Praying the Psalms Why? How? What about? 1

This is what the LORD says: “Stand at the crossroads and look; ask for the ancient paths, ask where the good way is, and walk in it, and you will find rest for your souls. Jeremiah 6:16 2

Why pray the Psalms?  Because they are very old  Because we are in good company  Because of Jesus  Because they reach further  To be infected!  Prayers for all weathers 3

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 These poets knew far less reason that we for loving God. They did not know that He offered them eternal joy; still less that He would die to win it for them. Yet they express a longing for Him, for His mere presence, which comes only to the best Christians, or to Christians at their best moments.  From C S Lewis, “Reflections on the Psalms”

How can I use the Psalms in prayer?  Read all the Psalms every month!  Memorize  Meditate, imagine, savour!  Adopt and enter in  Fighter verses and other tools  Sing! 7

Psalm 22  My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Why are you so far from saving me, so far from my cries of anguish? My God, I cry out by day, but you do not answer, by night, but I find no rest. 8

Psalm 103  As a father has compassion on his children, so the LORD has compassion on those who fear him; for he knows how we are formed, he remembers that we are dust. As for man, his days are like grass, he flourishes like a flower of the field; the wind blows over it and it is gone, and its place remembers it no more.  But from everlasting to everlasting the LORD’s love is with those who fear him, and his righteousness with their children’s children - with those who keep his covenant and remember to obey his precepts. 9

Psalm 119  Its divided into 22 sections, each of which is 8 verses long, making 176 verses in total.  The Psalm follows the Hebrew alphabet. Each sections is a based on a different letter. And each verse in a section starts with that letter.  Centered on a series of words which mean more or less the same [law, statues, precepts, decrees, word, commands] 10

 This poem is not, and does not pretend to be, a sudden outpouring of the heart like, say, Psalm 18. It is a pattern, a thing done like embroidery, stitch by stitch, through long, quiet hours, for the love of the subject and for delight in leisurely, disciplined craftsmanship.  It is the language of a man ravished by a moral beauty. It we cannot at all share his experience, we shall be the losers.  From C S Lewis, “Reflections on the Psalms” 11

Psalm 139  How precious to me are your thoughts, God! How vast is the sum of them! Were I to count them, they would outnumber the grains of sand - when I awake, I am still with you.  Do I not hate those who hate you, LORD, and abhor those who are in rebellion against you? I have nothing but hatred for them; I count them my enemies.  Search me, God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting. 12

The Christian and the difficult sayings:  They did not have the whole picture.  Not everything which is said to God in the Bible expresses his heart.  God is not easily offended or politically correct.  The Psalms are “cask strength”!  Even the hard words may still be useful.

Psalm 137  By the rivers of Babylon we sat and wept when we remembered Zion. …our captors asked us for songs, our tormentors demanded songs of joy; they said, “Sing us one of the songs of Zion!” How can we sing the songs of the LORD while in a foreign land?  happy is the one who repays you according to what you have done to us. Happy is the one who seizes your infants and dashes them against the rocks. 14

 I know things in the inner world which are like babies; the infantile beginnings of small indulgencies, small resentments…  Against all such petty infants (the dears have such winning ways) the advice of the Psalm is best. Knock the little bastards’ brains out. And “blessed” he who can, for its easier said than done.  From C S Lewis, “Reflections on the Psalms”

Memorising the Psalms  Learning the Psalms by heart involves memory, to be sure, but also a good deal more than memory. I think of it as a kind of kneading of yeast into the dough of the mind. The goal is to make the words, images, ideas and sentiments of the Psalms part of our own inner world of thought and resolve. [ Patrick Reardon (Orthodox Priest)]  Psalms to try include 103, 19, 23, 84 etc

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