There is no better place in all of Scripture than the Psalms to learn to be with God and see with the eyes of faith the face of the One who longs to form us fully in his image. The psalms often stretch and perplex as they teach, but they open a divine window on prayer. How could it be otherwise? The Psalms are God's prayer book, and they teach us to talk to God in his own language. Features meditations for more than 75 psalms, arranged in numerical order, Scripture and topical indexes. Each devotional includes the complete text of the Psalm(s) from the New Living Translation, a "devotional window" (brief meditative thoughts and/or background on the Psalm), a prayer route (one or more key phrases or verses from the Psalm, followed by suggested ways to use the Psalm in prayer).

GOD'S PRAYER BOOK

THE POWER AND PLEASURE OF PRAYING THE PSALMSBy BEN PATTERSON

Tyndale House Publishers, Inc.

Copyright © 2008 Ben Patterson
All right reserved.
ISBN: 978-1-4143-1665-9

Contents

THE PSALMS: MUSIC TO GOD'S EARS.....................1PSALMS AND DEVOTIONALSPSALM 1.............................................23PSALM 2.............................................27PSALM 3.............................................31PSALM 4.............................................35PSALM 5.............................................40PSALM 6.............................................45PSALM 7.............................................49PSALM 8.............................................54PSALM 12............................................58PSALM 14............................................62PSALM 16............................................66PSALM 19............................................70PSALM 22............................................75PSALM 23............................................81PSALM 24............................................85PSALM 27............................................89PSALM 30............................................94PSALM 31............................................98PSALM 32............................................103PSALM 36............................................107PSALM 37............................................111PSALM 40............................................117PSALM 42............................................122PSALM 46............................................128PSALM 51............................................132PSALM 52............................................137PSALM 53............................................140PSALM 55............................................144PSALM 56............................................149PSALM 57............................................153PSALM 63............................................158PSALM 67............................................161PSALM 69............................................164PSALM 70............................................171PSALM 71............................................174PSALM 73............................................178PSALM 75............................................183PSALM 76............................................187PSALM 77............................................191PSALM 78............................................196PSALM 83............................................204PSALM 84............................................209PSALM 87............................................213PSALM 88............................................217PSALM 90............................................222PSALM 91............................................227PSALM 96............................................233PSALM 100...........................................237PSALM 102...........................................240PSALM 103...........................................245PSALM 119...........................................250PSALM 120...........................................257PSALM 121...........................................261PSALM 122...........................................265PSALM 123...........................................269PSALM 127...........................................272PSALM 128...........................................276PSALM 131...........................................280PSALM 133...........................................284PSALM 137...........................................288PSALM 139...........................................292PSALM 150...........................................297NOTES...............................................303PSALMS FOR SPECIFIC NEEDS...........................311

Chapter One

THE PSALMS: MUSIC TO GOD'S EARS

James Boice said learning to pray is a little like learning to play the violin with the virtuosos. No instrument sounds worse in the beginning stages of learning; it's all screech and scratch. But if the student is determined to play well, he checks the program guide for the classical music station and notes when the violin concertos will be aired. He buys the music score for each concerto and does his best to play along with the orchestra. At first he sounds terrible. As time passes, however, he begins little by little to sound more and more like the orchestra. But all along, as he groans on his instrument, the orchestra plays the music beautifully-his poor performance is caught up and completed in the music of the masters. So it is with us and prayer: By praying the Psalms back to God, we learn to pray in tune with the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

It is no accident that the great prayers of the book of Psalms are also songs. They are the sheet music, the score and libretto of prayer. They are the building blocks for the music of eternity. Better than the things we ask God for in prayer is the God we pray to-and with-and the sweet h music we make as we do.

I am learning to pray in harmony with the Psalms, but I must admit I got off to a slow start. I became a Christian at age ten, but it wasn't until decades later that the Psalms began to teach me to pray. So although I'm now well into adulthood, you are reading the words of a new convert. I'm still wide eyed and breathless and maybe a little over the top with enthusiasm when I talk about their value. If I succeed with this book, you will be too.

There is no better place in all of Scripture than the Psalms to learn to be with God and to see with the eyes of faith the face of the One who longs to form us fully in his image. But the Psalms can be hard; they often stretch and perplex as they teach. How could it be otherwise? The Psalms are God's prayer book, and they teach us to talk to God in his own language.

Learning to pray is, in fact, like learning language. Most babies come into the world full of some very strong desires and feelings. They are quite capable of expressing them in grunts, gurgles, squeals, and sobs. But it's a stretch to call their utterances language. It would be tragic if, at age eighteen, these noises were still all they knew about communication. And it would be worse than tragic if at age eighteen they were still asking for the things they wanted at three months, if their desires had not expanded and matured as they learned to speak.

The process of learning language is complex and wonderful; it begins with a child listening to his or her parents, then mimicking and copying what he or she hears. But a child is not a parrot, and very quickly mimicry turns to meaning. Words and ideas and desires match up with each other and are woven together in syntax and grammar. With language comes a culture and a way of understanding the world and other people. It's marvelous what happens when we learn language: We are taken out of ourselves to what is beyond ourselves. It's not just our informing the world who we are; it's the world informing us who it is. It's not just our telling others what we want; it's others telling us what they want. Language changes us, making us more than we were when we were merely trying to express ourselves.

Prayer, like language, begins with being able to hear. Prayer starts not when we speak to God but when God speaks to us. In the beginning was the Word; God's word, not ours. Before all time, before you and I were, was the Word; the Light that gives light and life to everyone. There would be no speech if God had not first spoken. We would have nothing to say if God had not first said something to us. Ultimately then, all our...