5/24/11
Psalm 17 --- Psalm 35 --- Psalm 54 --- Psalm 63
Psalm 17
Prayer for Deliverance from Persecutors
A Prayer of David.
1 Hear a just cause, O Lord; attend to my cry;
give ear to my prayer from lips free of deceit.
2 From you let my vindication come;
let your eyes see the right.
3 If you try my heart, if you visit me by night,
if you test me, you will find no wickedness in me;
my mouth does not transgress.
4 As for what others do, by the word of your lips
I have avoided the ways of the violent.
5 My steps have held fast to your paths;
my feet have not slipped.
6 I call upon you, for you will answer me, O God;
incline your ear to me, hear my words.
7 Wondrously show your steadfast love,
O savior of those who seek refuge
from their adversaries at your right hand.
8 Guard me as the apple of the eye;
hide me in the shadow of your wings,
9 from the wicked who despoil me,
my deadly enemies who surround me.
10 They close their hearts to pity;
with their mouths they speak arrogantly.
11 They track me down; now they surround me;
they set their eyes to cast me to the ground.
12 They are like a lion eager to tear,
like a young lion lurking in ambush.
13 Rise up, O Lord, confront them, overthrow them!
By your sword deliver my life from the wicked,
14 from mortals—by your hand, O Lord—
from mortals whose portion in life is in this world.
May their bellies be filled with what you have stored up for them;
may their children have more than enough;
may they leave something over to their little ones.
15 As for me, I shall behold your face in righteousness;
when I awake I shall be satisfied, beholding your likeness.
Psalm 35
Prayer for Deliverance from Enemies
Of David.
1 Contend, O Lord, with those who contend with me;
fight against those who fight against me!
2 Take hold of shield and buckler,
and rise up to help me!
3 Draw the spear and javelin
against my pursuers;
say to my soul,
"I am your salvation."
4 Let them be put to shame and dishonor
who seek after my life.
Let them be turned back and confounded
who devise evil against me.
5 Let them be like chaff before the wind,
with the angel of the Lord driving them on.
6 Let their way be dark and slippery,
with the angel of the Lord pursuing them.
7 For without cause they hid their net for me;
without cause they dug a pit for my life.
8 Let ruin come on them unawares.
And let the net that they hid ensnare them;
let them fall in it—to their ruin.
9 Then my soul shall rejoice in the Lord,
exulting in his deliverance.
10 All my bones shall say,
"O Lord, who is like you?
You deliver the weak
from those too strong for them,
the weak and needy from those who despoil them."
11 Malicious witnesses rise up;
they ask me about things I do not know.
12 They repay me evil for good;
my soul is forlorn.
13 But as for me, when they were sick,
I wore sackcloth;
I afflicted myself with fasting.
I prayed with head bowed on my bosom,
14 as though I grieved for a friend or a brother;
I went about as one who laments for a mother,
bowed down and in mourning.
15 But at my stumbling they gathered in glee,
they gathered together against me;
ruffians whom I did not know
tore at me without ceasing;
16 they impiously mocked more and more,
gnashing at me with their teeth.
17 How long, O Lord, will you look on?
Rescue me from their ravages,
my life from the lions!
18 Then I will thank you in the great congregation;
in the mighty throng I will praise you.
19 Do not let my treacherous enemies rejoice over me,
or those who hate me without cause wink the eye.
20 For they do not speak peace,
but they conceive deceitful words
against those who are quiet in the land.
21 They open wide their mouths against me;
they say, "Aha, Aha,
our eyes have seen it."
22 You have seen, O Lord; do not be silent!
O Lord, do not be far from me!
23 Wake up! Bestir yourself for my defense,
for my cause, my God and my Lord!
24 Vindicate me, O Lord, my God,
according to your righteousness,
and do not let them rejoice over me.
25 Do not let them say to themselves,
"Aha, we have our heart's desire."
Do not let them say, "We have swallowed you up."
26 Let all those who rejoice at my calamity
be put to shame and confusion;
let those who exalt themselves against me
be clothed with shame and dishonor.
27 Let those who desire my vindication
shout for joy and be glad,
and say evermore,
"Great is the Lord,
who delights in the welfare of his servant."
28 Then my tongue shall tell of your righteousness
and of your praise all day long.
Psalm 54
Prayer for Vindication
To the leader: with stringed instruments.
A Maskil of David, when the Ziphites went and told Saul,
"David is in hiding among us."
1 Save me, O God, by your name,
and vindicate me by your might.
