Finding a way to speak with God: prayer and psalms The Psalms are given to us to this end, that we may learn to pray them in the name of Jesus Christ." Dietrich Bonhoeffer The Psalms: The Prayer Book of the Bible,, p. 15
Commit your way to the LORD; trust in him, and he will act. (Ps 37:5) O give thanks to the LORD, for he is good; for his steadfast love endures forever. (Ps 106:1) Call on me in the day of trouble; I will deliver you, and you shall glorify me. (Ps 50:15)
Prayer does not mean simply to pour out one's heart. It means rather to find the way to God and to speak with him, whether the heart is full or empty. Bonhoeffer, Psalms, pp. 9-10
Outline: Prayer as Conversation Aspects of conversation in psalms: Covering all of life s s experiences; Challenging our level of honesty; Never leaving us alone. Prayer as poetry Psalm 13 Psalm 65 Psalms as a collection
Prayer as conversation where the psalmist speaks only to God; (< ½ of the psalms) where the psalmist speaks to God and another party; Laments where the psalmist speaks to parties other than God for all or the greater part of the psalm. (almost ¼ of the collection). Laments Praise and thanksgiving
Psalm 44 8 In God we have boasted continually, and we will give thanks to your name forever. 9 Yet you have rejected us and abased us, and have not gone out with our armies.. 12 You have sold your people for a trifle, demanding no high price for them.. 17 All this has come upon us, yet we have not forgotten you, or been false to your covenant. 18 Our heart has not turned back, nor have our steps departed from your way, 19 yet you have broken us in the haunt of jackals, and covered us with deep darkness.
Psalm 44 23 Rouse yourself! Why do you sleep, O Lord? Awake, do not cast us off forever! 24 Why do you hide your face? Why do you forget our affliction and oppression? 25 For we sink down to the dust; our bodies cling to the ground. 26 Rise up, come to our help. Redeem us for the sake of your steadfast love.
Aspects of the conversation: 1. The psalms invite us to see prayer in relation to all of life s s experiences. 2. The psalms challenge us on the level of honesty in our conversation with God. 3. The pray-er is never alone in the world of prayer in the psalms. 4. The psalms offer poetry as way of speaking to God
1. The psalms invite us to see prayer in relation to all of life s experiences. It is my view that in the words of this book the whole human life, its basic spiritual conduct and as well its occasional movements and thoughts, is comprehended and contained. Nothing to be found in human life is omitted. St. Athanasius
C.C. Broyles, The conflict of faith and experience in the psalms: psalms of plea or non-god-lament psalms, (the psalmist invokes God to deliver them or the people from some situation of distress) psalms of complaint or God-lament psalms, (the psalmist complains that God has acted against the psalmist)
Psalm 102: 1 Hear my prayer, O LORD; let my cry come to you. 2 Do not hide your face from me in the day of my distress. Incline your ear to me; answer me speedily in the day when I call. 8 All day long my enemies taunt me; those who deride me use my name for a curse. 9 For I eat ashes like bread, and mingle tears with my drink, 10 because of your indignation and anger; for you have lifted me up and thrown me aside.
2. The psalms challenge us on the level of honesty and courage in our conversation with God. Psalm 139: 19 O that you would kill the wicked, O God, and that the bloodthirsty would depart from me -- 20 those who speak of you maliciously, and lift themselves up against you for evil! 21 Do I not hate those who hate you, O LORD? And do I not loathe those who rise up against you? 22 I hate them with perfect hatred; I count them my enemies
A cry for justice: Psalm 7 1 O LORD my God, in you I take refuge; save me from all my pursuers, and deliver me, 3 O LORD my God, if I have done this, if there is wrong in my hands, 4 if I have repaid my ally with harm or plundered my foe without cause, 5 then let the enemy pursue and overtake me, trample my life to the ground, and lay my soul in the dust. 6 Rise up, O LORD, in your anger; lift yourself up against the fury of my enemies; awake, O my God; you have appointed a judgment. 7 Let the assembly of the peoples be gathered around you, and over it take your seat on high. 8 The LORD judges the peoples; judge me, O LORD, according to my righteousness and according to the integrity that is in me.
