The Christian community has good reasons to sing, pray and think over the Psalms. The language of the Psalms is soul-satisfying, God-honouring, Christ-exalting and despite its antiquity, it speaks to the experi­ence of the covenant people with re­markable contemporaneity. No won­der then, that generation after genera­tion have always turned to the Psalms as the most helpful resource to enrich fellowship with God, and to find pas­toral orientation in times of spiritual disorientation. John Calvin called the Psalms ‘An Anatomy of all parts of the Soul’ because there is not an emotion of which any one can be conscious that is not here represented as in a mirror. Or rather, the Holy Spirit has here drawn to the life all the griefs, sorrows, fears, doubts, hopes, cares, perplexities, in short, all the distracting emotions with which the minds of men are wont to be agitated.

Whatever is taught in this book is de­signed to keep us close to God. In this brief article, I would like to show you how the Psalms can give shape and power to our prayer life and how the Psalms can help us to develop a growing commit­ment to a life of exu­berant praise.

Praying the Psalms⤒🔗

Let’s begin with the first point. Often we freeze before God because we lack the energy and sometimes the right words to articu­late our feelings in specific emotional situations. Don’t despair. By taking the words of the Psalms on your lips you will able to give voice to the depths of your heart. Consider the powerful expressions in the following Psalms:

I am poured out like water, and all my bones are out of joint. My heart has turned to wax; it has melted within me. My mouth is dried up like a pot­sherd, and my tongue sticks to the roof of my mouth; you lay me in the dust of death. Psalm 22:14-15

I am worn out from my groaning. All night long I flood my bed with weeping and drench my couch with tears. Psalm 6:6

Have mercy on me, my God, have mercy on me, for in you I take refuge. I will take refuge in the shadow of your wings until the disaster has passed.Psalm 57:1

Praise the LORD, my soul; all my in­most being, praise his holy name. Praise the LORD, my soul, and forget not all his benefits. Psalm 103:1-2

What you see here is descriptive lan­guage. It’s the language of despera­tion, complaint, supplication, trust and joyous celebration. Now, the purpose of this language is to facilitate between you and God something that was difficult to verbalise before, that is, an open acknowledgement of dis­tress and hope. This way of praying the Psalms allows us to be honest about what is happening to us. Bon­hoeffer was right when he said: ‘The more deeply we grow into the Psalms and the more often we pray them as our own, the more simple and rich will our prayer become.’ As we pray the words of the Psalms, they will bring freedom, shape and power to our experiences in new ways. Thus, the function of the Psalms is to encourage the people of God to seek his help in times of trou­ble and his overflowing joy in times of rejoicing.

Praising with the Psalms←⤒🔗

The Psalms can also help us to de­velop a growing commitment to a life of exuberant praise. Take Psalm 145 for example. Using this Psalm to praise God will increase our enjoy­ment of God because we’re commit­ting ourselves to a lifetime of praise. Notice the statement in verses 1 and 2:

I will exalt you, my God the King; I will praise your name forever and ever.

Every day I will praise you and extol your name forever and ever.

For those who thirst after God, a day of worship is not enough. They want to praise the King every day and all the way through eternity. For the believer that meditates on the splendour of God’s majesty, praise never becomes a repetitive ritual that gets in the way of life. It never becomes an optional activity that we do when find the time. For those, like David, who know the blessing of delighting in God, praise becomes intense enjoyment. And this enjoy­ment never remains unexpressed. It flows out in spontaneous and ceaseless expressions of amaze­ment, joy, recognition, obedience, and love to God. The link therefore between this Psalm and the practice of relentless worship is this: The best way to overcome spiritual apa­thy is to tell yourself what David re­peatedly said to himself: ‘I will exalt you, I will praise for forever and ever.’ In other words, preach to yourself from this Psalm. Use this Psalm to make resolutions to be constantly engaged in pri­vate times of praise. More­over, ongoing praise is encouraged by urging us to think about God’s per­fections. These perfec­tions are described as: God’s ‘unsearchable greatness’ (v. 3), the ‘glorious splendour of his maj­esty’ (v5), his ‘unlimited power’ (vs.5, 6), his ‘goodness’ and ‘righteousness’ (v.7), his ‘mercy, compassion, patience, and love’ (v8).

Developing a growing commitment to praise not only involves declaring God’s glory but also celebrating His deeds of mercy. This Psalm teaches us that God upholds and lifts up. The person using this Psalm to wor­ship God should remember that God loves to bring comfort and relief to those who are crushed by all kinds of burdens. He’s the King for the helpless, the poor, and the fallen. Notice verses 18 to 19:

The LORD is near to all who call on him, to all who call on him in truth. He fulfills the desires of those who fear him; he hears their cry and saves them. The LORD watches over all who love him.

God’s Promise to Us←⤒🔗

In fact, the Lord guarantees to us that He will fulfil the desires of those who fear him. The principle here is clear: those who seek the will of God will find God seeking to fulfil their will. In other words, they’ll get what they want because they have God’s fear in their heart. In verse 20 we find another promise: The Lord ‘watches over all who love’. For those in the kingdom, Yahweh shows himself as protector. This means that the Lord will keep us from temptation and he’ll empower us for holiness, victory and glory. David concludes the Psalm by repeating his self-exhortation to praise. In verse 21, he promises himself that whatever others might do, ‘he will speak in praise of the Lord forever and ever’. Christians praying, singing, and re­flecting on this Psalm are called to make every effort to use their mouth, their mind, their lips; their whole life to speak in praise of the Lord.

Conclusion←⤒🔗

The Psalms are invitations of God to enrich our prayers and praises. They teach us intimacy with God in Christ. The Psalms move us out of the experience of disorientation to a place of confidence, security, and celebration in the presence of God.

Bless the Lord, O my soul, and all that is within me, bless his holy name!Psalm 103:1