60 days, songs of life and we're going through the Psalms together. My hope is that you will engage with your whole heart wherever you go and whatever you do this summer, because the Psalms are one of the most beautiful books in the Bible. Nowhere else do we really see this incredible humanity and divinity right next to each other, but we see the brokenness and the pain and the hurt and the heartbreak and the vulnerability of man's heart, and we see the goodness and the grace and the majesty of God right next to each other. You see the Psalms as full of pain and praise and prayer, and so what we're doing as a church is we're just reading through the Psalms together. And if you just engage with the reading plan, it's like a chapter or two a day. By the end of the summer, you will have read the entire book of Psalms.

And what we're doing is not just trying to read through it to get through it. What we're inviting you to do is to read the chapters of the day and then take one verse, just one, any verse that as you read jumped out at you, and then take a few minutes to just meditate on that verse. You say, what does it mean to meditate? Well, to meditate means just to think about it, to dwell on it, to turn it over and over in your mind. You already know how to meditate whether you realize it or not. Do you know how to worry? Then you know how to meditate because to worry is to simply take something and turn it over and over and over in your mind, it's just usually not a good thing. Well, meditation is taking a good thing and it's turning it over and over in our mind and watching as the Lord brings fresh revelation and insight and understanding to it.

In fact, the very first chapter of Psalms it tells us blessed is the man who meditates on the word of God. There is a blessing, a flourishing, a supernatural power that comes into your life when you will meditate, think, thought, dwell, turn over the word of God in your mind. Come on, over these last two years there's been so many thoughts that have been bombarded our minds. So much news, so much brokenness, so much destruction and we've thought and dwelled and turned on all those things. And we've found too much revelation of that stuff. We got to get it out of our minds. Why? Because the Bible says be transformed by the renewing of your minds. In other words, if you will change your thinking, it changes how you live your life and that's what meditation does.

In fact, this is why Paul in Philippians four tells us whatever is true. Whatever is noble, whatever is right. Whatever is lovely, whatever is excellent or praiseworthy. Think on these things. You know what's true and noble and excellent and praiseworthy? The word of God. And so as you read the Psalms, take one verse, then just sit there, quiet yourself for a moment, just turn it over and over in your mind. For example, Psalm 23:1, the Lord is my shepherd I shall not want. The Lord is my shepherd I shall not want, think about it. The Lord, he is the Lord. He is God, he is Supreme. He is ruler. He is almighty. He is over everything. The Lord is my shepherd. He's my shepherd. He's not someone else's shepherd. He's not just my friend shepherd or my parents shepherd or my kids shepherd, no, he's my shepherd. He cares about me and he knows me and he's a shepherd.

He's not a thief and he's not a wolf, he's good. And he is leading me towards green pastures and still waters. The Lord is my shepherd and I shall not want, I shall not want, even if I feel like I don't have all the things that I want or that I need, he's telling me that he will provide for me and take care of me and I will lack nothing. See how that works? That it's like 30 seconds of just turning it and thinking about it and dwelling on each word and allowing the holy spirit that's within you to illuminate a light and lighten things as the guide, as the counselor, as the one who unfolds things to you. And then as you start meditating on that, just pray it back to God. God, thank you that you are the Lord, that you're ruling and reigning over everything, that you are my shepherd that you care about me.

And you know me, thank you that you are a shepherd and I choose today to follow you wherever you lead. And I know in you, I shall not want that and you will take care of all of my needs and provide for me through everything you have done through Jesus. See how that works? Can you imagine what your mind and your heart will be like at the end of these 60 days if you just walk through this? There are things to grieve. There are things to be grateful for. There are prayers to pray. There is revelation and insight and theology to absorb in your soul. But come on, let's take this summer and turn our minds towards the Lord as we meditate on the goodness of his word. Blessed is the man or woman who meditates on the word of God.