Maybe, like me, you’re a bundle of paradoxes. On one hand, I bear God’s image. I have a marvelous capacity to cultivate beauty, experience intimacy, invent solutions, make promises, show mercy, resist evil, build culture, and encounter wonder. On my best days, God’s glory is profoundly displayed in my life.

On the other hand, I have this inescapable sense that I don’t reflect God as I should. The mirror of my life gets smudged and tarnished. I have a dreadful capacity to corrupt beauty, shatter intimacy, create problems, break promises, exploit the vulnerable, be tempted by evil, destroy culture, and become jaded with wonder.

What do we do about the frustrating duality of our souls?

Enter the ancient guide of the Psalms一the hymnbook of God’s people. The Psalms don’t offer simple formulas to solve the paradox of our souls. Instead, they employ the language of formation. They give us permission to be in flux, while simultaneously pointing us to the unchanging stability of our Creator. The Psalms let us rant and weep, sing and scream, laugh and lament一all with an eye to heaven, knowing that our help comes from the Lord (Ps. 121:1). As a trellis prods a vine sunward, so the Psalms turn our souls God-ward. In real life, confusion and confidence often go hand-in-hand, thus the Psalms speak powerfully to the intricate anatomy of our souls.

When studying the Psalms, we discover we’re not alone. We suddenly realize, with a sigh of relief, that the path we’re on is well-worn by the saints before us. Our bloodied knees don’t make us freaks; they merely signal we’re on the path of formation. Satan would have us believe that, because we struggle, we’re unworthy of Christian fellowship. The Psalms retort: No, these are the normal growing pains of a child of God.

This book is for those who believe the gospel impacts all of life一the Savior who forgives sins is also the Good Shepherd who restores souls. This book is for those whose unstable emotions ache for the commanding calm of Jesus’ words and Spirit. Into our bundles of paradoxes, may Jesus and the Psalms bring peace.