Readings for today: Psalms 26, 40, 41, 58, 61, 62, 64
What is prayer? Communion with God. On our knees. Folded hands. Eyes closed. Forming thoughts in our minds and sending them upwards like sparks from a fire? Is it a conversation or more of a monologue? A task we have to complete each day if we want to stay on God’s good side? Something we do before meals or before bed? Is it the recitation of memorized words learned as a child and carried through to adulthood? “Now I lay me down to sleep...” “Bless us, O Lord, and these, Thy gifts, which we are about to receive from Thy bounty. Through Christ, our Lord. Amen." “God is great. God is good. Let us thank Him for this food.” “Our Father, who art in heaven...” What is prayer?
The Psalms are the prayerbook of the Bible. 150 different prayers written by different people on different occasions as they wrestled with life. Readers of the Psalms are always struck by their raw honesty and transparency. The beautiful way they express the deepest emotions of the human heart. The vivid descriptions of God and His great faithfulness. They are marvelous and great teachers when it comes to prayer.
One of the biggest things I’ve learned in the years I’ve spent meditating on the Psalms is that prayer comes more from the heart than the head. Prayer is less about me forming thoughts or saying words or reciting texts and more about laying before God the deepest emotions of my heart. Deep prayer doesn’t require much in the way of words. Just letting the feelings flow and trusting God is hearing what’s behind them. This is what makes David such a great Psalmist. He doesn’t seem to stop to think about the “appropriateness” of his feelings. He doesn’t seem to “judge” his emotions. He just lets them fly up to God and trusts God is big enough and great enough to make sense out of the chaos. It’s why he can express contradictory emotions all in the same prayer. “I hate a crowd of evildoers, and I do not sit with the wicked. Lord, I love the house where you dwell, the place where your glory resides.” (Psalms 26:5, 8 CSB) He feels no need to try to make sense of it all. He trusts God can sort it out.
He can express his anger and desire for vengeance against those who hurt him. “God, knock the teeth out of their mouths; Lord, tear out the young lions’ fangs. May they vanish like water that flows by; may they aim their blunted arrows. Like a slug that moves along in slime, like a woman’s miscarried child, may they not see the sun. The righteous one will rejoice when he sees the retribution; he will wash his feet in the blood of the wicked. Then people will say, “Yes, there is a reward for the righteous! There is a God who judges on earth!” (Psalms 58:6-8, 10-11 CSB) And almost in the same breath, be so tender. “Trust in him at all times, you people; pour out your hearts before him. God is our refuge.” (Psalms 62:8 CSB)
Ultimately, the Psalms give us permission to be real and authentic before God. To truly be ourselves. To put aside all pretense and performance and let drop the masks we so often wear.
Readings for tomorrow: 2 Samuel 19-21, Psalms 5, 38, 42