Author: Eric Sayers

The text: Psalm 19 – NRSV

We have reached the halfway point in this little discipline of daily Lenten psalms, and on this “midway” Sabbath, we celebrate a truly beautiful hymn of praise to God famously set to music by Joseph Haydn in The Creation. The opening of the psalm is reminiscent of part of Paul’s opening argument in Romans 1: Ever since the creation of the world God’s eternal power and divine nature, invisible though they are, have been seen and understood through the things God has made. It is a powerful statement: not only are we surrounded by God’s creation, we are God’s creation. Our God is not a pagan god: Nature is not God; rather, Nature reveals who God is. Maybe the writer of John had this in mind in the opening of the gospel: All things came into being through him, and without him not one thing came into being. This point is underscored in the psalm by the extended celebration of the Law, the ideal representation of the Covenant, the relationship between God and humankind. Perhaps take a moment to read it alongside Psalm 8 or 139. Again, the closeness of God’s relationship with us becomes the focus of the psalm: But who can detect one’s own errors? Clear me from hidden faults. Fittingly, the psalm ends with a prayer I have heard prayed before countless sermons. The goal, in all that we do, is alignment with God, our creator and source. What a beautiful prayer for our Lent!

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The text: Psalm 25 – NRSV

Life is full of choices. Indeed, the courses of our lives is largely determined by the choices that we make. So perhaps it’s not surprising that one of the most natural prayers to God is a prayer for guidance. I can clearly remember uttering such prayers almost daily during my college years, when so many major decisions confronted me like the chocolates on that “I Love Lucy” conveyor belt. But it didn’t stop there; that was only the beginning. For me, leaning on God during these times of decision, seeking discernment, and having my eyes open to the path that God would have me travel has made the journey all the more fulfilling. Let the psalm guide you. While asking for guidance, it also calls us to remember God’s past acts, to confess of our own shortcomings, to praise God for God’s close relationship to us, and to plea for forgiveness. In short, it is an entire worship service wrapped in a lovely passage, a true guide to prayer.

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The text: Psalm 124 – NRSV

It may seem difficult to relate to a psalm like this, a psalm that offers thanks to God for victory in battle. It’s been a very long time since actual battles happened in North America, and so few of us who live there may understand what it is like to have an invading army rampaging through land that you call home. But such was very much the case for ancient Israel, whose land was a crossroads between the massive empires of Egypt and first Assyria and then Babylon. It may be hard to imagine what it was like to live under the continual threat of invasion from every direction; even the Mediterranean Sea was not safe, as it was the source of the Philistine invasions. It should be no surprise then that ancient Israel saw God’s actions as an explanation for their survival in such a hostile world.

Perhaps one way to approach this psalm is to remember that all psalms are poetry and therefore highly symbolic, and that Hebrew poetry can often be read at several levels: that of the nation (the surface read of this psalm), that of a local community, and that of the individual. So the psalm could be about our nation; it could be about our local church, workplace, or family; or it could be about us individually. Battles assault us in life at all three levels. What are the struggles in your own life? Are they issues at the national level? Are they conflicts at your workplace or within your family? Are they individual battles with a life crisis, a close relationship, or illness? Taking a moment to name these battles before reading the psalm again, particularly those in which you have seen God’s hand and guidance, and then allowing the psalm to speak into that struggle may be a path to a meaningful Lenten prayer of thanksgiving.

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The text: Psalm 2 – NRSV

To be honest, George Frideric Handel has likely done more than anyone could or perhaps will ever do to memorialize a psalm in music than what he did with Psalm 2. In the Messiah he devoted not one, not two, but three pieces to this psalm: two arias and a chorus. They all occur back-to-back in succession in a most notable place: immediately before the Hallelujah Chorus at the conclusion of Part 2. The bass soloist begins with “Why Do the Nations so Furiously Rage Together?”, followed without pause (attacca) by the chorus “Let Us Break Their Bonds Asunder”, after which the tenor soloist steps forward and sings “He that dwelleth in heaven shall laugh them to scorn: the Lord shall have them in derision”, and then sings the aria, “Thou Shalt Break Them.” Then HALLELUJAH! It is one of most marvelous moments in the entire oratorio.

