How To Pray Scripture

I don’t always have words when I sit down to pray.
Do you?

Some days, I’m overflowing with words—too many words. I even get annoyed at myself for how much I have to say.

Other days, I sit down feeling too weary, too sad, or too heavy to articulate anything that’s on my mind or heart.

On those days, I pray scripture.

My go-to is the Psalms.

I grab a pen and paper (usually a journal), open to a Psalm,
and start copying it down word for word.

I once heard someone describe it like this:

✈️ Reading through a book of the Bible all at once is like flying over a new city.
You get a good overview, a big picture.

🚗 Reading a book of the Bible chapter by chapter, at a slower pace, is like driving through the city.
You notice more detail, but it still moves by pretty quickly.

🚶🏻‍♀️ Writing out scripture, word for word, is like walking through the city.
You can smell the smells, feel the walls, hear the sounds. You soak in the details by walking through it word for word.

Each approach—✈️🚗🚶🏻‍♀️—has its merits. I do them all.
But when I’m wordless and weary, I choose to 🚶🏻‍♀️.

Here are a few Psalms to walk through, word for word, when you have no words:

3, 4, 5, 7, 9-10, 13, 14, 17, 22, 25, 26, 27, 28, 31, 36, 39, 40:12-17, 41, 42-43, 52, 53, 54, 55, 56, 57, 59, 61, 64, 70, 71, 77, 86, 89, 120, 139, 141, 142