I sing psalms as lullabies to my daughter when I put her to sleep. I am not consistent. And I usually default to an easy psalm like Psalm 23. But I am convinced that Christian parents should at least consider adding singing psalms into their bedtime routine for their kids for the following reasons.
First, because it helps children know Scripture
Parents should instruct their children in the way of the Lord. As Deuteronomy 6:7 says, “You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise.” Obviously, there are a great deal many ways in which we can instruct our children. One useful way is through song.
Second, because the psalms were meant to be sung
The Psalter is a book of poems that were made for musical worship. Churches often sing psalms. There is no reason to think that families should not sing psalms together. And why should we not let the psalms be lullabies? What better way to fall asleep than to remember that God is our shepherd?
Third, because the psalms personalize God to our children
For children (and us), God can seem like some abstract being out-there-somewhere. Of late, my daughter has become afraid of the dark—or rather what comes out of the dark. I recently sang to her Psalms 27 and 23. In Psalm 27, she hears: “The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? The Lord is the stronghold of my life; of whom shall I be afraid?” (v. 1) and “Wait for the Lord; be strong, and let your heart take courage; wait for the Lord!” (v. 14).
When she heard Psalm 23, I encouraged her to think of God as her shepherd who cares for her. I even put her name into the psalm so that she would hear it as explicitly for her since it is explicitly for her. The Holy Spirit inspired the psalms to give us divine words for our prayers to work out our pain and suffering (and all else).
Some practical tips to start
You may not have memorized a psalm. This is a good time to start. Pick a familiar psalm like Psalm 23. Open your Bible. Read it. Then sing it to your child. Sing the same psalm for a couple of weeks and try to slowly use less of your Bible and more of your memory. Don’t worry about mistakes. Just keep going.
Some longer psalms can be simplified. Perhaps you sing fewer verses or just summarize a section in your own words. The point here is to baptize your mind and your child’s mind in the truth of God, but it is okay to start small. So if you cannot memorize a fifteen verse psalm, memorize two verses and creatively summarize the other thirteen.
At the end of the day, we want our children to know the word of Christ to know God in Christ. And as Paul writes, “Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God” (Col 3:16). And if we wait until we are good at singing (I am terrible) or good at memorization, then we will never start. So start with your weaknesses and entrust the success to the Lord.
