Praying the Psalms - February, 2009

Early last year, in preparing a pastoral prayer for Morning Worship at Salem, I decided to pray through the psalm for the day with its text spread out in front of me while praying. It was a moving experience to merge the psalm with the theme chosen from all the texts for that day, and to do so spontaneously in light of what the people and I were bringing to worship that week or facing the next. In light of that experience, and the many comments from others on how helpful it had been to them, I decided to adopt this practice as a weekly discipline for my own benefit.

In doing so, I am fully aware that I am only entering in on a historic practice, followed by God’s people in every age. My hope is simply to learn myself from the discipline how to better enter into God’s sovereign presence and be filled with his Spirit.

Week of February 1 (Fourth after Epiphany) – Psalm 111

How can a heart be whole, Lord, except in “the company of the upright, in the congregation”? Gathered by your Spirit and Word, we are fed by leaders you have called to speak that Word in that Spirit. And our hearts are stirred by the reminders they offer us of “the greatness of your works … that are established forever.”

Thus do you manifest to your gathered people “the power of your works, in giving them the heritage of the nations.” And thus have you also inspired them to “perform those works, as you have, “in faithfulness and uprightness.”

Remind us again this day and week that in you alone can we and our world be made whole. Seal in our hearts and fix in our minds the constant awareness that “the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom,” and that “all who practice it have a good understanding.”
We await your Spirit, even as we sing your praise. Ja!

Week of February 8 (Fifth after Epiphany) – Psalm 147:11-20

Have we not known, Lord, and have we not been told from the beginning that it is you and you alone who sit above the circle of the earth from creation to the end of time? And have we not ourselves witnessed the range of your power and goodness to which the psalmist testifies?

You alone build up your people, gathering to yourself even the outcasts among us. You lift up the downtrodden and cast the wicked to the ground. Before we were created you determined the number of the stars and gave them their names. And sovereign over nature still, you cover the heavens with clouds, prepare rain for the earth, and make grass grow on the hills.

Forgive us for losing sight of the range of your power and goodness, and failing so often to pay attention, for priding ourselves rather in our power and prowess. Help us, illumined by the light that comes only from you, to remember that what you ask of us is not to prove our worthiness but to fear you in true faith, and hope in your steadfastness day by day. Amen.

Week of February 15 (Sixth after Epiphany) – Psalm 30

Your voice, O Lord, is everywhere, and full of majesty. It is “over the waters … breaks cedars … flashes forth flames of fire … shakes the wilderness … causes oaks to whirl … strips the forest bare.” Clearly, all authority belongs finally to you.

Only in obedience to your word through your prophet was Naaman the Syrian cleansed of his leprosy in Old Testament times. Only though your Son was another leper likewise cleansed in New Testament times. And such healings of body like salvation itself—which renders us whole—is only given at your command.

Oh that we, like the Apostle Paul, would be as passionate about offering ourselves to you as instruments of your power. Free us from seeking crowns of our own, from focusing on lesser disciplines fueled by pride and our human longings for praise.

This week “I will extol you, O Lord, for you have drawn me up … and you have healed me.” And as I sing your praise, so will I call your faithful ones everywhere to give thanks to your holy name. Amen.

Week of February 22 (Last after Epiphany - Transfiguration) – Psalm 50:1-6

In high and holy moments throughout history we have heard about and known, “The mighty one, God the Lord, speaks and summons the earth, from the rising of the sun to its setting.” Thus did you summon the earth when Elijah ascended to heaven in a whirlwind, and when Jesus, his only begotten Son, was transfigured on a mountaintop in the presence of his disciples.

The psalmist says, “Out of Zion, the perfection of beauty, God shines forth…. He calls to the heavens above and to the earth… ‘Hear, O my people, and I will speak.’” And when you speak it is clear that you alone are our sovereign and judge.

Elisha, Lord, wanted a double portion of the spirit you gave to Elijah but Elijah could not grant that. The disciples wanted to take glory into their own hands and build three dwellings in response to Jesus’ transfiguration, but your voice from heaven made it immediately clear that their first priority was not to build but to listen to his beloved Son.

Lord, when you call on us, whether on some mountaintop or in the valleys of our lives, help us to stop and listen for the blessing only you can supply. Forgive us for trying so often to take your Kingdom into our own hands. Help us rather to simply receive it and glory in it as the gift it is from your gracious hand. And help us then to serve you in ways you deem appropriate to our nature and your sovereign will. Amen.