WEEK 30

psalms this week
"The proper thing is for us always to think of God and pray without ceasing. If we are not able to achieve this, we can at least set special times for prayer each day... We should not think of these times of prayer as a ritual... Think of these moments as nothing more than a discipline for your spiritual weakness. It is a stimulation for your groggy soul."
     - John Calvin
​Psalms 88, 89, and 90

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 88
Read Psalm 88.  Make a numbered list on a sheet of paper -- 1 to 18 so that you have space to write a few things about each verse. As you read, pause after each verse to jot down what you perceive the Psalmist to have been feeling as he wrote that verse. 

Go back through what you have written about the Psalmist's feelings for each of the 18 verses. Now next to each, jot down a time when you remember feeling the same way.

Now go through the things you have written once more, this time talking to the Lord about each of those occasions in your own life and experience. 
  • Recall with Him what you were feeling and what you were experiencing.
  • Recall with Him your faith and your understanding at that time.
  • Talk to Him about His role in your life at that time.

What individuals or groups in the biblical story can you imagine writing this prayer?

What does the Psalmist seem to believe about the Lord's role in his past?

What does the Psalmist seem to believe about the Lord's role in His present?

What does the Psalmist hope and pray for the Lord's role to be in His present and future?

Read Job 16:7-22.  What similarities do you see between Job's complaint and the prayer recorded in Psalm 88?

As you reflect on what the Psalmist says about the Lord's role in his life, what do you perceive to be the relationship between feelings and reality in this Psalm?  That is to say, do you read what the Psalmist says as an accurate accounting of what the Lord  has done or rather as an expression of what the Psalmist is feeling?

We have noted before that the Psalmist frequently offers reasons why the Lord should answer his prayer.  What are the Psalmist's implicit or explicit reasons in Psalm 88? 

What does the Psalmist say about death?  What does he seem to believe about death?

​Psalm 88 is the prayer of a man in pain. And, unlike some other Psalms that express trouble and cries for help, this one lacks any sense of reprieve. The chord never resolves. There is no affirmation, no expression of confident hope, no praise.  Talk to the Lord about that fact. 
  • Talk to Him about the Psalmist's faith as reflected and expressed in Psalm 88. 
  • Talk to Him about what this Psalm indicates about the Psalmist's relationship with the Lord.  
​
What were the Psalmist's alternatives?  That is to say, what else might a person who feeling what he was feeling have done?

To what extent is this Psalm an act of faith?

To what extent is this Psalm liberating in terms of your own prayer life?

To what extent is this Psalm instructive in terms of your own prayer life? 
Psalm 89
Read Psalm 89.  This Psalm takes a surprising turn, for it does not turn out to be the kind of Psalm that it seems to be at the beginning.  As you read it, develop an outline of the Psalm that reflects its major sections and flow of thought. 

Go back now and add to your outline notes about the following:
  • What seems to be the Psalmist's mood during this section?
  • If this section of the Psalm was a standalone prayer, what type of prayer would you say that it was (e.g., hymn of praise, prayer of confession, song of thanksgiving, lament, cry for help, etc.)?   

Make a list of the things in the Psalm that the Psalmist says the Lord does or has done.

Review the list of things that the Lord does and/or has done.  Reflect on the list theologically.  What does it reveal about God?
  • What does it reveal about His nature?
  • What does it reveal about His character?
  • What does it reveal about His will?

Make a list of the things in the Psalm that the Psalmist prays that the Lord will do in the present and/or future.

Reflect on that latest list in light of the theological observations that you made earlier.  To what extent does each item on the list of things that the Psalmist is praying for:
  • comport with the nature of God?
  • comport with the character of God?
  • comport with the will of God?  

Make a list of things that you're praying for these days -- ways that you pray the Lord will intervene or help or act.

Review your own list of prayer requests, and consider to what extent each item on your list:
  • comports with the nature of God.
  • comports with the character of God.
  • comports with the will of God. 

David, and God's promises to David, prove to be prominent themes in this Psalm.
  • How would you characterize the role and theme of David in Psalm 89? 
  • Why do you suppose the promises that the Lord made to and about David are so important to the Psalmist? 
  • Why are they so much a part of the Psalmist's early affirmations and celebrations? 
  • What is the value and importance of remembering promises? 
  • What do you suppose is the connection between those remembered promises and the troubled situation from which the Psalmist prays? 

In the end, having read the entire Psalm, how would you describe what the Psalmist's situation seems to be?

As we noted above, Psalm 89 seems to take a surprising turn. In light of the Psalmist's probable situation, why do you suppose he begins the Psalm the way that he does? 
Psalm 90
Read Psalm 90.  This Psalm features two primary characters: God and humanity. We want to begin by exploring them individually before considering them together.

First, read the Psalm with a focus specifically on humankind. 
  • Make a list of the things you learn about human beings from the Psalm. 
  • What does the Psalmist believe about human beings?
  • Make a list of adjectives that might describe human beings based on how they are portrayed in this Psalm. 

Reflect on what you discovered above. To what extent do you concur with the Psalmist's anthropology?  In what ways is it different from your own? What do you learn from the Psalmist about yourself? 

Next, read the Psalm again with a focus specifically on God.
  • Make a list of things you learn from the Psalm about God. 
  • What does the Psalmist believe about Him?
  • Make a list of the adjectives that might describe the Lord based on how He is portrayed in this Psalm. 

Reflect on what you discovered above. To what extent do you concur with the Psalmist's theology?  In what ways is it different from your own?  What do you learn from the Psalmist about the Lord?

Having considered what the Psalmist believes and writes about human beings and what he believes and writes about the Lord, now let us consider them together.  
  • What seems to be the Lord's relationship to human beings?
  • What other stories or episodes or teachings from Scripture seem to illustrate what Psalm 90 portrays about the Lord's relationship to human beings? 
  • What seem to be human beings' response to and relationship with the Lord? 
  • What other stories or episodes or teachings from Scripture seem to illustrate what Psalm 90 portrays about human beings' response to and relationship with the Lord?  

When Jesus taught about faith the size of a mustard seed moving mountains, His emphasis was not on rearranging the landscape but on making a point about relative size. Likewise, the author of Psalm 90 seems to be making a point about relative size, if you will. In his Psalm, he juxtaposes God with human beings in order to establish a contrast.  Write down your observations about that contrast as revealed in the Psalm. 

​Now talk to the Lord about the contrast you have detected. 
  • In what ways is He different from us?
  • What do those differences mean for our relationship to Him?  For your relationship to Him?
  • How do those differences impact your praise and thanksgiving?
  • How do those differences impact your confession and repentance?
  • How do those differences impact your needs and petitions?
  • How do those differences impact your faith? 
* 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.”