Psalms are actually meant to be read slowly and thoughtfully. Sometimes when you're reading a story,

you just want to get through it. You know, you want to get to, I want to find out what happens.

But that's not the way the Psalms work. It's just that a lot of scripture, you can read

through it quickly and get through the story, so to speak. But with a Psalm, it's a lot of scripture, you can read through it quickly and get through the story,

so to speak.

But with a psalm, a lot of times it is emotional, and you do want to kind of slow down and take it all in.

Winfrey Brisley and Sharonda Cooper worked together at the Gospel Coalition, where Winfrey serves

as an editor and Sharonda serves as a content

coordinator for women's initiatives. Their new book together is called, Turn Your Eyes, a Bible

study on the Psalms from Crossway. Winfrey, Sharonda, thanks so much for joining me today on the

Crossway podcast. Yeah, it's great to be with you. Thanks for having us.

So before we jump into some of the really, I think, important and interesting things that

you two explore about the Psalms in your new Bible study, I wonder if we can just start

really broad.

What are three or four of your favorite things about the Psalms?

Shoranda, can we start with you? Yes, I think one of your favorite things about the Psalms? Shranda, can we start with you?

Yes, I think one of my favorite things about the Psalms is the fact that they give words to our emotions.

A lot of times you feel sad, you feel happy, you feel scared, and you want to pray, but you don't necessarily have the words.

So there are Psalms that help us give words to our prayers and really think through how the Lord

is shepherding us through our fears and through our sorrows and through our joys through the things

that are good yeah the psalms kind of blow up some of our honestly unbiblical ways of thinking about prayer

where we sometimes can think that we have to approach god all buttoned up and you know that maybe faith

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