“Let They Face Shine”

Read Psalm 80

From Genesis, where “Let there be light” (1:3) is the first recorded sentence of God, to Revelation, which concludes, “They shall see his face…And night sheall be no more; they need no light of lamp or sun, for the Lord GOd will be their light” (22:4-5), the Scriptures tell of God’s acts under the image of light, his shining forth in creating and redemption.

PRAYER: “Light of light, enlighten me, now anew the day is dawning; sun of grace, the shadows flee;
brighten Thou my Sabbath morning; with Thy joyous sunshine blest, happy is my day of rest.” Amen.
(Benjamin Schmolck, “Light of Light, Enlighten Me,” trans. by Catherine Winkworth)

by Eugene Peterson, “A Year with the Psalms” p. 93

“Tell to the Coming Generation”

Read Psalm 78:1-8

Everyone who experiences God’s grace has an obligation to pass on what he knows. It is not necessary that each new Christian start from scratch learning the way of faith by trial and error. God’s people have a history, an accumulation of experience useful for instruction and inspiration. Only the man who ignores history is condemned to repeat it.

PRAYER: God, I thank you for the story of how you have loved and led your people, the ways you have disciplined and delivered, the ways you have rescued and reconciled. Give me a desire to pass the story on, sharing its truths with friends and family. Amen.

By Eugene Peterson, “A Year with the Psalms” p. 91

(sorry for the delay. houseofchinn’s internet was out on monday.)

“I Will Call to Mind the Deeds of the Lord”

Read Psalm 77:11-20

Troubles exacerbated by self-pity are brought under the operations of grace. The spirit, rescued from morbid introspection, sees clouds pouring water, skies thundering, and arrows flashing—God is acting for men in need. The tiresome “I think of God and I moan” has, in the course of prayer, become the exhilarating “I will…muse on thy mighty deeds….What god is great like our God?”

PRAYER: O God of Exodus and Easter, I remember all I know of your love poured out in deliverance and resurrection. You rescue from sin and you raise to new life. You sustain and you lead. I praise you for your unending mercy and your untiring faithfulness. Amen.

By Eugene Peterson, “A Year with the Psalms” p. 90

“Sing to God”

Read Psalm 68:32-35

“This superb hymn is unsurpassed, if not unequaled, in grandeur, lyric fire, and sustained rush of triumphant praise. It celebrates a victory; but it is the victory of the God who enters as a conqueror into His sanctuary” (Alexander Maclaren, The Psalms, 1:271)

PRAYER: “Let all the world in every corner sing, ‘My God and King!’ The heavens are not too high, His praise may thither fly; the earth is not too low, His praises there may grow. Let all the world in every corner sing, ‘My God and King!’” Amen.
(George Herbert, “Let All the World in Every Corner Sing”)

By Eugene Peterson, “A Year with the Psalms” p. 80

“I Sink in Deep Mire”

Read Psalm 69:1-3

Focused prayer is accurate and clear about two things: that man’s need is desperate, and that the remedy lies in God. Man’s need for help and God’s will to save are joined.

PRAYER: Keep me always conscious, Father, of my need and your salvation, of the perils of sin and the mercies of deliverance, of my empty hands and your bountiful grace, through Jesus Christ. Amen.

By Eugene Peterson, “A Year with the Psalms” p. 80

“A Broken and Contrite Heart”

Read Psalm 51:15-19

Tears of penitence and gladness can flow from the same ducts. Contrition before God is not a fearful cowering of the kind we observe in an abused animal, but an honest openness that is confident of mercy. Penitence and praise are integrated in a single act of devotion.

PRAYER: “Broken, humbled to the dust by Thy wrath and judgment just, let my contrite heart rejoice and in gladness hear Thy voice; from my sins O hide Thy face, blot them out in boundless grace.” Amen. (“God, Be Merciful to Me,” The Psalter, 1912)

By Eugene Peterson, “A Year with the Psalms” p. 65

“Create in Me a Clean Heart”

Read Psalm 51:10-19

If sin brings us to our knees where God can forgive us, mercy puts us on our feet again so that we can praise God and witness to his ways. Guilt brings us low, but forgiveness lifts us high.

PRAYER: I want more, Lord, than just to be relieved of the burden of my sins; I want a new life–a life that participates creatively in your work int he world, a life that shares healing, reconciling, and praising, for Jesus’ sake. Amen.

By Eugene Peterson, “A Year with the Psalms” p. 64

“My Soul Waits in Silence”

Read Psalm 62:1-7

Silence sinks a shaft to bedrock. It is the soul’s means for descending through the gravel of rebellion and doubt to the solid, quiet reality of God’s word.

PRAYER: “Be still, my soul: thy God doth undertake to guide the future as He has the past. Thy hope, thy confidence, let nothing shake all; now mysterious shall be bright at last. Be still, my soul: the waves and winds still know His voice who ruled them while He dwelt below.” Amen.
(Katherina von Schlegel, “Be Still, My Soul,” translated by Jane L. Borthwick)

By Eugene Peterson, “A Year with the Psalms” p. 71

“The Rock That is Higher Than I”

Read Psalm 61

Did David pray this as a fugitive from Kim Saul’s madness while at the same time praying for the king’s wholeness? Prayer that asks for personal help (“lead thou me to the rock”) very naturally leads into prayer that intercedes for others (“prolong the life of the king”). Prayer is not an exclusive concentration on either self or neighbor but a correlation of mutual needs. We get what we need and, at the same time, become a ministry to others’ needs.

PRAYER: I don’t want to become so preoccupied with my own needs that I forget that others need your help too, dear God. And I don’t’ want to get so concerned about others that I fail to keep my own hear in order before you. Keep me in balance, for Jesus’ sake. Amen.

By Eugene Peterson, “A Year with the Psalms” p. 71

“The Voice of the Lord Shakes the Wilderness”

Read Psalm 29:5-11

The psalmist takes the most forceful instances of power and glory that he experiences–thunder, lightning, earthquake, storm–and uses them as metaphors of God’s word: in such a way the world of nature becomes a parable of the world of grace.

PRAYER: God, your commanding voice in Jesus stilled storms on Galilee and quieted hurricane fears in disciples’ hearts. Now train me in trust so that I may put aside my timidity and embrace your mighty word with robust faith. Amen.

By Eugene Peterson, “A Year with the Psalms” p. 36