What’s In Your Prayerbook?

Good and upright is the Lord;
    therefore he instructs sinners in his ways.
He guides the humble in what is right
    and teaches them his way.
All the ways of the Lord are loving and faithful
    toward those who keep the demands of his covenant.
For the sake of your name, Lord,
    forgive my iniquity, though it is great.
Who, then, are those who fear the Lord?
    He will instruct them in the ways they should choose.
They will spend their days in prosperity,
    and their descendants will inherit the land.
The Lord confides in those who fear him;
    he makes his covenant known to them.

~Psalm 25:8-14 NIV

A down-to-earth spiritual practice that I was taught many years ago is something that has been around for thousands of years. Our cousins in the faith the Jewish people, have had this practice down pat for a very long time now. It’s something that almost certainly Jesus practiced even though no explicit reference is made to it in the New Testament. It is so almost-certain that Jesus practiced this way of prayer because the scriptures repeatedly tell us that he fulfilled all that law and the prophets (Matthew 5:17-20 for starters). The Psalms are the most quoted O.T. book in the New Testament. Jesus, on the cross, recites portions of Psalm 22 as he cries out to God.

Rabbinic teachings center the prayer life of all faithful Jews (and Jesus was certainly that) around a daily recitation of the Psalms as prayer (Psalm 119:164). The Psalms are, in a sense, a school of prayer; giving us language, vocabulary, and the topics that we can freely cover in our daily prayers to our Father in Heaven. 

The Psalms function as training wheels, giving us literal words to say when we don’t know what else to say while we wobble our way into the presence of God on a daily basis. The Psalter gives us a model to follow as we euphorically declare the joy we sometimes experience in life (Psalm 19, 67, 68, 70, 96, 100, 118) and permission to really shake our fists at the Lord when our lives lie shattered on the floor in pieces (Psalms 22,35, 55, 59, 69, 79, 109, 137).

It’s important to remember that these are poems. These poems are not literal instruction manuals, but they nevertheless instruct us about how to pray by way of example. These poems are about emotion and the raw reactions all humans have to the highs and lows of life in this world. We are meant to pray them aloud, as though we were saying them for us (or perhaps for someone else). We are also meant to learn to use them as a pattern for, and the inspiration of our own extemporaneous prayers. 

I find praying this way very grounding and freeing. If on a certain day, the psalms I use in prayer don’t literally address my current circumstances, I pray them anyway in faith that they describe someone else’s. Nevertheless, they serve to shape my mind and my heart. Much like social media, the news, and other secular media shapes those who feed on those things on a daily basis. The Psalms give me a way of addressing God, using his very own inspired words, and being spiritually formed by them I submit my thoughts and the content of my heart to them. And even though I am still a mess, I can tell that the Lord has visited me when I have bothered to spend time in His Word, reciting His Word in faith, as prayer. 

The text above from Psalm 25 addresses, in part, an important issue of the heart; humility and how we find and notice the presence and guidance of the Lord. The psalmist commends those who:

• Are aware of their sinfulness and turn to God (verse 8)
• Are Humble – God seems to delight in giving away his secrets to those who are actually humble, teachable, and aware of their need for Him (verses 9-10).
• Fear the Lord – simply a biblical term for having a deep respect for God and his ways and preferences. Fear of the Lord has little to do with fearing for personal safety rather it is an all-consuming fascination and devotion to discovering what pleases God and then pointing one’s life in that direction.

This one psalm also promises things for such people like:

• Being instructed by the Lord (verse 12).
• Having contentment and well-being (verse 13).
• Raising offspring will inherit the land (verse 13).
• Have the Lord as a friend (verse 14)

The list goes on and this is just one portion of one Psalm. Have you ever needed a reminder about what the Good Life really looks like and where it comes from? Start praying the Psalms. Want to start shaping your heart and mind and the general direction of your life in a way that pleases God? Start praying the Psalms. Need to reset how you think and react and fill your heart with better things than secular culture pumps your way? Start praying the Psalms.

A practical suggestion: Just try to take one or a portion of one psalm at the start of each day. Read whatever else in scripture or other devotional readings that seem good to you. Share your heart with the Lord. Meaning, say aloud what you are looking forward to and what you are concerned about for the coming day and devote these things to Him. Close with the Lord’s prayer, make the sign of the cross, and then go about your day.

At a time in daily life when division and strife seem almost to be a form of sport, we can be a different kind of people. We can be formed into a people who are known for their peaceful and humble ways. A people who are known for their love. This all starts with a vital prayer life. If you want to know more, I would be delighted to meet for a cup of coffee and start a conversation. The kind of people we become when we pay attention to our spiritual formation will do more for the health of our congregation and the well-being of our community than anything else. A people who are humble, and fear the Lord can’t help but make the world a better place.

Pastor Mark