Welcome back to a second post in this Real Faith series. Last week, I talked about the monastic tradition of praying the Psalms of the Bible. In many religious orders, we pray the entire Psalter in a month. There's an ancient monastic tradition of praying the Psalms focusing on our own personal temptations, difficulties, and struggles.
In the 21st century, can ancient texts like the Psalms really help us on our own journey? Whatever you struggle with personally, the Psalms are a rich resource for prayer in the life of faith. Let's look at Psalm 77 as an example:
I cry aloud to God, aloud to God, that he may hear me. In the day of my trouble I seek the Lord; in the night my hand is stretched out without wearying;my soul refuses to be comforted. I think of God, and I moan; I meditate, and my spirit faints. Selah
You keep my eyelids from closing; I am so troubled that I cannot speak. I consider the days of old and remember the years of long ago. I commune with my heart in the night; I meditate and search my spirit: “Will the Lord spurn forever and never again be favorable? Has his steadfast love ceased forever? Are his promises at an end for all time? Has God forgotten to be gracious? Has he in anger shut up his compassion?” Selah And I say, “It is my grief that the right hand of the Most High has changed.”
will call to mind the deeds of the Lord; I will remember your wonders of old. I will meditate on all your work and muse on your mighty deeds. Your way, O God, is holy. What god is so great as our God? You are the God who works wonders; you have displayed your might among the peoples.15 With your strong arm you redeemed your people, the descendants of Jacob and Joseph. Selah
When the waters saw you, O God, when the waters saw you, they were afraid; the very deep trembled. The clouds poured out water; the skies thundered; your arrows flashed on every side. The crash of your thunder was in the whirlwind; your lightnings lit up the world; the earth trembled and shook. Your way was through the sea, your path through the mighty waters, yet your footprints were unseen. You led your people like a flock by the hand of Moses and Aaron.
The Psalms offer the fullness and richness of human experience in the form of ancient Hebrew poetry. Sleepless nights don't just belong to the modern era. Have you ever laid in bed, unable to sleep because of the thoughts that trouble your mind? Who hasn't?
"My soul refuses to be comforted. I thin of God, and I moan; I meditate, and my spirit faints."
There have been times in my own life where I was in the midst of struggles, in the midst of hardships, and thinking of God was not a source of comfort, but of frustration. Where is God in this situation? Why does God allow things like this to happen? These kinds of questions aren't antithetical to a life of faith but crucial aspects of a life of faith.
Doubt is not the opposite of faith. Questioning God is part of being in relationship with God, and a natural part of the human experience.
"Are his promises at an end for all time?" Psalms like this evoke so much power for us when we are in the midst of hardships. But they also offer an answer.
This Psalmist is crying out to God to intervene in the hardships of life. Their soul cannot even be comforted, they cannot even sleep. The difficulties that they're going through are so hard, they feel like God has abandoned them. The Psalmist asks "has God forgotten to be gracious? Has he in anger shut up his compassion?"
When we are going through our hardest times, these kinds of questions are natural. It is incredibly difficult to remember God's grace, God's love, God's favor during our most challenging times. Psalm 77 offers us a resource for our lives of faith. The Psalm doesn't end with these questions but continues. What the Psalm offers to us is to remember.
"I will call to mind the deeds of the Lord; I will remember your wonders of old."
When the Psalmmist is at the lowest point, questioning whether God's abandoned the forever, what do they do? They remember. They recall the stories of how God came to the help of their ancestors. They remember God's fulfilled promises of salvation.
It's hard to remember God's love and favor toward us when we feel God is completely absent. But one way to combat this spiritual warfare is by recalling the ways God has worked in the past. We can do this with scripture, remembering God's acts of salvation throughout the Bible.
We can do this with our lives, looking at our own lives and to our own ancestors, our friends and family before us and how God has worked in their lives and in our own lives to bring us blessing. We can remember the times we felt God working in and through us. One simple way to do this is by writing down things we are thankful for in the past.
And ultimately we can recall the greatest promise ever given and fulfilled, the Incarnation of God's Son, our Master and Lord Jesus. God looked on us with so much compassion that he gave us his Son, and raised him from the dead so that this creation with its sin and suffering could be transformed into a New Creation in him, free from all hardship, pain, disease, war, and death.
This Psalm is subtitled "God's Mighty Deeds Recalled." Recall God's mighty deeds can be extremely difficult during our most challenging times of life. Psalm 77 offers a way to affirm our lamentations, affirm our moments of difficulty, and remind us to recall God's love and grace which we've experienced in the past.
How do you find praying psalms like Psalm 77? Leave us your thoughts in the comments below.
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