In his introduction to the Psalms in The Message, Eugene Peterson observes that simple prayers like, “Help!” and, “Thanks!” are great ways for us to start conversations with God. Sometimes, that’s all we can say. And yet, prayers that are both honest and thorough “don’t come quite as spontaneously.” He recommends that people spend time praying the ancient prayers found in the book of Psalms. These prayers help expand our prayer vocabulary, broadening our categories and deepening our vulnerability. He ends by saying this: “Only as we develop raw honesty and detailed thoroughness in our praying do we become whole, truly human in Jesus Christ, who also prayed the Psalms.”1
Our prayer life broadens and deepens as we pray the Psalms by helping us process our emotions with God and before God. Many of us have become strangers to our emotions, while others of us have become slaves to them. Identifying and articulating our emotions in the presence of God is a way of acknowledging that they matter, while also surrendering our emotional reality—our whole self—to God. The range of emotion expressed in the Psalms is certainly honest and thorough: distress, guilt, anguish, anger, fear, betrayal, sadness, loneliness, weariness, despair, hurt, shame, loneliness, abandonment, gratitude, passion, gladness, and the profound feeling of being known. To paraphrase John Calvin, every emotion we find in ourselves is reflected through the mirror of the Psalms.2
It is very good news that our honest and thorough prayers are heard by a God who is love (1 John 4:8). His steadfast love is referenced over 100 times throughout the book! While a vital part of praying the Psalms is learning to bring our emotions to God, an even more important element is encountering God as the One who hears our prayers and receives us with unconditional love.
For centuries, Christians have written out their prayers. The spiritual practice of writing a psalm can be a helpful way for followers of Jesus to begin to express our hearts to God in more honest and thorough ways. It takes courage and faith to be fully transparent with God, but the Psalms give us a helpful approach we can imitate.
I’ve created a guide that will lead you through elements of crafting your own personal psalm to express your heart to God. May this practice help us become whole, the true self we were made to be in Christ.
Click here to access the full guide for The Spiritual Practice of Writing a Psalm, generously shared by Abe Meysenburg, now inside your Saturate membership.
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- Eugene Peterson, The Message, (Colorado Springs, CO: NavPress, 2002), 910-911. ↩︎
- Calvin quote found in G. Campbell Morgan, Notes on The Psalms, (New York, NY: Fleming H. Revell Co., 1947), 6 ↩︎
