Psalms to Heal the Soul

Rebecca Poe Hays’ research on reading Psalms to promote resilience and healing from trauma

by Beth Ann Hargis and Rebecca Poe Hays, PhD

January 8, 2025

The Psalms have long been a source of comfort and strength, offering timeless words for both moments of triumph and despair. For those navigating pain and seeking restoration, the Psalms are a place to find meaning and language that can lead from human suffering to divine hope.

Rebecca Poe Hays, PhD, assistant professor of Christian Scriptures at Truett Seminary, has personally experienced the transformative power of the Psalms and has dedicated a significant amount of her research to connecting the historical understanding of Psalms to modern-day application, especially in relation to resilience and trauma healing.

“Life in this world is hard—and that’s not a new thing,” said Hays. “One reason I love the ‘older’ Testament so much is because it doesn’t gloss over the challenges we face trying to live in this world and to be the people of God. The book of Psalms is particularly helpful here because it lets us hear from God’s people themselves as they reflect upon a whole range of human experiences and emotions. These 150 song-prayers bear witness to the power of worshipping together, of talking honestly to God, and to the fact that we can be completely confident that God will never leave us nor forsake us.”

The authenticity and practicality of the words found in Psalms not only fosters a mindset of resilience but also shifts one’s way of thinking and leads the reader toward trust in God’s faithful love and saving power.

In a two-part article written for the Baptist Standard, Hays emphasizes two transformative aspects of the Psalms. From explaining how the verses offer a framework for processing difficult emotions to support personal resiliency and strengthening one’s connectedness to others, Hays outlines how God, the “great healer,” uses the Psalms as a guide for prayer, a support in suffering, and a tool for resilience.

“I often tell my students the Psalter is ‘the original Lord’s Prayer,’” said Hays. “Just like the five books of Moses give instructions for how to live as God’s people, the five books of the Psalms teach us how to pray. They give us models for lots of different situations and feelings.”

She continues, “If we are to take seriously the authority Scripture bears, then we need to take seriously the ways God is teaching us to pray in the Psalms, even the ways of praying that make us uncomfortable.”

In a forthcoming book, Hays is collecting studies of how songs and singing throughout the biblical tradition communicate the experiences of different kinds of trauma, reflect and offer healing, and encourage the development of resilience.

After a psychologist’s introduction to trauma and resilience theory and how they relate to singing, the chapters found in this book focus on specific song texts from Scripture—Old Testament and New Testament both—to address a particular dimension of trauma or resilience as it connects to the concerns of human flourishing in a challenging world.

“I’ve just finished writing a more academic book on trauma and resilience in the Psalms, and I kept seeing how the things I was learning through my research were so helpful in my own life and ministry. I wanted to highlight some of the practical ways that Scripture can help the people of God deal with potentially traumatic experiences like violence and pandemic, forced migration and racism, and natural disasters and family disasters.”

Like the Psalms, life can run the gamut of emotions. Hays encourages anyone seeking comfort or guidance to explore the Psalms and to let these ancient prayers—prayers that Jesus also prayed—remind them they are not alone, no matter what they might be feeling.

Hays explains that a good way to start is to read the Psalms with three questions in mind: