July 23, 2017 1 ANSWERING GOD LANGUAGE PSALM 3 Last week we started our summer series exploring some of the Psalms. I mentioned the book of Psalms (a.k.a. the Psalter) is the prayerbook of the Bible. Last week we explored Psalms 1 & 2 The Psalter was the liturgy book for the Israelites' worship services. and found that they aren t prayers at all - we re not ready for it yet. They re there to help prepare us to pray. They help us recognize there are only 2 Ways we can go: God s Way, which leads to a BLESSED LIFE or another way that says it will bring blessings but is full of illusions, lies and falsities. We go along God s Way by meditating on His Word. And as we do this we centre ourselves on God s activity. Learning how God works in the past will help us be attentive to how He s working in the present.
July 23, 2017 2 By becoming aware of how God moves and acts only then are we ready to pray. So we come to Psalm 3. The first prayer in the Bible s prayerbook. And as we follow Eugene Peterson s categories, we find ourselves exploring the language of Psalm 3. May we reflect on God s activity in scripture and be attentive to His activity now. Let s pray Creator God You designed us to communicate. Through language we can express our hope, fear, joy and anxieties. As we learn to pray with the Psalms help us along Your Way, learning the language of prayer. We give You our attention; we give You our hearts. In Jesus Name, amen. This past week had a bit of a shock for me. The lead singer of a band I listened to in high school was found after he committed suicide. This was yet another victim of mental health issues that had became too much to handle. As I heard about his death,
July 23, 2017 3 one of his songs was running through my head: I want to heal, I want to feel, What I thought was never real I want to let go of the pain I felt so long (Erase all the pain 'til it's gone) I want to heal, I want to feel, Like I'm close to something real I want to find something I've wanted all along: Somewhere I belong. These are the broken words of a broken man, searching for more, longing to belong. These are more than song lyrics this is prayer. Eugene Peterson says, We prepare to pray not by composing our prayers but ourselves. 1 Prayer is about bringing our true selves before God. That means bringing the broken, bringing the pain, bringing the doubt, fear, and questions before the Almighty God and to do it as honestly as we can. This is what we find in Psalm 3. It s attributed to David, When he fled from Absalom his son. 1 Peterson, Eugene H. Answering God. (New York: HarperOne, 1989), 35.
July 23, 2017 4 The first words we hear in this first prayer of the Bible s prayerbook the first words prayed in the communal worship of Israel are: O LORD, how many are my foes! Prayer worship start in the pain and trial and persecution. Not only that, but these first words are brief, urgent, frightened words. David, on the run for his life, betrayed by his own family, cries out to God in the midst of his trouble. The apostle Paul says to pray without ceasing 2 but there s something very authentic about prayer when it s within the context of trouble or crisis. The language of prayer is forged in the crucible of trouble. 3 2 3 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 (Peterson, 35)
July 23, 2017 5 In his book, Answering God, Eugene Peterson maps out 3 types of language that we learn as humans. The first language is the language of personal intimacy and relationship. This is the language we learn first when we enter into the world (the primal language). It s the language between parent and infant. At first [this language] is not articulate speech. The sounds that pass between parent and infant are incredibly rich in meaning, but less than impressive in content. The coos and cries of the infant do not parse. 4 Yet, these coos and ridiculous blabber from parents solidify the intimate relationship between the two. It's the language that establishes trust, safety/security, hope and love. 4 Ibid., 37.
July 23, 2017 6 This is the language we use to express and develop our human condition. This is the language of intimacy. The second language Peterson points out, is the language of information. As we grow up speaking the first, primal, language we begin to recognize the world around us. New words fill our mouths as we begin to describe everything we identify with our senses. We begin to orient ourselves to the world around us; figuring out where and how everything fits in and where we are in the midst of everything else. The world is wonderfully various, and our language enables us to account for it, to recognize what is here and how it is put together. Language 2 is the major language used in the schools. 5 5 ibid., 38.
July 23, 2017 7 The third language is the language of motivation. As we orient ourselves with the world we begin to realize that our words have a certain power to them. We can make things happen by using our words. We learn by asking please or saying thank you others are more willing to respond to our requests. This third language, is the predominant language of advertising and politics. 6 motivating each other this way and that. Out of these three languages, Peterson points out that languages 2 & 3 are highly favoured in our culture. We use language to describe and motivate 6 ibid.
July 23, 2017 8 to explain the world around us and to get what we want. He says, We are well schooled in language that describes the world in which we live. We are well trained in the language that moves people to buy and join and vote. Meanwhile Language 1, the language of intimacy, the language that developed relationships of trust, hope, and understanding, languishes. 7 We become so good and describing, explaining and theorizing that we fail to nurture the relationship(s) with the very things we re describing, explaining and theorizing about. We find the quickest and most efficient ways of getting what we want or accomplishing what needs to be accomplished that without investing in these relationships we begin to abuse and use everything around us. 7 ibid.
July 23, 2017 9 Both Languages 2 & 3 need Language 1 as their foundation When it comes to prayer, we use all 3 of these languages, but unless we have that first, primal, intimate language the other two become twisted and distorted. Unfortunately, the language of intimacy isn t often required of us. Usually it is reserved for our children, parents, lovers, and God. Out of all the people we encounter in our lives, this is not a very big group. And if we re not feeling up for developing intimacy, we can easily avoid most in this group. Other than these select few, no one requires us to develop the language of intimacy. And yet, this is the very language used in the Psalms.