This psalm, at the very beginning of the psalter, is often called a royal psalm given its focus on the kingship of God, and especially the idea that God is King of all Kings and Lord of all Lords. As you read, you’ll find that the voice changes in the middle of the psalm, and we get a sense that this is no ordinary psalmist speaking! While it is tempting to see this psalm as a critique of earthly rulers by a divine king (and it is, of course), I would suggest that we ordinary folk are not merely bystanders. What earthly things do we rule over, and in such matters, what does the psalm say to us? What perspective does the psalm call us into? Pondering this may very well forever change the way you experience that famous moment of Handel’s most famous oratorio.

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The text: Psalm 34 – NRSV

This psalm will forever hold a special place in my spirit, as about two years ago it became a very personal prayer for me. It was about that time that I narrowly avoided a personal crisis. When it was clear that the danger had passed, in a wave of thanksgiving I went to the piano and played the opening bars of what would become “Come, O Children,” one of my little anthems. At that moment, the music was there, but I had no text. I knew that what I wanted was a psalm of thanksgiving, particularly a psalm of personal thanksgiving, and after consulting a few references and flipping through the psalter, found myself reading Psalm 34. It was amazing to find the words I wanted to express right there on the printed page!

It’s a fascinating psalm, and rather complex the more one studies it. It is an acrostic psalm, in that each verse begins with a successive letter in the Hebrew alphabet. It is a psalm of thanksgiving, but also one of teaching. The psalmist speaks, but not to God. Who is the audience? At first glance, one might suppose the audience is the psalmist’s disciples. But if we are reading it, then does the audience shift so that it is also us, simultaneously? Then who is truly speaking? Who do you hear saying, “Come, O Children, listen to me…”? This is a lovely example of Hebrew poetry that speaks through multiple layers, together and at once. Listen for them, and perhaps you’ll find a prayer of thanksgiving to call your own.

The text: Psalm 109 – NRSV

When I was much younger, a friend surprised me one day by saying something like “I was so made today that I had to go yell at God!” Never had I heard someone claim to be mad at God. It gave me pause. So today we come to a type of Psalm that may likewise give us pause, as it doesn’t appear to be the kind of song that has a place in polite company. This is not a psalm you will likely hear read in church or at weddings, funerals, or almost any other occasion for that matter. The psalm is like a lament, but the emotions are more raw, and there are calls for retribution or even violence. Such psalms (yes, there are others) are often called imprecatory psalms, literally  psalms that call down a curse. What is something like this doing in Scripture? We might feel ourselves recoiling from this text, much like we might recoil from another person who is raging or in agony. These parts of human experience—pain, suffering, anger, despair—make us uncomfortable. Nevertheless they are very much part of being human, and we have all experienced them, and know that we will experience them in the future. That, I think, is a big reason why these psalms exist, because the psalms express the full range of human emotions. Like we discussed when considering Psalm 10, God is very familiar with these emotions, and God does not recoil from us when we experience them. It reminds me of the story of the Good Samaritan. In that story, to whom is the character of God drawn? From whom do the outwardly “good” people recoil and avoid? Pointedly, the psalmist in v. 22 makes the central claim: For I am poor and needy. It is no longer someone else who is least and lost, it is I. In this sense, the psalm is a profound testament of faith, as the God who cares for the poor and needy will certainly care for us when we find ourselves down and out. Perhaps this Lent, when we feel the presence of enemies at the gate and need to yell at God, this psalm can be a prayer for us.

Perhaps another illustration may help. When I was a teenage my mother would say to people that when she came home after work, she could always tell what kind of mood I was in by the kind of music I was playing on the piano. When I was upset, bothered, or angry, I reliably found that an appropriately angry passage from Beethoven, Brahms, or Rachmaninoff would do the trick. No matter how hard I would throw myself and my disquiet at the instrument, all that would come out is music.