2 Hear my prayer, O God;
give ear to the words of my mouth.
3 For the insolent have risen against me,
the ruthless seek my life;
they do not set God before them. Selah
4 But surely, God is my helper;
the Lord is the upholder of my life.
5 He will repay my enemies for their evil.
In your faithfulness, put an end to them.
6 With a freewill offering I will sacrifice to you;
I will give thanks to your name, O Lord, for it is good.
7 For he has delivered me from every trouble,
and my eye has looked in triumph on my enemies.
Psalm 63
Comfort and Assurance in God's Presence
A Psalm of David, when he was in the Wilderness of Judah.
1 O God, you are my God, I seek you,
my soul thirsts for you;
my flesh faints for you,
as in a dry and weary land where there is no water.
2 So I have looked upon you in the sanctuary,
beholding your power and glory.
3 Because your steadfast love is better than life,
my lips will praise you.
4 So I will bless you as long as I live;
I will lift up my hands and call on your name.
5 My soul is satisfied as with a rich feast,
and my mouth praises you with joyful lips
6 when I think of you on my bed,
and meditate on you in the watches of the night;
7 for you have been my help,
and in the shadow of your wings I sing for joy.
Wings ... Remember what Jesus said to Jerusalem? I like the following:
Often our finest and most effective songs are sung during the midnight experiences of life. It is easy to sing when all is well. But to sing when all is dark requires the indwelling presence of Christ. Luther Bridgers, a Methodist pastor and evangelist from Georgia, is believed to have written both words and music for this joyful hymn in 1910, following the death of his wife and three sons in a fire at the home of his wife's parents while he was away conducting revival meetings in Kentucky.
There's within my heart a melody—Jesus whispers sweet and low,
"Fear not, I am with thee—peace, be still," in all of life's ebb and flow.
All my life was wrecked by sin and strife. Discord filled my heart with pain;
Jesus swept across the broken strings, stirred the slumb'ring chords again.
Feasting on the riches of His grace, resting 'neath His shelt'ring wing,
always looking on His smiling face—That is why I shout and sing.
Tho sometimes He leads thru waters deep, trials fall across the way,
tho sometimes the path seem rough and steep, see His feet-prints all the way.
Soon He's coming back to welcome me far beyond the starry sky;
I shall wing my flight to worlds unknown; I shall reign with Him on high.
Kenneth W. Osbeck, Amazing Grace: 366 Inspiring Hymn Stories for Daily Devotions
8 My soul clings to you;
your right hand upholds me.
9 But those who seek to destroy my life
shall go down into the depths of the earth;
10 they shall be given over to the power of the sword,
they shall be prey for jackals.
11 But the king shall rejoice in God;
all who swear by him shall exult,
for the mouths of liars will be stopped.
Devotionals, Videos and more ...
by Bill Federer
Abolitionist leader William Lloyd Garrison, died this day, May 24, 1879. He published the anti-slavery paper in Boston called "The Liberator," and founded the American Anti-Slavery Society in 1833. Suffering hundreds of death threats for his politically incorrect stand for the value of all human life, William Lloyd Garrison wrote: "I desire to thank God, that He enables me to disregard 'the fear of man which bringeth a snare,' and to speak His truth… and… while life-blood warms my throbbing veins…to oppose… the brutalizing sway - till Afric's chains are burst, and freedom rules the rescued land."
Federer, B. (2003). American minute. St. Louis, MO.: Amerisearch, Inc.
by whoever
Every day people are straying
away from the church
and going back to God.
Really.
--- Lenny Bruce, "Religions Inc.,"
in The Essential Lenny Bruce, ed. John Cohen, 1967
Were there no God,
we would be in this glorious world
with grateful hearts
and no one to thank.
--- Christina Rossetti
... from here, there and everywhere
by D.H. Stern
Like silver slag overlaid on a clay pot
are lips that burn [with friendship]
over a hating heart.
He who hates may hide it with his speech;
but inside, he harbors deceit.
He may speak pleasantly, but don't trust him;
for seven abominations are in his heart.
His hatred may be concealed by deceit,
but his wickedness will be revealed
in the assembly.
Stern, D. H. (1998). Complete Jewish Bible-OE
: An English version of the Tanakh (OT) and
B'rit Hadashah (NT) (1st ed.). Clarksville, Md.: Jewish
New Testament Publications.
A Daily Devotional by Oswald Chambers
The delight of despair
And when I saw Him, I fell at His feet as dead. --- Rev. 1:17.
