WEEK 35

psalms this week
"Best of all is silent, inward prayer, especially if it reflects upon our Lord's loving sacrifice. If you think of Him frequently, He will occupy your soul. You will catch on to His manner of living and thinking. You will begin to live and think like Him. It is exactly like the way children learn to talk by listening to their mothers and then making sounds with their own voices."
     - Francis de Sales
​Psalms 103, 104, and 105

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 103
Read Psalm 103.  As you read, employ once again a journalistic approach to praise. Based on what you find in Psalm 103, jot down your answers to these basic interrogatives about praise:
  • Who?
  • What?
  • When?
  • Where?
  • How?
  • Why? 

Consider your answers to the question of "who" does or should praise the Lord. Who on that list surprises you?  Who might be surprised to discover that they are on that list?

Reflect on your answers to the questions of "when," "where," and "how." Talk to the Lord about those answers. Talk to the Lord about what you might learn from the Psalmist in the matters of the when, where, and how of praise.

Now turn your attention to the question of "why."
  • Which of the reasons "why" to praise the Lord especially resonate with you? 
  • Consider why those particular reasons have special meaning or appeal for you.  Talk to the Lord about them. 
  • What do you observe are the different types of reasons why the Lord should be praised? (We're not thinking here of specific reasons, but rather broad types of reasons.) 
  • Which of those types generally inform your own prayer and praise?
  • Which of those types have not typically factored into your prayer and praise? 

According to the testimony of Psalm 103 alone, what would you identify as the attributes of God?

Now reflect on the list just made.
  • For each attribute listed, think of at least one instance in the Bible where that attribute of God was manifested.
  • For each attribute listed, think of at least one instance in your own life when that attribute of God was manifested. 

​Identify the verses that reflect the Psalmist's anthropology -- that is, what he believes about human beings.

Reflect on those verses, and then jot down a brief summary of what the Psalmist believes about human beings.
  • To what extent does the anthropology of Psalm 103 resonate with the rest of Scripture?
  • To what extent does the anthropology of Psalm 103 resonate with your own?

​Read verses 1-2 in several different translations, focusing your attention especially on the idea of everything within a person or everything about a person praising God.  What do those verses mean for you, for your life, and for your relationship with God? 

Finally, inasmuch as our theme for this year is learning how to pray from the Psalmist, what does the author of Psalm 103 teach you about how to pray?
Psalm 104
Read Psalm 104. Psalm 104 is a Psalm of praise, and it is praise that emanates primarily from reflecting on God's relationship to His creation. As you read through the Psalm, make a running list first of what the Lord did (or does) in relation to His creation.

Reflecting on the list just made:
  • What does each item on the list reveal about the Lord?
  • Why should those things elicit one's praise? 

​As you read through the Psalm, how would you characterize His relationship to each of the creatures mentioned?

As you reflect on your own observations of the Lord's relationship to each of His creatures:
  • What do those relationships reveal about the Lord?
  • Why should they elicit a person's praise?

As you read through the Psalm, jot down your observations about:
  • the Lord's relationship with the inanimate parts of His creation;
  • their role within that creation.

As you reflect on the inanimate parts of God's creation:
  • What do they reveal about Him?
  • What about them should elicit praise for the Lord?

As you read the Psalm, jot down your observations about the way that human beings' relationship to the rest of God's creation is portrayed. 
  • Talk to the Lord about your observations.
  • Talk to the Lord about the extent to which the Psalm's portrayal of humans' relationship to the rest of creation is characteristic of your own relationship to the rest of creation. 

When has God's creation played a significant role in your relationship with Him?

When and how has the Lord's creation impacted your prayer life?

​When has God's creation elicited praise from you?

What about God's creation has elicited praise from you?

To the extent that God's creation and His relationship to it is a cause and an inspiration for praise, should reflecting on it be more a part of your devotional life?

What does the author of Psalm 104 teach you:
  • about the Lord?
  • about creation?
  • about praise?
  • about prayer? 

Put yourself in a location or position where you can reflect on creation and the Lord's relationship to it.  Follow the example of the Psalmist by letting your praise and affirmations about God emanate from:
  • what you observe about His creatures;
  • what you observe about His inanimate objects;
  • what you discern about His attributes.​
Psalm 105
Read Psalm 105.  Beginning with verse 8, this Psalm is largely a recounting of the Lord's actions in the life of His people Israel. As you read, make a deliberate list of the things recounted by the Psalmist that the Lord did or does.

Now reflect on the list just made. For each deed of the Lord reflected on the list:
  • Why did the Lord do what He did?
  • What does this deed of the Lord reveal about Him?
  • What does this deed of the Lord potentially have to do with you and your life?

​Continue to reflect specifically on your answers to the second question -- what each deed of the Lord reveals about Him. 
  • Which of these revelations about Him were already familiar to you?
  • Which of these revelations about Him has been less prominent in your understanding? 

Consider again your list of the deeds of the Lord:
  • Which of those deeds involved human beings as instruments of His work?
  • What was the nature of the human participation?
  • What does the Lord's use of the human beings reveal about Him?
  • What does the Lord's use of the human beings mean for you?

​Having reflected on the historical material and its meaning, return now to verses 1-7. For each one of those seven verses, contemplate and answer these questions:
  • How do you understand this verse in light of the historical memories that follow?
  • How do you understand the historical memories that follow in light of this verse?

​Remembering is a significant theme in Psalm 105.  
  • Identify the things that the Psalm says the Lord remembers.
  • What is the effect of the Lord remembering?
  • Identify the things (or types of things) that human beings do or should remember.
  • What is the effect of the human beings remembering? 

Read verse 5 in several translations. After you have a sense of the meanings of the words there, jot down what types of things you understand the Psalmist to be suggesting that we remember.

Take the list of the types of things that the Psalmist says we should remember, and spend some time in prayer talking to the Lord about the things that come to your mind in response to that list.

Verse 45 suggests the ultimate reason or purpose for the Lord's work in the lives of His people. 
  • To what extent do you believe the rationale expressed in verse 45 is also the rationale for His work in your life?
  • To what extent has His work in your life had the effect expressed in verse 45?​
* 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.”