School of Prayer 46

WEEK 46

psalms this week

"Being confident of God does not lead to passive acceptance. It leads to a vigorous pressing of the issues, an insistence on transformation that can only be wrought by God. Still in the midst of the disorientation, this persistent faith does battle toward newness. Trust in Yahweh leads to a zealous insistence on change, and the change is wrought through a lament."
- Walter Brueggemann

Psalms 130, 131, and 132

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 130

Psalm 131

Psalm 132

Read Psalm 130. As you read, make a list numbered from 1 to 8, representing the eight verses of this Psalm. Then, for each verse:

To whom does the Psalmist seem to be speaking?
What is the thrust of his message -- i.e., what is he communicating to the addressee?
What seems to be the Psalmist's mood or attitude?
What does this verse reveal to you about the Psalmist's situation or experience?
What does this verse reveal to you about the Psalmist's faith?

The Psalmist cries to the Lord from "the depths." The Psalm does not detail, however, what those "depths" are. Make a list of the first ten characters from the Bible who might have prayed verse 1 of Psalm 130.

Reflecting on the list just made:

What were "the depths" for that character?
How did the character come to such a circumstance?
What do you know about that character's faith in crisis?
What do you know about the Lord's response?

Turning now to your own personal experience, make a list of the first ten situations that come to your mind from your own life when you were in some depths.

Reflecting on the list just made:

What kind of "depths" was it?
How did you come to such a circumstance?
How would you characterize your faith in that time of crisis?
What do you see in retrospect as God's involvement or response?
Talk to the Lord about the times reflected on your list.

Read verses 3 and 4 in a variety of translations in order to get a full sense of the meaning.

Rewrite those verses in your own words.
Speak your rewritten version of verses 3 and 4 as your own prayer to the Lord.

Verse 6 features the image of a watch-man to illustrate eager waiting. Since those kinds of watchmen are not part of our daily experience or exposure, think of three more contemporary images that you might use to express or illustrate eager waiting.

When have you waited eagerly for the Lord?

Would you characterize your waiting as faithful? Hopeful? Impatient? Trusting? Confident? Anxious? Peaceful?
What did you learn during the waiting?

In what ways are you waiting for the Lord today? Talk to Him about those parts of your life in light of what you have discovered in your reflections on Psalm 130.

The Psalmist concludes with a word of encouragement for Israel to hope in the Lord.

To whom might you need to speak such a word of reminder and encouragement?
What reasons does the Psalmist have or give for hoping in the Lord?
To what extent do those reasons resonate with your own faith and experience? This brief Psalm is comprised mostly of a series

What do you understand to be the relationship between verses 7-8 and the rest of the Psalm?

What do you learn about prayer from the author of Psalm 130?

Read Psalm 131. Focus on verse 1 by reading it in a variety of translations.

What do you understand the Psalmist to be saying in this verse?
Once you have a sense for what the Psalmist is saying, identify five characters from the Bible who seem to you to exemplify what the Psalmist is saying.
Just as we may get a clearer picture of what the Psalmist is saying by recalling others from Scripture who might have said the same thing, we might also get a clearer sense of the meaning by imagining its opposites. Accordingly, identify five people from Scripture who embody the opposite attitude of that described by the Psalmist in 131:1.

Now let verse 1 become a point of personal reflection for you.

When have you resembled the attitude expressed by the Psalmist?
Talk to the Lord about those times.
When have you not resembled the attitude expressed by the Psalmist?
Talk to the Lord about those times.

Verse 1 is addressed to the Lord, yet it does not fit naturally into most typical types or categories of prayer (e.g., praise, complaint, confession, plea, thanksgiving, etc.).

If you had to put a label on it, what would you call this kind of prayer?
Why is it important for the Psalmist to say this sort of thing to God?
Is 131:1 a prayer that you should say to Him?

In verse 2, the Psalmist uses a simile to describe himself. Reflect for a moment just on the simile (rather than on its application). Articulate what it is that you believe the Psalmist is endeavoring to convey with the imagery he uses?

To what extend does the imagery of verse 2 describe you today? Talk to the Lord about your answer.

To what extent has the imagery of verse 2 described you at some other time in your life? Talk to the Lord about your answer.

Read verse 3 in a variety of translations in order to gain a full sense for the meaning.

Verse 3 moves abruptly to addressing a human audience rather than the Lord. What do you see as the connection between verse 3 and the two verses that precede it?

What do you presume to be the motivation for the Psalmist in verse 3?

To what extent should you be similarly motivated?

The Psalmist's call is for God's people to "hope in the Lord from this time forth and forevermore." Focus on the "this time" element of the message. What does it look like for you to "hope in the Lord" today?

Read Psalm 132. Begin by forcing yourself into a careful reading by making a list numbered from 1 to 18, representing the eighteen verses of the Psalm. Then, for each verse:

To whom would you say that the Psalmist is speaking?
What is the thrust of his message?
How would you describe his mood?
What do you perceive to be his situation?

Now go back and focus especially on those verses that you identified as being addressed to the Lord.

What does the Psalmist seem to want from the Lord?
What is the Psalmist's "why" -- his reason or rationale for the Lord to act?
To what extent does the request of the Psalmist resonate with your own experience?
To what extent has (or might) his "why" factor into your own prayer life?

We know the phenomenon of overhearing one-half of a telephone conversation. We are able to surmise certain things about the person on the other end of the phone based on what we hear from the person on this end of the phone. With that in mind, reflect on the prayer sections of Psalm 132, and jot down what you would surmise about the One on the other end of those prayers.

Following that same principle, reflect on your own praying during the past few days. If someone overheard your prayers, what would they surmise about God?

Make two lists as you read Psalm 132 again. On the one list, jot down all the things that the Lord said as recorded by the Psalmist. On the second list, jot down all of the things that the Lord did as reported by the Psalmist.

What do the Lord's words reveal about His nature and His will?
What do the Lord's deeds reveal about His nature and His will?
When you reflect on His nature and His will as revealed in Psalm 132, what is your proper response?

Read 2 Samuel 7:1-2 and 1 Chronicles 22. With these bits of background in mind, reflect on verses 3-6 of Psalm 132.

What did David want to do?
Why did David want to do what he wanted to do?
What is exemplary about David in these passages?
What attributes would you use to describe David's behavior, words, and choices in these passages?
When might those attributes have been used to describe you?
In what area of your life might you be able to follow David's example in these passages?

Having reflected on the various elements in this Psalm, how would you describe the relationship between the Psalmist's will and the Lord's will?

Is there a difference between what the Psalmist is praying for and what the Lord had promised?
To the extent that there is overlap between what the Psalmist prays for and what the Lord promised, what do you assume to be the point of such praying? What is right and good about praying for what the Lord has promised to do?

Read Matthew 6:10.

What do you perceive to be the relationship between the verse from Jesus' teaching in Matthew and what you have read in Psalm 132?
In what ways does the author of Psalm 132 teach you how to pray?
Talk to the Lord about what you have discovered.

* 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.”