Prayer Pattern - talking with God

“The whole reason why we pray is to be united into the vision and contemplation of him to whom we pray.” — Julian of Norwich

This is week number two looking into the faith practice of prayer. Let me repeat a quote from last week which comes from Julian of Norwich back in 14th century England. Julian wrote, “The whole reason why we pray is to be united into the vision and contemplation of him to whom we pray.” Quite simply stated, prayer is communion with God. It is the one faith practice more than any of the others that connects our hearts to the heart of God.

Practice — talking tom God Pattern — talking with God posture — listening to God presence — being with God

We began last week by considering the ways that using the prayers of others helps us in our own prayer lives and teaches us how to pray. I hope you had opportunity during the week to explore and try out a new source of scripted prayers to help enhance your prayer life. That was all under the title of prayer that is talking to God. This week we move on to consider prayer that is talking with God. This is prayer that moves from form scripted prayers into prayers that use our own words and come from our own heart. It is prayer which seek as its goal to be the most honest rendering of our hearts before God that we can achieve. And by so doing, it is a form of prayer that God uses to draw our hearts close to his own heart.

best possible way we could engage prayer that is talking with God is to do it within a pattern that best produces communion with God

Yet, prayer that comes from the heart and talks with God is not random and aimless. This is prayer that finds a certain rhythm and pattern which brings our hearts into communion with God’s heart. After all, that is the goal of prayer: to be in communion with God. It seems, then, that the best possible way we could engage prayer that is talking with God is to do it within a pattern that best produces communion with God. Once again this week, we turn to one of the Psalms that is instructive for us to see this pattern of prayer displayed for us. I am, in fact, reading two Psalms for our passage today. But in the original Hebrew Psalms 42 and 43 are taken together as one prayer.

Psalm 42:1–43:5 (NIV)

Psalm 42:1–43:5 NIV

1 As the deer pants for streams of water, so my soul pants for you, my God. 2 My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. When can I go and meet with God? 3 My tears have been my food day and night, while people say to me all day long, “Where is your God?” 4 These things I remember as I pour out my soul: how I used to go to the house of God under the protection of the Mighty One with shouts of joy and praise among the festive throng. 5 Why, my soul, are you downcast? Why so disturbed within me? Put your hope in God, for I will yet praise him, my Savior and my God. 6 My soul is downcast within me; therefore I will remember you from the land of the Jordan, the heights of Hermon—from Mount Mizar. 7 Deep calls to deep in the roar of your waterfalls; all your waves and breakers have swept over me. 8 By day the Lord directs his love, at night his song is with me— a prayer to the God of my life. 9 I say to God my Rock, “Why have you forgotten me? Why must I go about mourning, oppressed by the enemy?” 10 My bones suffer mortal agony as my foes taunt me, saying to me all day long, “Where is your God?” 11 Why, my soul, are you downcast? Why so disturbed within me? Put your hope in God, for I will yet praise him, my Savior and my God. 1 Vindicate me, my God, and plead my cause against an unfaithful nation. Rescue me from those who are deceitful and wicked. 2 You are God my stronghold. Why have you rejected me? Why must I go about mourning, oppressed by the enemy? 3 Send me your light and your faithful care, let them lead me; let them bring me to your holy mountain, to the place where you dwell. 4 Then I will go to the altar of God, to God, my joy and my delight. I will praise you with the lyre, O God, my God. 5 Why, my soul, are you downcast? Why so disturbed within me? Put your hope in God, for I will yet praise him, my Savior and my God.

prayer of Ps 42-43 talks with God about hopes and dreams and desires as well as disappointments, frustrations, and hurts

You get the sense here that the Psalmist is not holding anything back in laying his heart before God in prayer. Just as we saw last week in Psalm 119, these Psalms are prayers addressed directly to God. The author speaks in the first person (I, me, my), and addresses God in the second person (you, your). He is not sugarcoating anything he is feeling, or avoiding any direct confrontation with God about it. He talks with God about his hopes and dreams and desires as well as his disappointments, frustrations, and hurts. It’s all there; everything in his heart.

structure: three stanzas all concluded with repeated refrain

Notice with me the structure of Psalms 42-43 so we can pick out the pattern of prayer which results in communion with God. One of the themes is easy to spot because it shows up as a repeated refrain three times. You see it in 42:5, 42:11, and 43:5.

