Reading and praying the Psalms is emotional training, a godly course-correct to our wayward (or absent) emotions. It’s preventative medicine for when a crisis comes our way. Yes, praying the Psalms poses a challenge for 21st century readers as we wrestle with their meaning and message. But I’m convinced we will be rewarded for our labors, and in the end they will help our hearts to beat with God’s, filling us with eternal hope in Him as we navigate the troubled waters of this world.

In a recent Wall Street Journal article, therapists shared their favorite coping strategies for anxiety.[1] They include normal recommendations like sleep and exercise, and surprising ones like looking at memes of pets, jumping off of cliffs on vacation, breathing slowly to classical music, and spending time with tomato plants.

I see nothing wrong with these surprising remedies to anxiety (and think we can thank God for them as signs of common grace). But as I read the article, I couldn’t help but be thankful for the gift of prayer. In prayer, the God of the universe invites us into His presence to experience peace beyond all understanding (Philippians 4:6–7). When troubling emotions come, our first place to turn is not to the tomato plants, but to our heavenly Father.

And yet, my emotional problems aren’t just with the troubling ones. I’ve recognized how a lack of certain emotions poses a problem. A lackadaisical attitude toward sin, evil in the world, or the glories of God fall short of God’s desire for me. He created us as emotional creatures to love what He loves and hate what He hates.

As I’ve processed my troubling emotions and sinful apathy, I’ve found one part of Scripture particularly helpful: the Psalms.

The Psalms and Emotion

The Psalms not only help us know what we can say in prayer (often one of our biggest struggles), they help us know what to feel. They are, as Calvin wrote, “an anatomy of the soul” and share all shades of human emotion from deepest despair to exuberant praise. We find saints processing the good and bad of life in a godly way. Reading and praying the Psalms takes us into their emotional world, how they wrestled with God and eventually found hope.

Consider these two ways the Psalms can help us:

1. When Emotions Are Out of Control: Channel Your Emotions in a Biblical Way.

Sometimes our emotions feel like a runaway train. We may feel justified in having intense emotions but can’t stop their momentum from crossing the line into sin.

These days, nothing boils the blood quite like politics. A politician’s foolish word or wicked action can light a fire in me, and when unchecked, can quickly grow and spread to other areas of my life.

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