Praying the
Psalms
Why? How? What
about?
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This is what the LORD says:
“Stand at the crossroads and
look;
ask for the ancient
paths, ask where the good
way is, and walk in it,
and
you will find rest for your souls.
Jeremiah 6:16
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Why pray the Psalms?
 Because they are very old
 Because we are in good company
 Because of Jesus
 Because they reach further
 To be infected!
 Prayers for all weathers
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 These poets knew far less reason that we for
loving God. They did not know that He
offered them eternal joy; still less that He
would die to win it for them. Yet they
express a longing for Him, for His mere
presence, which comes only to the best
Christians, or to Christians at their best
moments.
 From C S Lewis, “Reflections on the Psalms”
How can I use the Psalms in
prayer?
 Read all the Psalms every month!
 Memorize
 Meditate, imagine, savour!
 Adopt and enter in
 Fighter verses and other tools
 Sing!
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Psalm 22
 My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?
Why are you so far from saving me,
so far
from my cries of anguish? My God, I cry out by
day, but you do not answer,
by night, but I
find no rest.
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Psalm 103
 As a father has compassion on his children,
so the
LORD has compassion on those who fear him; for he
knows how we are formed,
he remembers that we
are dust. As for man, his days are like grass,
he
flourishes like a flower of the field; the wind blows
over it and it is gone,
and its place remembers it no
more.
 But from everlasting to everlasting
the LORD’s love
is with those who fear him,
and his righteousness
with their children’s children - with those who keep
his covenant
and remember to obey his precepts.
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Psalm 119
 Its divided into 22 sections, each of which is 8
verses long, making 176 verses in total.
 The Psalm follows the Hebrew alphabet. Each
sections is a based on a different letter. And
each verse in a section starts with that letter.
 Centered on a series of words which mean
more or less the same [law, statues, precepts,
decrees, word, commands]
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 This poem is not, and does not pretend to be, a
sudden outpouring of the heart like, say, Psalm
18. It is a pattern, a thing done like embroidery,
stitch by stitch, through long, quiet hours, for the
love of the subject and for delight in leisurely,
disciplined craftsmanship.
 It is the language of a man ravished by a moral
beauty. It we cannot at all share his experience,
we shall be the losers.
 From C S Lewis, “Reflections on the Psalms”
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Psalm 139
 How precious to me are your thoughts, God!
vast is the sum of them! Were I to count them,
they would outnumber the grains of sand when I awake, I am still with you.
How
 Do I not hate those who hate you, LORD,
and
abhor those who are in rebellion against you? I have
nothing but hatred for them;
I count them my
enemies.
 Search me, God, and know my heart;
test me and
know my anxious thoughts. See if there is any
offensive way in me,
and lead me in the way
everlasting.
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The Christian and the difficult
sayings:
 They did not have the whole picture.
 Not everything which is said to God in the Bible
expresses his heart.
 God is not easily offended or politically correct.
 The Psalms are “cask strength”!
 Even the hard words may still be useful.
Psalm 137
 By the rivers of Babylon we sat and wept when
we remembered Zion. …our captors asked us for
songs, our tormentors demanded songs of
joy; they said, “Sing us one of the songs of
Zion!” How can we sing the songs of the LORD
while in a foreign land?
 happy is the one who repays you
according
to what you have done to us. Happy is the one
who seizes your infants
and dashes them
against the rocks.
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 I know things in the inner world which are
like babies; the infantile beginnings of small
indulgencies, small resentments…
 Against all such petty infants (the dears
have such winning ways) the advice of the
Psalm is best. Knock the little bastards’
brains out. And “blessed” he who can, for
its easier said than done.
 From C S Lewis, “Reflections on the Psalms”
Memorising the Psalms
 Learning the Psalms by heart involves memory, to
be sure, but also a good deal more than memory. I
think of it as a kind of kneading of yeast into the
dough of the mind. The goal is to make the words,
images, ideas and sentiments of the Psalms part of
our own inner world of thought and resolve. [Patrick
Reardon (Orthodox Priest)]
 Psalms to try include 103, 19, 23, 84 etc
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