WEEK 14 |
psalms this week |
"There is no better thing than to pray for what God already wants to give." |
Psalms 40, 41, and 42.
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introduction to the Series
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Most of what we learn how to do, we learn from other people. Sometimes it is the learning that comes from specific and deliberate instruction. At other times it is the learning that comes by way of example and imitation. During 2023, our endeavor is to learn how to pray from the Psalmist.*
The Book of Psalms is the longest book in the Bible, and it is mostly a book of prayers. We will spend the year going through the book, beginning to end, and letting the Psalmist teach us by example how to pray. |
In this endeavor, we cannot benefit from his deliberate instruction, of course. What we can do, however, is take full advantage of his example. We will observe how he prays, and we will learn to imitate him.
Our approach will be week by week. The recommended practices and exercises are not daily, but rather suggestions for an individual to implement throughout the whole week. |
Exercises for this week
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Psalm 40
Read Psalm 40. As you read, pay attention first to the mood of the Psalm and the Psalmist. What is the tone of voice? If the Psalmist were a young person in 2023, what emojis would you envision at the end of each verse in the Psalm?
In this Psalm, the Psalmist speaks a great deal about his own experience. We read "I" many times in the course of the Psalm. Read the Psalm aloud, and pay careful attention to the times you hear yourself saying "I." Talk to the Lord about each of those statements. Talk to Him about the extent to which those personal statements made by the Psalmist are also personal statements that you might make today. Meditate specifically on verse 3. Perhaps read it in several translations. Then divide it up into its several statements and contemplate:
Reflect on what you understand the Psalmist to be feeling and saying in verse 5. Rewrite that verse in your own words, making it your own personal prayer. Reflect on Psalm 40 in terms of a time line -- past, present, and future. Specifically, make a list of the things that the Psalmist declares that the Lord has done in the past, a list of what the Psalmist affirms the Lord does in the present, and a list of what the Psalmist prays for the Lord to do in the (preferably near) future. Talk to the Lord about the three lists that you generated from the Psalm. How many of the items in the list resonate with you, your heart, and your own experience? With your reflections about Psalm 40 on a time line as your model, write your own Psalm-prayer just now. Declare in praise some of the things that the Lord has done in the past -- your past; affirm what you know He is and does in the present; and express candidly and boldly to Him what you pray that He will do in the future. Reflect on verses 11 and 12 in terms of what you understand to be the gospel message. Of course, we naturally associate the gospel with the New Testament, but talk to the Lord about the degree to which these verses express some of the gospel truth about the nature of our salvation and of our relationship with Him. |
Psalm 41
Read Psalm 41. Central to this Psalm is the author's experience of enemies, and even apparently a betraying friend. As in some previous weeks, therefore, the reader should conjure a personal experience with enemies in order to stand next to the Psalmist in this Psalm. What experiences have you had of enemies? For our purposes here, we might define the term as anyone or anything that (a) threatens you, (b) wishes you ill, (c) frightens you, (d) seeks to harm you in some way, or (e) acts in opposition to you.
Now, with your own past or present experience of enemies in mind, try to read the Psalm as a personal prayer. Talk to the Lord about the parts that resonate and why they do. Talk to Him about the parts that do not resonate and why they do not. What are the behaviors that seem to characterize the enemies? What are the attitudes? The motivations? The words? The goals? What does the Psalmist expect the Lord to do for him? What does the Psalmist expect the Lord to do with or to or about the enemies? While much of the Psalm is concerned with the Psalmist's experience of enemies, that is not where the Psalmist begins. Rather, Psalm 41 begins with a reference to the needy, the person who helps to meet the needs, and the Lord's response. What do you understand to be the relationship between verses 1-3 and the rest of the Psalm? To what extent does the connection between the first three verses and the rest of the Psalm inform or resonate with your own prayer life? Talk with the Lord about it. Reflect on verse 11. Look it up in several versions. Then make it your own -- write it in your own words, reflecting your own faith and experience. Verse 9 briefly suggests a different sort of circumstance that what we might think of as a traditional enemy. What has been your experience of verse 9? Joseph Scriven wrote: Do thy friends despise, forsake thee? Take it to the Lord in prayer! In His arms He'll take and shield thee; Thou wilt find a solace there. Read John 13:12-27. Reflect on Jesus' experience of verse 9. Talk to Him about it. Contemplate how His experience informs yours. Woven through all of Psalm 41 is an assumption on the part of the Psalmist that God is just. What difference does confidence in God' character make to one's prayers? Talk to the Lord about His justice. Talk to Him about what impact His justice has on your prayers for some situation in your life. |
Psalm 42
Read Psalm 42. After you have finished reading it, close your eyes and form a mental picture of the Psalmist who prayed this prayer. Where was he? Picture his setting. What was he wearing? How did he sound as he prayed this prayer? Employ your imagination to put flesh and blood on the Psalmist.
With the Psalmist clear in your mind -- where he was, what he looked like, and what he sounded like -- read the Psalm again, this time hearing his voice and seeing his face as he prays. While the Psalm is generally addressed to the Lord, there are moments when the Psalmist speaks to himself. Identify what it is that the Psalmist says to himself. To what extent are your prayers a similar sort of conversation as what you read in Psalm 40 -- that is, a toggling between what you say to the Lord and what you say to yourself? What are the benefits of such praying? What should you say more often to yourself as you pray? The overwhelming mood of Psalm 42 -- and the overwhelming context of the Psalmist -- is one of great sadness. He speaks of crying day and night, of being broken-hearted, being sad, being crushed by sorrow, being troubled. What are the causes of this overwhelming sadness for the Psalmist? When in your life have you experienced a similar sort of feeling of overwhelming sadness, trouble, or sorrow? What was the cause of it? What was your experience of the Lord in the midst of it? What does the Psalmist regard as the solution to his sorrow? To what extent have you experienced that solution in your own sorrow? In verse 4, the Psalmist says that his heart breaks when he remembers a certain scene from the past. What scenes from the past break your heart? Talk to the Lord about those scenes, those times. Talk to Him about why they break your heart. In verses 1, 3, and 7, the Psalmist uses imagery -- metaphorical language and similes -- to give expression to what he is feeling. Employing such picturesque language in our prayers is a good way to try to capture what we are feeling. Jot down just now three things you are feeling. Then give expression to those things in prayer by using some sort of metaphorical language or meaningful similes. Psalm 42 features numerous questions. Jot down the questions, who asks them, and of whom they are asked. Go back and review the list of questions. For which ones did the Psalmist know the answer? For which ones do you know the answer? |
* We will refer to the author as “the Psalmist,” though of course not all of the Psalms were written by the same person. A significant number are attributed to David. Others are associated with Asaph, the sons of Korah, and an assortment of other individuals. Also, several dozen Psalms have no name attached to them. For the sake of ease and uniformity, we will simply refer to “the Psalmist.”