All of our homes come in different shapes and sizes, numbers of rooms, bathrooms, and several  other different features. Some have garages while others have carports. Some have an upstairs while  others have a downstairs. Some even have both! But what do all of our homes have in common?  Each of them has a medicine cabinet (drawer, cubby, etc.). The medicine cabinet is the place where  we keep the medicine we use when we aren’t feeling well. You can find all sorts of medicines for all  sorts of uses in our medicine cabinets. Inhalers, Tums, Pepto Bismol, Tylenol, Vicks, decongestants,  and a host of others find their home in the medicine cabinet and all of them aide (or at least we hope)  in making us feel better and comforting us when we are hurting.  

Just as all of our homes have a medicine cabinet of sorts, so do our Bibles. While we could say that  the entire Bible is one big medicine cabinet for the struggling and failing believer, the Psalms are  what I want to focus on here.  

If you’re reading through the Bible using the plan that we gave out at the beginning of the year, then you are experiencing the balm that the Psalms are right now. Just this morning we read,  

“3 The LORD sustains him on his sickbed;  
in his illness you restore him to full health.  
4 As for me, I said, ‘O LORD, be gracious to me;  
heal me, for I have sinned against you!’”

Over and over again in the Psalms, through the languishing and the cries of his people, we find the  Lord showing up to comfort his broken people. It’s when we allow ourselves to enter into the hurt  and brokenness of the Psalmists that we too can experience the same comfort from their God that  they did.  

Just think of how the Psalms begin! What does Psalm 1 promise to the person that delights and  reads the Law (and the Psalms) meditatively? It promises health. Psalm 1:3 says,  

“3 He is like a tree  
planted by streams of water  
that yields its fruit in its season,  
and its leaf does not wither.  
In all that he does, he prospers.”

Let’s think of a few more areas. In Psalm 51, the Psalms speak to our sin. In Psalm 37, the Psalms  speak to living in a world with evil doers. In Psalm 46, God sits with us in the wake of devastation.  In Psalm 61, among dozens of others, the Psalms reassure us that our salvation is from God. In Psalm 3, the Psalms speak to our fears. In Psalm 16, the Psalms remind us that we will have endless  joy as we spend eternity in the presence of God.  

The best part of the Psalms, though, is not in that it invites us to praise, lament, confess, or ask God  to do big things. The best part of the Psalms, and what makes it medicine for our souls is that it  constantly points us to the Healer, Jesus Christ.  

Psalm 1 – Jesus is the Blessed Man.  
Psalm 2 – Jesus is God’s anointed Son.
Psalm 6 – Jesus is the Man of Sorrows.  
Psalm 22 – Jesus uUers this cry as he hung on the cross for man’s sins.  
Psalm 23 – Jesus is the Good Shepherd.  
Psalm 45 – Jesus is the God whose throne is forever and ever.  

The list could go on, but you get the point. The point is that the Psalms are medicine because  whenever we enter the Psalms, we meet the Savior.  

How to Read the Psalms
To close, I want to give you a few different ways that you might consider in jumping into the Psalms  for yourself.  

1. Read with us in the Bible reading plan that we gave out to the church. If you want one, I’ll  get you one. You don’t have to wait until next month or next year, you can jump into the  Psalms right now.  
2. Read a Psalm a day. This is a really easy and accessible way for someone to build the habit of  reading the Bible every day. Most Psalms are relatively short and won’t take you very long  to read.
3. Read the Psalms for family devotions. If you have ever wanted to begin family devotions but  don’t know where to start, start here!  
4. If you are a preUy intense reader of scripture, one way you might try reading the Psalms is  the way that Tim Keller did. Tim Keller read (and prayed through) the entire Psalter once a  month for decades of his life. If you want to stockpile medicine for your soul, and for others,  this is surely one good way to do it.  

Church, take advantage of this wonderful book of the Bible that meets us right where we are, often  mends our hearts, invites us to relate to our God, and teaches us how to do so. The Psalms are the  medicine cabinet of the Bible. Get yourself some medicine today!