Psalm 42:5 (NIV)

Psalm 42:5 NIV

5 Why, my soul, are you downcast? Why so disturbed within me? Put your hope in God, for I will yet praise him, my Savior and my God.

contrast: despair and trust

This refrain combines both honest heartbreak and genuine trust at the same time. He is supremely disappointed at the condition of the world around him, and yet he completely trusts God as the one who brings salvation. The refrain hits us as a bit if a contrast in the way both these themes are held at the same time. But it is hardly the only contrast present in this prayer. It begins in the first stanza with poetic language about a dry and waterless desert.

Psalm 42:1–2 (NIV)

Psalm 42:1–2 NIV

1 As the deer pants for streams of water, so my soul pants for you, my God. 2 My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. When can I go and meet with God?

And then the second stanza completely changes images to a setting so overrun with water that the Psalmist is being swept away.

Psalm 42:7 (NIV)

Psalm 42:7 NIV

7 Deep calls to deep in the roar of your waterfalls; all your waves and breakers have swept over me.

It is a contrast that displays the need for honesty in prayer before God. Don’t pray to God that everything is alright if you are not feeling alright. By the same token, the very fact that we even turn to God in prayer when things are not well is evidence that we trust and expect that God can hear us and do something about it. The contrasting themes of both despair and trust do, in fact, fit together as a prayer of honestly that brings us into communion with God.

a Psalm of lament from the Sons of Korah

We also get the sense of the Psalmist’s context in this prayer. The Psalm is titled as being written by the sons of Korah. These were Levite priests who lived outside of Jerusalem and were given the task of being the worship musicians. They would be the ones leading the procession of people into worship at the temple in Jerusalem. The words of this Psalm also confirm this. But it also is apparent that this particular priest is in captivity or exile a long way from that home he loves. He speaks of those joyous processions into temple worship as something he misses—he used to participate in those acts of worship, but now cannot because he is separated from that place.

He does indeed make reference to the place where he is. Verse 6 mentions the heights of Hermon and Mount Mizar. It is not known for certain where Mount Mizar was located (it is a Hebrew word that simply means “little” or “small”). However, we know that the location of Mount Herman was in far northern Israel. That particular range of mountains formed the border between Israel and the country to the north: Assyria. This Psalm was written during the time in which raiders from the Assyrian Empire were raiding and taking over territories in the northern kingdom of Israel. Psalms 42-43, then, are the prayers of a Levite temple worker caught up in the Assyrian conflict and taken away as captive or exile to the north.

imagine how it must feel to be in a place in which the most meaningful and powerful expression of communion with God is taken away

Can you put yourself into the shoes of this Psalmist for a moment? This is a person for whom communion with God has always been centered within worshipping God at the Jerusalem temple. Everything of his experience of God’s presence has revolved around the Jerusalem temple since the time of his childhood. How must it feel now to be in a place in which the most meaningful and powerful expression of communion with God is taken away? Can you imagine it? Perhaps you gain a sense then of the Psalmist’s heartbreak in this prayer.

structure: verse 8 — center point

“a prayer to the God of my life”

And yet, at the same time, it is a prayer in communion with God—even from this far-off land. I often draw our attention to the way biblical writings are arranged with a center-point being the pinnacle or apex of the passage. This poem is no different. It is actually quite easy to pick out for more than one reason. The first reason is that it is placed in the exact middle of the Poem. Psalms 42-43 contain 16 verses split up into three stanzas. I have already pointed that out because we see the repeated refrain that concludes each of the three stanzas. This means each of the three stanzas contains five verses (with the fifth verse being the refrain). But wait; three stanzas containing five serves each would only add up to 15 verses, and there are 16 verses here. There is an extra verse tucked into Psalm 42-43. And yes, it is right in the middle of those 16 verses. There are seven verses, a central pivot verse (verse 8), and then seven more verses.

