My favorite book of the Bible has shifted over the years, but for the last few, I would have to call Paul’s letters to the Corinthians my favorite, and specifically, his second letter. But if I were to be limited to only one book for the rest of my life, that’s probably not the one I would select. That spot would have to go to the book of Psalms.

Psalms really has it all: encouragement and hope. Passages that exhort and teach, and others that correct and rebuke as needed. There are passages that even express some of the darker areas of the psalmist’s heart, and reflect my own as well at times. And there are passages that point to Jesus, such as Psalm 22 or 40 or 8, for example.

But Jesus is evident in more than just a handful of the Messianic Psalms. He is, in fact, to be seen in every single one of the Psalms. That’s the premise of Christ in the Psalms, by Patrick Henry Reardon. To my surprise, he sees evidence of Jesus even in passages I have never thought to associate with Christ, and does so in a very encouraging fashion.

Written as a mixture of commentary and devotional, Reardon’s book takes the reader on a fascinating journey through each of the 150 psalms in the Bible, and points out how each one reflects and reveals Jesus to us. Each “chapter” is merely a page and a half, and is, therefore, very quick and easy to read. The intention, of course, is to read it in conjunction with the Psalm in question, and reflect on what we can see of Jesus in each passage. In that way, it can easily be used as a devotional resource to guide us through the book of Psalms.

But it’s also a commentary, providing details about each passage, and instructing us to see it rightly. Many are connected to the psalms before or after it, or to parallel psalms later in the book. In this way, it’s an information and educational tool as well.

Reardon follows the numbering of the Septuagint, or Greek, text of the Old Testament. Because of this, beginning with Psalm 9, the numbers are lower by one from the more traditional Hebrew numbering that most English Bibles follow. However, this numbering is provided in parentheses to help avoid confusion as much as possible.

Christ in the Psalms was a book required for one of my classes at Lincoln Seminary, and one that I found to be very enlightening as I read it. It will be a resource I turn to again and again as I continue to read through the Psalms in the future.

If all I had access to for the rest of my life was the book of Psalms, I think it would be sufficient. Thankfully, I don’t have to make that choice for real. But at the same time, I find myself turning more and more to these 150 chapters for inspiration and comfort.

If you’d like to purchase Christ in the Psalms, you can find it on Amazon.com.