It may be that like the apostle John you know Jesus Christ intimately, when suddenly He appears with no familiar characteristic at all, and the only thing you can do is to fall at His feet as dead. There are times when God cannot reveal Himself in any other way than in His majesty, and it is the awfulness of the vision which brings you to the delight of despair; if you are ever to be raised up, it must be by the hand of God.
“He laid His right hand upon me.” In the midst of the awfulness, a touch comes, and you know it is the right hand of Jesus Christ. The right hand not of restraint nor of correction nor of chastisement, but the right hand of the Everlasting Father. Whenever His hand is laid upon you, it is ineffable peace and comfort, the sense that “underneath are the everlasting arms,” full of sustaining and comfort and strength. When once His touch comes, nothing at all can cast you into fear again. In the midst of all His ascended glory the Lord Jesus comes to speak to an insignificant disciple, and to say—“Fear not.” His tenderness is ineffably sweet. Do I know Him like that?
Watch some of the things that strike despair. There is despair in which there is no delight, no horizon, no hope of anything brighter; but the delight of despair comes when I know that “in me (that is in my flesh) dwelleth no good thing.” I delight to know that there is that in me which must fall prostrate before God when He manifests Himself, and if I am ever to be raised up it must be by the hand of God. God can do nothing for me until I get to the limit of the possible.
Chambers, O. (1993). My Utmost for His Highest
the Poetry of R.S. Thomas
Together
All my life
I was face to face
with her, at meal-times,
by the fire, even
in the ultimate intimacies
of the bed. You could have asked,
then, for information
about her? There was a room
apart she kept herself in,
teasing me by leading me
to its glass door, only
to confront me with
my reflection. I learned from her
even so. Walking her shore
I found things cast up
from her depths that spoke
to me of another order,
worshipper as I was
of untamed nature. She fetched
her treasures from art’s
storehouse: pieces of old
lace, delicate as frost;
china from a forgotten
period; a purse more valuable
than anything it could contain.
Coming in from the fields
with my offering of flowers
I found her garden
had forestalled me in providing
civilities for my desk.
‘Tell me about life,’
I would say, ‘you who were
its messenger in the delivery
of our child.’ Her eyes had a
fine shame, remembering her privacy
being invaded from further off than
she expected. ‘Do you think
death is the end?’ frivolously
I would ask her. I recall
now the swiftness of its arrival
wrenching her lip down, and how
the upper remained firm,
reticent as the bud that is
the precursor of the flower.
Thomas, R. S. Selected Poems, 1946-68
Zevaḥim 96b
The story is told of a man who offered a rabbi ten thousand dollars to make him a kohen. "You cannot buy that," the rabbi responds. The man returns later, offering the rabbi one hundred thousands dollars. "I'm sure that you very much want to become a kohen," answers the rabbi, "but it's not something I can sell to you." A week later, the same man returns. "Look, rabbi, it'll put me in hock forever, but I'll give you a million dollars to make me a kohen." The rabbi is dumbfounded. "Okay, if it will make you happy, I'll make you a kohen. But tell me: Why is it so important?" "Well, rabbi, my father was a kohen, and his father, and his father before him!"
Of course, the humor here is from the fact that one becomes a kohen automatically. The priesthood in the Bible is through lineage. One needs no qualification other than a father who is a kohen. Until recently in Jewish history, and still today in some quarters, yiḥus—lineage or family background—was extremely important. Marriages were arranged based on one's lineage. A poor young man who was descended from a distinguished sage was a great catch, for he had yiḥus.
In our egalitarian world, we might dispute the validity of this hierarchy and genealogy, claiming that it creates a caste system. Yet, throughout much of Jewish history, some hierarchy has always been accepted. The biblical ideal based on lineage (kohen, levi, Israelite) was eventually replaced by one founded on knowledge (scholar, student, ignoramus). The latter half of this Mishnah presages the development from a lineage-centered hierarchy to a meritocracy based on scholarship.
Today, we might wish to expand on the Mishnah's words. Jewish leadership must be based on Jewish knowledge. Unfortunately, many of us, the descendants of knowledgeable Jews, often rest on our ancestors' laurels. How often have we heard it said, "My grandfather was a rabbi in Europe"? Yet how sad it is when the speaker is so far removed from Jewish life, learning, and observance. That one's grandfather sat and studied all day is interesting. That one's grandchildren become committed, educated Jews is crucial.
