Spirituality For Normal People

A lot of people quietly assume that real spirituality belongs to somebody else.

Some people think it belongs to the naturally disciplined. Some think it belongs to people who always feel close to God. Some think it belongs to people who know the Bible better, pray better, feel deeper, or fail less.

But the Psalms paint a very different picture. They show us what life with God actually looks like from the inside, and what they reveal is better news than most of us realize.

The Psalms give us a glimpse under the hood of what it looks like to have a relationship with the Lord. The Psalms are showing us what it’s like to live a life with God from the inside.

And yet, when we trek through the 150 psalms in the Bible and we see a glimpse of what life with God is like from the inside, instead of robbing it of the magic, it actually intensifies the magic.

Because the Psalms lay down something for us that is more important than many people realize, something I like to call spirituality for normal people.

So, what is spirituality for normal people?

It’s what we call the day-to-day spiritual life we live with God where He meets us where we are instead of demanding that we come meet Him where He is.

I love the way Psalm 145:18 puts this:

“Yahweh is near to all those who call on him, to all who call on him in truth.” (Psalm 145:18)

Where does God meet us? Wherever we call on Him from.

And Psalm 62:8:

“Trust in him at all times, you people. Pour out your heart before him. God is a refuge for us.” (Psalm 62:8)

What does God expect from us when we call on Him? Nothing except for us to pour whatever is in our hearts out to Him and let Him be our refuge.

And Psalm 34:18:

“Yahweh is near to those who have a broken heart, and saves those who have a crushed spirit.” (Psalm 34:18)

What kind of face do we have to put on when we come to Him? No face, no mask, no pretending. We bring Him our crushed spirit just like we can bring Him our worshipful spirit, and He will draw near to us all the same.

The Psalms are a really beautiful glimpse of this day-to-day spiritual life we live with God where He meets us where we are instead of demanding that we come meet Him where He is.

And the Psalms are a guide to what it looks like to actually live this life with the Lord.

Because part of what we see happening in the Psalms is that God lives out each day of our lives with normal people like us.

The people in the Psalms are exactly like you and me.

And I mean exactly.

These people are not special. These people are not even particularly smart compared to you or I or anybody else. These are not people with a bunch of unique spiritual wisdom. These are people who are often emotionally all over the place. These are people who forget who God is, what He is like, what He wants for us and from us. These are people who forget how to trust Him. People who walk away from His will. People who fall wildly short of His ways.

The Psalms are not a diary of the spiritual elite.

The Psalms are a glimpse into what it looks like when normal people like you and I come into contact with the all-powerful, all-knowing, all-good God of the universe.

And that means that the Psalms are for you.

Because if you are someone who has always been kind of curious about God, but you’ve never known Him, then the message that the Psalms have for you is that God wants to know you.

He wants to be with you.

He wants to live out your life with you.

The message the Psalms have for you is that you can go to the Lord right now.

If you come to the Lord today and say, “I don’t know much. I’m not worthy, but I want to know you,” He will not turn you away.

Today can be the first day of your life with this God who meets you where you are.