by Roger Severino Roger Severino, Adult Discipleship – Leadership Minister
The Psalms express humanity’s words to God. In the Psalms, we get to listen in on the private and corporate cries of God’s people to God. One thing to consider while reading the Psalms is: “How are man’s words to God also God’s word to us?” No other book of the Bible so clearly captures the cries, praises, prayers, and songs of God’s people to God.
The Psalms reflect the whole range of human emotion. From “negative” feelings (lament, anger, etc.) to “positive” feelings (praise, joy, etc.), the Psalms capture the entire essence of what it means to be human and allow for the expression of these various moods and outlooks.
The Psalms contain various types within its collection of 150 psalms. Like the wide range of human emotions, it is important to understand that individual psalms tend to emphasize different things. So, therefore, various psalms are often fit into different classifications: psalms of wisdom, of praise, of lament, of thanksgiving, of redemptive history, etc.
The Psalms have the ability to transcend time and cultural barriers. Let’s be honest, often when we read portions of the Bible, especially the Old Testament, we sense that there is a pretty big gap between these stories and our modern world. When we read the Psalms, much of that barrier dissipates. Humanity has not changed in 3,000 years, so the cries of the heart we find in the Psalms are the same desires and emotions we feel today.
The Psalms are poetry and should be read and understood this way. Hebrew poetry uses a lot of figurative language, meaning that many of the terms contain expressions that are not to be taken literally, but communicate truths in figurative ways. So, for example, in Psalm 69 when the psalmist cries, “Save me, God, for the water has risen to my neck,” this does not mean that he is literally about to drown but that he is facing circumstances that have overwhelmed him and swept over him.
The Psalms make use of Hebrew Parallelism. Hebrew parallelism means that often the first line is followed by a second line that may (1) say the same (or similar) thing in a different way, (2) provide a contrast to the first line (often starting with the word “but”), or (3) expound on the initial thought in some way.
The Psalms can provide a great way to enhance your prayer life and Bible meditation. Read a psalm during your devotional time to get your mind focused on God. Read it aloud and try to capture the tone and emotion behind the psalm. Read a verse repeatedly and allow it to be absorbed into your being. Consider what the psalm has to say about God and about life. Pray through the psalm and allow the words to stimulate thoughts on what you can pray for and about.
by Roger Severino Roger Severino, Adult Discipleship – Leadership Minister
We are encouraged to approach God as “Father.” That may not sound that significant to us, but it was pretty radical coming off the lips of Jesus to His disciples. Though the concept of God as Father is not absent in the Old Testament or prior to Jesus, the intimacy of “Abba, Father” is a drastic introduction. We approach a good, loving, and merciful Father. Prayer is relational.
We must honor God as holy when we pray. To honor His name as holy is to honor God as holy, because in biblical language the name represents the person. Recognizing the holiness of God is recognizing that He is separate from us, and that He is perfect. The intimacy of calling God “Father” is balanced by the recognition that we approach Him with deep reverence and respect (even fear, in the right sense).
God desires that we pray for His work to be done on earth. All things in heaven are in submission to God’s sovereign and perfect rule. Take one look around you, and it is pretty clear that this is not how things are where we live. What are God’s views about justice? About love? About people turning to Him and away from their destructive path? About the blessing of well-being for all, including those on the margins of society? How should this guide your prayer?
We trust God for His provisions. We worry about a lot of things. Most of our anxieties in our society are first-world problems, not where we will get our next meal. Trusting God for His provision of our needs (not necessarily our “wants”) demonstrates that we have faith and trust in God, and that we are satisfied with what He provides. We pray for these things because it demonstrates our reliance on God for His provisions.
Forgiveness is an important key to life. Most of us know that we are in desperate need to be forgiven by God, not because we are axe murderers, but because of the selfishness, lust, greed, and pride that reside within us. But Jesus doesn’t let us simply receive forgiveness. He demands that we demonstrate it to others. In fact, the test of whether we understand that we have received God’s undeserved forgiveness is that we forgive others in the same way.
We look for God’s help to overcome evil. God’s great desire for His children is that we be conformed more into the image of His Son (see Romans 8:29). To become more like Jesus, we must surrender more of ourselves to God and allow Him to transform us. That means that we look to God to help us overcome temptations and to persevere through trials.