We now know that it is not lineage, but learning, that is the key to the continuity of Jewish life in the future. If we remain unschooled in Judaism, then even if we have good yiḥus, we are easily surpassed both in honor and communal prestige by a learned person with no background, and even by one with impaired background like a mamzer. This is a strong motivation to check not only our lineage, where we came from, but also our Jewish learning, where we are going.
REST STOP
From there they set out and encamped beyond the Arnon.… And from there to Beer, which is the well where the Lord said to Moses, "Assemble the people that I may give them water." (Numbers 21:13, 16)
Words of Torah are compared to water … as it says: "Ho, all who are thirsty, come for water" [Isaiah 55:1].… And just as with water, a great man is not ashamed to say to a child: "Bring me a drink of water," so too with Torah—a great man is not embarrassed to say to a child: "Teach me a chapter, or a verse, or a word, or even a letter." (Song of Songs Rabbah 1,3)
Once upon a time, there lived a man, who during his whole life studied nothing but the treatise of Hagigah. When the man died and was about to be buried, a woman dressed in white came up to the corpse and stood in front of it. When the people saw her, they asked her who she was and what was her name. And she replied: "I am Hagigah and I am praying for this man in the other world, for he studied nothing but the treatise Hagigah all his life, and therefore he deserves that I should plead for him in the other world." In the same way, all other good deeds which a man performs in this life plead for him in the world to come. Ma'Aseh Book: Book of Jewish Tales and Legends Vol. II
SEDER KODASHIM / Introduction to Seder Kodashim
The fifth section of the Mishnah is Kodashim, or "Holy Things." Its eleven tractates cover the sacrifices that were offered in the Temple in Jerusalem. Interestingly, by the time of the editing of the Mishnah, the Temple had been destroyed for over a century. Nevertheless, the Rabbis of Babylonia saw fit to create a Gemara for nine of these tractates. Perhaps they felt that the Temple would some day be rebuilt, and it was thus critical to lay out the proper procedures for the time when the sacrifices would be reinstituted. Or it is possible that they felt that in the absence of the ability to offer the sacrifices, the best that could be done by Jews was to remember the sacrifices and discuss their details.
The nobleman has taken us [by the hand], and his scent lingers on the hand.
Text / Rav Yitzḥak son of Rav Yehudah used to come regularly before Rami bar Ḥama. He left him and went to Rav Sheshet. One day, he [Rami bar Ḥama] met him [Rav Yitzḥak]. He said to him: "The nobleman has taken us [by the hand], and his scent lingers on the hand. Because you went to Rav Sheshet, do you think you will become like Rav Sheshet?" He [Rav Yitzḥak] said to him: "It was not for that reason! When I asked a question of the Master, you answered me from logic. If I came across a Mishnah, it refuted it. But with Rav Sheshet, if I asked a question of him, he answered me with a Mishnah, so that even if I came across a Mishnah that refuted it, it was only one Mishnah against another Mishnah."
Context / Rav Sheshet especially disparaged those schools which taught students to come up with forced conclusions that were based on hair-splitting logic known as pilpul. In one particular case, Rav Sheshet decided an issue (as was his custom) according to what was taught by "tradition" in a Mishnah. Rav Amram came to offer another interpretation based on forced logic. Rav Sheshet said to him: "You must come from the study house of Pumbeditha, where they pull an elephant through the eye of a needle!"
The Rabbis of the Talmud understood that there were two major sources for their teachings. The first was tradition, which included (1) verses from the Bible, (2) rabbinic lessons found in the Mishnah or baraitot, or (3) precedent. The second source was reason or logic. Tradition was considered by the above text to be a stronger authority than reason.
Rav Yitzḥak had been a student of Rami bar Ḥama; he left his study house and went to stay with Rav Sheshet. Rami bar Ḥama was offended that his pupil had left him for another teacher. Rami accused Rav Yitzḥak of being attracted to Rav Sheshet because of his fame and reputation. He sarcastically tells his former student: You think that when the great man touches you, his scent will linger on your hand. By being with Rav Sheshet, you think you will become like Rav Sheshet. (The word in the folk-saying, translated as "nobleman," alkafta or arkafta, is the title of a high Persian dignitary.)
