By 
As an assignment in a seminary course covering The Psalms, I was asked to write two psalms of my own. One was to be in the genre of a praise psalm and one was to be in the genre of a lament psalm. Following some of the specific styles, patterns, and literary structures used by David and other ancient writers, these were to look like psalms as well as sound like them. The assignment stands out as one of my favorites in all of my seminary work, probably because as I worked to write each psalm, I gave much thought to what I wanted to express to God about real situations and feelings I was dealing with at the time. After all, that is exactly what the writers of the Psalms were doing. We can read the Psalms and see if Israel as a whole or David as an individual was struggling with the fear of facing enemies or rejoicing over what God had done, in blessing their families or the land.
The following two Psalms were written within days of each other and as a read them now, I see that my life then and now on any given day can produce both heartfelt praise and heartbreaking lament. I am almost certain yours is the same. I learned how healthful it is to be real with God both on the mountaintops and in the valleys. I also learned how freeing it is to capture all kinds of feelings, put them into words, and shape the words to fit the poetic template or form the ancient Hebrew writers perfected and unknowingly passed along to us.
One of the very best books on this subject available today is written by the professor that taught my course. He is Ronald B. Allen and his book is And I Will Praise Him – A Guide to Worship in the Psalms. There you will learn how masterful the poets that composed the Psalms were in artistically declaring the revelation of God’s glory. Theirs was a high calling - to magnify and glorify the Person of God. We have the same calling. Read the Psalms to praise the Lord. Read the Psalms to lament. They are a gift of God to us, miraculously preserved. They become our gift back to Him when we use them to worship Him no matter our circumstances.
Try writing your own Psalm. Spend some time deciding what you want God to know about what you are feeling. No one but you need see it. From my experience, you will be glad you wrote it and your Father in heaven will hear it as “music to His ears.” Here are the two I wrote.
A Psalm of Praise
Come together all you who know and love the LORD.
Let us sing of his grace and his great salvation.
Praise the LORD.
Join our singing all you who worship and serve in His church.
Praise the LORD - for one day we shall see Him as He is.
I know that the LORD is great.
He has taken away my sin and given me
His righteousness.
He has given me a new heart and placed
His Holy Spirit within me.
He shows me the way I should go, saying
this is the way. Walk in it.
There is no other – He alone is the Most High God.
Isaiah saw Him, high and lifted up with cherubim
praising His holiness before Him.
From His throne He rules all men, nature, and angelic hosts.
Praise Him all creatures here below.
Cry Holy, Holy, Holy is the LORD God of Hosts.
A Psalm of Lament
Wake up, O LORD and listen to my lament.
Arise, open your eyes to see me in my distress.
You are my LORD, who I love and you are
my God in whom I trust.
Do not look away or cover your ears
as I seek your help.
Save me from this sadness so I may sing to you again.
People I love are disappointing me.
They do not walk in your ways and they refuse
to forsake their sin.
They trample my feelings and bring me down
to the depths, where I feel alone.
Great is my sorrow and pain.
I seek you each morning and cry to you through the day.
Why do I not see you or hear you speak?
Where can I find you?
But you are not a God who abandons your own and
by your grace I belong to you.
Surely you will yet shine in my darkness and your glory
will make me glad.
Susan Howard
I am Susan Howard and I live in Tyler, Texas. I am the mother of 3 grown children, all married, and the grandmother of 7. I grew up in Tyler as the daughter of a Methodist minister so from my earliest memory I have loved being in church and learning about the Lord. I graduated from Southern Methodist University with a B.A. in English and History along with a teaching certification. I taught English for several years, but my passion is to teach the Bible and I have done that most of my life. I have taught Sunday school at every level, several middle school Bible studies, BSF classes and many other women’s Bible studies, most of those in my home. Desiring to strengthen my teaching, after raising my children, I attended and graduated from Dallas Theological Seminary in 2014 with a Master of Arts degree in Biblical Studies. I currently serve as Executive Director of Womenary, a theological studies program for women.
When I am not teaching and studying, I am nurturing grandchildren, attending their soccer games, helping them with school projects, and thoroughly enjoying the blessing that they are. Otherwise, I love to play golf, to read, to plant and grow things, to have lunch with my friends, to pray, and to watch for the next place God is leading me to do His work. I would describe myself as a life-long learner and I have found that that description is accurate and appropriate for women I meet that are following hard after Christ, in whom all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge are hidden. (Col. 2:3) My desire is to be continuously discovering as many of those treasures as He gives me eyes to see, to the end that I may live according to His wisdom and knowledge and make it known to others.
Susan can be contacted at info@womenary.com 
