The Gift of the Psalms

DAILY BYTE

The Psalms are a tremendous gift to us because they continually remind us of the importance of being real.

The Psalm’s are prayers that are filled with raw anger, grief and frightened doubts all crazily mixed up with wild praises and statements of joyful trust. There are parts of the Psalms that are so raw and real, that frankly they embarrass us. We leave out large chunks of them in our church readings because we find them so unsettling.

Yet, perhaps this is precisely the value of the Psalms. For remember they are prayers that point not to the nature of God, but the reality of human souls, and in so doing they expose those areas we lack reality and integrity.

The biblical scholar, Professor Ellen Davis, in writing on the Psalms said the following: “you cannot have an intimate relationship with someone to whom you cannot speak honestly – that is, someone to whom we cannot show our ugly side, or those large clay feet of ours.”

Honest, unguarded speaking is essential to the health of any close relationship, including, of course, our relationship with God. As Jesus reminded us in yesterday’s focus reading, God is looking for those who are simply and honestly themselves before him in worship.

Ellen Davis points out that we seem to have three major misconceptions in life which prevent us from expressing ourselves fully to God. These are as follows:

“1. God does not have any use for our anger.
2. There is no place for despair or fear in the Christian life.
3. You must never, ever be mad at God.”

It is largely because of misconceptions like these that many of us do not feel, think, move and PRAY more honestly and thus more deeply before God.
Over the next three days, we will be looking more closely at each of these misconceptions in turn as a means of resisting their effect on our own spirituality.

PRAY AS YOU GO

God of Truth, thank you for the honest witness of the Psalms – help me journey to a more intimate relationship with you as I seek to be more simply and honestly myself before you. Amen.

FOCUS VERSE

Psalm 51. 6 NRSV

You desire truth in the inward being; therefore teach me wisdom in my secret heart.