Rav Yitzḥak replies that it was not Rav Sheshet's fame, but his teaching methodology, that was so attractive. Rav Sheshet insisted on finding the traditional sources for his teachings. Rami, on the other hand, favored logic. Rav Yitzḥak explains that in a conflict between one teaching based on tradition and another teaching based on logic, the former takes precedence. Thus, the methodology of Rav Sheshet is superior to that of Rami. Rav Yitzḥak adds that where traditions, such as two sections of the Mishnah, conflict, it is acceptable to maintain one teaching over the other since they are both of equal authority. Either way, Rav Sheshet's methodology, based on tradition rather than logic, proves to be superior.
Katz, M., & Schwartz, G. (1998). Swimming in the Sea of Talmud: Lessons for Everyday LIving
by Diana Wallis
"Look, I am about to die," Esau said. "What good is the birthright to me?" --- Genesis 25:32
The author of the epistle to the Hebrews calls Esau "a profane person" Modern Sermons by World Scholars, Volume 1
It is not merely lack of self-control that Esau displays. It is also lack of appreciation of spiritual values. In a vague way he knew that the birthright meant a religious blessing, and in the grip of his temptation that looked to him as purely a sentiment, not to be seriously considered as on a par with a material advantage.
How easy it is to drift into the class of the profane, the secular persons as Esau, to have our spiritual sensitivities blunted, to lose our appreciation of things unseen, to be so taken up with the means of living that we forget life itself and the things that alone give it security and dignity! How easy, when soul wars with sense, to depreciate everything that is beyond sense and let the moral tone be relaxed! There is much cause for the apostle to warn us, "See that no one… is godless like Esau."
We too can despise our birthright by living far below our privileges and far below our spiritual opportunities. We have our birthright as children of God, born to an inheritance as joint heirs with Christ. We belong by essential nature not to the animal kingdom but to the kingdom of heaven, and when we forget it and live only with reference to the things of sense and time, we are disinheriting ourselves as Esau did. The secular temptation strikes a weak spot in all of us, suggesting that the spiritual life, God's love and holiness, the kingdom of heaven and his righteousness, the life of faith and prayer and communion are dim and shadowy things, as in the land that is very far off.
What profit the red stew if I lose my birthright? What profit the momentary gratification of even imperious passion if we are resigning the true life and losing the clear vision and the pure heart? What profit to make only provision for the flesh if of the flesh we reap only destruction? What profit the easy self-indulgence if we are bartering peace and love and holiness and joy? What profit if, in the insistence of appetite, men and women go like an ox to the slaughter, knowing not that it will cost them their lives? "So Esau despised his birthright" (Genesis 25:34). --- Hugh Black
(27). Grand Rapids, MI: Kregel Publications.Teacher's Commentary
The Book of Psalms has long been recognized as a guidebook for prayer. As we read the psalms, there are a number of very personal messages about prayer that come through with clarity and beauty.
It's all right to be human. The Bible tells us that in Creation God viewed man, the culmination of His creative work, and affirmed that work as "very good" (Genesis 1:31). Man, the Bible says, was made in God's image, and we are taught to value our humanity. As people we do bear a certain likeness to the Lord.
Sometimes, aware that sin has entered the race and warped mankind out of the intended pattern, Christians have come to view their humanity with shame and guilt rather than pride. A person who tends to locate the identity of mankind in our character as sinners, rather than in our nature as those who bear God's image, is likely to repress human feelings and emotions. Struggling for "control," such people may be uncomfortable with strong emotions and may attempt to hold them down or to deny them.
The Bible really does teach us to affirm our value and worth as human beings. Psalm 8 speaks in wonder that God should have created man "a little lower than the heavenly beings" and "crowned him with glory and honor." Hebrews 2:10 echoes the thought that we are never to let slip the awareness that God's intention in Christ is to bring "many sons to glory." Christ calls Himself our brother; He was "made like His brethren in all things" (Hebrews 2:17). Far from being ashamed of his humanity, the Christian is free to rejoice in who he is, knowing that in Creation and in redemption God has affirmed our worth.
Such teaching passages might help us grasp this affirmation about man intellectually. But we are gripped by it when we read the Psalms! For here we see our own inner experiences openly shared without shame or hesitation, and we discover that God values man's inner life enough to record this dynamic record of it in His own Word.
When we read the Psalms and see in them our own emotions and struggles, we find a great release. It is all right to be human. It is all right to be ourselves. We need not fear what is within us or repress the feeling side of life.
There's a way out. One reason why emotions frighten us is that many people do not know how to express or release them. In our culture, the recognition and expression of feelings is not encouraged—especially of negative feelings. Feelings are feared. To feel anger well up within and to sense that we're on the verge of losing control is a frightening thing.