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The text: Psalm 103 – NRSV

For my wife, Mandy, and me this psalm will always occupy a special place in our hearts, minds, and souls. It was one of the four Scriptures we used at our wedding. Looking back across the years it is strange to think about that time when we started our married lives in Connecticut, before I had heard about Disciple Bible Study or had any inkling that in just a few years we would be moving to Maryland, would raise two wonderful children there, and that Mandy would become a pastor (she was in law school at the time!). So much has changed, but the psalm is as it always has been. It is truly a fountain of joy and wonders. Align your reading to the rhythm of its couplings and the soaring statements that sweep you off your feet. You will find reflections of many psalms we have covered so far, and even more, it alludes to ideas that we tend to associate with the New Testament.

On a level above the couplets, there is a beautiful ABA structure to this psalm. The A sections are full of imperative calls to bless the Lord, while the B section is a litany of God’s saving acts. What strikes me now are phrases like the opening “Bless the Lord, O my soul…” What does it mean to command one’s soul to do something? What relationship do we have with our souls?

A final thought: if you like hymns and praise songs, this psalm is a treasure. Try a quick Google search for this psalm with the word “hymn” or “song” added, and prepare to spend some time browsing and listening. The hymn “Praise, my Soul, the King of Heaven” (UMH 66) is a great example, and I’ve also linked an anthem by the Prestonwood Choir below. Enjoy!

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The text: Psalm 95 – NRSV

We’ve reached the end of a second week! So again on this Sabbath we lift up a song of praise to God. Psalm 95 is often considered an enthronement psalm because of its emphasis on the lordship of God and its call to humble ourselves before God. As you read it, listen for the reasons why God is Lord and what the nature of God’s lordship is.

Another notable aspect of this psalm is the change of voice that happens toward the end (v. 9). When my wife preaches on one of Jesus’ parables, she will often say that the first order of business in understanding the parable is to ask this question: where is God in the parable? In a similar way, when approaching a psalm, a good question is this: who is the speaker (or speakers)? And another: who is the audience? In this psalm, gone are the “I” statements of Psalm 138 or 3, both of which are individual expressions where the psalmist is the speaker and God is the audience. At the beginning of Psalm 95, the speaker is a worship leader and the audience is the assembled congregation. This is a community psalm. But then in v.9, abruptly the speaker becomes God, apparently addressing the congregation directly. The tone of the psalm also shifts from praise to challenge, from celebration to warning. Why this shift of voice and tone, and what does this mean? That is something to take to God in prayer. One possible path to a deeper understanding may be to read the psalm multiple times, as if there were a repeat sign at the end, so that the praise becomes a response to the warning. Like with many good songs, a little repetition can be a very good thing!

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The text: Psalm 138 – NRSV

Here we have another lovely psalm of thanksgiving. This is another psalm to read slowly, treasuring every phrase. As you read, note the three stanzas, and how each one ends with a statement about why the psalmist is thankful to God. As you read it and pray it, allow experiences from your own life to surface, and let the expressions of thanks become your own.

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The text: Psalm 127 – NRSV

“Well begun is half done.” This proverb attributed to Aristotle certainly sums up much of what I have learned about project management. I have found that one can predict the success of a project largely based on the quality of the planning that preceded the work. This little psalm attributed to Solomon takes this idea a step further, reminding us that all of our efforts begin with God and God’s gifts, and that God is the sure foundation on which we should build all of our work.

While the second half of this psalm may appear to be merely about the benefits of a large family, it’s worth considering that in the ancient world, family was the primary source of labor. It still is in many instances today. If we apply this to our current workplaces, perhaps this passage speaks to us about our teams of co-workers and the importance of working together in unity. If we apply this to our lives of faith, then this family, this team, is none other than the church. How does the psalm speak to you about your own ministry and those who labor alongside you? How would your work change if your “well begun” was none other than God?

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Want to catch up on any you missed? See them all by clicking on ‘Lenten Psalms” below.