The Chronicles Of…

Psalm 3: Complaint.

Theme: Battling against the odds, outnumbered, being picked on… a zipper in a world of velcro.

v5. stands out for me… the quiet calm amongst the turmoil. Assailants on every side, many are against you, many have written you off… but “I lie down to sleep and wake up again because YHWH sustains me”. Where there should be sleepless anxiety, there is a restful calm and trust in YHWH’s protection (v.3).

v7. Anger. Vindication. “Fight for me!” “punch them in the face YHWH!”. When your backed into a corner with the odds against you, this would be my prayer.

Feelings: anxious urgency and yet quiet comfort.

So in January 2008 I decided to read a psalm a day in order to teach myself to pray, and to pray more regularly… [This Post]

Well… you will notice that the “psalms” category on the right has only 4 posts… in fact I only did Psalm 1 and 2 before I fell off the wagon…

Where was the accountability eh people?!

Well, I’m starting again. I always love the Psalms, and given that I’ve been doing the Psalms course at college with Andy Stirrup I’m enthused once again to regularly reflect on a psalm daily in order to pray more godly prayers and be more prayerful.

Maybe you could take up the challenge with me? And you fellow bloggers out there might like to blog your reflections too.

This is the structure that I’m going for as i reflect on the psalms:

• What type of psalm do I think this is?
• What particularly connects with me in this psalm?(What does this psalm do to me? How does it make me feel?)
• How does the imagery help me express myself to God?
• In what situations would I find this psalm as a useful prayer?

Here is a psalm chart I made some time ago to help me think about the different types of psalms. I’ve been updating it as I go, so it’s a work in progress. If you find it useful and want to start from scratch with a blank chart, use this one.

I’ve just completed an assignment for the Psalms and Daniel subject I’m doing at Youthworks College this semester and I’m interested to see if the assignment is useful in practice…

This is the assignment:

A friend is haunted by an event that took place in the past. You don’t actually know what happened but you know that memory of that event triggers a cycle of anger, resentment and guilt. Choose three psalms that would help your friend who feels trapped in this cycle. Explain why you have chosen these particular psalms and explain how they might be used as part of a process of helping your friend move from victim to survivor.

I chose psalms 55, 32, and 124 in response (in that order). Here’s a short explanation of the psalms I chose:

• Psalm 55 is to help you express your hurt, pain and anger to God;
• Psalm 32 is to help you deal with any guilt you feel from the saga;
• and Psalm 124 is to help you celebrate freedom the hurt and express a firm dependence on God for salvation in all circumstances.

If you are someone who is still revisited by a painful memory of a hurtful event in the past that you haven’t dealt with, I’d be interested if these psalms help aid your process from victim to survivor. Please let me know.

A psalm of kingship.

This psalm particularly connects with me in how it describes God’s determination. What I mean by that is God’s certainty in what he plans he will do (“when I act who can reverse it?” Isa. 43:13). God installs his king in Zion. And he laughs at those who try to undermine what he has done (v4). He breaks them like iron, dashes them to pieces like pottery (v9). It is clear that God is in control and his plans cannot be thwarted.

I like the imagery, but it’s almost cheesy because it’s been done so many times in action films. You know the scene: small tough guy fights big tough guy. small tough guy throws everything he has at big tough guy, but big tough guy just laughs and then smashes little tough guy into a pulp because he was no match…

I find this psalm a great comfort to my faith, because it’s obviously talking about Jesus as God’s annointed king (Messiah), and God has made Jesus our certain hope. Even when the nations conspire against him, when they want to free themselves from his rule, they cannot. And so the application is to fear the Lord – be in a relationship with him, with his son, his annointed. Blessed are all who take refuge in him.

I think I would find this psalm a useful prayer in those situations where i feel like my faith is being undermined, or those days when everyone just seems to be attacking the credibility of Jesus or the certainty and strength of God.

A psalm of wisdom and confidence.

What particularly conncts with me is the image that the one who is righteous is like ”a tree planted by streams of water”. The psalm starts with “blessed are those…”, and the tree is truly blessed. It has a close supply of water which enables it to produce it’s fruit in season and keep it’s leaf green. And the righteous – “what ever they do prospers”. But does this mean that the righteous never suffer? If it does than this psalm was obviously written by someone who lived in a bubble… And here is where the image really speaks to me. It’s not that the tree will never be buffetted by bad weather or live through drought, but that the tree planted by a stream has the resources to continue through life’s difficulties, and has been prepared and strengthened for hard times ahead.

The tree reminds me of OT characters like Joseph and Daniel. The Bible records that Joseph prospered in all that he did because the Lord was with him (eg. Gen. 39:3-4) yet Joseph still faced hard times – sold into slavery, falsly accussed of rape, imprisoned etc. Daniel also had similar experiences (Dan. 6), but they each had the resources to continue through the hard times trusting in God.

In my own life I can see the things God has prospered from my hands by his graciousness, and also the hard times that God sustained me through (some hard times were self inflicted…). And I think this psalm will be a useful prayer in those situations where I’m seeking inspiration to live a holy life.

A couple of challenges from this psalm…

• Take more delight in God’s word.
• Soak it up day and night.
• Don’t buy into the ideologies of the wicked or go about life as they do – remeber that the way of the wicked in not lasting.

In order to help my struggling prayer life at the moment, I’ve decided to get back into the habit of reading a psalm a day (which I’ve always enjoyed and found useful, but have recently let slide…).

And as an extra benefit, I’ve decided to blog a little reflection on the psalm I read.

Things like (but not limited to)…

• What type of psalm do I think this is?
• What particularly connects with me in this psalm?
• How does the imagery help me express myself to God?
• In what situations would I find this psalm as a useful prayer?

We’ll see how this goes and you can keep me accountable or do it with me!