Learning the Psalms, Learning Prayer

“One thing I ask of the LORD, this is what I seek: that I may dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life, to gaze upon the beauty of the LORD and to seek him in his temple.” Ps. 27:4

I have been on a journey of deepening in the Psalms for several years. These ancient songs are prayers of a kind that defy real description though many have tried. When life was hard I always found myself turning to these pages. They offered prayers of power but I never fully understood why. As I continued to grow and to move through difficult times in my life, many of the prayers of the psalms stayed with me. I began to see something in them that I hadn’t seen before: Raw life, a big God, and a real longing for Him. I began to gaze more at God through these prayers.

My journey in the psalms has led me to read rather prolifically on the topic of the Psalms and I have learned much from others. Let me share some of the insights of others much further along than I:

Dietrich Bonhoeffer – “Whenever the Psalter is abandoned, an incomparable treasure is lost to the Christian Church. With its recovery will come unexpected power.” … “Because Christ prays the prayer of the Psalms with the individual and with the church before the heavenly throne of God, or rather, because those who pray the Psalms are joining in the prayer of Jesus Christ, their prayer reaches the ears of God. Christ has become their intercessor.” – (Prayer Book of the Bible and Life Together).

Walter Brueggeman – “The agenda and intention of the Psalms is considerably at odds with the normal speech of most people, the normal speech of most people, the normal speech of a stable, functioning, self-deceptive culture, in which everything must be kept running young and smooth” … ”Most Psalms can only be appropriately prayed by people who are living at the edge of their lives, sensitive to the raw hurts, the primitive passions, and the naïve elations that are at the bottom of our life.”…[praying the Psalms] asks us to depart from the closely managed world of public survival to move into the open, frightening, healing world of speech with the Holy One” – (Praying the Psalms)

Eugene Peterson – “When we pray the Psalms and are trained in prayer by them, we enter into this centuries-long experience of being the people of God.” … “The Psalms come from a people who hear God speak to them and realize that it is the most important word they will ever hear spoken. They decide to respond. They answer.” Prayer and praying the psalms are in Language 1, the language of the heart, parent to child, lovers –“the language of personal intimacy and relationship”…”Language 2 is the language of information.” “Language 3 is the language of motivation.” Most of culture spends the most time in 2 and 3. We have lost our ability to speak and communicate in the language of prayer. The psalms are our permission to speak to God, “we can answer, we are permitted to answer. If we truly answer God there is nothing that we may not say to him” – (Answering God)

I have many miles to go in understanding all the prayers contained here in the Psalms. I haven’t yet really prayed them all but I have found myself at various times in seasons of lament, of sorrow, of thanksgiving, of anger at injustice, of praise, of awe, of need, of trust. I will be in these psalms of difficulty over and over in this life. But, perhaps I can learn to gaze more at the beauty of the Lord as I travel along and psalms of praise and gratitude will more naturally flow from my heart. That is my desire.

Blessings, Scott for Wellspring © Copyright 2009

Praying the Psalms this Summer 2009

Praying the Psalms

Wellspring Mini-Retreats through the Summer

  Are you missing times of refreshment in the Lord?  Join Wellspring Ministry on three different occasions through the summer for praying the Psalms and learning the heart language God has given us to draw near to Him.  These will be times primarily for quiet solitude with God and brief teaching on three different psalms.

Location:

Heil Valley Ranch Open Space (West of Longmont on Lefthand Canyon Rd. – Meet in the main parking lot)

Time:

6:30-8:00 PM

Dates:

3^rd Mondays of the month through the summer

June 15, 2009 – Praying Psalms of Trust

July 20, 2009 – Praying Psalms of Lament and Sorrow

August 17, 2009 – Praying Psalms of Praise and Thanksgiving

 O God, you are my God, earnestly I seek you; my soul thirsts for you, my body longs for you, in a dry and weary land where there is no water. Ps 63:1

 For information please contact us with a note on this post.

Blessings, Scott and Dave for Wellspring Ministry  Http://wellspring1.wordpress.com

 

Conformed or Transformed?

Everyday I wake up to the same “world”.  Okay, maybe some of the details change from day to day such as the latest squabbles going on in congress, the bad news about who has gotten murdered or abducted, and the most recent hollywood icon who has decided to destroy their life with drugs and reckless behavior.  Essentially however the “world” stays the same.  The “world” is predictable in that it moves us in the direction of seeking after power, the consumption of pleasureable experiences, and making a name for ourselves based on “worldly” success.  This natural bent of the ”world”  can be counted on to seek to conform us into a certain mold.  We wake up everyday to this molding influence. 

• We get out of bed and the world’s influence is there. 
• We drive in traffic and the world’s influence is there. 
• We arrive at the office and the world’s influence is there. 
• We take phone calls, perform tasks, meet others after work for drinks, and the world’s influence is there. 

Even when we try to escape the “world” by going on vacation the world’s influence is still there.  Without having to work at it, the “world” is conforming us to its ways all the time. 

“Do not love the world or the things that belong to the world.  If anyone loves the world, love for the Father is not in him.  For everything that belongs to the world–the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride in one’s lifestyle–is not from the Father, but is from the world.  And the world with its lust is passing away, but the one who does God’s will remains forever.”–I John 2:15-17

God warns us about the influence of the “world”.  He pleads with us to beware and to not let the “world’s” influence reign in our lives. 

The only way we can resist being conformed to the “world” is to find ourselves open and available to some other transforming influence instead.

“I urge you to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God; this is your spiritual worship.  Do not be conformed to this age, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may discern what is the good, pleasing, and perfect will of God.”–Romans 12:1-2

In recent months God has been leading me into times of solitude more regularly.  For almost 2 years now I have been taking 3 hours on Monday’s to spend time exclusively with God.  These times have been fruitful and vital to my relationship with him.  I guard these “sabbath” times ruthlessly.  God is drawing me to spend more time with him on a daily basis as well.  What I am finding (surprise, surprise) is that God speaks to me.  He encourages me, he sharpens me, and he shows me how he wants me to be in the “world”.  These times of solitude for me are not simply an escape from the ”world” but also times for making space for God to do his transforming work in my heart.  As a result He is showing me what it would look like for me to move back into the world in a new way, where I stand apart from the world rather than being conformed to it.  

I know he is changing me because of how this dynamic is playing out in my life.  In my times of solitude God speaks clearly and powerfully to me about a multitude of things.  I find myself excited and diligent in journaling about the things he tells me and the steps he shows me to take.  However when I find myself back in the ”world’ faced with following through on His directives I am faced with steps of faith that require more effort than I would have guessed they would in my times of solitude.  I think this is why it is called a step of faith.  I am learning that these “steps of faith” are necessary to push through if I am going to truly be transformed.  God’s transforming work is not complete until the things he shows me in times of solitude are carried out in faith as I enter back into the ”world”.

Are you being conformed to the “world”, or are you allowing God’s transforming work to take place in your heart so that you stand apart from the “world” while still finding yourself in it.

Dave for Wellspring C 2009