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Introduction:
“The only way to understand the psalms is on your knees, the
whole congregation praying the words of the psalms with all its
strength”—Deitrich Bonhoeffer.[1]
Though the Psalms are
Old Testament canon, part of us feels exactly as Bonhoeffer did.
They are to be prayed, or at least sung. Our modern hymnals
demonstrate we feel this way. Many of our songs refer to, quote,
or are base on the Psalms. §
“Hallelujah, Praise Jehovah!,”
“Praise the Lord”—Psalm 148 §
“The Lord’s My Shepherd,” The
Lord My Shepherd Is,” “The Lord’s My Shepherd, I’ll Not
Want”—Psalm 23 §
“How Shall the Young Secure”—Psalm
119 §
“As the Deer”—Psalm 42 §
“This is the Day”—Psalm
118 §
“I Will Sing of the Mercies of
the Lord”—Psalm 89 §
“You Are My Strength,” “I
Will Call Upon the Lord”—Psalm 18 §
“Unto Thee O Lord”—Psalm
25 §
“How Majestic Is Your Name”—Psalm
8
Over the next several months, I plan to take about one
lesson per month and help us study how to pray as the psalmists
did. I hope we’ll all grow spiritually by this endeavor, we’ll
draw closer to God, and stronger in prayer. However, today we are
going to begin in what will seem like a very odd place. Over the
coming months, I hope to show you how we can pray with greater
faith, greater creativity, and greater honesty by considering how
the psalmists prayed. However, at first, I want to set some of our
fears to rest.
How many of you would like to pray more like the psalmists?
On the other hand, as you hear that, how many of you feel
overwhelmed by the thought of trying to pray like the psalmists?
The psalms are so extensive, we are overwhelmed at the thought of
trying to learn from them how to pray. They psalmists use language
with which we are unfamiliar. They address feelings we would
rather keep hidden. Though they enliven our hearts when we hear
them, they sound fake and tinny on our tongues. Not to mention,
some of them sound almost blasphemous. Thus, we reach a paradox.
We want to pray and sing like the psalmists, but then again, we
don’t.
Therefore, in this lesson, as we begin our in depth study,
I want to ease some of those fears and talk about why we do not
have to pray and sing exactly like the psalmists. As I said, I
know that sounds like an odd place to begin. However, I hope it
will lay some of our fears to rest and set us free to simply study
the aspects of the psalms that really can help us. Discussion: I.
The Psalms are part of the Old Covenant. A.
For all we can learn from Psalms, we must remember it is
not part of our covenant. John
10:24 demonstrates the Psalms are part of the Old Law. As Hebrews 7:12 explains, the law has changed. Psalms is not our law. B.
Jesus was the goal and end of the Psalms as He was for the
rest of the Law (cf. Romans
10:4). We are not striving to measure up to the Psalms in our
prayer lives so we can be righteous enough to go to heaven. C.
Therefore,
we must take care. As we can learn from all of the Old Testament
(cf. Romans
15:4), we can
learn from Psalms. However, we must distinguish between
learning universal lessons of prayer, praise and worship and
co-opting aspects of the Old Testament pattern and bringing them
into the New. At the same time, we must be careful that we are
making the distinction based on biblical principles and not based
on our preferences or traditions. II.
The Psalms were written in
culturally appropriate form. A.
The Psalms were not written
as a guidebook for universal prayer for all cultures of all times.
Old Covenant Hebrews wrote it for Old Covenant Hebrews. B.
As God did with all scripture, He used the men within their
culture, with their backgrounds to write out His revelation. To
act like we must pray exactly as the psalmists did would be
similar to saying we can only preach about judgment the way those
who wrote in the apocalyptic style did. C.
Claus Westermann and Hermann Gunkel, respected scholars on
the psalms, both point out that the genre of Psalms is not merely
a biblical genre. Rather, the Hebrew psalms are written in the
same style and genre as the psalms of Egypt and Babylon. The
specific style and genre was not meant to be a mandated style for
all prayer. Rather it was God’s revelation through man within
his culture. D.
Therefore,
we need to keep in mind cultural differences. In some cases, our
sensibilities are bruised by the direct and almost commanding nature of the psalms in their address
to God, without so much as a “please.” Consider Psalm
102:1-2: “Hear my prayer, O Lord;/let my cry come to you!/Do
not hide your face from me/in the day of my distress/Incline your
ear to me;/answer me speedily in the day when I call!” (ESV). In
our culture, this is rude and demanding. In the ancient near eastern culture, this
was clearly an accepted mode of address. Perhaps such statements
in our prayers are lawful. At the same time, I suggest we keep the
cultural differences in mind. Just as we wouldn’t encourage
modern Christians to call their mother, “Woman,” just because
Jesus did in John 19:26, we should perhaps be careful
encouraging modern Christians to command God to wake up and
listen. E.
We do not have to use the same cultural images and
metaphors the psalmists did. We do not have to use the same cultural forms. Though we can learn from their
hymns, laments and thanksgivings, we do not have to mirror their
form exactly. III.
When Jesus taught how to pray, He didn’t reference Psalms. A.
As much as I like the Psalms,
as much as I feel the pull to pray like them, and as much as I will
encourage you to pray the Psalms, I can’t help but notice Jesus
was asked by His disciples to teach them to pray (Luke
11:1). B.
Jesus provided a model for prayer and gave instruction on
prayer (Luke 11:1-13),
yet did not once refer the disciples to Psalms. C.
Having
said that, Jesus did use the Psalms in His own praying (cf. Matthew
27:46; Luke 23:46). Thus,
even though Jesus did not refer His apostles to them, His own
praying demonstrates the Psalms are beneficial to our
praying. IV.
The Hebrews didn’t pray like the Psalms either. A.
Just like none of us really
believes Job and his friends talked in epic poetry, we should not
believe the Hebrews prayed in the form of psalms. The Psalms
is a collection of stylized poems. They were not records of the
way Old Testament saints naturally prayed. B.
Consider the example of Hezekiah in Isaiah 38:2-3, 9-20. 1.
In vss. 2-3 we
see his prayer. It was very simple, prosaic and straightforward,
much like our modern prayers, “Please, O Lord, remember how I
have walked before you in faithfulness and with a whole heart, and
have done what is good in your sight” (ESV). 2.
However in vss.
10-20 we read a psalm complete with the stylized account of
Hezekiah’s sickness, lament, plea and praise. Notice vs.
9: “A writing of Hezekiah king of Judah, after he had been
sick and had recovered from his sickness” (ESV). 3.
Hezekiah
prayed as we do. Later, he wrote this psalm. Could we examine the
actual origins of the individual psalms, I have
no doubt we would find this to be the case for many of them. They
are stylized accounts of previous prayers using the cultural form
of memorializing those prayers. C.
Having said that, I do recognize that, like Jesus on the cross, Old Testament
saints would certainly have quoted these psalms and perhaps prayed
them in their entirety. Some, like Psalm 24, were probably
used liturgically for certain ceremonies and therefore recited as
prayers. I’m simply pointing out the Jews did not pray in poem.
We don’t have to either. Though, I believe the Psalms
demonstrate we are free to write our own stylized prayers if wish. Conclusion: Though we can and will learn a great deal to benefit our prayers lives from the Psalms, we can relax as we approach them. They are not our law or our standard for prayer. We do not have to feel ashamed if our prayers do not soar to the poetic heights the psalms do.
Glory
to God in the church by Christ Jesus
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