Soulfood

The Psalms of the Day for the twenty-eighth day of each month are 28, 58, 88, 118, and 148. How do we pray them, especially the first three?

As with many of the psalms that alternate imprecations with praise and pleas for help, I will emphasize again that as we pray Psalm 28 we must do so with full acknowledgement of our own wickedness as well as assurance that in Jesus, we are righteous – and keeping these ideas in tension, we continually direct our thoughts to God rather than towards each other. So we pray for YHWH to hear our call and our pleas for mercy when we are feeling abandoned and persecuted. As the psalm decries the works of evildoers we pray that the Spirit will search our hearts and show us our sin, that we might repent of it and find forgiveness and so not suffer the fate of those who don’t regard YHWH’s works. We keep focusing our hearts on Him, not seeking to vindicate ourselves, but trusting in Him to save us as He has done, is doing, and will do in Jesus Christ as we wait with patient endurance for the Day when we see our Great Shepherd, whom we now see by faith, with our own sight.

Psalm 58 proceeds along the same lines, though it focuses more on the wicked with unending imprecation. We pray first against wickedness in ourselves, but then we also pray that we would judge rightly, and deal out peace with our hands, be reconciled one to another, filled with truth, and that from our mouths would come not venom but words of life. We pray that those who speak lies that cause destruction would be stopped (“break the teeth in their mouths; tear out the fangs”), that their strength would ebb away, and that their purposes would be thwarted. We pray that even the memory of evil would vanish, that we would live to see it and that all who do see the end of the wicked will say, “Surely there is a reward for the righteous; surely there is a God who judges on earth.” Lord, may it be so!

Psalm 88 is the hymn of the cross – the cry of the one who is utterly forsaken and despairing of all hope. Truly our savior could (and may) have prayed this prayer as the Father abandoned him and poured out His righteous wrath upon Jesus as he bore all our sins imputed to him. Some days end in death. Psalm 88 ends in darkness. If this is how you feel, then pray this prayer in Jesus, pouring out the depths of your loneliness and depression and pain and anguish to Jesus, who knows you and has compassion on you because he *knows* how it feels. If this is not you, then pray for your neighbors, friends, and relatives who suffer from depression and loneliness, asking that they would be comforted with all the comfort with which are comforted in Christ Jesus. Pray in hope, knowing that Christ will never leave nor forsake those whom the Father has given him. Hope!

Psalm 118 is a prayer of the one whom God has delivered! We pray this prayer with thanksgiving, remembering times when we have been delivered from various trials and temptations. We pray for one another, that we would enter the gate of YHWH with thanksgiving as ones made righteous by the blood of Jesus. We pray with blessing and praise to YHWH our God for his steadfast love and great salvation. Praise the Lord!

And Psalm 148 encourages us to pray with praise as we join with all creation in commending the glorious works of God one to another. Let us never cease to praise YHWH by His Spirit at all times and in all places, with all peoples of every age and nationality. Praise YHWH, Who has brought His people near to Him by uniting us to Jesus by His Spirit working in us. Praise YHWH!