different ways that people are telling us to get to good health. And we get a little crazy with it. we get a little crazy with exercise. It's good for you. I'm not telling you not to. But there are so many competing voices to supposedly get you to good health. there's many many other categories we could talk about, but what I think is amazing about someone is there is one place to get yourself spiritually aligned to get yourself even physically and emotionally healthy and that is by delighting in the law of the Lord and meditating on it day and night. And by that it means that you're going to have to I'm going to have to be in the word, not just to say, I, you know, I read a couple of verses. Good. I'm done for today. I'm covered for today. But to delight in what it says and to trust in what it says. And again, like I said, the competing voices out there will tell you everything else that you should be resting your hope in, but the word of God.
Yeah. And when I meditate and when I spend time in his word and I spend time listening to God, the psalmist goes on and says, "We'll be like trees planted along the riverbank, each bearing fruit in its season. In other words, there's a nourishment and a health that comes with focusing on what God says for me in my life. And it provides a healthy lifestyle.
And even when the next verse says, "Their leaves shall never wither and they shall prosper in all they do.", you know, we where we live there are pretty much four seasons. You know, we have a hot summer, we have a fall. that it can get cold, winter gets cold, spring gets beautiful. And in those four seasons, if you watch the trees in your neighborhood, in your yard, you'll see that they go through a metamorphosis. In those four seasons, right now, everything here where we live is bright green and lush and everything. But come fall, those same leaves that look alive will die. But the tree is not dead because it's grounded and rooted. Yeah. And so our encouragement as we begin this summer in the Psalms is for you to spend time in God's word to listen for his voice, to hear his voice, to let that be the guiding light for your daily walk. and it's not a once a it's not a one-time thing. It's not a well, I'll do that today as we begin this summer, but I'm not going to do that every day. No, we're to meditate on his word day and night. A not as a requirement, but as his source of finding life that was healthy and life that will provide nourishment for us. And so we encourage you this summer that you'll spend some time listening to the voice of God over other voices.
Thank you so much for joining us again. remember to go on our website. It's tandemspirituality. com. We will be updating some pictures there soon and hopefully have a weekly little blog post. We're not there yet, but we're hoping for that. Also remember the book Struggling Well, that Jimmy has written, you can get it at Amazon, at most other places that sell books. And as usual, we want to thank our producer, Tim, for being so committed to us. he is our son in the faith and we love him. So, thanks for being with us. Thanks for joining us. To learn more about the Struggling Well podcast, visit tandemspirituality. com.