July 23, 2017 10 I share all of this to point out that we are often out of practice in the language of intimacy, because we don t have many opportunities to practice and the opportunities we do have we don t always take. But this language of intimacy is the language that cries out to God How many are my foes! Many are rising against me; (vs. 1) It s the language that screams to God and shares about just how bad our experience is. Many are saying of my soul, there is no salvation for him in God (vs. 2). But we ll notice that David s knowledge of God s Word (all he s learned from meditating on God s torah) inform what he says next. We ll see that verse 3 counters the 3 aspects of his circumstance
July 23, 2017 11 described in verses 1-2: How many are my foes but you, O LORD, are a shield about me Many are rising against me but you, O LORD, are my glory Many are saying there s no salvation for him...but you, O LORD, are the lifter of my head. David allows his meditation of God s Word to speak truth into his circumstance. This leads David to reflect on an anecdote using 3 main verbs: lie down, go to sleep, wake up (verse 5). It shares of the rhythm of everyday. Each day that passes, he knows it s God who sustains him. This reality stirs confidence in him. No matter what happens, no matter who rises up against him, he knows that God sustains him. In the midst of praying
July 23, 2017 12 David remembers that God is God and he is not. So he finishes his prayer, declaring: Arise, O LORD! Save me, O my God! (verse 7) He recognizes his own inadequacy in his circumstance and so leans into the God who is big enough to see David s situation as a simple problem and cries out for God to intervene. We may be shocked by David's language in verse 7, that God strike all his enemies on the cheek and break the teeth of the wicked. Like I mentioned last week, the Psalms aren t worried about politically (or socially) correct. The Psalms don t worry if they offend us. They are full of honest language. Remember, David is praying against his own son. I highly doubt David would want his son to experience a God smack in the face and lose all his teeth! But these words are honest prayers
July 23, 2017 13 that describes his hatred for the evilness he s witnessing and experiencing in the world and so he s quite honest about his experience. I don t imagine David would pray these words out loud, in front of his soldiers for them to hear. These words are within the intimate relationship between him and God. They convey David s inadequacy and recognition of it; that David needs God s intervention and to deal with the wickedness that David can t do himself. David finishes his prayer confidently combating the doubts that were thrown at him at the start of the prayer: Salvation belongs to the LORD; your blessing be on your people! (verse 8). David declares his faith
July 23, 2017 14 and reassures his own standing before God that salvation belongs to God. And that the BLESSED LIFE that we are on the way toward is for all God s people; those who follow along His way. So what does Psalm 3 teach us about the language of prayer? It is the language of intimacy. The first prayer of the Bible s prayerbook starts us off in the chaos, in the trial, in deep human trouble. It s not afraid to be honest before God. It relies on an intimate relationship with the Almighty knowing there s a freedom to do so. But we don t remain in the chaos.
July 23, 2017 15 We allow God s Word to inform us of who God is and so find ourselves using descriptive language: He is our shield, our glory, the lifter of our heads. He hears our cries. This gives us a confidence to settle into the rhythm of everyday life knowing that God will sustain us through it all. Soon enough we are freed to use motivational language, calling God to be God because we recognize we are not. We are free to cry for salvation because we know that it comes from God alone. We can cry out for justice against the evil we encounter in the world because we know God hates it as well. God is a God of salvation and justice. He longs for humanity to walk in His Way and not the ways of the wicked.
July 23, 2017 16 So He longs for us to be a BLESSED people. When considering what Psalm 3 teaches us about the language of prayer, I think Peterson puts it nicely: It trains us in a conversation of language, from talking about God to talking to God. Psalm 3 invites us into an intimate relationship with a holy God. But we need to recognize that this relationship requires that first language of intimacy. When we enter into relationship without practicing the language of intimacy, it will distort everything else in the relationship! No wonder we have so many people today addicted to pornography, entering into loveless relationships
July 23, 2017 17 that are able to see sex as just a physical perk to being in a relationship - detached, described as only natural, or in extreme cases even violent. No wonder we have people crying out to be known, belong or be loved and feel that death is the only way out from feeling this way. Relationships (or lack thereof) look this way now because humanity has failed to foster the primal language of intimacy. Psalm 3 teaches us that the language of intimacy is honest about what s going on around us honest about our emotions in these situations honest about our doubts, fears, anxieties within these situations But it also moves us to God s Word and reminds us that God is over all. He sustains us in every circumstance.
July 23, 2017 18 He s the One who enables us to start a new day. He s the One who will have the final Word against injustice and evil. He will handle the situations we have no control over. Psalm 3 starts us in chaos and points out the fact that GOD IS HERE TOO! God is here in the darkness, hopelessness, fear, and questions. God is here and sustains us through everything as we journey toward BLESSEDness. May we become attentive to the activity of our holy God and enter into an intimate relationship with Him; sharing all that is within us, the raw, the ugly and find Him in the chaos. Let s pray. Gracious Creator God, thank You for the language of intimacy. We know we can be out of practice with it, but we ask by Your Holy Spirit to stir within us a desire to bring everything before You; every broken experience, every hurt thought, every tainted word. We come to You to find salvation; to find rest; to find hope. Fill us with Your love and help us see You in the chaos. in Jesus Name. Amen.