Don’t Read This Psalm!
I recently came across some lines in the book Singing the Ethos of God by theologian Brian Brock that made me pause: “Prayer begins with the acknowledgment that we are unprepared to pray. Faith must flee to Christ’s prayer and allow Christ to pray through it as it clings to God, as he has given himself in the content of the church’s prayers.”
These dense but seemingly innocent sentences contain an uncomfortable truth: When left to our own devices, we have no idea how to pray. We are completely unprepared. But they also contain a twofold encouragement: First, Jesus prayed on our behalf. He prayed because we did not. Our faith flees to the prayers of Jesus because we don’t know how to pray appropriately ourselves. Second, we have access to the prayer life of Jesus because his prayers are given to the church in the form of the Psalms. Jesus prays the Psalms, the same Psalms that are found in our Bibles and prayed in our church. Therefore, we can now hear Jesus pray and learn to pray with him when we begin to pray the Psalms.
If this is true, the last part of that sentence is very important. We do not just read the Psalms; we pray them. They are not meant to simply inform us about prayer; they are themselves the form of our faith clinging to Jesus. The Psalms are the way by which we learn to pray, not as a theoretical teaching about prayer, but by giving us a concrete way of praying. Brock puts it this way: “We can and must prepare to pray by learning how to begin, but this beginning is not by way of method, but by way of this particular performative clinging. We learn the grammar of life with God by taking these poems on our lips before God; that is, we learn this language by using it.”
We learn the language of prayer not through a theory about prayer, but by using the language that Jesus used in his prayers. Therefore, I invite you today not to read this Psalm to find some interesting information, but to let these words become your personal prayer just as Jesus did.
PRAY: Psalm 145
I will extol you, my God and King, and bless your name forever and ever.
2 Every day I will bless you and praise your name forever and ever.
3 Great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised, and his greatness is unsearchable.4 One generation shall commend your works to another, and shall declare your mighty acts.
5 On the glorious splendor of your majesty, and on your wondrous works, I will meditate.
6 They shall speak of the might of your awesome deeds, and I will declare your greatness.
7 They shall pour forth the fame of your abundant goodness and shall sing aloud of your righteousness.8 The Lord is gracious and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love.
9 The Lord is good to all, and his mercy is over all that he has made.10 All your works shall give thanks to you, O Lord, and all your saints shall bless you!
11 They shall speak of the glory of your kingdom and tell of your power,
12 to make known to the children of man your mighty deeds, and the glorious splendor of your kingdom.
13 Your kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and your dominion endures throughout all generations.[The Lord is faithful in all his words and kind in all his works.
14 The Lord upholds all who are falling and raises up all who are bowed down.
15 The eyes of all look to you, and you give them their food in due season.
16 You open your hand; you satisfy the desire of every living thing.
17 The Lord is righteous in all his ways and kind in all his works.
18 The Lord is near to all who call on him, to all who call on him in truth.
19 He fulfills the desire of those who fear him; he also hears their cry and saves them.
20 The Lord preserves all who love him, but all the wicked he will destroy.21 My mouth will speak the praise of the Lord, and let all flesh bless his holy name forever and ever.
