PRAYING THE PSALMS
Photo by Ethan Sykes on Unsplash
Why Engage It?
The book of Psalms (also called the Psalter) has been the prayer book for God’s people for as long as the at least 4th century B.C. Jesus himself prayed the Psalter as any Jewish boy would. He even quotes the Psalter from the cross with his last few breaths (“My God, My God, Why have you forsaken me”, Psalm 22).
I have a hunch that if they were good enough for him to pray, they are good enough for us to pray. For centuries the Christian Church has continued to engage these prayers, deepening our prayer life with Christ. In Benedictine Monasteries today, the entire Psalter is prayed through every single week. This practice is an encouragement to engage with the Psalms a bit more intently than we may normally. While we may be used to praying our own prayers, Eugene Peterson encourages us that “in the life of faith we don’t make up original prayers that suit our private spiritual genius. Prayer is not an original language, but a received language.” Praying through the Psalms reminds us of our received language. When we pray them we pray them with the church world-wide, the church throughout history, and even with Jesus who is our intercessor.
How to Practice It
“Supplies: A translation of the Psalms that you like (or maybe one you’ve never tried)
Time: 5-10 Minutes per day.
“If the psalm prays, you pray. If the psalm laments, you lament. If the psalm exalts, you rejoice. If it hopes, you hope. If it fears, you fear. Everything written here is a mirror for us.” - St. Augustine
Praying the Psalms can be done a few ways.
1) Pray them as your own. You can either pray them with the attitude that you are speaking directly to God or take the Psalms and change the words to fit your prayers. For example, you can pray Psalm 1 like so:
1 Help me to not walk in step with the wicked
or stand in the way that sinners take
or sit in the company of mockers,
2 but delight in the law of the Lord,
and meditate on Your law day and night.
2) Meditate on the Psalms as you read, allowing God to speak to you. Respond as you feel led.
3) Write your own Psalm. You can use one of your favorite Psalms as a base or template, writing your own prayer to God.
May the meditations of our hearts and the words on our lips be pleasing to God.