Psalms

My Journal - Agatha Nolen

Photo by Aaron Burden on Unsplash

Another Immersive Week at Duke is complete. I’m enrolled in the Master of Divinity program at Duke University. It is in a hybrid format, so I travel to Durham three weeks of the year to start each term and then have weekly zoom classes. I’m a senior looking forward to graduation in May 2025.

This term I’m taking a class in Old Testament in Leadership with Dr. Ellen Davis. We had a great week with lots of reading, daily journals, and group-led discussions. I participated in the group that led the discussion on Thursday that was on the Book of Proverbs but the most meaningful lesson for me was the Friday lesson on the Book of Psalms.

Our daily journal was different for Friday; we were asked to write our own Psalm. It was very different from studying the Psalms to determine the voice of the Psalmist as they both praise God and cry out for God’s ear.

But my Psalm was different. I had to put myself in the place of the Psalmist. For what was I crying out to God for? Was I still able to praise God in my time of need?

Here’s my Psalm. How would you frame words to God if you wrote your own?

Psalm

(Thanksgiving for time in waiting)

Hear my case, O Lord;

open your ears to my heart.

You will find no deceit in me;

my mouth continues to praise your name.

A path has closed, but you are with me;

You carry me on your shoulders to new lands.

I trust in your faithfulness;

like a mother bear for her newborn cub, you care for your children.

I count the minutes;

You see into eternity and the cosmos is under your tender control.

As I wait, your name is on my lips;

When I awake, I will be bathed in joy.

Blessings, my friend,

Agatha