For almost as long as I can remember, I have read a psalm at the start of each day. By doing so, one reads through the Psalter every five months. And the psalms provide great spiritual encouragement. And there’s nothing wrong with that. But do we understand them? What do they mean, to me, today? But the more I read them, the more I came to realise that if someone asked me the same question that Philip asked of the Ethiopian official in Acts 8:30 – “Do you understand what you are reading?” – I might give the same answer, “How can I, unless someone guides me?” (Acts 8:31).

And so, in June 2019, much in need of a new project, I set my hand to writing a short exposition on each psalm. For each psalm, I aim to show its historical setting, explain its meaning, apply its teaching to our daily lives, and see how the psalmist points us to the Lord Jesus Christ, all in just over 1,000 words.

The Christian publishing company DAY ONE have now kindly published the first two volumes covering Psalms 1-41 (Volume 1) and Psalms 42-72 (Volume 2). Volume 3 (Psalms 73-106) should be published either late-2023 or early-2024. Books are available directly from the publishers at http://www.dayone.co.uk

I am most grateful to Mark Roberts, the Managing Director of Day One for his invaluable support in this project, and to Rico Tice (Senior Minister, Evangelism, All Souls Church, London) who has generously contributed a Foreword to each volume.