The Psalms are often known as Jesus’ Prayer Book. When we look at how Jesus prayed (and taught!) we see that his life was saturated in the book of the Psalms. Today’s Scripture readings are from Psalms 59-62. In these texts, we see some BIG emotions and POWERFUL declarations:
- “Rescue me from my enemies.” ~ Psalm 59:1
- “You have rejected us, O God,” ~ Psalm 60:1
- “I cry to you for help when my heart is overwhelmed.” ~ Psalm 61:2
- “Power, O God, belongs to you; unfailing love, O Lord, is yours.” ~ Psalm 62:11-12
Sometimes these big and powerful statements seem off-putting or even wrong in Scripture. Maybe that’s because we are not supposed to (just) read the Psalms; God invites us to pray them!
This is a lesson I learned in college. God had broken my heart. The stress of school, the loneliness of transitions, the brokenness of the world all struck at once, and I was overwhelmed. I found myself in my college’s prayer chapel for some good one-on-one time with God. The issue was, I found it hard to find the words to pray. So, I opened up the Psalms and started reading them aloud to God.
An angry Psalm? I showed God my anger.
A joyous Psalm? I asked to once again be filled with his joy.
A lamenting Psalm? I gave God my sadness.
A Psalm of thanksgiving? God reminded me of why I should be thankful.
Just like for Jesus, the Psalms became my prayer book in how I talked with God. When I didn’t have the words, the Psalms did. And God met me in those poems, songs, and cries every single time. He proved himself to be my Rock and my Redeemer.
Questions for reflection:
- What is a Psalm (or two!) that has meant a lot to you? Pray the Psalm once a day for the next week.
- What emotions do you see the Psalmists (the authors) expressing to God? What does this say about who God is and how he addresses our emotions?