Faith Expressions

The book of Psalms, which is found in the Old Testament part of the Bible, is a book of prayers. It contains many and varied types of prayers. There are prayers for help and guidance and there are prayers for protection and safety. There are songs of praise for God and there are shouts of joy and thanksgiving because of God’s blessings. There are individual prayers and there are communal prayers.  There are vocal prayers, meditative prayers and contemplative prayers.

Originally, the psalms were poems of the religious type intended to be sung. There were 150 hymns written by different individuals over a period of time. The authors of these psalms included King David, Moses, Solomon, Heman, Ethan, the clan of Asaph and the clan of Korah. Seventy-three of the prayers were assigned to David, two to Solomon, one each to Moses, Heman and Ethan and twenty-three to the clans of Asaph and Korah. Forty-nine of the psalms were assigned to anonymous writers.

Psalms 23, 27 and 51 were among the psalms assigned to David. In Psalm 23, David declared that “The Lord is my shepherd, I lack nothing. He makes me lie down in green pastures, he leads me beside quiet waters, he refreshes my soul.” In Psalm 27, David was in a deep contemplative state and told the LORD: “One thing I ask from the Lord, this only do I seek: that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to gaze on the beauty of the Lord and to seek him in his temple.” In Psalm 51, David begged for forgiveness from God and confessed, “For I know my transgressions, and my sin is always before me. Against you, you only, have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight; so you are right in your verdict and justified when you judge.” These were highly personal prayers by King David. Psalms 23 and 27 were prayers about God’s glory and majesty. They were, essentially, psalms of thanksgiving and trust in God. Psalm 51 was a prayer for mercy.

Psalm 90 was assigned to Moses, and the psalm had been labeled as the Moses prayer. It was a prayer for forgiveness and blessing. The contents of the prayer showed a man with a highly personal, very intimate relationship with God and completely engrossed with his conversation with the LORD. It was a prayer personal in nature, yet it was also a prayer of intercession for the Israelites; thus, it was a prayer for the collective good. In verse 1 of the psalm, Moses declared: “Lord, you have been our dwelling place throughout all generations.” In verses 13-14, Moses beseeched the LORD: “Relent, Lord! How long will it be? Have compassion on your servants. Satisfy us in the morning with your unfailing love, that we may sing for joy and be glad all our days.” In the last two verses, Moses asked for God’s blessing: “May your deeds be shown to your servants, your splendor to their children. May the favor of the Lord our God rest on us; establish the work of our hands for us—yes, establish the work of our hands.”

The psalm which served as an introduction to the book of Psalms was Psalm 1, and in verses 1-3 of this prayer, the psalmist declared: “Blessed is the one… whose delight is in the law of the Lord, and who meditates on his law day and night. That person is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither—whatever they do prospers.” This declaration provided the reason for praying: By meditating on the law of God, by thinking about God, one finds real joy in life. With this realization, the psalmists just kept on praying, composing hymns and writing prayers.

Psalms 8 and 19 are hymns about God’s glory as seen in creation. There is joy and a sense of wonder when looking at the beauty and awesomeness of the created universe. Psalms 9, 92, 100 and 103 are songs of thanksgiving and praise to God. There is joy when thanking and praising God for his love and faithfulness, which makes the trials and tribulations of life irrelevant. Psalms 23, 27 and 90 are prayers that reveal the psalmists’ longing for God and to gaze into the loveliness of the Lord. There is joy in the beauty of the Lord which King David and servant Moses had the opportunity to witness. Psalms 5, 61 and 64 are prayers for protection. There is joy and a sense of peace in the knowledge that God is your protector and defender. Psalms 12, 13, 57 and 108 are cries for help. There is joy when one starts to find solutions to a problem by asking God’s help first, knowing that whatever is the outcome, God is with you. There is real joy when praying to and conversing with God, a fact of life which the psalmists learned thousands of years ago. Truly, to pray is to allow God to love you.

And there are more psalms that one can use when praying in order to receive God’s love. There are prayers for safety and there are prayers for guidance. There are prayers for deliverance and there are prayers for justice. There are prayers for a particular individual and there are prayers for the people and the nation. There are prayers about the supremacy of God and there are prayers about God’s laws and commandments. There are no limits to what God will give you when praying. God will just pour his love on you.

Reference: NIV®: The Holy Bible – New International Version, Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.®

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