{"id":14243,"date":"2025-10-09T17:00:40","date_gmt":"2025-10-09T21:00:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/sonderjourneys\/?p=14243"},"modified":"2025-10-09T17:00:40","modified_gmt":"2025-10-09T21:00:40","slug":"salvation-history-psalm-hiking","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/sonderjourneys\/?p=14243","title":{"rendered":"Salvation History Psalm – Hiking"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Last time I posted<\/a>, I said that there was only one type of Psalm that I hadn’t written an example psalm for. I was wrong. I also was missing an example for Salvation History Psalms. <\/p>\n

I don’t want to simply use the example I wrote for my book – because the whole point of the book is that people can take the patterns of these types and write their own psalms. So certainly I can write another example.<\/p>\n

As always, the point is not to make my words sound beautiful. The point is to show you something that anyone can try, another approach to prayer that might be helpful at some time in your life.<\/p>\n

The Psalms in the Bible that I’ve called Salvation History Psalms (and this category I got from my Biola professor, Dr. Edward Curtis, so these are mostly from his list) are: Psalms 44, 68, 77, 78, 81, 87, 89, 99, 105, 106, 114, 122, 126, 129, 135, and 136. Basically, I included Psalms in this category if they referred back to the people’s history with God, usually involving the nation of Israel.<\/p>\n

The key concepts I found in these Psalms are:
\n\u2022\tRemember
\n\u2022\tStories of Help
\n\u2022\tFaithlessness and Faithfulness
\n\u2022\tEntreaty
\n\u2022\tPraise<\/p>\n

But essentially, in the salvation history psalms we write for ourselves, the idea is to think back over how God has worked in your life or in your group’s life. We could also write one to pray for our country, talking about history that happened before we were even born.<\/p>\n

But today I was thinking about hiking.<\/p>\n

I am taking a short mini-retreat in the hills of West Virginia, and today I was hiking in the Autumn forest. This is a lull before I’m facing a possible big bend in the road of life. Or the path of life. For nine years I’ve lived alone, but now my oldest – the one I prayed a blessing over last time<\/a> – may be moving in with me, as the apartment she found didn’t end up working out. Now she’s staying with her dad, three hours away from me, and that may very well work out long term, but at least I am facing the possibility of some big life changes, and need to pray through my worries about that.<\/p>\n

So – I was looking for a topic for a Salvation History example psalm, and I decided that thinking about hiking fit the bill. Let’s see where that leads me.<\/p>\n

A Hiking History Psalm<\/p>\n

Father, the first hikes I went on as a kid
\nwere with my earthly father.
\nWe’d stop on the long drive to Oregon to visit Grandma and Grandpa
\nand go for a hike with Daddy!
\nI remember an amazing hike through the Redwoods,
\nand another hike at Silver Creek Falls.
\nHiking was something special and magical,
\na time with my sister,
\na time when you could share secrets
\nand enjoy an amazing lush world
\nso different from home in Los Angeles.<\/p>\n

When I was a young adult,
\nI dreamed of living in a place
\nwhere I could go hiking right from my own doorstep.
\nI was thinking a far-off dream for retirement,
\nso was astonished when all four places we lived in Germany fit exactly that.<\/p>\n

Later, as a single Mom, I dragged my kid to go hiking with me
\nwhen I could persuade him,
\nand shared special times in nature together.<\/p>\n

But for nine years now, I’ve learned the delight
\nof hiking alone.
\nNo one’s impatient at my picture-taking,
\nno one’s bothered by my pace,
\nI don’t have to worry about anyone else’s safety or enjoyment,
\nand I can commune with God and nature
\nand absorb the beauty and the peace.<\/p>\n

Now there’s a bend in the path ahead,
\nand it’s going through bushes,
\nso I can’t see where it leads.<\/p>\n

Two of my favorite hymns are about your leading, Lord.
\nI was singing “All the Way My Savior Leads Me” today:<\/p>\n

All the way my Savior leads me,
\ncheers each winding path I tread,
\ngives me grace for every trial,
\nfeeds me with the living bread.
\nThough my weary steps may falter,
\nor my soul athirst may be,
\ngushing from the rock before me,
\nlo, a spring of joy I see.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

And “He Leadeth Me”:<\/p>\n

He leadeth me, O blessed thought!
\nO words with heavenly comfort fraught!
\nWhate’er I do, where’er I be,
\nstill ’tis God’s hand that leadeth me.<\/p>\n

He leadeth me; he leadeth me.
\nBy his own hand he leadeth me.
\nHis faithful foll’wer I would be,
\nfor by his hand, he leadeth me.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

And this week, my small group is looking
\nat the passage in the Lord’s Prayer:
\n“And lead us, not into temptation…”<\/p>\n

I believe that you, Lord, give guidance;
\nI believe that you show us the way we should go.
\nYou say in James:<\/p>\n

If any of you lack wisdom,
\nlet them ask God,
\nwho gives to all generously
\nand without finding fault,
\nand it will be given to them.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

And yes, Lord, you have led me,
\nover and over again in the past.
\nWhen I asked you for wisdom and guidance,
\nyou always helped me through.
\nI do believe you won’t leave me alone now.<\/p>\n

Lord, there are things I’m worried about for my daughter;
\nI want her to launch well.
\nBut thank you that you promise
\nto give both of us wisdom
\nto show us the path.
\nThank you for all the joys that will come with this change
\nand someone to hike with again.<\/p>\n

On today’s path, they were not generous with the trail markers,
\nbut every single time I wasn’t sure which way to go –
\nI’d look up and spot a trail marker,
\nmaking my path clear.<\/p>\n

Make our steps clear, Loving Father.
\nShow us the way, Mother and Nurturer.<\/p>\n

And thank you that you walk with us
\non the paths of life.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Last time I posted, I said that there was only one type of Psalm that I hadn’t written an example psalm for. I was wrong. I also was missing an example for Salvation History Psalms. I don’t want to simply use the example I wrote for my book – because the whole point of the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[55,70],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-14243","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-praying-with-the-psalmists","category-salvation-history-psalms"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/sonderjourneys\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14243","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/sonderjourneys\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/sonderjourneys\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/sonderjourneys\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/sonderjourneys\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=14243"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/sonderjourneys\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14243\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":14246,"href":"https:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/sonderjourneys\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14243\/revisions\/14246"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/sonderjourneys\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=14243"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/sonderjourneys\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=14243"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/sonderjourneys\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=14243"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}