This blog is written by Henry Miersma.

Psalms Journal is a newly released book, yes, but it is really a workbook–a devotional tool that invites you to meditate and reflect on one Psalm each day for 21 straight days, prompting you to journal your observations, reflections and responses to God’s Word. Additional prompts help you create prayer points for praying into the day’s Psalm.

Tim asked me to share how the book came into being, so I’ll start by asking this: Have you ever spent a significant amount of time walking alone with someone–just the two of you? My wife Rhonda and I did that some years ago when we committed to join a group from church on a tour of Israel. We were advised to get into good hiking-shape for the trip, so we set aside multiple hours a week, for several months, to do exactly that.

Rather than walk the flat sidewalks of our neighborhood, we drove 10 minutes to a loop of fire-roads that meandered up-and-down our local hills. There we could walk side-by-side for close-to an hour while getting in a good workout.

Did we get into good hiking shape? Yes, we did. But there were added benefits, too. The hikes provided us with an extended time where we could be together, talk quietly, and catch-up with each other’s life. Those long walks together were great for our relationship.

That season helped me understand the level of relational intimacy implied by the phrase walking humbly with our God found in Micah 6:8. That phrase tells me that our Father in Heaven desires for us to slow down and regularly spend extended time alone with Him. So when Tim wrote last week about how we live in the “noisiest time in human history,” it struck a chord in me because I recognize my need to “work on my walk” and Satan is seemingly doing everything possible to distract me from spending time with God!

It was within that spirit, of desiring to work on my own walk with God, that Psalms Journal was born. But it is not why it exists.

The Genesis of Psalms Journal

Psalms Journal is a result of two adventure retreats I took in the wilderness of Utah, some twenty-five years apart. The first trip included hiking the slot canyons of the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument. The second was a multi-day canoe trip down the Green River.

Two things tie the trips together in my mind.

First, both trips featured solo time in the profoundly stark quiet of the Utah wilderness. Second, both trips were the brainchild of my cocontributor and cousin (by marriage), Dave Tanis.

During the first trip in 1997, Dave provided the members of our group with a devotional outline to use during our quiet time. At the bottom of the sheet was a list of eighteen psalms to consider reading. The outline’s title was “Actively Acknowledging and Engaging in God’s Presence.” I used the outline during the trip and continued using it when I returned home. I’ve kept the worksheet ever since.

Fast forward twenty-five years: Dave invited me to join a group of men on a combination adventure/spiritual retreat canoeing Utah’s Green River. Remembering my need to improve my walk, I agreed to join the group. That was April of 2022.

I spent my solo time on that trip sitting on a mesa above a bend in the Green River, enjoying the protective shade of a stand of cottonwood trees and the views of red-rock canyon walls around me. It was there, while journaling, that I felt a prompt from the Spirit centered on the word writing.

I wrestled with that prompt for quite a while. After returning home and praying for several months for clarity, I didn’t feel called to write, myself. Instead, my understanding of the prompt I received is this: I believe God wants us to write—to journal, to cry out to Him from the depths of our hearts. My role has been to create a tool that encourages us to write.

That’s why Psalms Journal exists.

Once my role became clear to me, I decided to expand upon the outline Dave Tanis provided back in 1997. Consulting with both Dave and Tim Spykstra, we produced the final list of 21 psalms and the prompts that guide you through the journaling process.

Reflect, Journal, Pray

Psalms Journal is a devotional workbook that offers a guided journey through twenty-one selected psalms to help you ponder their meaning and examine their connection to your life today, all while you develop a habit of journaling and praying.

It is designed to help you with:
• Thinking–to truly focus as you ponder and meditate on His word
• Growing–in Knowledge of God’s Word
• Authenticity–in taking an honest appraisal of your own heart
• Learning–on how to be transparent with God
• Retaining–to remember what you read and study
• Referencing–tracking how God has worked in your life, both currently and in the past
• Prayer–formulate your prayers based upon the words and themes of these 21 selected Psalms

The ultimate goal is for you to discover the heart of the living God, to cry out to Him through journaling and prayer, and to strengthen your walk with Him.

Click here to find the book on Amazon!

We’re pretty sure we saw a Chinese submarine lurking off our shores the other day as South Africa, Russia, and China have been doing military drills together over the last month. At the same time we have a radical political party which has called for a national strike to shut down the country in protest over our economic collapse and other politically motivated reasons. You add to this all the shaking that is going on all over the world from natural disasters, wars, banks collapsing, political turmoil, etc. it’s hard to find something in life that is truly secure.

As I saw the red star on the submarine it was a surreal moment that disrupted the peaceful setting with a few disturbing thoughts. But as my mind was jumping all over the place I was reminded of the Psalm which I mediated on that morning, especially these words:

“He will cover you with His feathers, and under His wings you will find refuge; His faithfulness will be your shield and rampart. You will not fear the terror of night nor the arrow that flies by day, nor the pestilence that stalks in the darkness nor the plaque that destroys at midday.” (Psalm 91:4-6)

In my journal that morning I wrote these word; “Thank you Abba Father that I can live under the wings of your love on the Mercy Seat, the safest place to be. A seat filled with forgiveness, authority, covenant promises, miracles, provision, protection, love, grace, everything good is there. A seat where You speak to Your children, a place of eternal hope…the greatest seat in the world, the most expensive seat ever purchased with precious blood and this is where I’m called to live…”

The Holy Spirit was reminding me that I live, because of the cross of Christ, in the heavenly holy of holies seated with Christ on the Mercy Seat. With the wings of the cherubim covering His beloved children with everlasting protection from any attacks of the enemy.

Remember we have a symbolic picture of what our seat looks like in the Ark of the Covenant (Exodus 37:1-9). The place where once a year the high priest would sprinkle the blood of the sacrifices on the Mercy Seat as a symbol of the complete forgiveness that would come in Christ. Now all the Father’s children who have put their faith in the finished work of Jesus are seated with Him in the Spirit (Ephesians 2:6).

So whatever may happen in this world we view it from the securest vantage point in the universe. Our souls are held forever secure with the loving arms of the Savior on the Mercy Seat.  Don’t miss how the Psalm ends:

“Because He loves me,’ says the LORD, “I will rescue him; I will protect him, for he acknowledges My name. He will call upon Me, and I will answer him; I will be with him in trouble, I will deliver him and honor him. With long life will I satisfy him and show him My salvation.” (vs. 14-15)