Sing praises to God, sing praises; sing praises to our King, sing praises! For God is the King over all the earth. Praise him with a psalm. [Psalm 47:6-7 (NLT)]
O what peace we often forfeit, O what needless pain we bear, All because we do not carry Everything to God in prayer! [Joseph Scriven]
“That’s more like it!” I thought as I read Psalm 47; I certainly preferred it to the imprecations in the previous set of Psalms I’d read. Having been reading the Bible in chronological rather than canonical order, that last set of psalms followed David’s trials and were ones of lament and grievance. It was only after reading the duties in the Temple that I finally came to the praise psalms. These psalms of worship, adoration, and thanksgiving seem more appropriate for Israel’s book of prayers and hymns than the earlier ones about wickedness, treachery, calamity, and vengeance.
Although I prefer the joyful psalms, there is a reason Israel’s prayer book has lasted over 3,000 years and continues to be our prayer book today. Rather than a sappy feel-good book of poetry, Psalms reflects the gamut of human experience and emotions. When the disciples asked Jesus how to pray, I’m surprised He didn’t direct them to the Psalms for guidance. Prayer simply is a conversation with God and it’s in the book of Psalms that we witness humanity speaking to God as well as God speaking to us!
Prayer is what we do when we realize we aren’t the ones in control and the Psalms show us how to be honest with God. Their words are intense, raw, and honest. Concealing nothing, they encompass everything from extreme joy to overwhelming sorrow and fiercest anger to the deepest regret. If the Psalmist is suffering, fearful, angry, depressed, or exhausted, he says so as readily as he expresses his elation, adoration, and thanksgiving. Never pretending that all is well when it isn’t, he fearlessly lays out his feelings before God. Wretchedness and joy, pain and jubilation, wickedness and virtue, despair and hope, grief and thanksgiving, fear and confidence: all are articulated.
When I seriously evaluate my own prayer life, I’m nowhere near as unguarded and straight-forward as the psalmists. Of course, God knows my personal struggles but, unlike David and the other psalmists, I’m not as willing to lay them so passionately and openly at His feet. If we don’t pray with abandonment and freely bring God our outrage, anger, fear, and disappointment as well as our thanks, joy, and praise, then to whom can we bring it? When Joseph Scriven wrote the words, “Take it to the Lord in prayer,” he meant all of it, not just the pretty stuff. I’m sure God would prefer honest words of grievance to false words of praise any day.
A human heart is like a ship on a wild sea, driven by the storm-winds from the four quarters of the world. Here it is struck with fear and worry about coming disaster; there comes grief and sadness because of present evil. Here breathes a breeze of hope and of expectation of happiness to come; there blows security and joy in present blessings. These storm-winds teach us to speak with earnestness, and open the heart, and pour out what lies at the bottom of it. … What is the greatest thing in the Psalter but this earnest speaking amid these storm-winds of every kind? Where does one find such words of joy as in the psalms of praise and thanksgiving? … On the other hand, where do you find deeper, more sorrowful, more pitiful words of sadness than in the psalms of lamentation? … And, as was said, it is the best thing of all that they speak these words to God and with God. [Martin Luther, Preface to the Psalter]
Jesus clearly promises forgiveness of our sins but some people treat this gift like Monopoly’s “Get Out of Jail Free” card. In John Bunyan’s wonderful allegory, The Pilgrim’s Progress, we meet such a person—Mr. Selfwill. Confident in God’s promise of “eternal security,” Selfwill feels free to live any way he wants. Since David committed adultery, Rahab lied, and Jacob deceived, Mr. Selfwill reasons that he can deliberately do those things, as well. He thinks anyone who believes that Jesus has forgiven his sins has the freedom to sin willfully as long as he has some virtues to go along with his sins. Foolishly thinking his good deeds cancel out his bad ones, the unregenerate pretender deliberately sins.
When writing about enemies earlier this week, I couldn’t think of anyone with whom I interact who qualifies as an enemy. But, when I broadened my search and considered the various people Satan uses in his evil schemes against God, I realized I have several—some whose names I know and others whose names I don’t. When they become Satan’s agents, they become God’s enemies, and, if they are God’s enemies, shouldn’t they be mine? So, who are they?
Like many of the psalms, Psalm 136 opens with words of thanksgiving. Beginning with creation, this beautiful psalm reviews God’s goodness in regard to his people and encourages them to praise Him for his merciful and steadfast love. Where it differs from the other psalms of thanksgiving is that every line is followed by a refrain of “His faithful love endures forever.” From those first three verses, it continues giving thanks “to him who alone does mighty miracles. … who made the heavens so skillfully. … who placed the earth among the waters. … who made the heavenly lights … the sun to rule the day… and the moon and stars to rule the night,” with its refrain following each verse. The next 13 verses recount Israel’s’ history…bringing them out of Egypt, parting the Red Sea, leading his people through the wilderness, defeating Pharaoh’s army, striking down powerful kings, and giving the land to Israel. Psalm 136 tells us that life is neither random nor meaningless; we are not here accidentally. Our lives are meticulously planned and intelligently designed.
Since her church attendance is limited to Christmas and Easter, with an occasional funeral or wedding thrown in, a neighbor describes herself as being a “Birth and Resurrectionist.” People like her are often categorized as “nominal” or “non-practicing” Christians. Granted, church attendance is not the litmus test for Christianity. Nevertheless, lack of church attendance indicates a lack of commitment and a token or non-practicing faith. While such people identify as “Christians,” their Christianity is a more a matter of culture, habit, or tradition than one of faith, creed, and rebirth.
During his second missionary journey, Paul spent 18-months establishing the church in Corinth before returning to Jerusalem. In 53 AD, he set off on his third mission and ended up in Ephesus. Upon receiving disturbing reports of immorality among Corinthian believers, Paul wrote to them. After a delegation from Corinth arrived with a letter containing a series of questions for him and another group visited the evangelist with reports of divisiveness in Corinth’s church, Paul replied to them with the letter we know as 1 Corinthians. Although Paul’s epistle was written to correct such things as errors in doctrine, divisiveness within the church, a sectarian spirit, and sexual immorality, this rebuke to a troubled church has one of the most beautiful chapters in the Bible: 1 Corinthians 13.
