Persistent Prayer – Pedagogy of the Psalms

Spiritual direction by correspondence has a long and revered history. Some of the great spiritual classics are the collection of such letters: Brother Lawrence’s The Practice of the Presence of God, the writings of François Fénelon, The Cloud of Unknowing, and you may have your favorite. While correspondence lacks the immediacy, responsiveness and interpersonal connection of face to face holy conversation, it tends to be more reflectively formulated and is portable, reproducible and can be shared with others. In this era of the internet, I have seen an assortment of articles and opinions about extending the spiritual correspondence tradition to e-mail. While e-mail spiritual correspondence can be reproduced and shared, I wonder if it will be as reflective as paper correspondence, since clicking off a reply is so easy? I have recently had occasion for some e-mail spiritual correspondence that covered distances and relationships that probably wouldn’t have happened with paper correspondence. As I looked back on it, I realized that I was covering some material I have frequently addressed face to face, and that perhaps making it more widely available would benefit others too. Though it developed over time in the give and take of correspondence, I have synthesized and edited to make self-contained essays, from which I hope I have removed anything that might be identifying or embarrassing to those with whom I had the original correspondence, should they ever read it. However, I certainly don't consider this is the same league with the spiritual classics, only inspired by the written form.



When Luke introduces Jesus’ parable of the widow and the unjust judge in Luke 18:1-7 he writes, “Jesus told them a parable about their need to pray always and not to lose heart.” Jesus is telling this story specifically to answer your concern about pestering God with the same concern over and over again. Jesus’ point is obviously not that God is like the heartless judge but that we should not give up on praying even when it seems nothing is happening. God doesn’t get tired of our prayers.

In the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 7:11 and the parallel in Luke 11:13) Jesus says that our Heavenly Father delights to hear our prayers. Consistent with Jesus, in 1 Thessalonians 5:17 the Apostle Paul encourages us to “pray without ceasing.”

I do hope that encourages you not to give up praying or thinking that you are somehow pestering God with your prayers. As we grow in prayer we discover that prayer is not so much about asking God to do things for us but is about having a conversation with the best friend ever. I do believe that we can learn this by praying the Psalms. I have prayed through the Psalms every month for 40 years. Learning to pray this way is not about getting through the material but about being alert for where God wants to connect with me today. A Psalm that may not seem to connect with anything today, may be exactly where God wants me to pay attention the next month or the next year.

I know there are plenty of other ways to do this, but this system is simple and has served me well. I start with the date (for example, if today is November 22) and read the Psalm with that number (for example, Psalm 22 today). Then I add 30 four times to get the other Psalms for the day (for example 22, 52, 82, 112, 142 today). Since Psalm 119 is so long, I skip it when I get to it and save it for the 31st in those months.

I do not treat the Psalms as prayers to be read through or recited as we do with the Lord’s Prayer. Instead, as I read I try to watch for something that resonates with what I want to talk to God about that day, or what it suggests God may want to discuss with me. I don’t worry about trying to connect with something in every Psalm but just one or two things that make a touch point between God and me each day. I do the Psalms at breakfast most days and often find that those one or two themes from the Psalms stay with me throughout the day.

I hope you can find the Psalms give you a way to talk with God about the issues that are important to you. I think you will find a profound honesty in the Psalms and a way to talk to God about things that might seem almost intimidating. Having said that, developing your prayer relationship with God this way is not instant but takes years, not just a few weeks. I say that not to discourage you but to suggest that it is worth keeping going even when it doesn’t seem all that exciting. It will shape you.