WEEK 15 |
psalms this week |
"There is an art to making the transition from prayer to earning a living. A lawyer must go from prayer to the courtroom, the merchant to the store, a homemaker to appointed responsibilities with a gentle motion that will not cause distress. Both prayer and your other duties are gifts from God." |
Psalms 43, 44, and 45.
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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 43
Read Psalm 43. As you read, think about the kind of situation that the Psalmist seems to have been experiencing. Make a list of five biblical characters that you can imagine praying this prayer based on their stories and experiences.
Read the Psalm, this time imagining each of the characters on your list above praying it. Picture their settings and circumstances. Picture their faith. Thinking beyond the pages and stories of Scripture, think of other people from history who might have found that this Psalm gave expression to their situation and their faith. When in your life might this Psalm have been the prayer of your heart? Talk to the Lord about that time in your life. Talk to Him about your faith during that time in your life, as well His presence and His work at that time. A significant percentage of Psalm 43 is devoted to questions. Make a list of the questions asked in the Psalm, noting in each case to whom the question is addressed. Some of the questions asked in Psalm 43 are asked of the Lord. What role do questions play in your prayer life? Talk to the Lord about the questions you have asked -- or want to ask, or ought to ask -- in prayer. The Psalmist also asks questions of himself. Is that familiar? Do you, in the context of prayer or worship, ask questions of yourself? What is the value of such a technique? Much of Psalm 43 is devoted to asking the Lord to do certain things. Make a bulleted list of the things that the Psalmist asks the Lord to do. Walk through the individual items in the list made above. Talk to the Lord about each one. Talk to Him about which ones are personally familiar to you. Walk through again the items in the list above. Rewrite each request in your own words, making each one your own. The Psalmist also expresses numerous things that he does do or will do. Make a list of those things. Review the list just made in prayer. Talk to the Lord about the ones that are true of you, too. |
Psalm 44
Read Psalm 44. After you have read the whole Psalm, write out a description of (a) what you imagine the Psalmist's situation to have been, and (b) what you perceive the Psalmist to have been feeling.
Reflecting for a few moments on the descriptions you just wrote, who are some biblical characters who might have fit those descriptions, either in terms of their circumstances or in terms of their feelings? Do you have any comparable experiences in terms of either situation or feeling? If so, talk to the Lord about it. In our ongoing effort to learn how to pray from the Psalmist, re-read the descriptions you made of circumstance and feeling, and then read again the first 8 verses of Psalm 44. What is striking to you about being in that situation yet beginning the prayer in this way? What is exemplary about feeling what the Psalmist was feeling, and yet beginning the prayer in this way? Talk to the Lord about how you can learn from the Psalmist in this regard. In the end, the Psalmist is praying for help. Yet he begins by (a) recalling God's deeds in the past and (b) affirming his relationship to and trust in the Lord. Write your own versions of the first 8 verses of Psalm 44. Make it personal; make it your own. Now pray your own version of the first part of Psalm 44 as a lead-in to whatever needs or troubled situations that you want to bring to the Lord in prayer. In verses 17-22, the Psalmist insists that he and his people are innocent. Accordingly, they are suffering unjustly. When have you felt that you were suffering in a way that you didn't deserve? At that time, how did that impact your faith or your relationship with God? Talk with Him about that time and your experience. Read 1 Peter 2:19-23. Talk to the Lord about the relationship between the Psalmist's experience and Peter's teaching. Read Romans 8:28-39. We see that the Apostle Paul quoted verse 22 of our Psalm in this section of his letter to the Romans. Talk to the Lord about how the larger context of what Paul wrote impacts your reading of the Psalm, as well as your own experiences of suffering. Reflect on verses 23-24. Do you ever feel that way? Do you ever talk to the Lord that way? Talk to Him now about strong feelings -- including doubt, anger, and impatience -- and how these strong feelings factor into your faith and your prayer life. Reflect on verse 26. As we have noted in previous weeks, the Psalmist will sometimes include a "because" in his prayers, reasoning with the Lord about why He should or should not do something. Talk to the Lord about the Psalmist's "because" in verse 26. What does the reasoning of verse 26 have to do with you, your life, and your prayers? |
Psalm 45
Read Psalm 45. The Psalmist begins by acknowledging a sense of inspiration for what he is about to write. When have you felt such an inspiration?
The inspiration the Psalmist feels is to sing the praises of a certain individual. To what extent is that experience familiar to you? On the surface, the Psalm is written in praise of a human king. As you read the Psalm, identify what seem to be the attributes of that king. What makes him praiseworthy? Talk to the Lord about the rightful place -- even the benefit -- of singing the praise of certain human beings. Why should you do it? When should you do it? About whom should you do it? Many interpreters have taken Psalm 45 to be messianic -- that is, it reveals in advance truths about Jesus. In this case, the king who is being praised is understood to be an anticipation of Christ. Read the Psalm again with Jesus in mind. What do you find in the Psalm that tells you about Him? In what ways is He revealed in this Psalm? Identify those verses or phrases that you perceive to be messianic. Now read Psalm 45 again in a version like the Amplified Bible or the New American Standard Bible. Both of these translations employ capital letters for personal pronouns that refer to God. In the case of this Psalm, therefore, those translations make interpretive decisions about where the king is not just an ordinary human being but is the Lord. Review the use of capital letters and compare them with your own reading of the Psalm. Talk to the Lord about the ways in which this Psalm points to and reveals Jesus. What is the relationship of the king in Psalm 45 to his enemies? Then, understanding the Psalm as messianic, who do you understand to be Christ's enemies? To what extent does the Psalmist's portrayal of the relationship between the king and his enemies speak to you about the relationship between Christ and His enemies? What is the relationship of the king in Psalm 45 to his bride? Then, understanding the Psalm as messianic, who do you understand to be Christ's bride? To what extent does the Psalmist's portrayal of the relationship between the king and his bride speak to you about the relationship between Christ and His bride? What is the relationship of the king in Psalm 45 to God? Then, understanding the Psalm as messianic, to what extent does the Psalmist's portrayal of the relationship between the king and God speak to you about the relationship between Christ and God? |
* 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.”