Spiritual Disciplines for the Soul: Praying the Psalms

William Gaultiere, Ph.D., © 2006

Jesus quoted from the Psalms numerous times.  Clearly he had spent a lot of time praying through the Psalms.  He lived the Psalms.  Often he identified his life experiences in those of the Psalmist.  Furthermore, Dietrich Bonhoeffer says that the Psalms actually are the prayers of Christ:

The Man Jesus Christ, to whom no affliction, no ill, no suffering is alien and who yet was the wholly innocent and righteous one, is praying in the Psalter through the mouth of his Church.  The Psalter is the prayer book of Jesus Christ… He prayed the Psalter and now it has become his prayer book for all time… Those who pray the psalms are joining in with the prayer of Jesus Christ, their prayer reaches the ears of God.  Christ has become their intercessor (Life Together, p. 45-46).

Jesus relied on the Psalms for comfort, wisdom, and worship in many different experiences.  He needed the psalms because he felt all the same basic struggles and temptations that we do.  The most moving example of this is when he hung on the cross, suffering for our sins, and he cried out in a loud voice the heart-broken words of David from Psalm 22:1, “My God, my God why have you forsaken me?” (Matthew 27:46, NIV).  This is the only time in the gospel accounts that Jesus prayed to his Father using the formal and distant name “God.”  He knew how it felt to be in pain and to cry out for God and yet feel alone.  He knew what it was like to long for the Father’s love and feel abandoned.  He endured his darkest of all Dark Nights of the Soul on the cross for the joy of reconciling us to his Father (Hebrews 12:2).

The Apostle Paul also made use of the Psalms. He quoted the Psalms in his teaching (Acts 13:33), as did Peter (Acts 1:20), but apparently he also used them regularly in prayer as he encouraged us to sing psalms together (Colossians 3:16) and to speak to one another in psalms (Ephesians 5:19). In the first century since there were so few written scrolls of the Psalms that the way people would sing and speak psalms to one another was first to memorize and meditate on the them – praying them into their hearts – so that they could access them anytime.

Most of the Psalms were written by David, and perhaps this is why he was singled out with the affirmation, “David… is a man after my own heart” (Acts 13:22).  Indeed the Psalms are the Bible’s book of the heart in that they express emotion honestly and reverently.  They show us how to pray out in words (spoken or written) our deepest hurts and longings, our struggles that leave us anxious or angry, our confessions of guilt, and our joyful thanks and praise so that we share all of our life experiences with our God who listens and responds.  We lay out whatever it is that we feel and then we put our confidence in God.  By doing this we learn to trust the Lord and worship him in all of our life circumstances – including the most painful of all, the Dark Night of the Soul, when, despite our desperate prayers in the midst of suffering, God’s face remains hidden from us.

For Eugene Peterson Praying the Psalms in the order they are given is so important that it’s a spiritual discipline that he practices everyday (Under the Unpredictable Planet) as part of his “Regula” (rule or rhythm of life).  And for Benedictine monks and other monks in Christian monasteries around the world the Psalms are the basis of the five daily “divine offices.”  Together they prayerfully chant the psalms five times each day as they keep cycling through the Psalter over and over.

I pray the Psalms to learn to pray and to become a person after God's own heart.  I have benefited from three ways of praying the Psalms.  It's helpful to find a Psalm that expresses your heart at that moment and let the prayer of the Psalmist and of Christ (many of the Psalms were prophetic of Christ and in each Psalm Jesus is already there praying!) become your prayer also. (Along these lines, it's helpful if you memorize a Psalm so that you can carry it with you like a pocket lighter to warm your heart for prayer at any time as you go about your day.)  A second way to pray the Psalms, which the ancient prayer masters say is the normative way, is to pray them sequentially. When you come across a Psalm that doesn't relate to your own experience you can pray that Psalm for someone else.  Another way to use the Psalms is to write your own psalm by journaling a personal prayer using the pattern of “honest faith” that the Psalmist models.  For instance, in the laments the Psalmist usually begins by venting his troubles and complaints and ends by looking to God and putting trust in his goodness. 

Regarding the first approach, there are psalms for seemingly every type of situation, emotion, and need.  Here are eight categories of psalms and some beloved psalms that fit in those categories.  These psalms form a “School of Prayer,” teaching us the basic types of prayer.  You can pray these psalms or use them as guides to write your own similar psalm:

1. Thanksgiving & Praise
• Psalm 57: God is glorious and loving - exalt him with a steadfast heart!
• Psalm 92: Pray and play on the Sabbath
• Psalm 95: To worship is to thank, praise, revere, listen, and obey God
• Psalm 100: Thanksgiving leads to praise
• Psalm 107: Give thanks in consolations and desolations
• Psalm 136: Give thanks - the Lord is good and his love endures forever
• Psalm 103-107, 111-118, 134-139, 145-150: Hallelujah Psalms
2. Wisdom
• Psalm 1: Live in the way of the righteous by delighting in God's Law
• Psalms 4 & 5: Learn the rhythm of evening and morning prayer
• Psalm 8: Worship your Creator and discover your belovedness as his creation
• Psalm 19: Listen to God in the wonders of nature and Word
• Psalm 119: Delight in God’s Law
• Psalm 131: Practice simplicity and silence (Psalms 120-134 = "Pilgrim Psalms")
• Psalm 133: Practice spiritual friendship
• Psalm 139: Examine yourself in God's light
3. Confession & Forgiveness
• Psalm 32: Confess your sins and be blessed
• Psalm 38: In guilt and pain cry out for your Savior’s help and answers
• Psalm 51: Confess your sin against God and be purified and restored
• Psalm 130: Wait for God’s forgiveness like a watchman waits for morning
4. Longing for God (Salty Psalms to cultivate desire for God)
• Psalm 27: Seek the Lord as your “One Thing” – even in trials
• Psalm 42: In troubles thirst deeply for the Living God
• Psalm 63: Hunger for God with all your soul
• Psalm 73: Make God the strength of your heart and your portion forever
• Psalm 84: Yearn for the lovely courts of the Lord and invite others inside
5. Comfort & Encouragement
• Psalm 4: In distress you can be filled with God's love, joy, peace
• Psalm 16: Delight in God via saints, circumstances, and path of life
• Psalm 23: Grow with Good Shepherd through the soul seasons
• Psalm 91: In danger find refuge in God as a chic with Mother Bird
• Psalm 121: Trust in God's protection and care on your (or another's) journey
6. Laments (Sad times)
• Psalm 6: Pour out your tears and questions to God
• Psalm 31: In distress put your trust in God’s presence
• Psalm 64: When verbally attacked hide in God and rely on his justice
• Psalm 102: In depression cry out to God and recall his power and care
• Psalm 142: Cry and complain to God and find that he’s your portion
• Psalm 143: In troubles thirst for God’s unfailing love and will
7. Anger at Enemies
• Psalm 35: When mistreated let the Lord be the one to fight for you
• Psalm 59: When slandered with lies trust the Lord as your defender
• Psalm 69: When being hated sinks you in mire express anger to God
• Psalm 109: When betrayed vent anger to God and rely on his love
8. Complaints to God (Dark Night of the Soul)
• Psalm 13: When God’s face is hidden learn to trust him in your heart
• Psalm 22: When it seems God has rejected you praise him anyway
• Psalm 77: When you don’t feel God’s love meditate on his goodness
• Psalm 88: When you’re in a dark pit and God seems angry cry out to him