Four easy ways to use the Psalms as a Journal

If you’ve ever sat down to journal and stared at a blank page not knowing what to write — or felt too overwhelmed to even try, I would suggest four easy ways to use the Psalms to process your thoughts.

The Psalms Help Us Process

Not just as Scripture to read. But as a model for how to process what’s going on inside you. As a template for honest, raw, soul-level expression. As proof that God not only welcomes our emotions, He also inspired someone to write them down. God did this so we would know we are normal for feeling the way we do at times, that it’s OK to feel fear, doubt, depression, and anxiety because God has recorded examples of these throughout His word. 

the Psalms

The Psalms Are Remarkably Honest

If you’ve ever felt like you had to clean yourself up before coming to God — like your prayers needed to sound a certain way, use the right words, express the right amount of faith — the Psalms will encourage us to be honest. .

David didn’t clean himself up. He showed up exactly as he was.

He was angry. “How long, Lord? Will you forget me forever?” (Psalm 13:1). He was afraid. “My heart is in anguish within me; the terrors of death have fallen on me.” (Psalm 55:4). He was grieving. “I am worn out from my groaning. All night long I flood my bed with weeping.” (Psalm 6:6). He even felt betrayed by God Himself. “You have rejected and humbled us… you sold your people for a pittance.” (Psalm 44:9,12).

And yet — every single one of these Psalms is in the Bible. God kept them. He honored them. God breathed life into them so that you and I could read them thousands of years later and whisper, me too.

That tells us something profound about the kind of God we serve.

What Makes the Psalms a Mental Health Tool?

the Psalms

Modern therapy has a lot to say about the importance of naming and expressing emotions. Bottling things up, suppressing feelings, pretending we’re fine when we’re not — these things take a toll on our mental and physical health. Giving language to what we feel is one of the most powerful things we can do for our well-being.

The Psalms do exactly this — and they’ve been doing it for three thousand years.

When you read a Psalm that names what you’re feeling, something shifts. You feel less alone. Less ashamed. Less like something is wrong with you for feeling this way. And when you write your own response to a Psalm, or model one to record in your journal, you begin to process your emotions. The emotional healing begins because of the spiritual connection. They work in tandem.

So what is a way we can use the Psalm during our morning time with God?

How to Use the Psalms as a Journal

the Psalms

You don’t need any special supplies or training. Here are a few simple approaches below. But before that, let me say that when I suggest journaling, that doesn’t mean you have to keep a daily journal. This can be something you do sporadically or just when you read a Psalm. Plus, you don’t even have to use a notebook, just a blank piece of paper. AND, you don’t even have to keep it! If you want to, throw it away when you’re done, it’s about the process more than it is theend result.

Read and Respond

Choose a Psalm that matches your current mood or season. Read it slowly. Then open your journal and write freely in response. What resonated or surprised you? What do you want to say to God after reading it?

Rewrite It in Your Own Words

Take a Psalm and paraphrase it as if you wrote it yourself, substituting your own specific circumstances. Instead of “enemies surrounding me,” write about whatever feels threatening in your life right now. Make it personal. Make it yours.

Use It as a Prayer Prompt

If prayer feels difficult, let the Psalm lead you. Read one verse at a time and pause to pray in response to each one. Let the Psalmists’ words open the door to your own.

Track Your Emotional Patterns

Keep a simple log of which Psalms you’re drawn to over time. You may start to notice patterns. Me? I love Psalms 1, 5, 39, 40, 42, 46, and 91 for starters. I also love 139. There are probably many more. This kind of self-awareness is genuinely valuable, both spiritually and emotionally. The ones you consistently read lets you know your “set-point”. 

Mine is trust. I find it hard.

A Few Psalms to Start With

Not sure where to begin? Here are some Psalms that speak directly to common emotional struggles:

  • When you’re anxious: Psalm 46, Psalm 91
  • When you’re depressed or hopeless: Psalm 13, Psalm 88
  • When you’re exhausted: Psalm 23, Psalm 62
  • When you feel alone: Psalm 139, Psalm 27
  • When you’re angry at God: Psalm 44, Psalm 73
  • When you need to find your way back to gratitude: Psalm 103, Psalm 136

Notice that list includes a Psalm for when you’re angry at God. That’s not an accident. That kind of honesty is not only permitted — it’s modeled for us right there in Scripture.

The Arc of the Psalms

Here’s something beautiful worth noticing: most Psalms don’t stay in the dark place where they begin. They move to a resolution. They cry out but then, almost always, they arrive somewhere different by the end. Not always at joy; sometimes at trust. Sometimes just at I don’t understand this, but I choose to believe you are good.

That arc from honest pain to stubborn faith is itself a model for journaling. You don’t have to end your entry with a bow on top. But you can end it with a turning toward God, however small.

“Why, my soul, are you downcast? Why so disturbed within me? Put your hope in God, for I will yet praise him, my Savior and my God.” — Psalm 42:11

David asked his own soul that question. You can ask yours too.

You Don’t Have to Have It Together

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Broken, confused, exhausted, angry, grieving, all of it is welcome. All of it has a place. All of it can become prayer. The Psalms give us permission to come to God in pieces

Pick up your journal or your piece of paper. Open to the Psalms. And let three thousand years of honest, Spirit-breathed emotion show you that you are not alone. God has always been, and continues to be,  big enough to hold whatever you bring Him.

“Cast your cares on the Lord, and he will sustain you; he will never let the righteous be shaken.” — Psalm 55:22.

God bless, and have a good day.