WEEK 24

psalms this week
"When you pray, intend to make your prayer as complete and honest as you can. If you are dissatisfied with the results of your effort, do not be too angry with yourself. Do not complain that God has not given you the kind of devotion He gives others. Instead, acknowledge your weakness, consider it a valid prayer, and trust that in His mercy God will make it good."
     - Walter Hilton
​Psalms 70, 71, and 72

introduction to the Series

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

Psalm 70
Read Psalm 70.  This Psalm is a brief but urgent cry to God for help. Compare verse 1 with verse 5. Contemplate how the Psalmist begins and ends his prayer. Think about what is similar between the beginning and the ending, and think about what is different.  Talk to the Lord about what you discern.

Read Matthew 14:22-33. Focus especially on verse 30. Reflect on Peter's prayer in light of Psalm 70. Talk to the Lord about brief and urgent prayers. How much a part of your prayer life has that kind of prayer been?

Read Matthew 6:7. To what extent do you think -- whether consciously or subconsciously -- that you will be heard because of many words?  Talk to the Lord about the difference between what He is discouraging in Matthew 6:7 and the kind of persistent that He encourages in, say, Matthew 7:7. 

Read Matthew 6:8.  Talk to the Lord about these questions: Inasmuch as You already know what i need before i ask You, what is the purpose of my asking? What should my asking be like since I am not telling you anything you don't already know? 

As we have noted, the Psalmist's plea in Psalm 70 is not only needy but urgent. He begs the Lord not merely to answer but to answer quickly. When have you felt that?  When have you said that to God?  What has been your experience of God's timing with respect to your needs?

While we don't know any details about them, it is clear that the author of Psalm 70 has opponents. In verses 2 and 3, the Psalmist expresses to the Lord what he wants for those opponents. 
  • What is your reaction to what the Psalmist says he wants?
  • To what extent do you relate to what the Psalmist says that he wants?
  • When have you wished that someone would get what they deserve -- the punishment, the consequence, or some such?  Have you expressed that to God?  What is good and right about the Psalmist expressing those wishes to God?
  • When have you sought -- either by word or deed -- to give someone the punishment or consequence that they deserve?  Have you prayed about it?
​
Interestingly, in verse 4, the Psalmist turns his attention to a different group of people. Those people -- and what he wishes for them -- are the opposite of verses 2-3. 
  • What is exemplary about verse 4?
  • What is exemplary about the Psalmist following verses 2 and 3 with verse 4?
  • Who are some of the people you know personally who fit the profile suggested in verse 4?
  • To what extent is praying for God's blessing on those people a part of your prayer life?

What does the Psalmist affirm about God?  To what extent can you (or do you) say the same thing about Him?  Why is it important for the Psalmist to affirm what he does about the Lord?

From what situation do you need to be rescued?   In what way do you need the Lord to be your deliverer?  What can you learn from Psalm 70 about how to pray in that situation? 
Psalm 71
Read Psalm 71.  This Psalm is a long and intimate prayer. In order to explore the whole Psalm, we will do well to separate out the different themes and elements. As you read, therefore, write your answers to these questions:
  • What seems to be the circumstances or situation of the Psalmist?
  • How would you describe the mood and attitude of the Psalmist?
  • What claims does the Psalmist make about himself?
  • What do you perceive to be the Psalmist's beliefs about God? 
  • What does the Psalmist ask God to do?
  • What does the Psalmist ask God to be? 

Review the answers you have written to the above questions. Talk to the Lord about your points of resonance with the Psalmist, whether in circumstance, mood, petitions, or faith.

Reflect specifically on your answers to the final two questions: what the Psalmist asks the Lord to do and to be. Review those parts of the Psalm, and identify in each case the "why" that the Psalmist expresses.

Talk to the Lord about the "why" elements in the Psalmist's petitions. To what extent do you resonate with them?  To what extent is the Psalmist an example for you in this way?
​
Clearly, the author of Psalm 71 is writing from the midst of trouble. Yet his prayer is not exclusively crying out for help. He also makes positive affirmations about God, and he also praises God. List the things that the Psalmist says about the Lord in affirmations of his faith and in praise.

Talk to the Lord about those affirmations. Talk to Him about the role such affirmations might play in your own prayer life and faith when you are in the midst of trouble.

The Psalmist uses much picturesque language for God. Read through the Psalm, and make a list of the various images that the Psalmist employs in order to describe something about God.  

Read the Psalm again in a different translation, and add to your list any new images that may be part of that translation.

Review the list of images. Jot down next to each two or three adjectives that seem to describe best that image.

Walk through those adjectives in prayer.
  • Talk to the Lord about the ways in which those adjectives reveal truths about Him. 
  • Talk to Him about why those attributes prompted the Psalmist's prayer and the Psalmist's faith. 
  • Talk to Him about how the impact of those attributes on your prayer life and on your faith.
  • Thank and praise Him for who He is and what He is like! 

Most English translations will format this Psalm into sections (e.g., the ESV groups verses 1-3 together, then 4-6, 7-11, 12-16, 17-21, and 22-24). Read through the Psalm, and identify the section that speaks most to you right now at this moment in your life.

Rewrite that section in your own words, coming out of your own faith, experience, and situation. Then pray that rewritten portion of the Psalm as your own personal and heartfelt prayer to God. 
Psalm 72
Read Psalm 72.  This Psalm may seem, at first blush, quite far removed from our own experience. The Psalm seems, at the surface, to be a prayer for God to prosper a human king, and this may not resonate with our own prayer lives.  Yet we persist in the confidence that we may learn how to pray from the Psalmist. Accordingly, as you read Psalm 72, evaluate and answer the following: 
  • What are the reported or desired attributes of the king?
  • What are the reported or prayed for accomplishments of the king?
  • What seems to be the relationship between the king and his own people?
  • What seems to be the relationship between the king and other peoples?
  • What relationship is envisioned between the king's reign and nature or creation? 
  • How would you characterize the relationship between the king and the Lord?
  • What specifically are the things the king does (as opposed to things that the Lord does for him or that others do in response to him)?

Read 1 Timothy 2:1-4. Seeing that the apostle urges Christians to pray for secular, political leaders, how much do folks in those positions factor into your prayer life?  Talk with the Lord about the leaders you have and do pray for, what you pray, and why.

Review the answers that you generated as a result of evaluating Psalm 72. In what ways does your evaluation of that Psalm give you insight into how you might pray for political leaders today?  

Click on this link and review the lyrics to the James Montgomery hymn. 

Reflect on Psalm 72 and the Montgomery hymn side-by-side. Try to identify where each part of the hymn finds its origins in the Psalm. 

James Montgomery clearly takes Psalm 72 to be written not only about some ordinary human king in Israel, but ultimately about Christ as King.  Read Psalm 72, this time thinking of it as revelatory of Jesus. What do you learn about Him?  What do you perceive about God's will for Him and for His reign?

Rethink the points from Psalm 72 that you had evaluated and answered above, but this time in terms of Jesus:
  • To what extent do the attributes of the king in Psalm 72 describe Jesus?
  • To what extent do the accomplishments of the king in Psalm 72 describe Jesus's reign?
  • To what extent does the relationship of the king with his own people reveal Jesus with His believers?
  • To what extent does the relationship of the king with other peoples speak of Jesus' universal role?
  • How does the relationship envisioned between the king's reign and nature or creation speak of Christ's reign? 
  • In what ways does the relationship between the king and the Lord speak to or reveal something about the relationship between the Father and the Son?
  • Do the things that the king himself does (as opposed to things that the Lord does for him or that others do in response to him) reveal truths about Christ?​
* 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.”