How the Book of Psalms Is Like No Other Biblical Book

Learning to Commune with God

The book of Psalms is the only book in the Bible that is actually written to God. From Genesis to Revelation, Scripture is God's Word to us. It is the Word of God—so it's God speaking to us.

The book of Psalms is the only book in the Bible that is actually written to God.

But there's one book in the middle—a big book right in the center of the Bible—that is not only God speaking to us and giving us his Word, but also God giving us a way to speak to him. It's the one book in the Bible that includes prayers. Everywhere else in the Bible you you might think, How do I read a chapter in Ezekiel or in the Gospels and turn that into prayer? In the Psalms, it's already done for you!

So the Psalms are especially suited for this devotional type of reflection.

Dane C. Ortlund (PhD, Wheaton College) serves as senior pastor of Naperville Presbyterian Church in Naperville, Illinois. He is the author of Gentle and Lowly: The Heart of Christ for Sinners and Sufferers and Deeper: Real Change for Real Sinners. Dane and his wife, Stacey, have five children.