For Christians there is the added pressure of the notion that it's wrong to feel anger or sense tension. "If only I were a good Christian," we're liable to tell ourselves. "If only I were really trusting the Lord." So we feel guilt over the emotions that well up, and then, all too often, we try to deny this very important aspect of personhood.
Reading the Psalms carefully, however, we note that they often trace a process in which the writer begins with strong and almost uncontrollable feelings. We see how he struggles with them, and we see how he brings his feelings to God or relates them to what he knows of the Lord and His ways. In reading Psalms, you and I can learn how to handle our emotions creatively, and how to relate feelings to faith.
Psalm 73 is a good example of this "working through" process. It begins with the writer confessing that he has become envious of the wicked—certainly not an unusual experience when we face difficulties and then see everything going well for the person who cares nothing about God!
The psalmist shares:
I envied the arrogant
when I saw the prosperity of the wicked.
They have no struggles;
their bodies are healthy and strong.
They are free from the burdens
common to man;
they are not plagued by human ills.
Therefore pride is their necklace;
they clothe themselves with violence.…
They say, "How can God know?
Does the Most High have knowledge?"
This is what the wicked are like
—always carefree,
they increase in wealth.
Surely in vain have I kept my heart pure;
in vain have I washed my hands in innocence.
All day long I have been plagued;
I have been punished every morning.
--- Psalm 73:3–6, 11–14
How hard it seemed! What good was it to be good? Frustration, envy, self-pity—all had gripped Asaph, the Levite who wrote this psalm, and who now faced rather than repressed his inner state.
The passage goes on to explain how the writer handled these feelings. First of all, he tried to think the problem through, but "it was oppressive to me" (Psalm 73:16). He went to God with his problem, to pray at His sanctuary. There God gave him an answer. Asaph's thoughts were directed to the end toward which the sinner's life leads.
Surely You place them on slippery places;
You cast them down to ruin.
How suddenly they are destroyed,
completely swept away by terrors!
As a dream when one awakes,
so when You arise, O Lord,
You will despise them as fantasies.
--- Psalm 73:18–20
The easy life of the scoffers had led them to forget God, and their success had not permitted them to sense their need of Him. The very wealth and ease which Asaph had envied were "slippery" places that Asaph's trials helped him to avoid!
This new perspective changed Asaph's feelings. His past feelings were "senseless and ignorant; I was a brute beast before You" (Psalm 73:22). His emotional reactions in this case had not corresponded with reality. Yet, when God showed Asaph reality, his emotions changed.
Yet I am always with You;
You hold me by my right hand.
You guide me with Your counsel,
and afterward
You will take me into glory.
Whom have I in heaven but You?
And being with You,
I desire nothing on earth.
My flesh and my heart may fail,
but God is the strength of my heart
and my portion forever. --- Psalm 73:23–26
Real life always holds such struggles for us. There is nothing wrong with them. The emotions we feel then are not bad; they are part of being a human being. The glory of the believer's privilege is that, because he knows God, his emotions can be brought into fullest harmony with reality. You and I can face all of our feelings—and find freedom to be ourselves with the Lord. What a privilege to be ourselves with God, and to experience His gentle transformation!
We can be honest with God. This is a third great message of Psalms. Just as we need not repress our feelings, we need not try to hide our feelings from God. He loves us and accepts us as we are—yet always so creatively that we are free to grow toward all that we want to become.
How freeing to realize that God's love is unconditional. He is concerned about every aspect of our lives, inviting us to share all that we are with Him, that in return He might share Himself with us and bring us to health and wholeness.
Psalms, then, speaks directly to our inner lives. The patterns of relationship we find there guide you and me in our prayer lives.
Like the poetry of other peoples, Hebrew poetry is not designed so much to communicate information as to share the inner life and feelings of its writers.
This characteristic of the Psalms is very important to us, and is a dynamic aspect of divine revelation. Through the Psalms we are able to see the men and women of Scripture as real people, gripped by the feelings that move us. We are also able to sense a relationship with God that is deeply personal and real. Every dimension of the human personality is touched when faith establishes that personal relationship. God meets us as whole persons—He touches our feelings, our emotions, our joys and sorrows, our despair and depression. Faith in God is not just an intellectual kind of thing; it is a relationship which engages everything that we are. Thus, in the Psalms we have a picture of the relationship to which God is calling us today—a relationship in which we have freedom to be ourselves, and to share ourselves freely with the Lord and with other believers.
(323). Wheaton, Ill.: Victor Books.