An issue of language: Psalm 94 1 O LORD, you God of vengeance, you God of vengeance, shine forth! 2 Rise up, O judge of the earth; give to the proud what they deserve!
3. The pray-er is never alone in the world of prayer in the psalms. The feeling of isolation is acute in the lament psalms. Psalm 31: 10 For my life is spent with sorrow, and my years with sighing; my strength fails because of my misery, and my bones waste away. 11 I am the scorn of all my adversaries, a horror to my neighbors, an object of dread to my acquaintances; those who see me in the street flee from me.
Dietrich Bonhoeffer: How is it possible for a man and Jesus Christ to pray the Psalter together? It is the incarnate Son of God, who has born every human weakness in his own flesh, who here pours out the heart of all humanity before God and who stands in our place and prays for us. He has known torment and pain, guilt and death more deeply than we. Therefore, it is the prayer of the human nature assumed by him which comes here before God. It is really our prayer, but since he knows us better than we know ourselves and since he was truly man for our sakes, it is also really his prayer, and it can become our prayer only because it was his prayer. The psalms, pp. 20-21
Psalm 13: 1 How long, O LORD? Will you forget me forever? How long will you hide your face from me? 2 How long must I bear pain in my soul, and have sorrow in my heart all day long? How long shall my enemy be exalted over me? 3 Consider and answer me, O LORD my God! Give light to my eyes, or I will sleep the sleep of death, 4 and my enemy will say, "I have prevailed"; my foes will rejoice because I am shaken. 5 But I trusted in your steadfast love; my heart shall rejoice in your salvation. 6 I will sing to the LORD, because he has dealt bountifully with me.
Psalm 13: Address 1 How long, O LORD? Will you forget me forever? How long will you hide your face from me? 2 How long must I bear pain in my soul, Complaint and have sorrow in my heart all day long? How long shall my enemy be exalted over me? 3 Consider and answer me, O LORD my God! Petition Give light to my eyes, or I will sleep the sleep of death, 4 and my enemy will say, "I have prevailed"; my foes will rejoice because I am shaken. 5 But I trusted in your steadfast love; Confession of trust my heart shall rejoice in your salvation. 6 I will sing to the LORD, Vow of praise because he has dealt bountifully with me.
What observations can we make regarding the conversation in this psalm? What movement takes place at the end of the psalm?
Psalms of Praise Structure of praise declaration of praise or call to praise or both; reason for praise. Psalm 17 1 Praise the LORD, all you nations! Extol him, all you peoples! 2 For great is his steadfast love toward us, and the faithfulness of the LORD endures forever. Praise the LORD!
Psalm 65: What does the beginning of the psalm say about prayers of praise? 1 Praise is due to you, O God, in Zion; and to you shall vows be performed, 2 O you who answer prayer! To you all flesh shall come. 3 When deeds of iniquity overwhelm us, you forgive our transgressions. 4 Happy are those whom you choose and bring near to live in your courts. We shall be satisfied with the goodness of your house, your holy temple. silence is praise to you
5 By awesome deeds you answer us with deliverance, O God of our salvation; you are the hope of all the ends of the earth and of the farthest seas. 6 By your strength you established the mountains; you are girded with might. 7 You silence the roaring of the seas, the roaring of their waves, the tumult of the peoples. 8 Those who live at earth's farthest bounds are awed by your signs; you make the gateways of the morning and the evening shout for joy.
9 You visit the earth and water it, you greatly enrich it; the river of God is full of water; you provide the people with grain, for so you have prepared it. 10 You water its furrows abundantly, settling its ridges, softening it with showers, and blessing its growth. 11 You crown the year with your bounty; your wagon tracks overflow with richness. 12 The pastures of the wilderness overflow, the hills gird themselves with joy, 13 the meadows clothe themselves with flocks, the valleys deck themselves with grain, they shout and sing together for joy.
Psalms as a Collection Movement: Lament to praise Individual to communal Present to future David as guide Community of faith; Jesus