Psalm 42:8 (NIV)

Psalm 42:8 NIV

8 By day the Lord directs his love, at night his song is with me— a prayer to the God of my life.

prayer remains as communion with God, even in the darkest places

Prayer remains as a connector which brings communion with God even when everything else is taken away. Prayer remains as communion with God, and no one can take that away from you, ever. Jesus has made sure of that. The apostle Paul points to it in Romans 8.

Romans 8:38–39 (NIV)

Romans 8:38–39 NIV

38 For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, 39 neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Words which we summarize in our reformed confessions with this line from the Heidelberg Catechism.

“I am not my own, but belong—body and soul, in life and in death—to my faithful Savior, Jesus Christ.”

Communion with God through prayer is always there for you no matter what. Jesus gave himself on the cross for you so that God’s communion with you could be this way. Never let anyone tell you otherwise. Even in moments like the Psalmist when it may feel like God has forgotten you and abandoned you, cling along with the Psalmist to the communion with God that is always available in prayer.

prayer pattern — a rhythm of prayer

Let’s wrap it up by workshopping a little bit what this pattern of talking with God looks like from the perspective of the Psalms. Maybe you have heard of prayer described before in a pattern that uses the word ACTS as an acronym. It eludes to a pattern of prayer that includes Adoration, Confession, Thanksgiving, and Supplication. Let me combine these categories and reframe them just a little bit in a way which not only provides a pattern for prayer that is talking with God, but also gives you the framework of what kind of direction we should have in our prayers that talk with God.

gratitude — talking with God about what is good in your life and world

includes adoration and thanksgiving

Gratitude. Think of this as a combination of the Adoration and Thanksgiving sections of the ACTS acronym prayer. Prayer with God that focuses on gratitude seeks to do this—it is talking with God about what is good in your life and world. If you need a place to begin with a prayer of gratitude, simply begin there; talk with God about what is good in your life and world.

lament — talking with God about what is evil in your life and world

includes confession

Lament. Over half of the Psalms are prayers of lament. Lament is a facet of prayer and expression that has largely fallen away from our vocabulary of faith in modern times. We live in some kind of false sense that Christians are never supposed to express frustration and disappointment with God. A prayer of lament does this—it is talking with God about what is evil in your life and world. When you see evil in your world, when you see the bitter fruit which comes from evil, tell God how that makes you feel. This is also where prayers of confession fit. Part of talking with God about evil in the world is being honest with God about the ways in which evil takes shape in our own lives by our own thoughts and actions. Talk with God about what is evil in your life and world.

petition/intercession — asking God to fulfill his promises to overcome evil with good

Petition/Intercession. In prayer with God we bring before God the needs that weigh upon our hearts. There may be a whole lot of things we bring before God which may not be appropriate as a petition. I can ask God for a superpower so that I can crush and destroy my enemies. God is not going to honor that request because it is not God’s will that we crush and destroy one another. So, how do we know what petitions and intercessions are appropriate prayers to bring before God? It is helpful to use those first two categories as a guide. If gratitude is talking to God about what is good in your life and world, and if lament is talking with God about what is evil in your life and world, then petition/intercession is asking God to fulfill his promises to overcome evil with good. You have already spent time talking with God about what is good. You have already spent time talking with God about what is evil. Now spend some time asking God to fulfill his promises to overcome evil with good.

Communion with God is what God uses to bring our hearts closer to his heart — prayer brings us closer to God

This is a way of talking with God that embraces communion with God. Communion with God is what God uses to bring our hearts closer to his heart. These are prayers that bring us closer to God. Make room in your life this week to talk with God in prayer using these three categories as a framework to enter in communion with God.